Wang Chaoze never dreamed that one day he would not only get to know a young master from Lucheng, Xue Chen, but also act as a middleman, connecting with the legendary Scarface Brother of the Righteous United Society.
"Xue Chen, Young Master Xue, right? Go back and pass the message. I'll definitely keep the appointment. I won't disappoint him."
"Alright, Scarface Brother, I'll go back and deliver the message right away." Wang Chaoze left excitedly.
No sooner had Wang Chaoze left than Scarface, who just moments before had worn a defiant smile, instantly wiped the expression from his face.
He glanced around, confirmed no one was there, then quickly walked into an inner room and swiftly made a phone call.
Once the call connected, all traces of Scarface's former gangland boss demeanor vanished, replaced by an obsequious and respectful tone.
"Hello, Young Miss? It's me, Little Scarface."
"Just now, a small-time hoodlum named Wang Chaoze came to see me. He said a Young Master Xue Chen from Lucheng wants to meet me. It looks like he wants to win me over to deal with you and the Ten Thousand Dragons Society."
"Yes, yes, yes. Don't worry, I wouldn't dare!"
"I pretended to agree to the meeting. It's a good chance to probe this Young Master Xue's background."
"Okay, okay, I'll follow your arrangements. Do you think we should take the opportunity to set a trap for him?"
"..."
...
On the campus of the University of Finance and Economics.
Liu Yutong, having just finished handling company affairs and her call with Scarface, had returned to the university.
The whole way, she was thinking about Xue Chen.
She truly hadn't expected that a young master like Xue Chen would try to use underworld methods against her.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that the Righteous United Society was also under her control.
After dealing with the gang bosses like Zhao Tianxing, Liu Yutong had originally wanted to disband the Righteous United Society, but the proposal was temporarily vetoed.
And the one who vetoed it wasn't her, but her sister, Gao Min.
Her first reaction at the time was, could it be that you, sister, really want to be the 'Young Miss' of the Righteous United Society?
Later, she realized she had been mistaken.
Currently, Qi Wei and his team's investigation had hit a bottleneck. Gao Min had also become a member of the special task force, with Qi Wei, as the deputy team leader, mainly assisting Zheng Yi.
From last year's homicide case to this year's major arson case, although they had arrested many people and racked up achievements one after another, they strangely felt the resistance growing stronger.
Liu Yutong had also pointed them in a new direction: Zhao Weixiang, the owner of the Royal Extreme Club.
Although she knew some even more explosive information, like which certain leaders would be investigated in the future, she couldn't say it. Not only were these things that would happen in the future, but also, she didn't want to get involved in some matters. These were internal affairs for Zheng Yi and his team, best left for their own internal investigation.
So she only provided the lead on Zhao Weixiang.
It was only a lead because she had too little concrete evidence against Zhao Weixiang to completely bring him down.
The guy was too cautious, preferring to scheme from behind the scenes. For now, there was no direct evidence pointing to him.
Just like the major arson case at the beginning of the year—the arsonist was dead.
In the case of Zhao Tianxing's attempt on Liu Yutong's life, there was also no evidence proving Zhao Weixiang was the mastermind behind it.
If Liu Yutong didn't possess an almost god-like perspective of future events, she might have fallen into Zhao Weixiang's trap.
Later, Qi Wei told her that just as they were preparing to set up surveillance on Zhao Weixiang, the man suddenly disappeared.
Learning of Zhao Weixiang's disappearance also surprised Liu Yutong.
Because she had always felt that, given his character, he wouldn't willingly leave like this.
But the fact was, he had indeed vanished.
Liu Yutong thought it was also possible that because of her, the butterfly, Zhao Weixiang had changed his mind from his previous life's course. Feeling he could no longer stay in Mingzhu City, and to avoid her influence, he decided to develop elsewhere.
Besides the Zhao Weixiang lead going cold, the smuggling and money laundering cases Zheng Yi was simultaneously investigating had also stalled.
After sweeping away social forces like the East Sea Alliance, they found the accounts didn't match up. About seventy percent, nearly three billion in illicit funds, had vanished without a trace.
