Something for Nothing

Something for Nothing

On the afternoon of May 5, Cao Jing was released on bail.

He and Tie Long stood by the lake in a quiet corner of the park, speaking in low voices.

"Brother Tie Long, thank you for putting in a good word with Ma Ye. Otherwise, I'd still be squatting in there. Is there anything you need me to do?" Cao Jing asked.

Tie Long smiled. "The supply line was cut. What do you think?"

"Understood. It was all my fault..." Cao Jing sighed.

"There's a traitor by Ma Ye's side. Right now, only you and I can be trusted," Tie Long said.

Cao Jing gritted his teeth. "All traitors deserve to die."

"The enemy is hiding in the shadows. We still don't know who it is, but they'll very likely sabotage our next deal. Ma Ye uses me the most; everyone knows that. Every move I make will be watched from now on. If I handle the deal, I'll probably get burned."

"Ma Ye means for me to conduct a fake deal with the old supplier and draw the enemy's attention. Meanwhile, you'll meet another group and buy the goods back."

"The enemy set you up and got you thrown into detention. They think Ma Ye wouldn't dare use you for the time being. That's exactly our chance."

Cao Jing said emotionally, "So that's how it is. I won't let Ma Ye down!"

"Here's the contact information for the new supplier. Memorize it, then burn it. You must handle this matter thoroughly!" Tie Long handed Cao Jing a slip of paper.

After reading it, Cao Jing immediately took out a lighter and set it on fire!

Watching the paper burn into fluttering ash, Cao Jing said solemnly, "Don't worry! I'll definitely bring the goods back."

Tie Long nodded in satisfaction and tossed him a set of car keys. "I'll have someone deliver the money to you at seven tonight. The location will be where we first met. Use these keys to collect it."

"Alright!"

Cao Jing nodded and parted ways with Tie Long as they left the park.

In the distance, Huang Ji and Xiao Zha watched while eating oranges.

"Boss, this is how you scout a location?" Xiao Zha asked curiously.

Huang Ji smiled. "I can read lips."

"Damn! So you figured out their entire conversation just by watching?" Xiao Zha exclaimed.

Huang Ji said, "Tonight, Ma Ye and Cao Jing will each conduct a deal at separate locations. One will be real, and one will be fake."

"At seven tonight, Cao Jing will go to the third basement level of the parking lot behind the Jinjiang Inn on Petrochemical Street in JS District, where he'll wait for someone to bring him money. Cao Jing will be carrying the keys as identification. Go straight to him, take his keys, then give him our car keys. Tell him to drive our car away and that the money is in the trunk."

Xiao Zha nodded and asked, "I get it, but what if he checks the money?"

Huang Ji glanced at him. "Let him check it. We have five million. Put four million in the trunk!"

Xiao Zha was stunned. "We're really giving him the money?"

"Give it to him! Then wait there. Another car will arrive soon, with the license plate ending in 4039. That'll be the person actually delivering the money. You'll have Cao Jing's keys, so pretend to be Cao Jing's man and collect the four million. We'll discuss the details after we get back," Huang Ji said.

Xiao Zha frowned. "Sounds good, but we wouldn't make anything this way..."

"Cao Jing will drive away our car. Prepare an extra spare key in advance, along with an identical cash case filled with blank paper. Later, we can find an opportunity to swap the money out again," Huang Ji said.

Xiao Zha suddenly understood. "That means we'll get another four million for free!"

He looked at Huang Ji with admiration. Scamming people out of money was way too easy with this guy!

"You know what car to use, right?" Huang Ji asked.

Xiao Zha nodded. "I can handle something this simple. At our salvage market, there may not be much else, but there are plenty of junk cars. I'll make a fake plate. That's my specialty."

"Anything else? Are we still going to deal with Ma Ye? Cao Jing has the money, which means Cao Jing's deal is the real one. Ma Ye's is only a fake deal."

"That's just what they say," Huang Ji said with a smile.

Xiao Zha pondered it. "You mean Ma Ye's side is the real one? So Ma Ye will definitely bring several million too?"

"I think both sides are fake deals. Ma Ye may be trying to lure the snake from its hole... Let's head back first," Huang Ji said.

