Chapter 468

Chapter 468 A Shocking Intelligence Network

“Shi Cheng’s father is Shi Huabin, the mayor of Jianghe City?” Su Rui looked at the email that had come back, a faint smile appearing on his face. “Tenghui Pharmaceuticals has acquired three thousand acres of land in Jianghe City, with fixed asset investment close to ten billion yuan, planning to build Tenghui’s largest single pharmaceutical base in Asia?”

　　Su Rui hadn’t been wrong when he said what he said to Cao Tianping earlier. To say there was nothing shady going on here — he definitely wouldn’t believe that.

　　Looking at the sender’s email address, Su Rui replied: “We haven’t been in touch for so long, and your efficiency is still as high as ever.”

　　Less than a minute later, a reply came back: “It’s not that we’re efficient — we already had this information on hand. It’s our honor to serve the great Apollo. The first time is free, but next time we’ll charge standard market rates. If you need us frequently, we can offer you a 20% discount.”

　　Reading this email, Su Rui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

　　To have built an intelligence network like this — who else could it be but the organization led by that bastard Bielerhoff?

　　They’d investigated a Chinese prefecture-level city mayor so thoroughly. It was truly hard to imagine what this intelligence network couldn’t do.

　　Perhaps in this regard, China’s State Security was a cut below them — after all, State Security didn’t have the kind of enormous resources to dedicate specifically to this type of intelligence gathering.

　　When it came to internationally pursuing corrupt officials who had fled overseas, the Chinese government even had to cooperate with Bielerhoff. This guy had spent thirty years carving out his own unique path, building an intelligence money-sucking network of staggering scale.

　　Back in those early days, when this madman sold off every last bit of his father’s estate to pour himself into intelligence work, no one understood it. Here was a perfectly good second-generation rich kid, and he had to go do something like this — it was utterly beyond saving.

　　Yet Bielerhoff only needed ten years to make all those who had mocked him shut their mouths obediently. In just ten short years, his intelligence network had extended to every corner of the world. Countless secrets were in his hands, and countless people lived in fear because of him, unable to sleep at night.

　　Some came with money wanting to buy the intelligence he held. Some wanted to use him to neutralize their own negative exposure. Many governments even cooperated with him, conducting deals of a staggering scale in the name of national interest. The sheer volume of transactions each day was mind-boggling.

　　Thirty years on, Bielerhoff had virtually become the king of the Western underworld’s money game. He didn’t deal in drugs, didn’t run casinos, didn’t get into industry — and yet the money he made far exceeded all of them.

　　If it weren’t for the immense family backing behind the God of Wealth Stadtmeier, it might just be a matter of time before Bielerhoff’s total assets actually surpassed his — and the title of God of Wealth among the Twelve Gods would have to change hands.

　　Even now, when facing Apollo himself, one of the Twelve Gods, Bielerhoff could still charge openly and without shame. After the first collaboration, no one got a free pass.

　　Su Rui set aside his thoughts and began reading the email carefully. The further he read, the more astonished he became.

　　It was clear that Bielerhoff’s intelligence network had grown to a truly staggering scale.

　　Of the three thousand acres of land that Tenghui Group had acquired in Jianghe City, more than half still carried non-industrial land classification — something strictly prohibited in China. Given the sheer area involved, if the Ministry of Natural Resources’ satellites captured this situation, the local leadership would certainly face serious disciplinary action.

　　In truth, this kind of situation was fairly common in China. Local leaders’ short-sighted pursuit of political achievements always led them to willingly take such dangerous risks. And none of this could have happened without the nod of approval from the top — Mayor Shi Huabin. No matter what, the Jianghe City Land Bureau would never have dared to commit such a serious violation on its own.

　　Su Rui continued reading, his pupils contracting slightly.

　　Because in Shi Huabin’s personal profile, he had spotted the name “Xia Min.”

　　”At the time when Xia Min was serving as Director of the Jianghe City Development Zone Management Committee, a serious casualty accident occurred at an enterprise within the zone. Xia Min resigned to take responsibility, and his political career ended there. Shi Huabin, who was then serving as Deputy Director, took over. The two had a close personal relationship in private, but through investigation, Shi Huabin was found to be connected to the safety accident that occurred at the time, as he was the sole direct beneficiary of the entire incident.”

　　It was hard to imagine how Bielerhoff’s people had obtained such confidential information. Even after the explosion occurred back then, the Chinese government had failed to uncover any findings — yet they had managed to dig this deep.

　　”The evidence is as follows: first, Shi Huabin’s overseas account had transfer transactions with the person responsible for the exploding enterprise; second, Shi Huabin was the on-site person directly in charge of handling the aftermath of the accident; third…”

　　As he read through this content, a sharp gleam gradually rose in Su Rui’s eyes.

　　He believed that Bielerhoff couldn’t possibly have investigated every Chinese official to this degree — the investigation into Shi Huabin had perhaps come about purely by coincidence.

　　But it was precisely this coincidence that had done Su Rui an enormous favor.

　　He closed the email, and his eyes couldn’t help but narrow once more.

　　Because he had spotted the email that Ding Muyang had sent him just before dying — it contained an extremely large compressed attachment.

　　Su Rui’s fingers moved rapidly, saving the attachment to several different locations in succession, then said quietly: “Thank you. The things inside here — one day they’ll come in handy.”

　　…………

　　It was the Junlan Kempinski Hotel again. Lately, every time this hotel came up, Su Rui felt a deep sense of helplessness welling up inside him.

