Chapter 292: Donghai Heyi Grand Hotel

Chapter 292: Donghai Heyi Grand Hotel

The call to Meng Junhao connected quickly.

“Hello, Mr. Wu.” He answered almost immediately, a note of deference in his voice.

“Send me the plate numbers of any vehicles Ding Ruilong’s people arranged yesterday and haven’t returned yet,” Wu Chen said directly.

Then he hung up.

Wu Chen trusted him to understand.

If Ding Ruilong came to Donghai, he would need vehicles.

Someone would have to meet him when he landed, and the people meeting him should have been sent ahead.

Wu Chen knew Ding Ruilong. He knew his habits. Whenever Ding Ruilong traveled somewhere in secret to handle business, he sent people ahead to prepare.

And he had only settled the meeting with Lei Cheng the day before, so the earliest his advance team could have arrived was yesterday.

They might have come that morning instead, but that would have left them pressed for time.

Once Ding Ruilong’s people reached Donghai they would arrange his transport in advance. They were hardly going to buy new cars. They would definitely arrange them through connections.

And as long as the cars came through connections, Meng Junhao could learn of it whether or not they had gone through him directly.

Ding Ruilong’s contacts in Donghai were all connected to one another as well.

Meng Junhao probably did not know that Ding Ruilong was secretly arriving today. Ding Ruilong would not tell him.

Arranging cars was different.

Ding Ruilong’s people had come to Donghai often over the years and often arranged vehicles. To Meng Junhao there was nothing special about it, so he would not have paid particular attention.

But if Wu Chen asked him to check which cars had been arranged yesterday, he would certainly be able to find out.

The Lamborghini sped along the main road.

Six minutes later.

Ding.

Wu Chen’s phone sounded.

A text message.

Six license plate numbers.

Meng Junhao had checked extremely fast.

Ring-ring-ring…

The phone rang again.

Meng Junhao calling.

Wu Chen answered.

“Mr. Wu, these six cars were arranged last night…” Meng Junhao began.

“All right. Good work. That’s all for now.” There was a smile in Wu Chen’s voice.

Then he hung up.

Wu Chen forwarded the message Meng Junhao had sent, then made another call.

It connected quickly too.

“Hello. Miss me?” A woman’s soft, sweet voice came through the phone.

Wu Yurong.

“I just sent you a message. Have someone check these cars and track them. Tell me where they finally stop. Be quick, and keep it confidential.” Wu Chen wasted no words.

“The cars… hold on. Mm… I see them.” From his tone, Wu Yurong knew this was serious business, so she wasted none either. “All right. I’ll make a call. Wait for my news.”

“Okay.”

The call ended.

The most efficient and fastest way to track vehicles was through traffic surveillance.

As long as one’s connections were powerful enough, a single phone call would get it done immediately. Modern traffic-surveillance systems were highly intelligent. Any plate passing an intersection with cameras would be recognized.

As for Wu Yurong’s influence in Donghai, there was no need to say more.

Wu Chen drove on toward South District.

By now roughly an hour should have passed since Ding Ruilong stepped off the plane.

The airport lay in a remote spot, and reaching the main urban area took well over half an hour.

His convoy should still be on the road, moving through the city, nearing its destination.

Wu Chen could not be certain where Ding Ruilong meant to stay on this trip.

A hotel, perhaps.

Or property he owned in Donghai.

But Wu Chen could narrow down the area.

Huancai Fashion was in South District.

Li Ruobing’s usual villa was in South District.

The place where Ding Ruilong had arranged to meet Lei Cheng was in Central District.

And the airport lay on the outskirts of South District.

So Ding Ruilong would most likely stay in either South District or Central District. Anywhere else would be too far and inconvenient for business.

South District was the likeliest.

Which was why Wu Chen had driven straight south.

Ten minutes later.

He had already entered Central District and was still heading south.

Ring-ring-ring…

The phone rang.

Wu Chen picked it up, saw Wu Yurong calling back, and answered at once.

