Chapter 553: Old Acquaintance

Police Headquarters.

“Chief, an invitation sent by the Beidou Consortium.” An officer walked into the office and handed the item in his hand to the desk.

The Chief, who was writing, paused, looked up at the invitation, sat up straight slowly, and took the invitation in his hand.

“That old thing, having a birthday, and he actually sent me an invitation?”

“It’s not just you. The Power Bureau, the Price Bureau, and several other chiefs have also been invited... Mu Chunsheng has been operating in the main city for so many years, and his connections and heritage are extremely deep. He is almost all-encompassing in both political and business circles. If it weren't for the fact that the [Floating Life Painting] never cares about human affairs, his invitations would probably have been sent to the heavens.”

“Be confident, he definitely sent invitations up there too, it’s just that no one paid attention to him.” The Chief said unhurriedly.

“Then this birthday banquet, are you going or not? Should I just decline it for you?”

The Chief didn't answer, but tapped his fingers on the table, as if thinking about something.

“In the past few days, has there been any situation at the dance hall?”

“Our plainclothes officers have been investigating secretly for a few days, but haven't found anything unusual... I don’t know if it was because the rain was too heavy that day, or if Li Ruohong deliberately had people clean it up, but the floorboards are already clean, no bloodstains left, and we haven't found the corpse that was slashed away. Except for the business not being very good, there’s nothing strange.”

The Chief nodded slightly. “That’s normal. The Twilight Society people have always been extremely cautious; how could they reveal flaws so easily... What about that so-called Room 001?”

“Speaking of this room, Li Ruohong seems to be alert. The rooms on that side have been closed, saying they are under renovation and maintenance. Our people didn't dare to alert the enemy, so they didn't sneak in to search... But for so many days, we really haven't seen anyone come out of there. On the contrary, Li Ruohong occasionally goes over, stays for a few minutes, and then comes out.”

“Oh?” The Chief’s brow raised slightly.

“There is another suspicious point... no, I don’t know if it can be considered a suspicious point.” The officer’s expression was a bit hesitant.

“Xiao Liu, you’ve been with me for a long time. I trust your intuition and judgment. If you have any thoughts, you can say them directly.”

“Yes.” The officer paused for a moment. “These past few days, I’ve been having them secretly check the trash dumped from the dance hall. After all, from a certain perspective, one can reconstruct what happened in the dance hall through the trash...”

“Good idea, and then? What did you find?”

“Bandages, a large number of blood-stained bandages.” The officer said in a deep voice. “These bandages seem to have been there for a while, the bloodstains on them have already turned black. Only if someone was seriously injured would they need so many bandages.

At first, I thought these bandages might have been used to deal with that missing corpse, but thinking about it carefully, after a person dies, blood soon stops flowing out, and it wouldn't require such a large amount of bandages, so...”

“You’re saying, that seriously injured companion who was snatched away by the Twilight Society at that time?”

“That’s right, I suspect that the person they snatched from our hands at that time is hiding in Room 001 of the dance hall... Of course, this is just reasoning, not yet decisive evidence.”

“I understand.”

The Chief’s gaze became increasingly serious. He looked down at the birthday banquet invitation in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then opened it, and said faintly,

“It seems I have no choice but to go to this birthday banquet... Li Ruohong is Mu Chunsheng’s nephew, and he will definitely be there. I want to find a suitable opportunity to talk to this ‘Twilight Society member’ personally and sound him out.”

“Then what about the dance hall side...”

“Once Li Ruohong leaves, the defense at the dance hall should loosen up a bit. Take the opportunity to search more deeply and see if there are any other clues... But still, as I said, control the scale and don’t alert the enemy.”

“Understood!”

……

Chen Ling thought about the birthday banquet for a long time.

When Kong Baosheng finished cooking and brought the steaming dishes to the table, Chen Ling was still sitting at the table like a statue, his brow furrowed, then relaxed, then lost in thought again.

Kong Baosheng wanted to persuade him to eat while it was hot, but seeing Chen Ling’s solemn expression, he didn't say it... In his mind, Mr. Lin was mostly worried because the theater had no guests. Although he didn't care about all this on the surface, he must be as anxious as he was inside.

He spent money to buy the theater, but in the end, there wasn't a single guest. Anyone would be worried sick.

Chen Ling didn't pick up his chopsticks first, so Kong Baosheng didn't dare to move either, just sitting there honestly, watching Chen Ling ponder... Until a series of hungry rumbles came from his stomach, Chen Ling finally came back to his senses and looked at Kong Baosheng in confusion:

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“If you aren't eating, sir, I feel embarrassed to eat.”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about... I was just lost in thought.” Chen Ling waved his hand. “Let’s eat first. After eating, I have to go out.”

Kong Baosheng asked in confusion while picking up his chopsticks: “Sir, are you going to buy something? I can be of service.”

“No.” Chen Ling shook his head and answered calmly,

“I’m going to see an old acquaintance.”

……

Evening.

At the busiest intersection in the Red Dust Main City, a towering Western-style building stood silently at dusk. Unlike other high-rise buildings that were brightly lit, this building had a classical and low-key style. An ancient pendulum slowly rotated on the roof, reflecting pale gold in the dusk.

And at the entrance of this building, four vigorous and powerful gilded characters made passing pedestrians stop:

——Huang Consortium.

At the top floor of the Western-style building, Huang Suyu was wearing a white nightgown, standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, her eyes reflecting the thousands of lights gradually lighting up at dusk, wondering what she was thinking.

“...The signing contract of our Huang Consortium is the most conscientious in the entire Red Dust Main City. Whether it is the sharing ratio or the constraints on artists, it is far less dark than the former Flower Capital Consortium. So after the Flower Capital Consortium collapsed, almost all the artists under their banner signed new contracts with us at the first opportunity.”

“Within half a year, the number of artists under our Huang Consortium skyrocketed, occupying 60% of the Red Dust Main City. Even many artists originally under the Beidou Consortium took the risk of bearing sky-high breach of contract fees to sign new contracts with us...”

“But the time our Huang Consortium has been rising is still too short, and our heritage is insufficient. Coupled with the fact that the contract matter angered the Beidou Consortium, our layout across the industry is being eroded bit by bit... If we don’t take measures as soon as possible, I’m afraid we will soon become the next Flower Capital Consortium.”

“Miss... no, Chairman, what should we do?”

In the corner of the room, Uncle Quan, with graying temples, held a few documents and sighed helplessly.