Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

The call center lobby of the Municipal Bureau.

The computer's cooling fan was making a dry "humming" sound.

The air was filled with the burnt smell of overheated computer cables.

Operator Xiao Wang removed half of his earphone.

He reached out and rubbed the red marks on his earlobe from the pressure of the sponge pad.

The red-line landline number 3 on the table started ringing again.

The ringing was so sharp it made his eardrums ache.

Xiao Wang took a deep breath and pressed the speakerphone button.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with difficulty.

"Hello, 110 command center, please speak."

A loud, energetic shout came from the other end of the phone.

His voice was so loud it smelled like scallions.

"Officer! I have something to commend you for!"

Xiao Wang paused, his hand holding the ballpoint pen still.

"Auntie, this is the police hotline. To deliver the banner, turn left and find the petition office."

"No! Listen to me!"

The old lady was so anxious on the phone that she kept slapping her thighs, making a loud slapping sound.

"Last night, our drain got clogged, and sewage flooded the living room. My grandson went to that e-sports arena to borrow a plunger from the manager."

The old lady took a deep breath.

"Turns out, the internet cafe manager, with his dyed blond hair and a ribbonfish tattoo on his arm, came back with my grandson without a word, carrying his toolbox!"

"That blond-haired guy spent half an hour sifting through the septic tank! He didn't even drink any water before leaving, and he even helped me screw in the broken light bulb in the hallway!"

Xiao Wang's mouth was agape, his chin almost touching the police siren on his chest.

The pen tip poked a dark hole in the notebook.

"You have to give that blond guy some credit!"

The old lady persisted, her voice echoing through the server room via speakerphone.

"These days, a kind-hearted internet cafe administrator... no, a kind-hearted one, is hard to find even with a lantern!"

Xiao Wang hung up the phone numbly.

He turned his head and heard a sharp cracking sound from his neck.

He looked at the foreman at the workstation next to him.

The squad leader's face turned pale, and he was clicking his tongue as he looked at a stack of record sheets.

"That's the forty-second one."

The class monitor's fingers trembled as he pointed at the pile of papers.

"Old Li from the east of the city praised the scarred man at the logistics park for helping him carry fifty kilograms of rice."

"Aunt Li from the west side of the city praised their security captain for coming to her door late at night to tutor her in math Olympiad."

The class monitor grabbed a handful of sparse hair, and dandruff fell onto his shoulder.

"What on earth happened to these living devils who wield watermelon knives and hack and slash in the streets?"

Director's Office.

The solid wood desk was divided into two distinct halves.

left.

A foot-thick stack of photocopies of call records from the public.

At the very top, neatly displayed, was a color photo of a banner that read "The father who tutors students in the Math Olympiad."

Lei Hu's fleshy, smiling face in the photo exudes an eerie kindness.

right.

There was a brown paper envelope inside.

The envelope contained a letter of complaint against several entertainment industry tycoons in Longhai City, jointly submitted by them, accusing them of tax evasion.

Li Jianguo sat in a leather chair.

Two fingers, stained yellow from smoking, were tightly pinching between his eyebrows.

The chipped enamel mug in front of him emitted the bitter smell of years of stale tea stains.

The water inside had long since cooled down.

The door was kicked open with a bang.

The door slammed against the suction cups on the wall, making a loud noise.

Captain Gu strode in.

The hard-soled leather shoes creaked and groaned as they stepped on the wooden floor.

He plopped down on the black leather sofa and casually tossed his police cap onto the coffee table.

Several documents on the coffee table were scattered all over the floor by the wind.

"Chief, the guys from the Economic Crime Investigation Department have checked."

Captain Gu grabbed his already messy short hair in frustration.

He rubbed his buzz cut into a bird's nest.

"And the result?"

Li Jianguo suddenly opened his eyes.

He grabbed the metal lighter on the table and sparked as he used the grinding wheel.

He lit the half-smoked Hongmei cigarette that was dangling from his mouth.

The bluish-gray smoke instantly blurred the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"Investigate my ass."

Captain Gu leaned back on the sofa and put his hands behind his head.

"The so-called evidence of falsifying accounts submitted by those bosses were all baseless and unsubstantiated."

He pursed his lips and let out a sigh of frustration.

"In the business registration system, Sihai Logistics' tax return last month was so clean it could be used as a textbook example."

Captain Gu took a mint out of his pocket.

Stuff it into your mouth and crunch it up.

"Even those delivery guys keep the receipts for the five yuan they get for inflating their tires on the way to record it in their accounts."

He sighed.

"These tycoons are just jealous that Su Ye has taken away the idle labor force in the market, so they're biting the hand that feeds them."

Li Jianguo remained silent.

He just kept smoking, one cigarette after another.

The flickering embers of his cigarette illuminated his ashen face.

Captain Gu glanced sideways at the thick stack of commendation letters on the table.

I looked again at the photo of that bright red math Olympiad banner.

He shifted his position, and the leather sofa made a rubbing sound.

"Chief, how about... we find a workaround?"

Captain Gu tentatively spoke, his tone tinged with a sense of self-abandonment and dejection.

"Anyway, everyone on the street is calling the hotline to praise Sihai. Why don't we go with the flow..."

He scratched his neck, avoiding the bureau chief's gaze.

"How about we give Su Ye a bronze plaque for 'Pioneer in Building a Safe Longhai' at the end of the year? Maybe that will keep him in check and prevent him from causing us any more trouble."

"Snapped!"

Li Jianguo grabbed the lid of the teacup on the table.

He exerted force with his wrist and slammed it hard onto Captain Gu's shoulder.

The bullets, encased in metal, flew to the ground with a piercing clang.

It rolled all the way under the sofa before stopping.

"Are you out of your mind?! Giving gangsters a 'police protection' sign?"

