Chapter 37: Operation is a go

Translated by me, edited by drpetro.

If the police came here to trash the place then the girls probably wouldn’t care about it, but if the special investigation team was here to search for suspects, then that’s an entirely different story.

The floor manager of the Silver Palace quickly came out and guided Zhang Zhitong and her fellow comrades into the lavish lobby.

A short and confused man was also brought over by the greeting maidens.

“You’re the manager here?” One of Zhang Zhitong’s colleagues asked: “Can you provide us a list of your clients here?”

“I’m Cao Weihua, the general manager here.” Cao Weihua opened a pack of 1916 Yellow Crane Tower, and passed it around to all the special investigation members.

Having finished distributing smokes, Cao Weihua said with some awkwardness: “This is a members only club. The people who are able to come here are all people with prestige and power in Zhongyun. If I were to provide you guys with our clientele then my boss will probably sack me.”

“I can understand your difficulties, but I still need you to cooperate with us.” This officers indicated for everyone to take a seat: “Silver Palace is a members only club, but if the word got out that suspects are hiding here, then wouldn’t that ruin your reputation?”

“Yes, yes. Helping out the police is the duty of every law abiding citizen.” Cao Weihua apologetically smiled: “Let me ask my boss first.”

The call went through very quickly. Having explained the current situation, Cao Weihua faced the police and said: “We can provide you with the list, but my boss said that if you guys find who you’re looking for, then please try your best to cover your actions afterwards.”

“Sure, we’ll keep this a secret for you.” Zhang Zhitong, who was in the middle of everyone, nodded, just like a leading sister.

The cashiers ever quickly handed over a list of all clients who were currently still in the palace, but after examining it multiple times, the police still couldn’t find who they were looking for.

Just like the manager said, everyone who could come to the Silver Palace weren’t ordinary at all. On this client list are multiple familiar sounding individuals with huge influence in the local area.

Of course, names of governmental officials would never appear on here. Even if they do come here, it would always be under the invitation of someone else. When has it ever been them paying the bills for stuff like this.

“Bring out tonight’s security footage.” A member of the special investigation team imposingly stated.

“I can’t do that……” Cao Weihua carefully explained: “The security room only keeps the footage of the public areas, plus it’s stored on an encrypted server. Without the boss’s security pin, there is no way us employees can access it.”

“Moreover…… Our club here, frequently have visits from several people with sensitive status. If the security footage could be accessed at will, then wouldn’t that piss them all off?”

“Go call your boss and have him come over. We definitely need to access the security footage as we need to cross check all the suspicious individuals.” Zhang Zhitong told Cao Weihua to go make a call: “The people we’re looking for aren’t on the list, they’re probably here under different aliases.”

Cao Weihua hurriedly went to make the call. As for Zhong Zhitong, she turned her attention towards the receptionists: “Did a middle aged man with two young individuals enter here tonight?”

“The middle age man is definitely extravagantly dressed, the two young men are around 180 cm, average build, but very conscious of the surroundings.”

“Yes !” Two receptionist immediately reported: “At a bit before 9 Mr. Gong brought two people in that matches your description very closely.”

“Who is this Mr. Gong?”

“He is the boss of a major company in the industrial park. Full name is Gong Wei, but can’t remember which company specifically. There are specific details on the members list, but only the owners can access that information.”

Cao Weihua recalled: “But they don’t look like the suspects you’re looking for at all, and he’s been here multiple times already this year.”

“Please carefully recall again, is there anyone else that matches this description.”

A special investigation member placed down his finished cig, and kept his gaze fixed on the elevator: “Our evidence trial definitely isn’t wrong, these three are confirmed to be here.”

“We’ll give you guys some face by not searching every room. But if you guys provide the wrong targets for us to catch, then we have to apologise as we can only seal off the place and search the building room by room.”

Cao Weihua felt cold sweat raining down his back. If this group of people seal off the building then screw the business, they might as well as switch to a KTV bar.

Of course the possibility of them doing that is very unlikely. With the owners handling the pressure from above, they haven’t experienced a police raid in all the years they’ve been open.

It’s just that Cao Weihua before only dealt with firefighters and public security members. He solely missing the special investigation teams, and he was also unfamiliar with their operating style. So what if they ignore everyone’s influence and actually do seal off the own building……

“Please hold on a moment, I’m going to call S