Chapter 37: Operation is a go
Translated by me, edited by drpetro.
If the police came here to trash the place then the girls probably wouldn’t care about it, but if the special investigation team was here to search for suspects, then that’s an entirely different story.
The floor manager of the Silver Palace quickly came out and guided Zhang Zhitong and her fellow comrades into the lavish lobby.
A short and confused man was also brought over by the greeting maidens.
“You’re the manager here?” One of Zhang Zhitong’s colleagues asked: “Can you provide us a list of your clients here?”
“I’m Cao Weihua, the general manager here.” Cao Weihua opened a pack of 1916 Yellow Crane Tower, and passed it around to all the special investigation members.
Having finished distributing smokes, Cao Weihua said with some awkwardness: “This is a members only club. The people who are able to come here are all people with prestige and power in Zhongyun. If I were to provide you guys with our clientele then my boss will probably sack me.”
“I can understand your difficulties, but I still need you to cooperate with us.” This officers indicated for everyone to take a seat: “Silver Palace is a members only club, but if the word got out that suspects are hiding here, then wouldn’t that ruin your reputation?”
“Yes, yes. Helping out the police is the duty of every law abiding citizen.” Cao Weihua apologetically smiled: “Let me ask my boss first.”
The call went through very quickly. Having explained the current situation, Cao Weihua faced the police and said: “We can provide you with the list, but my boss said that if you guys find who you’re looking for, then please try your best to cover your actions afterwards.”
“Sure, we’ll keep this a secret for you.” Zhang Zhitong, who was in the middle of everyone, nodded, just like a leading sister.
The cashiers ever quickly handed over a list of all clients who were currently still in the palace, but after examining it multiple times, the police still couldn’t find who they were looking for.
Just like the manager said, everyone who could come to the Silver Palace weren’t ordinary at all. On this client list are multiple familiar sounding individuals with huge influence in the local area.
Of course, names of governmental officials would never appear on here. Even if they do come here, it would always be under the invitation of someone else. When has it ever been them paying the bills for stuff like this.
“Bring out tonight’s security footage.” A member of the special investigation team imposingly stated.
“I can’t do that……” Cao Weihua carefully explained: “The security room only keeps the footage of the public areas, plus it’s stored on an encrypted server. Without the boss’s security pin, there is no way us employees can access it.”
“Moreover…… Our club here, frequently have visits from several people with sensitive status. If the security footage could be accessed at will, then wouldn’t that piss them all off?”
“Go call your boss and have him come over. We definitely need to access the security footage as we need to cross check all the suspicious individuals.” Zhang Zhitong told Cao Weihua to go make a call: “The people we’re looking for aren’t on the list, they’re probably here under different aliases.”
Cao Weihua hurriedly went to make the call. As for Zhong Zhitong, she turned her attention towards the receptionists: “Did a middle aged man with two young individuals enter here tonight?”
“The middle age man is definitely extravagantly dressed, the two young men are around 180 cm, average build, but very conscious of the surroundings.”
“Yes !” Two receptionist immediately reported: “At a bit before 9 Mr. Gong brought two people in that matches your description very closely.”
“Who is this Mr. Gong?”
“He is the boss of a major company in the industrial park. Full name is Gong Wei, but can’t remember which company specifically. There are specific details on the members list, but only the owners can access that information.”
Cao Weihua recalled: “But they don’t look like the suspects you’re looking for at all, and he’s been here multiple times already this year.”
“Please carefully recall again, is there anyone else that matches this description.”
A special investigation member placed down his finished cig, and kept his gaze fixed on the elevator: “Our evidence trial definitely isn’t wrong, these three are confirmed to be here.”
“We’ll give you guys some face by not searching every room. But if you guys provide the wrong targets for us to catch, then we have to apologise as we can only seal off the place and search the building room by room.”
Cao Weihua felt cold sweat raining down his back. If this group of people seal off the building then screw the business, they might as well as switch to a KTV bar.
