Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

The second basement level parking garage of Sihai Building. B-zone blind spot.

The voice-activated light above my head snapped off.

Cold air rushed in through the ventilation ducts. The air was filled with the pungent smell of car exhaust and musty rubber.

"Snap, snap."

The lighter's flint wheel spun several times, but no sparks came out.

Chen Suan leaned against a load-bearing pillar, a crumpled Hongtashan cigarette dangling from his mouth.

His hands were shaking like a leaf.

He clutched his stomach tightly with his left hand. Then he let out another long, acidic burp.

"Hiccup—damn it, this crappy lighter is bullying me."

Chen Suan's eyes twitched, and his throat was so dry it felt like it was about to burst into flames.

Zhou Ming leaned closer.

He used his yellowed, tattered rag as a pad to support his hand, then took out a one-yuan plastic lighter and lit his cigarette for him.

The firelight illuminated the collar of Zhou Ming's oversized black suit.

His forehead was covered in large beads of cold sweat, which trickled down his temples.

"Old Chen, come up with a solution!"

Zhou Ming stomped his foot, his leather shoes making a screeching sound as they scraped against the cement floor.

"The moment that foreign woman named Anna arrived, she granted us access to overseas regions. How are we supposed to continue our undercover work?"

Chen Suan took a deep drag on his cigarette.

The smell of cheap tobacco choked his lungs, and he suddenly coughed violently.

I coughed so hard that tears streamed down my face.

The transparent tape around the right side of the black-rimmed glasses had completely broken off, causing the temple to droop and tilt against my face.

"How the hell am I supposed to know how to do it?!"

Chen Suan threw the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it with his toe.

He howled in a hoarse voice, his stomach cramping in waves.

"Anna opened over eighty foreign currency settlement accounts in the financial system this afternoon! They were all just English letters and exchange rates!"

Chen Suan desperately clutched at his thinning hair, scratching his scalp with his fingernails.

"I just passed my CPA exam in China! Now they want to engage in legal cross-border trade!"

His legs gave way and he slid down the support pillar to sit on the cold ground.

"They're forcing me to take the USCPA exam, the American Certified Public Accountant!"

"If I don't take the exam, I won't even be able to understand the customs tax declaration! How can I possibly investigate money laundering?"

Shen Qinghan stood two steps away.

My calves, hidden under my black pencil skirt, were covered in goosebumps from the cold.

The flat canvas shoes unconsciously rubbed against the ground, making a faint rustling sound.

She bit her lower lip hard.

The rusty taste spread across the tip of the tongue.

The blind-type encrypted phone in her bag felt like a red-hot branding iron, burning her side through the fabric.

"The accounts in China have been in order for three years, and there isn't even a single flaw, not even a punctuation mark."

Shen Qinghan's voice was hoarse, with an undisguised tremor.

"Now funds need to circulate legally globally. They need to go through proper customs and proactively pay 20% incidental income tax to the tax bureau."

She closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling.

"Once Anna's overseas legal team is established, the Longhai City Economic Investigation Detachment won't even have the authority to apply for an audit in the Cayman Islands."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ming broke down on the spot.

He covered his face tightly with that sour, tattered rag, squatted down next to Chen Suan, and wailed loudly.

"I've been fixing toilets and unclogging drains in the logistics department every day! I've been doing it for almost three years!"

Zhou Ming wiped his face with snot and tears.

"I was looking for clues about excessive sewage discharge! Turns out, Chairman Su installed an imported German environmentally friendly filtration system in the toilet! Even the filtered feces can be legally used to water plants!"

He suddenly stood up, his forehead hitting the fire hydrant next to him with a dull thud.

He didn't even notice the pain, clutching his swollen forehead.

"Now look what's happened! With this international business starting, am I going to have to go all over Southeast Asia to fix foreign toilets for these gangsters?!"

"Woof!"

A dog's bark suddenly rang out from the corner of the garage.

The three undercover agents shuddered simultaneously. Chen Suan scrambled to his feet, nearly twisting his ankle.

Zhang Tiezhu, leading Wangcai, who was wearing a winter vest, walked out from behind a Mercedes-Benz van.

He was wearing a security guard uniform that had been modified from his crisp SWAT training uniform.

He was still clutching a red notebook in his hand. His face was flushed.

"Hey? Director Chen, Secretary Shen, Manager Zhou. What kind of secret meeting are you having here?"

Zhang Tiezhu, speaking with a heavy local accent, came over.

Wangcai wagged its tail and sniffed at Zhou Ming's trouser leg.

Chen Suan saw who it was and let out a long sigh of cold air, which smelled of stomach acid.

"Hiccup—Tiezhu, what are you doing wandering around in the middle of the night instead of patrolling!"

Zhang Tiezhu grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. He then handed forward the red notebook in his hand.

"I just got back from the neighborhood office! Chairman Su said that once overseas business starts, the security department also needs to align with international standards."

He patted Wangcai's head with a big hand.

"I enrolled my dog ​​in a bilingual training class! From now on, when I catch overseas thieves, I'll have to explain the law to them in English!"

Chen Suan's vision went black for a moment.

