158: Chapter 157 Confused

Listening to Chen Huaiyu's rogue and overbearing words, Cao Xiao felt utterly miserable! He must have forgotten to check the almanac before leaving today; this was a complete disaster out of nowhere! He wasn't some immortal or a master detective. He didn't know the target's age, gender, appearance, physical data, or reach. So much time had passed, and it had happened in a public place. Fingerprints, body hair, dander, and other biological tissues couldn't be found. The motive wasn't clear, and there wasn't even a suspect. How was he supposed to find someone? Was he supposed to round up every Fight the Landlord enthusiast in the city and screen them one by one? This mode of crime wasn't particularly sophisticated, but solving it was the most time-consuming and labor-intensive. The only reliable breakthrough would be to start with the bomb-making materials and spend time conducting a large-scale investigation; perhaps then they could directly lock onto the suspect. Otherwise, they could only hope for good luck and a helpful citizen providing useful clues. The functions of the level-three industrial mother machine were powerful, but it wasn't omnipotent. Unless its detection range expanded to cover the entire urban area with 24/7 surveillance without blind spots, it would be impossible to catch someone red-handed. For now, he was powerless.

As for Chen Huaiyu saying he had strange abilities, he didn't feel guilty. He acted cautiously and believed he hadn't left any traces. Chen Huaiyu was at most suspicious and was just speaking ambiguously to bluff him; he wouldn't fall for it.

"Big Brother, I'm not an omnipotent living immortal. Even if I were, without any information, I wouldn't even have a target to draw a circle and curse! Don't try to force me; I really can't help with this!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Huaiyu stared intently at Cao Xiao. Seeing that Cao Xiao's eyes didn't flicker, he frowned and said earnestly, "Xiao Xiao, it's not that I want to make things difficult for you, but we are truly at our wits' end. From the first bombing until now, we've done everything we can. If you hadn't found the bomb today and voiced that guess, we wouldn't have known it would be this tricky. We don't know how many other places in the city have bombs planted, and the number is still increasing. If all these bombs explode, it will cause catastrophic consequences for our Huanghe City. We've already reported this case to the Central Authorities. This serial bombing case has now been classified as a terrorist attack, though it won't be announced to the public for the time being."

Speaking to this point, Chen Huaiyu paused, pulled Cao Xiao over, and whispered in his ear, "You probably don't know your position in the Supervision Department yet, do you? Having you go to the Municipal Bureau today was to notify you of your appointment. Your current identity is the Director of the Supervision Office of the Supervision Department in our Huanghe City. Your superior is Commissioner Zhang. Commissioner Zhang isn't from the Supervision Department, but given your situation, the Supervision Department Headquarters has made the Huanghe City Supervision Office independent from the Provincial Supervision Bureau to be directly managed by the headquarters. The headquarters has entrusted Commissioner Zhang to lead the Huanghe City Supervision Office. This terrorist bombing case also falls within the scope of your Supervision Office's responsibilities, so you figure it out! Commissioner Zhang will talk to you about this in a moment."

What? Cao Xiao thought he had misheard. Was this some kind of joke? Director of the Huanghe City Supervision Office? What virtue or ability did he have to take on such a heavy responsibility? There weren't many sub-provincial cities like Huanghe City in the country, and Huanghe was an international metropolis with a population of over ten million and a top-tier national economy. Even if the Supervision Office only handled special affairs, given the unique nature of the Supervision Department, a Supervision Office Director of a major city could be considered a person of high status and power. Furthermore, because of him, the entire Supervision Office received special treatment from the headquarters—this kind of treatment was truly unparalleled! He secretly wondered: hadn't he only revealed a somewhat niche detection ability? Why would the Supervision Department Headquarters value him so much, even breaking conventions for him? Also, having someone who wasn't a member of the Supervision Department—a layman—lead the professionals was even weirder. Moreover, how did Chen Huaiyu, an outsider, know so much about the Supervision Department's affairs? This wasn't something a Municipal Committee Member like him should be worrying about!

He had originally thought Chen Huaiyu sought him out because of his conflict with Linghu Yashu, but he hadn't expected it to be about the bombing first, and then the Supervision Department. The topics were getting further and further apart. Although he didn't understand the situation with the Supervision Department, it was a great thing for him. With the status of the Supervision Department, no cultivator would dare move against him again. If he had known earlier today, he would have had the right to arrest that He Ting and take him back to the Supervision Office for some proper education. However, the bombing case was truly a big trouble. Whether he wanted to or not, Commissioner Zhang would urge him to solve it. Cao Xiao didn't have the confidence to bargain with Commissioner Zhang; the man was devoted to the public good and led by example. If Cao Xiao were to slack off, he would feel ashamed.