They speculated that behind it all, there was likely a more powerful figure or group who had taken the lion's share, and this behind-the-scenes player's influence was far beyond the likes of Zhao Tianxing.
It was precisely because they encountered this resistance and bottleneck, coupled with Qi Wei and the team feeling that having those underworld figures assist their investigations would be more convenient—especially after tasting the sweet efficiency of working with an 'informant' like Liu Yutong—that they naturally didn't want to easily give up this line.
As everyone knew, the Ten Thousand Dragons Society was a legitimate company with busy employees who couldn't always help with investigations.
So this heavy responsibility fell on Gao Min's shoulders, which was also one of the reasons why the Righteous United Society hadn't been disbanded yet.
Gao Min was now thriving in the Righteous United Society, standing above ten thousand.
Even Scarface, the nominal boss, had to respectfully call her 'Sister Min' in private.
Besides, there was another reason.
If they really disbanded the Righteous United Society, the Ten Thousand Dragons Society, not being a true gang, couldn't take over those territories. New gangs would surely emerge to fight over them.
So it was better to let the Righteous United Society maintain order on the streets for now.
Those lawless hoodlums would never imagine that the biggest traitor on the streets was the Righteous United Society.
No sooner would someone boast about their glorious criminal record to join the society than they'd be invited for 'tea' (arrested).
Of course, the Righteous United Society's original illegal operations had long been abolished, and many inside had been sent to prison, effectively undergoing a major purge.
The Righteous United Society, which at its peak had thousands of underlings, now had fewer than six hundred members left.
As for their income, it was now only from protection fees for watching over venues.
Of course, these protection fees were, on the surface, for watching venues, but in reality, they were shareholder dividends.
Because the venues the Righteous United Society watched over, they had genuinely invested real money into as shareholders. So it was a legal form of 'protection fee,' and it was barely enough to support the society's members.
Don't look down on the Righteous United Society's mere six hundred members now. In the current landscape of Mingzhu City, it was truly the undisputed number one gang.
Again, the Ten Thousand Dragons Society is a legitimate company, not a gang, so it doesn't count.
Believe it or not, having the largest gang in Mingzhu City act as an undercover informant made the city's public security visibly better.
Originally, the area with the best security was the Carp and Brocade District, where the Ten Thousand Dragons Society headquarters was located.
Now, security across the entire city had noticeably improved.
Many people received commendations and awards for this, especially Gao Min.
If she hadn't joined the police force so recently, the merits she had accumulated could have earned her several promotions.
...
As Liu Yutong walked towards her dormitory, she was thinking about how to dig a pit for Xue Chen and bury him in it.
Just as she reached the dormitory building, she saw a very familiar-looking girl.
She quickly recognized her. It was the girl named Chen Yue who had shared her table in the cafeteria before.
Chen Yue was holding a tote bag that seemed to contain clothes and daily necessities.
She also saw Liu Yutong and immediately stepped forward to greet her: "Hello, Sister Yutong!"
"Chen Yue, are you heading to the hospital for caretaking duty?" Liu Yutong asked.
Chen Yue nodded with a dejected expression, saying, "Yes, my father still has to go home to do the farm work. I can only take turns with my mother to look after my little brother."
"Sister Yutong, tell me, how could my brother, so young, already have kidney stones? I just can't wrap my head around it."
Liu Yutong almost instinctively uttered four words: "Melamine!"
Chen Yue was stunned: "Melamine?"
Liu Yutong's expression immediately turned serious: "Your brother drinks formula milk, right?"
"That's right, he was weaned and switched to formula at eight months..."
Chen Yue suddenly caught on: "Sister Yutong, do you think there's something wrong with the formula?"
"That can't be, right? How could anyone be so heartless as to add melamine to baby formula?"
"By adding melamine, the protein content reading in tests becomes higher. To cut costs, what wouldn't some formula manufacturers do?"
Liu Yutong thought of something and quickly asked: "By the way, what brand of formula does your brother drink?"
Chen Yue thought for a moment and said: "I think it's called... Xiao Lu Formula."
