My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

He's a college student, and his monthly living expenses are only 2,000 yuan. He can't even earn a fraction of that amount.

His sister, his own sister, used his photos to scam nearly three million yuan online.

"What happened to that money?" he asked, his voice dry and hoarse. "Did you spend it all on the card game 'Three Kingdoms Kill'?"

Jiang Miaomiao's silence was the best answer.

Jiang Yi finally raised his head.

He looked at his sister, the one born on the same day, month, and year as him, the one he grew up with, the one he thought he knew better than anyone else, who now seemed like a strange monster he had never seen before.

"Jiang Miaomiao." His voice suddenly became very calm, unnaturally calm, "Do you know what three million means?"

Jiang Miaomiao dared not speak.

"Three million is enough for our parents to save for more than thirty years without eating or drinking!"

Three million yen can cover the down payment on a small apartment in Kyoto. Three million yen—"

His voice finally cracked slightly, "Enough for you to spend half your life in prison."

"Brother..." Jiang Miaomiao's voice was broken and incoherent.

"I don't want to go to jail... I really don't want to go to jail... Please save me... Please save me..."

"How can I save you?" Jiang Yi's voice suddenly rose. "What can I use to save you? Three million! Where am I supposed to get three million? Tell me!"

"Then...what...what should we do...?"

Jiang Miaomiao's body trembled; almost her entire body was shaking.

Jiang Miaomiao's body trembled like a leaf.

Her fingers gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles white as if they were about to break. She huddled in the McDonald's plastic chair, shivering in the cold wind like a leaf battered by a storm.

"Brother...brother, say something..."

Her voice was broken and incoherent, tears and snot mingling together, reflecting the pale light.

"Don't stay silent... You can scold me, you can hit me... Please don't stay silent..."

Jiang Yi sat opposite him, his hands supporting his forehead, his fingertips digging deep into his hair.

He neither moved nor spoke.

The other customers at the McDonald's had already left, and the mother with the child had left long ago. Only a young man wearing headphones was still engrossed in eating his hamburger in the corner, completely unaware of what was happening around him.

The stark white light shone on the bucket of ice cream that had gone cold on the table, on the two glasses of cola covered with water droplets, and on Jiang Miaomiao's tear-streaked face.

"Brother..." Jiang Miaomiao reached out and carefully touched Jiang Yi's arm, as if testing the water temperature.

Jiang Yi suddenly raised his head.

His eyes were red as if they were about to bleed, but not from crying; rather, they were filled with a deeper, burning anger and despair that seemed to burn from the very marrow of his bones.

The way he looked at Jiang Miaomiao was as if he were looking at someone he had never met before.

"Three million." His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against glass. "Jiang Miaomiao, tell me, three million, what are you going to do with it?"

Jiang Miaomiao's lips trembled, her teeth chattered, and she made a faint "clucking" sound, like a mouse gnawing on something.

"I...I..." she stammered, "I sold the account...it could have sold for over 200,000...and then...and then I worked...120 a day, over 3,000 a month, over 40,000 a year..."

She couldn't continue.

It costs over 40,000 a year, so it will take more than 70 years to pay off the 3 million. She's 21 this year, and she'll be almost 100 when she finishes paying it off.

"Still going? Why don't you just stop?"

Jiang Yi's voice carried an almost cruel calmness.

"Sure, you're pretty good at math, aren't you? You could calculate things perfectly when you were lying, so why can't you calculate it now?"

Jiang Miaomiao lowered her head, tears falling onto the table and spreading into small water stains on the plastic tablecloth.

"I have no idea……"

Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

"I really don't know what to do, bro... I'm scared... I'm so scared..."

Her body started shaking again, this time even more violently than before. It was as if she were sitting on a vibrating machine, every inch of her body, from her shoulders to her fingers, from her thighs to her toes, was trembling.

"I don't want to go to jail..."

She looked up, her eyes bloodshot, her pupils dilated with fear, her dark pupils like two bottomless holes.

"Brother, I don't want to go to jail... I'm only twenty-one... I haven't graduated yet... I don't want to go to jail..."

As she was talking, she suddenly slid off the chair, her knees landing on the cold tile floor. She grabbed Jiang Yi's trouser legs with both hands, looked up at him, and tears slid down her cheeks, down her temples, and into her ears.

"Brother, please save me...please save me...I know I was wrong...I really know I was wrong...I'll never lie again...I promise...I swear..."

Jiang Yi looked down at his younger sister kneeling on the ground, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

His eyes reddened, but he didn't shed a tear.

It's not that she doesn't want to cry, it's that she can't cry. He's her brother, and if even he cries, she's truly finished.

