Chapter 125: I’m Just a Customer

“Shuangshuang, didn’t you have dinner either? Let’s go have some skewered delights together. I know a great place with really good taste.”

After wrapping up his work, Du Qiu called Ning Shuangshuang as he was leaving the company.

Only then did he learn that Ning Shuangshuang had been busy arranging for a tail on Liu Yaofeng’s girlfriend, Tian Ya, finally capturing Akita Minghui in a beauty salon where she was supposed to meet Tian Ya.

They had just completed the first round of interrogation, but Akita Minghui had revealed nothing of substance.

Ning Shuangshuang was planning to take a break, have some instant noodles, and then continue the interrogation overnight when Du Qiu’s call came in.

“I’m quite busy right now, we’ve just caught Akita Minghui.”

Du Qiu immediately praised her: “Whenever my Shuangshuang takes action, it’s truly extraordinary. But no matter how busy you are, you still need to eat, right?

Besides, don’t you want to check out that website? I’ve just obtained some intel which could be useful. Are you interested?”

Upon hearing this, Ning Shuangshuang immediately replied, “Okay, come and pick me up.”

“Alright, wait for me. I’ll call you when I get to the door.”

“No need, I’ll wait for you at the door.”

“Don’t do that, it’s freezing cold outside. Stay cozy in the office, I’ll give you a call when I arrive.”

After saying this, Du Qiu hung up and hurriedly started his car, heading towards the Security Bureau.

Concerning the matters of David Wu, he planned to leave them to Ning Shuangshuang. As for Chen Tao, who was involved, he had broken the law regardless and was an adult who had to face the consequences.

Of course, Du Qiu planned to talk to Chen Tao tomorrow to persuade him to turn himself in, which at least could reduce his penalty to some extent.

……

……

“Point Point Skewered Delights” was located near the City Square, a place with a variety of tasty street snacks that many young people in Magic City enjoyed for its unique offerings.

The popular song “I’m Eating Fried Chicken at the City Square” described this very place.

Seeing the overcrowded situation at “Point Point Skewered Delights,” Ning Shuangshuang frowned and said, “There are too many people here, wouldn’t the wait be too long?”

“Hey, quick, take that seat!” Du Qiu pulled Ning Shuangshuang to a spot that had just been vacated.

“Just wait a bit, the shop moves fast and it will be our turn soon.”

Du Qiu went to order, selecting a variety of meat and vegetarian dishes and also some juice drinks since he was driving and could not drink alcohol.

As for Ning Shuangshuang, who had overtime work later, she definitely couldn’t drink either.

It wasn’t long before the shopkeeper brought everything they ordered, with the steaming pot and aromatic condiments making their mouths water.

Du Qiu skillfully started cooking skewers, and once they were ready, he placed them in Ning Shuangshuang’s bowl until it was full.

“Hey, you should eat too. I can do it myself…” she protested.

“Don’t be formal with me. You must be starving after interrogating people, hurry up and eat,” Du Qiu urged.

Without saying much more, they both wolfed down their food, having been hungry after missing mealtime.

Once they finished, they strolled through the square, where Du Qiu inquired, “How is Tian Ya doing? She’s our bait. Can she get a lighter sentence?”

Ning Shuangshuang, twirling her hair casually, answered, “According to the law, she should get at least five years due to her coerced participation in debt blackmail, and as bait in your plan, she could possibly get it reduced to three years or less. Her current attitude towards the confession is good, so she might even get a suspended sentence.”

“Hmm, Liu Yaofeng will have some tough times ahead.”

“Do you think he will break up with Tian Ya?” Ning Shuangshuang queried.

“He won’t,” answered Du Qiu flatly. “They have eight years of history. Tian Ya was victimized by a loan shark and subsequently exploited by a Japanese. Liu Yaofeng said he would wait for her release and then marry her.”

Ning Shuangshuang nodded in agreement, “Liu Yaofeng is not bad.”

“Shuangshuang, if I ever did something wrong one day, would you forgive and wait for me?” asked Du Qiu abruptly.

Ning Shuangshuang looked at him, “Why do you ask?”

“I bought some intel from that information website and found out I might be surrounded by various enemies. Maybe one day I’ll be framed and left with no way to plead my case…” Du Qiu stopped as Ning Shuangshuang’s hand covered his mouth.

“Don’t speak nonsense!” admonished Ning Shuangshuang. “You said yourself it’s a frame-up, so there will be a day for your name to be cleared. Of course I’ll wait for you.”

Ning Shuangshuang removed her hand from Du Qiu’s mouth and, holding his hand firmly, stated, “I won’t let anyone frame you.”

“Thank you,” Du Qiu responded, feeling inwardly delighted as he held Ning Shuangshuang’s hand.

It turned out that playing the pity card in front of a woman could easily win over her sympathy.

“What intel did you get?” Ning Shuangshuang suddenly asked.

Du Qiu held his forehead, wishing she could maintain the sweet atmosphere a little longer, “Let’s go find a place and I’ll show you.” He said, patting the laptop bag on his shoulder.

