Chapter 350: Accuracy

Wang Chuanxing gathered four team members, making a total of five—just enough for one car—and headed toward Chiyong City. The five of them took turns driving without stopping the vehicle, and by the early hours of the next day, they had checked into a hotel.

After sleeping fitfully for a few hours, they waited until it was fully bright before Wang Chuanxing called Yuan Ben, a criminal police officer from the Chiyong City Bureau whom he had contacted earlier.

Yuan Ben had been reached through Meng Chengbiao, though the two were not particularly close; they merely had some professional dealings in the past.

As the saying goes, all criminal police are one family. If I come to your place to work a case today, you might come to mine tomorrow. Therefore, any veteran criminal investigator has a thick phone book.

However, Yuan Ben didn't take Wang Chuanxing and his group too seriously. A few young out-of-town cops wanting to work a case was fine by him, so he just helped them file a report. Similar situations probably happened every week; there was nothing unusual about it.

Wang Chuanxing and the others didn't have many demands. Since they had already filed the report, they followed the plan they had made before arriving: start by looking into companies that did advertising and inkjet printing.

Compared to a print shop, an inkjet advertising company is like a larger, more professional version. They usually possess inkjet printers, heat-transfer machines, paper cutters, and relevant graphic design skills, all of which can be used to manufacture counterfeit currency.

In fact, given the current level of technological advancement, many professionals in this field in various cities have the ability to manufacture counterfeit money if they are determined to acquire the relevant information. Especially with 20-yuan notes, which have a lower level of anti-counterfeiting, achieving 90% similarity is not particularly difficult.

Going a step further, if one is willing to purchase semi-finished products, 99% similarity can be achieved. Of course, the traces left behind during this process are much more significant.

Wang Chuanxing started by looking for merchants who had recently purchased Epson R330 printers.

The machines needed for counterfeiting are limited. Heat-transfer machines and paper cutters are considered relatively large pieces of equipment; if a shop already had them, they could be used immediately.

The printer is the only exception. First, it needs to be modified, and second, multiple units are required—printing 10,000 20-yuan notes only amounts to 200,000 yuan. Using a single printer is simply too slow, and most criminals don't have that kind of patience.

If they had that kind of patience, they probably wouldn't choose to make counterfeit money in the first place.

On the other hand, printers break down after heavy use. Modifying one is the same as modifying two. The price of an R330 isn't high, so most counterfeiters modify several at once and then print frantically, fantasizing about earning enough money to live worry-free for generations.

Wang Chuanxing had a list; he crossed off each inkjet advertising company as he checked it. After visiting several in a row, the group fell into a slight silence.

"Brother Wang, should we follow the courier lead?" Chen Shan, in the passenger seat, was a bit impatient. Wang Chuanxing replied, "Do you think the perpetrator isn't in Chiyong City?"

"The courier was sent from Chiyong, but if they sent it locally, wouldn't that be a bit too dangerous?" Chen Shan pondered and said, "If I were the perpetrator, I'd rather load it into a car and take it to a surrounding city to send it."

"How much difference could that make?" someone nearby retorted. "The cities surrounding Chiyong aren't large. It's probably easier to find someone in the surrounding areas than in Chiyong City itself."

Wang Chuanxing said, "Carrying a pile of counterfeit money on the road probably isn't safe either."

"But it's possible, right?" Chen Shan said. "I just feel like Liu Chu's deduction is a bit hollow, like it's not grounded in anything."

"But it's right most of the time. Besides, this time, Jiang Dui did the document examination." Wang Chuanxing said, "The perpetrator probably doesn't know that the type of printer they used can be identified."

"That's true." Chen Shan thought the perpetrator was likely a bit smarter than Wang Chuanxing believed, but he didn't think they were that much smarter.

After all, in this day and age, anyone still relying on counterfeiting to get rich has limited intelligence. Someone slightly smarter would at least be upstream of the counterfeiters, perhaps earning more by selling tutorials on the dark web.

"We're here." Wang Chuanxing drove the car and parked it in front of a white factory building.

"A standalone building, two stories, Weihao Inkjet Advertising Company. It looks like it has

some substance." Chen Shan commented, then got out of the car.

Without needing to be told, the two criminal police officers in the back seat circled around to the rear.

Wang Chuanxing and the others went to knock on the door once they were in position; they had done this several times before. After knocking for a long time, someone finally opened the door sluggishly, blocking the entrance and asking, "Who are you looking for?" "Police." Wang Chuanxing flashed his ID and asked, "Is the person in charge of the company here? Can we come in?" "I am." The man at the door was clearly flustered, his eyes darting around.

Wang Chuanxing and the others knew that look all too well. Someone beside him silently squeezed forward, getting close to the man's side.

With that, unless the man had special physical skills, it would be very difficult for him to get away. "We're coming in to take a look." After confirming the look, Wang Chuanxing and the others were no longer so polite. They squeezed in while talking.

They didn't even need to go further inside; through a semi-transparent partition, they could see several familiar Epson printers at work. A police officer immediately walked over.

"Wait... you can't come in," the suspect shouted as if waking from a dream. By then, the officer who had entered was already holding his left hand high.

"Don't move." Wang Chuanxing stepped forward, coordinating with his teammate to subdue the man at the door. "That's a lot of money." The officer who had gone to check couldn't help but exclaim once the person was caught.

Wang Chuanxing pressed the suspect forward and saw a row of eight printers in the back of the factory, clicking away busily.

At the same time, the floor was piled with cardboard boxes, and bundles of 20-yuan notes were stacked inside. "What is this?" Wang Chuanxing asked, pointing at the counterfeit money.

The suspect was still holding onto a glimmer of hope, whispering, "These are props for a movie."

Wang Chuanxing let out a scoff and asked, "Where are the people from your company? Where are the others?"

"The others quit. There was no business, and the money wasn't coming in, so the employees left one after another. I couldn't leave, so I just had to endure it." The suspect spoke with a hint of genuine emotion when the topic came up.

Wang Chuanxing just sneered, "No matter how hard business is, it's no excuse for making counterfeit money." "I didn't make counterfeit money," the suspect replied guiltily.

"Dyes, semi-finished counterfeit notes, payment records..." Wang Chuanxing recited a couple of things casually and said, "If you can explain all of these, we'll go home."

By then, more counterfeit money had been gathered.

When Yuan Ben received the news and rushed over, what he saw were over a million yuan in 20-yuan notes. The 60,000-plus banknotes fully demonstrated the counterfeiter's substantial wealth...

"With this kind of capital investment, why would you resort to counterfeiting!" Yuan Ben was heartbroken and asked Wang Chuanxing, "How did you know to find this place?"

"Jiang Dui and Liu Chu planned it out," Wang Chuanxing replied casually.

"That's quite accurate." Yuan Ben couldn't help but have some thoughts as he watched. ===== CHAPTER 351 =====