Hong Kong: Black Gold Tycoons

Le Huizhen led the two men to Chen Fei's office.

The man in front was in his forties, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and wearing a dark gray jacket over a white shirt, without a tie.

His steps were steady; he was clearly someone who was often out and about.

The younger man behind him, carrying a briefcase and wearing glasses, followed behind the man in front, his eyes scanning the office.

"Boss, these two are from the Commercial Crime Bureau," Lok Wai-ching introduced. "This is Inspector Lam, and this is Inspector Chiu."

The two men stepped forward, flashed their identification, and said, "Mr. Chen, we apologize for bothering you. We are here on orders to ask you some questions and hope you can assist the police."

Chen Fei leaned back in his chair and gestured to the chair in front of him: "Sit down, tea or coffee?"

"You're welcome." Lin Sir sat down, and Zhao Sir followed suit, taking out a notebook and a pen from his briefcase and placing them on the table.

Chen Fei said to Le Huizhen, "You go ahead and get busy, I'll chat with the officers."

Lok Wai-ching nodded, turned and left, closing the door behind her.

Lin Sir got straight to the point: "Mr. Chen, the main reason we're here today is to find out about the shooting at Gao Yingpei's villa last night."

"That case," Chen Fei smiled, "I read today's newspaper, it's indeed very serious, so many people died. I wonder what the officer wants to know?"

"As far as we know, you are the first non-police officer to arrive at the scene." Inspector Lin carefully considered his words.

"Furthermore, our forensic team has seen the photos you took. It shows that you entered the scene almost immediately after the gunfight ended. So we want to know, how did you know there was a gunfight there? And when and how did you arrive?"

Chen Fei smiled and said, "Inspector Lin, I run a magazine publishing house. Being well-informed is my livelihood. I have many informants scattered throughout Hong Kong, so it's not surprising that I know these things."

"When did you receive the message?" Zhao Sir looked up, his pen resting on his notebook.

"It'll be close to 1 a.m.," Chen Fei said. "As for who made the call, I can't say. If my informant's identity is exposed, no one will dare to tip me off in the future. You two officers should understand that, right?"

Lin Sir and Zhao Sir exchanged a glance.

Inspector Lin then asked, "So what did you see when you arrived at the scene?"

"What did you see?" Chen Fei smiled. "My photos were published in the newspaper. There were corpses everywhere, blood everywhere, and wrecked cars. I was startled at the time, but it's a professional habit, so I took the photos first and left. It was less than ten minutes."

"Have you seen anyone suspicious? Or heard any sounds?"

"When I arrived, the gunfire had stopped, and the courtyard was quiet. I could smell a strong, pungent mixture of gunpowder and blood." Chen Fei thought for a moment. "As for suspicious people, I didn't see a single one. If there had been any living people, I wouldn't have been able to take pictures so calmly."

Zhao Sir jotted down a few notes in his notebook, then looked up and asked, "Mr. Chen, you previously exposed Gao Yingpei's counterfeit currency operation in 'Black Gold' magazine, and said he was involved in counterfeit currency trading. Where did you get this information from? And how did you verify its authenticity?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Fei leaned back in his chair.

"Inspector Zhao, I might have to ask you a question in return. Did your Commercial Crime Bureau receive any intelligence about Gao Yingpei's involvement in counterfeit currency transactions? After receiving it, did you investigate? And after the investigation, what were the results?"

Lin Sir's expression changed slightly.

Chen Fei continued, "I'm not trying to make things difficult for you. I just want to say that I run 'Black Gold' magazine based on intelligence. Hong Kong is a place that's not too big or too small. The truly valuable information is often not in your police's files, but in the tea restaurants on the street, on cargo ships, in horse stables, and in chicken coops. I happen to be good at collecting these things."

"You mean the police are inferior to you?" Zhao Sir's tone was somewhat aggressive.

"I wouldn't dare." Chen Fei smiled, but the smile was fake. "I just think that everyone should do their job. I'm responsible for exposing the truth, and you're responsible for enforcing the law. If you don't do anything after I expose it, then it's not me who will be embarrassed, it's you."

Lin Sir raised his hand to stop Zhao Sir from continuing.

"Mr. Chen, we're not here today to argue about who's right and who's wrong," Inspector Lin said. "We just hope you can provide some concrete clues to help us solve the case."

"You've exposed many other things in 'Black Gold' magazine, such as police officers taking bribes, gangs smuggling weapons at the docks, and legislators accepting kickbacks during land approvals. How did you find out about these things?"

"Informants." Chen Fei's answer was straightforward. "Like I said, I make a living with informants, and your police force also has informants. We're all in the same line of work, so you should understand."

"But your informant seems to be more effective than ours." There was a subtle barb in Lin Sir's words.

Chen Fei laughed heartily: "Inspector Lin, it's not because my informants are more effective, but because there are some things that your police don't want to investigate, dare not investigate, or find useless even if they do investigate. My magazine is different. I don't need to present evidence or follow procedures. I just need to write what I know into the magazine, and then it will be distributed throughout Hong Kong. Everyone in Hong Kong can see it. That's my advantage."

"You're using public opinion to interfere with law enforcement," Zhao Sir couldn't help but say.

"Wrong." Chen Fei's smile faded, and his tone became serious.

"I'm using public opinion to force law enforcement to change. There are some things you should have done, but you didn't, so I did them for you. You should be thanking me. Look, since my magazine exposed those corrupt police officers, how many people has the ICAC arrested? Has the atmosphere in your police force improved a bit?"

Lin Sir fell silent instantly.

He knew that Chen Fei was telling the truth.

In recent days, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has indeed arrested several police officers for accepting bribes, based on clues from the magazine "Black Gold".

This incident caused quite a stir within the police force, and senior management even issued a directive asking each police district to conduct a self-examination and rectification.

But knowing it's true doesn't mean he can accept someone from a magazine pointing fingers at him.

Lin Sir took a deep breath, composed himself, and then said, "Mr. Chen, several police officers died at Gao Yingpei's villa last night. Do you have any leads on that? For example, who shot them? And were there any other suspicious persons at the scene?"

Chen Fei shook his head: "I really don't know. When I arrived, everyone was already dead. But I think you can check where those foreigners came from. As for how the gunfight started, I can help you find out if you need it, but you'll have to pay."

"It costs money?" Inspector Zhao frowned immediately and said coldly, "So many police officers died last night, sacrificing their lives for the peace of society, and you're talking about money?"

"I don't like listening to this officer. I have so many men to support, so many lines to follow. Do you think I'm going to talk about feelings with them if I don't talk about money?" Chen Fei glanced at him. "Officer, this is reality. You need to face it!"

After saying that, he stood up and said, "In short, the clues that your police don't have, I, Black Gold, do. As long as you pay, everything is negotiable. But I have other things to do now, officers, please leave."