Chapter 2

In the seventh fitting room, Zhang Tian saw it.

Zhang Tian pushed open the door of the seventh fitting room. Inside was a suitcase, identical to his own. The voice in the earpiece said, "Attach the earpiece to your suitcase, push the new suitcase out, and leave normally."

Zhang Tian hesitated, wiping sweat with his left hand. The other party seemed not to notice. After a while, the voice said, "The police are waiting for the elevator, you have thirty seconds... twenty-seven, twenty-six, twenty-five..."

Zhang Tian gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He took off the earpiece and attached it to his suitcase, then switched the suitcases and left the seventh fitting room. When he reached the corridor, Zhao Ang and two men were already at the elevator entrance, and they saw Zhang Tian at a glance. Zhao Ang quickly pulled his companions to the side. Zhao Ang pressed the earpiece and asked, "Group Three, Group Four, what's the situation?"

"Group Three has reached the escalator."

"Group Four has reached the fire exit."

They were already surrounded, with no way out. Zhao Ang breathed a sigh of relief. The man beside him asked, "Boss, arrest or let go?"

Zhao Ang looked at his watch: "Arrest him. There are many people in the mall, don't rush, don't cause a disturbance."

Soon, two men blocked Zhang Tian's path, showing their credentials: "Mr. Zhang Tian, we are police officers. We suspect you of smuggling high-quality counterfeit drugs and are now arresting you."

Zhang Tian calmly asked, "What are high-quality counterfeit drugs?"

"Mr. Zhang, do you allow us to search you and your luggage?" Zhao Ang walked over and said. This was a soft request; unless they suspected the person of carrying weapons, they could not forcibly search in a public place if the person refused. Zhao Ang added, "All items found on the scene will be used as evidence and submitted to the court, with legal effect."

Zhang Tian nodded: "Of course, you are performing your duties, and citizens have the obligation to cooperate. Please."

"Thank you." The man took the suitcase, unzipped it, glanced inside, and then looked at Zhao Ang. Zhao Ang stepped forward, opened it with both hands, and saw only books. Zhao Ang frowned, and after a few seconds, he ran like a leopard toward the clothing supermarket. There were many clothing supermarkets, and Zhao Ang turned back, pointing at Zhang Tian with a fierce expression: "Which one?"

Zhang Tian smiled but did not answer. Zhao Ang picked up the walkie-talkie: "Intercept all people with suitcases in the mall."

A female voice reminded on the walkie-talkee: "Boss, our team only has three people, and the other five are colleagues temporarily borrowed for the on-site investigation. Should we consider contacting the patrol police to surround the mall?"

"Are you an idiot? Think with your brain. For this small case, should I mobilize the nearby patrol police and surround the building? We still have to search, maybe... maybe God will favor me once." Zhao Ang looked around, took out a cross, put it in his mouth, and closed his eyes to pray. It's over; this time, I will probably be sent to an island.

...

On the second floor of the Dongcheng Drug Smuggling Bureau, Zhao Ang sat alone in the hall. His superior was taking Zhang Tian's statement in the interrogation room. A young girl placed a cup of coffee in front of him. Zhao Ang smiled bitterly, burying his face in the table: "I'm sorry."

The girl comforted him: "Boss, everyone makes mistakes. The higher-ups will understand... Hey? Isn't that Inspector Wu?"

A man in his fifties and a young woman walked up the stairs to the second-floor hall. The middle-aged man was Wu Rui, the chief investigator of white-collar crimes in Dongcheng, who was well-known in the industry. His sudden appearance was somewhat puzzling. Zhang Tian's case involved buying low and selling high-quality counterfeit drugs to make a profit, which was to protect the rights and patents of the pharmaceutical industry. Why would Wu Rui personally come for such a case?

Wu Rui shook hands with Zhao Ang's superior, chatted for a while, and then sat down with the woman, placing a court document in front of Zhang Tian. Zhang Tian read the document for a long time, hesitated, and Wu Rui waited quietly. Zhang Tian eventually signed the document. Wu Rui talked to him for a while, stood up, and escorted him out of the interrogation room, shaking his hand: "Goodbye, Mr. Zhang."

"Goodbye."

"Can't let him go." Zhao Ang said urgently: "Inspector Wu, we still have indirect evidence, we have video footage, we have witnesses..."

Wu Rui raised his hand to stop him from speaking and said to Zhao Ang's superior: "Please have all the colleagues who participated in the arrest today go to the meeting room."

...

In the meeting room, Wu Rui's assistant connected a USB drive to the large TV on the wall, turned around, and asked: "Who here knows what a corporate spy is?"

"Ha ha." Laughter broke out below, as if the question was too silly.

Wu Rui said to the female assistant: "They don't know."

Zhao Ang raised his hand and stood up: "A corporate spy is someone who engages in the illegal act of stealing commercial secrets from other companies."

Wu Rui asked: "Why do many supermarkets not allow taking photos or copying prices?"

Zhao Ang was taken aback: "Why? Yes, why?"

The female assistant said: "The activities of corporate spies are not necessarily illegal or criminal. In foreign countries, corporate spies are called business or commercial information collectors. They mainly collect information about competitors and the market. Only when these activities violate local laws, such as theft, intrusion, kidnapping, or bribery, do they become illegal. Collecting business intelligence itself is not illegal. Even if it becomes illegal, it is a personal act, not an illegal act of the company that employs them."

"In the 21st century, knowing a piece of information five seconds earlier or later can mean a loss or gain of millions or even tens of millions. Corporate spies, due to their low penalties, difficulty in conviction, low cost, and high mobility, have begun to spread globally, and China is currently a major victim."

Zhao Ang said: "Can you give an example?"

"Look here." The female assistant pressed a key, and a table appeared on the computer: "This is part of the cost table of a factory in the industrial area of City A, including water and electricity, labor, prices, location, transportation, efficiency, working hours, and transportation. Through these data, professional analysts can accurately calculate the profit generated by each part produced by the factory. As is well known, China is a manufacturing powerhouse, and many semi-finished products are made in China. A foreign company used this information to hard-press the price of semi-finished products by 15%, resulting in the factory losing over ten million dollars annually."

Wu Rui said: "In physics, energy is conserved. In business terms, something that costs ten dollars to make can be bought for eleven dollars. When your information is completely transparent to your negotiating opponent, you deserve to earn only one dollar. This one dollar is also called dog food; the other party is not unaware that you are making one dollar, but they use this one dollar to keep you from starving."

Zhao Ang didn't quite understand and asked: "Inspector Wu, what does this have to do with our drug smuggling investigation?"

"Of course, it has something to do with it, otherwise, I wouldn't be here." Wu Rui countered: "Do you know who your opponent was this time?"

"What do you mean?" Zhao Ang looked at the female assistant: "Is there something we don't know?"

PS: During the new book period, I really need recommendations. Collections, clicks, nothing can be missing. Thank you all.

PS2: During the new book period, updates are on a 2-3 schedule, two updates one day, three updates the next.

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