Old Harden, can you handle having your vision-shifting abilities on all the time?

"Mr. Xu, please!"

Zhao Dezhu's voice carried a hint of pleading, "This project is my entire life savings. If it's shut down, I'm completely finished!"

"You are so kind and generous, please spare me. I, Zhao Dezhu, will remember your kindness for the rest of my life!"

Xu Xing shook his head, his tone indifferent: "Boss Zhao, it's not that I don't want to help you."

That fish is real. Even if we delete the video, the fisheries department can still find it by checking the river.

The situation will be different then; failing to report or concealing the facts will result in legal consequences.

He paused, his gaze passing over Zhao Dezhu's shoulder and looking towards the hotel lobby: "The police are here. You can talk to them about what happened."

Zhao Dezhu turned around abruptly and saw several people in uniforms walking out of the hotel lobby and heading straight towards him.

The leader was a man in his forties, wearing a dark blue uniform and carrying the rank of a third-level police superintendent.

He walked up to the group and showed his identification: "Hello, we are from the Provincial Forestry Public Security Bureau. May I ask which one of you is Ms. Li Yuting?"

Li Yuting's face was as white as paper. She gripped Xu Xing's arm tightly, her fingers trembling slightly.

Xu Xing patted the back of her hand and whispered, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

He pulled Li Yuting forward and nodded to the police officer: "Hello, officer, this is Li Yuting. I am her friend. I was the one who caught that fish."

The officer glanced at Xu Xing and nodded: "Okay, please come with us to the rest area over there. We have a few questions to ask."

Xu Xing nodded, then pulled Li Yuting along with the police officer to the rest area next to the hotel lobby.

Zhao Dezhu stood there, his face ashen as he watched the backs of the group.

He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails almost dug into his palm.

In the rest area, the police officer took out a tablet computer and pulled up the video that Li Yuting had posted yesterday.

"Ms. Li, did you post this video?"

Li Yuting nodded: "I sent it."

"Is the person catching fish in the video Mr. Xu?"

"Yes."

The officer then looked at Xu Xing: "Mr. Xu, may I ask where you caught this fish?"

"In the middle section of the rafting river, about two-thirds of the way through."

Xu Xing answered truthfully, "The current was relatively calm at the time. I saw a fish swimming by, so I picked it up, looked at it, and then put it back."

The officer nodded and then asked, "Did you know what kind of fish it was?"

"I don't know, I just thought it looked pretty, so I picked it up, glanced at it, and then let it go."

The officer didn't press further. Instead, he took out a laptop and said to Li Yuting, "Ms. Li, we need to copy the original video from your action camera for technical analysis to confirm its authenticity."

Don't worry, we will return the original documents to you after the authentication is completed.

Li Yuting nodded, took the action camera off her neck, and handed it over.

The technician took the camera, connected it to the computer, and began copying the data.

The whole process lasted about ten minutes. During this time, the police officer asked some questions about the rafting trip, and Xu Xing and Li Yuting answered them truthfully one by one.

The test results came out quickly.

The technician took off his headphones and shook his head at the police officer: "The video shows no signs of Photoshop or AI editing; it's the original footage."

The officer nodded, closed his notebook, stood up, and extended his hand to Xu Xing and Li Yuting: "Thank you both for your cooperation."

Based on our preliminary assessment, the fish appearing in the video is indeed the Qinling fine-scaled salmon, a Class I protected animal in China.

We will immediately organize professionals to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the rafting river and assess whether the ecological protection measures in the area need to be adjusted.

During this period, the rafting program may need to be suspended.

After he finished speaking, he added, "You two don't need to worry, your actions do not constitute a violation of the law."

They grabbed it, looked at it, and then put it back. It didn't cause any real harm and was an unintentional act.

Thank you for providing this information; it is very helpful to our ecological protection work.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuting breathed a long sigh of relief, and her tense body relaxed.

Xu Xing stood up and shook hands with the police officer: "You're welcome, it's what we should do."

The officer nodded, turned, and left with the technicians.

Zhao Dezhu stood not far away and heard the officer's words the whole time.

Upon hearing the words "suspension of operations," his face turned deathly pale, and his legs nearly gave way, causing him to collapse to the ground.

A 50 million investment, just gone down the drain like that?

He felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly, and the pain made it hard to breathe.

Xu Xing pulled Li Yuting to her feet, preparing to leave. As he passed Zhao Dezhu, he stopped and lowered his voice, saying:

"Boss Zhao, although this was a mistake, I would still appreciate it if you could tell Gao Min that it was a gift from me, Xu Xing."

Zhao Dezhu suddenly raised his head and stared at Xu Xing with wide eyes.

His chest heaved violently as a surge of uncontrollable anger rushed to his head.

But he dared not vent his anger on Xu Xing, so he could only direct all his anger at Gao Min and Zhao Jinhua.

If those two bastards hadn't been so reckless as to break up a perfectly good family and turn their own grandson into someone with a different surname, completely enraging Xu Xing, how could he have been implicated?

If he weren't Zhao Jinhua's cousin and Gao Min's uncle, why would Xu Xing have treated him so cruelly?

Without this relationship, the compensation plan he proposed would be very likely to be achieved.

The more he thought about it, the angrier and more frustrated he became. He wished he could rush up to Gao Min right now and slap her a few times.

After saying that, Xu Xing grabbed Li Yuting and left without looking back.

Zhao Dezhu stood there, watching his back disappear in the direction of the parking lot, his teeth grinding together.

The rest proceeded as planned.

Fisheries officials conducted a thorough search of the drifting river and indeed found traces of the Qinling fine-scaled salmon in several sections of the river.

According to relevant regulations, the rafting project must immediately suspend operations and await the results of the ecological assessment.

Zhao Dezhu sat in the hotel all day, watching the law enforcement officers come and go, and feeling heartbroken as he watched his hard-earned project get sealed off.

Zhao Dezhu can't protect him this time!

As evening fell, he dragged his tired body back to his office, closed the door, took out his phone, and dialed Zhao Jinhua's number.

The phone rang a few times before being answered, and Zhao Jinhua's fawning voice came from the other end: "Brother, what made you think of calling your sister?"

"Zhao Jinhua!"

Zhao Dezhu practically roared, "You fucking have the nerve to ask me that?!"

Zhao Jinhua, on the other end of the phone, was startled by the sudden roar, her voice trembling: "Zhuzi... what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong? You have the nerve to ask what's wrong?"

Zhao Dezhu's voice was filled with barely suppressed anger, "Do you even know how badly you two have ruined my life today?!"

"...Just because of the misdeeds you two have committed, my 50 million yuan investment in the rafting project has been ordered to suspend operations, and it might even be permanently shut down!"

Fifty million! My entire fortune, my life savings! Just like that, gone down the drain!