“I heard it, young master, you said to release them,” Xu Song repeated what Tao Fengche had just said, but he couldn’t contain his curiosity and finally asked, “But why did you suddenly…”

“It’s just a knife in someone else’s hand. If it were you, would you get angry with a mindless weapon?” Tao Fengche listlessly retorted.

Although Tao Fengche had never much interfered in the family’s hidden businesses, he grew up in the Tao family and wasn’t a fool. The results of his investigation were clear.

From the moment he heard about the “kidnapped female beta,” Tao Fengche sensed something familiar. The events that followed only solidified his suspicion—Tao Zhixing’s death was linked to the Red Gang.

Although there was no direct evidence yet, Tao Fengche believed it was only a matter of time before they found it.

Unlike the Tao family, which openly ran a top three nationwide pharmaceutical company and secretly dealt only in pharmaceuticals, the Red Gang was a thoroughly underworld organization. If this were a movie, they would be the villains by nature.

Jingpu was a country with a long history. The “nine” was not just a random number; in ancient times, Jingpu was an empire composed of nine states, similar to a feudal system, where each state had its own king under the hereditary emperor. In modern times, the feudal monarchy was replaced by a democratic federal republic, with the nine states becoming cities, and the president of Jingpu was elected.

The Red Gang began to rise in Jingpu City during Tao Zhixing’s generation and then spread nationwide from their base. Compared to the Tao family, although the Red Gang was relatively young, it started by collecting protection fees and secretly smuggling firearms, committing all sorts of crimes.

In recent years, they had set their sights on the Tao family’s pharmaceutical production line and the patented technology they held.

The Red Gang’s leader once openly sought cooperation with the Tao family but was flatly rejected by Tao Zhixing. Tao Fengche heard that they had been trying to poach people from the Tao family, offering generous terms and using both soft and hard tactics. Some lower-level staff chose to betray but were all dealt with by Tao Zhixing.

Who would have thought that after the Red Gang failed, they would resort to such ruthless means, hiring a truck driver to kill Tao Zhixing. The driver didn’t even know who he had killed until his own death.

Everyone dies, but for Tao Zhixing, a godfather of his generation, to die not of natural causes or an assassin’s hand but through such a despicable method was truly humiliating.

Being killed by a truck driven by a truck driver was filled with dark humor.

“Forcing a beta man to work for them by threatening the lives of his wife and kid is too low,” Tao Fengche sneered.

Both he and his father despised the Red Gang, but if he were to let his anger result in the bloodshed of this mother and child today, it would be no different from the Red Gang’s methods, violating the principles his father taught him.

Even just to comfort his father’s spirit in heaven, Tao Fengche would never do such a thing.

He just couldn’t believe that the truck driver, to raise funds for his son’s surgery, would trade his own life. From this perspective, that omega kid’s life was actually bought with his father’s life.

He wondered how this mother and child would feel if they knew about this.

But there was still one point that didn’t make sense… Jingpu had a permanent population of over ten million. Why did the Red Gang specifically choose this driver?

Did he have something special about him?

How did they know the location of Tao Fengche’s mother’s grave and Tao Zhixing’s route?

Tao Fengche gradually furrowed his brow.

Things returned to the original point or rather, further confirmed his initial suspicion—someone high up had betrayed them.

Who was the traitor who bit the hand that fed him?

Or who was blinded by boundless greed?

Tao Fengche carefully recalled the behavior of the guests at the funeral, and his first suspect was Elder Sun. But since Tao Zhixing became the head of the family, he had deliberately kept Elder Sun out of the power center. Tao Fengche was sure Elder Sun didn’t know such secrets; he was just playing on his seniority.

Judging by his reckless behavior at the funeral, it definitely wasn’t him. To put it bluntly, Elder Sun wasn’t smart enough.

Then… who could it be?

Tao Fengche wasn’t familiar with these hidden businesses. He thought for a long time but made no progress. Just thinking about starting the investigation to find the traitor gave him a headache.

He was deep in thought, frowning. Xu Song dared not interrupt. Seeing Tao Fengche finally rub his forehead, Xu Song spoke up, “If we just release those two inside…”

They were simply terrified now, but once they went back, they would gradually recover. Based on the interrogation, it wasn’t hard to piece together part of the truth. If they were released so hastily, it would certainly lead to trouble.

Tao Fengche understood Xu Song’s unspoken concern.

