Invasion of America

Chapter 14 Aura
Miami, District Lottery Office.

The atmosphere in the supervisor's office was tense and funny.

Upon learning that the grand prize redeemer had appeared, FBI Detective Carl and his team rushed to the scene at lightning speed.

However, the investigation did not go as smoothly as expected.

Zhou Qingfeng sat lazily on the sofa. When faced with FBI inquiries, he simply said that he had picked up the lottery ticket.

Time: not long ago; Location: probably a street in the town; Why didn’t I come to claim the prize immediately: I was busy studying.

After a round of questioning, the guy only gave ambiguous answers and said he would not answer any more questions until he met his lawyer.

He knew in his heart that redeeming the prize would not be smooth sailing, and he had long anticipated that he would be investigated, scrutinized, and even his background would be turned upside down.

In such a situation, it is better to remain silent and wait for the arrival of a lawyer than to make up a lie.

Inspector Carl lifted his shirt, put his hands on his hips, stared at the young man on the sofa with a frown, and was furious.

America is such a free country that the number of crimes remains high all year round, several times higher than the international average.

The FBI once investigated more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies across the United States and found that nearly 40 percent of homicides could not be solved each year.

Law enforcement agencies have limited human and material resources. Thousands of cases, large and small, occur every day in the Miami metropolitan area, and it is impossible to devote too much manpower and resources to a single case.

Some cases simply lack clues and are shelved for now. The "Bar Lottery" case is a typical example.

Inspector Carl led his team to White Beach Town after only three days before they had to evacuate.

A week later, in the absence of direct evidence, he had to adopt a passive strategy of waiting and waiting for the criminal to jump out.

As a result, the person who popped up was an international student from China.

When Karl saw the identity information filled out by Zhou Qingfeng, a familiar line of content caught his attention - No. 114, Haitan Street, Baitan Town.

"Isn't this the home of Sheriff Congers?" Carl thought to himself, and made a phone call to check, and it was indeed.

"This guy is staying at his house and is dating Congers' daughter." Carl checked Selena's social media page, which contained a bunch of selfies with her boyfriend.

"I've suspected Congers for a long time. He was the first one on the scene the night of the shootout. He showed up twice the next day, once to make an arrest and once to see the body.

Toto was most likely the smokescreen he released, and Raul must have seen through something, so both of them were silenced.

Coincidences, too many coincidences.

The most crucial thing is that Baitan Town is short of police force, and he is the local sheriff. He has sufficient time and motive to commit the crime, and he has sufficient ability.

Why was the murderer able to kill calmly and eliminate all clues? Because he was a police officer and had full control of the situation. Naturally, he wasn't afraid.

Carl stared at Zhou Qingfeng, his thoughts gradually went astray, and he began to imagine what he thought was the crime process.

In short, this case is not surprising at all. It is nothing more than a sheriff discovering that two gang members are fighting over a lottery ticket, and he intervened and got it for himself.

However, the criminal felt that it would be too conspicuous for him to claim the prize himself, so he asked his daughter's boyfriend to come and lie that he had 'picked up' the lottery ticket.

Carl was so angry that he laughed - after all this time, it turned out that there was a traitor in Florida's police system. No wonder they couldn't find the traitor after investigating for so long.

But guesses are just guesses, and evidence is needed to investigate the case!

Karl stared at Zhou Qingfeng for a long time, his mind was in turmoil, and he couldn't say a word.

After much deliberation, he came up with the following: "Victor, the FBI needs your cooperation in investigating a homicide. The lottery ticket you found is key evidence and needs to be seized."
-
Before he could finish his words, the office door was pushed open. Old Baker, leaning on a cane, walked in with his men in tow.

Everyone's attention was attracted by it.

Carl frowned even more. The FBI had dealt with this kind of lawyer many times, and they would easily catch them if they were not careful.

Old Baker fixed his eyes on Zhou Qingfeng, who was sitting on the sofa. He looked him over with hawk-like eyes and asked in a deep voice, "Are you the lucky boy?"

Sneakers, jeans, high school student, Asian face.

Old Baker made a quick assessment. If the kid was left alone with over a billion dollars in wealth, he would be devoured by jackals in less than three months.

