Chapter 337: That Bastard... Me?..

Unfolding the note, Commissioner Liu Peiqi couldn't shake the strange feeling that came over him.

Written clearly in black and white on the note was the number of a UBS bank account opened in his own name.

In a cautious tone, he asked Vice Chairman Tang Guochang what this was about.

“I plan to present the Chairman with the surveillance footage as evidence.”

“Is that absolutely necessary?”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang understood perfectly well what Commissioner Liu Peiqi was getting at.

He wanted to cover up and conceal the murders of Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan and Secretary Deng Zhiping.

Only then would he have even the slightest chance of staying alive.

Tang Guochang, however, had no intention whatsoever of going along with him.

“I have to return the Chairman's managed funds in your name.”

“I understand.”

Tang Guochang felt as though he were swallowing needles as he spoke words that did not reflect his true intentions in the slightest.

But to achieve his goal, measures like this were necessary.

“Let's say I don't give the Chairman the surveillance footage. What happens if I suddenly return his secret funds for no apparent reason?”

Liu Peiqi could picture exactly what would happen.

Chairman Xi Jinping would assume that Vice Chairman Tang Guochang had gotten rid of Zhang Jinan and Deng Zhiping.

“Ah, I think I understand.”

“Then I won't spell it out for you. Once the Chairman watches the footage, he'll conclude that Commissioner Liu is the killer.”

“Of course.”

“If the Chairman's secret funds come from an account under my name, he'll think I'm Vice Chairman Tang's accomplice. To prevent that from happening, I want to transfer the Chairman's money through an account registered in your name, Commissioner Liu.”

“Hmm... That does make sense.”

“Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be going to see the Chairman.”

Commissioner Liu Peiqi immediately grasped the implication behind Vice Chairman Tang Guochang's words.

It was a direct hint that he had to get out of Beijing and flee to Russia by tomorrow morning at the latest.

And to do that, he needed to transfer Xi Jinping's embezzled state funds into the designated account.

On top of that, he would have to voluntarily hand over all fourteen tons of gold in his possession.

“I understand what you're getting at.”

“Your quick wits haven't failed you. Take Commissioner Liu's handcuffs off.”

“Yes, sir.”

With a brief reply, the Triad fighter removed the metal cuffs from Liu Peiqi's wrists.

Rubbing his stiff hands, Liu Peiqi immediately reached for the laptop.

After working at the keyboard for a while, he transferred Chairman Xi Jinping's secret funds to the account details written on the note.

Watching him work diligently, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang turned to Director Liu Haoran.

“Director Liu, where are the gold-bar reserves intended as a gift for the Chairman being stored?”

“In the basement of my brother's safe house.”

“You'll have to go there with my men.”

“I'll follow your instructions, Vice Chairman Tang.”

At once, a Triad fighter also removed the heavy shackles from Director Liu Haoran's legs.

Then he led him out of the basement.

After watching them leave with a brief glance, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang turned back to the Commissioner.

“Commissioner Liu, how much longer will the transaction take?”

“I'm going as fast as I can. Please wait just a little longer.”

“We have plenty of time, so there's no need to rush.”

“I'm not quite sure what you mean, Vice Chairman Tang.”

“Commissioner Liu, you're not leaving this room until the gold bars are in my hands.”

Some time later, Commissioner Liu Peiqi finally announced that the transfer had been completed successfully.

After thanking him for his work, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang took the laptop and went upstairs.

The moment he entered the living room, Chairman Chen Weiliang addressed him.

“Vice Chairman Tang, excellent work.”

“No need to thank me. What was the final amount of Chairman Xi's secret funds?”

Chairman Chen Weiliang turned his gaze toward Director Griffin.

Griffin immediately understood the hint and reported without delay.

“We've confirmed a total of 75.6 billion dollars.”

“That's about what we expected. Director Griffin, I'm counting on you.”

Director Griffin understood perfectly what he meant.

