219: Chapter 219 This is a scam! A perfect script!

Inside the cigar room of a top-tier private members' club, the air was thick with the rich aroma of expensive Cuban cigars and aged whiskey.

A man, dressed in a sophisticated, bespoke suit, held a burning cigar between his fingers.

He was the "Earl Windsor" who had just left, an actor named Arthur.

At this moment, he was lowering his voice, reporting to the person on the other end of an encrypted phone in a tone that mixed a desire for credit with excitement.

"Boss, the fish is on the hook! He bit!"

"It's exactly like the script we prepared. That guy named Lin is greedy, but he's also very suspicious by nature. He told me to come back tomorrow, saying he needs to have a meeting with his team to study it. Ha!"

On the other end of the phone, a heavily processed electronic synthesized voice came through—cold, mechanical, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female, let alone detect any emotion.

"Very good."

"The fact that he didn't kick you out on the spot means his mind is already in turmoil. How could a young man who suddenly struck it rich by dumb luck resist the temptation of becoming the 'next Middle East tycoon'?"

Arthur licked his somewhat dry lips and couldn't help but ask, "Boss... that map, is it... is it actually real or fake? I've been looking at it every day, and the more I look, the more real it seems."

As a third-rate actor, he had never seen such a grand setup. Whether it was the feel of the parchment map or the ancient aura it emitted, even he, the performer, was starting to believe it.

"Real or fake, does it matter?"

The electronic voice asked back, its tone dripping with bone-deep contempt and mockery.

"What matters is that he is willing to believe it's real. Arthur, we haven't been in this business for just one day. Have you forgotten? The so-called 'El Dorado' plan in South America, and that self-proclaimed 'Diamond Prince' in Africa—what happened to them in the end?"

"Didn't they all obediently pour their national treasuries and the family fortunes accumulated over generations into the pits we dug for them? The profits from those two times were incredibly immense!"

"This time, it's just taking an old, overplayed script, changing the location, changing the actor, and fucking performing it all over again!"

The electronic voice paused for a moment, seemingly savoring past "glorious achievements," and its tone became even more condescending.

"Remember your role! Our goal has never been that mere fifty million US dollars! That's just the bait, a stepping stone to make him lower his guard!"

"Our true goal is to make him, and that ridiculous country behind him, dump billions, even tens of billions of dollars, into that godforsaken, desolate desert—to drill into a bottomless pit that will never, ever produce a single drop of oil!"

"Those two gentlemen have really gone all out this time! What they want isn't some simple commercial blow! What they want is to spend money to buy that man Lin's utter ruin! They want us to give that arrogant new regime a proper 'lesson'!"

"As soon as he starts investing the first cent, his capital chain will be shredded inch by inch, like being thrown into a meat grinder! All his development plans will turn into a pile of scrap paper! When that time comes, our employers will be very, very happy to see that result."

"I understand, Boss." Arthur listened with a pounding heart, a layer of cold sweat already soaking his back.

This wasn't just some scam!

This was a massive conspiracy using a "national-level treasure" as bait, aimed at dragging down the economy of an emerging nation!

That map he carefully held every day wasn't a treasure map at all; it was a key coated in deadly poison, used to lure Lin Zhou into personally opening a door to the abyss of bankruptcy and destruction!

"Continue to play your role well," the electronic voice issued the final command. "Tomorrow, wait for him to pay you. Remember, as soon as the transaction is complete, evacuate immediately according to the planned route. Everything that happens afterward has nothing to do with us, or you."

"Yes, Boss."

Arthur hung up the phone and slumped onto the leather sofa, looking like he had just been fished out of water.

He let out a long breath of turbid air, picked up the glass of expensive whiskey on the table, and downed it in one gulp.

The spicy liquid burned his throat, clearing his chaotic mind a bit.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the cigar room, looked at the meticulously disguised face of "Earl Windsor" in the mirror, and a self-satisfied smile slowly spread across his lips.

