77: Chapter 77 Death of Society

Hearing the door open, the "Little White Poplar" immediately turned around and saluted Lin Ning, his eyes bright and sharp.

"Comrade Lin Ning, hello. I am Li Chao. Division Chief Chen has arranged for me to be responsible for your safety and work coordination during your outing today."

"Oh, hello, hello. I'll be troubling you today. I just woke up; let me grab something to eat before we head out."

"The cafeteria has food. I will accompany you." Li Chao stepped aside and followed half a step behind Lin Ning.

The small building was exceptionally quiet today.

After eating a hearty, free brunch at the Ministry of State Security cafeteria, Lin Ning was driven to the Municipal Public Security Bureau by a dedicated driver, accompanied by Li Chao.

Lin Ning felt a bit uncomfortable; this level of treatment was really maxed out.

Officer Li Feng was already waiting at the entrance of the Municipal Bureau.

Seeing Lin Ning jump out of the car, followed by Li Chao, whose eyes and demeanor were clearly extraordinary, Officer Li Feng's eye twitched, and he shot a questioning look.

Lin Ning smiled awkwardly and didn't say a word. Seeing this, Officer Li Feng didn't ask further and led them directly to a small meeting room in the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment.

"Lin Ning, this is Captain Liu Tianming of our Second Detachment of the Economic Crime Investigation Corps, and this is investigator Zhao Yu." After the introduction, Officer Li Feng fell silent.

Liu Tianming was a middle-aged man in his forties who looked rather serious, and both men shook hands with Lin Ning very politely.

However, when their gazes swept over Li Chao, who was standing silently outside the meeting room door like a guardian deity, they both paused imperceptibly.

That posture, those eyes, that alertness that could be felt even through the door... This was definitely not an ordinary bodyguard or friend.

This informant was a bit mysterious. The two exchanged glances, their attitudes becoming a few degrees more cautious.

"Mr. Lin, please sit. Thank you very much for providing such important clues." Liu Tianming got straight to the point. "Officer Li Feng has already told me the basic situation. Please describe the discovery process in detail, as well as all the information you possess."

Lin Ning sat down, cleared his throat, and began to recount: "About a week ago, at a private gathering in the investment circle, I was introduced by a friend to a gentleman who called himself 'Zheng Siyu'. He claimed to be a partner of the Malaysian Ausweipeng Private Equity Fund..."

He omitted the "Physiognomy" part, saying only that through "some personal channels and subsequent investigations," he discovered that the true identity of this "General Manager Zheng" was Duan Pingheng, the financial director of a small human resources company in Jianfu Province. Then, he detailed the information he learned from Wang Qiao, such as General Manager Huang's planned fund cooperation, the raising of 600 million in funds, and the seemingly perfect project documents.

"... My friend has some experience in the financial circle. He analyzed that this kind of scam requires a high degree of cooperation from insiders at the overseas institution. Duan Pingheng himself is fake, but the project documents and qualifications might be real, just misused."

Lin Ning handed the USB drive he had brought with him to Liu Tianming: "This contains screenshots of all the public information I collected regarding Duan Pingheng's real identity, as well as some project documents my friend forwarded to me. For more specifics, you will need to conduct a professional investigation."

Liu Tianming took the USB drive, his expression grave. A sum of 600 million, overseas private equity endorsement, professional packaging... This was certainly not a small case. He and Zhao carefully inquired about the specific time and place of the gathering, as well as information about the introducer, General Manager Huang, and Tao Shuyu.

The statement was taken in great detail, and the entire process lasted over an hour.

When it ended, Liu Tianming shook hands with Lin Ning again solemnly: "Mr. Lin, the clues you provided are very critical and of great value. We will report this upwards immediately and launch an investigation. We may need you or your friend to assist in verifying some situations later. Thank you again!"

"It's only right." Lin Ning paused and asked, "Can I tell my friend about the situation? He's still waiting for my confirmation on whether I'm going to invest."

Liu Tianming hesitated a bit, subconsciously glanced at the door again, and weighed his words: "You can appropriately disclose that it might be a scam, and we may contact him later, but do not discuss the specific details."

"Okay, okay, I understand. Thank you, and sorry for the trouble!"

Leaving the meeting room, Li Chao followed silently outside the door.

Seeing Li Chao's movements, Liu Tianming and Zhao Yu exchanged glances and fell silent.

Officer Li Feng walked them to the entrance of the Municipal Bureau, looked at the inconspicuous car that glided over with a slightly special license plate, and finally couldn't help but lower his voice to ask: "Are you okay? That person..." He gestured with his chin toward Li Chao.

Lin Ning smiled and also lowered his voice: "It's fine, just a friend, staying with me for a few days... Alright, see you later. I'll treat you to a meal when you're done with your work."

Officer Li Feng nodded after a moment of silence; given the nature of his work, he was highly sensitive to confidentiality and classified matters.

It didn't look like surveillance, but rather felt more like protection, so he felt relieved.

The car drove away from the Municipal Bureau, blending into the afternoon traffic.

Lin Ning leaned back in his seat and lowered his head to message Wang Qiao: "Tell Brother Tao about 'General Manager Zheng's' real name and his status as a non-overseas Chinese. The police have intervened and may contact him later. Don't say anything else. I'll find you after I finish being busy these two days."

Returning to the small building, Lin Ning headed straight for Chen Zhi's office; he was also thinking about the matter involving Director Li Zheng and the foreign woman.

Just as he reached the door, he heard muffled shouting coming from behind the thick door panel. Lin Ning immediately leaned his ear against it. Oh ho, such a big temper, what happened?

Li Chao, who was behind him, was startled by Lin Ning's actions and reached out to press on his shoulder.

Lin Ning's body stiffened, and he almost fought back before realizing what the situation was.

Embarrassed, he stood up, quickly wanting to tell Li Chao that they should come back later. But Li Chao's other hand had already knocked on the door.

The voices inside stopped, and then a "Come in" was heard. Lin Ning scratched his head, but Li Chao had already pushed the door open, and the way he looked at Lin Ning was already wrong.

Lin Ning had no choice but to step inside.

Five pairs of eyes in the room turned to look at him in unison.

"..." Lin Ning cleared his throat. "I just came to say that I'm back..."

At this moment, Li Chao loudly reported, "He was eavesdropping outside."

"..." Lin Ning was stunned.

He looked at Li Chao in shock. No, buddy, I didn't even hear anything! Or couldn't you report me behind my back?!

Chen Zhi's mouth began to twitch. He must have been out of his mind to pair these two together.

With a flush of anger still on his face, and his eyes—which were even sharper despite having stayed up all night without rest—full of speechlessness, he looked at these two bastards. After thinking for a moment, he waved at the four people, "I want the full list of everyone they funded, as soon as possible!"

The four people, as if granted amnesty, quickly lowered their heads and walked out. As they passed Lin Ning, everyone took an extra look at him.

Lin Ning wanted to leave too—no, he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. It was so freaking awkward; it was no less than a social death!

"Ahem!" Chen Zhi said to Li Chao, "I understand. I will criticize and educate him. You go out first."

"Yes!" Li Chao saluted and turned to leave the room.