He moved his hand slightly down from his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose, and after thinking for a while, he said, “I remember Director Jing recently sent over a new drug that is said to stimulate the hippocampus brain nerve?”

Xu Song nodded, “Yes, it’s still in the experimental stage, so what we have is a semi-finished product, kept in your study.”

“Bring it here. Give each person an injection, then get a psychologist over. After administering the anesthesia, return them to their original place. Make sure it’s clean,” he instructed, thinking for a moment before adding, “Have a few people keep an eye on them. Consider it helping Director Jing find two ‘volunteers’ for a clinical trial.”

Jing Ning had a famous theory: the human body is nothing more than a more precise machine.

The brain is a natural information storage device, with the hippocampus being the area responsible for memory. So, if a drug could stimulate certain nerve cells in the hippocampus, could it edit and process human memory?

The research institute had ample funding, and the Tao family had always encouraged the researchers to think freely. Jing Ning, leading a team of researchers, had worked on this for several years and finally made some progress. The drug he developed could make people forget certain short-term memories. With the cooperation of a skilled psychologist using hypnosis, it could even create artificial memories.

However, a semi-finished product was still a semi-finished product. Its functions were not fully developed, and there might be memory confusion or other side effects after injection. But it was better than killing to silence someone.

Xu Song was a smart person. He quickly understood the situation and smiled more deeply.

As the saying goes, “A father knows his son best.” As Mr. Tao had said years ago, the young master indeed had a soft heart. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. As long as everything went according to Mr. Tao’s plan, the young master could focus on being a technical expert and remain pure-hearted.

“I’ll take care of it right away.” He didn’t say much, just joked along with Tao Fengche, “Director Jing will be very happy.”

…

But the butler was wrong this time. Director Jing was not in a bright mood.

The Tao family research institute was heavily guarded, and all the staff knew that the place was filled with surveillance cameras. However, few knew that these cameras were omnipresent. The security department only saw a small portion of the footage; the real terminals were in the director’s office and directly connected to the head of the Tao family.

Since a week before Tao Zhixing’s death, Jing Ning had stopped all his research and locked himself in his office. Officially, it was said that he had unexpectedly discovered a special microorganism and was observing its growth. But in reality, he was just watching the surveillance footage with a pained expression.

Tao Zhixing was a complete tech fanatic. For him, wasting time that should be spent on research on such meaningless tasks was a form of torture. But this task could not be handed over to anyone else, so Jing Ning did it reluctantly. Fortunately, this job was almost done.

Jing Ning opened his notebook, flipped back a few pages, found a blank space, and wrote down a few names, circling one of them.

After doing this, he didn’t close the notebook but let out a long sigh.

Some people on that list were beyond his expectations, especially the circled name. It belonged to a very young beta, a researcher Jing Ning had personally recruited.

A few years ago, when he had just become the director, he was invited back to his alma mater to give a graduation speech.

After the speech, the dean hinted for him to help with student employment. The Tao family research institute wasn’t short of people, but if the students were outstanding, Jing Ning was willing to do a favor. However, after going through the list of names and their papers, he wasn’t satisfied.

The dean wanted to have a detailed discussion over dinner, but Jing Ning declined, saying he had a prior engagement with a mentor.

Unexpectedly, the mentor arranged the meal in the cafeteria.

Both Jing Ning and his mentor were not talkative, eating in silence. Suddenly, the mentor said, “There’s a student this year who reminds me of you.”

“Is it because of his grades?” Jing Ning asked.

He was proud and had the right to be. Jing Ning had won national scholarships for four years, nearly perfect grades, and graduated with full honors. He was a legend in the school, a study god to the juniors.

Some students even prayed to his photo before exams, hoping he would bless them not to fail.

“His grades are slightly worse than yours, but not by much,” the mentor added. “And he’s a beta.”

Jing Ning was surprised. “Do you have his transcript? Let me see.”

The mentor took out his phone and showed Jing Ning the student’s papers.

As Jing Ning read, his eyes lit up. “Where is he?”

The mentor pointed behind him. “In the cafeteria, working part-time.”

Jing Ning was genuinely shocked.

He had a privileged background, allowing him to focus entirely on research. But this student managed such achievements while working part-time to support himself.

Jing Ning even thought that given time, this student might surpass him.

The Tao family research institute was full of talent, but this was the only researcher personally interviewed by Jing Ning. He even considered taking the student as his apprentice.

But now…

After a long silence, he sighed, took out his phone, and dialed a number.

“Hello? I’ve found out.”