Chapter 276: Chapter 207: The Clue Xiao Gu Brought to Lin Qi (2)
’But that would expose my movements to Alliance City’s surveillance network. Even if I keep moving erratically to prevent any intelligent algorithm from analyzing my objective...’
’...others might not be able to figure out my goal, but the Capitalists are still watching me.’
’There aren’t that many people in the Medical Small Business Alliance for me to be meeting, after all.’
What a headache. ’Looks like if I want to stop the Capitalists from uncovering my identity, I’ll have to go to Guang Ling and pay up.’
The price for having Guang Ling cover his tracks was not cheap.
They billed by the hour.
Lin Qi already owed Guang Ling a mountain of debt, a figure as high as six million Credit Points.
’Go further into debt to ask for help?’
Lin Qi would need some seriously thick skin to even ask.
’Then again, it’s not like I can’t bring myself to ask. Anyway, six million probably isn’t that much to Guang Ling...’
Lin Qi reassured himself, then temporarily pushed the matter out of his mind.
’Worst case, I’ll just take action tonight and go straight to Guang Ling to apply for their ’delinquent account services’!’
He rested for a while, casually flipping through some literature on A-Class Pharmacy.
Soon, it was time for the conference he’d agreed to attend with Xiao Gu.
After meeting so many members of the Medical Small Business Alliance, Lin Qi knew he needed to make an appearance at this conference.
It was a necessary step to build more trust with the members of the Medical Small Business Alliance.
Lin Qi intended for United Pharmaceutical to become the leader of this loose alliance; after all, there was, to some extent, a profit to be made.
Lin Qi hadn’t gone into detail about these matters with Liu Xuan. After all, as one of only two directors at United Pharmaceutical, he didn’t need to report exercising this small amount of authority.
Today’s venue wasn’t as fancy as the previous two days. Apparently, the costs were becoming unsustainable.
Besides, Lin Qi was more or less "one of them" now, so Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong no longer felt the need to put on such a show for appearances’ sake.
Lin Qi and Brother Green Hair, in their usual style, arrived at the venue just as the conference was beginning.
The conference’s format was much the same as the previous two days.
Lin Qi hadn’t planned on mingling much. He found a corner of the venue, sat down by himself, and continued to mull things over.
Suddenly, however, Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong approached him.
"Chairman Lin, about that matter you asked us to look into this afternoon... we’ve got a lead. Should we talk?"
The news they brought took Lin Qi by surprise.
’They have news?’
This was a pleasant surprise.
His inquiries that afternoon were merely a tactic to confuse the Capitalists and, at the same time, to stir the pot and see what came out.
But as it turned out, the members of the Medical Small Business Alliance had actually managed to find some intelligence for him.
"Mm."
Lin Qi nodded, then followed Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong into a meeting room within the venue.
Inside the meeting room, the pair had already set up a network jamming device.
Lin Qi paid it no mind.
A device like that had its uses, but for someone on the level of a permanent council member of the Big Business Alliance, its effect was quite limited.
If Councilor Aishwarya took notice of this meeting, breaking through the network jam would not be difficult for her at all.
But flushing out his target was one of Lin Qi’s goals to begin with, so there was no need to waste too much energy trying to hide this meeting.
"Brother Xiao Gu, you’re the one who dug up the intel, so you should be the one to present it. I just acted as the go-between."
"Not at all. Without Sister Yuan, I never would have had the chance to get this information."
Before informing Lin Qi, the two of them exchanged a round of pleasantries.
This was a performance.
A performance put on for Lin Qi’s benefit.
It seemed like a polite exchange, but it was actually a way for them to claim credit.
Lin Qi, a man of high emotional intelligence, said, "Rest assured, you two. I will report this to Liu Xuan exactly as it happened. She will remember what you’ve done."
His own thanks, while appreciated, didn’t carry much weight with these two.
That was why he brought up Liu Xuan directly!
In their eyes, Liu Xuan’s identity wasn’t as simple as just the chairman of United Pharmaceutical.
