"According to the information we have found so far, this method of withdrawal can be traced back to two years ago. But was there any withdrawal before that? Was it not just Plikin Bank that was involved? This is what we are most concerned about finding out at the moment."
"I understand what you said!" The manager breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand at them, "I'll contact the people I know right away!"
This news was salvation for him and for Prudential.
Because it is obvious that if only Prudential was involved, it would be severely punished no matter how lenient it was.
But if there are many and wide-ranging money merchants involved, the larger the scale, the lighter the punishment they will receive in the end.
After the manager left, several people looked through the notebook, and their words were filled with emotion about the current situation.
Alfred...he looked so calm and experienced. No matter who evaluated him, they couldn't tell what was wrong with him. Who could have thought that he would be involved in such a troublesome case and get deeper and deeper into it?
"I've asked someone to check his deposit information." Li Ang pushed the door open again. "Whether the money was taken out from his deposit or he was just a money transfer station, we'll know by this afternoon."
"Where are the manpower?" Xia Yibing glared at him.
"I want one too...but just like the bureau is understaffed, other departments are also short of staff."
The impact of Elsa's return is still ongoing. Even the city of Kuroki is facing a shortage of police force due to the increased population mobility. As the largest port on the eastern coast, the situation in Wayne will only become more serious.
"On the contrary, the people in the review team are very interested in this matter... After all, they specialize in this - as you know, part of their business focus is on investigating money merchants, and they have a cooperative relationship with the relevant financial department."
"I know, but you didn't agree?"
"I refused, but it's no use. As long as they are interested, they will come."
"It's enough. Without our application, they have to investigate from scratch if they want to intervene, which is enough to delay the process for a few days... and they may not take this matter seriously."
After chatting for a while, Xia Yibing suddenly looked at the girl.
"Aisun."
"Ok?"
"Can you tell me now? What do you think?"
It was fine at the beginning, but Hitzfeld later actually doubted that this kind of funding still existed two years ago, which made Xia Yibing confused.
Could it be that Alfred had already developed disloyalty towards the Bureau five years ago, or even earlier?
On the one hand, she was shocked by the boldness of this guess, and on the other hand, she also felt a little panic.
The reason is simple: something that happened so early has never been discovered within the Security Bureau.
There was an Alfred, so are there more examples?
"This doesn't make sense." Leon expressed his confusion, "How did he hide it from the Dream Weaver? Ms. Pusangsi couldn't make such a mistake!"
The threat of the Corruptor is very serious, so while paying attention to the mental treatment of the agents, Shadow Lion also needs to have detailed plans for the psychological conditions of those agents who are already falling into the abyss.
The first thing to do is to "discover". Only when you "discover" it can you take targeted preventive measures.
Just like Alfred, he had obviously been hiding something for many years. And usually such a secret could not be hidden from various hypnotic therapies, and the dream weaver had dozens of ways to make the subject speak out in a dream.
But no one noticed his problem.
Is this a special case?
Or do they really have a loophole in their program...that can be exploited by others to conceal the news?
"I think that's probably because," Hitzfeld licked his lips, "his belief is so strong."
"firm?"
No one else understood.
And she actually calls this behavior "belief"?
What on earth is she talking about?
"Most people do bad things... I mean, even if they don't seem to have any psychological burden, as long as the education they received since childhood and the environment they were exposed to are relatively normal, that is, they know that this is a bad thing, then they will definitely feel guilty."
Hitzfeld continued, "It's not visible on the surface, but it's there inside. That's what's driving them to confess everything in their dreams, but what if they don't think that at all?"
"What if they truly believe that this is justice? What if they believe that their side is right and our side is wrong? If they insist on this mentality for ten, twenty, or even forty years, how can a mere hypnosis tell them?"
"Aisun..." Xia Yibing lifted her hips off the table, stood firmly and walked towards her.
"what do you mean……"
She is also good at extracting key information from details.
Hitzfeld had extended the time limit to forty years, and this was definitely not just nonsense.
Considering that it was Alfred, considering that he was related to Dawson Literary Society, considering his various abnormalities, and the conflicting shame and persistence he showed.
Xia Yibing suddenly had an idea that made her feel creepy.
Could it be that... the curse that occurred in Blackwood Town forty years ago has continued to have its effects until now?
