CH 250

Xiao Zhang felt that wealthy people never spoke properly. There was simply no way to continue the conversation.

When the fuel gauge neared the critical zone, Xiao Zhang saw a guard booth. Perhaps due to the darkness, the booth seemed to have sprung up out of thin air, emitting a dismal white light in the desolate wilderness.

He abruptly stepped on the brakes, but the gentleman in the backseat, as if anticipating his reaction, had already held onto the handle, remaining perfectly still.

Xiao Zhang looked into the distance and saw hazy shadows of buildings merging with the darkness, making them indistinguishable. Various urban legends instantly popped into his mind, making his foot on the gas pedal tremble.

At that moment, the sound of roaring engines suddenly filled the empty plain. Xiao Zhang quickly released the gas pedal, and through the rearview mirror, he saw two trails of dust rapidly approaching. As they drew closer, he could clearly see that they were two imposing black SUVs. The taxi was sandwiched between the two heavily modified vehicles, like a thin filling in a hamburger, looking quite pitiful.

Only then did Xiao Zhang recall the mention of security levels by the gentleman in the backseat. He realized that the order of security and guards had been swapped, and the difference in severity was simply night and day. Xiao Zhang almost cursed out loud. He was just a nighttime taxi driver who stopped at a wave of the hand. He had hoped to earn some milk money for his child with this long-distance fare. Why did he have to experience this counter-terrorism operation in the middle of the night?

However, to his surprise, the two SUVs showed no intention of stopping, nor did they plan to conduct any security checks. Xiao Zhang looked left and right, feeling utterly perplexed.

Then, a soothing voice came from the backseat.

“It’s alright. Keep driving.”

Casually, his passenger said.

Xiao Zhang swallowed hard. He still felt that driving off so nonchalantly wasn’t appropriate, but when the boss speaks, you either comply or die. He forcefully stepped on the gas pedal. After he accelerated, the two security vehicles didn’t attempt to catch up. They simply followed at a distance. Xiao Zhang breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly felt a strange sense of confidence.

The next checkpoint was a guard booth, manned by heavily armed security personnel, standing upright.

Through the crossbar and illuminated by the streetlights, Xiao Zhang could clearly see a stretch of villas in the distance.

The villas had different designs and ages, some built against the mountains, others near the sea, varying in height and lacking any semblance of order. It resembled an ordinary suburban town with no distinctive features.

Just as the front of the car approached the crossbar, the bright yellow pole automatically lifted high up. They entered as if in a deserted place, without encountering any obstacles.

Xiao Zhang glanced at the rearview mirror, where the security personnel in the guard booth saluted them. The black vehicles continued to follow, like phantoms.

His courage grew, and he decided to treat it like a tour, continuing to drive forward along the road.

As they passed those buildings, he occasionally saw bronze plaques hanging on them, indicating various institutional sanatoriums or certain types of residences.

The roadside was filled with lush flowers and trees, and the scenery was serene. There were even stray cats dozing off by the road.

Xiao Zhang let out a yawn and suddenly felt a bit drowsy.

“Just stop up ahead.”

The passenger in the backseat said.

Xiao Zhang looked up and saw a building in the distance unexpectedly brightly illuminated. The main entrance was wide open, with a line of people standing at the entrance as if welcoming someone.

They had indeed stopped at the entrance of a hospital, or at least what appeared to be a sanatorium-like facility.

After the series of events they had experienced, Xiao Zhang had become numb. He smoothly pulled the car up to the entrance and stopped the meter.

The ticket machine began to clatter, and the customer in the backseat opened his wallet as if he were about to pay.

At that moment, someone opened the back door, and to Xiao Zhang’s surprise, it was the person who had come out of the black SUV that had been following them. They appeared extremely respectful. Xiao Zhang suddenly realized who exactly the so-called security personnel were protecting.

He trembled and looked out the car window. The medical staff at the entrance had also gathered around, and even a mobile bed was placed in the most suitable position.

The gentleman in the backseat didn’t say much. He emptied his wallet and handed the money to Xiao Zhang, including several one- and five-yuan bills.

“I still owe you 1,200 yuan. I’ll give it to you later. Please wait.”

After saying that, the passenger stepped out of the car and carefully placed the person he was holding onto the mobile bed.

A nurse pushed the bed, walking alongside the doctor and the gentleman as if they were discussing the patient’s condition. The security personnel followed behind.

Everything proceeded naturally, and Xiao Zhang didn’t even need to say anything. Everything was taken care of by someone else.

Xiao Zhang watched everything happening outside the car. The building appeared bright and clean, giving a very comfortable feeling. The lobby had a suspended structure, with a glass ceiling that allowed one to look up and see the stars in the sky, making him feel like he was in a dream.

When he snapped back to reality, the group of people had already entered the building in an imposing manner. Xiao Zhang tapped his forehead, glanced at the dangerously low fuel gauge, but hesitated when he saw the heavily armed security personnel at the back. He decided to wait until they left before quietly getting out of the car to ask questions.

To his surprise, someone actually turned back. Xiao Zhang rolled down the car window, and the person politely bowed, showing no trace of arrogance. They handed over the remaining unpaid fare with both hands and said, “Let me take you to refuel, this is the remaining fare, please keep it.”

Xiao Zhang was pleasantly surprised. He accepted the money, speechless for a moment. Finally, he asked a silly question, “Is that your boss? Are they very wealthy?”

……

Zhourui Building, 3 a.m.

The executive office resembled the aftermath of a bomb explosion. Every qualified Zhourui employee sitting in the office wore an expression of anger and frustration. Their faces were pale and twisted, as if they wished they could tear the man sitting at the other end of the circular conference table into pieces.