The bureau chief slammed his hand on the table.

The commotion caused all the cigarette butts in the ashtray to bounce out and scatter ash all over the table.

"Cough cough... I'm going to take this skin off today!"

Li Jianguo coughed in anger and pointed at Captain Gu's nose, cursing loudly.

"We will absolutely not endorse these scheming scumbags!"

Night falls in the small, windowless conference room on the third floor of the Municipal Bureau.

The air was so stuffy it felt like it was about to freeze.

The projector emitted a beam of deep blue light.

It was printed on the whiteboard.

The four high-ranking officials from the municipal bureau's party committee sat around an oval table, the atmosphere heavy with tension.

Li Jianguo rested his chin on his hands, which were crossed.

The knuckles turned bluish-white from excessive force.

"Everyone, the situation is clear now."

The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation tapped on the table.

His thick eyebrows were furrowed into a tight knot.

"Su Ye isn't turning over a new leaf; he's using extreme hypocrisy to undermine our police force."

The deputy director picked up a laser pointer and projected a red dot onto the Sihai Group's organizational chart on the projection screen.

"They use legitimate businesses to launder their identities and use small favors like changing sewers and light bulbs to win people's hearts."

He put down his pen, his voice heavy.

"He's using the people's reputation as the moat of his criminal empire!"

Captain Gu sat in the last seat.

He was twirling a pencil in his hand.

The pencil tip would occasionally poke into the notebook, leaving messy black marks.

"The operation he's covering up is definitely ten times bigger than the one the old man was in back then."

Captain Gu threw down the pencil, the plastic penholder making a crisp sound as it struck the wooden table.

"Otherwise, he wouldn't need to spend so much money and energy pretending to be a saint."

He gritted his teeth, his cheeks puffing out.

"I bet this kid is secretly involved in transnational money laundering or smuggling large contraband items."

Li Jianguo took a deep breath.

Turn the photo of the math Olympiad banner on the table face down; out of sight, out of mind.

"No matter how well he hides, the fox will always show his tail eventually."

Li Jianguo looked around, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

"Notify Xiao Shen to continue lying low. Since we can't find anything in the official accounts, let's wait."

He tapped his fingers on the table, one tap at a time, slowly.

"Wait until he loses his composure."

At the same time.

Jin Ding Private Club, on the outskirts of Longhai City.

Inside the luxury private room.

The luxurious perfume scent mixed with the strong tobacco smell of Cuban cigars made one's eyes sting.

Four pot-bellied middle-aged men were slumped on a leather sofa.

Mr. Qian, who was sitting right in the middle.

A palm-sized Hetian jade Buddha pendant hung around his neck, rising and falling with his breathing.

His face was gloomy, and his short, stubby fingers were holding a wine glass.

The Lafite wine in the glass sloshed and created concentric circles of blood-red ripples.

"Oh shit."

Boss Qian squeezed out a swear word through gritted teeth.

He suddenly swung his hand and smashed the wine glass in his hand onto the carpet.

A muffled "bang" was heard.

The glass shattered, and red wine splattered all over Boss Zhao's trouser leg.

"Our joint complaint letter didn't even make a ripple!"

Mr. Zhao reluctantly took out a tissue and bent down to wipe the red stains on his trouser leg.

"Old Qian, calm down."

He lowered his voice, a sinister glint flashing in his beady eyes.

"I asked someone I know in the Economic Crime Investigation Department, and they said that Sihai's accounts are as clear as an iron barrel. You can't even find a single IOU."

Boss Zhao threw the wine-stained tissue on the coffee table.

"Su Ye is now hiring only graduates from top universities. Our legal team is no match for that crazy woman surnamed Lin."

"Even if we can't win, we have to play!"

Mr. Qian suddenly stood up.

The fat on his belly jiggled twice, and the buttons of his suit were taut.

"That little bastard messed up Speedy Express and that crappy e-sports arena!"

Boss Qian gritted his teeth, and a piece of ash fell from his cigar, landing on his expensive leather shoes.

"They've recruited all the idle thugs and laborers on the market with incredibly high salaries!"

He slapped the sofa armrest, leaving a large dent in the leather.

"My bathhouses and nightclubs can't even find a security guard to watch the entrance!"

A tall, thin boss came over from the side.

He was wearing a floral shirt and offered me a cigar with a trimmed head.

The lighter flame shot up and was brought close to Boss Qian's mouth.

"Mr. Qian, an open audit won't work; let's do it secretly."

The tall, thin man spoke in a low voice, a sinister smile curving his lips.

He revealed a set of dentures that were stained yellow from smoking.

"Dark? What do we do?"

Boss Qian took a puff of his cigar, the smoke blowing directly onto the tall, thin man's face.

"Su Ye's security is personally managed by Lei Hu. Even a fly flying into the building has to register; there's not a single leak."

The tall, thin man chuckled dryly twice.

He fanned the smoke in front of his eyes with his hand.

"I know a shady character overseas who specializes in stealing business intelligence."

He leaned forward and lowered his voice.

"As long as we pay them the right amount, there's no safe they can't get into."

The tall, thin man patted his sunken chest, making a solemn vow.

"They usually infiltrate multinational corporations to steal core secrets."

A greedy glint flashed in his eyes.

"Using it to deal with a newly laundered, country bumpkin gangster is a piece of cake, isn't it?"

Boss Qian narrowed his eyes.

The cigar glowed red in my mouth, the embers flickering.

Is it reliable?

"Absolutely reliable."

The tall, thin man grinned, looking like a cunning old fox.

"As long as this person infiltrates the Sihai Building, the original ironclad evidence of that Su's shady dealings, along with his tax evasion, will be revealed."

He tapped the glass coffee table twice with his knuckles.

"I promise I'll put it exactly as it is on this table for you!"