Chapter 406: Business Controller
At precisely ten o’clock, the task force set off from the police station. Due to this operation’s covert nature, they drove in ordinary sedans, not police cars, so as not to alert the target.
According to Qiu Yuanjie, the MLM operation that they would be striking this time was in Yu District, a subsidiary of their primary group in Xiahai City. The information was provided by an undercover agent, and their malefactor was Yao Baishan, a Business Controller at the top of the MLM hierarchy.
“In an MLM organization, the ranks from top to bottom are general manager, regional manager, business controller, team leader, and intern salesman. ‘Tribute’ is channeled up through these layers. Yao Baishan is a business controller, a big one that earns about 100 thousand dollars in tribute every month. Of course, our goal is not only the business controller, but we also have to arrest the regional manager, general manager, and the speakers involved in these brainwas.h.i.+ng seminars, bringing each of them to justice, and finally uproot the entire MLM group.”
In the car, Qiu Yuanjie briefed Xiao Luo on the operation and expressed his determination to bring down the organization. In fact, the reason he did this was essentially to introduce Xiao Luo to the overall situation of MLMs. After all, everyone in his team was a veteran in the war against MLM and needn’t be told.
“Are there a lot of MLM organizations in Xiahai?” Xiao Luo asked.
“No. There are many MLM groups, but there’s only one MLM organization. It goes by the name of ‘Fog,"” Qiu Yuanjie replied.
“‘Fog’ is also the head of this MLM organization, plans all MLM activities, and is the mastermind above the general managers. Our ultimate goal is to catch ‘Fog,’ because no matter how many general managers or regional managers we arrest, it will not change the situation at all. As long as ‘Fog’ is still there, new general managers will be developed, and the operation will take root again, and in a short time, the MLM groups will return,” Qiu Yuanjie further elaborated, “But ‘Fog’ is very cautious and secretive. He never partic.i.p.ates in MLM activities directly, and despite planting our undercover agents in this organization for the many years, the highest they can come in contact with were the regional managers. Even the general managers are as secretive as “Fog,” and ordinary members don’t have the chance to meet any of them.”
Listening to Qiu Yuanjie’s explanation, Xiao Luo gradually realized that the MLM organization and its subsidiaries were a well-disciplined and well-structured criminal group. It was not surprising that so many people were deceived. It was relatively easy to attract victims who desired to get rich overnight, but the most compelling factor for MLMs to thrive was that they had a well-honed system for converting and retaining members—for once a person fell into their hands and had gone through a series of brainwas.h.i.+ng seminars, they readily fell into the trap.
If he wanted to complete the task that the NSA had a.s.signed to him, he had to arrest ‘Fog’ as well.
“Regarding ‘Fog,’ do you have any clues on him?” Xiao Luo inquired.
Qiu Yuanjie chuckled wryly then shook his head. “So far, there has been no progress in the investigation of the mastermind. He is too cunning and only works behind the scenes; he never shows up. I also suspect that he ever keeps a one-way communication with the general managers,” he said.
Xiao Luo nodded in agreement and said, “Cunning indeed.”
In a cynical tone, Luo Shuang said, “I heard that all of you in the NSA are powerful people. Since the arduous task of uncovering the true ident.i.ty of ‘Fog’ depends entirely on you, make sure you don’t smash the NSA’s signboard.”
Her words were heavily laced with sarcasm and sounded offensive to Xiao Luo.
Xiao Luo did not respond to her, but instead closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat comfortably to rest.
“This b.a.s.t.a.r.d…” Luo Shuang muttered to herself.
Luo Shuang didn’t take it too well being ignored by Xiao Luo and felt slighted.
…
…
The highways were multi-leveled, and they were like a dense network covering the motherland.
The journey from Xiahai to Yu District was only one and a half hours by car. After a further b.u.mpy ten-minute ride, they arrived at the destination—Yefeng Hotel.
