At this time, the captain of Team 7 chipped in.
I think newcomers should be given a chance. Everyone knows what Team 2 was like in the past, but we can’t waste the resources of any of our teams. Now, every team has their cases to work on, and Team 5 would be a bit swamped if they have to investigate both West Gate and East Gate. I think it’s best if Team 5 focuses on the East Gate case.
Ran Jing replied,
I’m fine with temporarily putting West Gate’s case on hold, but why is Team 2 taking over?
She looked around at the other team captains, a bit angry. She felt like it was more of a trap for Xu Cheng, so she was trying to stop Xu Cheng from walking into it.
Team 3’s Captain stroked his beard and smiled.
The other teams are busy as well, so right now it seems like only Team 2 can be used.
Ran Jing:
We all know what state Team 2 is in, which other team isn’t a formation of more than 20 or even 40 members? When necessary, the other teams can even coordinate operations with the Special Police Force, but Team 2 only has 10 people. I think everyone knows very well the kind of existence that is West Gate. Sending only 10 people to investigate West Gate’s money laundering case, I think it’s too much of a joke.
Captain Ran, what are you doing? Are you planning to rob Team 2 of a big case they can work on? We all have things to do, it’s not right to just let Team 2 idle. We should share the missions so they have more opportunities too.
Someone even tried to perturb the relationship between Xu Cheng and Ran Jing.
The deputy department director immediately slammed the file folder on the table, which immediately silenced everyone. He then scolded in a deep voice,
What do you think you are all doing? Does Team 2 not have a captain? Does he need you guys to decide for him?
After he gave everyone the white eye, he looked at Xu Cheng and asked,
Xu Cheng, what’s your thoughts on this?
Before Xu Cheng could reply, Ran Jing already answered first,
Sir, at least let him familiarize himself with his team members first, right? He’s still new to this environment and doesn’t know how things work around here. Isn’t it rushing into things if you let him take over such a big case right after he takes office?
The deputy director just ignored Ran Jing and he still looked at Xu Cheng, asking,
What do you think?
Xu Cheng’s eyes met with the guy, and then he said,
I think Team 2 is completely capable of handling West Gate’s case.
Xu Cheng!
Ran Jing became nervous. West Gate wasn’t an easy target like North Gate. Just looking at casinos alone, they had 5 legal ones operating in the city. The entire organization has over 5 thousand people, so even though Xu Cheng was a captain now, a team of just 10 people definitely couldn’t carry out a comprehensive investigation strategy. West Gate wouldn’t even give a sht about Team 2, and plus the fact that Xu Cheng caused North Gate’s downfall, the other three Gates would most likely join hands and kill him since he was basically sending himself into their lair.
Xu Cheng obviously knew Ran Jing was sincerely concerned for him. But, he just couldn’t tolerate the assassination attempt against him. This time, he won’t be waiting around for them to try and kill him again. He would be going to find them himself. Since both sides were no longer hiding their intentions, then he wouldn’t mind playing with them with increased stakes.
Deputy Department Director, I’m fine with this.
Very well, then later let Captain Ran of Team 5 hand over all the information they’ve gathered on the case to you.
Immediately, the meeting was over. When everyone packed up their files and left the meeting room one after another, Ran Jing stayed behind and glared at Xu Cheng.
Are you stupid? You don’t know that you are walking into their trap? They just want to kill off your confidence so you don’t feel like you are above them all, since you were able to easily take care of North Gate while they worked their a—s off but couldn’t.
Chapter 100: Congratulations on Becoming a Leader Without an Army (Part two)
Xu Cheng packed his things up too and calmly replied,
Of course I know. You told me before too, I snatched their big bone, and there’s competition among everyone. My appearance means that some people will have no choice but to share their pie with an extra person, so it’s normal for them to try and set me up. But that’s just life and how society is. If you don’t have the ability, you will be eliminated no matter where you go. If you want others to recognize you, then you will have to prove to them what you are capable of.
Then, he smiled at Ran Jing.
This time, I’m here to prove to them what I’m capable of.
Ran Jing sighed. Then, she said, a bit dejected,
Do you need me to assign some people from Team 5 to help you?
It’s fine, you just need to give me what you have. I don’t think East Gate’s any easier to deal with than West Gate, so I think you will need as much manpower as possible.
Seeing how determined Xu Cheng was, Ran Jing no longer insisted. She brought Xu Cheng to her office and ordered her subordinate to gather all the archived files of West Gate and transfer them to Xu Cheng.
With the files in hand, Xu Cheng went back to the 20-square-meter-big office and announced,
Listen up, didn’t you guys think you have nothing to do? Let me announce, West Gate’s money laundering case will be completely taken over by us from now on.
After Xu Cheng finished, he noticed all of his team members were looking at him, a bit dumbfounded.
Li Chao and Wu Gang even shot up from their seat as they looked at Xu Cheng in disbelief,
What did you say? The West Gate’s case had been handed over to us now?
Xu Cheng nodded and clapped his hands.
Give me more energy, don’t be like dead fish.
All ten of them immediately laid on the table, dejected. Li Chao stared at Xu Cheng and shouted,
How do you expect us to be more energetic? West Gate is so big and you want our 10-men team to investigate them? Are you out of your mind?
Xu Cheng slammed the file folder on the desk and said domineeringly,
You guys said you weren’t given a chance, so I got you the chance. You’ve been complaining about how no one trusts any case to you. Now, just give me an answer, do you or do you not have the balls to take on this case with me? If yes, then stay; if not, then you can leave. I will transfer you to another department.
Everyone didn’t show any intention of walking out right now since they were all contemplating the gains and losses. Frankly, they knew the other teams were just throwing the blame onto them again with this case. Everyone knew that the four Gates had been around for a long time, so of course they had learned the ways to hide themselves very well in this lawful society. Who was going to leave evidence of money-laundering behind for them to gather? Besides the great difficulty, the mission will also be very dangerous. None of the other three Gates were easy to deal with, and the moment you touched their bottom line, they would immediately erase you from the face of the Earth. So, that was why Ran Jing could get the cases for two of the four Gates and the other team captains had no problems with it.
Wu Gang looked over the files compiled by Team 5, and his face turned sullen.
If there was a single piece of evidence, we could at least follow the trail and investigate, but there has been basically zero progress on the case so far. What are we going to do? The other three Gates are all very hard to penetrate since their core management groups are tight-knit communities that go way back, thus it’s impossible to get any solid evidence. Just with the 10 of us, I don’t think we can play with them. Do you have any plans or confidence?
Under the full anticipation of everyone, Xu Cheng just simply answered with one word,
Nope.
The other ten of them really wanted to die.
Wu Gang directly threw the file onto the desk and left the room.
Then, Li Chao followed after, and then the others all left one after another. In the end, in the small office space that is Team 2, only Xu Cheng was left standing there. Not long after, Ran Jing appeared at the entrance. With her arms crossed, she looked at him and sighed.
They all know you guys are trying to hit a stone with an egg.
Xu Cheng looked towards Ran Jing and asked,
Wanna go have a drink with me to celebrate?
Ran Jing:
Celebrate what?
Xu Cheng:
Celebrate my first day of getting promoted to Team 2 Captain. Isn’t it worth celebrating?
Ran Jing bitterly smiled,
Yeah, and also celebrate that you became a leader without an army on your very first day.
Xu Cheng smiled.
