Chapter 2339: Drawing Silk, Unraveling Cocoon

When Ma Lan thoroughly turned things around at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and began to throw her weight around, enjoying special treatment.

At that time, Ye Chen, who was at the Xiao family's residence, received a document sent by Wan Pojun.

Thanks to the powerful intelligence channels of the Wanlong Temple, this document almost covered all the crimes committed by Mei Yuzhen during her many years in the United States.

This printed document, which ran to over thirty pages, took Ye Chen more than an hour to read through completely.

And when he finished reading these materials, he was utterly furious!

He never expected that this Mei Yuzhen, in the United States, had committed sins too heinous to be recorded against his fellow countrymen.

Over these many years, the number of people who died directly or indirectly at her hands, whose actual identities could be traced, was at least thirty or so.

Moreover, many people who had come into contact with her subsequently vanished completely, their fate unknown.

And just like Ma Lan, those who were harmed by her and sent to prison were too numerous to count.

However, the Wanlong Temple currently has not yet grasped Mei Yuzhen's whereabouts.

Because this woman, ever since leaving Providence, has never appeared in any public setting, her person being in a state of having vanished from the human world.

Ye Chen speculated that although Mei Yuzhen is currently on the run, she certainly will not just quit her evil ways.

Because her family members have now all been arrested, all her assets have been seized, and under these circumstances she certainly feels unwilling to accept this.

Therefore, even though Mei Yuzhen is currently in a state of flight, this vicious woman will certainly find a way to continue her wrongdoing and reap illegal profits.

Thus, Ye Chen gave Wan Pojun a phone call.

As soon as the call connected, he said: "Pojun, I have already finished reading all the materials you sent."

Wan Pojun said with great embarrassment: "Sorry, Mr. Ye, we currently have no clues about Mei Yuzhen's specific whereabouts, but rest assured, I have already notified all the informants of the Wanlong Temple throughout the United States; as soon as Mei Yuzhen's traces are discovered, we will certainly grasp her movements immediately."

Ye Chen said: "I now suspect that Mei Yuzhen will likely commit another crime soon, and we should now think of a way to follow the vine to melon."

Wan Pojun said somewhat helplessly: "In this place called the United States, the vast majority of cities have not achieved 100% surveillance coverage, let alone the urban-rural fringes and the extensive transportation network, and most critically, over 90% of their highways are free, with no toll stations, meaning there is no system to record or statistics on vehicles traveling on these highways, so we also find it very difficult to track their movements after they left Providence."

Ye Chen thought for a moment and said: "Although Mei Yuzhen and her associates have vanished from the human world, their target remains! As long as they do not completely cease their activities, we will be able to find clues!"

Saying this, Ye Chen added: "Pojun, you immediately have someone investigate in Providence Mei Yuzhen's time using the alias Chen Liping, all her social records; I need to know which Chinese and overseas Chinese she has deeply contacted, for anyone she has deeply contacted is likely her target, and we can start from her targets to perhaps find her whereabouts."

Wan Pojun hurriedly said: "Yes, Mr. Ye, I will get this done right away!"

One hour later.

Ye Chen received a return call from Wan Pojun.

On the phone, Wan Pojun said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, our people investigated in Providence and found that Mei Yuzhen has maintained relatively close contact with at least six local overseas Chinese, but since your mother-in-law encountered trouble, their contact with these people has been severed."

Ye Chen asked: "What are the identities and backgrounds of these six people respectively?"

Wan Pojun said: "Basically, they are similar to your mother-in-law, all coming to the United States to visit relatives; among them, four have already booked their return flight tickets and will return to China in succession over the next few months; however, among them there is an elderly woman who immigrated earlier, and Mei Yuzhen's call records with her are the highest among these six people."

"Elderly woman?" Ye Chen asked curiously: "Could this elderly woman also be a target for their smuggling of contraband?"

Wan Pojun said: "This is still uncertain."

Ye Chen said: "To confirm this is very simple; you investigate this elderly woman's recent flight records with airlines over the past few years, to see if she frequently returns to China, and when her most recent return to China was."

"Good!" Wan Pojun immediately said: "Please wait a moment, I will have hackers extract the data from loopholes in the civil aviation system."

