"You an," Vigina pondered over He Ao’s words, gradually understanding, "his ’self-surrender’ is essentially being a ’scapegoat’, taking all the bla?"
She furrowed her brows, "Then what about the money? How do you explain all that money? With the ’popularity’ of the White Ghost, the federal coin he’s made from selling stimulants over the years must be in the billions,"
She looked up at He Ao, "This amount of money, even for a super consortium, is a considerable inco. Despite all this money, he drives cheap civilian cars and has nowhere to spend it himself. Then how does he explain his money? The Federal Bureau of Investigation has thods of mind reading; he can’t lie that easily, can he?"
"Perhaps he converted the money into cryptocurrency and lost it all gambling online," He Ao looked at the street ahead, speaking slowly, "As for mind reading, there are many ways to ’fool’ it."
Even though this sales director has no related mory, as long as he firmly believes in the ’thought’ in his heart, the mind reading will only confirm what he says as the truth.
Moreover, the ’thoughts’ contain rich ’mories’ of causes and effects, convincing both the mind reader and the interrogator that these are indeed his mories.
If He Ao can’t directly read the underlying mories and only relies on Super mory’s ability to read thoughts to interrogate the sales director, he too would believe that the sales director is truthful.
Of course, achieving such levels of ’alteration’ implies that the individual must have a high standing and capability, likely a higher being.
This ans that the sales director is actually very close to the mastermind, the ’higher being’ behind it all.
The caravan leader holds a ’communicator’, connecting directly with Mori, who plotted the assassination of the President.
And although the sales director hasn’t found a ’communicator’, judging by his actions, it’s likely he has such a device, or at least isn’t far from the organization that attempted to assassinate the President.
Up to this point, the purpose behind the caravan leader and the illicit drug chain is quite clear; it’s all for ’money’.
As the highest level in the profit chain, the sales director responsible for ’collecting money’ is undoubtedly a critical figure.
Unfortunately, the opponent reacted too quickly, almost dealing with the sales director the first night after He Ao settled Colin.
"The mastermind behind this is truly terrifying," Vigina couldn’t help but frown, "But if they ant to cut the trail at the sales director, why not just kill him? That would be the most convenient way."
"If they kill him, will the trail break?" He Ao looked at her and smiled.
"No," Vigina realized, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation, having found the caravan leader, will surely follow the trail upwards. It’s better for the sales director to remain alive; his death would only prompt a stronger investigation."
She paused and looked at He Ao, "Why don’t they kill the caravan leader then?"
"How do you know they don’t intend to kill him?" He Ao raised his wristband, showing her the news about the ambushed caravan gang being wiped out by the City Defense Army last night.
Vigina looked at the news and smiled wryly, "Seems we’re pretty lucky. If you’d been slower last night, the caravan leader would’ve been silenced too. But,"
She paused to ponder, "These bandits must have been hired by soone, right? Might this be another clue?"
"The hiring likely ran through the black market," He Ao shook his head, "And you can bet the person hiring the bandits was mostly the sales director."
The sales director indeed has ’mories’ of hiring the bandits, one of his few real mories linked to this incident.
"Truly ruthless," Vigina opened her mouth but remained speechless for a mont, "All clues have been cut off."
She sighed, "If they weren’t obsessed with killing outside the city, and instead had taken out the caravan leader earlier, our trail would’ve ended with him."
"It’s not an obsession with killing outside the city; the caravan leader couldn’t die inside the city," He Ao slightly shook his head.
He gazed at the rain-soaked street ahead, the illuminated buildings casting illusory colors on the street’s reflection, "They won’t cause anything in the city that might draw a significant amount of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s attention."
"They’re afraid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation?" Vigina was slightly stunned, then shook her head, "No, it’s not the Federal Bureau they’re afraid of; it’s attracting the bureau director’s gaze if things escalate in the city?"
"Indeed." Drizzling rain descended once more. He Ao reached inside his trench coat to pull out a transparent umbrella, gradually opening it.
In fact, when he arrived last night, the caravan leader theoretically should’ve already left the city.
The unexpected rain briefly hindered their progress, giving He Ao ti to catch them.
All of this was possible because He Ao took a shortcut, using Angel Aura to suppress the exotic beast, allowing him to reach Ains by night.
Had he traveled via regular carriage or airship, by the ti he arrived, everything would have settled.
Originally, the other side probably didn’t intend for the sales director to ’self-surrender’, likely planning to kill the caravan leader, then erase the sales director’s mories, letting him live like a normal person and smoothing out the incident completely.
This would be the approach least likely to attract the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s attention.
However, the caravan leader’s ’live self-surrender’ disrupted their plans, forcing them to have the sales director ’self-surrender’, conclusively closing the investigation and suppressing the matter as much as possible.
"I feel," Vigina spoke in a low tone, "we are probably facing a very cunning and cautious old fox."
"To have co this far alive, it’s unreasonable if he’s not cunning and cautious," He Ao smiled, raising the umbrella, "The bureau director pushing us here all along, isn’t he an easy one either?"
"Troubleso." Vigina scratched her head, turning her originally fluffy brown-gold hair into a tousled plush toy.
