Chapter 203 - 202: Set the Direction, Anyway, Catch One First

After leaving the Inspection Bureau, Li Jing found a café on the street and took a seat. He pulled out his cellphone to send a message to Little Ai.

"Little Ai, investigate the partners and trading targets of the Wang family in the spiritual objects market over the last decade. Send me the list and detailed transactions."

As soon as the message was sent, Little Ai, who was far away in Jianghai, replied within seconds.

"Roger that."

Having instructed Little Ai, Li Jing ordered a cup of coffee and began to organize his thoughts.

The only clue about the Wang family at present was related to the spiritual objects market.

This line of investigation was absolutely worth pursuing.

However, the investigation would need to extend beyond the market itself.

The Inspection Bureau had already deployed manpower to investigate the Wang family’s connections in the national spiritual objects market, so there was no need for him to get involved. Besides, he didn’t know anyone there.

More importantly.

Wang Youwei, a cultivator of the six realms, was killed in an ambush, which led to the extermination of his entire family. It implies that not only was he familiar with the murderer, but they were also very close, otherwise he wouldn’t have been caught off guard.

That was indeed worth pondering.

It doesn’t seem quite right for Wang Youwei, a major decision-maker of the Wang family, to be intimately acquainted with a great demon of the six realms.

Not to mention anything else, the relationship of trust between humans and monsters is not easily established.

Even Li Jing, who had made quite a few monster friends, stayed cautious when he first met Ji Qing for fear that he might lash out unexpectedly.

In essence.

Li Jing’s close relationships with monsters such as Ji Qing, Su Qiong, and even Yulian the Great Demon, were not solely due to his attitudes towards monsters, but largely because they posed no threat to him.

If you think about it.

If these monsters had posed a threat to him, he wouldn’t have had much contact with them.

Even his closest monster friend, Ji Qing, only started interacting with him formally under the precondition that she poses no threat.

In this respect, humans and monsters are quite the same.

One should always be wary of others.

Let alone monsters?

Wang Youwei had associated with a great demon of the six realms, trusted him to the point where he had let his guard down, and even allowed him to visit his family.

The level of trust here was probably greater than the trust he had in his own family.

If a cultivator from the six realms visited the Wang family, do you think Wang Youwei would be on guard?

The Seven Great Families were always in a ruthless competition, and internal strife was chronic in these families. Very few members genuinely trusted each other.

Elite families only stick together not because of blood ties, but because of interests.

Wang Youwei’s trust in the murderer, a great demon, must have been borne out of a longstanding relationship.

How this relationship developed was not as simple as friendship, Li Jing thought.

In the Wang family itself, Wang Youwei was never able to let his guard down. How could he possibly have a pure friendship with a great demon?

Either they were mutually restrained with each convinced that the other would not harm them, or there was a relationship that transcended friendship.

At this point, the possibility of a crime of passion could also be taken into consideration.

However, Li Jing thought it more likely related to interests.

Wang Youwei was able to keep the Wang family’s share of the spiritual objects market thriving and even surpassed the other families to secure an absolute say in it.

Li Jing didn’t believe that all this success could be entirely attributed to Wang Youwei’s intelligence and ability.

How lucrative was the national spiritual objects market?

Of the seven families, except for the Jiang family that was not engaged in business, which family wasn’t interested in the spiritual objects market?

Was Wang Youwei really capable enough to single-handedly suppress the five families and dominate the market?

That was unthinkable.

No matter what motivated the murderer, Li Jing strongly believed that the murderer’s trust in Wang Youwei had a high chance of being related to the thriving share of the Wang family in the spiritual objects market.

Just as he was deliberating, his cellphone on the table vibrated.

He picked it up. It was a chart sent by Little Ai.

After having a sip of his coffee, Li Jing zoomed in on the chart on his phone.

The Wang family had many partners and trading targets in the spiritual objects market, with dozens of pages detailing ten years’ worth of transaction flows.

As he reviewed the charts page by page, Li Jing’s brow furrowed slightly.

In terms of buying and selling spiritual objects, the Wang family’s transaction volume is quite exaggerated, frequently trading with spiritual object dealers.

That’s not unusual.

The capital is crowded with a large number of high-level cultivators, in great demand for all cultivation supplies, including spiritual objects.

Sell goods quickly, and restocking naturally has to be efficient.

But in the Wang family’s transaction records, the majority of transactions are spiritual objects.

Moreover, they often buy a large number of different types of spiritual objects from dealers, and after a period of time, resell them in batches at slightly higher prices to other dealers.

Reselling is understandable.

However, this slightly increased price is not enough to boost the Wang family’s share in the spiritual objects market.

Other powers that have a stake in the spiritual objects market are not fools, if reselling alone could increase their share, wouldn’t they all do the same?

Yet, the Wang family’s share continues to increase year by year.

Where do their profits come from?

Li Jing was puzzled by this, carefully scrutinizing the charts.

After a thorough study, he found that the Wang family mainly buys spiritual objects from dealers in the capital, but sells them to non-local dealers across the country.

These transactions are carried out online and offline.

