Chapter 2: As the Curtain Falls, Only Then Is the Victor Revealed.
The next moment—
The clock on the stage suddenly stopped, then abruptly began spinning rapidly until the hour hand swiftly reached 5:30 a.m., where it came to a halt.
Immediately after,
The black curtain hanging above the Olympic venue was violently pulled back, and a slightly glaring sunlight poured onto the faces of everyone inside.
A wave of astonished gasps erupted from the audience. Many stood up in disbelief, gazing upward toward the sunlight streaming down.
Dawn... had come?
How could it suddenly be bright outside?
Impossible!
It should clearly still be the middle of the night now!
Even the few plainclothes officers seated in the front row stood in stunned silence, their eyes wide as they looked up at the sunlight. Confirming that it was indeed morning light—not some LED screen or trick—they felt an instant flicker of thought: Could this person truly be a god?
Otherwise, how could they control the dawn?
How could they transform night into day in an instant?
He would stake his life on the fact that only an hour and a half had passed tonight—definitely not five and a half hours!
...
Chen Jiang on the stage looked down at the crowd, who had risen in disbelief. A faint, satisfied smile curled at the corner of his lips. He spread his arms wide, as if embracing every spectator.
With a flick of his hands, a few playing cards appeared.
Then,
His voice echoed through the venue’s sound system into every ear.
“There are fifty-two possibilities in a deck of cards, but the magician always holds the fifty-third.”
“My name is Chen Jiang, a...”
“Magician.”
The next instant—
Countless playing cards soared into the air, cascading like a waterfall, completely obscuring his figure.
When the cards settled onto the ground,
He had vanished without a trace.
At the very moment of his disappearance, all the lights inside the venue brightened, and the sound system announced the end of the show, urging all guests to exit orderly and collect their phones and belongings at the exit.
Only then did the audience, still in delayed realization, break into near-frenzied applause, their faces alight with exhilaration.
The thunderous applause reverberated throughout the entire arena.
This was a grand magic show worthy of eternal renown!
Everyone would remember this performance.
“Night turned into day!”
No one knew how it was done, but that no longer mattered. At this moment, everyone was eager to leave the venue, to see if it was truly dawn, and to share their experience on social media, telling the world what they had witnessed.
...
Dawn had come.
As the audience gradually dispersed, the plainclothes officers in the front rows had retrieved their phones and contacted their colleagues, who confirmed that the Black Marsh City Central Bank had not been robbed that night.
They breathed a sigh of relief, then called over several criminal investigators to figure out what had really happened.
Why had it suddenly turned daylight?
How on earth was it pulled off?
Fortunately, although Chen Jiang’s exit was dramatic, he had not taken away the stage props or some of the arrangements, allowing them to uncover many clues.
“Have you figured out how it was done?”
A middle-aged plainclothes officer anxiously looked at his criminal investigation colleagues. His mind felt disoriented because reality seemed at odds with his perception—he was certain only an hour and a half had passed, so how could it suddenly be daylight?
“Sort of,”
A criminal investigator standing behind the stage squinted and spoke quietly, “The entire venue maintained a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, humidity steady at 60%, and the ventilation system released a faint lavender scent. Achieving such precision in environmental control means this tour’s production costs were not cheap.”
“Maintaining this temperature alone would only subconsciously make people feel a bit more comfortable, but it would greatly increase expenses.”
“This environment drastically reduces people’s perception of time passing, and also... suppresses the urge to use the restroom.”
“Just that?”
The middle-aged officer furrowed his brows, pondering deeply before saying, “It can’t be only that. I can clearly feel that at most only an hour and a half has passed!”
The criminal investigator did not respond immediately. After some reflection, a spark of admiration flashed in his eyes as he lit a cigarette.
“The final grand magic act was less a trick and more a large-scale social experiment!”
“Every detail, from the moment you entered the venue, subtly influenced your perception of time.”
“All phones and watches were collected so the audience had no way to check the time.”
“The clock above the stage displayed the wrong time.”
“At the same time, faint chimes and high-frequency strobe lights inside the venue further altered the audience’s sense of time!”
“All the small magic acts before the finale were just setups for the last trick.”
“In the playback, I saw Chen Jiang have you collectively count to three seconds—but actually six seconds passed, and no one noticed. Your perception of time skewed right then.”
“Breaking it down carefully—”
“It was basically a meticulously controlled environment combined with psychological suggestion, group hypnosis, and technological aids, making the entire audience unknowingly experience compressed time.”
“You thought only an hour and a half had passed.”
“In reality, five and a half hours had gone by.”
“Thus creating the effect of sudden daylight.”
“One very important point you might not have noticed is that the audience admitted tonight was strictly screened—no one smoked after the show, meaning all smokers were filtered out. I suspect even people with unstable conditions, like stomach problems, were excluded.”
“...”
The middle-aged officer sighed after a long silence, “I have to admit, this experience is truly unforgettable. But at least the Central Bank of Black Marsh City was not robbed last night.”
“So he failed, then?”
“This time, we won.”
“Then why didn’t you storm the venue midway?”
...
“Most of our forces were stationed around the bank tonight. We knew your show was longer than usual, but we had no time to come over. As long as you kept your eyes on him, any accomplices moving outside would be caught.”
Just then—
A phone rang. Upon answering, an urgent voice came through from a colleague.
“Last night, the Black Marsh City First Enforcement Bureau was robbed. An S-level classified document has been stolen.”
“What!”
The middle-aged officer’s face instantly turned pale!
The First Enforcement Bureau of Black Marsh City was the largest armed agency in the city and the most heavily guarded place. How could it possibly be robbed? Unless… unless a large number of officers had been reassigned elsewhere last night, leaving the bureau undermanned.
He and the criminal investigators exchanged grim looks, almost instantly understanding.
It was a diversion.
Chen Jiang’s true target from the start had been the Black Marsh City First Enforcement Bureau. The so-called thirteen-stop tour was merely a setup for the final stop, just as all the small magic tricks tonight had been groundwork for the grand finale.
Damn it!
They should have seen this coming!
When the curtain falls, only then do you know who the true winner is.
...
Black Marsh City, early morning on the streets.
Inside a steamed bun shop,
Chen Jiang sat savoring a freshly steamed meat bun. The next moment, the door was pushed open, and a slight, thin man entered, waving a USB drive in his hand.
Chen Jiang bit into his bun, chewing slowly.
The two locked eyes, both unable to suppress a smile.
“How was the show?”
“Perfect.”
“I could hear the thunderous applause from outside.”
“Lovely, wasn’t it?”
“Of course.”
“Just a bit tiring.”
“Performing for five and a half hours straight would be exhausting. But Brother Jiang, you must have thought of easier ways to get the job done, right?”
“Opportunities like this performance don’t come often.”
“Brother Jiang.”
“Hm?”
“You’re a magician born through and through.”
“Thanks for the compliment. I like hearing that. You’ve been a perfect partner too.”