Chapter 58: Eyes Prowling in the Shadows

After exchanging greetings, Elaine began to pour out her grievances.

"Shawn, you have no idea. Lately, all sorts of people have been coming here every day to look for you and knock on your door."

"There have been Los Angeles police officers, Chinese international students, your classmates and friends, auction house representatives, and professional treasure hunters, among others."

"It seems I am still quite popular. If I had known this, I really should have come back earlier," Shawn joked.

Elaine rolled her eyes in exasperation and said with lingering fear:

"These guys were still relatively normal. There were others who came looking for you in the dead of night, and at first glance, they were clearly up to no good."

"Several times at night, I heard noises coming from your room, and it scared me so much I couldn't even sleep."

Shawn’s expression shifted instantly, and then he shook his head helplessly.

"Sigh! It seems I can't live in this apartment anymore. I have to move out of here as soon as possible."

"Aren't there security guards downstairs in the apartment building? How could they let those people wander in and out so casually?" David asked in surprise.

"A security guard in his fifties weighing over one hundred and twenty kilograms—what on earth do you expect him to do?"

"With the meager salary he makes, if he discovers a burglary and actually manages to call the police, that's already doing a fantastic job."

Hearing Shawn say this, David could only nod in agreement.

Shortly after, he took out his keys and handed them over.

After taking the keys, Shawn didn't immediately open the door. Instead, he quickly scanned the hallway and the entrance of the apartment.

Immediately following that, he pulled out his phone and called Anthony downstairs.

The call went through instantly, and Anthony's voice came over the line.

"Shawn, is something wrong? Do you need us to come up?"

"No, but this apartment and the hallway need to be thoroughly searched. I'm afraid someone might have installed surveillance cameras or wiretaps here."

"Do you have the appropriate detection equipment? If so, bring a few units over and search this place from top to bottom."

Shawn briefly explained the situation.

Even as he spoke these words, his gaze casually swept over the emergency light on the hallway wall.

The very first moment he entered the hallway earlier, he had already scanned the area with his perspective ability.

Hidden inside that emergency light was a pinhole camera, with its lens pointed directly at the door of his apartment, extremely well-concealed.

The moment he returned to his apartment, whoever installed that camera would undoubtedly find out right away.

And this was merely one of the surveillance devices; elsewhere in the hallway, several more pinhole cameras and wiretaps were hidden.

Inside the apartment itself, there were bound to be even more of these gadgets.

Precisely because of this, Shawn had asked Anthony to bring over some detection equipment to thoroughly scan the inside and outside of the apartment.

"We have that kind of equipment, Shawn. I'll have Sam grab the gear immediately and we'll be right up."

"Since you have these concerns, don't enter the apartment yet, just in case there are other things waiting inside." Anthony replied.

"Alright, you'd better keep a full set of equipment in the car; we might end up needing it at any time in the future."

"Put the cost of purchasing this equipment on my tab, and make sure you buy the absolute best," Shawn instructed, looking rather helpless.

"That couldn't be better. Leave it to us," Anthony acknowledged before hanging up.

Hearing that there might be pinhole cameras and wiretaps around, Elaine froze, feeling more than a little terrified.

After coming to her senses, she rapidly surveyed her surroundings, looking deeply paranoid.

Right after that, she asked impatiently:

"Shawn, are there really pinhole cameras or wiretaps here? Isn't that a bit too exaggerated?"

"You're just a professional treasure hunter who struck it rich, not a secret agent. Do people really need to use tactics like this?"

Shawn looked at the beautiful woman and shrugged his shoulders.

"There's no help for it. Wealth moves people's hearts! A sudden windfall is guaranteed to turn people green with jealousy!"

"Pinhole cameras and wiretaps can be bought anywhere online. The people who use them haven't been limited to military intelligence or secret agents for a long time!"

Compared to Elaine, David appeared much calmer.

As a lawyer, he had seen too many things of this nature and long since grown accustomed to them.

"Being careful never hurts, Shawn. Nowadays, anyone can buy surveillance equipment, and using it requires zero effort."