The UBS account under Commissioner Liu Peiqi's name had been opened with the CIA's direct involvement.

Liu Peiqi had transferred Xi Jinping's secret funds into that dummy account.

Now all that remained was to launder the money so Xi Jinping would be unable to trace where it had gone.

“Vice President Cayman, you heard Vice Chairman Tang?”

“Of course.”

After answering briefly, Vice President Cayman immediately dialed a number.

He spoke with someone for a couple of minutes before ending the call.

“Vice Chairman Tang, they'll finish laundering it within an hour at most.”

“Excellent. Department Head Cha, let's discuss our next steps.”

“I'm listening.”

“What should we do with the fourteen tons of gold Commissioner Liu had?”

After thinking for a moment, I answered Vice Chairman Tang Guochang's question.

“I think the best solution would be to sell it to Chairman Chen.”

“To me?”

Caught completely off guard, Chairman Chen Weiliang pointed at his own chest in surprise.

“We're not exactly going to divide the gold bars among ourselves, are we?”

“That's true. Somehow that never even occurred to me. What price should I buy it for?”

“As you know, Chairman Chen, we artificially drove up gold prices ourselves. If we sell it at the current market rate, you could end up taking a loss. So I suggest fixing the price at 850,000 dollars per kilogram. What do you think?”

Chairman Chen Weiliang could hardly believe his ears.

The current market price was around 1.14 million dollars per kilogram.

That meant Cha Jiham's offer of 850,000 amounted to a massive discount of more than 34%.

A person would have to be utterly shameless to grab an offer like that without a second thought.

“Department Head Cha, won't you lose money selling the gold at 850,000?”

“Let's put it this way: the gold Commissioner Liu had is unearned income. You could say it simply fell from the sky.”

“Well... When you put it that way, that's true. I accept your offer, Department Head Cha.”

“A wise decision. Now I'll explain how the proceeds will be divided. If anyone has objections, speak up.”

Gulp!

I heard Vice Chairman Wei Chen nervously swallow from the tension.

“Since Chairman Chen is buying the gold at an extremely low price, he'll be excluded from receiving a share.”

“Of course! That's only right.”

“Thank you for understanding. The proceeds will be divided equally at 25% each among our side, the United States, Vice Chairman Tang, and Vice Chairman Wei.”

“Department Head Cha, leave me out.”

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang was the first to speak.

Selling fourteen tons of gold to Chairman Chen Weiliang would bring in roughly twelve billion dollars.

At a 25% share, his cut would have been three billion dollars.

But he had already gotten his hands on Xi Jinping's astronomical secret fortune.

That was why he could give up three billion so casually.

“Vice Chairman Tang, you really won't regret letting that much money slip through your fingers?”

“Department Head Cha, you know perfectly well how much money I have at my disposal now.”

“Ha-ha, I understand. In that case, excluding Vice Chairman Tang, we'll divide the proceeds at 33% each. The remaining 1% will be paid as a bonus to the employees of «Korea Investment».”

“I cannot agree with Department Head Cha's proposal.”

Just as expected.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen voiced his firm objection.

I had expected exactly this reaction from him, so I wasn't worried in the slightest.

“Vice Chairman Wei, you lent Commissioner Liu three billion dollars, but you won't be able to get that money back anymore. You understand why, don't you?”

Tonight, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang would eliminate Commissioner Liu Peiqi.

That was precisely what Cha Jiham was hinting at.

“That much is obvious.”

“Taking that into account, I'm giving you 33%.”

“I understand your reasoning, but aren't the employees of «Korea Investment» getting far too little?”

“As I already said, the proceeds from selling fourteen tons of gold will amount to twelve billion dollars. One percent is 120 million dollars, so it's hardly a small amount.”

“But Department Head Cha, you're also counted among the employees of «Korea Investment», aren't you?”

“I made more than enough for myself by investing my personal money in gold futures.”

