Courtyard House: I, the eldest son of the Jia family, have returned from the battlefield.

The hushed, muffled chatter surged in from the alleyway like a tide.

Jia Dongming glanced at the faces peering out from outside the courtyard wall, said nothing, and stepped through the gate.

In the courtyard, funeral home staff were carrying a stretcher out.

The silhouettes beneath the white cloth were silent and stiff.

Jia Dongming silently moved closer to the wall, making way for a narrow passage.

He only looked away after watching the last stretcher disappear outside the door.

The door was wide open, like an open, dark mouth.

Jia Dongming stood at the bottom of the steps, his voice low: "Liu Jiangping has a habit of keeping accounts."

He kept accounts of the granary, and he couldn't possibly have forgotten where the money went.

He looked at Wang Bin, then at Chen Yu, and said, "Once the forensic doctor leaves, turn this yard upside down—don't miss an inch."

The search had already begun before the smell of disinfectant had even dissipated.

The sounds of rustling and whispering echoed in the empty room.

Time crawls slowly through the dust.

"Team Leader Jia! Squad Leader!"

The shouts came from the inner room.

Zhang Qiang from the branch office practically burst through the bedroom door, his face flushed, his voice rising uncontrollably: "Behind the cabinet! There's a hidden compartment—full of money! Big black dollars, big silver dollars! And...and a notebook!"

Chen Weiguo sat bolt upright: "Where?"

Jia Dongming also turned around.

His face showed a look of surprise at just the right moment—although he had already seen the secret hidden in the shadows behind the cabinet.

At this moment, he simply followed in Chen Weiguo's footsteps and stepped back into the bedroom filled with the smell of old wood.

The hidden compartment was completely pried open.

Bundles of banknotes and heavy gold bars were exposed in the dim light, like a small hill that had suddenly appeared.

Chen Weiguo gasped, his voice trembling slightly: "This... how much is that? Tens of thousands, right? A deputy station chief... how many years has he been sucking blood?"

Jia Dongming didn't look at the money.

His gaze fell on the dark blue notebook. "He was silenced the moment the task force was established,"

He reached out and took out the notebook, his knuckles turning white. "Isn't this enough to make a name for myself? There are fish behind Liu Jiangping."

A bigger fish.

He flipped open the notebook, the papers rustling softly. "A mere deputy stationmaster can rake in so much money, where are his superiors?"

He read through the pages, speaking slowly but clearly, "This case is likely to uncover a whole mess that will shake the entire city."

The yellowed pages were covered with dates and numbers.

Each transaction is followed by a letter code, like a row of silent coded messages.

Jia Dongming's fingertip hovered over a certain line, remaining motionless for a long time.

"Team Leader Chen,"

He finally looked up and handed him the notebook. "Look."

Not just the district grain station.

The Municipal Grain Bureau has also been dragged into this—this "person" carries considerable weight.

Chen Weiguo took the notebook, his eyes sweeping over the shocking numbers.

His Adam's apple bobbed: "More than 20,000... that's the amount just for this one person."

He raised his eyes, a flame flickering within them. "The one who ordered the silencing... is probably him."

Jia Dongming nodded, looking out the window at the gray sky. "And I suspect,"

His voice deepened, "These numbers don't just represent our grain depot."

The deficits of other stations have probably also flowed into this account.

Otherwise... with the limited grain supplies in our district, we couldn't fill such a huge hole.

The room fell silent.

Only dust particles floated and sank slowly in the light.

The open notebook lay on the table, like a thunderbolt that had already been ignited and was hissing.

"Team Leader Jia! Team Leader Chen!"

Hurried footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate. A young police officer stepped into the inner room, stood at attention, and reported to the two people who were talking in hushed tones, "Comrades from the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection have arrived. They say they want to investigate the situation on-site."

Hearing "Disciplinary Committee"

Upon hearing those two words, Jia Dongming's eyes suddenly darkened.

He reached out and took the hardcover ledger from Chen Weiguo, neatly putting it into his black briefcase. As he turned around, his tone was low and steady: "Old Chen, less than 24 hours after the task force was established, Liu Jiangping was silenced—there's a culprit among us."