“I had a friend check the traffic-surveillance system. Three minutes ago all six vehicles passed through the intersection of Kang’an Road and Huaxing Avenue in South District, heading north. After that there was no further trace of them. They’ve probably parked somewhere on Kang’an North Road…” Wu Yurong said sweetly.

“Kang’an North Road…” Wu Chen murmured, then smiled. “All right. I know where they are.”

“You don’t need me to keep checking?” she asked gently.

“No.” He laughed.

“All right. Go take care of your business. Call me if you need anything.” Her voice stayed gentle and sweet, and she hung up first.

Wu Yurong truly knew how to put a man at ease.

Her emotional intelligence was exceptional. She knew Wu Chen was handling something serious, so she did not ask a single unnecessary question.

She had not even asked who he was tracking.

A few minutes later.

The blue Lamborghini sped into South District.

Another five minutes.

Jianguang Road, South District.

An old street.

Wu Chen parked in a roadside space, got out, and went into the nearest budget clothing shop—the sort of no-name store that advertised export-surplus goods.

Before long.

When Wu Chen came out again he had changed clothes.

Jeans, a black trench coat, sneakers, a baseball cap.

He also carried a large bag holding, naturally, the suit and leather shoes he had taken off.

Back in the car, he drove a little farther, then parked beside the mouth of an alley called Guang’an Alley.

He got out and walked into the alley.

He passed down the long alley until the far end came into view.

Beyond that end lay Kang’an North Road.

And to the left of the alley mouth stood a large hotel building facing the street, its footprint sizable, its height only seven stories.

Donghai Heyi Grand Hotel.

The hotel was not among Donghai’s very best. It was only a four-star hotel—luxurious, certainly, but not excessively so.

And on Kang’an North Road it was the only hotel.

Ding Ruilong’s convoy had vanished after entering Kang’an North Road.

He was most likely staying here.

For a man of Ding Ruilong’s standing, coming secretly to Donghai and staying at a four-star hotel counted as extremely low-key.

Wu Chen did not walk out of the alley.

Rather than entering through the Heyi Grand Hotel’s main doors, he went straight through a side door near the alley mouth. A small door.

The Heyi Grand Hotel had four side and rear entrances, all meant for employees.

Staff coming and going, kitchen deliveries, cleaners taking out trash, and the rest generally did not use the main entrance.

Beyond the side door lay a plainly finished corridor. Part of the employee area, so there was no reason for the decor to be elaborate.

Wu Chen had not gone far when, at a corridor junction, he saw a middle-aged man in a security uniform step out of an office down the corridor to his right.

“Brother, sorry to bother you. Which way to your property-management office? I’m looking for Manager Liu,” Wu Chen asked with a smile as he approached.

“The manager’s office is over that way. Go straight ahead, then turn left…” Wu Chen had been polite, so the guard warmly pointed out the way.

“Thanks, Brother.”

Wu Chen passed him and continued deeper inside.

After the left turn ahead, he took a face mask from his pocket and put it on as he walked.

He went straight past the manager’s office, reached the next junction, turned right, and looped around.

Before long Wu Chen arrived at the elevators.

He knew this hotel extremely well.

It was a four-star hotel, after all, and there were not many four-star hotels in all of Donghai.

And during his thousand-year loop, Wu Chen had measured practically the whole city with his own two feet.

There was almost nowhere he had never been.

He stepped into the elevator.

A flick of his wrist, and a card slid out from his sleeve into the space between two fingers.

A hotel master key card.

Hotel security guards and cleaning staff generally carried master cards that could activate every elevator and open every guest room.

Wu Chen had just “taken” this one from the guard.

He swiped it.

Then pressed the button for the sixth floor.

Wu Chen believed Ding Ruilong was probably staying on the sixth floor.

Because only the sixth floor had executive suites.

The executive suites were the best rooms in the hotel, roughly equivalent to the presidential suites of a five-star hotel.

Ding Ruilong might be staying at a four-star hotel, but surely he would not go so far as an ordinary guest room.

There was no need for that.

The elevator rose.

Soon.

Ding!

The sixth floor.

The elevator doors opened.