Of course, this is not necessarily the power of a curse, but human will can sometimes do more and last longer than a curse.
...She had already vaguely guessed who Alfred was secretly funding.
"It's pretty much what you think."
Hitzfeld also realized that she had guessed it, and nodded, "...I can't say."
Are you feeling complicated?
Naturally there is.
She hadn't thought that this might be the case in the end. Indeed...if this were the case, then everything would have a reasonable explanation, but how to reconcile this contradiction?
She rarely felt confused.
"Why don't I understand?" Li Ang couldn't help but say, "What do you mean by 'thinking'? What does she mean?"
Not only him, but Daryl and Dorey also cast curious glances at him.
"Alfred." Hitzfeld took a deep breath and continued, "He is likely to be secretly helping the refugees who survived the Golem Curse along with some others."
That's it?
Li Ang was stunned.
It’s no big deal, right?
Is it necessary to hide the fact that we are helping refugees? Isn't this a good thing?
Alfred, he can do it openly, and the bureau will not stop him but encourage him, because the spiritual feedback of this behavior is very beneficial to the mental health of the agents.
"They are not the refugees who were released last." Xia Yibing reminded him, "They are the ones who were decided to be executed."
Li Ang's expression changed instantly.
He had heard about it.
Yes... because the infection conditions of the Golem Curse are too loose, they can only kill all the suspects.
It turned out to be the case.
Indeed, that would make sense.
"The threat of the curse is too serious. In order to prevent its spread, we are forced to 'deal with' all those involved when we lack the necessary means."
Xia Yibing's tone was also quite low.
"Everyone knows there are innocent people among them, but there is nothing we can do. We have to do this for the sake of more people."
"And apparently there has always been another kind of justice lurking in the dark."
"I just hope... that this foolish justice doesn't cause any disaster."
Chapter 35: Gunshot
Li Ang could understand her very well.
He could imagine that if he were his younger self, he might actually approve of this approach, because after all, a considerable number of people—perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands, based on the scale of the second golem curse—were innocent.
They could have been saved, but they were secretly executed. How can this be considered just when the only crime they committed was that there was no evidence to prove their innocence?
Young Leon would indeed support this idea, but as his experience grew, as he witnessed more sacrifices... the sacrifices of his peers, even the sacrifices of people like Aisuen Hitzfeld, he had long since changed his mind.
Yes, it is a pity that those innocent people died, but in this damn era, whose sacrifice is not a pity?
They weren't killing people on purpose, and they weren't doing it when they had other options. The bureau was also operating these matters with great grief, and this incident even hit them harder than anyone else, and the executors had to receive psychological treatment after they were done.
Because they are insiders... The soldiers on the firing squad may have only thought that they had killed a group of vagrants and thugs, but they knew the truth. When this guilt is repeated for the thousandth or ten thousandth time, people's hearts are really likely to collapse.
Why is such a huge price paid? Isn't it so that more people can survive?
Leon couldn't understand why Alfred was trapped in it for more than 40 years and even died because of it, a logic that even he could understand.
"It's still related to Lilith Gray." Xia Yibing said coldly, "This forbidden feeling started from the first golem curse, or even before. Maybe he regretted not saying it out loud first, and hated why he didn't get to know that woman first..."
She would not have the leisure to make excuses for others like Li Ang did. If she were younger according to Li Ang's logic, she would be even more violent than she is now.
She is different from Leon. She entered this industry purely out of hatred and pain.
In the early years, without the spiritual baptism brought by Hitzfeld, Xia Yibing could only torture her soul with nightmares again and again. This inevitably affected her basic emotions. The 17th team she controlled at the time was the most brutal in treating traitors among all the teams. Those people who fell into her hands would be considered light even if their legs and arms were broken. In most cases, they would be completely disabled, or experience the same nightmares as her when they were pierced by the long Xia knife again and again, and their spirits had already disintegrated and collapsed in the intense pain.
After taking the position, her mood became calmer. Several doctors and dream weavers in the bureau were puzzled by this. Xia Yibing herself knew that it was because she had a "scabbard" for the first time.
That gentle girl, with her wisdom and kindness, wrapped her up, guided her... one could even say indulged her. She thought it was just a door opened in the darkness, a beam of light coming out of that door. Unexpectedly, it was actually a hand, an arm. She broke into the darkness with a domineering attitude, and the light emanating from her body dispelled the haze, completely bringing her a new life.