"It's still too early to say whether this ghost is hiding within our public security network or the disciplinary committee."

He fastened his briefcase, looked up at Chen Weiguo, and said, "Before we find the person responsible, we must keep the account book a secret."

This isn't just about investigating the case; it's also about setting a trap for the mole.

Chen Weiguo watched as Jia Dongming put the account book into his bag. At first, he frowned slightly, but then he suddenly realized.

Recalling the tragic deaths of Liu Jiangping's family, he nodded heavily: "Mingbai."

Before the ghost reveals itself, Dongxi certainly cannot be exposed.

Jia Dongming glanced at the other police officers in the room, his voice low but clear: "Everyone heard what Captain Chen and I said just now."

I don't need to repeat the rules; what needs to be kept inside must be kept strictly confidential, not a single word can be omitted.

Before he finished speaking, Zheng Jie had already led the two into the courtyard.

He walked quickly, a thin layer of anger on his face. Before he had even stopped, he spoke to Jia Dongming, "Director Jia, what's going on here? The special task force was only established yesterday, and today a key witness has disappeared right under your noses! How exactly did your police set up this operation?"

The day before, when discussing the division of labor in the municipal bureau's conference room, both sides clearly agreed that for field operations, the police would send two people and the discipline inspection commission would send one person.

However, when Zhou Gang led the team to stake out the area last night, the cadre from the Discipline Inspection Commission who was supposed to accompany him never showed up.

In the early hours of this morning, the sudden diversionary tactic led to the deaths of Liu Jiangping and his family in a fire.

The primary responsibility naturally lies with Zhou Gang and his team, but is the absent cadre from the Discipline Inspection Commission entirely without fault? If he had been there last night, perhaps the situation wouldn't have turned out this way.

After Liu Jiangping's incident, Jia Dongming did not try to shirk responsibility, nor did he intend to make a fuss about the disciplinary committee's absence. All he could think about was how to dig out clues from the ashes and expose the mastermind behind it all.

But he didn't expect that Zheng Jie, who had been politely discussing work with him yesterday, would not try to help make amends as soon as he heard that Liu Jiangping was dead. Instead, he was eager to shift the blame.

In that instant, Jia Dongming felt as if his heart had been soaked in ice water, chilled to the bone.

Faced with Zheng Jie's relentless questioning, the polite smile on Jia Dongming's face vanished completely.

He took half a step forward, his voice cold and harsh: "Director Zheng, our people have abandoned their posts, and we will not shirk our responsibilities."

But in saying that, haven't you forgotten that someone from your disciplinary committee should also be present?

"According to the division of labor, one of your comrades should have participated in the stakeout last night."

When our people arrived, your people were nowhere to be seen.

If they had been there last night, even if something went wrong on our end, the enemy might not have been able to find an opening to attack.

"Now that something's happened, instead of rushing to investigate who leaked the information within your own systems, instead of digging out the mole, you're thinking of pinning all the blame on us—"

Jia Dongming paused, a chill settling in his eyes. "Director Zheng, isn't your approach a bit too hasty?"

Zheng Jie was able to join this task force not because of his case-solving skills, but because of his uncle, who had considerable influence in the province.

When he first saw the account books handed over by the police, he thought it was a great opportunity to enhance his resume, so he used his uncle's connections to successfully lead a team to join.

He originally thought that as long as he could hold Liu Jiangping down, pry him open, and follow the clues to catch all his accomplices in one fell swoop, it would be a great achievement.

Little did they know that the most important witness would be gone after only one day of the task force's operation.

Upon learning of Liu Jiangping's death, Zheng Jie broke out in a cold sweat.

He immediately realized that the case was far more complex than he had imagined.

The gilded plan not only failed to work, but may also have brought trouble upon the individual.

So on his way to the scene, he had already planned it out—he had to muddy the waters and shift the primary responsibility to Jia Dongming.

That's why the scene that started as soon as they met occurred.