"Get up." He reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Brother, you promised to save me?" A light suddenly shone in Jiang Miaomiao's eyes, the kind of almost frantic light a drowning person would have when grabbing the last piece of driftwood.

"Get up first."

"I won't get up unless you agree!"

Jiang Miaomiao's voice suddenly became sharp and urgent, like a string stretched to its limit finally snapping.

"Brother, you can't abandon me! I'm your own sister! We came from the same mother! You can't abandon me!"

Jiang Yi closed his eyes.

"I told you, get up first."

He pulled Jiang Miaomiao up from the ground by her arm and made her sit back in the chair.

Her knee hit the table leg, and she winced in pain, but she ignored the pain and gripped Jiang Yi's wrists tightly with both hands, as if afraid that he would disappear at any moment.

"Brother, I've got it!" she suddenly exclaimed, her voice filled with an almost manic excitement.

"Sister-in-law! Xia Anmian! She knows Gu Qinghan, she must be rich! Brother, borrow some money from her to help me cover this hole, I'll pay her back slowly later!"

Jiang Yi's expression changed in that instant.

It's not just anger, but something even more terrifying than anger.

disappointment.

A profound, bone-deep disappointment.

He stared at Jiang Miaomiao for a full five seconds, then slowly, bit by bit, pulled his wrist out of her hand.

"Jiang Miaomiao." His voice suddenly became very calm, unnaturally calm. "What did you just say?"

Jiang Miaomiao was frightened by his expression. The frenzy she had just felt vanished instantly, replaced by a deeper and more intense fear.

"I...I said I wanted to borrow some money from my sister-in-law..."

"Jiang Miaomiao".

Jiang Yi interrupted her, each word sounding as if it had been pulled from an ice cellar.

"You swindled someone out of three million, and now you want my girlfriend to cover for you? Have you no shame?"

Jiang Miaomiao opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Jiang Yi's expression, she swallowed her words back.

"And whether he even has a girlfriend is another matter."

Jiang Yi is now filled with regret. He shouldn't have helped her; she deserved it.

"I'm not thinking about it... I just wanted to borrow it..."

"Borrow? What will you use to pay it back?"

Jiang Miaomiao was choked and speechless, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"I thought you were just confused for a moment, but now I realize you're not confused, you're hopeless."

Jiang Yi stood up, and the chair slid backward, making a screeching sound on the tiled floor.

"You fucking think about it slowly here, and then we'll talk."

He turned and left.

"Brother!" Jiang Miaomiao jumped up from her chair, rushed over and grabbed his arm. "Brother, don't go! I was wrong! I shouldn't have mentioned sister-in-law! I won't! Don't go!"

Jiang Yi shook off her hand.

"elder brother!"

Jiang Yi had already reached the door. His hand was on the doorknob, and he was about to push the door open—

The door was pushed open from the outside.

It wasn't pushed open, it was smashed open.

The McDonald's glass door suddenly slammed open, and the door frame slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

The motion-sensor lights in the corridor turned on due to the vibration, casting a stark white light on the person standing at the door.

Three policemen.

Leading the way was a young policeman in uniform, with a body camera clipped to his chest and handcuffs and a walkie-talkie hanging from his waist.

He was followed by two colleagues in uniform, and the three of them completely blocked the doorway.

"Jiang Yi?" The lead policeman glanced at the documents in his hand, then looked up at the pale-faced young man in front of him.

Jiang Yi's hand was still on the doorknob, and he was completely still, as if the pause button had been pressed.

The boy in that corner of McDonald's finally took off his headphones, half a hamburger dangling from his mouth, and stared wide-eyed at them.

The clerk behind the cashier leaned out halfway, clutching a rag used for wiping tables.

"It is me." Jiang Yi heard his own voice coming back from a great distance, dry, hoarse, and unlike his own.

"We are from the Chaoyang Branch of the Kyoto Municipal Public Security Bureau."

The lead policeman flashed his badge; the gold badge gleamed blindingly in the stark white light.

"You are suspected of involvement in a major online fraud case, involving more than three million yuan. Please cooperate with the investigation and come with us."

Jiang Yi felt as if all the blood had been drained from his body, a chill running from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

His hands began to grow cold, his fingertips were icy, and his palms were covered in cold sweat. He remembered the dream.

In her dream, Jiang Miaomiao was being led away by the police, her hands handcuffed, her face contorted with tears.

In his dream, he stood in the corridor of the police station. The cold white light hurt his eyes. He rushed up to her, trying to grab her, but was pushed away.

However, reality is different from dreams; in reality, he is the one who is to be taken away by the police.