American Tax Officer

Chapter 56: Chapter 54: Pursuit

David sipped his coffee and said, "Yes, if you can report illegal groups like yours, enabling us to collect the taxes, then you can likewise obtain tax relief."

MacDonald appeared slightly downcast but still asked, "Report...Well, I don't have a suitable target right now, but if I do in the future, can I contact you any time?"

"Of course, as long as the information is useful, I'm always welcome to hear from you!"

With David's response, MacDonald decided that in the near future he needed to socialize and exchange more with his colleagues to see if he could leverage any information.

After all, he also understood that the IRS was required to keep taxpayer information confidential, so as long as he provided valuable information, he figured nobody would know it was him!

...

Two hours later, Dan seemed to enter a highly intense phase; his hands moved across the keyboard like playing a fast-paced piano piece, losing himself in the process.

David didn't want to disturb him, but since a considerable amount of time had passed, he approached Dan and asked, "How's it going?"

Dan slowed his pace a bit, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and replied, "This guy's skills are definitely top-notch. I gathered several of my friends to 'encircle' him, but he used 'Rootkit' to escape!"

Nisen, somewhat puzzled, asked, "Rootkit, what's that?"

"Rootkit is a tool used by attackers to hide their tracks and maintain root, or full access privileges. Once an attacker gains root access to a system remotely, they install a rootkit to ensure long-term control of the system!"

This barrage of hacker jargon left both David and Nisen completely bewildered.

"If it can't be done, let it go."

Initially thinking this was a high-profile case, David hadn't expected it to not only waste so much time but also to be such a nuisance.

With the time spent, he could have been cracking other cases!

Hearing this, Dan grew anxious and quickly responded, "No, no, no, I want to try one more time, please give me another half hour!"

"Half an hour... Alright then!"

David thought it over; given the time already wasted, he didn't mind an additional half hour.

The half-hour passed quickly.

Just as David was about to interrupt, Dan suddenly exclaimed triumphantly, "Haha, I've finally broken your rootkit, let's see where you run now!"

Seeing there might be a breakthrough, David didn't interrupt but waited patiently instead.

Five minutes later, a string of code popped up on the computer and Dan, previously exuberant, suddenly became subdued, cursing, "Fake Yau, this damn bastard used a zombie machine!"

"Zombie machine? Does that mean you still haven't found him?"

Nisen didn't know what a zombie machine was, but seeing Dan's frustrated demeanor, he realized things weren't looking good.

Dan didn't respond right away but instead opened a chat in some software and conversed with several anonymous online users. Eventually, he turned and said, "This guy's skill level is higher than I thought. I got 7 friends with skills like mine to corner him, but we still couldn't pinpoint his exact IP. However, it wasn't entirely fruitless..."

The first part of his statement left David slightly disappointed, but the continuation piqued his interest, and he asked, "What did you find?"

"The zombie machine he used is quite special; it's a part of an integrated network within a school. To use that kind of network, the transmission frequency has to be particularly high. This guy couldn't be more than 500 meters away from the school, or he wouldn't be able to evade the traps we set."

"And we've checked, the only place that can supply that frequency and is within 500 meters of the school is the Constance Residential Area!"

After hearing Dan's explanation, Nisen replied with dissatisfaction, "Constance Residential Area... That's like 400 to 500 households!"

Looking slightly embarrassed, Dan answered, "With the IRS's inspection capabilities, I think finding that guy out of a few hundred households shouldn't be too difficult, right, Inspector David?"

David caught the implication of Dan's self-praise, but didn't say much and replied, "Okay, that's the plan!"

"Inspector David, about my tax relief..."

"I'll apply for it!"

Although Dan hadn't pinpointed the exact location of the individual, he had done his best.

Plus, finding a general location was quite the achievement.

There was no need for David to play bureaucratic games and risk chilling the morale of his informants.

Dan's expression brightened, and he quickly expressed his gratitude, "I'm very thankful..."

As the task was not fully accomplished, he initially planned to ask for 7 or 8 percentage points in tax relief if he couldn't get the 15 percentage points agreed upon earlier.

But unexpectedly, David was generous and showed no intention of taking advantage of the situation to demand a higher tax rate, which pleasantly surprised him.

"Alright, it's getting late. Prepare your money now and go through the process at our IRS," David announced.

...

Returning to the Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch, David and Nisen split up to take action immediately.

David was responsible for handling the financial accounting and storage of Camilla and the others' funds, while Nisen started to look into the records for Constance Residential Area.

Although there were about 400 to 500 households in the residential area.

Those with only elderly or household heads with no access to computers could be directly excluded.

After another round of selection from their IRS database, maybe only 200 to 300 households would remain.

"Here is 182,160 US dollars, count it..."

"Here is 186,120 US dollars, count it..."

"Here is..."

"Considering the tax relief, here's my 49,800 US dollars, count it..."

Camilla and the others presented their respective tax amounts, but when it was Dan's turn, the others had complex looks in their eyes.

Each of them had started from a payment of 100,000.

Yet Dan only had to pay less than 50,000, which understandably left them envious.

David carefully calculated each amount and, finding no error, nodded and said, "Alright, your taxes and information have been archived; you may go now!"

After their departure, David immediately called over Mary, pointing to the stack of cash, he said, "This is 749,800, count it!"

Seeing such a substantial sum, Mary was initially startled but quickly regained composure and began counting the money.

About ten minutes later, she nodded and said, "The amount is correct; I'll proceed with the storage work now!"