198: Chapter 198 Entrapment Enforcement: The Entrapment Site Was Busted On the Spot

Bureau of Anomalous Affairs, Technical Division.

The air was filled with the strong scent of instant coffee.

Chen Xiaobei's dark circles were practically hanging down to his chin.

He hammered away at his Keyboard, the screen displaying a dense web of fund flow charts.

"Director Gu, this lead is too slippery."

Chen Xiaobei pointed to the red transaction nodes on the screen.

"The money Lin Xiu sent out went into twenty-four different shell companies."

"These companies are all registered overseas, and their legal representatives are all blacklisted individuals from Southeast Asia."

"Every time the money is transferred, a service fee is automatically deducted. It then enters a cryptocurrency mixer for laundering, and finally, it flows into the core account of 'Juanzang Pavilion'."

"This anti-tracking technique is something that definitely couldn't be done without ten years of experience in the black/gray market."

Gu Changan leaned back in his chair, watching the data tree on the screen.

His intuition told him that the other party was no ordinary scammer.

"Stop tracking the funds."

Gu Changan spoke.

Chen Xiaobei was stunned.

"If we don't track the money, how do we identify the people?"

Gu Changan stood up.

"Money is fluid; it can move all over the world."

"But goods are static; the traces on the goods cannot be washed away."

He grabbed the photocopy of the ancient book confiscated from Lin Xiu and turned to walk out of the Technical Division.

Bureau of Anomalies, Basement Level 1, Literature Appraisal Center.

The air was permeated with the smell of preservatives and mothballs.

Chief Appraiser Old Qi pushed up his reading glasses and examined the photocopy with a magnifying glass for ten minutes.

He took off his gloves and tossed the photocopy onto the table.

"Forgeries."

Old Qi gave his conclusion.

"Director Gu, this thing is made quite realistically; even the aging process of the paper can be considered top-tier."

"But the content is wrong."

Old Qi flipped to one of the pages and pointed to a few lines of text.

"Look at this sentence: 'When Qi gathers at the Hundred Meetings, the brain's convolutions become chaotic, then the soul's image becomes unstable'."

"How would the ancients understand the concept of 'brain convolutions'?"

"This is a technical term created by certain underground research institutes during the 'extraordinary ability craze' that swept the country in the 1970s and 80s."

Gu Changan narrowed his eyes.

"You mean this is something modern?"

Old Qi nodded.

"This is definitely a modern report on extraordinary ability experiments."

"Someone took this experimental data and dangerous operational procedures and forcibly translated them into pseudo-classical Chinese."

"They wrapped it in the skin of an ancient book to scam people."

Gu Changan took the photocopy and returned to his office.

The nature of the case had completely changed.

This wasn't about selling antiques.

This was a criminal network specifically packaging modern, high-risk extraordinary ability knowledge for "civilian use."

They exploited the average person's reverence for ancient metaphysics to sell extremely dangerous bombs.

They made huge profits while letting the buyers bear all the risks of loss of control.

"Chen Xiaobei."

Gu Changan pressed the intercom.

"Find the black market entrance."

"Check those overseas metaphysical forums and private groups for paranormal enthusiasts."

"Find a way to make contact with 'Juanzang Pavilion'."

Chen Xiaobei acknowledged the order over the channel.

Twelve hours later.

Chen Xiaobei rushed into the Director's office with a bird's nest of hair.

"Found it."

He placed his tablet in front of Gu Changan.

"It's an encrypted trading section deep in the dark web."

"They don't call it an online shop; they call it a 'Fellow Enthusiasts Exchange Meeting'."

"You must have a recommendation from an insider to get the verification code."

Gu Changan looked at the page with black background and red text on the screen.

"How did you get in?"

Chen Xiaobei scratched his head.

"I used a backdoor account left behind by that charlatan, Tianjizi."

"That guy used to be a big spender in this circle."

Gu Changan nodded with satisfaction.

"Use Tianjizi's account to contact them."

"Tell them I've taken on a tricky job and need to deal with a target with very strong willpower."

"Ask if they have any top-tier 'mental control' merchandise."

Chen Xiaobei immediately complied.

Less than five minutes after the message was sent, the other party replied.

No nonsense, just a time and a place.

"Tomorrow at 8:00 PM, Donghai City, Old District, Banrixian Tea House, second floor, Listening to Rain private room."

Chen Xiaobei looked at this message and swallowed hard.

"Director Gu, they are incredibly efficient. Are we going?"

Gu Changan took a blank check from his drawer.

"We are going."

"Not only are we going, but we are going with the most cooperative attitude possible."

