Chapter 322: Stopping the Bleeding (11/15, Autumn Subscription)

Chen Yang said with a pale face, "I—I don't have direct evidence, but he contacts me on a regular basis. If you let me go, the next time he reaches out to me, I'll livestream the whole thing for you. Also, the extra income that appeared in my account during this period can all serve as circumstantial evidence."

Fang Yue glanced at Bai Xiaoya again, and the latter gave a slight nod.

"The other side was very covert, the methods extremely subtle. On the fixed-amount investments Chen Yang put in, they used a special technique to amplify and boost the financial products. Then Chen Yang bought a lot of scattered financial products as well. Looking at any single transaction, you can't see anything wrong—it just looks like good luck. But put them all together, and it's a considerable sum, far higher than the dead wages Chen Yang earns at his job."

If that's how it was done, everything can be chalked up to luck; you can't even say someone was funding him from behind.

After all, altering the rise and fall of funds or stocks requires an enormous amount of capital, plus a very high level of technical skill—not something an ordinary person can pull off.

"If that's really the case, the probability of Ma Shaoku is extremely high. And he usually partners with Qiu Dugu, so he knows the habits well, making it much easier to deceive. On top of that, the two of them are a team—deceiving Qiu Dugu is the same as deceiving the higher-ups.

The 【United Hand】 itself is a very large, bloated structure. To uncover a small problem like this, they'd probably have to wait until the year-end audit and inspection. And in such a long stretch of time, Ma Shaoku would have plenty of time to make even more moves."

Hearing Bai Xiaoya's analysis, Fang Yue felt the suspicion on Ma Shaoku growing stronger and stronger.

"But… even if we know it's him, really him, we… still can't do anything to him. He's a regular employee of the United Hand!"

Bai Xiaoya's face showed difficulty. A small fry like Chen Yang, she could knead and beat on as she pleased—even if the process was a bit rough, it didn't matter; her influence was enough to suppress it all.

But Ma Shaoku was a different story.

As a regular employee of the 【United Hand】, once something happened to Ma Shaoku, the one she'd offend was that behemoth, the United Hand.

Even if she had evidence of his crimes like forging the parchment in hand, it would be utterly meaningless.

Because… the United Hand only handles its employees' mistakes itself. It has its own set of punishment mechanisms. All others can do is report and submit, providing tips and information; they have dedicated departments inside for review.

And what's more… judging by Fang Yue's attitude, he absolutely would not give up the parchment.

And once the United Hand learned of this, it was no longer Ma Shaoku acting alone—the stakes would rise to a level she couldn't handle.

The situation seemed to have reached an impasse.

Find Ma Shaoku, the mastermind behind the scenes, and the trouble is solved—but the United Hand behind him is not to be provoked.

But if Ma Shaoku isn't removed, it means taking hits forever.

A person isn't a machine; there's always a moment of slip-up. Letting the enemy keep trial-and-erroring while you don't fight back at all—there will come a moment of slip-up.

And the price of a slip-up is death!

"Fang Yue…"

"You want me to return the parchment?"

"Mm, that's the safest option. Without the parchment, they have no reason to keep pestering you. As for wanting to kill you to silence you, it's not that simple—once they realize they've kicked a steel plate, they'll naturally give up, and they won't dare alert the 【United Hand】."

"They'll give up once they realize they've kicked a steel plate? Then why don't I take the more proactive approach and skip those steps, just let them kick the steel plate directly?"

Bai Xiaoya's brow furrowed slightly: "What are you planning to do?"

"I want to kill Ma Shaoku."

With the parchment at stake, Fang Yue's killing intent slipped out!

Take my parchment—mortal enmity, irreconcilable!

【Heh heh, this round I'm freaking awesome! Two people fighting to the death for me.】

……In the future, please only come out when I call you, otherwise I can't help wanting to throw you away.

【No no no, I can tell you what happened on the vehicle back then.】

The parchment's words made Fang Yue slightly stunned—could it really work like that?

"Tell me, what exactly happened back then?"

According to Fang Yue's memory, he had simply seen the parchment by the roadside that day, knew nothing else, and thought a pie had fallen from the sky.

And the result…

Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world—only breakfast and dinner!

【The last time I was packaged, I discovered that the packaging box didn't suppress my power. It was just an ordinary box with a similar outward appearance but a completely different core.】

【I was very happy, but it was useless—I still needed someone to see my writing.】

【Unlike you, who have already signed a contract, anyone else who wants to see my writing must pick up my physical form and look at the words on the parchment.】

【Just when I was feeling dejected that a rare chance had come without suitable conditions, those two idiots who looked like amateurs opened the box, and then… it was my personal showtime!】

【I sweet-talked them until their legs were twisted the wrong way, and along the way escaped the vehicle and found you, this free meal ticket.】

【Everything is within this parchment's grand calculations!】

"……Actually, it's just that nobody picked up your scrap paper, right?"

【Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!】

She's getting worked up, she's getting worked up.

Fang Yue rolled his eyes inwardly.

Under normal circumstances, any normal passerby who saw a parchment lying by the roadside as if someone had tossed it—who would pick it up?

They're not a scavenger; they wouldn't have any interest in waste paper at all.

Of course, if they caught a glimpse of the words on the parchment, they probably wouldn't think that way anymore.

But as luck would have it, Fang Yue was the first person to see the writing on the parchment after it escaped.

At this point, Fang Yue finally understood what had actually happened on the day he picked up the parchment.

Clearly, aside from the process of him picking up the parchment being an accident, everything else had been within someone else's calculations.

Ma Shaoku had carefully planned all of this. Perhaps because the plan was too perfect, when flaws appeared in it, the chain reaction was all the greater—leaving Ma Shaoku still unable to come after Fang Yue directly even now, and forced to search for the parchment's whereabouts through the Bounty Company.

Wait, no—Ma Shaoku had investigated part of it. The Bounty Company suddenly showing up at his door was precisely because of the information Ma Shaoku provided.

When Fang Yue brought this up with Chen Yang, Chen Yang fell silent at once: "……That was information I provided. I was the one pushing the Bounty Company."

"You? Why?"

"……Out of curiosity. I wanted to know what was so magical about the thing some big shot was looking for. Now I know—what's magical about it is that it'll cost me my life."

By now Chen Yang was already lying on the floor talking to Fang Yue, looking listless all over, as if he was about to give out.

The man in the suit beside him immediately stepped forward and gave him two crisp slaps to help him stay conscious, while also starting to stop the bleeding.

Trapped

(End of Chapter)