Chapter 4 - Tracing the Blood Money
The neon lights of Shenzhen flickered through the rain-streaked window of a cheap, underground cyber cafe.
Inspector Vance had traveled a thousand miles south, chasing the phantom trail of the two hundred thousand yuan Nguyen had given Mai.
He sat across from a terrified underground hacker named Lin, a young man who specialized in laundering money for the criminal elite.
Lin’s hands shook uncontrollably as he stared at the police badge Vance had casually tossed onto the sticky keyboard.
"I didn't know she was a murderer, I swear to God I just moved the funds," Lin stammered, his eyes darting toward the exit.
Vance leaned forward, his voice a low, threatening rumble that cut through the noise of the crowded room.
"I don't care about your money laundering, kid, I want to know exactly where those funds originated and who authorized the transfer."
Lin nervously pulled up a string of encrypted bank records, his fingers flying across the keys with desperate speed.
He pointed to a highly obscured transaction history, revealing a complex web of shell companies routed through the Cayman Islands.
"The money didn't come from Nguyen's personal account, it came from a corporate slush fund registered to a chemical manufacturing plant," Lin explained.
Vance narrowed his eyes, memorizing the name of the suspicious chemical facility located on the outskirts of Fangzheng County.
"Why would a billionaire use a chemical plant's payroll account to pay off a fleeing mistress?" Vance asked, connecting the invisible dots.
"Because it wasn't a payoff, Inspector," Lin whispered, pulling up the original memo attached to the dark web transfer.
"The money was flagged under the internal code 'Severance', and it wasn't meant for her escape, it was meant to hire a hitman in Shenzhen."
Vance felt a cold chill run down his spine as the grim reality of Nguyen’s master plan finally snapped into place.
Nguyen had never intended for Mai to successfully escape the country and live happily ever after with his money.
He had lured her to Shenzhen to have her quietly assassinated, tying up the final loose end of his elaborate murder plot.
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Mai had only survived long enough to be arrested because the local police had accidentally stumbled upon her hotel room before the hired killer arrived.
Vance grabbed the printed banking records, knowing he finally had the paper trail needed to drag the untouchable billionaire into the light.
