“Sir G.o.dfather, I hacked into his phone and didn't discover any voice recordings or recorded footage from just now, no worries.”

“Got it.”

Chen Chen followed up with another question as he saw two Black Knights rus.h.i.+ng to the rooftop, “How did he track this place down? There should be no way to trace my movement under the usual circ.u.mstance.”

“As it appears, nothing but a stroke of dumb luck.”

Little X replied, “I scanned through the footage from when you were on your way here. I noticed that when you entered the region, he saw your bodyguard through the car windows that were not shut properly and decided to tail you. However, due to the soundproof qualities of the room, he only heard the m.u.f.fled screams of Zhang Heng and not a whiff of the secrets told.”

“To think that he could even identify my bodyguards, this Zhou Hao must've been determined to investigate me thoroughly.”

Chen Chen reflected sourly with a subtle nod. After that, he heard a round of gunshots.

After around two minutes, two Black Knights returned to Chen Chen, this time with the man called Zhou Hao flung across their shoulders.

Chen Chen frowned a little when he saw the beaten-up FBI agent with bruises running all over his swollen face, topped off with a broken nose.

The FBI agent's phone was specially designed with extremely precise satellite positioning. This meant that FBI agents were rus.h.i.+ng over here at this very moment.

Fortunately, this man did not catch wind of anything he was not supposed to hear, since that would make matters that much harder to resolve. If an FBI agent from the Mainland were to die by Chen Chen's hands, the Mainland FBI department would never let him off their hook. This was their bottom line as Chen Chen knew it.

Chen Chen could not risk abusing his memory eraser device as well since several security guards from Shangdu Jiao Tong University only just had their memories erased. If the same phenomenon were to occur to this Zhou Hao, someone would figure out Chen Chen's memory eraser device eventually.

This essentially made this Zhou Hao untouchable.

Chen Chen promptly gave a signal, ordering the Black Knights to let go of Zhou Hao.

“Cough cough cough…”

The moment they let go, Zhou Hao collapsed on his knees and started a violent coughing fit.

It may appear that he had sustained severe damage to his stomach as he coughed up mouthfuls of b.l.o.o.d.y phlegm.

At this point, all the evidence inside the room had been destroyed. One of the medical staff quickly stepped forward to help treat the wounds on Zhou Hao's face.

“Scram!”

However, this gesture was not met with much kindness as Zhou Hao abruptly shoved the medical staff away. He proceeded to wipe the blood off his face with his hands.

Troubled with this erratic behavior, Chen Chen produced several sheets of napkins and handed it to the FBI agent. “Investigator Zhou Hao, what is it that inspired a senior officer like yourself to come out on the field to handle this case in person?”

“You know who I am?”

Zhou Hao froze momentarily. He looked up gravely at Chen Chen.

“I only just recognized you, otherwise I wouldn't have sent my bodyguards after you.”

Chen Chen expressed almost innocently, “I thought it was just some common thief, I'm so sorry about this.”

“Don't give me that bulls***!”

Zhou Hao could not stop himself from cursing out loud when he heard Chen Chen's explanation. “I already heard you spelling my name out loud just now and now you expect me to believe that you mistook me for some common thief?”

“Now this is just plain wrongful accusations.”

Chen Chen knitted his brows together. “Do you have proof?” He said as he pointed at the two Black Knights, “Why don't you two say something, did I have any verification of agent Zhou Hao's ident.i.ty just now?”

The two Black Knights shook their head, still wearing the same blank expressions.

“You!”

Zhou Hao held his mouth wide open before finally grinding his teeth together out of frustration. “Chen Chen, don't you dare get ahead of yourself. Even if you have Blacklight Biotechnology backing you up, I'll expose everything you've done eventually. The day will come when you have to face legal consequences for your actions!”

“Alright.”

Chen Chen only smiled sheepishly. “I won't claim to be a model citizen, but even if you want to wrongfully accuse me of a list of crimes, I still have all the money in the world to hire lawyers to defend my case. To be honest, I don't see myself sitting in a jail in my lifetime.”

“Don't you think you can get away with everything just because you have money!”

This agitated Zhou Hao further as he belted out angrily.

Chen Chen nodded at this mention and stated candidly, “I'm afraid that money does allow me to get away with everything.”

