Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2646 A Keen and Loyal Dog (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
As Linnowski retreated, the safe house fell silent.

"They are unlikely to follow."

Andrei said:
"After all, they have always been hiding behind the scenes, and they will never confront us directly unless absolutely necessary, which would be tantamount to exposing their existence."

"I know."

Hans nodded, then fell into deep thought again, while Andrei continued to ask:

"What do we do now? Since this was a trap they set for the arsonists to silence them and eliminate any future trouble, it means that the mastermind behind it must be very certain that the shipping company has no leads."

"If that's the case, then why set the fire?"

Hans's lips curled into a slight, sarcastic smile as he said:
"Because he panicked, and he wasn't sure if there would be any leftover evidence, so he did it to be on the safe side... That's human nature!"

Hans gave a cold laugh. He seemed to already see the panicked look on the mastermind's face, which was the root cause of their rampage from Beirut to Greece.

The reason they killed so many people and deliberately left traces of torture was to send a signal.

They convinced the mastermind that they had obtained some intelligence during the torture.

Finally, the mastermind behind it all couldn't sit still any longer.

Because he couldn't determine what these people confessed to, or what evidence they possessed.

Even if they weren't directly involved, their indirect evidence could help intelligence agencies find the mastermind behind it all.

So he panicked.

This was precisely Hans's goal.

“He was definitely panicked; otherwise, he wouldn’t have jumped out.”

After Andrei nodded in agreement, he asked:

"But what do we do now? Although he has already come forward, we still don't have any other leads."

In response to Andrei's question, Hans said:

"The breakthrough lies with him!"

Having said that, he turned his attention to the dying Nikos and said:
"If we increase the intensity a bit more, he'll definitely know something, something that could indirectly lead us to the mastermind behind it all..."

The interrogation continues!

"Useless trash."

On the afternoon of the fifth day, looking at the dying Nikos, Langer's tone was devoid of any pity.

Nikos's body slumped onto the iron chair; he was no longer breathing.

Five days of relentless interrogation had completely broken the body and will of this pampered man.

Death is simply inevitable.

"Boss, what do we do now?"

"Just like before, simply transmit the signal."

The men loaded Nikos's body onto a truck and, under cover of darkness, dumped it on the side of a street in Athens' old city.

The body was covered with neat electric burn marks, bruises from beatings, and various wounds left from torture, each one demonstrating the professionalism of the executioner.

Apart from that, they left no other trace and disappeared into the morning mist.

In the morning, a cleaner discovered Nikos's body and immediately called the police.

Police arrived quickly and cordoned off the street. The forensic pathologist knelt beside the body, his expression growing increasingly grave.
"The deceased was subjected to extremely professional torture before his death. It seems that this method is exactly the same as the previous murder cases in Italy and France, in which the deceased were subjected to professional torture before his death."

That afternoon, the front page of major Greek newspapers featured the murder case with shocking headlines: "Professional torture murder in Athens; victim is shipping company manager."

The report detailed the injuries on the bodies, noting that this was the sixth similar case in Europe in the past month. The victims were of various identities, scattered across Italy, France, and other countries, and all had suffered professional torture. The perpetrator left no clues, but based on the torture suffered by the victims, the perpetrator was very likely working for an intelligence agency.

The news quickly spread throughout Europe, with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, French newspaper Le Monde, and German magazine Der Spiegel all reprinting and reporting on it.

The public was in an uproar, and the series of murders immediately made headlines in newspapers around the world.

Meanwhile, Hans's team had already packed up their equipment and disappeared into the crowds of Athens; their next target was already in the works.

The target was a lawyer for the shipping company, but unexpectedly, the lawyer died in a traffic accident.

The sudden turn of events did not shock the mission team; instead, it helped them see through the fog for the first time, and Hans excitedly exclaimed:

"Alright, the mastermind has revealed himself!"

His agitation stemmed from the lawyer's death.

“He really panicked. He has completely exposed himself. Well, now it can basically be confirmed.”

Hans continued.

"Give all the information we obtain from the interrogation to Hydra, let them compare it, let them analyze it, and they will surely find clues in it."

"I haven't done anything right now?"

In response to Andrei's question, Hans smiled slightly:
"Now all we need to do is wait. The mastermind behind this will eventually come forward, because the others will be silenced as well."

other people?
Who are the others?
Of course, they are the real mastermind behind the scenes, or rather, the manipulator of the mastermind behind the scenes.

After all, when things are exposed, everyone will deal with them promptly.

