Chapter 282: Just What Was Lost?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Yuhua Street Qinshan Bank; four in the afternoon.
Within the bank’s safety deposit box, the female who had been captured by Zhao Yu at the Depth of Breath Gymnasium was taken by the police to this area. They began to organize all the black-market items. This criminal was nicknamed “Sissy” and was named Li Mengqi. She was fifty-two-years-old this year, and was quite famous on the streets. Even though she did not have any businesses under her name, she controlled many industrial companies. Places such as the Depth of Breath Gymnasium were all under her control, and Mister Zhang was only her worker.
Zhao Yu had not caught the wrong person. Li Mengqi was the head of one of the biggest black-market organizations in the Qinshan Area. According to her confession, the three goods that were stolen from the safety deposit boxes were all stolen goods she had bought from retailers.
She said that their stolen goods retail organization separated items by grade after buying them from other sellers. Usually, items that were worth less than a few thousand yuan would not even attract their attention, and were left for some low-level black-market organization. And items that were worth more would be analyzed professionally. Items that were deemed to be worth tens or hundreds of thousands would be hidden inside the secret storage in the Depth of Breath Gymnasium!
Truly, the least suspicious place was out in the open. The more popular an area was, the less likely it was for someone to notice their illegal activity. With so many people entering and exiting the Huabei Commercial Building, no one would notice those storage boxes in the gymnasium.
But for items that were worth more than a few hundred thousand, or even treasures worth millions, they obviously would not store them in a gymnasium. Due to the high value of those items, Li Mengqi could not buy them herself. Instead, she bought them using borrowed money from other big bosses on the street. Once she made a profit from the auctions, she would split the profit with the others, forming an underground business chain.
If the items were stored in a gymnasium, the others obviously would feel unsafe. Thus, the sly Li Mengqi had started using the bank’s safety deposit boxes long ago. She felt like the bank’s safety deposit boxes were the safest place, thus, she stored the most valuable items there!
Yet, she never would have imagined that there were robbers in this world bold enough to rob a bank, and coincidently, her own safety deposit boxes! Hearing this news, Li Mengqi’s entire world crashed. Within the boxes were stolen goods that were priceless. They were the lifeline of the entire black-market organization. If she could not get them back, then not only would Li Mengqi’s position be in danger, but even her life would be at risk! How could the influential people on the street let her go after investing so much money?
Yet, those items were all stolen. If she had dared to come claim them, then the police would obviously suspect her. If the police found stolen items that were worth tens of millions, she would never get them back! Obviously, Li Mengqi could not dare to take a risk like that.
Left with no other choice, she could only start selling all the businesses under her control, planning on escaping with some money before the big bosses on the street noticed what had happened! Yet, at a crucial time like this, they had run into Zhao Yu, and were caught red handed.
Truthfully, other than finding evidence for the Bank Robbery Case, Zhao Yu’s contribution was truly significant! To destroy an underground black-market business that had been hidden in Qinshan for so many years was indeed a huge deal!
Through this black-market organization, the police could find all sort of illegal businesses. If they could clear out all the illegal organizations within Qinshan, it would be a huge step towards keeping order and peace within society. Because of this, Zhao Yu was on guard, and personally made sure that everything ran smoothly in the vault. At the same time, he patted Li Mengqi on the shoulder.
“Say, sis! Hurry, confirm all the stolen goods, and see if you guys are missing anything, okay?” Zhao Yu spoke wisely, “I know you can’t just bear this pain! You! It’s over for you after this! But if you want revenge, I can help you!
“Think about it, just who did you offend that they’d do something like this to you? If you can find those people, then I can help you capture them, giving you revenge!”
Li Mengqi was already in completely despair, and sit there lethargically. But hearing Zhao Yu’s words, she still shook her head. “It’s…it’s impossible, you know? There’s no one on the street who would dare touch my business! Also, we’ve always valued loyalty. How could we have offended anyone?” Li Mengqi furrowed her brows and thought, “Especially to go and rob a bank! I can’t imagine anyone who would be influential enough to dare do that!”
