Futile Devices Scans

In the blink of an eye, it was already August. Time seemed to be passing faster and faster, yet the weather remained unbearably hot. Especially at noon, the blazing sun scorched the earth so fiercely that it almost looked as if steam were rising from the ground itself. Office workers hid inside buildings, unwilling to step outside.

After finishing lunch, Wang Ning’an and his assistant Peng Yang returned to the office.

Close to one o’clock, employees gradually returned to work one after another. Compared to more than half a month ago, Shenghui’s situation had improved considerably.

Wang Ning’an had honored his agreement with Yu Hongming and persuaded his grandfather Gu Shouzhuo to help Shenghui. With the Gu Corporation’s assistance, Shenghui finally stopped receiving calls from customers demanding refunds. Some merchants who had already returned goods even called back requesting the products again. The stock piled up in the warehouses was finally shipped out once more, and the losses began to recover.

Shenghui was a massive corporation. Its success was not built solely upon clever business strategies—product quality was equally important. Yu Hongming understood this principle very well, which was why tampering with product quality would only leave evidence that could later be used against him. Under normal circumstances, he would never do such a thing. The larger a business became, the more rivals there would be waiting for an opportunity to seize upon any weakness. Of course, Yu Hongming could not guarantee that every single product was absolutely flawless, because once a business expanded to a certain scale, occasional oversights were inevitable. One of the reasons Wang Ning’an had agreed to help Shenghui was precisely because Shenghui’s products did not have major quality issues. By now, he had been working at headquarters for nearly a year. Since Yu Hongming had previously entrusted most of the company’s authority to him, Wang Ning’an had already thoroughly understood Shenghui from top to bottom.

Now, only one issue remained unresolved.

Yu Hongming had once promised to give Wang Ning’an another three percent of Shenghui’s shares. Several days had already passed since Shenghui’s crisis was resolved, yet Yu Hongming still had not fulfilled his promise. Wang Ning’an had brought it up twice, but Yu Hongming found excuses each time to brush him off. The last excuse had been that he was overseas and would not return for another three days—which happened to be today.

Wang Ning’an had already concluded that Yu Hongming was deliberately stalling. He clearly had no intention of honoring his promise. However, Wang Ning’an was not anxious. Since he was capable of helping Shenghui overcome its crisis, then naturally he could also plunge Shenghui back into another one. Unfortunately, Yu Hongming did not seem to think so.

That afternoon, several police officers in uniform suddenly appeared in his office and arrested Wang Ning’an on charges of leaking and selling confidential company documents. They even presented an official arrest warrant.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Wang Ning’an did not resist. The police would not arrest someone without reason, and he himself certainly had not done such a thing. Therefore, it was obvious he had been framed. Wang Ning’an instructed Peng Yang to call his younger brother and inform him of the situation before following the officers away.

Less than an hour after Wang Ning’an was taken away, Yu Hongming appeared at the company. Peng Yang initially thought he had finally found someone reliable to turn to. After informing Yu Hongming about Wang Ning’an’s situation, however, Yu Hongming merely said he was already aware of it. There was no trace of surprise on his face. Although he verbally claimed he believed Wang Ning’an would never do such a thing, that very afternoon he took over all the work Wang Ning’an had been responsible for. Even the tasks Peng Yang usually handled were reassigned to Yu Hongming’s assistant and secretary. Only then did Peng Yang realize something was wrong.

If Chairman Yu truly believed in President Wang, then shouldn’t he have arranged for someone to investigate the matter, or at least gone to the police station to visit him? Yet instead, he calmly handled company affairs and deliberately excluded Peng Yang from everything.

At that moment, Wang Cheng, having received Peng Yang’s call, had already rushed to the police station.

Fifteen minutes had already passed since Wang Ning’an had been brought into the interrogation room. With Chu Yifeng clearing the way for them, the two quickly arrived outside the interrogation room just in time to hear the aggressive questioning coming from inside.

“All the evidence is already here. What else do you have left to deny? You claim you didn’t do it, so then why did your account suddenly receive a large sum of money? How do you explain that? I advise you to confess as soon as possible. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite. We have plenty of ways to deal with stubborn people like you. I doubt you want to experience them.”

Hearing this, Wang Cheng directly kicked the interrogation room door open.

The two interrogating officers were startled. They had just been about to ask who had the audacity to kick open a police station door when they suddenly noticed their superior walking in behind the newcomers. Their expressions instantly froze in confusion.

“C-Chief?”

“What brings you here personally?”

Chief Zhang, a middle-aged man surnamed Zhang, immediately put on a stern face after hearing their words. “What ‘Chief’? Hurry up and uncuff him!”

At those words, the two officers immediately realized the man they had handcuffed possessed an extraordinary background. Otherwise, even the police chief would never have been alarmed. One of the officers hurriedly unlocked Wang Ning’an’s handcuffs, then retreated nervously to the side as he watched the chief apologize to the two young men.

