Chapter 181 - 180: The Truth Revealed

"I have something to deal with here. It’s no big deal. I’ll call you back in a bit." Ye Xuan gave Lin Aoxue a brief explanation and hung up.

Shooting the thief an icy glare, Ye Xuan warned coldly, "This is the last chance I’m giving you. Hand over my wallet, and I won’t hold you responsible."

The man hadn’t expected Ye Xuan to be this difficult to deal with. He staked out the airport all year round and had picked the pockets of countless people, never failing once. The moment Ye Xuan walked out of the airport, the thief had his eyes on him. First, Ye Xuan had an injured arm, making him less mobile. Second, he didn’t look like a local from Jingcheng, yet he wasn’t dressed poorly, making him an easy target. The thief had thought he was picking on a soft target this time, but who knew he’d kicked a steel plate instead.

"Brother, it’s no use giving me any more chances! I said I didn’t steal your wallet, which means I didn’t steal it. Why are you still falsely accusing me?" The man pulled out his phone, pretending he was going to make a call. "If you keep pestering me like this, then I’ll have no choice but to call the police."

This was his usual trick. Outsiders like this guy hated dealing with the security bureau the most, so the moment many of them heard about calling the police, their suspicions would instantly drop by half. Moreover, the thief would always put on an air of absolute righteousness, which made the victims even more uncertain about their stolen money. With this move, he could basically get away a hundred percent of the time.

Watching his pretentious act, Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow, his face cold. He had no intention of stopping the man at all. This time, it was the thief’s turn to panic.

"Hey, I’m really going to call the police now. Aren’t you afraid at all?" the thief emphasized again, phone in hand.

"Go ahead. I’d like to see how the security officers deal with a thief like you when they arrive." Ye Xuan sneered, curious to see how the thief would keep up his act.

The thief was choked speechless by his words. "Damn it, is there something wrong with this guy’s head?" he cursed in his mind. Then, his eyes darted around, and he brought out his trump card.

"Brother, I know you outsiders get really anxious when you lose your wallets. I’m also a drifter here in the north, so I know how hard it is," the thief said. "How about this? I’ll pay out of my own pocket and give you two hundred yuan. Just consider it me doing a good deed." With that, he pulled two red bills from his pocket and stuffed them into Ye Xuan’s hand.

This tactic of retreating in order to advance was undeniably effective. By using both the carrot and the stick, he won over the favor of the onlookers even more.

"I say, big brother, just let it go. Since this handsome guy already said so, stop pestering him," a bystander advised.

"Two hundred yuan is plenty. I bet you didn’t even have two hundred in that wallet of yours. Just be content," another chimed in.

"Exactly! You country bumpkins should be thanking God for meeting such a good person," someone else agreed.

In an instant, everyone’s spearhead was pointed at Ye Xuan. The thief looked at Ye Xuan, who was being criticized by the crowd, and snickered inwardly. "You country bumpkin, you still want to fight me? I’ll play you to death," he thought.

"Don’t blame this big brother, everyone. I think it must be hard on him to lose his wallet," the thief said magnanimously. "Brother, keep the money safe and find a place to stay first.

"Don’t complain that this two hundred yuan is too little. It’s just a small token of my goodwill." After speaking, the thief firmly pressed the money into Ye Xuan’s hand.

He had weighed the wallet when he stole it just now. Ye Xuan’s wallet was so bulging that it had to contain at least two or three thousand yuan. Giving him two hundred was completely worth it; he wouldn’t be losing out at all.

"Heh, it seems you’re determined to walk down this dark path to the bitter end." Ye Xuan sneered as he looked at the two hundred yuan in his hand. Then, he suddenly reached into the thief’s overcoat and directly pulled out a black crocodile skin wallet.

The thief hadn’t expected Ye Xuan to suddenly make a move and failed to react in time. By the time he came to his senses, the wallet was already in Ye Xuan’s hands.

"You said you didn’t steal my wallet. Then what is this?" Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow at the thief and asked playfully.

A hint of panic clearly appeared in the thief’s eyes, but he quickly composed himself.

"How can you be so ungrateful? What do you mean your wallet? This is my wallet, okay?

"I finally understand why you keep pestering me. You just want to extort me!

"You saw that I don’t dress like an ordinary person, so you wanted to use this despicable method to extort my money.

"And to think I took pity on you, thinking it was pitiful for an outsider like you to lose your wallet.

"Now it seems you don’t deserve my sympathy at all! Give me that wallet!" As soon as he finished speaking, the thief reached out to snatch the wallet from Ye Xuan’s hand.

Ye Xuan raised his arm, deliberately holding the wallet above his head. "You say this wallet is yours, but do you have any proof?"

Hearing Ye Xuan’s words, the thief was visibly taken aback. A few drops of cold sweat couldn’t help but slide down his forehead.

"What proof? This wallet is a limited edition from the L Family. Isn’t my outfit enough to prove that it belongs to me?" the thief retorted. "A broke loser like you won’t be able to afford anything from the L Family in your entire life!"

To think that even when caught red-handed with the stolen goods, this thief was still here distorting the truth.

Ye Xuan shook his head helplessly, deciding to show no more mercy. "Since you say this wallet is yours, tell me what’s inside. How much cash is in it, and how many cards are there?"

The thief hadn’t expected Ye Xuan to pull such a trick. A fine layer of sweat immediately covered his forehead. Seeing him unable to speak, Ye Xuan continued indifferently.

"Since you can’t tell me, I’ll tell you.

"There’s a total of two thousand two hundred yuan in this wallet, and all the bills have consecutive serial numbers. The first bill ends in 06, and the last ends in 2206.

"There are three cards inside: a Huaxia Bank gold card, a Baihua Bank gold card, and a VIP card for the Hong Kong and Guangdong Hair Salon.

"Oh, there are also two one-yuan coins, one fifty-cent coin, plus a photo of me and my girlfriend."

With every sentence Ye Xuan spoke, the thief’s face grew paler. By the end, his entire body was trembling. This was the only time he had met his Waterloo in all his years of thievery.

When the surrounding crowd who had initially spoken up for him saw his reaction, they instantly understood the situation. This guy had simply been playing them for fools!

"Damn it, this guy is absolutely detestable! Relying on his clean-cut looks and nice clothes, he twisted the truth like that!"

"I really didn’t expect him to be this kind of person! He kept saying he was going to call the police just now. Are thieves all this brazen nowadays?"

"Unforgivable! This guy was totally toying with us to win our sympathy!"

"Fortunately, this big brother stayed calm and exposed him piece by piece, or else we really would’ve helped a villain today!"

Public opinion was a fearsome thing. With everyone throwing in a word of their own, the surrounding crowd berated the thief so harshly that he couldn’t even lift his head.

"Brother, brother, I was wrong! I just had a moment of folly and made a mistake. I really didn’t mean to steal your wallet!"