In name only: The land of Handong, I shall rule its fate.

A black sedan silently drove up from a distance in the dark night.

"here."

Hou Liangping casually leaned against the wall by the roadside, yawning and waving to the approaching car.

Wang Fangqi got off the bus.

"Director Hou, is the clue you mentioned true?"

Wang Fangqi hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Did you really find the problem of abnormal bank savings rates?"

He rushed here for this very reason.

I'm not sure.

Hou Liangping shrugged. "But it's a common fact that when the economy is bad, ordinary people have a stronger sense of saving. The last time Handong's savings rate was too low was because millions of people were involved in the platform case."

"But this is not within the scope of the Anti-Corruption Bureau's investigative responsibilities, and I am also a patient, so I cannot and dare not risk investigating."

Hou Liangping walked forward, each step treading in the shadows, as if he had become one with them, inseparable from them.

Platform case?

Wang Fangqi was deeply shaken; he still vividly remembered the immense impact of the previous platform case.

The vice governor's car accident, the killer, social chaos, the downfall of the Wu family, and even Gao Yuliang almost got killed along with them.

Does this mean we have to do it all over again in less than six months?

"This time is different."

Hou Liangping stopped at a corner. At this time of day, except for a few businesses like breakfast shops, it was still a break time, but the street was brightly lit.

The crowd formed a long queue.

Everyone had a smile on their face, as if they had found money early in the morning.

Wang Fangqi looked up.

The crowd's target turned out to be just a small shop of about ten square meters, without even a signboard. Four men in black stood at the entrance maintaining order, and a group of waiters were handing out breakfast and hot drinks with smiles on their faces, as if they were serving their own ancestors.

Even if some individuals have complaints or objections, we remain incredibly friendly, for fear of upsetting them.

"See that?"

Hou Liangping withdrew his outstretched body and spread his hands helplessly, saying, "Everyone is lining up to give money."

"Give me money?"

Wang Fangqi didn't understand.

"Yes! Illegally accepting public deposits."

Hou Liangping replied, "This shop originally belonged to the Ling Chamber of Commerce's Black Gold Wealth, which was used to alleviate the problems of small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of working capital, factory mortgages, and debt matching by absorbing public funds. In essence, the public used their spare funds to obtain equity in troubled companies. After the troubled companies were resolved, the equity was repurchased at a high price, thereby solving the companies' funding problems and investors obtaining high returns. However, because it involved illegal fundraising, it was later severely criticized by Secretary Qingguo, shut down, fined, and a number of responsible persons were dealt with."

"The store appears to be closed."

"In reality, a new company was used to operate it, but Black Gold Wealth was still in charge. The time for attracting investors was changed from daytime to midnight. However, the first batch of investors reaped the benefits, and the Lingshang Association's external reports were excellent, so there were many people who wanted to invest and make money later."

"If you find offline methods too troublesome..."

Hou Liangping took out his phone, opened an app called Mutual Aid Association, and held it up to the other person's face. "There are online options too, but the online interest rates are lower and the payback period is longer than the offline ones, so many people prefer to come offline."

"This is why the savings rate in Diaoyu is abnormal."

"If you check the overall records, you won't find anything unusual. You have to look at individual transaction records. They use private-to-private transfers, and the money is transferred away as soon as it arrives in the account."

It turned out to be the case.

Wang Fangqi suddenly realized that the final piece of the puzzle was complete.

"Director Hou, how did you find out?"

Wang Fangqi was puzzled.

Their economic crime investigation team mobilized a lot of manpower and resources, but still couldn't find the source.

"I'm from Handong, and I also went to Hantong University."

Hou Liangping glanced at him as if he were an idiot, "I'll just ask a few more classmates from Diaozhou."

Wang Fangqi was speechless.

It's that simple!

What about his grand operations and plans? Does that make him an idiot?

"There are also online platforms with location-triggered functions, but in Diaozhou you can only use a local Diaozhou number."

Hou Liangping shook his phone. "That's why I registered a new account. Of course, the account information isn't mine, so there's no need to worry about it being exposed."

"Then catch it?"

Wang Fangqi asked tentatively, unknowingly falling into a subpar position in their relationship.

"What's the point of arresting these kinds of shops? There are at least several hundred of them in the entire Diaozhou. Arresting one will only alert the others."

Hou Liangping directly rejected the idea, saying, "Besides, I suspect the real big fish hasn't come out yet."

"Please advise, Director Hou."

Wang Fangqi humbly sought advice.

He had someone he suspected, but he wanted to hear this person's thoughts. After all, the other person was not only the discoverer, but also Qi Ting's junior, one of the three outstanding figures of Han University who were on par with him.

There are two reasons.

Hou Liangping held up two fingers and waved them in front of him:

"Firstly, both online and offline Black Gold Wealth uses the guise of helping backward enterprises within the Chamber of Commerce to transform and upgrade, which is an important reason why the Ling Chamber of Commerce carefully manages its external image."

In reality, apart from the first batch of lucky individuals personally selected by Black Gold Wealth, the subsequent fundraising never materialized; it was all empty talk and the money went into their own pockets. On the contrary, members of the chamber of commerce had to pay at least 20 yuan in membership fees every year.

But not a single one of those companies dared to speak out. This couldn't have been done by Feng Baoyi alone, or by the beneficiaries of the joint chamber of commerce; there must have been other people exerting pressure on the situation.

"Secondly, the online fundraising and division of labor are different from the past. It adopts a hierarchical system, where one person who recruits another will receive a portion of the third person's investment amount. Because of the private-to-private transfer format, Black Gold Wealth and even the Lingshang Association cannot provide that many bank card numbers."

Wang Fangqi heard this.

I couldn't help but look down at the app that was open on my phone, and I became even more horrified.

"Actually, there's a third reason."

Hou Liangping laughed, "With so many people queuing, even if we change the time from daytime to midnight, will it be less noticeable? It'll be even more noticeable, okay? How come no one noticed?"

"And then there's Feng Beibei and that bunch of spoiled brats..."

"Knowing that people from the provincial government are investigating, they still act so willfully. Do they really think we can't do anything about it? Or are they and these shops in front of us just pawns thrown out by someone to divert attention?"

"This Diaozhou is really interesting!"

"Feng Beibei painstakingly planned to use Wang Ping'an as a shield, but she also became a shield for others, haha."

Wang Fangqi panicked completely, his hands were shaking. "I'll call Director Qi and report the situation right now."

"No."

Hou Liangping raised his left hand, revealing a cell phone with its screen still lit up. "Did you all hear that, senior students?"

"Not a single word was missed!"

Qi Tongwei affirmed, "Liangping, I must thank you this time."

"I don't believe what you say, senior."

Hou Liangping called a halt, saying, "Before you went to Chuzhou last time, you said you'd treat me to barbecue when you got back, but you haven't kept your promise yet."

Add them! Add them all!

Qi Tongwei gritted his teeth. Is this the time to talk about this? Don't I have any face to save in front of my subordinates?

"I'll give Executive Director Lin a call."