　　Especially now — whenever he thought back to Qin Yueran drugging him, his legs went weak.

　　”Xia Qing, it’s already this time and Su Rui still isn’t here?”

　　At the rooftop dining table of the Junlan Kempinski, Shi Cheng glanced at the watch on his wrist — it was a Vacheron Constantin, probably worth around fifty-something thousand yuan.

　　A woman shows her status through luxury goods. A man demonstrates his standing through a fine watch.

　　”Maybe the evening rush in Ninghai is really bad.” Xia Qing kept glancing toward the entrance as she spoke.

　　”Can the subway get stuck in traffic too?” Shi Cheng said with a dismissive smile, then immediately shifted to a respectful expression. “Uncle, Auntie, if you’re hungry, let’s go ahead and eat.”

　　Xia Min had already formed a low opinion of Su Rui from the outset, and said flatly: “If he can’t even manage the most basic sense of punctuality, what can he possibly achieve?”

　　Hearing her father’s assessment of Su Rui, Xia Qing felt both frustrated and uncomfortable. She wasn’t naive — Shi Cheng treated her well, but every word he said, whether openly or in between the lines, was aimed at Su Rui, and she found it quite off-putting.

　　At that moment, a clear, bright laugh rang out from behind Xia Min: “Uncle, Auntie, I’m sorry I’m a little late — I’ve kept you all waiting.”

　　Seeing that Su Rui had finally appeared, Xia Qing let out a quiet breath of relief. If he hadn’t shown up, she would have been the one truly embarrassed.

　　Both Xia Min and Ma Lan looked up at the same time, sizing up Su Rui, wanting to see just what was so different about this young man who had won their daughter’s heart.

　　Jet-black short hair, a casual look with a shirt and jeans — clean and neat, sharp and put-together. If one set aside any preconceived impressions, Su Rui left a pretty solid first impression.

　　Shi Cheng’s eyes, however, showed unmistakable hostility. He was here accompanying Xia Qing’s parents to meet the guy Xia Qing had a crush on — what kind of situation was this?

　　He looked Su Rui’s outfit up and down, and a contemptuous smile crossed his face.

　　He was certain that the combined cost of every piece of clothing and every shoe Su Rui had on wouldn’t exceed five hundred yuan — all cheap discounted items from online shopping platforms. Compared to his own watch alone at over five hundred thousand yuan, the gap was truly enormous.

　　Ma Lan looked at Shi Cheng with some awkwardness. Xia Min let out a cold snort — this rigid man showed little friendliness right from the start.

　　Su Rui, for his part, didn’t mind in the least. He had long known where this unfriendliness was coming from, and in his heart he had already mentally strangled Cao Tianping a hundred times over.

　　You damn League-playing son of a bitch.

　　Xia Qing quickly stood up, pulled Su Rui over to her side, and introduced him: “Dad, Mom, this is Su Rui, the one I’ve mentioned to you before.”

　　Su Rui smiled: “Hello, Uncle, hello, Auntie. I’ve heard a lot about you from Xia Qing.”

　　Xia Min let out another cold snort — truly giving no face at all.

　　Su Rui responded with an indifferent smile, then turned toward Shi Cheng and said with a grin: “This must be the Brother Shi Cheng that Xia Qing often talks about — it’s great to finally meet you.”

　　Beside him, Xia Qing’s mouth dropped open into an “O” shape in surprise. She had never once mentioned Shi Cheng to Su Rui — how did he know?

　　”Did my memory get confused somehow?” Xia Qing thought to herself, in a daze.

　　”I’m Xia Qing’s brother.” Shi Cheng was quite blunt about it. He extended a hand and said: “Take a seat, we’ve all been waiting for you for quite a while.”

　　The “quite a while” Shi Cheng spoke of amounted to only about ten minutes or so. They had set off earlier than Su Rui, but given the latter’s driving skills, they wouldn’t have pulled that far ahead.

　　Su Rui smiled and sat down.

　　With Shi Cheng present, Ma Lan felt awkward and Xia Min was in a foul mood, so neither parent was in a good position to speak freely. It was Shi Cheng who overstepped and took it upon himself to bombard Su Rui with what appeared to be “warm and friendly” questions.

　　”Little Su, what do you do at Bikang Group?” Shi Cheng asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

　　”Little Su? Little Su your ass.” Su Rui fired back in his mind, cool and detached.

　　”I’m in the sales department.” Su Rui replied, suppressing his disgust as if he’d swallowed a fly.

　　”Sales Director? Impressive for someone so young.” Shi Cheng said with a smile, a faint mockery drifting through his gaze.

　　”No, I haven’t reached that level — I’m just a small-time sales rep.” At this point, Su Rui was beyond caring. He wanted to see just how far Shi Cheng planned to take this performance.

　　”A pharmaceutical rep?” Shi Cheng followed up. He had already noticed Xia Min slowly shaking his head, and felt a surge of satisfaction.

　　”You could put it that way.” Su Rui rubbed his nose and gave a self-deprecating smile, appearing exceptionally humble. “A small-time pharmaceutical rep like me — compared to the assistant to the Greater China president of Tenghui Group, it’s really like night and day.”

　　”Little Su sure knows how to talk.” Shi Cheng shook his head and sighed. “Though my position may look impressive from the outside, the income can’t compare to yours. There’s been so much news lately about pharmaceutical reps — the rate at which you all make money is truly eye-opening.”