Chapter 204 - 203: Is There Still Paper? Remote Support

"More money?"

Floating Charm was taken aback, expressing her surprise.

"Mr. Li, it’s not about money, it’s about principles. The Darknet Black Market may operate in the shadows but we’ve always prioritized our reputation. Not revealing a client’s information is ironclad..."

As she spoke halfway, Li Jing held up two fingers.

"Two hundred million."

?

Floating Charm was stunned for a moment, and slowly typed out a question mark.

Li Jing taking the lead and offering two hundred million was unexpected.

"It’s just a list. Two hundred million is my limit."

Li Jing explained.

"I can promise you, once I have the list of names and addresses, I will not make direct contact with any parties unless I have concrete evidence of suspicions. Please be reassured, I will destroy the list after I am done. I won’t let anyone know what I got from you."

"This..."

Floating Charm hesitated.

Two hundred million meant nothing to him.

After all, he was from the Fifth Boundary.

He could easily get two hundred million by just taking some random items out of his pocket.

But still, two hundred million was not small money.

With Li Jing’s guarantee, earning two hundred million by trading a few names seemed much easier than delivery.

Looking around the empty Subspace, Floating Charm slightly pondered before accepting a pen and paper.

"Before becoming a courier for the Darknet Black Market, I was a citizen of Hua Country. Mr. Li, you are an on-duty patrol officer, therefore I am obliged to assist you in your duties."

Making a statement with great resolve, Floating Charm swiftly wrote down a page full of names and addresses. Looking up, he asked.

"Do you have more paper?"

Seeing that Floating Charm had filled a whole page and was not finished, Li Jing answered "Yes", and simply handed over a notebook, meanwhile receiving the completed paper.

After a quick glance, Li Jing couldn’t help expressing his admiration.

The capital city was indeed the capital city.

The darkness hidden behind its prosperity was surprisingly profound.

Just on this sheet of paper, Floating Charm had provided over a hundred different names and addresses.

Floating Charm wasn’t finished yet, and what he wrote was only what he had handled and remembered.

The people on the list were all big buyers of Spiritual objects in the Darknet Black Market, and were more likely to be repeat customers.

Purchasing in bulk obviously wouldn’t be just for personal use.

They either resell it to others via unconventional channels for profit or for special purposes.

If this list was handed to the Bureau Serious Case Group, who knows how many people and forces would be exposed.

Heavy punishments would surely accumulate a few years or even more than ten years worth of fines for the Bureau Serious Case Group.

While still being amazed, Floating Charm finished writing and returned the notebook.

"That’s about it. I can’t remember those from too long ago. I hope Mr. Li will keep his promise."

"I will definitely do what I’ve promised you."

Li Jing took the notebook, found that Floating Charm had both listed about forty additional names and addresses, and then he spoke.

"Leave me your Immortal Message number later. As previously promised, the two hundred million will be transferred to your account after I find something. The money comes from the Darknet so it can’t be traced, you can be at ease."

"Okay."

Floating Charm nodded.

His compensation was contingent upon Li Jing finding something, which put him at a slight disadvantage.

But he had no choice.

Li Jing had confined him in the Subspace. Unless he provided something valuable, the latter might not let him go.

Floating Charm wasn’t worried about Li Jing breaking his promise and refusing to pay him if discoveries were made.

That person was not only an on-duty patrol officer but also a senior VIP of the Darknet.

If even this kind of credibility was lacking, then it wouldn’t be possible.

Li Jing obtained more than a hundred names and addresses from Floating Charm without ambiguity, removed the confinement of the Subspace and let him depart freely.

Everything that Floating Charm knew had been written down. There was no doubt about that.

Floating Charm was not stupid.

He should understand that the more information he provided, the higher the chances of discovery.

If he had already sold some, why not sell more thoroughly?

The principle was like the so-called ’clean’ courtesans in ancient times who sold their talents but not their bodies - did they really not sell it?

No.

They were just finding an excuse, a way to drive up their price.

As long as you could afford the price, what was for sale would be sold, quietly and without anyone knowing.

Of course.

Li Jing’s conditional payment wasn’t due to a calculated move, he was mainly unwilling to spend such a significant sum on useless intelligence.

...

After seeing off Floating Charm, Li Jing closed the door and used his mobile phone to take pictures of the names and addresses on the paper and notebook, then sent them to Xiao Ai, following up with a text.

"There are a total of over one hundred and forty names and addresses here, most of which should be aliases, but they must correspond to their accounts in the Darknet Black Market. Xiao Ai, break into the Darknet Black Market user database and check the addresses to see if they are their usual shipping addresses. If they are, figure out their real identities through the addresses. If not, check road surveillance for the past year to see who has entered and exited the relevant addresses, and confirm their identities."