On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with that.

The Wang family is simply expanding its resale radius and taking the route of low profit and high volume, earning more meager profits.

But this approach is simply thankless.

Spiritual objects are not like consumer goods, their prices are similar all over the country.

No matter how large the scale, the profit is still limited, not enough to raise the Wang family’s share in the capital’s spiritual object market to such a high level.

This wide-range reselling seems to be a cover-up for something rather than just for generating low profits.

Aware of this, Li Jing considered a possibility.

The Wang family might be laundering spiritual objects.

The only reason he could think of this was that he had done something similar a while ago.

The spiritual objects he obtained from the West City black market were eventually put on the dark web black market at a relatively low price to avoid unnecessary trouble due to their questionable origins.

If he had been bold enough to sell them in the spiritual object market, the value would have been much higher.

Li Jing wasn’t sure if the Wang family was bold enough.

But he knew, the Wang family had the ability to do so.

The Wang family’s scope and volume of trade in spiritual objects are terrifying.

If some objects with unknown origins were mixed in with the "genuine" goods, wouldn’t it be difficult to detect?

By purchasing a batch of goods with questionable origins at a relatively low price and selling them amongst the goods purchased through regular channels, these goods can be whitewashed and sold for exorbitant profits.

The enormous profits from this process could earn much higher returns than regular sales.

After taking a sip of coffee, Li Jing closed the chart and pondered for a while before editing a message again.

"Xiao Ai, compare the Wang family’s transaction records in the chart and see if their purchases and sales of spiritual objects are directly proportional."

Not two seconds after the message was sent, Xiao Ai replied.

"There is a discrepancy in the flow. They sell less than what they buy."

Receiving this reply, Li Jing’s eyes sparkled.

The Wang family was indeed laundering spiritual objects.

A discrepancy in the transaction records is expected.

If there were no discrepancy, there would be no room for manipulation.

The Wang family is not a simple spiritual object dealer, they have a large number of physical stores in the capital’s spiritual object market.

Mix the problematic goods with the ones sold to dealers across the country, and keep some of the goods for sale in their own stores.

No one can tell if their spiritual objects have increased or decreased.

In-store sales do not need to be reported to regulatory authorities.

Only when large quantities of goods are traded between dealers is reporting required to ensure provenance.

Personal sales are not regulated by the spiritual object market.

With such a large resale volume as a cover, the regulatory authorities of the spiritual objects market can’t detect any anomalies, they only know that the Wang family holds a large amount of related goods.

Having the goods and selling them in the store is as normal as it gets.

This move was very clever.

Even if their scheme was detected, the Wang family could explain that they acquired the spiritual objects from individuals rather than dealers, making it untraceable.

Li Jing drained his coffee cup, thought for a while, and then typed out a message to Xiao Ai.

"Order two spirit materials for nurturing on the darknet black market, one wind and one gold. They don’t need to be too expensive, keep the price under a billion. Include an additional tip for the darknet deliveryman and make it an express delivery to room 218 at the Ge Ling Hotel in the capital."

"Yes, Master."

Xiao Ai responded.

Getting a reply, Li Jing stood up and left after paying the bill.

...

Moments later, he returned to his hotel room to patiently wait.

After confirming that the Wang family might be profiting from laundering spiritual objects, it wasn’t too difficult for him to suspect that their source came from the darknet black market.

Only the darknet black market could have such high supply that would allow Wang Youwei to continuously launder items for over a decade.

Compared to the black market set up by the Great Demon controlled by the Evil Cultivators hired by the Lu family in the West City, this couldn’t even be considered small fry; once their goods were sold, that was it.

It would be very difficult to take action against the darknet black market.

But if it’s the deliveryman, that would be much simpler.

Anyway, let’s bait one first.

...

The delivery efficiency of the darknet black market was very high.

Unless there were unexpected circumstances, normally it would arrive the next day.

If a rush order was placed with an additional tip, the darknet deliveryman would show up within two hours.

Such high efficiency came with a price; the rush order cost a hefty tip.

A single express order required a million in tips.

After an hour passed by in a flash.

After a long wait, finally "knock, knock" two knocks on the door echoed from outside.

Upon hearing the sound, Li Jing perked up and walked over to open the door.

When the door opened, a young man in a suit and shoes stood outside.

Upon meeting Li Jing, the young man looked him up and down, smiling as he spoke.

"May I ask, is this Mr. King Li?"

Upon hearing this, the corner of Li Jing’s mouth twitched.

King Li was the new username that Xiao Ai registered as a merchant on the darknet black market.

Being the one who asked Xiao Ai to register as a merchant, he didn’t pay much attention to the specifics. Who could’ve known that after being quiet for a long while, Xiao Ai would come up with a username like this again.

After letting out a sigh, Li Jing nodded.

"That’s me."

Hearing the confirmation, the young man swung his hand and presented a piece of green and gold mineral that resembled gold and iron.

"Mr. Li, I’m Fuhua, a darknet deliveryman. This is your order of Wind Source Stone and Dark Sinking Gold. The goods have been delivered, please..."