After returning, Huang Ji explained Ma Ye's entire plan and added his own speculation that both supposed deals tonight were fake.

Everyone looked at Huang Ji speechlessly. No wonder he was so good at scouting locations—he could read lips. From a hundred meters away, he had somehow seen their conversation clearly.

What they didn't know was that Tie Long and Cao Jing had never said that much at all. Most of the intelligence had been sensed by Huang Ji directly from Tie Long.

Huang Ji's goal was not even the money, but Ma Ye.

Because he had messed with Cao Jing over a lack of money, the future had changed. Ma Ye would do everything possible to find out who had sent that text message that night.

By tracing the number, they would find the little shop in another district where Huang Ji had bought an unregistered SIM card. That by itself was no problem; no one could find Huang Ji through that alone.

But Ma Ye would stubbornly send people everywhere to investigate. Even some remote suburban areas of Magic City that he usually never bothered with would begin to be infiltrated by his men.

Through open and covert investigation, over the next week, they would fail to find the person who had scammed the money, but would instead accidentally learn news of Lao Wang... Lao Wang had swindled quite a few people in the area Zhang Junwei controlled. It was actually easy enough to investigate.

Previously, Zhang Junwei had been the local strongman standing in the middle. As long as he did not investigate, no one would know.

But once Ma Ye's people infiltrated the area, Lao Wang's whereabouts would easily be exposed. At the very least, the Illuminati would learn that he was in Magic City rather than elsewhere in the country.

That would not do. Huang Ji still had many things left to arrange, and he did not want to be forced into an early clash with the Illuminati's direct forces. Though he could simply walk away without consequence, he was not prepared to leave the country yet.

So the best solution was to get Ma Ye thrown in prison before he inadvertently found Lao Wang.

Huang Ji had originally been too lazy to bother with Ma Ye again, but Ma Ye's future luck was simply too good. Even a blind swing could hit the mark...

At 6:50 that evening.

A black sedan came off the highway and arrived at Petrochemical Street in JS District, heading for the parking lot behind the Jinjiang Inn.

But just after turning into a small road, it found several cars blocking the way ahead. Looking more closely, there was a motorcycle overturned farther up, while two people were grappling and arguing in the middle of the road.

"Back up, back up! Don't squeeze in!" vehicles ahead were reversing.

The driver of the black sedan had no choice but to back out as well. He only needed to cut through here to reach the parking garage, but now he had to make a huge detour from the intersection ahead.

Unfortunately, before he could back out of the intersection, a car behind him drove in and blocked his retreat.

"What the hell are you squeezing in for? Back up!" the driver leaned out and roared.

To his surprise, the newly arrived car behind him stalled.

"Move!" the driver said in disbelief.

An old man in the car behind poked his masked head out and said, "Sorry, this junker stalled and won't start."

"..." The driver was speechless. He wanted to get out and take a look, but he glanced at the trunk and decided against it.

There were four million inside. His boss had chosen him to deliver the money precisely because he was cautious.

Waiting was fine. Until he handed over the money, he would not leave it for even a second.

But that wait lasted ten minutes. It was already seven o'clock, and the drivers stuck in front were growing impatient one by one, yet the guy behind him still had not gotten his car started.

"What kind of piece of crap are you driving? Can you get it moving or not?" the driver roared.

The old man behind him replied just as righteously, "It won't start. What am I supposed to do?"

"Fuck..." After hesitating for a long time, the driver got out, locked his door, and walked over to the car behind him.

"Let me take a look!"

He pulled the old man aside and tried starting the car. Sure enough, it would not start.

After examining it for a moment, he glanced at the fuel gauge and was rendered speechless.

"Where the hell is your gas?" the driver broke down.

The old man blinked stupidly. "Huh? It ran out?"

"If you've got dementia, then don't drive, alright? I seriously don't get it. How did you even drive here with no gas?" the driver snapped.

The old man said slowly, "Huh? It was driving fine before. When I got here and saw the traffic jam, I turned it off. Cough, cough, cough... Then it wouldn't start again..."

He coughed as he spoke.

Seeing that he wore a mask, the driver thought he was probably sick too.

"..." Completely speechless, the driver could not be bothered arguing with him. He stormed back to his own car, opened the trunk, glanced at the two large cash cases, and pulled out a bottle of water from the side.