"Five million dollars." Old Baker glanced at the FBI, then stared at Zhou Qingfeng. His tone was calm, yet revealed an unquestionable confidence.

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire lottery office fell into silence.

Zhou Qingfeng quickly realized that the other party was making an offer.

"This is too expensive." Richard's scream broke the silence. He followed and tried to make a last-ditch effort, as if to gain benefits for Zhou Qingfeng.

"Victor, don't be afraid. As long as you haven't broken the law, the FBI can only question you. They have no right to take you away, let alone seize your lottery tickets.

"It's just some notarization for a prize, how could it cost $5 million? Notarizations can be done for a few hundred dollars at most."

Richard's words were filled with dissatisfaction and doubt. He repeatedly emphasized that old Baker's asking price was too unreasonable, and at the same time comforted Zhou Qingfeng not to worry about the FBI.

Old Baker glanced at Richard with disdain, and asked with a hint of contempt, "Who are you?"

The voice was low and powerful, as if questioning an insignificant existence.

"I'm Richard Horn, chief legal counsel for the Florida Gaming Commission." Richard held his head high, his tone filled with great pride, and tried hard to maintain his dignity.

"Trash." Old Baker's voice was filled with sarcasm. He turned to Zhou Qingfeng and asked, "Does this guy want to be friends with you?"

"Yes." Zhou Qingfeng quite likes this kind of straightforward question and answer.

Old Baker scoffed a few times and then, speaking with the air of a seasoned lawyer, said, "Young man, I can teach you an iron rule: any lawyer who wants to be your friend is unreliable."

Richard was even more dissatisfied and retorted loudly, "That's too absolute and discriminatory. Lawyers are also human beings and they can have friendships."

I have to reiterate that $5 million is too expensive. Even if you include the cost of subsequent investment and financial management, it won’t cost that much.”

Old Baker didn't bother to pay attention to Richard. He continued to stare at Zhou Qingfeng and said, "Remember, no lawyer gets rich by building friendships with clients.

Lawyers are vampires who play with the law, cold-blooded animals who confuse right and wrong. Being cold and ruthless is their motto.

Young people, billionaires with a billion dollars should abandon cheap personal feelings, because wealth gives you more dazzling power.

But as long as you have money, a door to high society opens for you, and a whole new world unfolds before you. And I, Baker Hughes, will be your best friend, protecting your wealth and power.

Don't worry about the FBI, they are just lackeys of the powerful. As long as there is enough profit, it is not difficult to bribe them.

You don't need to bother with this senior official. I can take you directly to his superiors and use legal means to exclude him."

Old Baker's aura was so strong that it made many people at the scene feel uneasy. Zhou Qingfeng, however, liked this kind of naked dominance without any mention of friendship or emotions.

Jennifer even took the initiative to bring the two closer together, "Victor, let me introduce you.

Smith & Baker Law Firm is not big and has little reputation in the outside world, but its fees are very expensive and it basically only does business with wealthy people with assets of over 10 million.

Mr. Baker has been in law for half a century and is known for his cold and efficient approach. It is for this reason that his law firm has served my father for over twenty years.

You will definitely be plagued by lawsuits next. If you don’t have a good legal team, you will be exhausted both physically and mentally by the complicated legal affairs.

If you want to find a good lawyer to protect your rights, Smith & Baker is the right choice.

Of course, the FBI is difficult to deal with, but $5 million a year is too expensive. I think they should give it a 20% discount."

Seeing that Jennifer was openly praising him and secretly helping Zhou Qingfeng to bargain, Old Baker couldn't hold it in any longer. He simply laughed a few times, ignored the stern-looking federal agent next to him, and sat down to chat slowly.

On the low table in front of the sofa was a stack of documents that Richard wanted Zhou Qingfeng to sign.

Old Baker took a look and pointed his cane, and one of his men rushed forward to look through the documents. Richard followed in and saw this and said anxiously, "Wait, you don't have the right to look through these documents."

Zhou Qingfeng immediately followed up, "Those are documents I need to sign. I authorize the lawyers at Smith & Baker to review them for me."

There is nothing we can do now.

Richard frowned and kept his mouth shut.

The lawyer who was reviewing the document only took two or three minutes to find several problems in the document.

