Chapter 367: It's Just the Beginning

A Buick sedan drove from Harvard University, all the way south along Massachusetts Route 1, and arrived at the Folsom Barracks, a maximum security prison that housed all kinds of serious criminals.

Zhou Ming was in this car, and after a nearly hour-long drive, they finally arrived at this prison. Zhou Ming took ** and followed the prison procedures to register, and after almost half an hour, he was taken to an interview room. The layout of this prison's interview room is similar to that often seen in movies in later generations—it is a small isolated room, and Zhou Ming sat at one end of the tempered glass.

Over there, as the interview room door opened, a dishevelled man was led in by a prison guard. He kept his head down and was led into the interview room like a walking corpse, sitting across from Zhou Ming. His eyes were vacant, and he had no energy at all. He only gave a flash of surprise when he looked up and saw Zhou Ming, but it quickly faded.

'N638, you only have three minutes for this interview. Please finish as soon as possible. Finally, I wish you a pleasant meeting!'

The prison guard said loudly. He was speaking to the prisoner as well as to Zhou Ming. After he finished, he retreated to the back.

Zhou Ming picked up the phone at hand, and the prisoner there also mechanically picked up the phone after Zhou Ming. Despite the fact that the man's face was full of stubble and dirt, Zhou Ming still called out his name in one word: 'Mr. Wharton, are you doing well in prison?'

This prisoner was none other than Wharton, the man who had once followed Zhou Ming. Zhou Ming had bought the company that the founder of, and he had been quickly sentenced to prison for a proven economic crime.

Wharton heard Zhou Ming's question over the phone and immediately let out a bitter laugh: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, please forgive me for being blunt, but I think your question is really stupid. My coming to this prison is destined to be a tragedy, so where is there any difference between good and bad?'

'Indeed,'

Zhou Ming shrugged, as Wharton's sentence was mixed with many other factors, not entirely dictated by the law. According to normal procedure, Wharton's sentence would not be handed down for at least a month, but the court had forced an early summary judgement in order to throw him into prison as soon as possible, and to throw an economic criminal into a prison for violent crimes.

Inside, Wharton continued, 'Compared to me in here, I think Mr. Zhou Ming must be doing very well outside, and you, Senator Brooke, must have solved it, right? It's just a pity that he will be sent back to Detention Centre No. 1. This is all a fucked-up power game. If I'm lucky enough to be in the same prison as him, I'll teach him a good lesson. Even a senator has to learn to respect!'

Zhou Ming interrupted Wharton's rambling: 'Mr Wharton, I'm sorry, but I think I need to interrupt you, because Senator Brook has not been convicted, and he is not likely to be sent to any prison.'

'That's impossible!' Wharton said immediately, 'with your abilities and my testimony, there is no way he can get off!'

Compared to Walton, Zhou Ming appeared very calm: 'Nothing is impossible. Mr. Walton, you must know that this is the United States, and Mr. Brook is a member of the parliament, which is a legislative body.'

'So Mr. Brook was pardoned by the state parliament for all his crimes?' Walton said with meaning, and at this time he became a perverted calm. 'Then Mr. Zhou Ming, you are in trouble, because according to the Brook I know, after he is acquitted, he will definitely use his status as a senator to retaliate against you furiously.'

'Thank you very much for Mr. Wharton's reminder,' Zhou Ming said, 'but I would like to say that he has already retaliated. He used the power of the parliamentary committee to mobilise the FBI to convict me, and he even sent someone to intercept and kill me on my way back.'

'This is really in line with the style of Mr. Brook, Congressman.' Wharton grinned and said, looking at Zhou Ming, "So will Mr. Zhou Ming let him off this time? Or will you, Mr. Zhou Ming, not be able to find any evidence, and the guys in the parliament will continue to protect Mr. Brook together?'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, "Not really. This time I happened to bring a camera, and I have filmed the whole process, including the attack by the personnel and the subsequent testimony of the attacking personnel testifying against Congressman Brook.'

'This is incredible, Mr. Zhou Ming, you actually managed to do this, so what was the result?' Wharton asked.

Zhou Ming still shook his head: "There was no result. After the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and Speaker Anthony invited me to dinner, in the garden restaurant at the foot of the Capitol, he gave me one million dollars and asked me not to hold Brooke responsible for anything, including not allowing any of the content in the video to be made public.'

'One million dollars?" Wharton asked, and Zhou Ming nodded and said yes.