-

Geneva,
The afternoon sun streamed through the heavy blinds of the law firm, casting dappled shadows on the desk. Behind these shadows, Philip, seated in a leather chair, sat with a cigar between his fingers and a furrowed brow.

His gaze fell on the table, and he simply watched the light and shadow on it.

Although he is a lawyer, being a lawyer is just one of his many identities.

Philip did not appear as a family lawyer; he appeared as a servant of the family, and that was his purpose in being.

But at this moment, his whole body was tense, and even his back was covered in cold sweat, and his breathing was trembling almost imperceptibly.

"There shouldn't be any problems anymore, everything should be cleaned up... absolutely cleaned up."

His brow was furrowed as he talked to himself.

His expression held a hint of doubt and confusion.

After carrying out that order, he began the cleanup. Cleaning up all the hidden dangers, cleaning up all those involved.

He had thought that the truth would disappear from the world forever with the deaths of those people, and that no one would ever discover it.

But fate had a cruel joke on him.

The truth he tried so hard to hide actually came closer and closer in a way he never expected.

Even now, Philip vividly remembers that evening two weeks ago when he picked up that newspaper after finishing his day's work.

As he flipped through the newspaper, a short news item in the corner, which should have been ignored like countless other violent news stories, caught his eye. But when the words "Port of Marseille," "captain," and "professional torture" came into view, especially when he saw that name buried deep in his memory, his heart clenched. In that instant, the fear he felt was unimaginable to outsiders.

Only he knew that he had once sent funds to Beirut through that captain, or rather, that he had smuggled money through him.

A seemingly simple smuggling operation that would go unnoticed by outsiders.

It was precisely because it looked so ordinary that the captain survived.

But that day, as I read the news in the newspaper, I saw the description of the torture he had endured before his death.

The fear Philip felt was unimaginable to outsiders. He tried to reassure himself that it was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with him.

But it was from that moment that unease began to frantically grow in my heart.

It was at this time that he saw the events happening in Greece on the television news.

The news broadcast on television shattered all his hopes.

The manager of Mediterranean Shipping Company has been kidnapped!
A seemingly unrelated news item has brought everything to a head.

The words "Mediterranean Shipping Company" instilled in Philip an unprecedented sense of fear.

He orchestrated that operation through several of the company's merchant ships.

The funds sent to Beirut evaded all regulations by using merchant ships from shipping companies. He successfully disguised everything as a seemingly simple case of smuggling.

This kind of thing happens frequently, so it doesn't attract anyone's attention.

In Philip's view, the people who carried out the work were only responsible for executing the transportation instructions; they simply thought they were just transporting money to Beirut.

That money was used for smuggling.

They had no idea that the funds ultimately went to terrorist organizations in Beirut, nor did they know anything about what was behind it all.

Therefore, when cleaning up the traces, he did not clean up these people.

Firstly, he felt it was unnecessary; he was just an insignificant pawn, and even if he was targeted, the investigation wouldn't trace it back to him. Secondly, he worried that killing too many people would attract the attention of the police and intelligence agencies, which would be counterproductive.

But now, this series of news stories, seemingly unrelated, are actually interconnected, which has completely thrown him into a panic.

Kidnapping, professional torture, flawless crime scene... those who can do all this are not ordinary gangsters or avengers, but professional intelligence agents.

Philip knew very well what they were capable of.

Those people were not ordinary police officers; they were like hunting dogs with a keen sense of smell, able to piece together a complete chain of clues from the slightest traces.

They painstakingly pieced together the clues, finding one person after another, until they finally found Nikos!

Could I be next?

Have they already discovered the secret behind the flow of funds to Beirut?

Countless questions swirled in his mind, and it was precisely for this reason that he dared not hesitate any longer in order to stop all of this.

He then contacted a team and ordered them to go to Greece immediately: everything that followed happened exactly as he had planned.

They used local thieves to set fire to the Mediterranean Shipping Company's archives, destroying all transaction records; and the thieves who carried out the arson, as well as the shipping company's long-term legal counsel—were all silenced, leaving no one alive.

Although he didn't know what those people possessed, everything was dealt with within a few dozen hours, leaving no trace at the scene.

Even if those people discover something, so what? As long as no clues point back to them, their investigation will remain stuck in a dead end, just like before.

Even if they keep investigating, a dead end is still a dead end.

All participants have now been dealt with.

Perhaps those people will find some clues, but those clues...

Philip frowned, and then he repeatedly pondered in his mind everything he had done from beginning to end.

Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, it's all over."

(End of this chapter)