Saying this, Wan Pojun instructed the people nearby with a few words, and in less than a minute he said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, I have already found this on my end; it's strange—this elderly woman has not returned to China for at least twenty years, and during these twenty years, she has not taken a single flight."

"Strange..." Ye Chen frowned and said: "What value would a person who hasn't flown for twenty years, and moreover is an elderly woman, have for Mei Yuzhen?"

"I don't know either..." Wan Pojun hurriedly said: "I will immediately send people to approach this elderly woman and conduct a detailed investigation of her situation."

Ye Chen said: "No need to trouble yourself; help me look into this elderly woman's family composition."

Wan Pojun said: "Mr. Ye, I have the data here; the elderly woman is named Zhou Bihua, seventy-three years old, she has only one son, who is now forty; her son was a government-sponsored overseas student years ago, later immigrated to the United States, and twenty years ago brought her over from China, but the elderly woman came on her own, and her husband should already have passed away."

Ye Chen then asked: "Have you found their address? Take a look at what level of community their residence belongs to in Providence."

Wan Pojun later replied: "Mr. Ye, the place where the elderly woman lives is, in Providence, a rather dilapidated community; local Chinese generally do not live there, and the usual residents are Latino and African American."

Ye Chen couldn't help but feel somewhat puzzled, pondering: "This matter is a bit strange; logically speaking, this elderly woman's family circumstances should be very ordinary, and domestically she probably has no close relatives left, making it impossible for her to return to China; what purpose would Mei Yuzhen have in approaching her?"

"I haven't figured this out either..." Wan Pojun said: "I also found the elderly woman's surveillance footage; she actually works part-time at a Chinese restaurant, and at such an advanced age still comes out to work, indicating the family should be very difficult."

Ye Chen furrowed his brow and continued asking: "What about her son? Since her son was previously a government-sponsored overseas student, he must have graduated from a prestigious university, so his income couldn't possibly be too low, right?"

Wan Pojun explained: "Her son's situation is rather miserable; although he did have a decent income years ago, serving as a technical supervisor at a multinational corporation, but from the time he turned thirty-five, he has been constantly looking for jobs, being laid off, then looking again, with his income steadily declining; now he has been unemployed for over a year, the mortgage on their home has been suspended for several months, and the bank is now preparing to repossess the house; his son recently sold a business car that had been driven for a hundred thousand miles, and now one can say the family is destitute; I also cannot understand why a high-achiever who graduated from a prestigious university would end up in such a miserable state."

Ye Chen said lightly: "Such a situation is still quite common in large corporations; for some large corporations, due to long tenure and seniority, older employees' salaries are astonishingly high, and moreover because they are older, their bodies are severely overdrawn, and they have families to worry about, so they can no longer strive, and their learning ability cannot compare to that of young people; for these large companies, if they use young people to replace these middle-aged people, not only can costs be greatly reduced, but the new young people also have ample drive and can ruthlessly exploit them for over ten years."

Saying this, Ye Chen added: "Such middle-aged people, once laid off, when seeking re-employment, will see their salary levels plummet; young people see their salaries rise with each job hop, while most middle-aged people see their salaries fall with each job hop."

Wan Pojun deeply agreed, sighing: "Capitalists are indeed the most ruthless."

Saying this, Wan Pojun suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said: "Oh right, I just checked in the civil aviation system, and this Zhou Bihua's son has booked a ticket to fly to Mexico the day after tomorrow; perhaps he is going to Mexico to work..."

Ye Chen was even more puzzled: "Going to Mexico to work? That place is much poorer than the United States, and moreover counts as a lawless region; how would a normal person go from the United States there to work?"

"This is still unclear..." Wan Pojun said: "I have also found his son's physical examination record from last week, conducted at a hospital in Providence; the examination items registered are for a pre-employment physical, so it should have been done for the purpose of seeking work."

Ye Chen gave an affirmative hum, and initially did not think much of it.

But then he suddenly thought of something and said: "Pojun, in the materials you just gave me, it showed that among those who had contact with Mei Yuzhen, not a few have directly vanished from the human world and their whereabouts are unknown—is that correct?"

"Yes." Wan Pojun said: "These people, in the police system, are registered as missing, and not a single one has been found."

Ye Chen furrowed his brow tightly and suddenly said: "Quickly check these missing persons, see where their files show they went missing, and focus on checking whether, before they went missing, they had been to Mexico!"