After he sent the message, Xiao Ai responded swiftly.

"Master, this is a bit of a workload, it may take twelve hours or even longer."

"That’s fine, I can wait."

Li Jing replied, and then continued on with a new message.

"After confirming all the relevant parties, search all the surveillance in the capital city to see if they have had any contact with Wang Youwei. Also, when you break into the Darknet Black Market’s system, don’t worry about leaving a trace, just make sure they can’t trace back to you once you get the information you need."

"Understood."

Xiao Ai replied.

Having given remote instructions to Xiao Ai, Li Jing took a deep breath and put away his phone.

Chen Jing was aware that Xiao Ai had accessed the Patrol System because he knew that Li Jing had an Artificial Intelligence given by Jiang Guanwen, and the information searched was related to Jiang Guanwen.

With just a bit of deliberation, the situation was clear.

Asking Xiao Ai to hack into the Darknet Black Market’s user database wouldn’t be an issue as long as they couldn’t trace the IP address.

The Darknet Black Market is an online platform with certainly robust technology.

Keeping the visit trace undetected may not be possible, but with Xiao Ai’s prowess, staying hidden and untraceable wouldn’t be too difficult.

The only issue was that the investigation would be a bit troublesome.

The Darknet Black Market didn’t require real name registration, and it was a personal choice whether to use real or fake shipping addresses.

Furthermore, records regarding account deposits and withdrawals from merchants and buyers would be erased, making it impossible to trace the money.

As for order information, once the transaction was completed, the order information would be wiped clean, and the Darknet Black Market didn’t keep records.

What could be confirmed through the Darknet Black Market was just the address information in the corresponding accounts which made it extremely difficult to accurately trace it to the users.

Unless there was an Artificial Intelligence like Xiao Ai and the support of a supercomputer, it was almost out of the question.

Doing this manually would probably take a year or more and might not even yield any results.

That’s assuming you can hack into the Darknet Black Market’s database and find the relevant accounts to get the information before the technicians react.

Rolling up the notebook, Li Jing sank back into the couch, lost in thought.

Whether Wang Youwei had sourced ’goods’ from the Darknet Black Market to launder was still inconclusive.

Speculation was, after all, just speculation.

But as of now, he’s leaning more towards the idea being very likely.

Just like the Wang family’s mass purchases and sales transactions in the spiritual objects market come without flaws, it’s only apparent that Fu Hua only had contact with a few young members of the Wang family, and never with significant characters like Wang Youwei.

If there had been any contact, the investigation would not be needed.

Using the dark web black market is already disgraceful in itself.

It might be tolerable for personal use, but what could be the charges for buying large quantities of spiritual objects from the dark web for non-personal use depends on the specific circumstances.

Money laundering and resale would be considered trading crimes.

Involving spiritual objects would warrant an upgrade to a more serious offense.

Hua Country has strong regulations on the spiritual objects market.

Once someone is found laundering spiritual objects into the market for enormous profits, severe punishment is inevitable, not to mention serving time is a sure thing.

Wang Youwei, who is involved in money laundering and resale, is bound to distance himself as much as possible.

At that time, he will need a partner who is doomed upon exposure.

A Great Demon of the Six Realm, nothing could be more fitting.

A criminal demon will be dealt with lethal force by the Patrol System without any leniency.

Especially for a Great Demon of the Six Realm, a single miscalculation could cost lives and even jeopardize the entire country.

The country has Seventh Realm Guardian Gods, so a Six Realm Great Demon can’t cause too much upheaval, correct.

But the premise is that the Seventh Realm Guardian Gods must be forewarned about a Six Realm Great Demon intending to raise a storm.

If there’s no prior warning, a Six Realm Great Demon can cause an enormous tumult before the Guardian Gods have time to respond.

This is not a joke.

In his cooperation with the Six Realm Great Demon, Wang Youwei naturally forms a mutual restraint relationship.

If his laundering and reselling spiritual objects from the dark web’s black market are exposed, Wang Youwei will not only ruin Wang’s family but also the Six Realm Great Demon can’t escape and will have to surrender its life.

In this restraint relationship, both parties have practically entrusted their lives and fortunes to each other.

If something goes wrong, everyone is doomed.

After cooperating under this kind of relationship for over ten years, a trust relationship gradually establishes.

Once Xiao Ai’s investigation produces results, these hypotheses should be confirmed.

Some things are either not done at all, or if done, will be done flawlessly.

The Wang family’s share in the spiritual object market of the capital city has been elevated to an extent by Wang Youwei laundering spiritual objects, there surely must be frequent transactions and interactions with his collaborator.

