307: Chapter 307 Ye Qingcheng's scheme to make Zhang Min 'fake her death' (Part 2)

About ten minutes later, Ye Qingcheng finally arrived at the Security Bureau Modu Branch headquarters.

At this time, the Director of the Modu Branch—Li Bing—and the heads of various departments were already waiting at the entrance of the office building for Ye Qingcheng's arrival.

After receiving the call from Director Xu Anguo of the General Bureau, Li Bing felt extremely uneasy. A traitor like Huang Hansheng had actually appeared in the Modu Branch under his jurisdiction, and it had even started six years ago, yet he, the Director, hadn't noticed at all!

Being severely reprimanded by Xu Anguo over the phone only made Li Bing hang his head in shame.

Even more critically, this matter was reported by Ye Qingcheng, a 'high-ranking official' dispatched directly from the General Bureau. His future career was likely at an end.

For now, he could only take it one step at a time and get through the current crisis first.

As soon as Ye Qingcheng parked her car, Li Bing trotted forward eagerly and took the initiative to open the car door for her.

The group of minor leaders following closely behind Li Bing were still unaware of the details. Seeing this scene, they all gasped; they had never seen the Director be so respectful to anyone. They couldn't help but feel a sense of envy toward Ye Qingcheng.

As Ye Qingcheng stepped out of the car, Li Bing immediately looked ashamed, wanting to perform a 'profound' self-criticism to her.

However, before Li Bing could speak, Ye Qingcheng raised her hand to stop him: "Director Li, let's talk later if you have something to say."

As she spoke, Ye Qingcheng ignored Li Bing's expression—which looked as if he had swallowed a fly—and strode toward the office building. Seeing this, Li Bing didn't dare say more and immediately followed her.

As the group climbed the steps, Ye Qingcheng gave instructions without looking aside: "Trouble Director Li to prepare a meeting room immediately. The matter is urgent; I need to hold a remote video conference with Director Xu Anguo of the General Bureau right away."

Li Bing had lost his temper by now. Hearing Ye Qingcheng's command, he didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately pulled out his phone, making a call while responding: "Alright, Captain Ye, I'll arrange for someone to prepare it immediately. Who else do you need to attend the meeting? I'll arrange for them all at once."

"Director Li will be with me; everyone else will wait outside on standby!" While speaking, Ye Qingcheng had already entered the office building.

"Captain Ye, this way." Li Bing hurried a couple of steps to be half a body length ahead of Ye Qingcheng, acting as a 'guide' with a humble attitude.

Thus, such a scene appeared within the Security Bureau Modu Branch.

Li Bing, the top leader of a branch, was jogging to lead the way for Ye Qingcheng. Behind Ye Qingcheng, the heads of various departments followed closely.

Passing officers all moved aside as they watched this, casting curious and envious glances at Ye Qingcheng.

When the group reached the meeting room door, the staff had already set up the remote video conference equipment.

After ushering Ye Qingcheng into the meeting room, Li Bing ordered the department heads behind him: "Everyone, stay on standby outside the meeting room! No one is allowed to enter this room without my order." He said this while checking the time on his watch; it was already 7:30. Estimating the meeting time, he commanded again, "By 8:00, everyone must be at their posts except for those unable to come due to injury or illness! Is that understood?!"

"Understood!!!" everyone responded in unison.

After arranging the work, Li Bing closed the meeting room door.

...

Outside the meeting room, the leaders looked at each other, each guessing in their hearts what major event had occurred to make the Director lose his composure so much.

At this moment, someone among the crowd asked: "Eh? Why hasn't Deputy Director Huang come today?"

Only then did everyone notice that Deputy Director Huang, who was usually conscientious and arrived on time, was actually absent today.

The group exchanged glances, vaguely seeming to understand something. However, such things could only be sensed and not spoken aloud; the scene became terrifyingly silent for a moment.

Then, one person coughed lightly, pulled out his phone, and pretending to make a call, said to the others: "Well, I'll go implement the work the Director assigned first, so those brats under me don't just clock in at the last second."

With someone taking the lead, the others also pulled out their phones and chimed in: "Right, right, I also need to properly implement the Director's instructions."

Subsequently, the crowd dispersed to convey instructions to their respective departments.

At this moment, inside the meeting room, the remote video conference had already begun.

On the large screen, Xu Anguo's face was extremely dark; one could feel his impending explosion of rage even through the screen.

