The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 51: The Violet-Stained Wall
A deathly silence filled the room.
Not just this room, but the monitoring room as well.
The violet glow illuminated nothing except a splash of stains in one corner of the wall.
There was nothing else.
Nothing remotely shocking.
Not even the slightest trace.
In the monitoring room, the task force leader slammed a hand against the table.
According to the plan, every one of those coins should have been specially treated pieces of evidence that would fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
Once they lit up, the chain of events would be complete.
It would be enough to prove that William had hired people to collect coins throughout the city, specifically to deliver them to Mr. Fox, allowing him to use laundromat value-added services to rapidly clean illicit cash before depositing it into the bank.
It was a complete process.
Viewed individually, every step appeared legal.
Yet anyone with a functioning brain could see the illegality hidden inside those legal steps.
For example, the price charged by Mr. Fox’s laundromats to wash a single garment might exceed the value of the garment itself.
Or customers repeatedly stuffing already-clean clothes back into the machines to be washed again and again.
The problem was obvious.
Anyone who understood the case could see it.
But recognizing wrongdoing was not the same thing as imposing legal punishment.
Everyone knew people shouldn’t commit crimes.
Yet criminals escaped justice every day.
Because evidence mattered.
The value of evidence and law was not merely to punish the guilty.
It also existed to prevent certain privileged groups from exercising unchecked control over the nation and society.
Everyone had to play by the rules.
Whoever broke the rules became everyone’s enemy.
The investigators needed evidence.
Only then would a judge have an opportunity to accept their arguments.
The problem now was that they had none.
Even if everyone in the room knew something was wrong.
The coins resting quietly in the cart showed no trace of fluorescent reaction.
They sat there in darkness.
Even the engravings on their surfaces were difficult to see.
After nearly a minute of silence, the agent slapped the ultraviolet lamp several times and loudly demanded another one.
He was convinced the lamp was defective.
The replacement lamp produced exactly the same result.
Nothing.
No dramatic revelation.
No devastating evidence.
At that moment, he and everyone behind him finally understood why William had remained so calm from the beginning.
He had known their methods.
The task force and the expert immediately began discussing damage control.
This was precisely why coin-based money laundering was so difficult to prosecute.
Paper currency had serial numbers in addition to anti-counterfeiting measures.
Every legitimate bill possessed a unique identifier.
Investigators could manufacture a batch of marked money, record every serial number under third-party supervision, release it into circulation, and then recover it later.
Coins were different.
Coins had no serial numbers.
No unique identifiers.
Nothing that could serve as definitive proof.
Evidence collection was extraordinarily difficult.
The fluorescent marker had been their solution.
And it had failed.
The room lights came back on.
William chuckled softly.
“I’m still confused,” he said. “Where’s the evidence?”
His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of the sofa.
The sound echoed through the room.
“Our time is valuable.”
After another round of discussion, the task force leader sighed.
At this point, continuing to detain anyone served no purpose.
The agent in the room looked at William with an expression that could only be described as terrible.
Since William’s arrival, control had slipped away piece by piece.
The entire task force had realized that William had probably seen through their scheme from the start.
Their biggest mistake had been assuming Mr. Fox was the mastermind.
That misunderstanding was the primary reason for their failure.
The young agent packed up his materials and walked over to William.
He studied him carefully.
William met his gaze without fear, maintaining perfect composure.
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