It's a misunderstanding.
Thomas just looked too much like an NPC.
He even brazenly hung a string of money on his waist, right next to his purse. For players looking for targets to steal from, it's as tempting as having [Steal from me] written on his face.
Thomas looked at the remaining string of money, and couldn't help but tear up.
— The reason the remaining string of money wasn't taken wasn't out of kindness. It's just that the string of money was too heavy and removing it would definitely be noticed.
He couldn't swallow his pride, wanted to call the police, but didn't know who to report to: the county yamen? Soldiers? Or someone else?
Where is the Drum of Injustice?
After hesitating for a few seconds, Thomas chose the modern equivalent of the Drum of Injustice—
He opened up his panel, jumped to the Cloud Dream Forum, and entered the "Chang'an" subforum to post:
[Stealing money from your own kind? Be a decent human being!]
...
Thomas was extremely wronged.