After a dozen seconds of silence, Xu Anguo said in a deep voice: "Qingcheng, my dear Captain Ye, how could you be so careless? The person was already detained in the underground Safe House, so how could such a thing happen?"

Ye Qingcheng silently gave Xu Anguo's acting a thumbs up in her heart. Then, she adjusted her breathing, stood up from her seat, and took the initiative to self-criticize: "Reporting to Director Xu, this matter is indeed my fault. My lack of thorough consideration led to this accident. Whatever punishment the General Bureau decides to give me, I, Ye Qingcheng, will accept it!"

Seeing Ye Qingcheng take responsibility, Li Bing, sitting opposite her, naturally couldn't sit still. He immediately stood up as well and took the blame: "Director Xu, I am the one who should be punished. As the Director of the Modu Branch, I am to blame for such an occurrence; the responsibility lies with me and has nothing to do with Captain Ye. If the General Bureau wants to punish someone, punish me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a loud 'bang' was heard from the screen as Xu Anguo slammed his hand heavily on the desk. Then, he also stood up, pointing at Ye Qingcheng and Li Bing through the screen, and scolded sharply: "Good, good, good! Now that things have reached this point, you all know how to take responsibility. I really don't know whether I should be happy or disappointed! Rest assured, the punishment for this matter will definitely not be lacking!"

At this point, Xu Anguo paused for a moment, breathing heavily to calm his emotions. He took a sip from the water cup on the table before slowly speaking again: "However, before punishing you, the first problem to solve is: what do we do next?"

After speaking, Xu Anguo's gaze swept over the faces of Ye Qingcheng and Li Bing. After a brief pause, he continued: "No one is talking, right? Fine, I'll start!"

As Xu Anguo spoke, he pulled over a whiteboard from the side. On the whiteboard were clues related to Hongmen. He tapped the content on the whiteboard with a marker and said, "Now, we have already identified the four members of the Hongmen underground dark web group! However, Zhang Min is dead, and the strongest one, Zhang Yu, as well as Hong Ying, are at large. We still only have Chen Mo in our hands. Although Chen Mo has confessed to some issues, it's all just talk without physical evidence! So, how is the investigation work supposed to proceed? You tell me, how?! we've invested so much manpower and resources, even going as far as deploying a warship; we can't end up with nothing in the end! If that happens, including myself, we should all resign in blame!"

Li Bing glanced at Ye Qingcheng sitting opposite him, adjusted his breathing, and hesitantly suggested: "Well, Director Xu, in my opinion, why don't we start an investigation into Huang Hansheng first? Since the clue was cut off at Deputy Director Huang Hansheng's end, we should clarify things first. Moreover, I actually have some doubts; you said on the phone that Zhang Min died suddenly this morning. Although Deputy Director Huang Hansheng had contact with her, from last night until this morning is such a long time, it might have been someone else."

Hearing Li Bing's words, Ye Qingcheng's brow furrowed slightly. She looked at Li Bing with a cold gaze and retorted in a deep voice: "Director Li, what do you mean by that? Although I'm not yet clear on how Huang Hansheng succeeded, if it wasn't him, who else could it be? When we finished for the night, I had already given instructions. No one was to approach Zhang Min without my order. But this Huang Hansheng, relying on his position as Deputy Director, came to inquire about Zhang Min's arrest, which was already against the rules! Furthermore, even if it were his duty, he should have contacted me first instead of bypassing me to meet Zhang Min alone!"

Seeing Ye Qingcheng's anger, Li Bing quickly put on a flattering smile and explained: "Captain Ye, please don't be anxious. I didn't say it definitely wasn't Huang Hansheng. But we are the Security Bureau; we must focus on evidence. What's more, Huang Hansheng is a Deputy Director of the branch; logically and reasonably, we should secure the evidence first before convicting him, shouldn't we?"

Seeing that the timing was right, Xu Anguo cleared his throat and interrupted the dispute between Ye Qingcheng and Li Bing.

"Enough! I asked you to discuss the future direction of the investigation, not to argue! Regarding Huang Hansheng's suspicion, I will send a special task force from the capital, and you two will assist from the side! Until Huang Hansheng's suspicion is cleared, all his duties are suspended! Given that Huang Hansheng's son is in Australia and beyond our reach, we will first restrict his wife from leaving the country, search his residence and office area, and arrange for personnel to monitor his wife 24 hours a day. We must clarify whether collusion exists between Huang Hansheng and Hongmen! Do you both understand?!"