Before Fuhua could finish his sentence, Li Jing retrieved a boundary stone and charged it with spiritual power.

The space boundary unfolded in an instant.

Finding himself suddenly in a subspace, Fuhua was taken aback, then his complexion changed dramatically.

"An inspection!?"

"Don’t be nervous, I just have a few questions for you. I don’t intend to cause trouble."

Li Jing calmly spoke, accepting the Wind Source Stone and Dark Sinking Gold from Fuhua.

With an intention, Linglong and Qingfeng appeared at his side, took the two types of spiritual materials, then disappeared.

Seeing the two spirit weapons, Fuhua’s face turned especially ugly.

Being in the capital and delivering for the darknet, what situation has he not encountered?

He, himself, was at the fifth boundary cultivation level.

Being a darknet deliveryman in the capital required certain skills. Without them, how could the darknet black market trust to hand the goods over?

But despite Li Jing’s show of muscle, Fuhua was unphased.

Having a form, these were at least fifth-ranked spiritual weapons.

Two of them...

As a fifth boundary cultivator, Fuhua also possessed a spirit weapon.

But the one he owned was merely a second-level spiritual weapon.

Taking a closer look at Li Jing, Fu Hua forced out a smile.

"Mr. Li, although I don’t know what you want to ask, but as an elite member of the darknet, you should know that I am just a deliveryman."

"I am not trying to make trouble on the darknet black market. The person I am looking for is the deliveryman."

Li Jing answered cheerfully while taking two stools from the storage space and placing them down.

"Let’s sit and talk."

Seeing this, Fu Hua hesitated for a moment, then sat down as suggested.

In this subspace, he was certainly unable to run away.

As for killing Li Jing, that was out of the question.

Having two fifth-ranked spiritual weapons in his possession, he didn’t even need to lift a finger. The two spirit weapons could easily take Fu Hua down.

For assaulting an inspector, he wasn’t that desperate yet.

On the other hand, Li Jing examined Fuhua from top to bottom after sitting down.

Compared to the suspicious looking Wu Shu, Fuhua appeared more normal.

He fully showed his face, and his clothes were quite formal. Thrown onto the street, no one could tell something was off.

However, his looks were most likely fake.

After all, a darknet deliveryman’s job involved things that cannot be seen in broad daylight. The capital was a lot more dangerous than Jianghai, and showing his real face would likely cause trouble.

Fuhua’s name, just like Wu Shu’s, was obviously not his real one.

After looking at Fuhua, Li Jing started to speak.

"How long have you been working as a darknet deliveryman in the capital?"

"Just about eight years."

Fuhua replied. Seeing that the person in front of him didn’t seem to harbor ill intentions, he shrugged and said casually.

"Mr. Li, if you have something to ask, please make it straight forward. I still have a lot of orders to deliver. If it’s something I know, I will definitely be forthcoming."

"Alright then, I’ll ask directly."

Li Jing acknowledged, saying,

"You work in the capital, so you must have heard about the murder at the Wang family’s house this evening. The victim, Wang Youwei, was in charge of the Wang family’s spiritual object market in the capital. After investigating, I suspect that he has frequently bought vast amounts of spiritual objects from the darknet black market over the past ten years to launder for massive profits. Do you have any information about this?"

"I don’t."

Fuhua shook his head, saying

"I did hear about the murder at the Wang family’s house this evening, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. However, I do know who Wang Youwei is. He is a well-known sixth-level practitioner in the Wang family. The business of the darknet black market in the capital is very lucrative, but in my personal dealings, I have only had a few dealings with the seven major families of the capital, including just a few juniors from the Wang family."

Continuing, he said,

"The seven major families of the capital are extremely wealthy, they can get anything they want as long as they have the status. Only if they have special needs for items unavailable in the market, would they resort to the darknet black market. If the Wang family really have been frequently buying a large quantity of spiritual objects from the darknet black market for laundering as you suspect, I should have had some contact with them."

After listening to his statement, Li Jing thought for a bit, then asked,

"Is there a designated deliveryman system here in the capital?"

"It’s hard to say, but most likely not."

Responding to the question, Fuhua stated,

"The business here in the capital is very busy, and because of its special region, the threshold to become a deliveryman is also quite high. Those of us who work as deliverymen are always on the move, and often can’t keep up with the workload. Wanting to have a stable performance, we must not accept any designated deliveries. Moreover, although we earn a living from this, we still have to cultivate. Accepting designated assignments would mean we would have to be on call, which is simply not worth it."

"I see."

Li Jing smiled, took out some paper and a pen from the storage space and handed it over.

"You’ve been hanging around in the capital for eight years, so you must have received a lot of orders for large quantities of spiritual objects. Make a list of who you delivered them to and the destination. The more specific, the better. Write everything you remember."

"This..."

Fuhua frowned and struggled to find words to say.

"Mr. Li, your request is purely making things difficult for me. The darknet black market strictly prohibits the disclosure of customer information. As a darknet deliveryman, I also have professional..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Li Jing interrupted him.

"If the information you provide is useful, I can offer additional payment."