Their friendly conversation was interrupted by the sound of sirens coming from a distance. There seemed to be a large number of police forces arriving at this village.

Within moments, the sound of screeching brakes and rumbling engines came from outside, which was followed by rapid approaching footsteps. The steady footsteps quickly surrounded Siheyuan.

“Clank!”

There was a loud burst at the entrance. Chen Chen turned to the entrance and saw dozens of agents filing in, surrounding Chen Chen and his bodyguards.

“Are you alright, Brother Zhou!”

“Are you hurt, Brother Zhou? Was it them who a.s.saulted a federal agent?”

“Brother Zhou!”

The members of the FBI exclaimed one after another, some of them glared viciously at Chen Chen. All they needed now was for Zhou Hao to give the word for them to apprehend this man.

“Alright, everybody shut up!”

The FBI director called out suddenly, silencing the angry mob as he quickly approached Zhou Hao and asked, “How did you get your face beaten up? Someone reported gunshots to the police, what was that about?”

“It was me who opened fire.”

Zhou Hao answered honestly, “These two men tried to attack me, so I had to open fire to protect myself.”

This only served to upset the surrounding FBI forces. Many young members glared in bewilderment. “What, you dare to a.s.sault a federal agent?” They said as they prepared to charge at him with handcuffs.

Chen Chen smiled nonchalantly and did not put up any resistance. He stretched his hands forward with his fists held together, ready for their handcuffs.

It was at this moment when the phone of the FBI branch director suddenly rang…

The director looked at the phone and was visibly taken aback by the contact name displayed. He gave Chen Chen a wondrous look before giving a signal to silence the crowd. After that, he turned around and exited Siheyuan, only answering the phone after he was outside.

“Yes…”

“Yes… Understood.”

“I'll see it done.”

The director hung up silently. When he turned around to see his subordinates starting to put the handcuffs on Chen Chen, he immediately cried out to stop them, “Hold up!”

“Director?”

Many of them turned to the director with a look full of surprise.

“All of you, get out of here, except for Zhou Hao.”

The director gave a signal as he addressed his task force.

They stood motionlessly and stared at their director.

“I said, get out!”

The director raised his voice and ordered sternly.

With that, they retreated from the scene bitterly.

After ensuring everyone had left, the director turned to Chen Chen and said with a tone that was a mixture of politeness and spite, “Mr. Chen Chen, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave for the moment.”

“No problem.”

Chen Chen gave a signal. His crew of bodyguards and medical staff immediately retreated inside the room with him. The door was promptly shut behind them after entering.

In an instant, the only two people left in the yard of Siheyuan were the director and Zhou Hao.

The director looked at Zhou Hao. “I want you to tell me everything that has occurred, from the beginning to the end, in clear detail.”

“Understood.”

Zhou Hao started to speak, “Yesterday, while I was heading back home after finis.h.i.+ng work, I happened to see a van with the figure of what had to be Chen Chen sitting inside. That was when I decided to tail the van. After I kept my distance and confirmed that he had come to Siheyuan, I proceeded to head to the rooftop.

“I waited for approximately half an hour before I started to hear m.u.f.fled screams coming from inside the room. At this point, I was debating whether I should contact you guys but that was when he stepped out of the room and somehow managed to spot me. I tried to run and he sent his bodyguards after me.”

“And then you opened fire?”

The director wielded a dark expression.

“Yes, but…”

“Are your opponents armed?!”

The director asked pointedly before Zhou Hao could string together his response.

“No…”

Zhou Hao could only shake his head and stare at the ground dejectedly.

“No?” The director took a deep, exasperated breath. “Don't you remember the code that the FBI has to abide by! How can you justify simply opening fire in such a situation? Aren't you aware of the consequences of opening fire freely?”

“I can't tell you why it is, but I felt an enormous amount of stress when they pursued me. I suspect that it's not just Chen Chen, there must be something up with the bodyguards under his employment as well!”

Zhou Hao quickly defended himself. “As long as we can bring them back for strenuous questioning, I'm sure we can…”

“Stop talking.”

