Chapter 280: W-What the!..

Looking out the car window, Politburo member Liu Peiqi asked Director Liu Haoran in a somber voice,

“Why are we meeting Vice Chairman Wei in the underground parking lot instead of going through the hotel’s main entrance?”

“I took into consideration the possibility that your rivals may have people watching you.”

Liu Peiqi immediately came to his senses.

Several dozen people, including himself, were competing for a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee. And to secure that position, they had to compromise their rivals and knock them out of the race by any means necessary. Therefore, there was a very high chance that his competitors had placed him under surveillance in hopes of finding dirt on him.

It was precisely because of those concerns that Director Liu Haoran had arranged to meet Vice Chairman Wei Chen in the underground parking lot.

“I hadn’t thought of that. By the way, have we put them under surveillance as well?”

“Last night, I hurriedly assigned people to watch Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan and Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.”

“And what are those two doing right now?”

“Vice Chairman Tang is in Beijing, while Deputy Secretary Zhang is on his way to the airport.”

“Could it be...”

Liu Peiqi trailed off as though a sudden thought had occurred to him.

Director Liu Haoran understood perfectly well what he was thinking.

“Brother, Deputy Secretary Zhang doesn’t know that Chairman Zhen Weiliang has diamonds.”

“But he could have found out without our knowledge.”

“Ah, we can’t rule out that possibility either.”

“Did you find out where he’s going?”

“I’m looking into it right now.”

“Find out as quickly as possible!”

Liu Peiqi’s anxious, urgent voice filled the official vehicle.

***

“Politburo member Liu, welcome.”

Triad Vice Chairman Wei Chen approached Liu Peiqi as he got out of the car and greeted him.

“I apologize that we have to meet like this instead of properly welcoming you in the hotel lobby.”

“Director Liu explained the reason to me, so don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you for understanding my situation.”

“There’s no need to thank me. We may be under surveillance, so let’s hurry to the elevator.”

“Let’s go.”

After replying briefly, Liu Peiqi strode toward the elevator.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen silently signaled to hotel owner Pan Kai and followed him.

***

Bzzz—

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan’s phone, which was lying on the table, vibrated briefly.

As though he had been waiting for exactly that, he quickly checked the sender’s name and turned to me.

“A message came from Pan Kai. He says we can begin the operation.”

I nodded and dialed Deputy Director Jo Ilcheol of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau.

It was as though he had been sitting there waiting for my call. The phone had barely rung once before his voice came through.

[—Department Director Cha, I’m listening.]

“Transfer Liu Peiqi’s cryptocurrency immediately.”

[—Haha, understood.]

“The transfer has to be completed within twenty minutes at most.”

[—That quickly?]

Open curiosity filled Jo Ilcheol’s voice.

“Liu Peiqi is planning to offer that cryptocurrency to Vice Chairman Wei as collateral. If he opens his crypto wallet before you finish the transfer, there’ll be a huge commotion.”

[—Oh, damn! I’d better get moving. No time to talk!]

Click.

In his haste, Jo Ilcheol unilaterally ended the call.

At that moment, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan asked me the question that had been on his mind.

“Department Director Cha, who do you think Liu Peiqi will blame for stealing his cryptocurrency?”

“If I were him, I’d point the finger at Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.”

“I’m curious. Why do you think so?”

“He knows that Liu Peiqi is laundering cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau. On top of that, he needs an enormous amount of money to secure a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee.”

“Ah, I see.”

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan nodded in understanding, finally grasping the whole situation.

***

After entering the reception room, Politburo member Liu Peiqi was in an exceptionally good mood.

The reason was that Vice Chairman Wei Chen had yielded the seat of honor at the head of the table to him.

“Vice Chairman Wei, I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate for me to take the seat of honor.”

There was only one reason Wei Chen had given Liu Peiqi that seat.

He wanted to send his mood soaring to the heavens. After all, the higher he flew, the greater the shock would be when he discovered that his cryptocurrency had disappeared.

Naturally, Liu Peiqi himself suspected nothing.

“Who else should sit there but the future member of the Politburo Standing Committee?”

“Hahaha. Thank you for the kind words.”

Chuckling contentedly, Liu Peiqi sat {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} at the head of the table.

Once everyone had settled onto the sofas, a secretary served tea to everyone present.

Liu Peiqi moistened his throat with tea before continuing his conversation with Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

“Vice Chairman Wei, thank you for helping me out at such a critical moment.”

“To be honest, I hadn’t planned to lend you the money. But when Chairman Zhen Weiliang asked me to help you financially, I changed my mind.”

“Chairman Zhen? Do you know why he would do me such a favor?”

Wei Chen could barely bring himself to utter such blatant lies.

However, to lower Liu Peiqi’s guard, he had no choice but to resort to such measures.

“Actually, Chairman Zhen is very displeased with Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan and Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.”

“And I assume he has good reason for that?”

“Chairman Zhen said Zhang Jinan is far too cunning and two-faced.”

On that point, Liu Peiqi completely agreed with Chairman Zhen Weiliang.

Liu Peiqi himself had once hidden an enormous quantity of gold bars at his villa in Macau so that he could use them at a decisive moment.

However, after extracting that information from the fugitive former CEO Go Yeongjun, Zhang Jinan had deployed special forces and brazenly seized all the gold Liu Peiqi had painstakingly accumulated.

And to cover up the crime, he had shamelessly framed Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

Considering all of that, there was no doubt that he had done the same thing to Chairman Zhen Weiliang.

“I see. And do you know why Chairman Zhen is displeased with Vice Chairman Tang?”

“He says the man is excessively greedy for money.”

“Well... now that I think about it, that’s true.”

