Lin Han went to Lina's place with her. When I arrived, Fatty was waiting outside, looking very anxious.
Nobody knew how they met, but their relationship was very close. All three were single but treated Lin Han like a younger sister. Lin Han usually stayed at Da Huang's place. When I went there, I could see her in her pajamas, doors unlocked, sleeping soundly, completely at ease with these bachelors.
Since I had been instilling in everyone that Lina's identity was mysterious, Fatty was very worried about Lin Han being with Lina. As soon as I arrived, he said to me, "Why don't we just rush in? With you there, it won't be considered trespassing."
I smiled helplessly, "Did you call Lin Mei?"
"I did, but her phone is off."
"Then let's wait."
"It'll be fine, really."
"Don't worry, no matter what this Lina wants to do, it hasn't reached that stage yet."
...
About two hours later, Lin Han came out of Lina's house. Fatty, hiding in the shadows, gave Lin Han a whistle. Lin Han pretended not to see it, hailed a taxi, and sped away.
Lin Han got home first. Fatty and I arrived later. As soon as we entered, Lin Han bombarded me with questions, "Are you crazy? Meeting me downstairs at Lina's place! What if we were seen?"
Fatty scratched his head, "It's my fault, my fault."
I looked at Lin Han sternly, "Is it our fault? Was part of the plan for you to go to Lina's house?"
When I asked her like that, Lin Han seemed a bit hesitant. She retreated from the entryway back into the living room, her voice lowering, "I didn't mean to. I followed the plan and told her the magazine company was a scam. She suddenly invited me to her place. Tang Nan, you said yourself that if things change, the plan must change. We control the direction, not follow it step-by-step. Since she could trust me, I didn't need to test the waters further. I might as well interact with her directly and skip those steps."
A while ago, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin Han asked me how I saw through their scheme. I said they only acted according to the plan and didn't adapt to changes. When changes occurred, the plan had to adapt. As the strategist, everything revolved around the heavens, meaning the development trend we identified. During the development process, what happened would not be exactly the same as what was planned; that was inevitable.
For example, in our plan, we assumed Lina was looking for a partner, so she would definitely contact us. Our plan was to gradually understand her and then have Lin Han, who had gained Lina's trust, cooperate with Lina to find Leng Yan. Obviously, the first contact with Lina went outside our plan. But the overall development trend remained the same; Lina still wanted to cooperate with us.
Seeing that I didn't speak, Chang Dachun feigned scolding Lin Han, "Sister, the plan changes with circumstances. We've learned that. We're not acting alone this time; we're cooperating with the police. We can't mess around. You should apologize."
"I'm not wrong. So what if he's a police officer? He's only a few months older than me."
Chang Dachun was about to say more, but I waved him to stop.
"Sister is right. Since Lina trusts her, we'll go along with it. Let's skip the trial phase and get straight to the point. Sister, tell us what she wanted you to do?"
After Lina took Lin Han home, she revealed the part she hadn't told the police. As a psychologist, through Leng Yan's gradual manipulation, she had realized it was a Ponzi scheme based on emotion.
High returns on small investments and complex processes were characteristics of a Ponzi scheme. Leng Yan's scam had visible high returns on small investments, and the process wasn't overly complicated, possibly due to the auction house acting as a neutral intermediary. However, as the amounts grew, being scammed was inevitable.
Therefore, even though Lina understood the nature of the scam, she couldn't escape the core element: the emotional foundation. Lina didn't enjoy interacting with men; her interactions with them felt uncomfortable, while refined and delicate men seemed effeminate. Leng Yan's appearance made Lina fall completely in love with him. She was captivated and couldn't extricate herself, even from being scammed. Even after discovering the truth, she still actively cooperated with Leng Yan's scheme, longing to meet him. However, when Leng Yan asked her to take an antique abroad, the scam abruptly ended.
Over three million yuan was nothing to Lina. Her father was a successful businessman. In 1994, Lina went to study in the United States, and her family immigrated there.
Her parents had established businesses in America. Lina missed life in China and returned alone. She owned a three-bedroom apartment within Beijing's bustling Second Ring Road. Did she care about the three million yuan? She didn't.