Usually, Yefeng Hotel only catered to banquets and other such events. As a three-star hotel, it had a grand appearance and was luxuriously decorated.
The MLM organization rented one of the banquet halls for their so-called lectures, which was, in reality, a brainwas.h.i.+ng seminar. The grandeur of Yefeng Hotel and the presence of MLM personnel in smart suits were part of the image that was designed to make an excellent first impression. It then became more conducive to convince people that these were motivational lectures that would lead them to success without even suspecting that they had already set foot in the trap.
“According to our agent, there are more than two hundred people in the cla.s.s. All of them are young people working at the lowest level and are motivated to improve their current situation. They have no hesitation whatsoever in joining Yao Baishan, who has turned up in this place. They feel that he is saving them and guiding them along to get rich.”
Qiu Yuanjie ordered the inspection of weapons and equipment as the operation was about to get underway. Exchanging some opinions with Xiao Luo, he said, “The two hundred people in there are all victims. Before arresting Yao Baishan’s gang, I would like to ‘reverse-brainwash’ them to make them realize this is illegal and not a regular business.”
“Just proceed with your plan.”
Xiao Luo smiled and had no objections.
Qiu Yuanjie nodded and then gave orders to Luo Shuang and others. “Tu Lei, Wu Di, take some men and guard every hotel’s exit to prevent MLM personnel from escaping. Bai Ying, Long Ye, get every room checked,” he said, “Yao Baishan should be in one of them. We must bring the big fish in custody first. The rest of you follow me into the hall. If you encounter a checker, tell them w.a.n.g Ruilin invited you here.”
“Yes, captain.”
With the order issued, everyone went off to perform their own tasks.
Xiao Luo went into the hall that was right on the first floor with Qiu Yuanjie. The hall was ma.s.sive, and presently, it was crowded with people. More than two hundred seats were occupied, and people were even standing in the aisle, listening to the cla.s.s carefully with notebooks in their hands. At a glance, they all had young faces, most looking around the age of twenty years.
There was a banner on the rostrum that read: “Unleash your dreams and let them become a reality.” And, surprisingly, the speaker who was giving the speech was an old acquaintance.
Guo Qinghe!
Fair and neat in appearance, dressed impeccably in a tuxedo and a pair of matching leather shoes, along with his eloquent speech and natural style of delivery, made him look every bit a winner, and his image conformed to the public’s perception of successful people.
As Guo Qinghe was pa.s.sionately instilling the idea that everyone could be a shareholder after paying ten thousand dollars and gain the right to recruit members, Qiu Yuanjie stepped up to the rostrum, handcuffed Guo Qinghe, then took over the microphone and addressed a startled crowd.
“If one day, when the lowest downlines can’t find any downlines for themselves, how can those people make money? After all, there are only one billion people in the country. Even if they all partic.i.p.ate in this project, there will always be an end to it. What would happen to the last group of people who paid but didn’t have any money to earn when that day arrives? They’ll go to their uplines and surround your homes, and if they can’t find you, they’ll go for your families, your friends, and that’ll be when the pyramid scheme collapses. If you have only 3 downlines, you’ll have to pay 30 thousand dollars. When your three downlines multiply into 9, it will become 90 thousand dollars. And nine will multiply into 27, and when this goes on and on, by the time you have more than 200 downlines, you’ll have to pay 2 million dollars. What will you be using to pay them? Your life?”
These words came from the bottom of his heart, highlighting the MLM system’s inherent weak points. It caused a stir among the roomful of pathetically brainwashed listeners, and it was an obvious sign that they were waking up from their pipe dream of instant riches.
“That was really something.”
Xiao Luo expressed his agreement with Qiu Yuanjie. Being able to reverse-brainwash the crowd with a few choice statements, it was evident that he was a cop who had been focusing on cracking down MLM organizations for many years. This worked out really well for Xiao Luo, and he could just go ahead and arrest the perpetrators straight up.
…