The villain daughter did all kinds of things

It sounds terrible, and indeed, those who reject magic are in a terrible situation. Unable to use magic and magical devices, their lives are extremely inconvenient, much like people living in the Middle Ages of the 22nd century on Earth.

However, the federal government did not abandon them. On the contrary, it provides a large amount of resources every year to help the villages of magic rejecters.

After all, whether a person is born with an affinity for magic is entirely random.

The child of two mages has a chance of being a magic rejecter, while the child of two magic rejecters has a chance of being a magic affinity person or even becoming a mage. Magic rejecters can be said to be an inseparable part of human society.

Fortunately, the probability of having a magic affinity is quite high at 80%. If an ordinary family accidentally gives birth to a magic rejecter, they can simply send the child to live in the nearest magic rejecter village and continue to have children. Eventually, they will be able to give birth to a child with a magic affinity.

It's not that the parents of children with magic-rejecting constitutions are heartless, but rather that magic-rejecting and magic-affinity individuals cannot live together for long periods, especially those who frequently come into close contact... This is a valuable lesson learned from countless painful experiences.

Villages that reject magic are also willing to adopt such children because the children's biological parents often feel guilty and frequently send various supplies and money to the village.

In addition to receiving funding from the federal government and various private sources, the villages of magic rejecters also grow their own crops to feed themselves.

Although crops that have not undergone magical treatment are far inferior to those that have, in terms of both taste and yield, their prices are consistently higher.

Because every world has some rich people with eccentric ideas, and this world is no exception. Some wealthy people like to eat pure, natural, green crops that haven't been 'polluted' by magic, even though the taste and texture of those things are just average. They just love to eat them and are willing to pay high prices for them.

However, the crops grown by those who reject magic cannot be taken to the city to sell, because the city is full of magic circuits and magic devices. If they are not careful when entering the city, they may die on the spot or even turn into monsters.

With market demand, new professions will naturally emerge.

This was the case for traveling merchants who used oxcarts to transport goods.

The main job of these traveling merchants is to purchase everyday tools that magic rejecters can also use and sell them to magic rejecter villages, and then buy crops from magic rejecter villages and sell them in the city.

There is a high probability that Jacques Shaw was actually tracking this group of merchants before being questioned by Julia.

"check!"

"Finally, a crucial clue has been found that can lead to a breakthrough!" Miss Mengmeng excitedly slammed her hand on the table.

"I remember that any caravan entering or leaving a city is recorded, right? That caravan must be the same! Go check their entry and exit records for that day!"

"Leave these small things to me!"

Fatty Wei quickly and confidently patted his belly:

"Give me a few minutes. I'll send a message to my men, and we should have results soon."

Miss Mengmeng and Yulia would of course not stop him. Fatty Wei, who was both the police chief and the gang leader, was the real local bigwig in Locke City. He had too many ways to check the caravan's departure record that he knew the specific date and time.

Sure enough, less than 20 minutes later, Wei Pangzi's henchman sent a message saying that they had found out the identity of the merchant group.

【Mark Caravan】, one of the hundreds of small caravans in the Allen Federation, is jointly registered by more than 10 local merchants from Locke City. Their main business is to sell some daily tools to magic-repelling villages near Locke City, and then buy crops from those villages to sell to the city.

A very common type of cooperative caravan, where each member owns an oxcart and is responsible for selling and buying different tools and crops; everyone is a boss.

"Should I go and catch those bad guys now?"

Knowing who the investigation target was, Yulia immediately rubbed her hands together, somewhat excited.

This was her first time participating in an FBI case, and her eyes were full of enthusiasm.

"...No rush."

Miss Mengmeng shook her head:

"Since these people haven't run away yet, it means they don't know they've been exposed, so there's no need to rush into action."

"Firstly, we are only speculating at the moment and have no substantial evidence. It is not in accordance with the Investigation Bureau's procedures to arrest people directly, and going to their homes to inquire could easily alert them."

"Secondly, Jacques Shaw was a former Federation Army scout and an awakened mage, yet he was killed before he could even send out any information... This suggests that there may be a master in the other group. It would be best to identify this person and gather information before taking action."

"Um...okay."

Upon hearing this, Yulia sat back down and continued licking the delicate little cake.

"I'm not good at things that require thinking, so I'll just offer my moral support for now. When it comes to taking action, be sure to let me know so I can help!"

"Don't worry, I will."

Miss Mengmeng smiled and nodded:

"I'm also looking forward to working with the heroine who saved Locke City."

"So, what should we do next in the investigation, Investigator?"

Seeing that Miss Mengmeng had fallen silent again, Fatty Wei tentatively asked:

Is there anything I can do to help?

"Well……"

Miss Mengmeng hesitated for a moment, but still asked:

What's your relationship with the local tax authorities like? If I want to use some irregular methods to get the tax authorities to investigate something, can you help me?