Bzzzt!

At that moment, Director Pan Kai's phone vibrated on the table.

After quickly glancing at the screen, he said it was one of his subordinates calling and answered.

“What is it?”

[We arrived at Commissioner Liu's safe house ten minutes ago. There really are gold bars stacked in the basement.]

“Good work. It's been decided that Chairman Chen will buy the gold.”

[Then should we transport the cargo to Hong Kong?]

“Exactly. And you know what to do with Director Liu, right?”

[Of course. See you in Hong Kong.]

Click.

The moment Pan Kai hung up, Chairman Chen Weiliang immediately leaned forward impatiently.

“The gold really was stored at Commissioner Liu's safe house?”

“Exactly so, Chairman Chen.”

“Ha-ha-ha!”

Chairman Chen Weiliang burst into genuine, booming laughter.

***

“Commissioner, don't you think this is strange?”

Public Security Bureau Chief Pu Zhenghua quietly addressed Commissioner Liu Peiqi.

An hour earlier, Liu Peiqi had transferred Xi Jinping's secret funds into the UBS account specified by Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

Tang Guochang had taken the laptop and left, saying he needed to verify that the funds had arrived.

Ten minutes would have been more than enough to check the transaction, yet he had already been gone for over an hour.

That was the suspicious point Pu Zhenghua was referring to.

“Pu, why do you think Vice Chairman Tang isn't coming back?”

“Could it be... that he decided to take the Chairman's secret funds for himself?”

A bank account could easily be traced.

So if Vice Chairman Tang Guochang truly intended to steal Xi Jinping's money, he would be risking his own head.

Liu Peiqi asked Pu Zhenghua what he thought about that.

“The account the Chairman's funds were transferred to was a dummy account that couldn't be traced.”

“Hmm... That's true.”

“If my guess is right, we should prepare for the worst.”

“Why?”

“Dead men don't talk.”

“You mean Vice Chairman Tang will get rid of us to destroy the evidence?”

“There's no more reliable way to erase evidence.”

“Haa...”

Click!

As Commissioner Liu Peiqi let out a heavy sigh, the basement door opened and Vice Chairman Tang Guochang entered.

Sitting down in an empty chair, he looked at Liu Peiqi in puzzlement.

“What's with those faces? Why do you both look so gloomy?”

Even with a knife pressed to his throat, Commissioner Liu Peiqi could not admit what they had been suspecting.

“I was simply worried that there might have been an error in the account details the Chairman's money was sent to.”

“The account is perfectly clean and functional, so there's nothing to worry about.”

“Well, that's a relief. But why did you keep us waiting so long?”

Tang Guochang had been delayed because the transferred funds were being laundered.

But he had no intention of telling them the truth, so he made up another reason.

“I just received confirmation that the gold bars at your safe house have been successfully verified.”

“Ah, I see. And what do you plan to do with the gold that belonged to Secretary Zhang?”

“We've decided to present it to the Chairman as a gift.”

Tang Guochang was notorious for his incredible greed.

His words sounded noble enough, but he would surely pocket the gold seized from Zhang Jinan's residence for himself.

“Was there some particular reason for that decision?”

“The Chairman knew that Secretary Zhang had been preparing a gift of gold for him.”

“Ah, so that's why... I also told the Chairman that I would give him gold.”

“You don't need to worry about that, Commissioner Liu. You'll never be able to contact the Chairman again anyway.”

The word “never” grated sharply on Liu Peiqi's ears.

‘Could it be... This bastard is going to?..’

The instant that thought flashed through his mind, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang reached one hand behind him.

A Triad fighter immediately placed a suppressed pistol into his palm.

Without wasting a second, Tang Guochang aimed the barrel directly at Commissioner Liu Peiqi.

“P-please... spare me!”

“Give me even one reason why I should let you live.”

Having lost all hope, Commissioner Liu Peiqi could only stare blankly into space.