Chapter 105 - Clues Leading to a Big Fish
Chapter 105: Clues Leading to a Big Fish (Part one)
After circling around, the Mercedes sedan finally arrived at an ordinary-looking group of villas. These houses here were isolated and private, as they were all stand-alone villas with high walls around the property. Cameras were installed on almost all the corners, and reporters or detectives would have no way to capture footage of the inside.
Xu Cheng stopped at about a kilometer away, and when that Mercedes saw that there were no vehicles around, Master Xin then gestured to the security guard at the entrance to open the electronic gate. However, Xu Cheng could already see the entire layout of this villa.
Master Xin would never even dream that Xu Cheng could watch them from a kilometer away, like he was watching a movie. Right, it was like he had God’s eye view, which was even more clear than satellites.
“I wonder if my eyes can get even stronger later on. Now, I can already see everything within a 3-kilometer radius. It would be awesome if I can see even further,” Xu Cheng muttered to himself.
Right away, he took out a box of cigarettes and lit one. Then, with his feet up on the dashboard, he looked at what was happening in the villa. Now, all he needed would be a bag of chips or popcorns, and it would become a great watching experience.
After the Mercedes went into the villa’s gate, Xu Cheng’s eyes followed in with Master Xin.
After Master Xin got off, he was stopped by the bodyguards outside of the villa and had his body searched. Seeing this bodyguard, Xu Cheng immediately took out a pencil and paper from his car and began sketching out the guy. These could all be potentially important clues, and he could go back to the HQ to search this guy up in the system.
Xu Cheng could almost be sure that the guy inside the villa was for sure not a small character. Someone that could make the arrogant Master Xin accept a body search had to be his boss!
Maybe the 5 legal representatives of the casinos were just puppets, and just like the rumor had it, there must be big characters behind West Gate, like Gate Master Yan who was behind North Gate. After all, to be able to survive in the black society and also operate 5 casinos would just not be possible without a competent pair of hands behind the curtain.
For the past few years, the police had been looking for the guy behind West Gate, but ever since the nation entered the lawful society era, the guy behind West Gate barely made any appearances. Maybe people also believed that the boss had died and that West Gate had completed the transition from illegal operations to legal operations, but the government was not stupid. If the West Gate Master really died or left, then West Gate wouldn’t have been able to gracefully complete its transition and maintain its prosperity with no civil battles. The only explanation was that the gate master went into hiding and was just controlling everything from the dark.
In addition, even if West Gate completely transformed into a company with only legal dealings, the government would have a lenient attitude when judging its past. However, the large scale underground money laundering case had just too high of an influential and impact level, so of course, the government wanted to get rid of West Gate.
Xu Cheng’s eyes followed Master Xin into the villa, and Master Xin directly came to an indoor swimming pool at the rear of the house. Inside, there were 3 women taking care of an old man, and Xu Cheng could clearly see the Green Dragon tattoo on that old man’s chest.
Subconsciously sketching down that tattoo, Xu Cheng continued to keep an eye on them.
“Master Qing, the police has begun suspecting us being involved with money laundering,” Master Xin said to the old man who was drinking wine by the pool with his back facing him.
This old man was very muscular, and even though there were quite a lot of wrinkles on his face, he still seemed to be very energetic.
Hearing what Master Xin said, he slowly asked, “Did they get anything? How’s your end of things?”
Master Xin: “So far, they haven’t gotten anything that could pose a threat to us. We have been very discrete, and the book-keeping side is also doing good surface work to make the accounts look healthy.”
Master Qing: “Very well, then there’s nothing to be afraid of. As long as you guys don’t panic, the police won’t catch anything. Next week, there will be another deal coming through, so be on alert.”
Master Xin narrowed his eyes. “How much?”
Chapter 105: Clues Leading to a Big Fish (Part two)
Master Qing: “1 billion dollars from the Middle East Alliance Underground Money House, and our commission is 50 million dollars! I will give you one week of time to prepare for it. Just tell the public that you are holding a poker tournament. That way, the police side won’t get suspicious with the cash flow that day being too big. Just say that the World Poker Association officially sponsors the competition, anyone’s allowed to participate, and there will be gambling professionals and capitalists from all over the world coming to play.”
“Yes, Sir! I will go and immediately start making arrangements,” Master Xin nodded and said.
On the car, Xu Cheng’s eyes narrowed. He got a few keywords: Middle East, underground money house, 1 billion dollars!
So what was the so-called money-laundering? It’s when you have a large amount of income coming from illegal sources and you had no way to prove to the authority that it’s legal. So to get around that, you would first hide this money and make it flow into the casino, and then the casino helps you win tons of chips and all you have to do is exchange it into cash and take it home. When the income becomes legal, and you just have to pay a commission. After all, this casino is operating legally, and you have all the evidence to prove to the tax bureau and the police that the money came from a legitimate source.
Looks like today’s harvest was fruitful. By the current look of it, it was still unclear what kind of a role this Master Qing plays in this case, but just by how respectful and obedient Master Xin acted towards him, this old man for sure had a high place in West Gate. So now, Xu Cheng knew the time, location, and the big fish. After a week, the big fish would receive a billion dollars from the underground money house. By then, whoever wins a billion from this poker tournament, that person would be the big fish. And then through him, they could track down the underground money house!
After Master Qing gestured for those three women to leave, he slowly turned around. Xu Cheng got a very good look at him now, and he immediately began drawing. This guy was very critical, and he could very likely be the hidden boss behind West Gate.
After Master Xin left the villa and got onto his his Mercedes, the car drove out from the entrance. Xu Cheng drove past the villa shortly after, noted down the house number, and then left.
Then, he directly went back to the HQ with his three drawings and arrived at the archive office.
“Help me search for these two guys.” Xu Cheng passed the sketch of Master Qing and his bodyguard to his colleagues working at the archive.
Then, the staff used a 3D modeling software, generated the two people in the computer based on the drawing, and began searching through the database.
Very soon, they found Master Qing and his bodyguard’s profile.
“Captain Xu, this middle-aged man with a partially unshaven face is a bodyguard under a security company, and his English name is Neil. This security company is foreign, and this guy also used to be an international mercenary and had participated in many missions.”
Xu Cheng: “Why is someone like him roaming freely in Huaxia?”
“The few missions and background he participated in were not in conflict with our country, and since the security company employing him is legally operating, our country can’t target him.”
Xu Cheng then pointed at Master Qin’s file and asked, “How about this guy?”
The data officer said, “Chang Qing, 68 years old this year, and he became a philanthropist about ten years ago. He’s a hidden rich person, and I heard he also has investments in real estate.”
Xu Cheng’s eyes narrowed. “His identity won’t be as simple as it looks. At least, have you seen a tattoo like this on a philanthropist?”
The data officer smiled. “Captain Xu, you are right. This guy’s hidden wealth had been an investigation target of our police force, but it’s just that it’s very hard to get information on his whereabouts.”
Xu Cheng then asked, “About this Neil guy, does the client’s net worth need to be audited to hire him?”
Data officer: “Yes, this security company is very famous, and they only accept clients with a net worth of over 5 billion yuan.”
Xu Cheng: “Then do you think this Chang Qing guy’s legitimate assets are worth more than 5 billion?”
Data officer: “No, actually, it’s only about 1.5 billion.”