"Yes, Director Xu, we guarantee to complete the task!" Li Bing was the first to state his position.

Following him, Ye Qingcheng also responded in a somewhat reluctant tone: "Yes! Director Xu."

Xu Anguo nodded with satisfaction and then continued: "We'll leave Huang Hansheng's matter at that for now. Next, let's talk about Hongmen. Qingcheng, you first describe the situation with Zhang Min."

"Yes," Ye Qingcheng responded, and then she reported one by one to Xu Anguo what identity Zhang Min used to come to Modu and what she had done after arriving.

However, with Li Bing present, Ye Qingcheng did not say too much, especially regarding the issue of Chu Weimin's identity, which she deliberately omitted.

After hearing this, Xu Anguo nodded thoughtfully: "In other words, there might be a connection between this Chus Investment from Hong Kong Island and Hongmen?"

Unexpectedly, Ye Qingcheng shook her head: "Whether there is a connection is hard to say at the moment. After all, Zhang Min is dead now, and we only know that Zhang Min was arranged by Chus Investment to come to Modu to take over the shares of Hongtai Construction. As for other things, I hadn't had time to interrogate her before Zhang Min died suddenly."

"Has the hotel where Zhang Min stayed been checked? Are there any clues?" Xu Anguo asked again.

"It was searched when Zhang Min was arrested. Aside from several passports, a Citibank bank card, and documents related to Hongtai Construction, there was nothing else suspicious," Ye Qingcheng reported.

Xu Anguo was silent for a moment, then said with a solemn expression: "Since there is suspicion, we cannot ignore any clues. Qingcheng, after the meeting, arrange for personnel to check this Chus Investment. If you need assistance from the Hong Kong police, report to me, and I will coordinate it! Additionally, if I remember correctly, does this Hongtai Construction also have shares held by Zhao Lintai? Hongtai Construction is going public at the end of the month, yet the chairman suddenly died in a car accident, and a large number of negative news related to Hongtai Construction has appeared online. This series of events feels a bit too coincidental! I think it's necessary for you to clarify these suspicious points."

"Yes. Director Xu, I will get to work on it right away!"

"Mhm. Also, the Modu Branch must fully cooperate this time." As Xu Anguo spoke, his gaze turned to Li Bing, and he said in a deep voice, "Comrades, time is running out for us. The higher-level leadership attaches great importance to matters related to Hongmen and trusts us unreservedly. If we still can't find any strong evidence and clues, how are we to account to those above?!"

Upon hearing this, Li Bing immediately stood up and stated: "Director Xu, rest assured, our Modu Branch will definitely cooperate fully!"

"Mhm. The investigation of the case will proceed according to the direction just planned! Also, one more thing: next Monday, the Martial Artists from martial arts families recruited by the Special Operations Department will arrive in Modu. The Modu Branch should arrange a car to pick them up at the airport. These people's strength is quite remarkable; among them are five Martial Artists who have reached the level of Dark Strength and twenty-five Martial Artists of Clear Strength. I will send the list to you later."

Thirty people, and each one an expert—this was a hot potato. He hoped they wouldn't be assigned to him. Thinking of this, Li Bing immediately followed up: "Director Xu, how will these people be arranged once they arrive?"

Xu Anguo didn't say a word but looked at Ye Qingcheng.

Ye Qingcheng thought for a moment and suggested: "I remember that not far from the underground Safe House, there should be a Special Training Base of the Modu Branch? I suggest that these thirty people can be arranged at the training base first. There are places to stay and a cafeteria there; they can train when there's nothing going on and can be mobilized immediately if a situation arises."

"Mhm," Xu Anguo nodded and looked at Li Bing, asking symbolically, "Is there any problem on the Modu Branch's side?"

Hearing this, Li Bing immediately stated: "No, no problem, Director Xu. I'll arrange it after the meeting."

"Mhm, then that's all for now. Qingcheng, don't worry about other things for a moment; first, write a report explaining today's situation and submit it, and I'll go report to the higher-level leadership. Also, when will Zhang Min's autopsy results be out?"

Ye Qingcheng checked the time and responded: "The autopsy is already being performed; the results are expected within an hour!"

"Good, report it immediately once the autopsy results are out. Alright, everyone get back to work!" After saying this, Xu Anguo disconnected from the remote video conference.