"Elaine, given your relationship with Shawn, I suggest your apartment gets thoroughly searched as well."

"Ah!"

Elaine let out another cry of shock, turned her head to look at her own apartment, her eyes filled with terror and a hint of shame and anger.

If pinhole cameras had been installed inside her apartment as well, hadn't she been living under the constant surveillance of others these past few days?

Even if there were pinhole cameras in her apartment, she dearly hoped there weren't any in the bathroom.

Thinking of this, Elaine felt a sudden chill run through her and couldn't help shivering.

Immediately following that, she nodded hastily.

"Alright, search my apartment thoroughly too, or else I won't dare sleep here for the life of me."

"The mere thought of someone hiding in the dark, constantly spying on me, makes my whole body shudder."

"Don't worry, Elaine. This trouble started because of me, and I will take responsibility for your safety," Shawn said with resolute conviction.

Afterwards, the three of them stood waiting in the hallway.

David had originally suggested going into Elaine's apartment, but Elaine still had lingering fears and preferred standing outside to going back inside.

Meanwhile.

In various parts of Los Angeles, several different groups of people were cursing in unison.

"F***! This bastard Shawn is way too cautious. Damn it all to hell!"

"The pinhole cameras and wiretaps we installed were about to pay off, and now they're completely useless. All that effort wasted!"

While hurling curses, these individuals wore expressions of utter frustration and disappointment.

Through the feeds captured by the pinhole cameras, they could clearly see that Shawn had returned empty-handed.

This was more than enough proof that those priceless top-tier antiques, cultural relics, and works of art had already been disposed of by him.

Any further thoughts of ransacking those antiquities and artworks were now completely out of the question.

Furthermore, they had overheard the conversation between Shawn and Anthony, learning that he had hired bodyguards, which only deepened their disappointment.

These fellows understood that they wouldn't be able to extract any benefits from Shawn anymore, at least not in the short term.

After bustling about for days, only to be met with such an outcome, those individuals felt profoundly dejected.

At the apartment building.

Shawn and the others stood chatting casually in the hallway, though their voices were kept very low so that only the three of them could hear.

During this time, various friends living in the apartment building kept coming over to ask Shawn about the legends surrounding him.

Shawn greeted these people politely, using the opportunity to inform them:

The antiques, cultural relics, and artworks he had stumbled upon had all been disposed of. He hadn't kept a single piece, making it impossible to invite them over for a viewing.

In truth, these words weren't meant for those friends at all; they were intended for the people currently monitoring him.

A few friends brought up the desire to accompany him to upcoming auctions just to broaden their horizons.

All of their requests were politely declined by Shawn.

He claimed that he had no idea when or where he would attend his next auction, rendering him unable to make any promises.

Several Chinese international student friends also expressed a wish to join his livestream channel.

These individuals wanted to go treasure hunting alongside Shawn, hoping to purchase some good items through the broadcast.

Shawn turned them down as well, informing them that access to the livestream channel was temporarily closed.

Only after the storm completely blew over would he consider reopening admission to the stream.

Amidst the casual conversation, he also sent a message to Fang Yufei, telling her to exercise extra caution.

Later that evening, he would take Anthony and the others to USC to conduct a security sweep for Fang Yufei as well.

As they spoke, Anthony and his crew arrived upstairs carrying their equipment.

Upon meeting up, Shawn immediately pointed at the hallway and said:

"Anthony, scan the hallway first and see if you can find anything."

"Once you're done with the hallway, search my apartment and Elaine's. Do a thorough sweep of both."

"After ferreting out any potential surveillance devices, help us set up some countermeasures so nobody can sneak back in and tamper with things."

"Got it, Shawn. Leave it to us," Anthony replied with a confident nod.

Shortly after, Anthony and Sam got down to business.

Within the blink of an eye, the detectors in their hands emitted a series of beeps.

They had scanned their very first surveillance and eavesdropping device—none other than the pinhole camera hidden inside the emergency light.