My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 78 - 75: It’s Better to Rely on Yourself Than to Rely on Others

Chapter 78: Chapter 75: It’s Better to Rely on Yourself Than to Rely on Others

Watching Gao Yuan’s back slowly disappear within the neighborhood, Meng Lang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had fulfilled his friend’s trust, and in another time, he should be able to rest easily...

Just when he turned around, he met Wang Zhao Ping’s strange, scrutinizing gaze.

"Brother Meng, you’ve blown your cover..."

Meng Lang’s heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm.

"Captain Wang, don’t talk nonsense, I don’t have that kind of hobby."

"What hobby! I’m saying you can’t pretend anymore! An ordinary insurance salesperson, living in subsidized housing, yet all your financial transactions are in the millions.

I was thinking, whether or not to take you back to the station for a check-up..."

Wang Zhao Ping half-joked.

"Then Captain Wang is probably going to be disappointed, my money is completely clean," Meng Lang smiled confidently.

He pulled out his phone and opened a text message.

"Look, this is a transfer of 14 million I just received two days ago, the payer is Galaxy Securities, you can investigate this securities company if you don’t believe me, my earnings are purely from investment, utterly legitimate."

"You..." After reading the message, Wang Zhao Ping looked at Meng Lang in surprise.

"Well then ... I guess there’s no need to hide my identity anymore!

Indeed, sitting before you... is a nouveau riche!"

Wang Zhao Ping: "..."

Meng Lang was truly at ease, firstly because the origin of this money could completely withstand scrutiny, and secondly because 14 million, in a place like Su City, really wasn’t very remarkable.

"Captain Wang, stop beating around the bush and probing me, if I were up to no good, would I intentionally come before a criminal police captain like yourself?

Isn’t this like searching for trouble in the worst place possible?"

Wang Zhao Ping thought about it and agreed, Meng Lang had acted three times, and all three were in order to rescue someone, at least his conduct was very upright.

But... you used that idiom quite effectively...

"Alright, Brother Meng, I know the rules, then can you give me a clue, among the black, white, red, yellow, blue paths, which one do you actually follow?"

The so-called five paths of black, white, red, yellow, and blue, are rather cryptic underworld slangs.

Black and white need no explanation, red refers to those who rely on political backgrounds to advance rapidly in official careers, broadly referring to state agencies.

For example, Wang Zhao Ping could be considered a person of the red path.

Yellow path—gold, widely refers to the business economic class, including business spies.

As for the blue path, in underworld slang "blue" means money, casinos are called blue spots, craftsmen who make money from gambling are called blue horses, the path they follow is called the blue path.

But how could Meng Lang, an ordinary person, understand such slang?

He was completely baffled.

I barely understand black and white paths, surely the other three aren’t literally chain kindergartens?

You might not believe it, but I’m not affiliated with any of the five paths, rather I follow the "Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao"... ever heard of the super-dimensional path?

But he couldn’t possibly express these thoughts aloud.

Thinking of saying he mixed with "organizations", but then again, the person sitting opposite him was from the criminal police force—could they mistake it for some cult?

"Cough! Captain Wang, perhaps you’re misunderstanding something? Actually... I’m just a detective."

After thinking for a moment, he added another line: "A part-time one."

A detective? Wang Zhao Ping looked at him with a strange expression.

Is that archaic job still around these days? Isn’t it all called paparazzi now?

But whatever, as long as he’s involved in intelligence work, it’s fine!

"Alright, since Brother Meng isn’t telling, I won’t ask anymore, but one can see, Brother Meng is certainly well-connected."

Whether it’s Yuan Li’s compromise, the human trafficking group’s capture, or the precision of tonight’s rescue operation.

Each one indicated that Meng Lang, or rather his backing, had an astonishing invasive intelligence capability on both the black and white paths...

And this was the main reason why Wang Zhao Ping valued Meng Lang.

The ability of a detective to solve cases greatly depends on whether his informants are well-connected.

Meng Lang understood the hidden implications behind the words and knew that this was about the need for "intel." He immediately laughed.

"Being in sales involves one major advantage – having extensive connections! Everywhere you go, they are all brothers!"

"That’s great, Elder Brother. I recently got a pressing case that the higher-ups are pushing hard on, but I’m completely out of clues. I’d like to ask Brother Meng for help to see if you could provide any leads," Wang Zhao Ping rubbed his hands.

"Captain Wang is too polite. We ordinary citizens, aside from keeping the peace and protecting the good, should definitely cooperate actively with your work."

"Then I’ll get straight to the point. We’ve received word that a gang of tomb raiders in the Jingjin Region has unearthed an extremely valuable artifact.

The artifact has changed hands several times and might have reached our Yangtze River Delta area. A smuggling ring is planning to get it out of the country for profit. This matter is given high priority from above.

Brother, could you help me sniff out any information on this?"

"Ah! So it’s artifact smuggling!" Meng Lang nodded, understanding.

"What are the features of this gang?"

"Not clear."

"Oh! What does the artifact look like?"

"Don’t know."

"Uh... Then, what is the artifact called?"

"This... I don’t know that either," Wang Zhao Ping said, somewhat embarrassed.

Meng Lang: "..."

"You’re at a loss on these three questions, not even knowing what the artifact looks like or what it’s called. How am I supposed to find it?" Meng Lang rolled his eyes.

To have my brother search online, he’d also need to enter keywords, right?

"I understand this is a difficult task, but this group of artifact smugglers is very cunning, and the intelligence we’ve obtained is extremely limited.

However, although we don’t know the specifics of the artifact, we have confirmed that it is not small and can’t easily be carried on one’s person.

And it’s heavy, likely a sculpture made from metal or stone, weighing at least four or five kilograms."

"Is that all you have?"

"That’s all there is," Wang Zhao Ping nodded helplessly.

Meng Lang stroked his chin and thought carefully.

At first glance, not even knowing what the object looked like, only knowing its approximate size and weight, finding it seemed as hard as reaching the heavens.

But well...

His information network was rather unique.

Whether he found it or not, it didn’t really matter much to him.

"Captain Wang, rest assured! These smugglers might hide for a while, but they can’t hide forever! I will definitely help you root them out!"

Wang Zhao Ping was taken aback when he heard this.

Even I was just trying it out, completely leaving it to fate about whether it would be successful or not, yet you seem quite confident.

Could it be that the other party really has something to rely on?

"Brother Meng, do you have a plan?" he asked tentatively.

Meng Lang sized up Wang Zhao Ping, then revealed a mischievous smile.

"Hmm! I know a friend who’s an expert in this area!"

As the saying goes, "It takes the thief to catch the thief!"

Better to rely on oneself than on others!

"A friend?"

It must be some kind of informant.

"Good! Then I leave everything in your hands, Brother Meng!"