"Commissioner Zhang, I'm not certain I can find the person, but I can guarantee that not a single bomb will explode again. I hope the police can fully cooperate with my investigation. Additionally, I need a helicopter." Since he couldn't dodge it, he might as well take it on directly. He secretly felt a surge of ruthlessness and set his sights on that bomb maniac. Once he caught him, he would definitely let him experience what real 'Fight the Landlord' was!

"As long as we can prevent more explosions, the matter of catching the person can be taken slowly. Director Liao, I now formally appoint Cao Xiao as the Municipal Committee Special Envoy to serve as the primary person in charge of this serial bombing case. The Huanghe City police must unconditionally cooperate with Cao Xiao's work! At the same time, specifically allocate a police helicopter to him." Commissioner Zhang did not question Cao Xiao's guarantee. Firstly, Cao Xiao had found a bomb the police couldn't find as soon as he acted today, proving his strength. Secondly, Cao Xiao was about to become his subordinate, and he could afford to give him this trust. Thus, he was overjoyed and immediately stood up to solemnly order Liao Kai.

"Yes!"

Liao Kai stood up, saluted, and accepted the order. However, the corner of his eye fell on Cao Xiao, his heart becoming even more curious about Cao Xiao's identity and rank. Under special circumstances, he could actually make the entire Huanghe City police force cooperate unconditionally. One must know that even he, a deputy-department-level Deputy Director of the Public Security Bureau, had to follow his command. Not just him; according to Commissioner Zhang, even the department-level Director of the Public Security Bureau would be no exception. Being so young, Cao Xiao obviously couldn't be a sub-provincial level leader. That meant the department he belonged to was very special, with immense power in certain circumstances, and Cao Xiao's own rank wasn't low either. A full department level was impossible, but he was at least at the division chief level. This couldn't help but spark his imagination!

It wasn't just Liao Kai; except for Chen Huaiyu and Commissioner Zhang, everyone else present looked at Cao Xiao with some indescribable meaning in their eyes. At this moment, no one regarded Cao Xiao as just a young man with a bit of money!

"Haha! You said it! If you can't do it, you can imagine the consequences yourself." Chen Huaiyu was both happy and proud. He felt a great sense of accomplishment being able to make a slippery fellow like Cao Xiao obediently accept his fate. With Commissioner Zhang watching, he wasn't afraid that Cao Xiao wouldn't give his all, and he himself could finally be free of it.

"Hmph! Is this how you act as an older brother? I'm getting engaged tomorrow, you know. To dump this kind of trouble on me at a time like this... if it delays things tomorrow, don't expect a good time either." Cao Xiao looked unhappily at the gloating Chen Huaiyu and threatened.

"Hehe! You don't need to worry about every little thing for the engagement. You just need to show up when the time comes. Tomorrow I'll take leave to handle things for you; absolutely nothing will go wrong. Move quickly; removing a bomb won't take much time. It won't delay the important business."

Cao Xiao didn't speak further. He gave Chen Huaiyu a look of contempt and went back to burying his head in his food.

Seeing Cao Xiao ignoring him and eating again, Chen Huaiyu said helplessly, "Ahem! Xiao Xiao, don't be so busy eating, I still have things to ask you!"

"Everyone, eat too! We can talk after we finish. The food is getting cold." Cao Xiao didn't even look at Chen Huaiyu, raising his head to greet the others.

Seeing this, Chen Huaiyu knew Cao Xiao was being temperamental, so he could only cast a pleading look toward Commissioner Zhang.

"Cao Xiao, eat in a bit. Let the waiter reheat the food. It's not good for a young person's stomach to eat cold food. I heard you won a billion us dollars in a gambling gathering today. Is that true?" Commissioner Zhang said to Cao Xiao with a smile, emphasizing the words 'gambling gathering'.

"Uh, where would there be a billion us dollars! That was just an agreement between both parties that whoever lost would donate some money to a charitable organization. Contributing to charity is a social responsibility that we entrepreneurs should bear! Commissioner Zhang, you've misunderstood!" Upon hearing this, Cao Xiao's heart skipped a beat. He silently put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at the several directors sitting opposite him. Only now did it dawn on him—so they were waiting for him here!

He hadn't intended to keep that billion us dollars for himself. It would have been one thing if he had earned it, but this money came from an improper source and the amount was too large; keeping it would be a ticking time bomb that would eventually be targeted. He had planned from the start to use this money for good deeds, but he didn't trust donating it to just any charitable organization. So, he prepared to establish a charitable foundation in his company's name to operate the funds, and he would continue to invest more money into the foundation in the future.