“Big Brother, did they use any torture against you?” Wang Cheng hurried over and grabbed Wang Ning’an, looking him over anxiously. When he received Peng Yang’s phone call earlier, he had panicked so badly that he ran several red lights on the way over, terrified that even being one step late might cause his brother to suffer.

Wang Ning’an pressed down on his hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. You arrived very quickly—they didn’t have time yet.”

Wang Cheng nodded. “Big Brother, what exactly is going on here? Peng Yang said someone reported you to the police for leaking and selling Shenghui’s confidential documents. They even supposedly have witnesses and physical evidence?”

Wang Ning’an did not speak immediately.

Chu Yifeng glanced toward Chief Zhang, who instantly understood. He brought the two police officers outside with him, temporarily leaving the interrogation room for the three of them to speak privately.

Wang Ning’an said, “If my guess is correct, this matter should be connected to Yu Hongming. He has probably already begun suspecting me. Back when Shenghui ran into trouble, he promised to give me company shares if I helped Shenghui survive the crisis. But after the crisis was resolved, he kept delaying with excuses. Today was supposed to be the day he returned. He most likely planned this long ago. Call Peng Yang now and ask about the company’s situation.”

Wang Cheng immediately pulled out his phone.

Peng Yang had also been waiting for his call. After learning that President Wang was safe, he finally relaxed and then informed Wang Cheng about everything Yu Hongming had done after returning to the company.

“Big Brother’s guess was correct. This really was Yu Hongming’s doing. The first thing he did after returning to the company wasn’t investigating the leak of confidential information, but taking over all the work you were responsible for,” Wang Cheng said after putting away his phone.

“I figured as much. There’s no need to worry about that matter for now.” Wang Ning’an was not concerned about Yu Hongming removing him from his position. What he was more interested in was the so-called witnesses and evidence. Yu Hongming should know perfectly well that Wang Ning’an had powerful backing behind him. If he openly colluded with the police to target him, such methods would be exposed very easily.

In fact, Yu Hongming was not stupid either.

Not to mention Wang Cheng standing behind Wang Ning’an—even the Gu Corporation alone was already far beyond Yu Hongming’s ability to oppose.

The three of them walked out to learn more about the situation. Chief Zhang informed them that the police had indeed received an anonymous tip-off. The informant had even provided evidence supposedly proving that Wang Ning’an was responsible. That evidence consisted of a confidential document bearing a signature, as well as an audio recording.

The name signed on the document was indeed “Wang Ning’an,” and from the handwriting, it undoubtedly appeared to be his real signature. As for the recording, it was a conversation between Wang Ning’an and another unfamiliar person. The contents were very brief—only a few sentences. The general meaning was that Wang Ning’an asked whether the money had arrived, and the other party replied that it had. However, there was no direct mention whatsoever of selling confidential documents, meaning the recording itself could not actually serve as evidence.

“That recording should originally have been an ordinary conversation between Peng Yang and me. They deliberately altered Peng Yang’s voice,” Wang Ning’an immediately realized after hearing it.

“How can something like that even count as evidence? Didn’t the police at least listen carefully before arresting someone?” Wang Cheng asked incredulously.

Chief Zhang looked somewhat embarrassed and glared at the officers nearby.

The officers, however, felt wronged themselves. Of course they knew the recording alone could not count as evidence, but the confidential document certainly seemed real. The informant had claimed to be an employee from the company that purchased the confidential information and said he decided to report it because he could not tolerate it any longer.

“The key issue should be the leaked confidential document itself,” Chu Yifeng said.

Wang Ning’an picked up the confidential file and examined it. “This is indeed a new medicine Shenghui has recently been preparing to launch, and that signature is indeed mine. But after signing it, I handed it over to others for further processing. I’m not the only person who could access these materials. Besides, many people know my bank account information. If someone wanted to frame me, all they would need to do is transfer money into my account like this.”

The reason the police had concluded Wang Ning’an was suspicious was because all these uncertain factors combined together, eventually causing suspicion to point toward him.

Soon afterward, another call came in. The police had simultaneously dispatched people to locate the buyer, but by the time they arrived, the buyer had already vanished without a trace, as if he had known in advance the police were coming. At this point, even the police themselves could tell this was likely a carefully orchestrated frame-up targeting Wang Ning’an.

“Oh right, I just remembered something,” Wang Ning’an suddenly said.

“What is it?”

“I remember activating SMS banking notifications on my phone. If money had been transferred into my account, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known. But I’m certain I never saw any such message. And my phone has never had any problems before. Normally, whenever clients contact me, I always carry my phone with me. But that particular day, I happened to leave it behind in the office. Peng Yang later brought it to me.”

Although he did not yet know exactly what method the other side had used, one thing was certain: someone had tampered with his phone.

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