Chapter 29: What Exactly Is Social Engineering?

There were 28 minutes left. The mercenary team needed to enter the police station, obtain the data terminal, and find the information Lin Xu was looking for.

No matter how you looked at it, this was not a simple task.

But Skullhead had his own plan.

“Snatching the information terminal isn’t actually difficult—it’s just a police PDA.”

“The biggest challenge is how to unlock it, how to access the system.”

“So, we have to get the officer to willingly enter the database.”

“You said the person you’re looking for is a prisoner, right?”

“Then we’ll have the officer voluntarily query the detainee’s information, and when he’s verifying it, we snatch the device and get out.”

“There’s still time.”

“You wait in the corner of the street. Once we get it, someone will hand it to you!”

“You quickly check what you need, then don’t worry about anything else.”

“If you get caught, no matter what they ask, just say you don’t know, understood?”

“Got it.”

Lin Xu nodded immediately, then asked, “How are you planning to escape afterward?”

“Don’t worry,” Skullhead said nonchalantly. “Before taking on your mission, we all have clean records.”

“We’re all licensed PMC operatives. Even if they investigate us, they won’t find anything.”

“Let’s go now, or it’ll be too late!”

“Everyone, drop your gear and move out!”

“Understood!”

At Skullhead’s command, everyone sprang into action. They shed all their equipment, then the six operatives, including Skullhead, surged forward.

Lin Xu followed closely behind, but as they neared the police station, the group split.

According to Skullhead’s plan, Lin Xu headed to a small alley beside the station and waited at the corner.

The others, after a brief exchange, walked straight toward the police station.

So what were they going to do?

Direct infiltration?

Cyberattack?

Or did they have equipment Lin Xu didn’t know about?

Like the non-lethal disabling weapons the rapid response team had used during their last mission in the Wristband World?

Lin Xu watched Skullhead’s movements curiously.

But the next second, he was stunned.

“Holy shit, your mother!”

Skullhead suddenly erupted in a loud shout.

Then he kicked a nearby teammate.

The teammate flipped onto his back, then defiantly got up and shouted back angrily:

“Fuck you, motherfucker!”

The two immediately started brawling, throwing brutal punches at each other.

Every punch landed with solid impact!

Lin Xu was dumbfounded.

He seriously suspected these two were just venting personal grudges.

Skullhead’s nose was already bleeding from the blows, but he showed no sign of stopping.

They fought like this for a full thirty seconds before other team members joined the fray.

Chaos.

***

Violence.

Lin Xu never imagined he’d witness such an intense street brawl, even in a dream.

Good grief, how was this any different from a bare-knuckle fight among Russian toughs?

He watched with fascination, momentarily forgetting his true purpose.

But soon, things changed.

The police inside the station were alerted.

A uniformed officer pushed open the door and shouted:

“What’s going on?!”

The brawling group ignored him completely, just swinging their fists.

Seeing he couldn’t intervene, the officer went back inside.

The next moment, several burly men in plainclothes burst out.

“Stop fighting, all of you!”

“Damn it, fighting all the way to the precinct’s doorstep?!”

As the words fell, Skullhead’s punching slowed, but he still didn’t stop.

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck your ass!”

Outside the precinct, the commotion was loud.

“Arrest all of them!”

“Have you all been drinking too much or what?”

The burly man who seemed to be in charge shouted angrily, and the others immediately swarmed forward, forcibly pinning down the fighters.

“Cut it out!”

“You bunch of lawless idiots…”

The leader stood between Skullhead and the first teammate who threw a punch, about to handcuff Skullhead when Skullhead suddenly glanced around and shouted:

“Officer, this man is a fugitive!”

“He’s got issues! We just found out! We’re about to take him in!”

The moment those words came out, not only those at the police station but even Lin Xu was stunned.

Just like that?!

What if the officers didn’t fall for it? Wouldn’t it blow their cover?

But clearly, Skullhead knew the police of Jinling City better than he did.

“Handcuff him first!”

The leader gave the order and then pulled out a somewhat outdated square device from his pocket.

A police PDA!

They had been tricked.

But what next?

The leader fiddled with the PDA for a moment, then walked over to the teammate Skullhead had pointed out and began scanning his iris with the built-in scanner.

Moments later, information popped up.

The leader frowned.

“What fugitive? Slander is also a criminal offense!”

“Just fighting, so what the hell…”

Before he finished speaking, a figure suddenly dashed past.

The next instant, the leader’s hand was empty.

He stared in disbelief at the figure who had shoved past the cluster of people at the precinct’s entrance and vanished into the distance.

***

Holy shit.

Stealing a phone??

Isn’t that an ancient tactic by now?!

Even crazier—they stole the police PDA?!

Are you nuts??

Not just him—Lin Xu, standing hidden in the alley watching the assigned teammate rush toward him, was dumbfounded as well.

He had expected Skullhead’s plan to be high-tech, precise, mysterious, and unfathomable.

But instead…

He used such a straightforward and unpretentious method.

It reminded him of a cliché he once read about.

What’s the ultimate hacker technique?

The answer: break into the target company and steal the hard drive, or hire a janitor to unplug the network cable every half hour.

Social engineering!

Skullhead’s approach was clearly the same.

Top-tier social engineering!

The teammate who snatched the PDA reached Lin Xu, forcefully knocking him down.

As Lin Xu struggled to get up, the PDA was already in his hand.

Its screen was lit, not even logged out of the system.

He didn’t hesitate for a second and turned to run deeper into the alley.

Behind him, the police officers, who had been dumbfounded by Skullhead’s antics, regained their senses and gave chase in full sprint.

“Dispatch! Dispatch!”

“Lock down the area near Yuhua New Village, Road No. 1!”

“Activate Sky Eye! Deploy nearby forces to encircle!”

“No, no guns missing!”

“Some drunk idiot just stole my police PDA!”

…

Listening to the enraged commands, Lin Xu felt as absurd as if he had just watched an entire show about guarding Liberation West.

But he had no time to dwell on it.

He found a concealed corner and quickly crouched down, then swiftly operated the PDA to return to the search interface.

He had to admit, this device was surprisingly easy to use.

Just a few input fields.

Lin Xu entered the ID information of Xu Jin, which he had memorized beforehand, and used the fuzzy search function.

Moments later, the results appeared.

No such person found!

Xu Jin was not among the detainees!

Already dead?!

Lin Xu furrowed his brows deeply. Hesitating less than a second, he exited to the PDA’s main page, where he saw an entry labeled “General Search.”

He clicked in and entered the ID again.

This time, there was a result.

Xu Jin, male, from Jinling.

Age: 42.

Status…

At large!