He stared at Zhang Tiezhu's simple, dark face and felt as if he had been hit hard in the chest by an eighty-pound sledgehammer.

"You...you're an undercover SWAT officer! You're taking money from the underworld to teach dogs English?!"

Chen Suan lowered his voice, spitting through gritted teeth.

"Have you forgotten why you came here?!"

Zhang Tiezhu scratched his buzz cut and curled his lip indifferently.

"Investigating organized crime! But I already did!"

He cracked his rough fingers, with dirt still under his nails.

"The day before yesterday, Brother Black Panther took his henchmen to the south of the city to collect debts. I figured they'd have to resort to knives eventually, right?"

"And what happened? Brother Black Panther pulled out his riot shield, pinned down the guy who owed the money, and forced him to copy the Contract Law three times! The guy was so moved that he transferred the money to the company's official account on the spot and even gave us a banner!"

Zhang Tiezhu sighed and put the red notebook into his pocket.

"This kind of amazing company, where am I supposed to find fault with it? My mother even told me to work hard for Chairman Su so I can get a big legal year-end bonus and build a new house back in the village."

Shen Qinghan felt her stomach start to cramp as well.

Her hands were in her trench coat pockets, her nails digging into the lining fabric.

"Tiezhu, wake up!"

She took a deep breath, her voice growing softer and softer, filled with profound despair.

"Meet on the rooftop at midnight tonight. The code has already been sent."

Shen Qinghan gave a self-deprecating twitch at the corner of her mouth, which looked worse than crying.

"Wang Hai's press release has been published in the central media. This afternoon he's going to the city auditorium to receive the 'Provincial Outstanding Youth' award."

"Su Ye asked me to deliver flowers to him on behalf of the company."

Zhou Ming was stunned.

The tattered rag in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud," kicking up a little dust.

"Wang Hai is receiving the award?"

Zhou Ming stammered, his jaw almost dropping to the ground.

"He's an undercover agent sent by the municipal public security bureau's propaganda department, and he wrote an article that put the underworld on the front page of a national media outlet? And he even wants to receive government commendation?!"

Chen Suan immediately closed his eyes.

I painfully rubbed my churning stomach, the acid rising straight to my throat.

"So, Old Li is going to pull out his gun and shoot us tonight."

"It's been three years. Not only have we failed to uncover any dirt on Su Ye, but we've also watched him expand his territory overseas and become a tax benchmark in Mayor Chen's eyes."

He kicked an empty soda can that was lying at his feet.

The aluminum can slammed against the load-bearing wall, making a jarring echo.

"This job is impossible to do!"

Chen Suan growled at the top of his lungs, and the motion-activated light snapped back on. The stark white light shone on the four men's ashen faces.

"Foreign women handle transnational compliance! Wang Hai writes the central government's official press release! I, on the other hand, have to memorize a pure English dictionary of American tax law!"

The faint sound of car horns honking could be heard outside the garage.

Chen Suan glanced at the plastic digital watch on his wrist.

The gaps in the watch strap were full of sweat and grime.

"Be prepared to explain this to the chief. Even if he points a gun at my head..."

Chen Suan hiccuped, his eyes filled with a deathly pallor.

"All I could tell him was that Su Ye and his team's foreign language ledgers were formatted exactly like international trade law, even down to the commas. There was really no mistake."

"Ding-dong".

The elevator doors suddenly opened to the side.

The crisp beeping sound echoed like a death knell in the empty garage.

Gao Qiang was wearing a yellow safety helmet.

Wearing work clothes covered in mud, he strode out of the elevator.

He was clutching the keys to a BMW in his hand. His face was flushed, and he was panting heavily.

The deputy general manager of the construction company, a former undercover elite of the criminal investigation team, was so excited that he was trembling all over.

"Old Chen! Old Chen, you're here!"

Gao Qiang ran over, bringing with him the earthy smell of mud. Mud from his shoes was scattered all over the ground.

He grabbed Chen Suan's arm. His knuckles turned white from the force, making Chen Suan frown.

"What's wrong, Lao Gao? Did something happen at the construction site?"

Chen Suan was startled, and his stomach churned again. "Is Su Ye going to illegally occupy land for overseas projects again?"

"It's not against the rules!"

Gao Qiang's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and his eyes were red-rimmed.

He swallowed hard, his voice cracking with excitement.

"I just received a call from the Municipal Construction Commission! Sihai Group has won the largest affordable housing project in the province!"

"Full funding upfront! Only 0.5% of the profits will be retained, and Chairman Su will donate the rest to charity!"

Gao Qiang held up the BMW car keys in his hand.

A grown man, tears streaming down his face, falling onto the calloused back of his hands.

"Chairman Su just got the finance department to approve it, and he's assigned me a BMW 7 Series as my work vehicle! He's even letting me lead a team to compete for this year's Luban Award!"

He stared intently at Chen Suan's desperate face, his voice trembling.

"Old Chen... when we meet on the rooftop tonight, could you plead with Director Li for me?"

Gao Qiang sniffed.

"I've already received a nomination for the Luban Prize. If they withdraw it halfway through and arrest me, I'll die with regrets!"