Cave Refuge

After the battle ended, you needed to hand in your weapon and then receive points; following that, if the commander re-assigned this weapon to you, only then would the weapon truly belong to you.

However, if the commander did not assign the weapon to you but to someone else, theoretically, he only had to compensate you with items of equivalent value to the weapon, without needing your consent.

To put it simply, the commander could take gold from you and then provide you with some scrap iron you couldn't use, which although individually worthless, could count as compensation when amassed in a certain quantity.

Besides the convoluted allocation of spoils of war, almost every other clause in the contract had some sort of issue, to a greater or lesser extent.

These contractual terms appeared completely normal on the surface, but if you pondered carefully, you could sense the problems within these stipulations.

Just as Dong Tianyu was about to type a question in the group chat, Fred Lewis unexpectedly muted Dong Tianyu in the group chat, and then, seeing new members join, followed the same routine, copying and pasting that long speech in the chat again.

Fred Lewis's behavior reminded Dong Tianyu of the health product shop scam that offered freebies, calling strangers to say a small household appliance would be gifted for free. You only had to appear to sign in, no need to spend a penny or log into any websites on your phone; just show up, and they'd give you the item.

When you actually went at the designated time, they indeed only required you to record your name and phone number, and then, as described over the phone, they handed you the small household appliance they had mentioned.

In reality, they were filtering customers. If you were young, they would simply give you a card after the designated time, direct you where to collect your item, and you could leave as soon as you got it.

But if you were middle-aged or elderly, they would invite you into a pre-arranged room and "lecture" you, stirring your emotions and engaging you in so-called trust games.

The trust game was simple, at first just adding each other on Instagram to receive a gift, then you'd transfer ten yuan to them. After receiving the money, they'd send it back, returning not just what you had transferred, but as thanks for your trust, they'd include an additional gift.

After a few rounds, the amount you transferred to them increased, and their refund speed became slower.

Eventually, they'd produce an item theoretically of high value, usually an electronic product like a tablet, and stick to the original trust game spiel.

When you opened the electronic product's packaging and activated it with your phone number as they requested, they suggested using the product as collateral. If you returned the next day, they promised to refund all the money you had transferred the day before, and you could keep the electronic product as a free trial.

But when you returned the next day, they were long gone, and even if you turned to Uncle Policeman, because of the electronic product in your possession, they could only categorize their actions as high buying and low selling, merely a market behavior.