The director shook his head. “You opened fire recklessly. If Chen Chen decides to sue our department for this, I'll be forced to resign!” As he said this, he turned to the room which Chen Chen had entered and pulled the door open. “Mr. Chen Chen, were you aware of Zhou Hao's ident.i.ty when he was on the roof?”

“Of course, not.”

Chen Chen shrugged. “If I knew that Zhou Hao was a federal agent, I wouldn't have sent my bodyguards after him.”

“You…”

Zhou Hao immediately tried to say something to defend himself.

“I see!”

The director cut Zhou Hao off immediately. “It seems that this was all a common misunderstanding. Still, agent Zhou Hao was wounded by your bodyguards so I hope you would foot a portion of the medical bill, especially since he'll require facial surgery with his broken nose.”

“No problem, I'm more than willing to pay no matter how much it costs.”

Chen Chen nodded. “Also, I'm willing to personally compensate Investigator Zhou Hao 200,000 dollars for the upcoming duration where he'll be sidelined and for the mental trauma imposed.”

“Excellent.”

The director nodded contentedly before dragging Zhou Hao away with him.

With that, the entire ordeal was settled uneventfully.

Chen Chen escorted them to the entrance, where they saw countless vehicles exiting the village one after another. Chen Chen remained largely expressionless.

He was aware that the reason they asked him to foot the medical bill was only so that they could have something to relay to the higher-ups regarding how the matter was settled.

The truth was that as long as Chen Chen maintained his position and insisted that he did not know about Zhou Hao's ident.i.ty, he was only going to be locked up at the FBI branch for a night at most. He should expect to be released by the next day without any real consequences.

Still, the higher-ups were concerned about leaving any bad blood with Chen Chen. After all, they may have plenty more dealings in the future, which was why there was the phone call earlier.

If Chen Chen wanted to, he could choose the route of suing them for opening fire without reason but that would make the situation much more complicated for them.

However, doing it this way would be a blatant slap in their face.

At the end of the day, it was an open secret that Chen Chen had suspicious dealings underground. Despite that, the higher-ups still decided to give Chen Chen a gracious exit. If Chen Chen were to take advantage of them in this situation, it would be an unseemly choice on his part as well.

Since the FBI had given Chen Chen an out and decided to not take him back for further investigation, Chen Chen returned the favor as well and did not continue pursuing this issue any further.

Before leaving, Zhou Hao shot one last glare at Chen Chen before shutting the car windows.

Chen Chen had a sense of what he was thinking from that one simple glare.

“Sir G.o.dfather, they have retreated.”

Little X informed, there was a trace of concern in her voice, “You were this close to being taken away. Our connections in the Mainland don't run as deep as compared to in Africa or Europe. I wouldn't know what to do if that happens…”

“Don't worry, it won't take me long to get out even if they take me.”

Chen Chen offered consolation for Little X. “You're still too young to understand how things work around here, there's no way that the Mainland government would allow me to be taken away. They won't let it happen even if there are countless cases stacked against me. The reason being that I'm simply too valuable.”

“Is that so?”

Little X asked again, “Then why does Zhou Hao insist on taking you in? Does he not understand the scale of things as well?”

This question made Chen Chen fall silent immediately.

He thought for a moment before raising his head to look at the starry sky above and said softly:

“I think you misunderstood, X. It's not that Zhou Hao is oblivious. The reason he's doing this is that there's something else that he holds on to firmly.”

“Something he holds on to?”

Little X muttered.

“That's right.”

Chen Chen nodded. “The bad news for him is that there's no longer a place for something like that for him in this world. What he holds on to is destined to shatter into countless pieces at the slightest collision…”

Little X pondered this subject repeatedly before complaining, “That sounds so complicated… I thought I already gained a clear understanding of humans but it seems that there are still many things that I haven't figured out…”

“It's alright, you have all the time in the world.”

Chen Chen smiled. “In a certain way, I'm the same type of person as Zhou Hao. There are also certain things that I'm very fixated on, but one thing that separates me from Zhou Hao is that I have the strength to overpower him.”

A faint, piercing beam appeared in Chen Chen's eyes as he said, “The reason I launched the Four-phase Era Project is also that I dislike these nuances of human nature. Perhaps by the time when artificial intelligence can take over as the governing system of mankind, the world will become a truly just place?”