Of course the possibility of them doing that is very unlikely. With the owners handling the pressure from above, they haven’t experienced a police raid in all the years they’ve been open.
It’s just that Cao Weihua before only dealt with firefighters and public security members. He solely missing the special investigation teams, and he was also unfamiliar with their operating style. So what if they ignore everyone’s influence and actually do seal off the own building……
“Please hold on a moment, I’m going to call Supervisor Xue down. She’s the one in charge of handling Mr. Gong tonight.” Cao Weihua immediately used his earpiece to contact Supervisor Xue on internal channels and called her down.
Supervious Xue, with a fashionable Chanel suit and a pair of golden glasses, walked down very quickly on high heels.
Several team members finally turned their attention away from the elevator and main entrance.
“How can it be Mr. Gong, he’s already a regular here.” Supervisor Xue’s every move had traces of elegance and grace: “Mr. Gong is the owner of a chemical plant, at most able to earn several tens of million annually. How can he go do illegal business?”
“Oh right, before when Mr. Gong’s group got on the elevator they met a group of three. It would seem that they have some beef with Mr. Gong cause they were extremely cautious as soon as they meet with Mr. Gong’s group.”
A couple of the investigation team members suddenly stood up, with graveness in their eyes: “You said this Mr. Gong owns a chemical plant?”
“Ah! Is it really him?” Supervious Xue is seriously scared now: “But the three that they met at the elevator, is it possible that it’s them?”
The police now immediately gather around around Zhang Zhitong and began to discuss this possible link of evidence.
Now they have two sets of people matching the given descriptions, and the most important part is that they might know each other.
What they are here to catch today is a group of extreme criminals, who have the guts to produce and sell dangerous chemical drugs that are listed on the police’s [Easy to produce chemical drug] watch list. [TL: Breaking Bad anyone?]
Those drugs were originally used by hospitals as anesthetics and morphine replacements, but recently due to new research results and proven side effects, it was replaced by other chemical compounds.
But because of those side effects, they became the most popular drug to sell for some criminal organisations.
One of their sources said that tonight at 9, a group of them will meet with an owner of a chemical plant at Silver Palace to discuss the sale of those drugs.
These two groups of people perfectly fit the description, and they even had contact in front of the elevator, even if it’s only exchanging looks……
Again, asking the waitresses, the movements of the group of people who met with Mr. Gong and co were quickly found out.
It would appear they’ve been here since last night, the one in charge of receiving them yesterday is on break today. After calling that supervisor, they found that a very unfamiliar member of the club showed up at 3 in morning, opened a room and nothing happened after.
That would be the first time they’ve left the room, and when they exited the elevator, they didn’t leave the establishment at all.
Instead they went to the restaurant and are currently there enjoying their western meal accompanied with live piano music.
According to the analysis of the evidence, the two groups of people have already made contact. They’re probably going to meet upstairs after they finished their meal.
Then waiting for them to finish their discussion and catch them when they’re exchanging money and product is undoubtedly the best option.
Seven special investigation members split into two groups, Zhang Zhitong with three colleagues camped in the room right across of Gong Wei’s. The other four lay in wait at the exits of the restaurant to monitor the movements of the group inside.
The three in the restaurant had already been confirmed to be tonight’s operation targets.
Gong Wei is highly suspected, but all they need to do is wait for the three to finish their meals and meet up with Gong Wei. Then everything after that is just a walk in the park.
“Attention attention, the three targets have gotten up.” Before 2 minutes has passed after the camping started, Zhang Zhitong had already received an alert from the people downstairs.
“Shit, they’re leaving, they’re headed towards the main entrance!” The ones in charge of watching the targets on the ground floor cried out.
“Go go go!: Zhang Zhitong yelled out.
Then a beautiful and slender figure popped out of the room across of Gong Wei’s. With her jade-like leg raised up, she kicked open the wooden carved door in front of her with a bang.