Cui Yuanfeng acted quickly, returning the next day at noon to report the investigation findings to Luo Xingchao.
“Wenxiang’s information is correct. My men found the white Buick at Baili Auto Repair Shop yesterday. We spent some time investigating and found out that the car was delivered to Baili Auto Repair Shop by Lai Huaiwu, the captain of the First Action Team. In other words, Lai Huaiwu was involved in the kidnapping of Wei Hongde.”
"This man is Wu Shicai's confidant!" Luo Xingchao's face lit up with joy. "Have you found Lai Huaiwu yet?"
Cui Yuanfeng nodded and said, "Lai Huaiwu hadn't shown up before. We spent the whole morning and finally found him at the Wanguo Casino in western Shanghai. We're currently setting up a surveillance operation."
The International Casino is one of the largest casinos in western Shanghai. Wu Shicai often frequents this place, which is also one of his hideouts.
Cui Yuanfeng had been stationed here to monitor Wu Shicai, and that's when he discovered Lai Huaiwu's whereabouts.
Luo Xingchao pondered for a moment. The situation was now clear. The intelligence department's information was correct. Wu Shicai was indeed the mastermind behind this kidnapping. The breakthrough now lay with Lai Huaiwu.
He ordered in a deep voice, "Tell your men to be careful and keep a close eye on him. We must find where Wei Hongde is being held before dark. If following him doesn't work, arrest him as soon as it gets dark and get him to talk. We're pressed for time and can't afford to waste it on him."
"Understood!" Cui Yuanfeng nodded in acceptance, turned and left the office to arrange manpower for the arrest.
The Grand Casino is a bustling establishment with dozens of gambling tables lined up in its spacious hall, each surrounded by a large number of gamblers.
This is the most luxurious casino in western Shanghai. The interior is decorated mainly in gold, creating a magnificent and opulent atmosphere.
At one of the gambling tables, a young man in his thirties slammed his pai gow paddle down on the table, cursing under his breath. He had clearly lost again. He checked his pockets and found they were empty. Helpless, he shook his head and turned to leave the table.
This man was Lai Huaiwu, who had come to report to Wu Shicai today. However, once he entered the casino, he couldn't resist his gambling addiction and started playing a few rounds of Pai Gow. As a result, he had terrible luck and lost all his money in no time.
He checked the time, dared not delay any longer, turned around and went up the stairs to the second-floor lobby.
The second floor also has some gambling tables, but the decoration is more luxurious, and it is much quieter than the lobby downstairs. The gamblers are also dressed in more upscale clothes. Only gamblers with larger bets can come up here.
At the top of the stairs, there were Green Gang members guarding the place. Seeing that it was Lai Huaiwu coming up, they smiled and said, "Brother Lai, why the long face? Having a bad run of luck?"
Lai Huaiwu rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Damn it, I just pushed a few times and my pockets are empty."
At this point, he looked around and asked, "Is the captain here?"
"exist!"
Lai Huaiwu nodded in acknowledgment, then continued walking inside. He soon arrived at the door of a private room, Wu Shicai's private room. Lai Huaiwu greeted the guards at the door, knocked, and entered.
Inside the room, Wu Shicai was pointing at a leader and cursing, "You idiots! I told you to go find him, and it's been days! You haven't even found a trace of him! Send more people right now, and we'll dig three feet into the ground to find him!"
The leader was being verbally abused so harshly that he could only nod and agree repeatedly. Fortunately, Wu Shicai stopped cursing when he saw Lai Huaiwu come in.
Wu Shicai then instructed, "Go find him right now. If you can't find him, I'll hold you responsible!"
After saying that, he waved his hand, and the leader, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, hurriedly left the office.
Wu Shicai turned to Lai Huaiwu, who was standing to the side, and asked, "How's the situation on your end? Is that old bastard Wei Hongde still behaving himself?"
Lai Huaiwu was a confidant of Wu Shicai and was specifically assigned to be in charge of this kidnapping operation. When he heard Wu Shicai ask, he quickly replied, "Don't worry, everything is fine on my end. Wei Hongde is also very honest. Rich people like him value their lives and wouldn't dare to disobey. Captain, we're going to ransom him tonight. Do you have any further instructions?"
During this period, Wu Shicai tried every means to raise the money as soon as possible, but the results were not good.
Although he swallowed up Sheng Zhiyuan's assets, these businesses were almost empty shells. All the funds had been drained by Sheng Zhiyuan, and the remaining immovable properties could not be liquidated in the short term. The reputation of No. 76 was too bad, and people around knew about the entanglement between the Sheng family and Wu Shicai, so they dared not take over.
Driven to desperation, he arrested several merchants from western Shanghai under various pretexts. However, these people had very limited wealth, far less than Sheng Zhiyuan. Even if they sold everything they owned, they would still struggle to raise this huge sum of money.
Since modern times, the most prosperous commercial areas in Shanghai have always been the concession areas. In addition, since the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai, wealthy people have fled to the concessions to live. Now, almost all of Shanghai's richest people live in the concessions, and the merchants doing business in the city center are not very wealthy.
Of course, there were some powerful families, but there were reasons why these people were able to survive and thrive under the strong control of the Japanese. They were either important government officials or business partners of the Fujiwara Company. Wu Shicai really didn't dare to provoke such people.
After much deliberation, he decided to target the wealthy tycoons in the foreign concessions, and that's how Wei Hongde became Wu Shicai's prey.
Wu Shicai shook his head and said, "I still have some things to do right now. You are in full charge of this matter, so don't make any mistakes."
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