Deal and Police Report

Time flew like an arrow; days passed like a shuttle.

In the blink of an eye, it was the fifth day of the first lunar month—February 2.

Many of Hai Lu Feng Company's out-of-town employees gradually returned to work and checked in that day. A few who genuinely could not make it due to personal matters had also notified the Human Resources Department and requested leave.

As for the local employees, nearly all of them had officially returned to work.

However, during the first few days of resumed production, the main priority was restoring normal operations. The Finance Department, Procurement Department, and Logistics Department in particular had to deal with all kinds of backlogged matters from the Spring Festival break.

It would probably be the tenth day of the first lunar month before normal operations fully resumed.

Before they knew it, several more days had passed.

The eighth day of the first lunar month.

Three-thirty that afternoon.

Just as Zhang Xincheng stepped out of his office, he ran into the hurried Xiao Cai. Beaming, the man asked him for leave. "Manager, I have a relative from Ryukyu visiting my family. I'd like to take the afternoon off and go home."

"A relative from Ryukyu?" Zhang Xincheng nodded with a smile. "Sure. I'll fill out the leave form for you later."

"Thanks. Then I'll be going."

As he watched the excited Xiao Cai leave, Zhang Xincheng's smile vanished at once. Could the buyer behind this be from Ryukyu? No matter. Let them enjoy themselves for a few more days.

After leaving the breeding farm, Xiao Cai rode his Electric Scooter at full speed.

In less than an hour, he arrived at the Paris Peninsula Hotel in the city.

The reason they had chosen this hotel was mainly because both sides were wary of one another. Sun Moon Lake feared that Xiao Cai, being a local, might rob him after the deal, while Xiao Cai feared that Sun Moon Lake would take the goods and refuse to pay.

Inside a private room on the hotel's third floor.

Sun Moon Lake and his two assistants had been waiting for quite some time when a knock sounded outside.

An assistant hurried over to open the door. Standing outside was Xiao Cai, wearing a black mask. He leaned half his body through the doorway and asked uncertainly:

"Sun Moon Lake?"

"God of Gamblers Gao Jin?"

After confirming each other's online aliases, the two closed the door and got down to business.

"Where's the money?" Xiao Cai asked bluntly.

Sun Moon Lake was a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. Smiling, he opened a suitcase filled to the brim with 1.5 million in cash. Together with the case, it weighed over twenty kilograms.

At the sight of that huge pile of banknotes, Xiao Cai's breathing involuntarily quickened. Just as he reached out to take it, an assistant beside him stopped him.

"Gao Jin! You haven't forgotten something, have you? Where are the goods?"

Xiao Cai took out a rock-hard frozen Nestle Coffee plastic bottle. "Hai Lu Feng Company's special feed is inside."

Then Xiao Cai sent the other party three high-definition photos and a video of himself entering the mixing room.

The other party had originally persuaded Xiao Cai to film that video in order to prove that he had stolen Hai Lu Feng Company's information.

After all, Sun Moon Lake had no idea whether Xiao Cai might be deceiving him. If the formula and feed were fake, that video alone would be enough to send Xiao Cai to prison.

And in order to get rich, Xiao Cai had no choice but to do it.

Birds died for food; men died for wealth.

Now that both sides had leverage over the other, they could naturally proceed with the transaction.

After receiving the money, Xiao Cai used a simple UV counterfeit-detection pen to randomly test ten banknotes. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he hurriedly left with the suitcase.

Sun Moon Lake promptly sent the photos and video to his company's boss.

As for the bottle of feed sample, he obviously could not take it back to Ryukyu. An unidentified substance packed in a coffee bottle would easily attract extra scrutiny from customs.

However, Sun Moon Lake had prepared for this in advance. He had already made an appointment with a professional testing company in Peng City and paid them to test the feed's specific ingredients and the exact proportion of each component.

Thinking victory was already assured, Sun Moon Lake did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he stayed at the Paris Peninsula Hotel for the night.

He did not take a taxi to Peng City until the next day.

After getting hold of the large sum of money, Xiao Cai first deposited thirty thousand yuan into his bank card and paid off his previous credit card overdraft.

Then he rented a small apartment in Jinding Bay to store the cash.

Hai Lu Feng Company remained calm and orderly, steadily resuming production and sales.

At the same time, Kagoshima Eel Company in Japan impatiently sent an email on the eighth day of the first lunar month, informing them that they would send someone over the next day to pay the remaining balance and collect the latter half of the technical materials.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, Watanabe Takeo arrived in Ma Gong Town with his assistant.

