The World's Richest Man: Start with the Daily Intelligence System

126: Chapter 126 An Interlude on the Return JourneyBecause the car was filled with a bunch of precious items, if even one was damaged, selling both of these men together wouldn’t be enough to pay for it.

He simply didn’t turn off the engine and looked at the two young men with sympathy while taking his phone out of his pocket to dial 110.

”Hello, police comrade. I’m Zhang Wei, invited by the Hainan Space Agency to discuss investment cooperation. I’m currently stuck at the entrance of Niutou Village in Lingao County. Two young men at the village entrance are blocking the road and won’t let me leave. Okay, I’ll wait. Thank you, police comrade.”

Seeing Zhang Wei call the police, the two hoodlums looked completely indifferent. This wasn’t a big City Name; how could the police possibly patrol here every day? Besides, they hadn’t done anything. Brother Gou had over a dozen men under him; could the police actually arrest them all?

Before long, the distant sound of ”wee-woo wee-woo” sirens could be heard. Usually, a single police car handled this kind of dispute, but today, three arrived all at once. The two young men were instantly dumbfounded by this display.

”Who called the police?” a booming voice asked.

”Police comrade, I’m the one who called,” Zhang Wei said calmly, stepping out of the car with a slight smile.

”Hello, Mr. Zhang. I am the Director of the Lingao County Police Station, surnamed Wang. On behalf of Lingao County, I welcome Mr. Zhang to Hainan for investment inspection,” Director Wang said to Zhang Wei with a smile.

”Hello, Director Wang. I was invited by the Space Agency to discuss cooperation this time, and I invested in a guesthouse here while I was at it. However, these two young men seem to have ill intentions toward me; look, they’re still clutching iron bars in their hands.”

As if waking from a dream, the two hoodlums immediately dropped the iron bars. The bars hit the ground with a piercing metallic clang, making the scene quite comical.

Suppressing a laugh, Zhang Wei recounted the events to the police. Director Wang listened and said solemnly, ”Mr. Zhang, rest assured, we will absolutely protect your safety.”

He then glanced at the police officers standing nearby. They understood immediately and promptly handcuffed the two hoodlums while lecturing them: ”It’s you two repeat offenders again. Instead of working a proper job, you wander around the village every day. What, trying to act like local tyrants? You’ve certainly got some nerve.”

”Take them back for a thorough interrogation and handle them strictly,” Director Wang added. Hearing this, the two hoodlums looked as if they had lost their parents, crying out that they were being wronged.

”By the way, Director Wang, I’d like to report something. The leader of this group is a local thug called Brother Gou. It seems he’s set up a gambling den in a nearby bridge culvert. People like that are a great harm to the environment.” Zhang Wei wasn’t stupid; he knew the principle of capturing the leader to catch the gang.

Director Wang waved his hand grandly: ”What are you standing around for? Pests like that should have been dealt with long ago. Go and arrest them immediately.”

The subsequent matters didn’t have much to do with Zhang Wei. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Director Wang, he prepared to leave.

He didn’t know that an ordinary police report would bring huge changes to many people. Brother Gou’s gang was arrested on the spot.

One must know that gambling is different from illegal casino operation; the latter carries a minimum sentence of three years up to life imprisonment. A thug like Brother Gou, who organized public gambling, had done plenty of other bad things too. With the police department applying the maximum penalty, what awaited him would be long years of prison misery.

As for Shen Yulin, he had a stroke of dumb luck. Gambling debts aren’t protected by law anyway, and with Brother Gou’s team all locked up, naturally, no one would come to him for money. Whether he would continue gambling in the future had nothing to do with Zhang Wei.

Driving on the highway toward Haikou, Zhang Wei was now worrying about how to bring a carload of treasures back to the City Name.

Hainan Province is the second-largest island in China, separated from the mainland by a strait. There are no bridges to cross it.

First of all, taking a plane was definitely out of the question. He wouldn’t feel safe checking so many items as luggage. He had seen many videos before where airport staff just threw suitcases onto the plane; that definitely wouldn’t work.

Although there is a direct train from Haikou to the City Name that uses a giant ferry to transport the train cars across the sea, by the same logic, his large and small bags definitely wouldn’t work there either.

That left only one option: driving. Zhang Wei groaned inwardly; most of his trip to Hainan had been spent on the road. He was almost sick of driving.

He made up his mind that the first thing he would do upon returning was hire a full-time driver. He was a chairman, after all; couldn’t he enjoy some luxury?

Having decided, Zhang Wei exited the highway at the gate near the Haikou cross-sea pier.

After inquiring at the pier ticket office, the fare for a vehicle with five seats or fewer was 415 yuan, which included the driver’s ticket. Zhang Wei paid the money readily.

There were six cross-sea ferry trips a day. The next available one was in an hour. Upon entering the waiting area, he could see over a dozen cars lined up like a long snake. Many drivers had gotten out to eat or use the restroom; a few were even squatting on the ground playing Fight the Landlord.

Zhang Wei parked the car. Being exhausted, he locked the doors and took a nap in the driver’s seat.

Later, he was awakened by a tapping on the car window. Outside was a pier staff member.

He then realized it was time to board. There were no cars in front of him, but quite a few were lined up behind him.

Zhang Wei quickly started the car and drove into the hold. The ship would take over an hour to reach Xuwen Port on the opposite shore. Zhang Wei didn’t get out; he reclined his seat and continued to sleep soundly. Although he knew the ship was safe, he still decided to act with caution.

A few hours later.

Inside a car rental company in Haikou.

Xiao Zhou, who was on duty, was leaning over the desk playing Honor of Kings.

A warning box suddenly popped up on the computer desktop: ”Abnormal path detected for user with vehicle ending in 8**7, please verify.”

Xiao Zhou put down his phone with some irritation and clicked on the user’s vehicle location. He saw a blue dot on the map; it had already crossed the sea and was moving rapidly north along the highway.

”Is someone trying to steal the car?” Xiao Zhou hurried to report the situation to the customer service manager, though he found it amusing in his heart.

Rental car theft wasn’t rare in their company. Usually, it happened two or three times a year.

Typically, after these repeat offenders rented a vehicle, they would find and remove all the hidden signal trackers. Then they would drive it to remote urban-rural areas to use. Generally, if they didn’t go into county towns, no one would check the car.

It was the first time he had seen someone being so blatant. They must be crazy for money.

Soon, Zhang Wei’s phone rang: ”Hello, sir. We’ve detected that the vehicle you rented has left the boundaries of Hainan Province. We’re warning you to drive it back immediately. Stealing a vehicle is a criminal act. If you don’t comply, we will call the police.”

”I’m sorry, I have urgent business and need to return to the City Name. How about this: provide a bank account number, and I’ll pay your company an extra fifty thousand yuan. You can send someone to the City Name tomorrow to drive the car back. This money will cover the labor and fuel costs, and the excess can be compensation. How does that sound?”

Zhang Wei didn’t care about this bit of compensation; he just wanted to get the items in the car back to the City Name quickly and then have a good sleep in his bedroom. One must know that driving from Xuwen Port to the City Name was a full two thousand kilometers away. The driving was enough to make a person go numb.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by a mocking voice: ”Sir, do you think I’m an idiot?”