She was Liu Xingyuan’s daughter, an identity that carried far more weight than being chairman of United Pharmaceutical.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong immediately broke into smiles.
Their efforts had not been in vain. As long as they could establish a connection with Liu’s Heavy Industries, it was all worth it.
As for whether they might offend Councilor Aishwarya?
They couldn’t worry about that for now; the games played at the highest levels were beyond their comprehension.
The Big Business Alliance had already pushed the smaller businesses into a corner anyway. Even if they offended Aishwarya, things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
In that case, they might as well put their faith in the Liu Clan and... Councilor Qiao Xi!
Liu Xuan’s meeting with Qiao Xi had been a major shot in the arm for all the members of the Medical Small Business Alliance. It was one of the reasons Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong were willing to dig up information for Lin Qi, and also one of the reasons they had been able to find anything at all.
Xiao Gu took out a chip, handed it to Lin Qi, and began to explain.
"Chairman Lin, first, I should state that I’m not sure if this is related to what you were asking about."
"However, it does concern members of Councilor Aishwarya’s family—or, to be more precise, the internal affairs of a company run by her family members."
"This is a procurement list from a company within our Medical Small Business Alliance that wishes to remain anonymous."
"The list details the procurement of multiple batches of non-standard Extraordinary Materials. ’Non-standard’ means the materials don’t come from companies like Liu’s Heavy Industries that mass-produce Extraordinary Materials, and their properties are also relatively undefined."
"According to the company’s chairman, who also wishes to remain anonymous, this batch of materials was purchased on the Black Market."
"But it was only after receiving the materials that they discovered these non-standard Extraordinary Materials were actually just fragmented pieces of shipping crates and packing filler from multiple batches."
"This anonymous chairman’s company has limited research capabilities in Pharmacy, but they happen to be experts at jigsaw puzzles."
"After assembling tens of thousands of fragments, they discovered the materials came from Shifan Technology, a small enterprise controlled by Councilor Aishwarya’s family. The company’s purpose is to manage the councilor’s personal assets and generate profit through investments."
"What’s stored on the chip is the reassembled image of these Extraordinary Materials, along with some of the material properties they were able to research."
Holding the chip, Lin Qi found he never could have imagined this would be the source of the intelligence.
So, basically, a small company bought a batch of goods from the Black Market.
After the goods arrived, they found them too difficult to research. So, some researchers, bored out of their minds, started doing jigsaw puzzles in the lab.
And with over ten thousand tiny fragments, they actually managed to assemble a complete transport case.
They even reconstructed the logo on the side of the case, which was how they discovered the materials were connected to Councilor Aishwarya’s family.
With so many companies out there, you’re bound to find all sorts of eccentric researchers.
Theoretically, intelligence like this wasn’t particularly significant.
It was just a case of Councilor Aishwarya’s family members reselling a batch of Extraordinary Materials.
The only reason Xiao Gu and Yuan Hong had brought this to him was to try their luck, to prove that they had put in the effort and had been running around to fulfill his request.
If they couldn’t claim success, they could at least claim effort.
What they didn’t know, however, was that Lin Qi had indeed caught the scent of a real clue within this story.
Without speaking, Lin Qi let his mind race, turning the information over.
’Non-standard Extraordinary Materials... No normal company would produce something like this.’
’The value is too low, and you can’t use non-standard materials in conventional Potion production.’
’Not unless some researcher was bored enough to develop a specific application for them.’
’And that kind of special treatment is usually only reserved for High Level Extraordinary Materials.’
’But can a small business afford High Level Extraordinary Materials?’
’Obviously not!’
’This proves that this batch of Extraordinary Materials probably wasn’t produced deliberately.’
’The company controlled by Councilor Aishwarya’s family isn’t in the business of producing Extraordinary Materials, either.’
’Which means the creation of these Extraordinary Materials was a complete accident.’
As a well-read A-level Researcher in Pharmacy with a solid theoretical foundation, Lin Qi immediately recalled the production methods for Extraordinary Materials.
And within them, he found his clue.