Huang Ze observed the scene, rubbed his temples, and took a sip of the black coffee on the table.

Just as he put the coffee cup down, The vice president of Zhourui slammed the table opposite him, shouting frantically and recklessly, “It’s clearly the incompetence of your police investigation, yet you want to shift all the blame onto our company! We won’t accept it! Tomorrow, there will be a press conference!”

“Well… That’s not bad.”

A leisurely tone sounded beside him. Su Fengzi opened his eyes, still half-drowsy, and continued speaking. “Your company has finally decided to confess its crimes in public. Admirable courage.”

Huang Ze glanced beside him and couldn’t help but raise his cup, focusing on his own thoughts, pretending he hadn’t heard anything. After Su Fengzi’s manipulations throughout the night, the entire Zhourui upper management had turned into a firework waiting to explode.

“Stop talking bullshit!”

As expected, the vice president of Zhourui finally crossed the line and cursed.

Su Fengzi rested his chin on one hand, pointed his index finger at the vice president of Zhourui, and waved his hand casually as he said lightly, “You’re incapable. Next, quickly explain and sign off on the Nordren matter so you can leave.”

Everyone in the office had been pushed to their mental limits. They scratched their heads and faces, trying every method to leave, but Su Fengzi didn’t relent. Even Huang Ze didn’t dare disobey this lunatic beside him.

In fact, even in moments of anger, he wouldn’t even have the thought of laying a finger on Lin Chen in Su Fengzi’s presence, subconsciously aware of the consequences.

People always bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Inspector Huang looked at the people in front of him and felt that they probably wished Lin Chen was here to reason with them.

“We really don’t know anything!”

The head of the R&D department nearly collapsed, shouting in despair.

“Don’t know what?” Su Fengzi turned his head and asked.

This was almost Su Fengzi’s favorite rhetorical question. At first, the Zhourui employees would respond to his questions, but as time went on and the same question was asked a hundred or two hundred times, this seemingly simple question became pure mental torture.

The head of the R&D department tried to open his mouth but seemed to lack the mental capacity to answer the question. He could only slump back in his chair, panting heavily.

The atmosphere became heavy once again, not because of emotions, but because it was the early hours of the morning. After an entire night of mental torture, nobody had the mental or physical capacity to deal with an interrogator who knew exactly how to make you uncomfortable.

Huang Ze glanced at Su Fengzi once again and could only massage his temples.

To be honest, after a whole night of interrogation, he finally realized that Su Fengzi had no intention of extracting any information from Zhourui Pharmaceutical. Even a novice knew that separate interrogations were the most effective, but Su Fengzi insisted on keeping everyone in the same room, using anxiety, crowded space, and repetitive and infuriating words to provoke each person. It seemed like he wanted to mentally torture these people repeatedly, rather than solve the case.

Thinking of Lin Chen being tortured in the hospital, Huang Ze understood that this was revenge.

He lowered his head and scrolled through his phone. The emotions in the room affected him, making him restless, but he forced himself to concentrate.

The Zhourui executives were like tightly closed clamshells, refusing to cooperate.

There were numerous suspicious aspects in the entire case, such as why Zhourui Pharmaceuticals didn’t discover the drug issue in the early stages, and why they spent a significant amount of manpower and resources to cover up the truth after the discovery. Why were they able to anticipate police actions and expose themselves when the investigation was approaching the truth, destroying all of Lin Chen’s previous plans?

But the most crucial question here was what Shen Lian had done with the medication and how much Zhourui Pharmaceuticals knew about the drug itself.

Under normal circumstances, they would have had plenty of time to investigate. However, the materials related to Nordren were vast and endless, and new cases were constantly emerging. The time they had to solve the case was getting shorter and shorter.

They needed to swiftly pry open the mouths of these interest groups with a sharp knife.

However… Xing Conglian had turned off his phone.

Huang Ze looked down and read the text message that had just arrived, furrowing his brows even tighter.

The officer who had just gone to Tzu Chi Hospital replied to him, stating that Xing Conglian wasn’t at the hospital, and Lin Chen’s ward was empty as well.

Huang Ze couldn’t help but grip his phone tightly and handed it to Su Fengzi.

Just then, his uncle, who hadn’t spoken the whole night, asked with an extremely concerned tone from the corner. “Nephew, why hasn’t Captain Xin arrived? Could he have fled out of fear?”

The vice president next to him, like an uncontrollable mad dog, stood up and slammed the table. “Yes, why don’t you go and ask that corrupt cop who took the bribe what he really knows!”

Huang Ze’s heart trembled. Hearing such implications at this time wasn’t a good sign. But on the other hand, he was deeply disappointed. Even at this stage of the development, this family company, this building, almost everyone here was still trying to shift the focus by smearing the police, in a desperate and frantic struggle…

Huang Ze had no doubt that after dawn, all the morning news would push the Xing Conglian bribery case to a climax. When faced with a tainted police officer, the public’s hatred was always greater.

He lowered his gaze, almost unable to contain the anger in his heart.

Just then, someone tapped his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Su Fengzi handing the phone back to him, casually crossing his legs, and saying to the middle-aged man in the corner, “You better not seek death. I’ve been so gentle in chatting with you. You should cherish it.” He smiled; his tone leisurely as he pondered. “If he arrives, you will certainly have no way out. That would be terrifying.”

The Chairman of Zhourui Pharmaceutical paused for a moment, feeling that Su Fengzi was exaggerating the consequences of Xing Conglian’s arrival with such words. He responded with a half-mocking tone, disdainfully saying, “Is that so? Then I’ll be here, eagerly awaiting Captain Xing’s grand entrance.”