At Hai Lu Feng Company's headquarters, Jiang Miao personally received them on the first floor.

Inside the reception room.

"Mr. Watanabe, there is something I need to tell you in advance. Please report it to your company's chairman."

"What is it?" Watanabe Takeo immediately asked through the interpreter.

"Our company has suffered a trade secret theft. An employee stole a feed formula and some feed."

After hearing the translation, Watanabe Takeo's expression immediately turned somewhat grim. Clearly, this was not good news for Kagoshima Eel Company.

He hurriedly asked, "Mr. Jiang, did that employee leak the information?"

After the translator relayed the question, Jiang Miao explained with a smile, "Don't worry! The feed samples that person stole had been specially treated, and the formula documents were treated as well. Even if someone obtained those things, they wouldn't be able to figure out the real breeding technology anytime soon."

Only after hearing the translation did Watanabe Takeo finally breathe a sigh of relief and nod.

"I see! I knew Mr. Jiang would have made preparations."

Jiang Miao then gave him several suggestions for strengthening confidentiality.

Watanabe Takeo nodded. He strongly agreed with Jiang Miao's suggestions, since no company wanted to see its intellectual property stolen by another company.

After both sides confirmed the supplemental transaction agreement once more, they signed it.

Having obtained what he wanted, Watanabe Takeo did not linger. He quickly returned to Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan with the remaining technical materials, the contract, and Jiang Miao's suggestions.

That evening, Hai Lu Feng Company's Finance Department also received the remaining $15 million payment.

The next morning, the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.

Having mentally prepared himself, Zhang Xincheng anxiously took a USB drive and headed straight to the city police station, making his way to the Economic Crime Investigation Brigade's office.

Inside the Economic Investigation Team captain's office.

A young police officer hurriedly knocked and entered. "Captain Fang, there's an urgent case that requires your personal guidance. The amount involved may be enormous."

Fang Hongbin, captain of the Economic Investigation Team, immediately set down his teacup. Hearing that the case was extremely serious, he picked up his coat and put it on.

In the reception room, Fang Hongbin personally received Zhang Xincheng.

Zhang Xincheng did not waste any time and quickly described the sequence of events. "Captain Fang, this was an abnormality I discovered during a routine inspection this morning..."

The female officer beside them rapidly took notes.

After hearing Zhang Xincheng's description of the case, Fang Hongbin hurriedly asked, "So that room was the workshop where you prepared the special feed, and only you, President Jiang, and President Jiang's father were allowed to enter?"

"Yes. Only my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and I can enter that room, because it involves a technology worth over a hundred million. Other employees are strictly prohibited from entering the mixing room."

"A technology worth over a hundred million?" Hearing that figure again, Fang Hongbin's expression changed.

Zhang Xincheng had come prepared. He took out a copy of the technology licensing agreement signed with Kagoshima Eel Company. "This is a technology licensing partnership our company reached with a Japanese enterprise. They obtained the technology license for Japan for $30 million."

"Thirty million dollars?" Fang Hongbin picked up the contract and began reading it. Though he could not understand the Japanese copy, the Chinese one was easy enough to follow. After confirming the contract's authenticity, he quickly picked up the phone.

"Ma Qiang, get everyone here for a meeting immediately."

Fang Hongbin could not help being nervous. This case directly involved intellectual property worth over a hundred million, and the indirect economic losses were impossible to estimate.

After all, the technology license for Japan alone was worth $30 million. Even if the licenses for other regions were not worth as much, they would probably still be substantial.

Very soon, the Economic Investigation Team's dozen or so officers filed into the office. Fang Hongbin quickly gave them a concise summary of the case.

After hearing the details, everyone sucked in a cold breath.

"Captain, I'll lead a team to arrest the suspect immediately," Deputy Captain Ma Qiang said urgently.

"Mm. Take your people over there right away."

Another deputy captain suggested, "I'll request technical support from the technical division. If the suspect intends to sell something like this, there must be traces in his call records or online activity."

"I'll request the bank's assistance with the investigation and see whether the suspect has suddenly received any large sums of money."

The entire Economic Investigation Team swiftly sprang into action.

Meanwhile, Xiao Cai was still leisurely feeding the eels at the Eel Farm, fantasizing about the carefree life he would enjoy in the future.

Still, he had some sense. He did not choose to resign immediately, clearly worried that doing so would expose him.