Of course she could understand. Although it might sound snobbish to say this, the fact is - when she began to feel the kindness the world had given her, she would not hesitate to repay the world with the same kindness.
But she has finally sat in this position.
With the old man and the base of Elsa Continent, she could have done what she wanted. But she also remembered why the last person in this position, Barty Villefort, whom she regarded as her adoptive father, died.
Hatred has not faded from the heart, it has just been covered up. When those scars are stimulated, they will open and bleed, and ooze out the juice called hatred.
"Find out his deposit information as soon as possible!" The woman made the decision. "Also, Cornerel!"
"I'm here!" Li Ang was startled, knowing that she was calling people in this tone and that she must be doing a big job, so he quickly stood up over there.
"Mobilize all the spare personnel here. I will not only surround that corner tower, but also the entire Xianshui Road - no! The entire Changning District! No one here is allowed to leave!"
This is really a big commotion... Li Ang wailed in his heart, and then asked: "But we really can't spare so many people at the moment..."
"You know the consequences of spreading the Golem Curse here, don't you?" Xia Yibing replied sinisterly, "Use your mind to think about it. What are we willing to pay to fix this mess?"
"That's almost the price of everything—" Leon said as he picked up his hat and ran outside, "I understand—I'm going to lie now—I'm going to contact the people from the review team! I believe they will be very interested!"
After he left, Hitzfeld and others did not stay in the office long.
The information that can be found here has been almost exhausted. The questions that the bank manager promised to ask will not be answered in a short time. For Hitzfeld personally, she is now very eager to return to the bookstore and ask Ms. Gretzer for more details.
Why? Because the other party said that Alfred started sending newspapers to the bookstore to pay for the money two years ago.
Two years ago, the Blackwood City incident happened a little earlier, and the second golem curse broke out and ended. The funding happened to start two years ago, and this bookstore just happened to open at that time. She didn't think everything could be so coincidental.
There is a high possibility that the bookstore owner is also an insider, or even one of the accomplices. And she also said that she was from the south, right? Then Blackwood City is also considered to be in the south compared to Wayne. Maybe she was the refugee that Alfred used his connections to rescue. She and other people of the same identity came to Wayne among the truly pardoned refugees. She may have changed her name and identity, and lived cautiously, not daring to let anyone find out.
"That is to say, they dare not show their heads." On the way back, Duo Lei was also trying to analyze the case. She said softly in a trembling voice, "The king's jurisdiction over foreign populations is very strict... If they show their heads, as long as there is a slight mistake in their forged identity information, everyone in this entire line will be in danger of being uprooted."
"That's right." Xia Yibing hummed, and said indifferently: "So they can only do the lowest-end jobs, such as finding a jewelry store and trying to pan gold from its sewers."
In this way, the whole line is aligned.
Alfred's suicide case, Ross's gold crown theft case, all these clues point to the corner tower, to the gloomy and dark archway building that makes people uncomfortable even in the daytime.
Hitzfeld did not intervene in the conversation because Ms. Yusilian happened to wake up - she just found out that she had slept during this period of time.
"It's normal, right?" The lady's tone was relaxed. "Who am I? I am the leader of the alien army, the King of Aisha, the last king of the Latadians, and the Knight of the Sun King. You don't intend for me to pay too much attention to solving such a case, do you? No way?"
Hitzfeld finally suppressed the urge to pull her out and throw her into the grass. She taunted again, "Sometimes thinking too much can lead to mistakes. You should know this, little Annie."
"No—I don't know!"
"But didn't you do very well in Aisha? I mean, there were times when you were able to calculate others without any emotion. You knew that their fate would be completely changed because of your manipulation, and many people would even die because of it, but you still didn't hesitate at all."
"It's different." Hitzfeld didn't want to argue with her. "Completely different."
"I can't see any difference. If I must say... is it 'Lilith-Gree'?"
"..."
"Does this person have a special place in your heart? Oh, I understand... You think these people have objectively suffered from her curse. If they are the ones who survived the second curse, then you, who inherited their inheritance, must also bear some responsibility..."
"I don't want to bother with you anymore, Ms. Yusilian."
"You don't even want to call me your teacher? Little Annie, you're so cute..."
