Chapter 886: Inspection

Black Stone Group, New York headquarters.

Financial Director Mark clutched a stack of reports and, without even knocking, barged straight into General Manager Xien's office.

"Boss, Elize is acting strange." He slammed the reports onto the desk, his voice laced with anger. "This month, he spent two hundred million in Hong Kong, and it was all wired to private accounts."

Xien didn't say a word, just stared at him.

"I've worked with Elize for so many years, I know him. He used to hate having Asians handle things; don't you find it strange that he suddenly changed his ways?"

"What's strange about it? I spoke to him on the phone just yesterday." Xien leaned back in his chair and said, "I didn't hear anything unusual. He even told me some good news—that there are members of the Shadow Organization hiding in Babylon. Because of this, I even met with the CIA to discuss whether to send reinforcements. How did you suddenly find a problem on your end?"

"When things are abnormal, there must be a demon, Boss. Elize is spending money too recklessly this time. If you want me to be specific, I can't say exactly what's wrong, but my sixth sense tells me there's definitely something fishy going on." Mark looked earnest.

Xien squinted slightly: "You suspect he's embezzling activity funds?"

"It's not impossible. In the past, whenever Elize spent large sums of money, he would at least explain it to me. This time, he didn't even give a heads-up. I understand the principle of acting in an emergency, but I still feel something is wrong!" Mark's face was full of doubt.

Xien was silent for a few seconds, tapping his fingers on the desk twice: "You've always been cautious with finance matters, so I believe you. But how do you want to resolve this?"

"I want to go audit the accounts myself!" Mark blurted out without a second thought.

"You?" Xien looked him up and down. "That man Elize doesn't blink when he kills. If he really has become greedy, I'm afraid you won't come back if you go."

"But if I send someone else, I'm afraid they'll either be bought off or won't be able to find anything at all. After all, this money isn't exactly above board." Mark's attitude was very firm.

Xien thought for a moment: "If you really must go, I'll assign ten bodyguards to follow you. They are all veterans of the company and should be able to protect you."

Mark shook his head: "Our group has many investments in Hong Kong. I'm just going to check a few bank accounts; the banks will definitely cooperate. If there really is a problem, I'll call you immediately, and it won't be too late for you to send a large force over then."

Xien nodded: "Fine. But remember, once you discover that Elize truly has greedy intentions, don't try to handle it yourself. That man is not easy to deal with."

Mark said: "Understood, I'll set off for Hong Kong tonight."

As for He Yuzhu, his life had been quite comfortable lately.

Every day, he had nothing else to do but watch Elize transfer money out of the Black Stone company accounts.

As soon as the money arrived, he would have Xu Tian immediately transfer it to various private accounts and withdraw it in a hurry.

The day Mark arrived in Hong Kong, it was raining.

Bearing the identity of the Financial Director of Black Stone Group, he was himself a shareholder in several Hong Kong banks, so checking a few accounts was just a matter of a phone call.

Three days later, his assistant Kain came to report: "Mr. Mark, it's been cleared up. After those funds were transferred to a bank account, they were quickly split and wired into countless private accounts, then immediately withdrawn. It's clear that this was done by an experienced group."

After hearing this, Mark realized he had oversimplified things. The people Elize found were all from the underworld, and those people each had their own organizations behind them; there was nothing to be surprised about with such an operation.

"Continue the investigation. Check those who made the withdrawals and see what their backgrounds are," Mark ordered.

Another three days passed, and Kain returned, looking dejected: "Boss, most of those people were found in the labor market. After being hired, they took a one-percent commission—they were just taking money to do the job."

"Can you find the person who hired them?" Mark pressed.

Kain shook his head: "It's too difficult. This is an organization; it would take at least half a year to track down the big boss behind the scenes."

Mark leaned back in his chair, at a loss for what to do. Elize had always done dirty work, and having operated for so many years, investigating him wasn't easy.

He called his bodyguards over: "Go scout the area around Elize's villa and see if there's anything unusual."

That night, two bodyguards returned.

The one named John spoke first: "Mr. Director, Elize is inside the villa."

"How did you see him?" Mark asked.

"His villa is by the sea, and there are no large buildings around. We hired a fishing boat, pretended to be fishing, and used a telescope to watch. He came out once while eating, and he ate in the courtyard."

"Is his female secretary, Maria, there?" Mark asked again.

"She is. There are also several other bodyguards inside the villa," the other bodyguard added.

Mark paced back and forth in the room, and after a long while, he said: "Tomorrow, I'm going to see him."

A bodyguard advised: "Boss, we're here to investigate him. Should we wait a few more days and conduct a more detailed investigation first?"

Mark shook his head: "There's no time. I have to go back to headquarters to handle a merger case later."

In the villa's living room, He Yuzhu was listening to a report from the security personnel.

"Manager He, someone is investigating Elize. Our people ran into two men spying on the villa during their patrol; they hired a fishing boat and have been circling the villa for a long time."

He Yuzhu smiled: "I saw that boat too. It's expected. We took so much money from him; it would be abnormal if they didn't come to audit the accounts."

Another security guard said: "Manager He, should we borrow some manpower from Chairman Zhao Ying?"

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "No need. I reckon that person hasn't discovered the big loophole yet, otherwise people would have come to make arrests already. Wait until they send someone over, capture them, and ask what that group is thinking; then we'll take the next step."

Early the next morning, Mark arrived with four bodyguards.

As soon as he entered, Mark felt something was wrong. These bodyguards looked like white men, but their behavior was nothing like it.

Just as he was about to order his bodyguards to attack, He Yuzhu had already made his move, knocking all four bodyguards to the ground in a few strikes.

The last bodyguard beside him was also subdued, and Mark himself was pinned down.

Mark stared fixedly at Elize, gritting his teeth: "You... you really have rebelled."

Elize gave a bitter smile and didn't say a word.

He Yuzhu asked: "What's your name? What's your position?"

Mark refused to speak, but Elize spoke up first: "He is the Financial Director of Black Stone Group, his name is Mark."

Mark was so angry his face turned green: "Elize, I really didn't expect you to collude with outsiders to cheat the company out of money!"

He Yuzhu kicked him in the chest.

Mark flew backward, slammed into the wall with a crash, and bounced back onto the floor.

He felt as if several of his bones had broken.

He Yuzhu sneered: "Let's speak plainly. I am Shadow... Think it over, then answer my question: how much money can you transfer out of your company? This will determine how you are treated from here on out."

Blood dripped from the corner of Mark's mouth as he gritted his teeth: "Don't be arrogant. Our group has assets of hundreds of billions of dollars. Even if you succeeded for a moment, you won't escape our pursuit!"

Seeing that this guy was quite tough, He Yuzhu turned, brought over a large basin of water, and shoved his head directly into it.

After being tossed around a few times, Mark finally became obedient, gasping for air: "I... I am willing to cooperate with you. I happen to have a restructuring case in my hands; I can forge the President's signature and transfer out one billion dollars."

He Yuzhu laughed: "That's more like it; if you had said so earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer."

He turned to Elize and asked: "How do we transfer the money to Hong Kong?"

Elize said: "I have several shell company accounts in Panama on hand; once the money goes in, the source cannot be traced at all."

Seeing that Elize was being so cooperative, Mark had no choice but to follow suit and say: "I can split the money into multiple transfers and even forge the boss's signature..."