Then he locked the trunk, poured the water into the fuel tank, and said, "Start it up. Make do with it and back up already!"

The old man smiled. "Young man, you're such a good person..."

The driver rolled his eyes, gave a hollow laugh, and returned to his car.

Once the old man finally backed out, he drove around from the intersection ahead and turned into the agreed location. He was already more than six minutes late!

The third basement level was the designated meeting place. After driving into the first basement level, he hesitated and found a spot to park first.

He was already six minutes late. A little longer would not matter.

He got out and opened the trunk. Seeing no one around, he opened the cash cases as well and checked whether they had been switched.

Tie Long had indeed entrusted the money to the right person. He had only left the car for a brief moment, yet he was still afraid the cash cases might have been tampered with.

Fortunately, the money was fine. The driver sighed in relief and smiled as he drove downstairs.

However, six minutes earlier, Xiao Zha had already driven over and met Cao Jing ahead of time.

Xiao Zha had seen Cao Jing before, but Cao Jing had never seen Xiao Zha. The two had once stood within arm's reach of each other in the darkness, yet now they met as strangers.

"The keys." Xiao Zha got out, leaned against the car, and spoke in a low voice, as if he recognized only the keys and not the person.

When Cao Jing saw the car parked nearby, he knew it belonged to the person he was waiting for. He walked over, jingling his key ring.

Xiao Zha held out his hand, and Cao Jing gave him the keys.

"It's in the trunk. Just drive my car away." Xiao Zha pretended to inspect the keys, then pulled another set from his pocket and tossed it to Cao Jing.

Cao Jing caught them, opened the trunk, and checked the money first.

Naturally, there was no issue with the money. It was all the cash they had taken from Cao Jing the day before yesterday... now packed into two large cases.

"There's... four million here, right?" Cao Jing made a quick count and immediately knew the amount.

"I don't know. I'm only responsible for delivering the money," Xiao Zha said.

Cao Jing nodded and smiled. "Just as expected of Tie Long's man."

"No problem. Tell Tie Long that I guarantee I'll complete the mission."

With that, he tossed the keys to his own car to Xiao Zha.

Xiao Zha nodded silently and stepped aside.

Cao Jing started Xiao Zha's car and drove away.

Xiao Zha stood beside Cao Jing's car and waited quietly for around four minutes. A black sedan finally arrived late. He glanced at it, and its plate indeed ended in 4039.

The driver got out and recognized Cao Jing's car, but not the person standing beside it.

"Where's Cao Jing?" the driver asked suspiciously.

Xiao Zha swung the key ring and walked up to him. "You were late. There's a lot to do tonight, and Jing Ge didn't know how long he'd have to wait for you. He left first to make preparations and had me stay behind to wait for you."

As he spoke, he tossed the set of keys Tie Long had given Cao Jing to the driver.

Hearing Xiao Zha's words, the driver felt a little ashamed. He really had been late. Cao Jing was one of the bosses, after all. It was understandable that he would not want to wait for a lowly underling like him. Leaving an underling behind to wait while going ahead himself was not unreasonable.

As long as the keys were real, that was all that mattered.

The driver took the key ring, opened the dangling charm, and pulled out a SIM card hidden inside!

He then inserted the SIM card into a spare phone and called his own number.

The phone immediately rang. The driver checked it and nodded in satisfaction. The contact name displayed on his phone was "Brother Tie Long's Key 4," which meant the number was correct!

Xiao Zha clicked his tongue inwardly. Good thing Huang Ji had insisted that I keep the real key ring. So that was the trick hidden in the charm!

Using keys to make contact was a misdirection. If an outsider made assumptions, secretly copied the key, and created an identical fake key, it would still be useless. It would only expose them.

Fortunately, even Cao Jing himself did not know about this method of verification. Though he and Tie Long both worked for Ma Ye, they belonged to entirely separate factions, each with different rules for controlling their forces.

Tie Long and his men were clearly far more meticulous.

Still, our boss outplayed them. Tie Long would never imagine that someone would willingly put up four million to lure Cao Jing away and obtain his keys... Xiao Zha chuckled inwardly.

P.S. Sorry.