Chapter 351

Wang Chuan gathered four team members, making five in total—exactly enough for one car—and headed to Chi Yong City. The five drove together, taking turns at the wheel, and checked into a hotel by dawn the next day.

After sleeping another few hazy hours until daylight fully broke, Wang Chuan called Yuan Ben, the criminal investigator from the Chi Yong City Bureau he had previously contacted.

Yuan Ben had been contacted through Meng Chengbiao, but neither of them knew each other well—only occasional professional dealings had occurred between them.

As the saying goes, all criminal investigators are one family; today I come to your city to investigate, tomorrow you might come to mine. So seasoned investigators all keep thick phonebooks.

But Yuan Ben didn't take Wang Chuan and his team seriously—just a few young out-of-town investigators wanting to take on a case. He merely filed a routine report. Similar cases happened every week; nothing unusual.

Wang Chuan and his team didn't ask for much—since they'd already reported in, they followed their pre-planned strategy and started by visiting advertising printing companies.

Compared to regular print shops, advertising printing companies were larger and more professional, typically equipped with inkjet printers, heat-transfer machines, paper cutters, and related graphic design skills—all equally useful for counterfeit currency production.

In fact, with today's technological advancement, many urban professionals in this field could easily produce counterfeit bills if they sought the right information. Especially for the low-security 20-yuan note, achieving 90% resemblance was not difficult.

If one was willing to purchase semi-finished products, 99% similarity could be achieved. But this process left heavier traces.

Wang Chuan first targeted businesses that had recently purchased Epson R330 printers.

Counterfeiters needed only a few machines; heat-transfer and paper-cutting machines were relatively large, and if a shop already owned them, they could be used directly.

Only printers required modification—and multiple units were needed. Printing 10, 00 twenty-yuan notes meant 200, 00 yuan; using just one printer was far too slow. Most criminals lacked the patience.

Those who had such patience usually wouldn't choose counterfeiting in the first place.

On the other hand, printers wear out with heavy use; modifying one was no different from modifying two. The R330 wasn't expensive, so most counterfeiters bought several at once, cranked out fake bills nonstop, dreaming their profits would last forever.

Wang Chuan made a list and crossed off each advertising company as they visited. After checking several, the group fell into quiet silence.

"Brother Wang, should we follow the courier's trail?" asked Chen Shan from the front passenger seat, growing impatient. Wang Chuan replied, "Do you think the suspect isn't in Chi Yong City?"

"The courier originated from Chi Yong, but wouldn't it be too risky to send it locally?" Chen Shan mused. "If I were the suspect, I'd load the cash into a vehicle and ship it out to nearby cities."

"What difference would that make?" someone beside him countered. "The cities around Chi Yong are small. It'd be easier to find suspects there than in Chi Yong itself."

Wang Chuan said: "Transporting a pile of counterfeit bills on the road is probably unsafe too."

"But it's still possible, right?" Chen Shan said. "I feel Liu Chu's theory is too vague—leaves you hanging with no solid anchor."

"But it's usually correct. And this time, Jiang Team Leader did the document examination." Wang Chuan said. "The suspect probably doesn't realize his printer model was identifiable."

"True." Chen Shan imagined the suspect to be slightly smarter than Wang Chuan's estimate—but not by much.

After all, anyone still trying to get rich through counterfeiting today had limited intelligence. Slightly smarter ones would operate upstream—selling counterfeit tutorials on the dark web and likely earning more.

"We're here." Wang Chuan pulled the car to a stop in front of a white factory building.

"Single gate, private yard, two stories—Weihao Advertising Printing Company. Looks like it's got something."

Chen Shan commented, then got out of the car.

Without a word, the two officers in the back seat circled around to the rear.

Wang Chuan and his team approached and knocked. They'd done this routine several times before. After a long wait, someone finally opened the door slowly, blocking the entrance. "Who are you looking for?" "Police." Wang Chuan showed his badge. "Is the company manager here? Can we come in?" "I am." The man at the door showed clear nervousness, his eyes darting.

That look was all too familiar to Wang Chuan and his team. One officer stepped forward silently, positioning himself close beside the doorkeeper.

Now, unless the man had exceptional physical skills, escape was nearly impossible. "We're coming in." After confirming the man's reaction, Wang Chuan and his team lost all courtesy. They pushed past him as they spoke.

No need to go further inside—through the semi-transparent partition, several familiar Epson printers were clearly working. One officer immediately moved toward them.

"You… you can't come in!" the suspect cried out as if waking from a dream. At that moment, the officer inside had already raised his left hand.

"Don't move." Wang Chuan stepped forward, coordinating with his teammate to restrain the man at the door. "That's a lot of money," the officer inspecting the scene exclaimed upon seeing the suspect detained.

Wang Chuan pushed the suspect forward and saw eight printers lined up in the back half of the factory, clacking away busily.

Meanwhile, the floor was piled high with cardboard boxes, each stuffed with bundles of twenty-yuan notes. "What's this?" Wang Chuan pointed at the counterfeit bills.

The suspect still clung to hope, whispering: "These are movie props."

Wang Chuan laughed aloud. "Where are your employees? Where's everyone else?"

"Everyone quit. No business, no money coming in. The staff gradually left. I couldn't leave—I had to stick it out." The suspect's tone grew slightly genuine as he spoke of this.

Wang Chuan snorted. "Even if business is hard, that's no excuse for counterfeiting." "I didn't make counterfeit bills," the suspect replied weakly.

"Ink, semi-finished counterfeits, payment records…" Wang Chuan casually listed a few items. "If you can explain all of it, we'll go home."

More counterfeit bills were now being gathered.

When Yuan Ben arrived, hurriedly summoned, he saw over a million yuan in twenty-yuan notes—over 60, 00 bills—clearly revealing the counterfeiter's substantial resources.

"With all this investment, why bother counterfeiting!" Yuan Ben exclaimed in anguish, then asked Wang Chuan: "How did you know to come here?"

"Planned by Jiang Team Leader and Liu Chu," Wang Chuan replied casually.

"Pretty accurate," Yuan Ben thought, a new idea forming in his mind.