Chapter 814: The High-Class Banquet of the Big Shots
On the other side, Cheng Bei walked at the end of the bodyguard group, looking up at the rising elevator car with a faint sense of complexity in his heart.
This cruise party was grand and had a wide range of participants, so the Hong Kong Police naturally had corresponding monitoring and management measures to prevent accidents at the scene.
Among them, The Dong Family was on their list of key concerns.
After all, regarding the matters of the Chen and Dong families, everyone could see with the naked eye that the two families were closely related. In the end, however, only the Chen family was strictly investigated, while The Dong Family was let off. This was itself a choice made out of helplessness.
A single Chen family was already deeply rooted in Hong Kong with massive influence. The employees under one group's name could be the pillars of many families. Before other capital could fill the market vacancy, a large-scale sweep would only bring about instability and spread anxiety.
If The Dong Family were added to that, it would mean that more than half of the economic enterprises in all of Hong Kong would be implicated. The subsequent impact could shake the economic system of Hong Kong.
Thus, the matter was temporarily put aside.
But that didn't mean the authorities had truly given up on a reckoning.
At the very least, Cheng Bei, who had come along with the Bao Family, was still one of those currently rushing on the front lines of the investigation.
The reason he came to investigate on the cruise ship this time was that the Police had intercepted some internal intelligence. It was said that people from The Dong Family would use this event to conduct certain illegal transactions.
Unfortunately, they hadn't unearthed the specific details yet, so Cheng Bei had to take the risk of further investigation.
His undercover identity was actually quite good. Because he hadn't been exposed during the Chen family incident, his resume had become even more credible. Upon returning to Hong Kong, he immediately cooperated with the Police operations to enter the Bao Family, which also provided a perfect opportunity to board the ship for investigation.
As for why it was the Bao Family and not The Dong Family?
Naturally, it was because The Dong Family's vigilance had been exceptionally high in recent years. Most of their security teams were hired from abroad, while domestic security personnel were infinitely marginalized. If Cheng Bei had tried to join The Dong Family, he probably wouldn't even have been able to get on the ship this time.
He just hadn't expected—
Cheng Bei let out a long, imperceptible sigh.
He hadn't expected that Xiao He, whom he had only met once before, would be willing to come on board to help, or even hold an invitation to the top-tier banquet.
That was a banquet scene the Police had tried everything to sneak into but failed.
Yet Xiao He had gone up there so easily...
Cheng Bei had originally thought Xiao He would be on the middle or lower decks at most, and he had hoped to avoid troubling them as much as possible.
Cheng Bei had even secretly decided that if he encountered any dangerous situation, he would definitely prioritize protecting the safety of the public.
In the end, this person went straight to the top floor.
He heard that the top floor was also very large, with many specialized infrastructures and entertainment activities for top-level guests. With Xiao He going up alone, he didn't know if he could handle it.
Cheng Bei could only suppress his worry and turn to follow the bodyguard team.
—
Meanwhile, on the top floor, Xiao He had no idea of the others' worries. After downing a glass of ice water, he even felt a bit hungry.
Many people were coming and going in the banquet hall here. However, perhaps because the big shots always made their appearances last, the truly top-tier figures hadn't shown up yet—for instance, the organizers of this event, the heads of the three major families, and other core members.
The banquet right now was as calm as water.
Most people only recognized who Xiao He was but basically didn't know the extent of his actual current net worth.
Whether out of xenophobia or a certain unspoken arrogance, they were deliberately distancing themselves from Xiao He.
Xiao He had no intention of sucking up to them either. After a simple glance around the hall, he continued to sit in the corner to rest, silently cross-referencing the people in the hall with his intelligence network.
However, Xiao He could clearly feel that someone was currently observing him silently.
Was it curiosity? Or... did they know he was the owner of Jinhe Prince Mansion?
What Xiao He didn't know was that he was indeed quite eye-catching right now.
After all, looking at all the guests in this venue, there were only a few very young faces.
Those who could attend the highest-level banquet were either wealthy or powerful, and these things generally required time and experience to accumulate.
There were very few young faces who could make it up here on their own, let alone a "strange face" like Xiao He who had never appeared at a high-level banquet before.
So, they were subtly isolating this newcomer while also secretly weighing his true identity and strength, preparing to observe for a while first.
However, this tacit "isolation" didn't make Xiao He lose his composure. He sat there casually with an imposing aura. Combined with his black trench coat that made him look like a Gang boss today, he didn't look like someone being "isolated"; he looked more like the one isolating everyone else.
But if he kept sitting there being watched like a monkey, Xiao He would find it a bit dull.
Since the targets he wanted to wait for hadn't appeared yet, there was no point in staying.
He glanced at the watch on his wrist, planning to sit for a while longer before heading downstairs.
Perhaps Xiao He's movement of raising his hand became a signal of impatience, as someone soon walked over.
"Are you alone too?"
It was a somewhat timid voice.
Xiao He looked up and saw a young man wearing a royal blue suit with shiny hair gel.
The other person looked about the same age as Xiao He and was very thin, one of the few young faces at the scene.
Upon seeing that face, Xiao He immediately recognized his identity.
Someone from the Bao Family.
The Nth son that Shipping Tycoon Bao Xingsheng himself wasn't quite sure about, who had never appeared in public before. To put it more precisely, he was a sasaeng son—Xiao He remembered the name clearly: Bao Wenyu.
The reason he came to the event this time was likely because he had reached the right age and could start showing some talent, so he was allowed to appear at the scene.
Xiao He understood.
It seemed he had guessed right; because of the Jinhe Prince Mansion matter, Shipping Tycoon Bao Xingsheng had become curious about him.
And this seemingly cowardly peer was the first stepping stone.
"Yes, I'm alone."
Thinking of this, Xiao He also deliberately released a friendly signal: "Want to have a seat?"
"Uh, okay, sure."
Bao Wenyu hadn't expected this young man to be so easy to talk to despite looking fierce. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quietly sat down on the sofa next to Xiao He.
In fact, he had been secretly observing Xiao He for a long time. He was clearly an ordinary person entering a high-level banquet for the first time, yet his aura was powerful and his attitude was calm, giving off a sense of being quite at ease.
Even though they were peers, the other person could be so dazzling.
This had made him hesitate for a long time.
But to complete his father's task, Bao Wenyu had no choice but to brace himself and come over to strike up a conversation.
Fortunately, the other person's attitude seemed decent.
However, he didn't expect that just as he sat down, before his seat was even warm, Xiao He would ask directly: "You've been observing me in secret for so long, is there something you need?"
"Eh? Ah! You noticed?!"
Bao Wenyu almost jumped up from his seat again, as if his backside were on fire.