She lifted her head, looking at He Ao, "So, what do we do next? Should we continue investigating the sales director? What if he does know sothing?"
"For now, let’s not worry about him," He Ao slightly shook his head, "Let’s look for another clue first."
"What clue?" Vigina blinked.
He Ao lifted his gaze, looking through the dense high rises in the distance towards the north, "Let’s go take a look at the north first."
"Where to?" Vigina raised her head, puzzled.
"The city center." He Ao slowly replied.
——
Ains Federal Bureau of Investigation Building · Criminal Investigation Bureau
A young agent pushed open the door with the ’Organized Cri and Illegal Drug Division’ sign, walked into the office, and entered the small cubicle inside.
He handed the docunts in his hand to the person in the cubicle, "Director Nock, the prisoner transferred from the Southwest District has confessed, this is the preliminary interrogation result."
"Is it related to the leader of the illegal drug caravan from last night? You’ve worked hard," Nock looked up, reached out to take the docunts, "It’s strange that this guy would confess, I was planning to look for him tonight, has he provided any new leads?"
"Hmm..." The agent’s expression turned a bit strange after hearing these words, "You’ll know once you see it."
"Is there sothing wrong with his testimony? Is he refusing to talk? Or is he giving false testimony? If he’s playing these tricks, why would he confess?" Nock looked at the opened file with a peculiar expression and started to go through it.
The more he flipped through it, the darker his expression beca.
After a long ti, he finished reviewing the entire file, then looked up at the young agent in front of him, "He’s saying he did everything? And all the money he earned selling stimulants over the years was lost in online gambling?"
At this point, his voice paused slightly, "Billions of federal coins, all that money, and he lost it all? Does he think we’re fools?"
"He said every ti he got money, he would gamble," the young agent said softly, "Every ti he won a little, then lost it all, he never calculated how much he eventually lost."
"He killed so many people, destroyed so many families, just to lose money in an online casino?!" Hearing this, Nock laughed angrily, then controlled his emotions, "Was a mind reading lie detector used?"
"Yes, everything he said was true," the young agent said softly, "We’ve investigated the online casino he ntioned, it indeed exists and indeed ran away last night."
"I rember Linsent Pharmaceutical ntioned that he took a two-day leave," Nock looked through the docunts in his hand, "Where did he go?"
"He said he found a deserted little house and gambled for two days, he thought such a place would bring him luck," the young agent paused, "He lost all the money, we also visited that house, there was nothing inside, the corridor had surveillance, and indeed captured him entering the night before last and leaving this morning, he didn’t leave during that ti."
"There’s no issue with all the evidence and testimonies?" Nock closed the file, slightly frowning.
"It seems to be like that," the young agent said softly, "Though this matter is absurd, it seems to be the truth."
"Alright, I understand," Nock closed the file and let out a long sigh, "Contact the person in charge at Linsent Pharmaceutical and ask relevant questions for verification, I’ll report this file first."
"Okay." The young agent turned and left the office.
Nock leaned back in his chair, turned his head to look at the rain clouds outside the window.
Though this matter doesn’t appear to have any problems, he still vaguely feels sothing’s off.
He instinctively reached out and picked up the interrogation report of the caravan leader.
The caravan leader said he was coerced by an unknown person to ’confess’, but he didn’t see the person’s appearance, only knew the person was wearing a disposable raincoat commonly seen by the roadside.
It sounds like a plot from a legendary story, where a righteous hero just happened to pass by and forced the vile criminal to confess.
The agents in the office found it a bit absurd.
But for so reason, hearing this story, Nock instinctively recalled that figure in his mind.
This world indeed has heroes.
His gaze swept over the electronic notification displayed on the computer.
Due to his outstanding work, he has been appointed as the Deputy Director of the Criminal Violence Investigation Bureau.
He slowly got up, picked up a bag of coffee grounds, walked to the water dispenser, and made himself a cup of instant coffee.
As the steaming mist rose under the overcast rain clouds, he picked up the coffee, quietly gazing at the towering buildings outside the window.
It’s been almost three years since he left Lin City.
Pete has been gone from this world for almost three years too.
----
In front of the Ains Federal Parliant Building
Beep——
Sitting inside the coffee shop, accompanied by the crisp busy tone, He Ao looked up and glanced at the palace-like building cluster in the distance.
Then he withdrew his gaze, looked at Vigina beside him, and asked softly, "Still can’t get through?"
"Not yet," Vigina shook her head slightly, shrugging her shoulders, "I’m afraid we won’t be able to connect."
At that mont, He Ao’s wristband vibrated, he looked down at it.
The ssage was from Furen.
He opened the ssage, and two electronic invitations with envelopes outlined in golden lines and a white background, appearing luxurious and elegant, were projected into his field of view.
The invitation was made in the style of an envelope, and the envelope’s seal was rendered with a high-resolution wax seal effect.
The Julia Family still loves to do these flashy things as usual.
"What is this? It’s so beautiful." Vigina saw the envelope projection and asked puzzledly.
"An invitation to a party." He Ao replied casually.
"A party?" Vigina was stunned.
At that mont, her wristband vibrated slightly, the call connected, and a gentle female voice ca from the phone, "Hello, this is the office of Senator Corino in Denno City."
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