Chapter 3268 — Having a Countermeasure

Sure enough, the moment Wei Zhao raised the banner of the Buffon family, Crick's expression changed at once, and the way he looked at Wei Zhao was filled with the utmost respect. "Mr. Yi, greetings, and welcome—thank you for choosing our company for your business cooperation. Rest assured, our prices and our quality are absolutely the finest in the trade!"

"Of course. To be frank with you, thirty million euros was merely a figure I tossed out offhand. If our business is to get under way, it will certainly be more than that. So, Mr. Crick, might I trouble you to introduce me to your department manager?" Wei Zhao said.

"That goes without saying!" Even had Wei Zhao not asked, Crick had already intended to introduce him to the department head. The Buffon family was a great clan, and an order of this magnitude was more than a mere customer manager could swallow or sign off on—only the department head could handle it.

"My thanks, Mr. Crick." Wei Zhao nodded.

Through Crick's introduction, Wei Zhao smoothly met Lute, the head of the Red Conch's business department—a potbellied middle-aged man. Yet by Wei Zhao's instinct, this man surely knew a few of the Red Conch's secrets.

"Hello, Mr. Yi. A pleasure to meet you." Lute came over in a most formulaic manner and shook Wei Zhao's hand, then smiled faintly. "Please come with me. We'll talk in detail."

"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded.

After making the introduction, Crick left Department Head Lute's office, and Lute sent his secretary to pour Wei Zhao some tea. But when Wei Zhao laid eyes on Lute's secretary, his gaze could not help but sharpen slightly, and a flash of incredulous shock passed across his face and was gone.

Lute did not notice Wei Zhao's shock, but he did notice the long look Wei Zhao gave his secretary, and smiled. "You're from Asia, I take it, Mr. Yi? My secretary is too—a very capable young fellow. The general manager placed him at my side to temper him."

In truth, Lute said this to express his goodwill toward Asians and to flatter Wei Zhao a little—after all, in Lute's eyes Wei Zhao was a god of wealth. The Red Conch needed to launder money, and if they could attach themselves to the great ship of the Buffon family, everything thereafter would go much more smoothly.

True, it was only the supply of seafood to hotels, but if the cooperation deepened over time, the hotels' other facilities could well be procured through the Conch Group as well—and thus the Conch Group would gain a vast flow of cash.

"Yes indeed!" Wei Zhao smiled slightly. "The young man is quite good."

Wei Zhao's shock came from the young Asian man's appearance. Astonishingly, it was not far removed from his own likeness after he donned the Thousand Silk Mask. Of course, to call them identical was impossible, but there was a certain resemblance in spirit.

This discovery shocked Wei Zhao profoundly, and at the same time thrilled him beyond measure. Ever since entering the Conch Group, Wei Zhao had been searching for a breach, hoping to draw quickly near the general manager's office, but he had found no way in—and now this young man before him had shown him a shortcut straight to that office.

Above all, Lute had told him that the young man had been sent down by the general manager to temper himself at Lute's side. That was enough to show the young man knew the general manager—and if Wei Zhao disguised himself as this person, he ought to be able to enter the general manager's office without hindrance.

Of course, for Wei Zhao, once an assassin, disguising himself as someone who somewhat resembled him was simplicity itself.

Yet at this moment Wei Zhao gave no sign of it. He merely nodded and came to the point. "Department Head Lute, since you know my background, then I—I also know a thing or two about your company. You might say our cooperation is a win for both sides. I can increase the cash flow through the Conch Group, but you must give me the most favorable price."

Lute was slightly taken aback, but then reflected that Wei Zhao was one of the Buffon family, and it was hardly surprising he knew such secrets. The Buffon family were arms dealers by trade—in nature much the same as a drug-trafficking ring like the Red Conch, save that arms were legal in certain places.

But Lute was confident the Buffon family surely dabbled quietly in illegal arms deals as well. So it was a pleasure to speak with a clever man. Lute smiled at once. "Quite so. Since Mr. Yi is a man who understands, I won't waste words. Just tell me—how much cash flow at most can your hotel group run through me in a month?"

"Fifty million to a hundred million," Wei Zhao said. "But that is only the hotels in the nearby region. If your company offers sufficient advantage, the hotels in more distant regions can procure through you as well."

"I understand." Department Head Lute nodded. "How about this, Mr. Yi—would you wait here a little while? I'll go seek instructions from the general manager, and then do my utmost to give you our most favorable quotation sheet. Even if we lose a little money, even if we swallow some freight costs, that's no matter."

"Very well. I'll wait for your word." Wei Zhao smiled. This was the outcome he had most hoped for—and by the look of it, Lute was in the know, and had no intention of hiding from Wei Zhao his purpose of money laundering.

"Secretary Lu, see to Mr. Yi for me." Lute beckoned to his secretary, then rose and left the office.

"Secretary Lu, is it? No need to trouble yourself. I slept poorly last night—I'll just close my eyes and rest a while." Wei Zhao waved a hand, signaling that Secretary Lu need not prepare tea or refreshments.

"Certainly. Rest well, then, Mr. Yi," Secretary Lu said hurriedly.

Wei Zhao closed his eyes and appeared to be resting them in quiet contemplation, but in truth he was not resting at all—he was perceiving everything outside through the senses of his jade-pendant space. By now Wei Zhao was a Heaven-Rank expert, and to fix upon Lute's whereabouts was a trifling matter.

Wei Zhao kept his spiritual perception trained on Lute the whole time. He saw Lute leave the office and step into an elevator—a dedicated one, not an ordinary passenger lift, which could only be entered by swiping a card. At this Wei Zhao frowned slightly.

Such cards could be copied and cracked, true, but Wei Zhao had no chance to get his hands on one, and the elevator would surely be under surveillance; cracking it would take more time than he had. And Wei Zhao meant to seize those documents in one swift, silent strike, like a thunderbolt—not to rouse these people's suspicions and misgivings. If they relocated the drug-refining base, then even if Wei Zhao obtained the files, they would be of no use. (Fishman WeChat yuren22 will be sharing news of the school-flower mobile game with everyone these next few days.) (To be continued.