Lina wanted to continue being scammed by Leng Yan, but he had vanished without a trace afterward.
After that, Lina searched for Leng Yan persistently, even reporting him to the police, but ultimately found nothing. All she knew was that Leng Yan was still in Beijing, still scamming people, but it was as if they were separated by different worlds.
Da Huang listened to Lin Han's account, utterly perplexed. He habitually took out a cigarette, but finding everyone looking at him, he awkwardly said, "Just to hold it, not to smoke!"
Lin Han was a very beautiful girl, and I found her smoking jarring. When she smoked, she adopted a seductive demeanor, not enjoyment, as if masking her deep-seated pain. It was precisely for this reason that I used my police authority to make her quit smoking. The others agreed, and Lin Han changed the household rule: no smoking allowed for anyone in this house.
Da Huang smelled the cigarette, put it behind his ear, and said, "Is this woman crazy? Falling in love with a scammer."
"Not really, that's love, isn't it?" Fatty chimed in.
Seeing their reactions, Chang Dachun burst into laughter, "Don't be like that. You two find a girlfriend first, then be so philosophical."
Lin Han also laughed happily and said loudly, "Brothers, stop teasing me. I'm serious now. Lina and I shared a crucial clue: Leng Yan never changed his online alias. No matter who he scammed, he used the name Leng Yan. That's why she asked people to search for 'Leng Yan' on QQ, add him as a friend, and chat, trying to find the scammer this way."
"This scammer is truly bold and meticulous. No wonder we couldn't find him; he's been calling himself Leng Yan all along."
Da Huang then fell into thought and immediately added, "To chat with 'Yi Ye Zhi Qiu,' there was a period where the workload of sifting through these netizens was enormous. If he just used 'Leng Yan,' this workload would be smaller."
"Would the workload really be smaller? Could he make these girls fall hopelessly in love with him just by chatting? Doesn't he need to investigate their family background? Predict their financial status?"
Chang Dachun chuckled, "I definitely couldn't do this job. If I got confused, I'd mess things up, telling Zhang San I love Li Si, and Li Si I like Zhang San."
Lin Han sneered, "That's the brilliance of the scammer Leng Yan. Otherwise, how could he have women wrapped around his finger?"
Listening to their back-and-forth, I suddenly felt inspired. Since I learned about strategists, I had encountered several schemes. Besides Liu Chenxi's "Humanity Trial Ground," Boss Xie's "Greedy Scheme," Qin Sisi's "Empty Room Celebrity Scheme," and Leng Yan's online romance scam, they all had one characteristic: once the scheme developed, it could run automatically with proper management. The strategist didn't need to spend too much effort within the scheme itself.
Each scheme didn't target just one person; they were very inclusive, capable of scamming people continuously. The wealth generated by "Logical Paradox" could snowball.
I waved my hand to interrupt their discussion and asked seriously, "Haven't you considered that Leng Yan isn't acting alone? There should be a team behind Leng Yan."
Except for Lin Han, who looked slightly surprised, the others laughed and agreed. Chang Dachun said the police officer was right. Da Huang said Tang Nan, you truly are a police officer who calls himself a strategist, amazing. Fatty was the most effusive, saying, "Brother Tang Nan, my admiration for you is like the endless flow of the Yellow River..."
"Enough, enough. You know what to say, and I know what to say. Chang Dachun, tell me, what do we do now?"
I directly named Chang Dachun. He couldn't hide anymore and said with a chuckle, "Police officer, how about this? You and Lin Han are responsible for Lina. Starting today, we will follow the auction house. In this scamming pattern, there's always an investment and collection component. This investment and collection revolves around a single entity: Beijing Xingsheng Auction House. This type of scam usually happens outside the auction house. It's like you walk out of Xidan, see something identical to what's in Xidan in the subway, but at a much lower price. You buy it, get scammed, and report it. The police can't blame the Xidan department store, right?"
I gave Chang Dachun a thumbs-up, "Brilliant. We'll split into two groups, and we'll definitely find Leng Yan in the vast sea of people."