"This……"

Fatty Wei thought for a moment, then a somewhat subtle smile appeared on his face:

“I have no connection with the tax authorities. After all, I am already the police chief of Locke City and the boss of the biggest gang. If even the tax authorities get involved… I might be in danger.”

"However, Locke City belongs to the young lady, so there must be some of her cronies in the tax authorities. Miss Investigator, you have the young lady's token in your hands now, so you can probably just go there and give the order."

"..."

Miss Mengmeng fell silent for a moment, then rubbed her forehead:

"Although this isn't the first time I've encountered such a dark truth, every time I learn that the Federation has long been secretly controlled by a group of capitalists, I still feel that it would be better if this rotten world were destroyed."

"Um... there's no need to be so extreme, is there?"

Yulia, standing to the side, wiped the cream from her mouth and raised her hand like a student answering a question in class. Then, realizing she was no longer a student, she gave an embarrassed laugh.

“Not all capitalists are bad people. At least I think Emery is pretty good. She may be a bit greedy, but she is a kind-hearted capitalist who is beautiful.”

"...Huh? Her? Emerald? Beautiful and kind-hearted?"

Recalling what she had seen in the Baihe Gang's accounts, Miss Mengmeng looked puzzled.

Do you really know what the phrase "beautiful inside and out" means?

But when Miss Mengmeng looked closely at Yulia's eyes, she saw that Yulia's eyes were completely clear and untainted by intellectual corruption, and she seemed to think that this was from the bottom of her heart.

"You...forget it."

I wanted to offer some advice, but Miss Mengmeng didn't want to meddle.

Just as capitalists generally don't want to easily provoke Purple Star Investigators, Miss Mengmeng also doesn't want to easily provoke ruthless capitalists. At least Emerald supports her investigation, which is much better than other capitalists... Wait, that's not right.

Why am I starting to think that Emery is actually a kind-hearted and beautiful capitalist? Is stupidity contagious?

Miss Mengmeng didn't discuss with Julia whether Ameliete was beautiful inside and out. Following the advice given by Fatty Wei, she went directly to visit the local tax authorities in Locke City.

At first, Ms. Mengmeng only showed her investigator's badge. As a result, although the tax officials were very polite, they were all just talking in circles and kept making excuses to refuse her request for help.

With no other option, Miss Mengmeng had to take out the same Emerald business card as Julia.

The result was swift. The tax official changed his attitude, becoming as amiable and cooperative as Fatty Wei, and immediately began the investigation as requested by Miss Mengmeng, even though the investigation was somewhat irregular.

That afternoon, a team of tax officials went to the registered address of the Mark Chamber of Commerce in Locke City and demanded their accounting books for the past few months, saying that they had a task to temporarily check tax records to see if the merchants had evaded taxes.

To avoid revealing any flaws, several other teams of tax authorities went to other companies or chambers of commerce to audit their accounts; even Lanxing Film and Television had people daring to go.

Of course, the people who went to Blue Star Film and Television didn't dare to actually check the accounts. They just went to have a few cups of coffee, chatted with the receptionists for a while, and then left.

But the people at the Mark Chamber of Commerce were unaware of this. Seeing so many companies and chambers of commerce being approached by the tax authorities, they had no suspicions and showed their ledgers to the law enforcement officers.

The tax authorities' enforcement officers appeared to be carefully examining the ledgers, but in reality, they were secretly using a special magical device to copy all the contents of the ledgers.

After copying all of the Mark Chamber of Commerce's account details for the past few months, the tax authorities returned the account books to the Mark Chamber of Commerce, saying that the verification was complete and that their chamber's tax records were in order, and that they could rest assured.

The copied ledger details were quickly delivered to Miss Mengmeng.

Chapter 103 The Infiltration and Search Was a Great Success

In a small conference room at Blue Star Films, the three women remained silent.

The woman with black hair and black eyes, dressed in a tight leather outfit, was none other than Investigator Mengmeng. She was looking at the copied accounts of the [Mark Merchant Guild], and from time to time she would take out a pen, paper, and a calculation device to record or calculate some data.

The pink-haired, blue-eyed woman in a light-colored casual outfit, short skirt, and black stockings was Amelie, the company's owner. She was also very interested in Miss Mengmeng's investigation, so she came over to join them. However, she was busy with her own work and did not help Miss Mengmeng with the accounts.

The last blonde girl with twin ponytails, dressed as a schoolgirl in a pleated skirt and white stockings, was Julia, the heroine of Locke City. She was quite free, running to Miss Mengmeng's side to look at the accounts, and then to Amelie's side to look at the company documents, only to find that she could hardly understand them. Not daring to disturb the two of them, she would scratch her head from time to time, looking restless.