“Chairman Zhen said it would be better if you—a man with fewer stains on his reputation—were elected to the Standing Committee.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Liu Peiqi burst into genuine, booming laughter of delight.

After waiting for his laughter to subside, Vice Chairman Wei Chen continued,

“Of course, I myself am also praying that you’ll be elected to the Politburo Standing Committee.”

“Haha. Thank you.”

Bzzz—

At that moment, the phone in Wei Chen’s trouser pocket vibrated briefly.

Taking it out and glancing at the screen, he saw a message from Cha Jiham.

«The cryptocurrency transfer is complete.»

After sending a brief acknowledgment, he placed his phone on the table.

At that moment, Director Liu Haoran curiously asked Vice Chairman Wei,

“Who was the message from?”

Wei Chen had neither reason nor need to tell the truth.

“It was from Chairman Zhen’s secretary. He was asking when we planned to arrive.”

“Ah, I see.”

“As I told you over the phone yesterday, I’ll lend you three billion dollars for exactly three months.”

“May I ask why you chose that particular term?”

Liu Peiqi was destined to perish at the hands of Vice Chairman Tang Guochang before the National People’s Congress even began.

Knowing that, Wei Chen was lending him the money for only three months.

Naturally, he had no intention of revealing such shocking information.

“Because exactly three months from now, I’ll need those three billion dollars myself.”

“If my brother is elected to the Standing Committee, would you be able to extend the repayment period?”

The words, “Don’t even dream of it,” rose straight to Wei Chen’s throat and hovered on the tip of his tongue, but he displayed superhuman patience and barely managed to hold them back.

“Why don’t we discuss that when the time comes?”

“Well, let’s do that.”

Wei Chen gave a slight nod at Director Liu Haoran’s indifferent response.

Hotel owner Pan Kai then took a transparent folder from the briefcase on the floor and carried it over to Liu Peiqi.

“Politburo member Liu, to save time, I prepared the promissory note in advance. Please review it, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

“Let’s have a look.”

With that, Liu Peiqi opened the folder.

Together with Director Liu Haoran, he carefully scrutinized the text of the promissory note.

Suddenly, Liu Peiqi frowned in confusion and addressed Vice Chairman Wei.

“Vice Chairman Wei, isn’t the late-payment interest a little too high?”

Wei Chen had originally planned to set the penalty interest rate at two percent per month.

However, Department Director Cha Jiham had objected, saying that was too low.

When asked why, Jiham had replied that if the late-payment interest was low, Liu Peiqi might simply drag things out and refuse to repay the debt.

His argument was more than convincing, so they had raised the penalty rate to four percent per month.

“What is there for you to worry about, Politburo member Liu? Once you’re elected to the Politburo Standing Committee, coming up with a mere three billion dollars will be a piece of cake for you.”

“Hmm, I suppose you’re right about that.”

“Then shall we settle on four percent per month?”

“I accept your proposal.”

“Haha. Excellent. Now, tell me what you’ll provide as collateral.”

“As collateral, I’ll provide cryptocurrency belonging to me worth two and a half billion dollars.”

‘I wonder how Liu Peiqi will react when he finds out his cryptocurrency has vanished?’

Thinking this with curiosity, Wei Chen continued the negotiations.

“As I told you last night, I’ll recognize only one point three billion dollars of that cryptocurrency as collateral.”

“That’s fine. I’ll cover the remaining one point two billion with my brother’s stake in MGM Macau and other real estate.”

“Director Liu, what is the collateral value of your stake in MGM Macau and the other properties?”

Director Liu Haoran took a thick envelope from his briefcase and handed it to Vice Chairman Wei.

Wei Chen opened the envelope and took out its contents.

Inside was a complete package of real estate documents, including the ownership structure for shares in MGM Macau.

After carefully examining the documents, he continued his conversation with Liu Haoran.

“Until the three-billion-dollar debt is repaid in full, the stake in MGM Macau will be transferred to me. I’ll place liens on the remaining properties. Do you agree?”

“Do as you wish. But on one condition: under no circumstances are you to use those assets for any other purpose.”

“I’ll provide you with a written guarantee stating that I won’t use them for any other purpose.”

“In that case, I have no objections.”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen and the Liu brothers finalized the wording of the promissory note.

Hotel owner Pan Kai instructed the lawyer waiting outside to make the necessary revisions.

About thirty minutes later, the lawyer handed the revised document to Wei Chen and Liu Peiqi.

After carefully rereading the text and confirming that everything was in order, both parties signed across from each other.

The lawyer also signed the document as a witness.

Afterward, Vice Chairman Wei Chen transferred three billion dollars to the account specified by Liu Peiqi.

“Politburo member Liu, please check whether the three billion dollars has arrived.”

At that moment, Vice President Liu Shen handed Liu Peiqi a laptop.

Without wasting a second, Liu Peiqi accessed the website of the bank where the account was held.

Calmly and confidently entering the account number and password, he pressed the Enter key.

Upon seeing the balance, he turned to Vice Chairman Wei with a satisfied smile.

“I confirm receipt of the three billion dollars.”

“Excellent. Now transfer the cryptocurrency to the wallet I specified.”

Liu Peiqi nodded and opened his crypto wallet on the laptop.

At that very instant, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

And no wonder.

The crypto wallet was completely empty.

“W-What the!..”

Director Liu Haoran instantly realized that something extraordinary had happened.

The look of utter shock on Liu Peiqi’s face was far too genuine to be an act.

“Brother, what happened?”

Liu Peiqi stared at the laptop screen in complete disbelief.

Liu Haoran’s gaze shot toward the screen at lightning speed, and then—

“W-What the!..”

A cry of pure, unadulterated horror burst from his chest.