“What about a traitor!” Zhao Yu tempted her. “Other than traitors, who knew you had a storage box in a bank? Just who did you offend?”
“No…no way?” Li Mengqi’s expression was especially painful as she pondered carefully. “The people who knew about the safety deposit boxes were all in the gym. Didn’t you catch them all already? If they wanted to destroy me, then why wouldn’t they have just run away after?”
“Oh?” Suddenly, Zhao Yu was shocked. He had originally thought that once he caught the black-market organization, he would be able find more clues regarding the bank robbery. But now, it seemed like it would not be so simple.
“Fine!” Zhao Yu pointed at the many valuables on the table. “Then hurry up and check. See if you’ve lost anything, alright? I’ll tell you right now! If you cooperate with the police, once we find the culprits of the bank robbery, it’ll benefit you greatly, got it?”
“I know, I know!” Li Mengqi nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely, definitely cooperate! Officer, I’d rather soil my own name. I know all the people who were in the stolen goods business. As long as it lowers my sentence, I’ll do anything!”
“Okay!” Even though Zhao Yu nodded in agreement, he looked down on her in his head. All the people on the street valued loyalty. Reasonably speaking, to be able to pull off such a large-scale black-market business, this woman should have had her own principles. Yet, when her principles and welfare clashed, she threw away her principles without any hesitation!
It was because of this that Zhao Yu finally understood—Li Mengqi was an illegal businesswoman to the end; you couldn’t talk loyalty or principles with people like her!
Since the items in the storage box were so valuable, obviously Li Mengqi would have a list of goods. The list was hidden on her. She immediately took it out, and as soon as she looked through the items on the table, she would know what the robbers stole.
Zhao Yu already saw that Li Mengqi’s list was very detailed. Not only was the item’s name and estimated worth listed, but even the sources and the seller’s name was recorded as well. Obviously, just by using this list, the police could probably capture hundreds of criminals.
But the details also told him that such a carefully organized underground black-market business had not been built in a day or two. The black-market organization had a working system that rivaled any official business. It was truly quite a sight.
“Zhao Yu! Come here!” Just as Zhao Yu was waiting for Li Mengqi to check all the stolen goods, Team Leader Miao Ying suddenly appeared in front of Zhao Yu and waved at him, signaling for him to talk to her outside. Once they arrived at an empty corner outside the safety deposit box vault, Miao Ying smiled at Zhao Yu. “What, Zhao Yu? Did your praying work again?”
“No!” Zhao Yu was prepared and replied immediately, “This time it was my friends on the street! I got a tip beforehand. That’s why I went in by myself and managed to contribute so much to the investigation! How was it, Team Leader Miao? Did I make you proud?”
Basically, Zhao Yu meant that since the investigation team from the city came to taunt them, he decided to single handedly take on the underground black-market organization. This way, he would bring pride for Rongyang Branch!
“Hehe…” Miao Ying smiled and unexpectedly put an arm around Zhao Yu’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I am an honest person. Even if you’re the biggest pervert or delinquent in the world, as long as you show results, I won’t treat you badly!”
“Hehehe…” Taking in Miao Ying’s refreshing scent, Zhao Yu felt a bit drunk. “Team Leader Miao, are you flirting with me?”
“Don’t get carried away!” Miao Ying suddenly put some strength into her shoulder and came face to face with Zhao Yu. “Zhao Yu, later, ask that woman if she had hid anything else in the storage boxes! What if they have something left? Also, make sure to interrogate her properly, and see if they know anything about the corpses in the boxes, okay?”
“No problem.” With the delicious scent in his nose, Zhao Yu was all smiles. “Don’t worry, Team Leader Miao! As long as I, Zhao Yu, am here, no random investigation team will look down on us!”
“Hmph!” Miao Ying finally let Zhao Yu go and smiled gently. “This is the first time I actually feel good hearing you say something!”
“Hehehe…” Zhao Yu’s laughter became more perverted. He had wanted to flirt a bit more with the beautiful team leader, but an investigator suddenly rushed out from the safety deposit box vault and reported to him, “O-officer Zhao! That woman finished checking through all the goods! There…there really is something missing! A stamp album is missing!”