"Tires, wheel hubs, catalytic converters, electronic equipment, audio systems, batteries, air conditioning compressors—after all, those are the most valuable parts on a car. The rest are bigger items, inconvenient to transport and handle," Mark said.
"Can you send me the list of transactions and the whereabouts of the parts? You can name your terms," Allen Zhang said.
"..." Mark fell silent upon hearing this.
"Mark, how much does your boss pay you per hour? I plan to acquire a modification shop in the future, would you like to come work with me?" Allen Zhang bluntly waved the hoe, trying to poach him.
"I’m doing pretty well here, I’m not thinking about switching jobs any time soon. Don’t you mainly deal with can recycling?" Mark asked, puzzled.
"Opening up a new market means making more money, don’t tell me you don’t understand that? I’ve also got a bar," Allen Zhang said with a smile.
"Ok, you’re the boss, you have the money to invest wherever you like, while I’m just a guy good at fixing cars, without much savings. Maybe if you really do open a modification shop, I might be interested in working with you."
"Forget about compensation, I’ve been pissed at those Black Devils for a while, consider this free intel, it’s not a big deal. I’m helping you out this time, but if I run into trouble later on, you better help me solve it!"
After saying this, Mark sent a screenshot of the cargo transaction list to Allen Zhang.
"Don’t worry, I’m always generous with friends. If you need my help with anything in the future, just ask."
After a few more words, Mark suddenly heard a dog barking on the other end, and he couldn’t help but curse, "Fxxk, that damn fatso is back again. He’s been looking for trouble with me recently. Gotta go, I’m off to sort him out!"
The call ended, and it seemed to Allen Zhang that he could hear the sound of a gun being cocked.
These people with turf in the suburbs handle their business wildly; they’ve got a hint of Detroit and Florida in them.
Allen Zhang opened the image to take a look: over thirty pages of screenshots, with clear pricing from small parts costing dozens of dollars to catalytic converters worth hundreds of dollars, and even customized wheel hubs and tires priced in the thousands.
Transactions started back in ’18, with several more intermittently, the most recent just days ago, involving the engine and catalytic converter of an old Lamborghini Gallardo, among various other parts. But Mike’s modification shop only purchased the engine and catalytic converter.
Other parts such as the frame, chassis, braking system, electronic equipment, and audio systems were not on their purchase list.
It was likely Black sold them to other shops.
Allen Zhang searched the news and indeed, the Southern Branch had sent out a notice, with thousands of vehicles involved in crimes this past half month alone. Several hundred vehicles had been recovered, others were still under rewards for their capture or in the evidence acquisition phase of the investigation.
And the Lamborghini Gallardo’s owner had also posted an $8,000 US Dollar reward, but obviously, he’d never find his car again - that Gallardo had been dismantled into parts scattered far and wide, now unknowingly fitted onto some second-hand car.
Allen Zhang took the initiative to contact the owner anonymously, sending part of the cargo list via text.
The other party responded quickly, opening the message: Who are you? Are you sure this is my car?
Anonymous: You don’t need to know who I am, I’m just a Good Samaritan. What I want to tell you is that your Lamborghini has been dismantled, you’ll never find it again, but I suggest you check out Titan Game Hall in Zone 5 of Los Angeles if you have the guts.
After a few minutes of silence, as if the other party was checking the background, another message came through: Thank you for providing this information, how can I repay you? Can I add a contact method?
Anonymous: Call me Lei Feng.
Allen Zhang put away his phone and stopped concerning himself with the matter. If the Lamborghini owner decided to cause trouble, those Black Devils would be in for a headache.
Based on just the data from these transaction slips, the police couldn’t arrest them, as there was no physical evidence to form a chain; they couldn’t just be taken down like that.
However, it wouldn’t be easy for those Black Devils to investigate him, not without the technology available on the internet, solely in the realm of Blitz, the hacker godfather.
Allen Zhang just sent a message to Blitz, asking him to stir up some trouble for those Black Devils.
Allen Zhang: Blitz, can you remotely control slot machines? The kind that can spit out tokens at the press of a button, no matter what the player does.
Blitz: That’s easy, just need to alter the mainframe data. Are you talking about the slot machine style found in big game arcades?
Allen Zhang: Exactly, some Biker Gang members from Titan Game Hall want to investigate me, not sure when they’ll come looking for trouble, so I want to strike first and cause them some problems, preferably shutting them down so they won’t have the energy to bother me.
Blitz: I can write a small program for you; just plug a USB into the mainframe, and it can affect the data, triggering unlimited gold coin payouts. But this does come with some risks. I suggest directly hacking their network, send some crawlers to alter the slot machines’ data, although that’s illegal and the police could trace it.