They quickly found a quiet cafe nearby, and, sitting in a secluded corner, Du Qiu opened his laptop.

Watching Du Qiu adeptly “climb the wall” and enter a darknet site, Ning Shuangshuang commented, “You know, this is borderline illegal.”

Du Qiu paused, “I haven’t been looking at those rumor-filled websites. Hey, let’s check out this information instead.”

Du Qiu opened the interface of the information he purchased, showing the details about Akita Minghui: “This is the Japanese woman, Akita Minghui, who was blackmailing Tian Ya. This Yamamoto Masaki came with her to Tang Country. I didn’t buy his information, but he might be an intelligence agent.

This Kosuke Yasushi is the general manager of Amanda Company in the Tang Country region. He’s been the representative in Magic City for several Japanese companies in the infringement lawsuits against our Dream Technology. It’s natural for him to collude with Akita Minghui since he could easily falsify evidence accusing us of infringing on their patents if he stole our company’s secrets.

Browse the details yourself. I don’t know if it’s of any use to you.”

Ning Shuangshuang perused briefly, her facial expression unchanging.

However, she took out her phone, snapped pictures of Yamamoto Masaki and Kosuke Yasushi’s photos on the screen, sent them out, and then made a call.

“Deng Quan, go immediately to the izakaya at 16 Dongying Fengqing Street in Magic City. If the people in the pictures show up, arrest them immediately!”

Du Qiu, taken aback by her actions, asked after she hung up, “Is it proper to arrest those two without evidence linking them to Akita Minghui’s case?”

“We’re not ordinary police handling a case. Akita Minghui’s crime is confirmed, and people closely related to her should obviously be controlled first.”

Ning Shuangshuang explained briefly then continued, “Let’s keep looking. Didn’t you buy other information as well?”

Du Qiu opened David Wu’s information, “This guy set up a trap for our company’s sales director Chen Tao, then tried to make Chen Tao steal company secrets. Take a look, it might be useful to you.”

After Ning Shuangshuang reviewed the details, she nodded slightly, “Not bad. Who would have thought this site’s intel could be so valuable? Send me the address.”

“No problem, I’ll send it to you right now. You can have my account too so you can directly access the intel I’ve bought.”

“Why did you suddenly think of checking the people around you? You don’t seem like someone who is that suspicious,” Ning Shuangshuang inquired.

Du Qiu sighed, “Recently, Liu Yaofeng has been having conflicts with his girlfriend, Tian Ya, and came to me to vent. The way he described her actions seemed illogical to me.

I was doing some research and happened to be on the darknet looking for some data, stumbled upon this intel site, and registered out of curiosity to see if I could actually buy information.

Surprisingly, I really bought Tian Ya’s information and found out there were transfers of large amounts from that Japanese woman, Akita Minghui, to her.

Then I bought information on Akita Minghui, the one you just saw, and that’s how I found out she’s a spy. So I started thinking about how to catch her, and arranged for Liu Yaofeng to bring Tian Ya to the company today, deliberately letting her steal some fake intel.

Using Tian Ya as bait, Akita Minghui would surely meet with her to acquire the intel, thus allowing your security personnel to catch her red-handed.

After that, I informed Captain Fang, and the rest you already know.

Thinking back on it, it gives me chills. Fearing similar situations among the company executives, I went back to that site and bought information on core team members.

To my shock, there was also a foreign spy plot against Chen Tao.”

Ning Shuangshuang frowned, “How does this site get the information about the connection between your company executives and those intelligence operatives?”

Du Qiu shrugged innocently, “How should I know? I’m just a customer.”

“I’m not asking you; I’m just amazed at the site’s ability to gather intel. The key question is how did they get the information under our noses?”

Du Qiu chuckled, “Feeling a blow to your confidence?”

“Stop talking nonsense!” Ning Shuangshuang gave Du Qiu a disapproving look.

“By the way, now that Tian Ya is detained, can Liu Yaofeng visit her?” Du Qiu suddenly remembered Liu Yaofeng and inquired.

“He obviously can’t visit now, but once the case is essentially confirmed and moved to the prosecutor’s office for charges, then he can visit her in detention.”

“Is that so? He definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight. I’ll call him first.”

Du Qiu quickly dialed Liu Yaofeng’s number and briefly explained Tian Ya’s situation, offering some consolation before hanging up.

“How is he doing? Is he okay?”

“What can he do? He must be very upset. I told him to take a couple of days off at home to recuperate.”

Du Qiu suddenly remembered something else, “Oh right, when I was checking the finance director Qin Yun’s abnormal behavior, I found out she was being harassed by her former shipyard boss, Mr. Huang. The site suggested that Mr. Huang might also have connections with the Japanese, Kosuke Yasushi. I think it might be worth your investigation. I recall that you’ve been closely monitoring the shipyards, so if Mr. Huang is a spy, that would be a major security leak.”

“Mr. Huang? Noted, I’ll arrange for a thorough investigation.”