Chapter 141: Identity Change

Seven days later, in New Castle City.

Du Qiu had changed his face and was leisurely strolling down Fifth Avenue, seeing many people from Tang Country entering and exiting some brand stores.

People from Tang Country have money now, and shopping in these brand stores is an indispensable part of traveling abroad, not to mention that the Spring Festival was approaching.

At this moment, he had a freshly issued passport from Star Country, still warm to the touch, tucked in his pocket—a bona fide piece of identification.

Du Qiu’s current face was that of a man named Tang Bufan, a citizen of Star Country. Seventy percent of the population in Star Country was of Tang descent, and the information industry was well developed, rooting its various systems in the internet.

As long as the network was not completely isolated physically, Star Ocean could navigate it without any hindrance.

No matter how many layers of gateways or powerful firewalls there were, they were all a joke in the eyes of Star Ocean.

This was the fourth real-but-fake identity that Du Qiu had acquired.

He had driven from the western to the eastern part of United States, switching cars along the way. Luckily, with those fake IDs, he had been questioned by the police no less than ten times.

The greatest advantage of the lifelike silicone mask was that Du Qiu could alter it, thus changing his appearance.

After arriving in New Castle City, following Star Ocean’s second method, Du Qiu had changed the appearance of his four masks.

Over several days, he had visited the consulates of three different countries in New Castle City and smoothly obtained replacement passports and visa information.

Using these fabricated yet legitimate identities, Du Qiu had even registered some companies in the United States.

Star Ocean had found that all the companies and bank accounts opened in Du Qiu’s name were under strict surveillance.

In this world, the entire international financial sector was actually grasped in the hands of the Western banks led by the United States. The United States could easily blackmail and sanction, assured by its system’s support.

The flow of international financial funds was under the Americans’ control.

It was no wonder then that even powerful countries like Rakshasa, when sanctioned by the United States, suffered greatly and had to vigorously promote trade with Tang Country using Tang Yuan for settlements.

Fortunately, at the beginning, Du Qiu had registered several offshore companies in the name of Qin Yun. These companies hadn’t really operated much.

Aside from serving as places to store funds, they were just minor shareholders, under the guise of financial investors, in some component suppliers of Dream Technology.

This was Du Qiu’s determined response to the sanctions Huawei had faced from its upstream manufacturers, gradually bringing those suppliers under his control.

Unexpectedly, this foresight was proving useful now.

As for Qin Yun’s situation, since Huang Zifeng had been detained and the shipyard had no one to deliberately pursue the matter further.

On the other hand, with the help of Lawyer Song Xiangyu, they were able to clarify the legal liability of the matter, and ultimately, Qin Yun was deemed to have made an occupational error, not a crime.

Qin Yun had returned to work at Dream Technology a week earlier.

Thus, Qin Yun became the second high-level executive of the company to contact Du Qiu, helping him to transfer a portion of the funds to some companies registered under his four new identities through normal operations.

Afterward, these funds began to flow again, turning these companies or funds into shareholders of certain companies.

Such as the Germanic Magic Science and Technology Research Center, registered under the legal person of Rhinesauce, the Wisdom Technology secretly cooperating with Yu Donghua, and some companies under Qin Yun’s name…

After handling these matters, Du Qiu finally believed he could leave the United States without stealthily stowing away on a cargo ship provided by Hao Ren from the Tangga Federation.

Although he appeared relaxed on the surface, internally he hesitated about whether to fly directly back to Magic City with another identity.

After all, today was the twenty-fifth day of the lunar year, and the Spring Festival was only five days away.

This is the most important festival for people of Tang Country, yet returning with another identity and recklessly seeing friends, family, and colleagues could arouse suspicion among those with ulterior motives.

Du Qiu had only told Ning Shuangshuang about the identity change the day before, without going into detail about the specifics.

In Ning Shuangshuang’s mind, it was nothing more than disguising oneself and using fake identification—she had no idea Du Qiu had managed to obtain an entirely new “real” identity.

At that time, Du Qiu had inquired about his being wanted by the police with Ning Shuangshuang.

Ning Shuangshuang told him that the crime pinned on him was actually for show, intended for the Americans to see.

Once the economic agreements between the two parties were signed and after some more time had passed, the matter involving the sale of centrifuges to Goryeo would fade away, and then Du Qiu would be exonerated.

Because the evidence for this crime provided by Sun Hongming, though he had died, he had specifically instructed his wife to deliver a document explaining everything to Ning Shuangshuang before his death.

