Chapter 814: A Live Scene of the Big Shots' High-End Banquet

On the other side, Cheng Bei walked at the tail end of the bodyguard team, looking up at the elevator car that had risen again, a faint complexity in his heart.

This cruise party was grand, with an extremely wide range of participants, so the Hong Kong police naturally had corresponding monitoring and management measures to prevent any accidents on site.

Among them, the Dong Family was at the top of their key watchlist.

After all, with the Chen Family and Dong Family's affairs, everyone could see with their own eyes that the relationship between the two families was far from simple, yet in the end, only the Chen Family was thoroughly investigated while the Dong Family was let off. That in itself was a choice born of helplessness.

Just the Chen Family alone was already deeply rooted in Hong Kong with immense power. The employees under one of their conglomerates might be the pillars of many families. Before other capital could fill the market gap, a large-scale crackdown would only bring turmoil and stir up anxiety.

If the Dong Family were added to the mix, it would mean that most of Hong Kong's economic enterprises would be implicated. The subsequent impact could shake the entire economic system of Hong Kong.

So the matter was put aside for the time being.

But that didn't mean the authorities had truly given up on settling the score.

At the very least, Cheng Bei, who had come along with the Bao Family, was still one of the members on the front lines of the investigation.

The reason he had come to the cruise ship for this investigation was that the police had intercepted some intelligence, suggesting that members of the Dong Family would use this event to conduct certain illegal transactions.

Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to dig up the specifics yet, leaving Cheng Bei no choice but to risk going further with the investigation on his own.

His undercover identity, however, was quite advantageous. Since it hadn't been exposed during the Chen Family incident, his credentials had actually become even more credible. After returning to Hong Kong, he immediately cooperated with the police's operations to enter the Bao Family, and now he could seize this opportunity to board the ship and conduct his investigation.

As for why the Bao Family and not the Dong Family?

That was naturally because the Dong Family had been unusually vigilant in recent years. Most of their security team was hired from abroad, while domestic security personnel were being increasingly sidelined. If Cheng Bei tried to get into the Dong Family, he probably wouldn't even be able to board this ship.

But he never expected—

Cheng Bei let out a long, barely perceptible sigh.

He never expected that Xiao He, whom he had only met once before, would be willing to board the ship to help, and even hold an invitation letter to the top-level banquet.

That was a banquet scene the police had tried every possible way to infiltrate but couldn't.

And yet Xiao He had gotten up there so easily…

Cheng Bei had originally thought that Xiao He would at most be on the middle or lower deck, and he had hoped not to trouble him if possible.

In fact, Cheng Bei had already secretly decided that if any dangerous situation arose, he would prioritize protecting the safety of the civilians.

But this guy had gone straight to the top level.

He heard that the top level was also very large, with all kinds of infrastructure and entertainment activities specially set up for top-tier guests. And Xiao He had gone up there alone—who knew if he could handle it.

Cheng Bei could only push down his worries, turn around, and follow the bodyguard team.

-

Meanwhile, on the top level, Xiao He was completely unaware of anyone else's concerns. After downing a glass of ice water, he was even starting to feel a bit hungry.

There were many people coming and going in the hall's banquet, but perhaps because the big shots always made their entrances last, the truly top-tier figures hadn't shown up yet—for example, the organizers, the heads of the three major families, and their other core members.

For now, the banquet was as calm as still water.

Most people could recognize who Xiao He was, but they had basically no idea of his actual current net worth.

Perhaps out of exclusivity, or perhaps out of some unspoken arrogance, they were deliberately keeping their distance from Xiao He.

And Xiao He had no intention of warming a cold face with a hot ass. He simply swept his gaze across the hall once, then continued to sit in the corner and rest, silently cross-referencing the people in the hall's banquet with his own intelligence network.

However, Xiao He could clearly sense that someone was quietly observing him at this moment.

—Was it out of curiosity? Or… did they know he was the master of the Jinhe Princely Residence?

Actually, what Xiao He didn't know was that he was indeed quite eye-catching right now.

After all, looking at all the guests in this venue, there were only a very few young faces.

The people who could make it to the highest banquet either had money or power, and both of those required time and experience to accumulate.

Young faces who had made it up on their own were rare and few, let alone a "strange face" like Xiao He who had never appeared at an upper-class banquet before.

So they were subtly isolating this newcomer, while also quietly assessing his true identity and strength, preparing to wait and see first.

But this tacit "isolation" didn't make Xiao He flustered. He casually sat down, exuding an air of authority. Combined with his black overcoat, which gave him the aura of a gangster boss today, the overall effect made him look less like someone being "isolated" and more like someone isolating everyone else.

But if he was just going to sit here and be stared at like a monkey in a zoo, Xiao He was starting to lose interest.

Since the target he was waiting for hadn't appeared yet, there was no point in staying.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist, planning to sit for a while longer and then head downstairs.

Perhaps this wrist-raising gesture of Xiao He's became a signal of impatience, because someone soon approached.

"You're alone too?"

It was a somewhat timid voice.

Xiao He looked up and glanced over, finding a young man in a royal blue suit with glossy hair gel slicked back on his head.

The guy looked about the same age as Xiao He, very lean, and was one of the few young faces at the scene.

Meeting that face, Xiao He immediately recognized who he was.

Someone from the Bao Family.

The Nth son that Bao Xingsheng himself wasn't even sure about, who had never appeared in public before this. To put it strictly, he was an illegitimate child—though Xiao He remembered his name quite clearly: Bao Wenyu.

This guy's attendance at the event was presumably because he had reached the age where he could start showing some talent, so he had been allowed to appear at the scene.

Xiao He understood in his heart.

It seemed his guess was right. Because of the Jinhe Princely Residence matter, Bao Xingsheng had become curious about him.

And this seemingly timid peer was the first door-knocking brick.

"Yeah, I'm alone."

Thinking this, Xiao He deliberately released a friendly signal: "Want to sit down?"

"Uh, sure, sure."

Bao Wenyu hadn't expected this young man, who looked fierce, to be surprisingly easy to talk to. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, quietly shuffled over, and sat down on the sofa next to Xiao He.

In fact, he had already been secretly observing Xiao He for a long time. Here was an ordinary person who had just entered a high-level banquet for the first time, yet his aura was powerful, his demeanor was calm, and he carried quite a bit of an air of ease and comfort.

They were the same age, yet this guy could be so dazzling.

That had left him standing in place, hesitating for a long time.

But to complete his father's task, Bao Wenyu had no choice but to steel himself and come over to strike up a conversation.

Fortunately, the other party's attitude seemed decent enough.

However, just as he sat down, before his butt had even warmed the seat, Xiao He directly asked, "You've been secretly observing me for so long. Is there something you want?"

"Huh? Ah! You noticed?!"

Bao Wenyu nearly jumped up from his seat again, as if his butt had been set on fire.