Chapter 263 – Unwarranted

“Mascarante.” Xiu Min asserted.

“Ah!” The other twin cried out in realization. “Yeah, that’s it. That’s the name.”

He paused and looked at his twin in confusion. “You know them?”

Xiu Min looked at Xiu Mo Ruo with squinted eyes and nodded depressingly as he let out a deep sigh.

Not only does he know their existence but he encountered one of their members before during his mission in the West. Their nasty operations are scattered all over the country and what’s worst is that because of their long history, they have quite a rich amount of capital and connections not only limited in America but also in Europe.

They are a very notorious group and the military is also very cautious in their attempts to sneak into China and start their operations here in the country.

Xiu Min’s eyebrows furrowed. He was confused.

Why was an Italian American Mafia interfering with Chinese politics? Could they possibly be planning on expanding their power here in the East and they’re starting it out here in China?

But no matter what their reason is, if they’re really collaborating with someone to plant their own people within the government, then it’s urgent to inform his superiors regarding this.

This could possibly escalate into a national issue that can threaten the entire country’s security and intelligence if not immediately resolved.

His mind was already going through thousand possible reasons why the Mascarante Mafia was doing this when Xiu Mo Ruo spoke again.

“I’ll try and see what I can do inside the government. It would be a bit difficult to do it on my own since I only have influence within the foreign affairs department, so I’ll have to discuss with Father and Grandfather first before I do anything.” He held his chin as he laid out his plan to his twin.

“Maybe I can ask our other relatives who have influence in the other departments. But it will take a while.” Xiu Mo Ruo shrugged as he leaned his back on the sofa again. “Interfering with politics is a bit complicated than just shooting with a gun ah.”

Xiu Min narrowed his eyes and threw a sharp glare at him. “Are you asking to be shot in the head by me? Speak well.”

Xiu Mo Ruo quickly defended himself. “Stupid. You misinterpreted my words. I’m just saying that unlike you who can directly resolve the issue through combat and stuff, I, on the other hand, can only use my words and influence as my weapon.”

He stood up from the sofa and stretched his limbs. “So if you’re planning to ask me to finish the job quickly then I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you instead.”

The military twin didn’t seem to be bothered that it won’t be resolved quickly. Somehow, he already expected that answer.

“En. Then at least make sure to keep them from doing anything funny whilst I do the clean-up on our side.” Xiu Min uttered as he folded his laptop back.

“Do you think I’m a god?!” He grabbed a pillow and threw it to his twin. “Do you want to exchange places with me so you can try and see if you can keep them from doing strange things?”

Xiu Min smoothly dodged the incoming pillow. “Not interested.”

He firmly turned him down while speaking to him with a blank expression, “I’m a person who fights with strength. Being eloquent is your job, not mine.”

After patting his twin’s shoulder, he immediately strode towards the door without giving any chance for Xiu Mo Ruo to complain anymore.

Xiu Min returned to the base with a grim expression and reported Xiu Mo Ruo’s findings to his superior. Since it wasn’t related to his other investigation, he didn’t directly report Sr. Lieutenant Yu, his mother, and instead reported it to his other superior.

He thought it over. Since there’s also involvement from an organization in the underground city, he was contemplating whether to contact his brother-in-law regarding the incident. But after pondering about it for a little longer, he shook his head and erased that idea.

This is bad. Since they’ve started to cooperate with the main leader of the underground city, he started relying a bit too much on Lu Chen. He had been controlling himself from telling him too much confidential information since Lu Chen’s position is a bit complicated.

He’s still a person that the military is very cautious with, despite being his brother-in-law.

Nevermind then. He’ll find someone to thread on the underground city in his stead and find out whom exactly did that person from Mascarante had a deal with.

While waiting for his superior’s instructions, Xiu Min returned to digging and reading the case files related to his other investigation. He went to the record room and accessed the files through the special computer which is the only way to access the casefiles, the old ones included.

They’ve already tracked the Zhao family member who received the bribe. Just as he suspected, the other side didn’t pay them by wiring the money but instead gave them assets. Sgt. Zhao’s parents bought a villa in the same year that Sgt. Fang died. There was also a sudden increase in deposits in Sgt. Zhao’s wife’s side of the family, which he assumes must be the hard cash they received.

The other side was too cautious and made sure not to leave any paper trail in the bank so he focused on the purchase of the land instead. The land was purchase through a real estate agency, and it seems the person who sold the land hired a proxy. He was beyond frustrated with how cautious the other person is but he wasn’t going to give up.

He also compiled all Sgt. Zhao’s actions throughout his entire stay in the military. All of his unwarranted actions looked simple and small at a glance maybe that’s why the others turned a blind eye to it, but Xiu Min didn’t think so.

At that time, it was really something that could be easily overlooked. But after a few years, the effect it brought became something big.

It was like you’re robbing someone of a handful of puzzle pieces out of the 1000 pieces. It didn’t look that serious, but once you’ve almost completed building and matching all those other pieces left, that handful of puzzle pieces that were missing instantly became a big issue.

And now, all of Sgt. Zhao’s unwarranted actions had the same results.

He didn’t only falsify Sgt. Fang’s death. He did the same to his other colleagues, especially those who died during the mission.

Xiu Min suspected that someone leaked the details of the mission and Sgt. Zhao must have gotten his hands over it and sold it to someone. He traced back Sgt. Zhao’s actions again and it seems like he was in a huge debt for gambling and somehow paid his millions of debt a week later after the third soldier’s death during the mission.

He also did some petty things like messing up with the case file of the people he is enemies with. He was also especially rude to other lower soldiers during his duty and he liked to kiss up to his superiors which probably made it possible for his actions to be easily overlooked.

Xiu Min felt his head ache from all he was reading. He pushed his laptop for a moment and squeezed his forehead with his other hand.

F.u.c.k. To think that a sergeant like this one created so much mess and it was overlooked because it wasn’t that serious?

He was seriously considering changing the training regimen now. Maybe, make their recruitment even stricter and conduct a yearly check on each soldier to see if they’re doing something funny behind their backs?

Xiu Min was silent for a whole five minutes before he continued reading the files. He was rushing on reading all of it since he has a scheduled flight to America tonight. He would personally go abroad along with his other men to check on the details behind Sgt. Fang’s death. Investigating would be easier with more hands and they might get more clues if they dig more if Sgt. Fang’s death was really related to Albert Chen.

After completing and noting down all the important details, Xiu Min and his team left for America that night. What they did not expect was that a few hours after their arrival in America, someone was already alerted with their movements and is already planning to ambush them.