Swapping the Beams and Pillars

Soon, a group of uniformed officers made their way behind the factory.

By then, the refrigerated truck had already driven away, and the back gate was shut.

Fatty Hu squatted on the ground, leisurely smoking a cigarette. He didn't panic in the slightest when he saw them approach.

"Are you the person in charge here?" the bearded middle-aged man leading the group asked as he stepped forward.

"That's me. Whatever you want to inspect, I'll cooperate fully!" Fatty Hu sounded sincere.

The bearded man said only, "You'd better!" Then he led his men into the search.

Sure enough, there hadn't been time to move the meat from the dead pigs out of the warehouse, and the officers caught them red-handed.

"Where are the documents showing the source of this frozen meat?" Big Beard asked.

Fatty Hu smiled. "My uncle has them. He'll bring them right over."

"Bring them over right away? I doubt they even exist!" Big Beard didn't believe a word of it. He instructed the people behind him, "The origin of this frozen meat is unknown. You two, take samples back for testing."

"Come, come, right this way. Do you have tools? Need a hand?" Fatty Hu put on an enthusiastic show.

Big Beard didn't fall for it. His face cold, he warned, "Cut the act. If the tests show there's something wrong with this batch of meat, you're finished."

"The pork we use is all top quality. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it!" Fatty Hu said with an awkward smile.

Big Beard ignored him and began taking samples and photographs. Once all the photos had been taken, he left two men behind to keep watch over the frozen meat and took the samples back for testing with two others.

As the person in charge, Fatty Hu had to wait in the warehouse too. He wasn't allowed to leave.

Outside the wall, Jiang Yiming controlled Red Tail and Ghost Face to carefully scout the factory. Half an hour later, he confirmed that the vast majority of the employees had left. Only then did he climb over the wall and make his way to the office.

Along the way, he avoided every surveillance camera except one in the office corridor, which he couldn't get around.

Since he couldn't get around it, he had the Red Tail centipede carry a leaf in its jaws, circle behind the camera, and cover the lens.

That way, no one would know he'd been to the office.

Once inside Fatty Hu's office, he quickly found the Dragon Scale Cup and took it.

Everything went smoothly, but just as he was leaving the office building, the Ghost Face Spider Gu standing watch outside spotted someone—Fatty Hu's third uncle.

How did he get here so fast! Jiang Yiming had no choice but to stay put for now.

Fortunately, Fatty Hu's third uncle didn't enter the office building. He was only passing by, heading toward the warehouse!

Jiang Yiming sent Ghost Face after him, while he left the office building and took another route around to the outside of the warehouse.

Through Ghost Face's eyes, he saw Fatty Hu's third uncle pull the two uniformed officers aside for a conversation as soon as he entered the warehouse.

At first, the two officers said very little; his third uncle did almost all the talking. Gradually, the two men began to say more. More than an hour later, they suddenly got up and followed Fatty Hu out of the warehouse.

As soon as they stepped outside, Fatty Hu's booming voice rang out. "There's nothing else around here, but there are plenty of places to eat. Everyone's got to eat, right? Don't worry, I'll take you out for a meal and bring you straight back afterward."

Jiang Yiming then saw Fatty Hu and the two uniformed officers get into a car and drive off.

He checked the time. It was indeed lunchtime.

But the two men were on duty, and somehow it didn't seem right for both of them to go out to eat together.

Sure enough, as soon as Fatty Hu's car was gone, his third uncle opened the back gate.

Moments later, a refrigerated truck drove in. It was the same one as before!

The driver was the same man too, except this time there were two workers in hard hats on the truck with him.

As soon as they got out, Third Uncle urged them on. "Hurry, hurry! I've already prepared two forklifts for you!"

The two workers in hard hats wasted no words. They got into the forklifts and went straight to work.

One was responsible for moving the frozen meat out of the warehouse, while the other moved the frozen meat from the refrigerated truck into it.

"Experienced hands really are something. Their movements are practiced and flow like water." Third Uncle smiled at the driver. "You're capable. You found some good workers."

"My little bit of ability isn't worth a fart compared to yours."

As they talked, the two walked into the shade of a tree by the wall to escape the scorching sun.

That spot happened to be separated from Jiang Yiming's hiding place by just the wall.

"To tell you the truth, I really admire you!" The driver offered him a cigarette. "More than ten tons of diseased pork, such a huge amount. Only you could have thought of swapping the beams and pillars and replacing the whole lot."

"Heh, thinking of it isn't hard. The key is being able to pull it off." Third Uncle was rather pleased with himself. "Do you know how difficult it is to get another batch of certified meat within an hour?"

"More difficult than most could imagine!" the driver said flatteringly, taking out a document. "This is the certificate for this batch of meat. I guarantee it came from a perfectly clean source."

Third Uncle took the certificate and looked it over.

The driver added, "But samples from that earlier batch of meat from the dead pigs have already been sent for testing. That's a bit tricky, isn't it?"

"Hmph, you don't need to worry about that. I've already made arrangements." Third Uncle offered no further explanation. Puffing out clouds of smoke, he watched the two forklift operators replace the meat from the dead pigs in the warehouse bit by bit.

Half an hour later, the driver got up. "It's all swapped out. I'll haul the meat away now."

"Remember, store it in the cold storage facility I told you about. Once the heat dies down, we'll take it out and use it again," Third Uncle reminded him.

"Got it. Wanjia Cold Storage 102, right?" the driver confirmed. Then he climbed into the truck, started it, and left with the two forklift operators.

After closing the back gate, Third Uncle finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good thing I got here in time! I don't know which bastard reported us from the shadows. Once I find out, I'll make him pay!"

He was still thinking about how to find the person who had reported them, unaware that Jiang Yiming, who had made the report, had secretly recorded the entire switch just now!

Just then, Fatty Hu's car drove in. Warned in advance by Red Tail, Jiang Yiming easily avoided them and hid in the storeroom behind the warehouse.

Looking at the video he had just recorded, he smiled. "With this evidence, let's see how you deny it!"

As he was thinking, the Gu worms in the Gu Rearing Box all grew restless.

Only then did Jiang Yiming remember that he had caught more than thirteen hundred Gu worms the night before and fed them only that little bit of leftover meat. They must have been starving by now.

"This is tricky... Where am I going to find meat?"

As soon as the thought occurred to him, his gaze quickly settled on the warehouse.

"There's an eighty percent chance I won't get my wages back, so I'll take this meat as repayment!"

With that thought, he released all the Gu worms and ordered them to crawl into the warehouse.

Ghost Face was stationed inside the warehouse, so Jiang Yiming knew where everyone was. Following his guidance, the Gu worms perfectly avoided those people and burrowed into the twelve pallets.

Each pallet held roughly a ton and a half of meat, enough to fill them up!

Jiang Yiming didn't limit how much they could eat. His only requirements were that they burrow inside to eat, not show themselves, and make no sound!