Under normal circumstances, it would actually have been most appropriate for Zhou Quan to contact Number One and Xinhua News Agency directly.
After all, Number One had personally appointed him to oversee the Security Department's operations, and he had extremely close ties with the Motherland.
However, the evidence in the Professor's case had yet to form a complete chain.
The Professor's telephone contact with Shek Kong Camp alone gave Zhou Quan the authority to demand that the foreign garrison cooperate with the investigation.
But that was nowhere near enough to let him go straight into the foreign troops' camp to make arrests.
If he notified the foreign garrison in advance, they might well play down the affair until it disappeared altogether.
Whether there were other masterminds behind the Professor and the foreign troops colluding with him would then become impossible to investigate further.
Only with the Professor's confession could Zhou Quan launch a lightning operation and take everyone into custody immediately.
That way, he would hold the initiative in the subsequent targeted investigation.
No matter who else stood behind these cases, they would have no time to react.
But ultimately, the same problem remained: he still lacked crucial evidence.
In his judgment, the Professor would certainly walk into the trap he had laid.
Not merely because of the staggering lure of ninety million US dollars, but also because of the pressure the Professor was under.
The American gang's twenty-four-hour payment deadline concerned the Professor's very survival.
Still, it was the unexpected that one had to guard against.
If the Professor withstood the pressure and did not strike the Interpol Asia-Pacific Division, Zhou Quan would have to continue tracking and investigating him.
Alerting Number One and the Motherland in advance would clearly leave them with the impression that he acted rashly.