After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

The string broke.

The four characters, written with force and the ink not yet dry, sounded like a hurried warning.

Chen Ping tightened his grip, crumpling the piece of cardboard into a ball in his palm. The edges of the paper prickled his hand, causing a slight pain. He didn't turn back to look for the young man who had handed him the item; in such a crowd, the man would have long since disappeared into the throng.

Is this note a warning, a protest, or a reminder from some unknown corner?

The old musician's string broke. Does this mean Zhou Zhixing's connection is ruined? Or does it mean Shen Yayun herself has been exposed?

He casually put his hand back in his suit pocket, crumpled the paper ball between his fingertips, and then unfolded it. Chen Ping turned around and walked back towards the podium. Liu Mingyuan was walking out side by side with Secretary Deshan, followed by several city and prefecture officials.

"Lie it flat, come here." Liu Mingyuan beckoned to him.

Chen Ping hurried a few steps to catch up and stood half a step behind Liu Mingyuan.

"The Party Secretary is very satisfied with your report today." Liu Mingyuan's voice was not loud, just loud enough for him to hear. "We need to quickly come up with a concrete plan for the province-wide rollout of Corefire and submit it to the Standing Committee next week."

"Understood," Chen Ping replied.

As the group approached the entrance to the lecture hall, Secretary Deshan's secretary had already opened the car door. Before getting into the car, Secretary Deshan glanced back at Chen Pingfang.

"Comrade Pingfang, it's good that young people are energetic, but they also need to pay attention to their methods. Some things are interconnected, and pulling one thread can have far-reaching consequences."

This statement clearly had a hidden meaning. Chen Ping's back tensed up; he knew that Secretary Deshan was referring to how he had bypassed the usual procedures and directly brought Zhou Zhixing's case to the National Security Bureau.

"Thank you for the pointers, Secretary."

After the black Audi drove away, Liu Mingyuan turned around, his polite smile gone. "What was wrong with you just now? You were flipping through the PPT so quickly."

"We found a target in the venue," Chen Pingfang said without hiding anything. "It might be related to the M-Tek line."

Liu Mingyuan paused for a moment. "Is it reliable?"

"Verification is required," Chen Pingfang said. "Governor, I need to temporarily deploy a team from the Provincial Audit Office. We'll use unconventional channels."

Calling upon the audit office without going through the usual channels is tantamount to abusing the governor's power, which carries significant risks.

Liu Mingyuan stared at him for a full five seconds. "I'll give you six hours. I want results before dark. Keep it quiet and clean."

"Yes."

Chen Ping did not return to his office.

He took the elevator down to the underground parking garage, found his car, got in, and closed the door.

The car was quiet; it was a closed space.

The car was quiet. He took out an encrypted phone and made a call.

The call connected quickly.

"Old Wei, it's me."

The person on the other end of the phone was Wei Dong, the deputy director of the provincial audit department, who had been promoted by Liu Mingyuan.

"Okay, go ahead."

"There's a company called Ya Yun Cultural Communication. Can you check all its accounts for me, from when the company was established until now, especially the consulting fees related to those infrastructure projects? Also, they have a main account at the Shuangqing branch of the Jiangsu Provincial Rural Commercial Bank. Have someone keep an eye on it and find out where every penny comes from, where it goes, and with whom it's transacted."

Wei Dong paused for a moment, as if thinking about something. "This company... I seem to remember it. I recall Director Qin Daguan mentioning it in the General Office's summary last year, saying it was an excellent partner in organizing cultural outreach activities."

Qin Daguan.

Chen Ping tapped his fingertip on the steering wheel. "That's why we need to investigate. I don't care what pretext you use—special audit, financial inspection, whatever—I need a complete financial transaction analysis report within six hours. Send it to my email address in encryption."

"It'll cause a lot of noise," Wei Dong warned him.

"Then make it big."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Ping started his car and drove out of the provincial government compound. He didn't go home, but instead drove to Jizhou Laboratory. In his lounge, he took off his suit jacket and made himself a strong cup of tea.

Time passed second by second. The sky outside the window changed from bright blue to orange-yellow, and finally sank into deep purple.

Five and a half hours later, he received a new email in his encrypted mailbox. The attachment was a compressed file with three layers of passwords.

Chen Ping downloaded the file to a laptop that was not connected to the internet. He unzipped it and opened it.

The report is short, only twelve pages long, but the information on each page is of great importance.

Ya Yun Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., with Shen Ya Yun as its legal representative, is registered at a teahouse on the outskirts of Nanzhou City that has been closed for three years. Its main business is corporate culture consulting and brand image planning.

But the transaction records revealed its true nature.

Over the past five years, this company has undertaken cultural consulting services for 43 large-scale infrastructure projects across the province, with a total contract value of 780 million yuan. The payers for all of these projects were the general contractors. One name appeared 17 times.

He Qishan. The largest road and bridge engineering contractor in Jiangsu Province.

After the funds entered Ya Yun Culture's account, they would undergo several splits and transfers, with the majority ultimately flowing into the main account of that Shuangqing branch. This account held a large amount of funds.

On page seven of the report, the auditors marked an unusual area with a red line.

Over the past three years, three separate transactions totaling more than eight million yuan have been transferred from this main account to three logistics suppliers for the provincial government office. The purchases included office supplies, repairs to official vehicles, and the rental of greenery for the conference center.

All three of these business areas are under the jurisdiction of Qin Daguan, the director of the General Affairs Department.

The source of funding for this shadow network has been uncovered.

Chen Ping scrolled the mouse to the last page. This was the operation log that the Audit Office had just urgently retrieved from the Shuangqing branch.

The log shows that at 2:50 pm today, just after the provincial semiconductor industry conference ended, a sum of 10 million yuan was withdrawn in cash.

Large cash withdrawals require prior appointment and the person withdrawing the money must present valid identification and sign a receipt.

The report included a high-resolution scan of the withdrawal slip.

Chen Ping's gaze was fixed on the signature column.

The signatures there were flamboyant and powerful, with the last stroke habitually flicking upwards.

He was all too familiar with this handwriting. Over the past two weeks, he had studied the handwriting analysis report countless times.

Lin Shaofeng's call came in at that moment, also via an encrypted line.

"Zhou Zhixing is in trouble." Lin Shaofeng's voice was urgent. "After the National Security personnel took over, they transferred him from the city's central hospital to the special care ward of the provincial military general hospital. An hour ago, the two National Security personnel responsible for his care were reassigned for fifteen minutes to attend an emergency meeting. When they returned, Zhou Zhixing was gone."

Chen Ping's throat felt a little dry. He didn't speak, but simply turned the laptop screen to an angle, pointing the camera at the withdrawal slip.

"Look at this again."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. After more than ten seconds, Lin Shaofeng's voice rang out again, filled with disbelief.

"This is impossible... How could Zhou Zhixing have been at the bank at that time? His handwriting... This must be his handwriting."

Chen Ping turned off the computer, stood up, and walked to the window.

Night had already enveloped the entire city.

He remembered the note in his pocket when the meeting ended.

The string broke.

It turns out that the broken string was used to strangle someone.

Before disappearing, Zhou Zhixing, the scapegoat, completed his last task: withdrawing a crucial sum of money, and then using his disappearance to lead all the clues into a dead end.