Chapter 816: Chapter 812: Investigate
Many people are afraid to deal with matters because they don’t have the ability to resolve them, but Ye Fan is clearly not one of those people. In his code of conduct, he never initiates trouble, but if someone comes looking for it, he will not be softhearted.
He made a call to Lu Chengqiang. When the call connected, Lu Chengqiang’s voice came through, “Boss, what’s up?”
Lu Chengqiang is straightforward and direct. Knowing that Ye Fan wouldn’t call without a reason, he asked upfront.
Ye Fan cut to the chase, “Qiangzi, help me check on a person, Xie Liping, Xie’s Group.”
“Okay, give me ten minutes.”
Lu Chengqiang hung up the phone and walked out of the bar. Shi Sheng looked up and asked, “Qiangzi, are you sneaking off to the toilet?”
“Something’s up with the boss, I need to take care of it outside.”
Shi Sheng stood up, “Want me to lend a hand?”
“No need, it’s a minor issue.” Lu Chengqiang said and left. As he stood on the curb, he logged into a webpage on his phone, entered a username and a long, complex password. Moments later, the page shifted to a forum where he posted a message with a single title, “Xie Liping, Xie’s Group, all information.”
It took less than two seconds for a reply from an ID named Sloth: “Recept.”
Confirmation from the system came, and at the same time, across the Pacific Ocean in an apartment in Chicago, an excited cheer echoed.
In a room cluttered with random electronic parts and trash bags of food, a rotund man picked up a burger, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and washed it down with a massive gulp of cola. He flexed his plump, stubbly fingers and began typing rapidly on the keyboard.
In front of him, six or seven monitors of various sizes displayed rapidly flashing characters.
Instructions were sent through the internet, connecting to hundreds of servers across Asia, America, Europe, and Africa, bypassing firewalls and delving into thousands of databases. The enormous data was filtered and transmitted back.
On the other side of the Earth, Lu Chengqiang stood on the curb, smoking a cigarette, watching the traffic pass by. In this night, the city of over 20 million people was still very much alive.
Eight minutes later, an email arrived on Lu Chengqiang’s phone.
He forwarded it to Ye Fan’s mailbox and then called Ye Fan, “Boss, it’s done.”
After hanging up, the former Dragon Group member looked up at the starless night sky.
The Dragon Group might have been disbanded, but their intelligence network endured. Perhaps this was the only remnant that the former members scattered across the major military zones hung on to.
Images of fighting alongside his brothers appeared in his mind, battlefields in foreign lands where they braved storms of bullets and rain of fire, spilling their blood. Lowering his head, he found himself amidst the swirling, dazzling lights of a bustling nightlife.
Lu Chengqiang sighed, tossed the cigarette butt to the ground, turned around, hands in the pockets of his jeans, and walked back towards the bar.
The roar of an engine filled the street as a Lamborghini, carrying two sultry women, sped by. The force of the car lifted the cigarette butt, causing it to bounce and tumble across the road, sparking before it fell into the sewer.
In Mingde County, after Ye Fan completed his training for the day, he took a shower, lay on the bed, and opened the email sent by Lu Chengqiang.
It contained information on Xie Liping, from his birth to babbling words, from kindergarten to university, from returning home to now. The detailed and extensive information included his transcripts, falsified awards, the names and measurements of his first girlfriend, and even details of the nineteen women he slept with while studying in the United States.
If Ye Fan read through the entire email, he might know Xie Liping even better than he knew himself.
After reading for a bit, Ye Fan tossed the phone aside, feeling unimpressed, “I thought he was something impressive, turns out he’s just a rich second-generation kid with some tricks.”
At this moment, Xie Liping had already returned to Hua Hai City and entered a five-star hotel. He picked up a room card at the front desk and went straight to the reserved room, opening the door to enter.
The driver, who also acted as a bodyguard, gently closed the door, leaned against the wall, and lit a cigarette. After a while, a woman’s cries came from inside.
The soundproofing in the five-star hotel was good. Being able to hear the cries outside the door hinted at the woman’s enthusiasm.
Imagining the endless spring scene inside, the man who held dual roles smiled and murmured to himself, “When there’s work, the secretary does it; when there’s no work, get with the secretary. That’s what life’s about.”
As for the young commissioner named Ye Fan, not only did Xie Liping disregard him, but so did the man. He had, in fact, investigated Ye Fan. With five million to invest in the Mo Yan Group, his family probably had some money, but whether he truly possessed three hundred million was highly questionable.
Someone who could come up with three hundred million, why would they run to Mingde County, a place where birds wouldn’t even shit, to be some absurd commissioner? Why allow someone like Wang Xianzhong, a small fry, to jump around in front of them?
He must be trying to get close to the young lady of the Mo family!
Such a person, if they are to be done away with, so be it. It’s nothing significant.
The bodyguard thought, taking out the room card, entered the adjacent room, took a shower, and decided to relax. He picked up the bedside phone and called the front desk, “I’d like to order a massage service here.”
It’s wise to know one’s limits. The wisdom passed down by the ancestors, although not always accurate, has its reason for existing, and the reality is, many people overlook these things and ignore the truth of these words.
Xie Liping is one of them, and Wang Xianzhong is even more so.
People are naturally in high spirits when happy, and it helps them sleep soundly. When Wang Xianzhong woke up, it was already half-past nine in the morning. However, he was not in a hurry, slowly dressed and freshened up, bought a box of leek buns and a bag of soy milk, and while humming a tune, leisurely headed to the office of the Security Brigade.
Seeing this, a security officer hurriedly said, “Deputy Wang, why are you so late?”
Wang Xianzhong rolled his eyes, thinking that soon he would lose the title of ‘Deputy.’ With a sidelong glance, he replied, “What’s the matter? Is there something urgent?”
The officer was stunned, thinking this guy was really something to be so blatantly shameless despite being late. However, he didn’t dare show it, so he said, “There was a fight among vendors at the Western City Vegetable Market. I heard it was quite fierce. Captain Xu was looking for you for a long time but couldn’t find you. He sent Captain Miao and some men over.”
“And I thought it was something major!” Wang Xianzhong sneered, placing his legs on the desk, continuing to eat his leek bun while sipping on soy milk.
“Has this guy lost his mind, or is he just giving up? Despite offending Chief Ye and Captain Xu, he’s not thinking about making amends and acts so arrogant?” the security officer thought. After a while, he asked again, “Deputy Wang, aren’t you going to report to Captain Xu?”
“Aren’t you annoying?” Wang Xianzhong spat leek filling onto the officer’s face. “Yapping non-stop. Do I need a lesson from you for what to do?”
The officer shrank his neck, held his breath, turned around, and used a tissue to wipe the leek off his face.
“Pathetic!” Wang Xianzhong sneered, grabbing a notebook and pen, and headed to the office of Miao Jian’s security team, which was empty. It was the perfect place to write a complaint letter against Ye Fan.