After reading it, Old Baker scoffed, "Full agency? Ten-year contract? Fifty percent compensation? Forced right of interpretation? Is this a slave contract?"

Zhou Qingfeng didn't know much about the law, but seeing that Richard remained silent and didn't even have a reason to refute, he knew that if he signed it, he would be in big trouble.

Old Baker threw the pile of documents directly into the trash can, and instead picked up a few pages about Zhou Qingfeng's identity and glanced at them quickly.

"Foreigners receiving US lottery winnings must pay an additional 6% federal tax. Victor, are you willing to change your citizenship?"

Zhou Qingfeng shook his head, "I don't want to."

Old Baker had anticipated his answer and nodded slightly. "That's okay. We can set up an agent and establish a trust fund to collect it for you."

"Richard also made this suggestion." Zhou Qingfeng said in a low voice, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the chief legal adviser of the Lottery Commission beside him.

Richard looked a little embarrassed, and was even more dissatisfied with Old Baker's strong intervention.

Old Baker sneered with undisguised contempt, "His suggestion will eat up half of your bonus, and he will become the actual controller of your trust fund.

The trust fund I set up for you will be yours. The prize money will also be collected through the trust fund, and you can remain anonymous.

Old Baker's tone reassured Zhou Qingfeng. He nodded, signaling him to continue.

"And personal taxes, about $300 million."

Baker continued, “You can offset this tax by investing in U.S. infrastructure and establishing a charitable foundation, and get a green card at the same time.

The return on investment in infrastructure is low, but it is stable.

The charity fund will be under your control. You can donate a million dollars or so to the homeless or sexual minorities every year, and you can use the rest of the money as you please.

The power to control over $300 million is a tremendous amount of power in itself.”

Jennifer nodded secretly to Zhou Qingfeng, indicating that this was standard practice among the wealthy. With Old Baker's shrewdness and experience, accomplishing this was easy.

Ordinary people would never imagine how many complex and secret operations rich people would secretly complete in order to control their wealth.

"I can guarantee that, aside from the 24 percent federal tax deduction, the funds you can actually control are not more than $1 billion, but more than $1.5 billion."

Old Baker's voice was confident; everything was under his control.

Zhou Qingfeng was very satisfied. He knew he was standing at a huge crossroads, and Old Baker was the one who pointed him in the right direction.

"Jennifer suggested a 20% discount. No problem, I'll take that up, but only for the first year.

For just $4 million, Baker Hughes will be your legal counsel for the next year, protecting all of your rights.

Of course, some specific matters require additional charges, and the law firm will send you a separate bill.

But I guarantee with my half-century of experience that every penny you spend will be worth it."

"Expensive? Expensive, of course." Zhou Qingfeng breathed a sigh of relief, his lips curled up slightly. "I want something expensive."

In the following period, the two sides discussed some details.

In the end, Zhou Qingfeng used AI-assisted review and signed an agency agreement, authorizing the "Smith & Baker" law firm to collect the "Powerball" bonus for him and handle subsequent matters.

The lottery ticket with his signature was also handed over to old Baker's subordinates for safekeeping.

"You don't need to pay immediately. Everything will be paid after you get the bonus." Old Baker said to Zhou Qingfeng with a sophisticated calmness.

From then on, the news of Zhou Qingfeng's winning the first prize was kept within a limited circle. It only took two weeks at most to complete all the procedures.

Finally, Old Baker turned to look at Detective Carr, who represented the FBI, and asked, "Do you have an arrest warrant? Or any evidence that proves my client is related to the case you are investigating?"

Karl looked as if he had eaten feces, his face extremely ugly, staring at Zhou Qingfeng angrily. If he had evidence, he would have taken the man away long ago, why wait until now?
"We have surveillance cameras at lottery locations and the exact time the winning numbers were purchased, which can prove that the person who bought the jackpot lottery ticket was not this Asian kid."

"So what? The buyer either lost or threw the lottery ticket away, and my client found it. Is picking up something illegal?"

Old Baker looked at the bald head of the office again and handed over the signed lottery ticket, "On behalf of my client, I request to redeem this jackpot lottery ticket worth over $2.2 billion.

I request that the redemption process be completed within two weeks. As for whether the FBI wants to use this lottery ticket as physical evidence, that is your business.”

(End of this chapter)