Chapter 66: Chapter 65: The First Knife
When a situation gets out of hand and a scandal is exposed, how far will the authorities go to clean it up?
For example.
First, back during a difficult period for the Eastern Country, a world-class professor gave up a high-paying position abroad. He was determined to return home, breaking through every obstacle. He wanted to lead his countrymen in breaking the foreign stranglehold on his field of expertise.
Later, one day after work, he was unfortunate enough to run into two thugs—two punks who had snuck out of school to rob people for internet cafe money.
The professor gave them the money. Seeing how young they were, he kindly reminded them that they should be in school, but...
They flew into a rage out of humiliation and pulled a knife, stabbing the professor in an artery. He bled to death as a result.
"Let’s go."
Wang Hu’s expression was incredibly grim. He was wearing a plain white shirt and got directly into the official car.
Xu Huo followed with a cheerful grin and sat in the back. The car then started moving silently.
"The case is closed. The people from up top haven’t made a move yet. This is an opportunity—a chance to clean up our own mess."
"Linlan City and the provincial department won’t let this chance slip. While we were investigating our case, they followed the lead about the withheld funds and opened up a second line of inquiry. They’ve poured in a massive number of personnel and police, searching nonstop."
"And then, they uncovered a lot of dirty dealings."
Wang Hu leaned against the car seat, covering his face with one hand. His voice, muffled and weak, seeped through his fingers, heavy with suppressed fury.
"A lot of bastards who deserve to die have all shown their true colors now."
These things can always be uncovered, no matter how well they’re hidden.
It’s just that the resources required are completely out of proportion to the results.
First off, you can never fully eradicate it. You catch one batch, and another one just pops up. The resources you pour in are always wasted, and the hole you’re trying to fill remains a bottomless pit.
And if those resources were used to develop other sectors, the benefits would be much more obvious.
"What about the people from the Mutual Aid Association?"
Xu Huo glanced at Wang Hu’s medal and asked.
"The Mutual Aid Association is easy to deal with. They simply lack money."
"For an individual, it’s a lot of money. But for the entire organization, it’s barely a drop in the bucket."
At the mention of this, Wang Hu relaxed slightly.
"Given the case’s urgency and unique nature, the police made an announcement overnight. After Song Si and the others confessed in the early hours of this morning, we declared the case solved to reassure the public."
"Many people from the public have donated. Combined with government funding, they’ve raised an amount of aid money in a single day that would have been unimaginable in years past."
"This money will be used under the joint supervision of the city bureau, the provincial department, and the higher-ups."
The public donations ignited the entire Hanhai Province in a single night.
Humans are very complex creatures.
If a charitable organization was fundraising on the street, even if their finances were completely transparent and they explained in detail who needed the money and why, some people would donate, but not many.
But if, in the same scenario, the vast majority of people online were donating, all feeling moved and compassionate...
...the number of donors and the total amount of money would be enormous.
This is a phenomenon caused by herd mentality and emotional contagion.
It’s like public opinion on the internet. People’s thoughts and reasoning are no different from a gust of wind; they just go with the flow, follow the crowd, and lack any particularly clear, independent thought.
Xu Huo didn’t dwell on it.
’After all, at least these people have been saved. They don’t have to just wait to die anymore.’
’Of course, someone like Jiang Hai from the Mutual Aid Association... he’ll be locked up for a few years after he finishes his treatment.’
’But compared to his original fate of waiting to die alongside his eight-year-old daughter... I doubt he’ll care much about a few years in prison.’
Both Xu Huo and Wang Hu fell into their own silent thoughts.
Until...
"Captain Wang, we’re here."
As if in a daze, the car stopped. Wang Hu and the others had arrived in front of a company building.
It was a real estate company.
"Oh? Something to do with construction sites?"
Xu Huo snapped back to reality. He looked up, an eyebrow raised, at the rather luxuriously decorated company building before them.
It was 2003, right when the second phase of real estate speculation was beginning.
The whole country was deep into infrastructure development. "Civil engineering grunts" were becoming "civil engineering tycoons" enjoying limitless prestige.
Countless stories of construction foremen who started as migrant workers and fought their way to becoming bosses of publicly listed companies emerged during this period.
"Heh, this company is no saint. Unfair competition, collusion with underworld forces, murder for savage expansion, beating their own workers to death..."
As Wang Hu spoke, his face darkened, his eyes glistening with barely contained emotion.
’These crimes are enough to get them the death penalty several times over.’
"Let’s go in."
With that, the two of them got out of the car and strode menacingly toward the building.
A group of police officers followed behind them.
"Officer, Officer, please..."
Suddenly, before they could even enter, a security guard at the door stopped Wang Hu, Xu Huo, and their group.
The guard was stunned. He looked at the intimidating crowd, swallowed hard, and put on a serious expression.
"Excuse me..."
Before he could finish, Wang Hu cut him off.
"No appointment. No warrant."
"Open the door!"
"Officer, without a warrant or an appointment, we..."
The guard swallowed again. Remembering his boss’s instructions, he steeled himself and spoke.
He was actually going to try and block them?
"Get out of the way!"
Immediately, three or four officers surged forward. Without another word, they restrained the man.
CLICK!
With a sharp sound, the guard found himself in handcuffs, his face a mask of disbelief.
’Not even three warnings!?’
Heh...
Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures.
When a squad of police shows up to arrest you without even needing a warrant, do you know what that means?
Waste time talking to you? Reason with you?
You think you’re worthy?
Get lost!
"Team One, arrest the management. Team Two, go to finance and collect evidence. Teams Three and Four, with me."
Wang Hu immediately gave the order and led his men forward.
"Make the arrest!"
The surveillance team had been tracking the boss. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be at the company; they would have followed him and made the arrest wherever he was.
Right now, their target was on one of the floors in this very building!
Instantly, countless police officers flooded into the office building. Within just a few minutes, they had everyone under control.
"Where’s your boss?"
Xu Huo asked with great interest, looking at a senior executive they had just caught.
’Let the fight begin! I want to see rivers of blood!’
The man in front of him swallowed nervously. Glancing at the swarm of police officers, he wisely decided to cooperate.
"He’s in a meeting in the conference room on the sixth floor..."
"I think he’s negotiating a contract."
Sixth floor?
"Lead the way!"