'Speaker Anthony is really generous, offering a million dollars at once. If the Election Commission knew about this, they would definitely make a big deal about it. After all, this amount of money is enough for several poor people to live in the centre of Brighton for a lifetime.' Wharton said, and this time Zhou Ming did not say a word.

But then Wharton exploded, shouting, 'But you are Ming Zhou, an extraordinary person from China. You don't lack this amount of money, but you can't lose to Brooke. Who cares about the fucking council or the governor? Are they gods sent from heaven? You should just go and overturn their tables, just like you did to me in the beginning!'

Wharton became more and more agitated as he spoke, and in the end he stood up and leaned over the glass, and then he pounded on the tempered glass in front of him like a madman, his mouth wide open as if he were going to devour Zhou Ming alive.

'Hey! What are you doing? Behave yourself, or don't blame me for being unkind to you!'

The prison guard behind Wharton immediately noticed something was wrong and immediately stepped forward, grabbed Wharton and pinned him to the ground. However, this did not stop Wharton, who was still struggling and shouting.

'Zhou Ming, you damned incompetent Chinese, why didn't you send Brooke to prison? You stupid fool, I really want to kick you into the Charles River and make you pay for your stupid actions!'

Wharton shouted, finally shedding tears: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, you must help me get rid of that guy Brook. He is a hated villain. I hate him far more than I hate you, Mr. Zhou Ming. I was so loyal to him, I never betrayed him, but in the end he treated me like that. He almost cost me my life for my loyalty and sent me to this prison. I will never forget it for the rest of my life!'

'They think they have money, and money can buy power. Then you also have money, Zhou Ming. You can afford to buy my company, and you can engineer a stock market situation for Brook to enter and exploit. Then you can also buy power. Otherwise, you are a target for others to slaughter. Do you understand, you idiot?'

As Wharton shouted these words, two strong prison guards entered from the other side, and together they dragged Wharton out of the interview room.

'Please! I beg you, Mr Zhou Ming, you must get rid of that guy Brook!'

Zhou Ming was very moved as he heard the last words of Weardon's cry echoing in his ears. He could not help but think that it was really amazing how things had turned around. Just half a month ago, he had hated Weardon so much that he wanted to kill him, but now Weardon was crying and begging him to help him get rid of Brook.

Zhou Ming understands Wharton's feelings. After all, he was wrongfully imprisoned, and it was a heavy-duty prison. There were even more tricks inside. Not to mention that just now when the prison guard came over, he subconsciously squeezed his legs together and reached out to protect his back. It is not difficult to imagine what kind of life he has been living in. Then, when you consider what happened before, when Brock almost got him killed, it would be a miracle if Wharton could forgive him.

...

Meanwhile, at Lexington Brooke's villa, Brooke was sitting in his courtyard, lost in thought, when the courtyard doors opened and Anthony walked in.

'Brother Brooke, how have you been?' Anthony greeted the elder Brooke.

Upon hearing Anthony's voice, old Brook sat up straight as if he had been revived. 'Brother Anthony, let me guess, you must have brought me some of the best news, right? It's about Zhou Ming, you must have thrown him into prison with those guys in the council, right? It must be Falk Prison, let him go with that damned Wharton, let him suffer inside, and hopefully come out with a prolapsed anus!'

Old Brook said suddenly he remembered something and immediately added, 'But you have to separate Zhou Ming's bodyguard because that person is most likely a military king. If he is still by Zhou Ming's side, then he simply cannot be sentenced...'

Anthony said, "Brook, my brother, I really want to talk to you, but I also cannot stop you now, because I think I have not brought you any good news this time, but very bad news.'

'What news? Did you say you let him go?" Old Brook asked alertly.

'It's true that I let him go, but it wasn't me who let him go, old chap. Do you understand what I'm saying?' Anthony asked.

'I knew those guys in the council were a bunch of good-for-nothing pigs. When did our Brighton become like this, that even a Chinese guy like that can ride over us?' Old Brook said angrily.

Anthony immediately stopped him: 'Old chap, you can't think like that. There are many different problems here, and the council is also under a lot of pressure.'

'But that's no excuse to let Zhou Ming off the hook!' insisted Brook.

'That's true, but it's a better reason,' said Anthony. 'After all, we're not going to get rid of you, and he'll continue to study and work in Brighton in the future. There are a million ways we can get him, and this is only the beginning.'