The maid Marcy and the guard Viliana, who should have been serving Amelie, have been hiding these past few days because their elven identities are somewhat awkward, and it would be embarrassing if Miss Moonguard Shuying found out.

Although Miss Shuying, who is obsessed with human men, probably doesn't care at all, Amelie's caution still led her to choose to be on the safe side.

Finally, just as Yulia was about to do something, Miss Mengmeng suddenly became so agitated that she broke the pen in her hand, then slammed her fist on the table:

"Found them! It can't be wrong, it's them!"

"Oh?"

Emery put down the company documents in her hand and cast a curious glance at them.

Yulia rushed to Miss Mengmeng's side to see the calculations Miss Mengmeng had written down, but she was still completely confused:

"Uh...it's just the price of some tools and crops, is there a problem?"

"Of course... ugh, gulp."

Miss Mengmeng didn't rush to answer. She first leaned back in her chair as if she had breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the glass on the table and took several large gulps of chilled juice before smiling and saying:

"These guys are smart. When they trade with magic rejecters, they basically choose to barter, exchanging production and living tools for the magic rejecters' crops... Even when it comes to money transactions, they use cash and never transfer money or use bank notes, which is why the White River Gang can't find any of their financial transactions."

“But the federal tax authorities are different. Doing business means paying taxes, but the most important and most enforced law in federal law is that even big capitalists only dare to legally avoid taxes... Amélie, do you dare not pay taxes?”

Miss Mengmeng had clearly found the key information and was in a good mood; she even joked and teased Amelie.

"……snort."

Emery gave a slightly spoiled hum, but didn't say anything, clearly acknowledging Miss Mengmeng's words.

She really didn't dare not pay taxes.

The tax laws of the Allen Federation are even stricter than those of the United States.

In the United States, not paying taxes might at most result in the tax authorities sending special forces to break down your door. But if you dare not pay taxes in the Allen Federation, in the worst-case scenario, you could even be cursed to death and have your soul imprisoned by the highest-level curse magic, regardless of distance.

That's right. The taxes of the Allen Federation are guaranteed by magic. The most skilled mages and magicians in the entire Federation are basically located at the tax headquarters in the Federation capital. They have developed various tax contracts from the perspective of soul and causality. Even mages in the fusion stage cannot violate them. Moreover, the tax contract is the first contract that every citizen of the Federation must sign after birth.

Tax evasion and refusal to pay taxes are very serious crimes in the federal government.

The Mark Chamber of Commerce clearly doesn't dare to violate federal tax laws. Even though they mostly engage in barter transactions, they must keep detailed accounts and pay taxes in accordance with the law.

Moreover, the tools used by the Mark Merchant Guild to exchange for crops also cost money to purchase, and these also need to be accounted for. It was precisely these accounts for purchasing tools that led Miss Mengmeng to discover the discrepancy.

"They are paying the wrong prices for the tools they use to buy their daily necessities."

Miss Mengmeng took out what she had written on a piece of paper and showed it to Amelie and Julia:

“Look, take this small hoe for loosening and turning the soil, for example. The bill says it costs 65 rens each, and that’s the price in most shops in town, so people think it’s fine, right?”

"Actually, that's not the case. 65 ren silk per bundle is just the retail price. For large-scale purchases like those by the Merchant Guild, the unit price will definitely be cheaper... It's easy to reduce it to 60 ren silk per bundle, and even 55 ren silk per bundle is not impossible."

"This small hoe is just one type; the other tools are basically the same. Their bulk purchase price is roughly the same as the retail price in city stores, but that's not right."

"They overstated the price of these tools, but paid taxes based on the overstated price. Why would they inflate the unit price of the tools in the first place? I don't think anyone would willingly pay extra taxes for no reason."

"Oh~~~~ I understand!"

After Miss Mengmeng said this, even Yulia understood, and slapped her thigh:

"The money from the inflated prices was used for illegal transactions! But even illegal transactions are taxed in the federal government! They dared not let others know the details of their transactions, nor did they dare to violate their tax contracts, so this was the only way they could do it!"

"Yes."

Miss Mengmeng nodded, and Amelie smiled with some relief—Yulia had finally learned to use her brain.

"If I'm not wrong."

Emerald looked at Miss Mengmeng again:

"The money they hid by inflating prices happens to be a rather subtle figure that matches up with some of your past investigations, Mengmeng?"

"Yes."

Miss Mengmeng nodded again and explained:

“Remember what I said before? Before my informant came to Locke City, I took down a middleman who was selling human babies in the capital of this state in the north, and captured one of the gang members who was responsible for getting the goods from the suppliers.”

"He confessed that the last business he handled before I killed him was buying six human cubs from a supplier from the direction of Locke City."

"And then you look at this..."