Assigned by Xie Zhenyu, the woman had been crouching behind the building, secretly observing. The moment the Phoenix Ridge group approached, she immediately locked onto Ling Xian's figure in the crowd.
She was just an ordinary middle-aged woman, possessing no special abilities. Due to her age, her skin already showed wrinkles.
However, this minor flaw didn't hinder her from executing her plan...
This was the target specified by her client, and the middle-aged woman named Nan perfectly showcased her years of professional scamming experience.
As one of the five middle-aged female members of the Shuyuan district's setup division, she lacked extraordinary powers. But what truly set her apart were her eagle-sharp eyes.
She could lock onto a target from hundreds of meters away, instantly gauge their distance with a single glance, and even identify their companions!
Moreover, she had been a top student in her youth. Though she never publicly flaunted it, this background lent credibility to her cunning strategies.
Thus, when she spotted Ling Xian in the crowd, she instantly calculated the distance between them...
She was approximately thirty to fifty meters away from Ling Xian. Combining his strolling pace of 4.5 kilometers per hour, she calculated that she needed to burst from her hiding place at a speed of six meters per second...
...
A few seconds later...
The crowd watched as the middle-aged woman staggered forward, flung her handbag aside, and lunged at Ling Xian's legs.
"..." Ling Xian hadn't anticipated encountering such a con artist. But he recalled how, during the Dimensional Seal Between Universes incident, any demon minions that had touched him while he was slaying multiple Demon Kings had instantly turned to ash. Had he not been relatively weak at the time, and had the woman not been so frail, she would have suffered the same gruesome fate.
If the Double-Headed Sealing Pins had failed just a few days earlier...
She would likely have already been reduced to a pillar of salt.
Of course, Ling Xian had no intention of helping the woman up—his strength was often unstable, and she possessed almost no spiritual energy. What if he accidentally broke her arm with too much force?
Su Xinyi, like an angel, knelt down to ask the woman if she was alright.
Though everyone knew this was a staged performance of false compensation, her acting was flawless—in this economic climate, the weak were always in the right.
This was the second phase into Scientific Cultivation! Earth had already reached Second-Tier Civilization status, yet this middle-aged woman was behaving like this here?!
She should be grateful she wasn't blasted away by a spell!
Her acting was indeed superb. She lay on the ground, convulsing like someone on drugs, her speech incoherent, resembling a grand mal seizure.
Only after Lianhua and Xu Yutong had shouted "Are you alright?" fifteen times did she finally sit up and glare at Ling.
"You... you did this!"
"???" Hao Zhen and Zhao Ming stared in disbelief. This acting was getting increasingly sloppy!
Lately, this gang's performances had been technically flawless... but their core lacked conviction! In the past, these people would go to any lengths, even crawling under vehicles to be run over or performing dangerous stunts! Now they were resorting to such clumsy lies?
Hao Zhen scoffed. "Madam, please be reasonable. We walked here. How could he have hit you?"
His usual stern questioning would have intimidated other scammers.
But Madam Nan lived up to her reputation. She slowly extended her index finger from the ground. "I'm certain! He used spiritual pressure!"
"!" Hao Zhen was caught off guard. F**k! She's good!
A spiritual pressure attack...
According to the Tianxu Criminal Code, that's a prison-worthy offense—especially when the target is a middle-aged woman!
The maximum penalty is two thousand yuan...
The crowd instantly realized—Damn! Is she making this up on the spot?!
Hao Zhen sighed. How are we going to get out of this now...?
"Should we just call the police?" Xu Yutong asked with a helpless sigh.
"Call the police? Hmph. Don't you know? At most, they'll get a sentence. Is that what you want?" Madam Nan sneered.
"..."
"How much money do you want?" For Su Xinyi, money had never been an issue.
"Not much. Two million will do," Madam Nan said without batting an eye.
Two million...
Though the sum was trivial to her, it wasn't something she could produce on the spot. Su Xinyi suddenly realized—Madam Nan wasn't just here to scam money; she was here to cause chaos!
"Is this extortion?!" Zhao Ming finally snapped. He might have realized his mistake too late... the old woman actually did exactly what he said! The crowd was stunned!
Before they could react, she pointed at Ling and said, "Just a reminder: I only take payment from this student. We're professionals here, remember that!"
Lianhua and Xu Yutong felt their worldview expanding.
Even dynasties are talking about ethics these days?
Hao Zhen pulled out his phone, ready to call the Cultivation Police Bureau. "Let's just arrest her..."
"Hmph. You think you can arrest me? You've got some nerve. What grounds do you have?"
Hao Zhen glared at her. "First, you falsely accused my classmate of assault and even lied on his head! —he doesn't even have transportation— He couldn't have gotten near you! Touching him without consent is child molestation—that's enough to put you in prison for years!"
Ling Xian: "..."
Madam Nan was speechless. A child?! Your "child"... is 1.83 meters tall?! If he's a baby, what did he eat to grow so tall?!
Clearly, she didn't buy it. "Look, even if you send me to the police station, my people will hear about it. Then they'll come after you, what will you do then? If this student can pay, we'll wait for the money. If not, we'll resort to force later."
Su Xinyi glared fiercely at Madam Nan. This was an outrageous scam. "Are you threatening us?! You should know who I—"
Before she could reveal her connections, Ling patted her shoulder and stepped forward, positioning himself between the two women.
Having already read through Nan's memories, Ling Xian had seen through Xie Zhenyu's meticulously planned scheme. He had no desire to get involved in such petty affairs.
After all, he possessed countless ways to teach this woman the true meaning of respect...
...