Who cared about conspiracies or national bankruptcy?

He was just an actor.

And this play was being performed perfectly!

...

Meanwhile, ten thousand miles away at the Beijing Suburbs headquarters.

Lin Zhou sat behind the large desk in his office. The polite facade he had maintained while receiving guests was gone, replaced only by a cold solemnity.

Before him lay two reports that had just been transmitted through the highest encryption channels.

One was from Jack, representing his global private intelligence network.

The other was from Director Zhou's office at National Security, representing the thunderous power of the state.

The contents of the two reports, approaching from different angles, merged at the same endpoint, corroborating each other to piece together a cold and cruel truth.

Jack's report was direct and violent, like a sharp scalpel, instantly stripping away "Earl Windsor's" magnificent outer robes.

"Target: Arthur Hampton, male, fifty-two years old, British citizen."

"Professional Background: Former third-tier actor at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fired for chronic alcoholism, gambling, and multiple disappearances before performances."

"Financial Status: Heavily in debt, pursued by multiple loan shark companies."

"Nobility Identity Verification: Edward Windsor, Earl Windsor, does indeed exist. However, he is currently eighty-nine years old and has been living in a nursing home in Switzerland for many years, with no public activity recorded in the last five years."

"Conclusion: The target, Arthur Hampton, is an impostor. He is being controlled by a highly organized international professional fraud syndicate with clear division of labor. Preliminary tracking of fund flows shows secret financial transactions between this syndicate and several multinational agricultural and energy companies."

This report practically handed down a death sentence to this loophole-ridden "noble offering treasure" drama.

The intelligence unearthed by Director Zhou using national resources went even deeper, pointing directly at the mastermind.

"...According to the latest news from our intelligence network in Europe, this fraud syndicate recently received a huge sum of money from an anonymous offshore account in the Cayman Islands."

"Through layers of technical tracking, we have determined that this account is highly correlated with a family trust fund belonging to Sterling, the chairman of the 'Syngenta' group."

"Additionally, our technical department has conducted high-precision spectral scanning and material analysis on the map sample you provided. The preliminary findings are as follows:"

"One, the animal skin material used for the map is indeed over a hundred years old and originates from Africa."

"Two, however, the special ink used to draw the map contains trace amounts of modern industrial refined additives in its chemical composition. Conclusion: The ink is a recent forgery."

"Comprehensive Judgment: The entire map is an 'artwork' of extremely high forgery quality, sufficient to pass as genuine."

Everything had come to light.

All the clues were linked together, forming a complete and malicious chain of evidence.

This was the latest poisonous scheme devised by that old dog Sterling, after his military threats failed and his commercial blockades hit a wall!

He wasn't even after that fifty million dollars!

He wanted to use an utterly false hope—a dream of a "world-class oil field" that could drive any country mad—to drag the newly established Cyber Freedom Republic into a bottomless infrastructure pit!

As long as Lin Zhou believed it, as long as he started investing money.

Building roads, constructing ports, buying equipment, hiring drilling teams... every single item would be a terrifying expense measured in "billions of dollars"!

Once it started, it could never be stopped!

How sinister this intention was!

Jack's voice came through the encrypted communicator, carrying a suppressed rage: "Lord, do we need to execute an arrest immediately? He's in Beijing; he can't escape!"

"No."

Lin Zhou's fingertips lightly tapped on the smooth desk surface, producing a rhythmic "tap, tap, tap" sound, like the drumbeat of some ancient ritual.

Arrest?

That would be too easy on them.

Since Sterling had gone to such great lengths to send him such a perfect "actor" and had set up such a large stage.

If he didn't make good use of it, wouldn't it be a waste of this "kindness"?

An idea, bolder and crazier than the opponent's plan, quickly took shape in his mind.

A cold arc curled at the corner of Lin Zhou's mouth.

Since you like acting, I'll join you for a big show!

A grand play that will thoroughly scatter all of you, along with your ashes!