Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

In the hotel, after adjusting all the equipment and confirming there were no problems, Richard and the others, who were preparing to rest, suddenly heard an urgent knocking at the door.

The people sitting around inside the room felt their hearts skip a beat as they exchanged glances, wondering what the situation might be, when the urgent knocking emphasized the unkind intentions of the visitor.

The visitor shouted in broken English, "Open up, police! Search!"

"Police?"

Upon hearing this word, everyone felt a pang of panic in the depths of their hearts.

Richard gestured with his hand to calm everyone down, stood up from the tatami, walked to the door, and peered through the peephole to see the uniformed Japanese police; he asked, "Please show your identification, and also, do you have a search warrant?"

"Open up!"

The other side didn’t answer, only repeating the demand, with the knocking growing louder and louder.

"No search warrant, I can’t open the door, understand?" Seeing that the other side didn’t have a search warrant, Richard felt somewhat emboldened.

The authority of Japanese police is slightly greater than in other countries, as they can perform searches at will, a practice known as "shokumu shitsumon," but this requires the person to be outdoors.

Once they enter a private residence, whether it’s one’s own home, a rental, or a hotel, having a rental agreement means they must have a search warrant, otherwise it is illegal.

The knocking continued, and the other party even threatened to break down the door.

"What do we do if they decide to force their way in?" Mond asked the group.

Conducting a search by force without a warrant is already illegal.

The only problem is the proverbial dragon can’t suppress the local snakes.

If these people really barged in, even if it were against regulations, Richard and the others could do nothing about them.

Mandy and Keke had not returned yet, and once intruders came in, the fact that the two of them had been sneaking out would certainly be discovered.

Once discovered, the opposition would definitely intensify their search efforts.

Seeing that the other party was becoming more and more irritable, Richard urgently reminded everyone,

"They’re about to come in, remember to protest, make sure not to get into a conflict, don’t curse, don’t fight, and don’t even touch!"

Richard was well aware that once a physical altercation occurred, even if the police were at fault first, they could be charged with obstructing official business, providing the police with a sufficient reason to detain them, an eventuality he needed to prevent at all costs.

Outside the room, the hotel owner reluctantly persuaded but gave up and handed over the room key.

"Mond, record a video!" Richard shouted as the electronic sound signaled the door opening.

Bang! The door flew open.

Three uniformed men disregarded Richard’s attempts to block them and barged into the room, counting heads and quickly realizing that the numbers did not add up!

"Two people short?"

"Where are they?"

"Where are they?"

The three police officers immediately turned to Richard and demanded an explanation.

Jerry shrugged, "What, officer, don’t you have the power to restrict our freedom? Is it wrong for the two of them to go watch the night view on the beach now?"

"It’s three in the morning, watching the night view? Are you joking?" the leading officer shouted, "We now suspect you have intrusion..."

"Got a sudden urge, officer. Is there a problem with that?"

A voice suddenly interrupted the uniformed man’s words, as Mandy and Keke, with their arms around each other’s shoulders and panting heavily, stood at the doorway, their bodies covered in sweat.

"Just went to use the restroom, is there a problem with that?"

"Restroom? Doesn’t the hotel have one?"

"We prefer public toilets, is there a problem with that?"

"Officer, please show us the search warrant. If not, then please leave immediately, otherwise this video will soon be uploaded online!"

Jerry snatched Mond’s phone, which was recording, and shook the camera in front of the uniformed men.

The uniformed men instinctively reached out to grab it, but the electrical expert and others quickly stepped in front of Jerry, preventing them.

"Got that on video too!" Jerry yelled.

The scene was chaotic. Three policemen were surrounded by seven or eight people, unable to reach Jerret.

Helplessly, after uttering a few harsh words, the three could only skulk away dejectedly.

Had they failed?

Had Richard and the others succeeded?

Neither.

After the uniformed men left, silence once again descended upon the scene.

Why had the police suddenly come?

Without a doubt, Bi Fang and his two companions hadn’t completely concealed themselves. The villagers had been drawn to the anomaly and reported it, thus prompting the police’s surprise inspection.

Was the police’s purpose to take them away?

No, that might have been one of their objectives, but they had already confirmed who it was that had or hadn’t left.

Mandy, gasping for breath, scratched her head, "Sorry, I didn’t make it in time."

Real life, after all, cannot be like a movie with a perfectly timed rescue. If the two of them could have returned just five minutes earlier, perhaps none of this would have happened.

Richard shook his head, "Let’s go to sleep early. We’ll talk about this tomorrow."

The next day.

As expected, someone came looking for them.

It was a few minor officials from Taiji Town, holding something that looked like record sheets, stopping Richard and indicating they had some questions to ask.

Inside the camera lens, Jerret and the others recorded everything. In the dim footage, only the faint sounds of the conversation between the two could be heard.

A skinny, middle-aged man with glasses smiled, "A very strange phenomenon, in the dead of night, around dawn, three people in black... I think they must be... "

"Those were members of OPS, OPS members, the Ocean Protection Association, and we have nothing to do with them."

"It’s not me, I was asleep in the middle of the night."

"He says he doesn’t know, he was sleeping at that time." The interrogator relayed the conversation to the other two in Japanese.

The other two displayed awkward, not polite, smiles.

"Then your two... "

"I don’t know, I can’t speak for OPS, I can only represent Richard, no one but myself... "

"I was asleep at night, I’m not a member of OPS, whenever someone wants to talk to me, I talk, like about mercury poisoning."

"He’s talking about mercury poisoning again..."

An ineffective conversation.

No matter the question, Richard knew nothing.

The officials left.

Jerret took off his headset and threw it on the table, pinching the bridge of his nose, "They’re trying to divert attention."

The situation was more difficult than he had imagined.

This morning, Richard and his group discovered that, in addition to recorded broadcasts, three or four live transmission devices were missing their feed.

While not many, the message conveyed was decidedly bad.

The opposition was already checking, and all they could hope for was that the electrical expert and Bi Fang’s camouflage was strong enough to convincingly muddle the truth.

"Where’s Bi Fang?"

"He’s already started a live broadcast. Today is the fourth day of the Hunting Season, and his rank has slipped to third place."

Mond opened Bi Fang’s live broadcast video on the side, where an official real-time ranking was marked clearly.

Bi Fang’s rank had dropped from first place the day before yesterday to third place.

No one was idle during rest time.

Amidst the jungle, a somewhat tired Bi Fang yawned and, reinvigorating his spirit, headed deeper into the forest.