Now, these people had come together likely for these funds. He wouldn't keep them anyway, but doing it willingly versus being coerced were two completely different things. Unless Jiang Hezheng's gang was stupid enough to turn themselves in, no one could force him to hand it over as long as he was unwilling. Therefore, even when Commissioner Zhang asked, he determinedly refused to admit it. These people had come prepared; heaven knew if they had a giant pit ready for him to jump into.

Chen Huaiyu unhurriedly took a receipt from his briefcase, handed it to Cao Xiao, and said, "Ahem, I have the bank statement for your account here. This evening, 6.4 billion huaxia currency was deposited into your account. How do you explain the origin of such a large sum of money? There is a clause in the criminal law regarding the crime of possessing a huge amount of property from unidentified sources. Don't forget that you are now a public official! So, hehe..."

"Ugh! You're ruthless! I'm going to call Teacher in a bit and have him deal with his ungrateful son! Hmph!" Seeing that the receipt indeed showed his account's transaction history, Cao Xiao gave up his resistance. He had never won a fight against Chen Huaiyu. Seeing Chen Huaiyu's confident look, he was clearly cornered. Perhaps he had other backup plans prepared; continuing to quibble might not necessarily help him escape, and it might even leave a bad impression on Commissioner Zhang. It wasn't worth it for this amount of money. He was truly driven crazy by Chen Huaiyu, yet he couldn't really be angry with him. The man wasn't doing it for himself; he had stepped up to be the 'bad guy' today because their close relationship made it easier to talk. Otherwise, if anyone else had spoken, Cao Xiao would have definitely snapped at them.

Seeing the two bickering, Commissioner Zhang interjected, "Cao Xiao, you can't put it that way. Commissioner Chen is also doing this for your own good. That money is illegal gain. If you hand it over, we won't pursue the matter of the gambling gathering. It's also a contribution to society. With your wealth, you won't be lacking this money. Besides, that money is ill-gotten wealth; you wouldn't feel at peace using it. What is there to be reluctant about!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Xiao thought to himself that he had gained plenty of windfalls recently, all of which were others' ill-gotten wealth. He hadn't used them for evil, so why wouldn't he be at peace? Since no one could find evidence of the bet with Jiang Hezheng, they couldn't do anything to him, but now that Commissioner Zhang had spoken, he couldn't argue anymore. So he said, "You're right. Just tell me what arrangements you have! I will comply unconditionally."

Seeing Cao Xiao's straightforward attitude, Commissioner Zhang laughed heartily. "Haha! It's good that you can see reason. We're not asking you to give it up for nothing. My suggestion is that out of this 6.4 billion huaxia currency, half will be used for our city's environmental governance, livelihood projects, poverty alleviation programs, and improving medical facilities in poor areas. For the remaining half, you can freely choose to invest it in our city. Director Hou has many suitable investment projects; you two can exchange ideas in a bit. As long as it doesn't violate principles, your investments will have a green light all the way."

Cao Xiao considered it. They could take the money and do whatever they wanted with it; he wouldn't participate. If the Commerce Bureau really had high-quality projects, they wouldn't have waited for him. He didn't want to waste time and energy on those projects that required large investments and were slow to show results. Thus, he said, "Investment isn't necessary. I'll transfer all the money to you, and I have no objection to how you distribute it."

"You brat, are you stupid? Director Hou has several large projects with very promising prospects. Your company is barely hanging on; if you don't find some business to support it, are you going to live on thin air?" Seeing Cao Xiao decline the benefits offered to him, Chen Huaiyu hurriedly spoke up to remind him.

"I have other plans for my company's development, and I have quite a bit of business abroad. I don't have the energy to develop other business lines. Besides, this bit of money really isn't a large sum to me; I can earn it back without much effort. Consider this money as my contribution to Huanghe City's economic construction." Even if there were suitable projects, Cao Xiao didn't want to get involved. He would focus his energy on his own company's development for a long time to come. He wasn't boasting; a billion us dollars was a huge sum to anyone else, but to him, it was just a matter of taking a trip. Not to mention minerals—just taking some seawater, purifying it into tap water, and selling it at one yuan per ton, a thousand cubic kilometers of tap water could be sold for an unimaginable astronomical price. If sold as drinking water to the Middle East, hehe, three more zeros would have to be added to that figure! So, Cao Xiao would never have to worry about running out of money.