If it weren’t frequent, the purchase and sale volumes of Wang family’s spiritual objects wouldn’t be so exaggerated.

Unless otherwise, Xiao Ai’s investigation result will point to the Six Realm Great Demon or its subordinates behind the scenes.

...

The night passed quickly.

Li Jing stayed awake the entire night.

The news from Xiao Ai had to be awaited.

Before any concrete news, he can’t just wait idly.

He paid attention to the reports submitted by the Bureau Serious Case Group in the Patrol System throughout the night.

The Bureau Serious Case Group, unlike him, didn’t have a top-tier Artificial Intelligence like Xiao Ai’s assistance, but they were not idle either.

After such tremendous efforts, Li Jing didn’t want his to be in vain.

It’s crucial to constantly pay attention to the Bureau Serious Case Group’s investigative progress.

In case the Bureau Serious Case Group finds leads before him, if he keeps a watch, at least, he has a chance to intervene.

If he misses out, wouldn’t that be awkward?

The facts prove that the Bureau Serious Case Group is highly capable.

A countless number of various types of reports were submitted overnight.

Not only Wang Youwei’s branch, but practically everyone from the head of the Wang family to the servants had been investigated, revealing numerous issues.

They even discovered that a prominent female cultivator from the Wang family’s head branch was having affairs with at least four Five Realm individuals from Zhao family, Sima family, and the Liu family among the Seven Great Families, and even had an illegitimate child with one of them.

Two from Zhao family, one from Sima family, and also one from Liu family.

What Li Jing found hard to ignore was.

The one from Liu family was Liu Teng, the current patriarch of the Liu family.

The illegitimate child was his.

Strictly speaking, such information is of little value and merely points to a chaotic inner circle.

Other people’s private lives are none of his business.

It has no effect on the Wang Youwei case.

However, Li Jing thinks it necessary to inform Liu Shi about this later.

The Liu family...

Perhaps a new patriarch is needed.

Officially, Liu Teng only has one son, Liu Ce.

If Liu Ce turns out to be incompetent or encounters an accident, Liu Teng, who got bewitched by the Wang family’s woman, might end up changing the Liu family’s surname to Wang.

Throughout history, it has always been hard to predict what the pillow wind could turn into.

Apart from the misconduct of the Wang family’s Five Realm female cultivator, the Bureau Serious Case Group dug up plenty of other issues, most of which were harmless while a small portion were overlooked by the Patrol System’s Bureau.

Given the state of affairs with Wang Youwei’s branch, another incident might be too much for the Wang family to handle.

This would cause a real problem then.

To get back on track.

The situation Li Jing was worried about did not occur overnight.

The information that the Bureau Serious Case Group dug deeply into did not bear any relation to the Wang Youwei case.

They merely investigated every single person in the Wang family because, for the time being, there was no clear lead, in hopes of making substantial discoveries.

While watching the Bureau Serious Case Group’s action report updates in the Patrol System, Li Jing also sorted out the leads he had and turned them into an action report for storage.

The report has to be written sooner or later, doing it in pieces now will save some backbreaking work afterward.

As for submission, that’s not urgent.

For now, he only has a lead, it’s better to wait until he gets what he wants then complete and submit the report later.

Uploading the report now, the Bureau Serious Case Group won’t be of much help but instead, they will question him about the details.

Furthermore, upon report completion, the Bureau Serious Case Group will most likely follow up.

When Xiao Ai produces results, he might get stuck in an awkward situation of not being able to partake in the action.

He is a Five Realm cultivator.

When it comes to the Six Realm Great Demon, Jin Rui Xin will definitely not let him "give in".

Jin Rui Xin won’t care whether he possesses the ability to cross realms, but whether the case can be concluded smoothly once it takes a turn.

Leaving all this aside.

The sky was about to dawn, Xiao Ai’s news could come at any moment, Li Jing decided to leave the hotel and ride the Spirit Soldier for a slow Sky Control journey.

With Xiao Ai’s assistance, the direction is clear to him.

However, in the fields he excels at, Li Jing doesn’t plan on giving up.

He can’t get hold of the list of Great Demons.

However, he can roam around the capital city to try and bump into a Great Demon.

If he’s idle anyway, he might as well try his luck.

What are the odds?

The Earth Realm in the capital city is not the Monster forbidden area as the two shopkeepers of the jewelry store mentioned before.

There are not only monsters here, but plenty of them.

Even though Li Jing has seldom gone out during his stay in the capital city for over ten days, he has still seen quite a few monsters.

He hasn’t seen any Great Demons, but he has seen quite a few human-shaped demons of the Three and Four Realm in the streets.