Chapter 775 Red Mountain Sanatorium

A landscape painting hung on the wall. The brushwork was average, but it was exquisitely framed. Xu Wuyi scanned the room. There was no one inside. He glanced at the computer screen. The screensaver was running, displaying an aerial photo of the sanatorium.

Xu Wuyi withdrew his hand, stood in place, and closed his eyes. The Power of Order spread silently outward with him at the center, instantly covering the entire main office building. The people in those offices, the people pacing back and forth in the corridors, the people holding meetings in the conference rooms—everyone’s aura was clearly presented in his perception.

He carefully distinguished those auras, searching for the strongest one among them. Director Cheng Song, being able to serve as the person in charge of such a secret facility, had to be at least at the Martial Master Level. The aura of such a person would be much more obvious than that of an ordinary person.

Soon, he locked onto a target. On the east side of the third floor, in an office with a “Finance Department” sign hanging on the door, there was an aura at the Martial Artist Level. The aura wasn’t strong, probably around level twenty or so, but it didn’t belong to a Martial Master.

Xu Wuyi opened his eyes, turned around, and walked out of the director’s office. He went up the stairs to the third floor and stopped at the door of the Finance Department. The door was ajar, and voices could be heard from inside.

“Why is there still such a large shortfall in this month’s accounts? When Mr. Lu came last time, he said that the shortfall must be filled this month, otherwise we’ll all be in trouble.”

“There’s nothing I can do either. The money has all been transferred out. How could we possibly get it back so soon? Why don’t you talk to Mr. Lu and ask him to give us a few more days?”

“Me talk to him? Why don’t you do it? Last time I brought it up, he almost cursed me to death. If you want to go, go yourself.”

Xu Wuyi pushed the door open. Inside was a room much smaller than the director’s office. Two desks were placed facing each other, piled high with various account books and documents. The two middle-aged men sitting face-to-face and arguing turned their heads simultaneously at the sound of the door.

The one on the left wore a dark blue shirt. He had a lean face and shrewd eyes, looking exactly like someone who dealt with numbers all year round. The one on the right wore a gray jacket. He was slightly plump, and his face carried a trace of exhaustion. Both of them froze for a moment when they saw Xu Wuyi.

The lean man was the first to react. Frowning, he asked, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

Xu Wuyi didn’t answer. He simply looked at them. Raising his right hand, he snapped his fingers lightly.

SNAP.

With the soft sound, the eyes of the two middle-aged men instantly became unfocused. The vigilance on their faces vanished, replaced by a kind of blank emptiness, as if they had suddenly forgotten what they were just doing. The Power of Order had enveloped their consciousness.

Xu Wuyi walked over to the man in the dark blue shirt, sat on the edge of the desk, and asked, “What is your name?”

The man’s eyes were dull. “Lin… Lin Zhiyuan,” he answered mechanically.

“What do you do here?”

“Finance supervisor.”

Xu Wuyi nodded and continued, “Where is Director Cheng Song?”

“He just received a call and went out,” Lin Zhiyuan said. “It seems… it seems there was news from Mr. Lu’s side, asking him to prepare something.”

Mr. Lu. This title caused a slight flicker in Xu Wuyi’s eyes.

“Which Mr. Lu?”

Lin Zhiyuan shook his head. “I don’t know, I only know he’s called Mr. Lu. Director Cheng never tells us these things, and we don’t dare to ask.”

Xu Wuyi looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds. The Power of Order could suppress consciousness and force the other party to tell the truth, but it couldn’t make someone say something they didn’t know. Lin Zhiyuan was just a finance supervisor in charge of accounts and capital flows. It was normal for him not to know the real inside story.

“What does this sanatorium do?”

“On the surface, it’s a private nursing facility that receives wealthy clients,” Lin Zhiyuan said. “But in reality, it’s used to transfer funds. Those clients are all fake. The money is wired from various places and then transferred out.”

“Transferred where?”

“I don’t know. The accounts for each transfer are different, and they are all secret accounts. We are only responsible for the operation and don’t know the final destination.”

As Xu Wuyi listened, a clearer picture gradually formed in his mind. A funds transfer station. Lu Sheng came once every three months, not for recuperation, but to check the accounts and transfer funds. Where this money came from and where it went, Lin Zhiyuan didn’t know. He was merely an executor. But this was enough. At the very least, it could be confirmed that Lu Sheng was indeed related to this place, and deeply so.

“Where does Cheng Song live?”

“In the independent small building behind the sanatorium,” Lin Zhiyuan said. “If you exit the main building, head north, pass the cafeteria, and keep going back, you’ll see a two-story building. That’s where he lives.”

Xu Wuyi nodded and stood up. He walked to the door, suddenly stopped, and looked back at the two men who were still sitting blankly. The Power of Order surged again, silently covering their consciousness. When they woke up, they would forget that someone had just been there, forget that they had ever talked to a stranger. Only the scene of them arguing about the accounts would remain in their memories, followed by inexplicably zoning out for a few minutes.

Xu Wuyi walked out of the Finance Department, went down the stairs to the first floor, and exited the main office building. The sky outside had already grown dark. The streetlights in the sanatorium lit up one after another, casting circles of dim yellow light on the snow. A cold wind blew past, sweeping up snow powder from the ground that stung his face. Following the direction Lin Zhiyuan gave, he crossed the small plaza in front of the main building, passed the cafeteria, and continued north.