The next evening, 7:50 PM.

Banrixian Tea House.

This was a famous, old-established shop in Donghai City, usually frequented by old men carrying birdcages, drinking tea, and listening to music.

The Listening to Rain private room on the second floor was in the very back, with no surveillance.

Gu Changan, wearing a tastefully crafted handmade trench coat, pushed open the door to the private room.

Sitting in the room was a middle-aged man wearing a duckbill cap.

His appearance was extremely ordinary, the kind you'd never find if you threw him into a crowd.

The middle-aged man looked at Gu Changan, his eyes scanning him vigilantly.

"Introduced by Great Master Tian?"

Gu Changan walked over, sat opposite him, and poured a cup of tea unhurriedly.

"I know the rules."

"Only look at the goods, don't ask about the source."

Gu Changan slapped the blank check stamped with his personal Seal onto the table.

"Have you brought what I wanted?"

The man in the duckbill cap glanced at the check, and the vigilance in his eyes dissipated slightly.

He pulled up a tattered canvas bag from beside his feet and unzipped it.

He took out three kraft paper envelopes.

"We at Juanzang Pavilion believe in prescribing the right medicine for the illness."

"I didn't know how the boss wanted to control the target, so I brought three plans."

He pushed the first envelope over.

"'Seven Emotions Guide', creates extreme emotional dependence through scent and magnetic fields."

He pushed the second one over.

"'Inviting the Spirits Technique', directly summons residual spirits from the surroundings to possess the target, physically taking over the body."

The man in the duckbill cap paused, then pushed the third, slightly thicker envelope to the middle.

"This one is our trump card."

"As long as the target doesn't have True Qi protection, using the methods in this, you can directly break their Spirit Platform Seal and forcibly implant commands."

"However, this thing is a bit dangerous, so we generally don't sell it to strangers."

Gu Changan picked up the third envelope and opened it.

The first page he saw depicted an extremely complex Formation diagram.

After just one glance, Gu Changan's pupils contracted sharply.

This wasn't a Formation for controlling the mind at all.

This was a reverse-engineering diagram for the 'Five Thunders Soul-Locking Formation' used by the Underworld to Seal evil ghosts!

The last time they raided Lin Yuan's ghost smuggling company, Judge Cui and his Underworld soldiers used the correct version of this Formation.

Now, the blueprint for breaking the Formation was brazenly lying on the tea house table.

And it was being sold as a method for mental control.

Gu Changan closed the file.

"How much?"

The man in the duckbill cap held up two fingers.

"These three books, twenty million."

"No bargaining."

Gu Changan nodded.

"That's fair."

He picked up the pen on the table, quickly wrote the number twenty million on the check, and signed it.

Greed flashed in the eyes of the man in the duckbill cap, and he reached out to take the check.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the paper.

Gu Changan's wrist flipped suddenly, grabbing the man's wrist and pressing it down.

The crisp sound of a bone dislocation was exceptionally clear in the private room.

"Ah—"

The man in the duckbill cap screamed, and his whole body was pressed onto the table.

Bang!

The door of the private room was kicked open with great force.

Old Wei rushed in with four fully armed Special Task Force members.

Cold gun barrels were pointed directly at the back of the man's head.

"Don't move!"

Old Wei shouted.

The man in the duckbill cap was sweating profusely from the pain, but he was still stubborn.

"What are you doing! This is a tea house; I'm just here to sell health products!"

Gu Changan rolled up the guide for breaking the Seal and patted his face.

"Selling health products for twenty million a book?"

"These three books are now material evidence, and you are now a witness."

Gu Changan stood up and put the check back into his pocket.

"Take him back and interrogate him all night."

"If he doesn't confess, charge him with endangering national security and illegally trafficking high-risk explosives."

11:00 PM.

Bureau of Anomalous Affairs, Director's Office.

Gu Changan sat at his desk, with the Underworld Seal-breaking guide used as evidence lying on the table.

He took out his encrypted mobile phone and took photos of several pages of the core Formation diagrams.

He opened a special contact email.

Recipient: Judge Cui.

Gu Changan typed a line quickly.

"This is a 'Mental Control Manual' seized from the Donghai City black market today."

"Priced at twenty million."

"The core Seal technology of your Underworld has now become a paid-knowledge bestseller in the world of the living."

"I suggest you conduct an internal investigation to see which temp sold the database."

Click send.

Three minutes later.

The encrypted phone vibrated.

Only two words appeared on the screen.

"Received."

Although it was only two words.

Gu Changan could feel the fury of that Judge from the Underworld slamming the table from across the screen.