74: Chapter 74 Dual-Line Reporting

The car door opened, and a slightly chubby middle-aged man wearing a jacket stepped out. He looked left and right before walking quickly into the building entrance.

The moment he entered Lin Ning's field of vision, a glaring deep red suddenly slammed into his sight.

[ Director Li Zheng – National Cadre ]

Lin Ning paused his steps, his breathing becoming lighter. Maintaining his night-running rhythm, he jogged past the building, his gaze quickly sweeping over the Audi's license plate—Jing A, a low-digit series.

A national cadre… deep red… and a highly suspicious foreign woman lives in this unit too?

His intuition was screaming alarms.

Lin Ning made a decision almost immediately—change targets.

The Sofiani line was difficult to pursue for the time being, but this suddenly appearing Director Li Zheng might be a breakthrough—and a much more disturbing one at that.

Following his routine from the past two days, he finished his four laps before strolling toward the fitness area.

Over three hours later, approaching midnight.

In the shadows of a street corner outside the residential complex, Lin Ning lay in wait, quiet as a hunting civet cat.

The Audi A6 passed through the raised barrier and glided out.

Watching the taillights turn onto the main road, Lin Ning followed from a distance.

With sparse late-night traffic, tracking became more difficult. Fortunately, after developing methods to use his Psychic Power, his intuition for danger and environmental perception had significantly improved, allowing him to trail behind with extreme caution.

The Audi eventually drove into a quiet neighborhood in Xicheng and entered a compound guarded by the Armed Police—a sign at the entrance read "Ministry of Education Family Quarters."

Lin Ning stopped at a distance, his eyebrows arching high.

He took out his phone, opened a web browser, and searched for "Ministry of Education Director Li Zheng."

Several pieces of public information popped up. One was a report on a conference; the accompanying photo showed a slightly chubby, bespectacled middle-aged man sitting on stage, with the caption: "Ministry of Education XXXX Department Director, Director Li Zheng."

Lin Ning turned off the screen. The surrounding silence of the night seemed to grow heavier instantly, weighing down on his heart.

An official in charge of basic education textbooks, secretly visiting a beautiful woman suspected of being a foreign spy in the middle of the night?

A chill ran through him, but at the same time, anger ignited his blood.

Textbooks!

Damn it! It better not be what he thought it was!

At this point, Lin Ning no longer cared about exercising or conducting deep observations of the enemy.

The enemy was literally trying to destroy their foundation!

He was about to call Chen Zhi immediately when his phone suddenly vibrated.

Lin Ning was startled; the caller ID showed Wang Qiao.

He picked up, "Lin Zi! Where are you?"

Wang Qiao's voice carried a hint of excitement and urgency, "Brother Tao just called me to say that General Manager Huang's fund has basically decided to cooperate with that 'General Manager Zheng'—that is, Duan Pingheng—on that infrastructure project in Malaysia!"

Lin Ning rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling his temples throbbing.

"General Manager Huang and his team plan to launch a new special fund to raise capital. It's a private equity arrangement, not open to the public, and they're only offering shares to familiar institutions and investors. Brother Tao sent me the outlook and return rate data; it looks fantastic. Brother Tao asked if our new Company wants to co-invest a little. He can let us have a small portion of his share and bring us into the deal."

"It's only been a few days—has the background check even been completed for General Manager Huang to decide to participate? Are they in on this together?" Lin Ning asked suspiciously.

"I said the same thing—it's too fast. Generally, this kind of investment requires a huge amount of preliminary preparation, and the background checks are extremely strict and complex." Wang Qiao's tone turned serious.

"Brother Tao said that General Manager Huang had already started confirming the cooperation and background checks with General Manager Zheng over a month ago. Brother Tao sent me some materials—project background, documents, partner credit information… I couldn't find any issues. Everything is real, or at least looks real. But the problem is, that person, Duan Pingheng, is a fake!"

Wang Qiao continued his analysis, speaking quickly: "This type of fraud is completely different from traditional financial scams like Ponzi schemes. It's a genuine 'con' that requires collusion. There must be someone inside that Malaysian private equity fund, Ausvipeng, cooperating with him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to obtain so many internal documents, confirmation letters, and reply processes, nor could he make it look so realistic."

"Do you think a few individuals within the fund have been bought off, or is the entire fund compromised?"

"It's unlikely that the entire fund is compromised," Wang Qiao mused. "If the fund itself were the problem, they would send their own real employees and partners to handle the operations. Why use a fake 'Zheng Siyu'? The risk of using a fake identity is too high; it's too easy to get exposed. I'm more inclined to believe that one or several executives with authority within the fund have been bought off by the group behind Duan Pingheng to provide a full suite of 'packaging' services."

Lin Ning was silent for a few seconds. In his mind, he had Director Li Zheng secretly meeting a spy late at night on one side, and a financial fraud trap about to open its jaws on the other. He felt as if his time were being pulled in opposite directions by two different hands.

"Find a way to stall Brother Tao," Lin Ning decided. "Tell him our Company was just established and our funds are still going through the process, so ask him to wait a few days, or just hint that there's something wrong with this. In any case, you absolutely cannot let him invest money right now. By the way, do you know how much capital they plan to raise?"

"The prospectus states 600 million. I definitely won't let Brother Tao invest, but I can't stall him for too long without explaining the reason clearly—General Manager Huang and his team are moving very fast with the fundraising." Wang Qiao sounded worried. "Besides, we don't have the resources or time to investigate further. Other than this person, we don't have any other evidence."

"I know. Let's not try to do the police's job," Lin Ning said. "You just keep Brother Tao steady for two days; I'm going to get reinforcements."

"Send all the materials to my email."

After hanging up on Wang Qiao, Lin Ning looked at the Armed Police guard post standing solemnly at the entrance of the Ministry of Education Family Quarters in the distance. His face felt a bit hot.

Lin Ning hadn't expected that his plan to strive and do his part for the country would end with him having to hand over both leads in less than ten minutes.

He had overestimated himself. The enemy hadn't even bared their fangs yet, and he was already forced to act like a lowly patrol demon, having to call upon his own king to save the day.

Without further hesitation, he found Chen Zhi's number and called him directly.

"Beep—beep—beep—"

"Lin Ning?"

"Brother Chen, I want to make a report!" Lin Ning said as he turned his electric scooter around and sped off toward the small building.

Chen Zhi said he would wait for him at the small building, not saying much more over the phone.

After hanging up, he dialed Officer Li Feng's number.

The phone rang seven or eight times before it was answered, and Officer Li Feng's listless voice, thick with resentment, came through: "…Master Lin, what is it now? I'm begging you, can you just let me get some sleep? Our entire station has been running around the clock for a week on those five cases of yours!"

"Officer Li Feng," Lin Ning said, ignoring his complaints, "hypothetically—and I mean hypothetically—if I discovered that someone was planning a financial fraud involving 600 million RMB or more, but the fraud hasn't actually been executed yet, meaning it's currently in the planning or attempted stage… if I report it and prevent this fraud, can I get a reward?"