Chapter 1830 - 1385: Interests, Interests, and More Interests!

Song Heping asked a soul-searching question.

Interests.

Exactly.

Can't help for nothing.

Neither him nor Duke are relatives.

The American's troubles, he doesn't want to get involved.

Reaching this point, Song Heping was filled with anger.

After all, before they actually used some 250 million US Dollars bounty from Baghdad to entice him.

Now it seems, even if Misu is captured alive, there won't be any clues about Baghdad from him.

They are just using him as a pawn to be blamed at any time.

Whether it's the CIA or the US military.

The idea is the same.

As such, he had to see what kind of interests Duke could offer to make it worth his help.

Otherwise?

At most, he would just take the guaranteed amount in the contract and not think about the 250 million anymore.

The room fell silent instantly.

Song Heping looked at Duke without speaking.

He was waiting for Duke's response.

Offer something in exchange.

"Let's not talk about interests first, let's talk about what I want you to do," Duke said in a deep voice. "Find Misu, get the evidence he hid before he's silenced, then do what you have to do, you understand."

"What if I find him?" Song Heping asked, his voice calm and flat, "What should I do? Kill him? Protect him? Or take away the evidence in his hands?"

"That's your decision," Duke said, but then corrected himself, "No, it depends on whether we can reach a consensus."

Song Heping's eyebrows twitched slightly.

He was familiar with this kind of opening—when Americans say "consensus," it usually means they need you to do the dirty work but are unwilling to pay the full price.

Duke said, "Song, let's be honest. The 'Seeder' plan is not an ordinary scandal. It's not some CIA station chief or a director acting on their own, nor is it a department in the Pentagon operating beyond authority; it's too widespread."

He took out his phone, opened a folder, pulled up a few photos, and handed the phone to Song Heping.

The photos were somewhat blurred, obviously taken from a distance or were surveillance screenshots.

The first showed a person wearing a protective mask operating in a laboratory, the second was yellow smoke rising over a village, the third—

Song Heping stared at the third photo.

It was a child's corpse, twisted in the mud, with black coagulated substance on the mouth and nose, eyes wide open looking at the sky.

"March 20014, village of Alkam, on the border of Siria."

Duke rubbed his hands as if getting a bit nervous too.

"'Seeder' used an improved VX nerve agent with added aerosol dispersal components. The official record shows this was a chemical weapon attack by an extremist organization, but in reality..."

"It was done by your people."

Song Heping interjected, placing the phone back on the table gently as if he were setting down a bomb about to explode.

"It was a 'controlled experiment' jointly authorized by former CIA Director Vincent, the White House National Security Advisor group, and the Pentagon's Special Projects Office."

Duke corrected but with no hint of justification in his tone.

"This wasn't purely a US military operation. It was after that incident that Misu started severing ties with the 'Witness' division."

"Seeing this, he had a conscience?" Song Heping mocked coldly, his tone full of sarcasm.

Duke gave a bitter smile, "Conscience? Maybe. Or maybe he suddenly realized that whether the experiment succeeded or not, he and those recruited companions would eventually be silenced. So he started recording everything—communication records, experimental data, copies of authorization documents, possibly even audio and video evidence, then disappeared with it all."

"General." Song Heping continued to sneer, "Let me be straightforward. Why do you want me to expose this? Is it really for the truth? For those dead civilians?"

He didn't believe Duke had a conscience either.

Duke's eyes flickered, and that moment of hesitation did not escape Song Heping's notice.

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

"Have you heard of the Clinton list?"

There was a deliberate calmness in Duke's voice.

Song Heping paused, thought for a moment, then shook his head, "Haven't heard of it."

Duke seemed to get a bit nervous, licked his dry lips, and said, "Do you want to hear me tell a story?"

Song Heping shrugged, checked his watch, "Sure, I have time."

Duke gathered his thoughts and began to speak slowly:

"In 1978, then-Arkansas Attorney General Clinton and his wife, together with friends James McDougal and his wife, established the White Water Development Corporation, planning to develop 230 acres of land on the banks of the White River in northern Arkansas.

Starting from 1982, this company began financing one after another, during which there were financial transactions with McDougal's Madison Savings and Loan, which, as a Federal Savings Insurance Corporation-insured institution, went bankrupt in 1989, causing a $60 million loss to the federal banking system.

In 1992, Clinton ascended to the White House;

In May 1993, an investigation team began collecting testimonies;

In July of the same year, White House Deputy Counsel, former Hillary Clinton law firm partner Foster died;

In November of the same year, Ed Willey, a "fundraising giant" who had made great efforts for Clinton's 1992 campaign, "shot himself" in the Virginia forest, and on the same day, his wife Catherine held a press conference accusing Clinton of "inappropriate behavior."

Local police found that the ballistics did not match the caliber of the handgun at Willey's home, but due to lack of further evidence, the case remained sealed.