Du Qiu was surprised by this because Liu Yaofeng had previously said he hurried to confront Sun Hongmingabout why he had framed Du Qiu.

But he was a step too late; Sun Hongming was rushed to the emergency room and never woke up.

Sun’s wife told Liu Yaofeng that Sun Hongming had expressed one regret before dying: “The only thing I regret is that I can’t continue working for Dream Technology.”

Hearing of Sun Hongming’s death, Du Qiu felt somewhat melancholic.

They say that death clears all debts, and the debt Sun Hongming owed to him could only evaporate upon his death.

However, Du Qiu still wanted to know the full truth, having never removed the surveillance that Star Ocean had set up before.

As a result, he had seen footage of Sun’s wife going to Ning Shuangshuang.

At the time, he had found it somewhat strange, but now that he had communicated with Ning Shuangshuang, the whole picture became clear.

When Ning Shuangshuang told him she had received the document left by Sun Hongming, he immediately asked, “What’s written in the document?”

“The document explains that he was bribed to forge a document on your behalf, consenting to the funds transfer.”

“Couldn’t the police tell that the document was forged at that time?”

Ning Shuangshuang explained, “The document is real, and so is your signature. Sun Hongming figured out a way to get you to sign that receipt while you were signing other documents.”

Du Qiu was taken aback. He had trusted Sun Hongming greatly and usually just gave a brief glance over the documents Sun handed him to sign without looking closely.

If Sun was talking to him at the same time, it would distract Du Qiu, making it highly likely for him to sign such a document.

In the end, it was still because he trusted Sun too much.

“The document, aside from explaining the incident, doesn’t it reveal who bribed him and why?”

Ning Shuangshuang said, “It doesn’t specify, but he left a particular message for you.”

“What did he say?”

“Sun Hongming wrote: ‘Du Qiu, you are a person who values loyalty, which is both a strength and a flaw. I hope that through my betrayal, you can come to understand some truths.'”

“So, what, I should be thankful for his lesson?” Du Qiu scoffed.

Ning Shuangshuang didn’t respond directly but instead said, “Sun’s wife mentioned something. She said Sun Hongming left behind a case filled with cash, about ten million. Sun Hongming told her

it was a bonus from the company. Sun’s wife now suspects it’s illicit money, and she wanted me to ask you if it was really a company bonus. If not, she intends to hand it over as illicit gains, because she refuses to accept unrighteous money.”

Du Qiu was stunned by this revelation.

Did Sun Hongming really betray him just for money?

But it was only ten million, which was even less than what he could have received as a company bonus. Even if he knew his time was short, he shouldn’t have sold himself so cheaply, should he?

Besides, judging from what Sun’s wife had said about her character, Sun Hongming would have known that she would never accept such money after his death.

Was it truly because he thought his end was near and wanted to teach Du Qiu a lesson and show him the harsh reality beneath the prosperity?

After some thought, Du Qiu said, “Tell Sun’s wife that it is indeed company bonus, the first installment. There will be more to come.”

At this moment, the fact that Sun Hongming betrayed him and made preparations in advance to clear his name indicated that there was definitely more to the story.

“Shuangshuang, since I’m wanted by the domestic police, it’s not appropriate for me to return to the country.”

“Then where will you go? You definitely can’t stay in the United States. If your cover is blown, you could be detained by them at any moment,” Ning Shuangshuang asked anxiously.

“What do you think would be a good place for me?” Du Qiu asked back.

Ning Shuangshuang thought for a moment and said, “The best would be a place with a lot of Tang people, so as not to attract attention. Our country’s influence there must be stronger than that of the United States, so that they can’t just hand you over if threatened by the United States after you’re exposed.”

“Such places are few and far between in Southeast Asia, and they’re not necessarily safe.”

“Then what should we do? Maybe you should sneak back into the country?”

Du Qiu said, “Since you say that case is just for show to the United States, wouldn’t my return pose a problem for our country? Am I supposed to follow the example of that vice-principal and spend a few years in jail? Haven’t you thought about the fact that there’s definitely a mastermind behind what Sun Hongming did?”

“I’m investigating. I’m not going to let someone frame you and get away with no consequences.”

“Could it be the state…”

“Impossible!” Ning Shuangshuang denied vehemently. “Before Sun Hongming bore false witness, there were efforts to rescue you and bring you back to the country from above.”

“It seems like this mastermind chose their moment well. Even if Sun turned back, the case wouldn’t be dismissed so soon, and clearly, they’re quite familiar with the thought process of those above in dealing with matters.”

“Your line of thinking is good. I’ll investigate in that direction.”