Zheng Jie was only concerned with shirking responsibility, completely forgetting what happened after he returned from the Municipal Bureau the day before—he was in a hurry to attend a dinner party and completely forgot about arranging for people to join the task force for surveillance.

When Jia Dongming refuted him to his face, he originally wanted to shift the blame onto the other party, but he suddenly remembered this oversight and was speechless for a moment.

To hide his embarrassment, Zheng Jie turned to Guo Jie sitting next to him, and asked in a stern voice, "Guo Jie, is what Director Jia said true? Didn't Mingque tell you yesterday to pack your things and go directly to the Municipal Bureau to cooperate with the police in carrying out surveillance tasks? Why didn't you go?"

Guo Jie's heart skipped a beat when he met Zheng Jie's gaze.

He knew his boss's style all too well—this guy was using himself as a shield.

Despite feeling wronged, Guo Jie had no choice but to accept the blame.

He quickly put on a sincere expression of remorse and explained in a low voice, "Director Zheng, yesterday I finished my work and was about to leave for the Municipal Bureau when Deputy Director Qian asked me to prepare a document."

By the time the documents were finished, it was already past 8 PM, and as a result... the monitoring task was delayed.

Seeing that Guo Jie had taken the initiative to take responsibility, Zheng Jie secretly breathed a sigh of relief. A fake apology immediately appeared on his face as he turned to Jia Dongming and forced a smile: "Director Jia, I'm really sorry."

I only heard about Liu Jiangping's accident, and I was so anxious that I spoke a little rashly. Please don't take it to heart.

Jia Dongming observed the entire interaction between the two.

Although he didn't know why no one was involved in monitoring Zheng Jie's side, he could guess from Guo Jie's resigned demeanor that this young man was most likely being pushed out to take the blame.

This alone is enough to show that Ming Zhengjie is polite on the surface, but in reality, he is a cunning hypocrite.

Having seen through this, Jia Dongming became even more wary of Zheng Jie.

Faced with the other party's explanation, he pretended that the conflict had never happened and solemnly reminded him: "Director Zheng, the task force was only established yesterday, and the key suspect was silenced in the early hours of this morning. This can only mean that someone within our organization leaked the information."

"Without tracing this mole, it will be difficult to advance this case of corruption."

If it weren't for that previous confrontation, Zheng Jie might have readily agreed with these words, insisting that the problem lay within the public security system.

Having learned his lesson once, he learned from Congming.

In response to Jia Dongming's reminder, Zheng Jie also put on a serious expression and replied, "Director Jia is right."

The joint investigation team had just been formed when a key suspect got into trouble. No one would believe there wasn't a mole tipping them off.

"In order to solve the case as soon as possible and give our superiors an explanation, I suggest that we each conduct a secret self-investigation within our systems first, make sure to dig out this mole, and then follow the clues to bring the mastermind behind it all to justice!"

When they first met yesterday, because they were of similar age and Zheng Jie publicly stated that the police would take the lead in the investigation and that they would fully cooperate, Jia Dongming was very confident that the case would be solved smoothly.

Now that Liu Jiangping has suddenly died, Zheng Jie immediately shifted the blame without asking any questions. This not only made Jia Dongming see his true colors, but also made him realize that the waters behind this case are probably deeper than he imagined.

Upon hearing Zheng Jie's answer, Jia Dongming sensed the perfunctory tone in the other party's words.

He said solemnly, "Director Zheng, I have reported the news of Liu Jiangping's murder to my superiors immediately, and I have also raised the suspicion that there may have been a leak within the organization."

Our city's disciplinary inspection department has begun a secret investigation into the source of the leak.

"The longer the traitor remains, the greater the obstacle to solving the case will be."

In order to bring the truth to light as soon as possible, I hope that you will report this situation truthfully to your system's leadership upon your return, and strive to eliminate the traitor as quickly as possible.

Zheng Jie, though still smiling, was already furious inside after hearing Jia Dongming's words.

He cursed inwardly, "Do you think I didn't know there was a mole? Did I need you to remind me! I wonder which bastard leaked the information, ruining my plan to gain experience in the task force and potentially getting myself into a lot of trouble."

Although Zheng Jie was already seething with dissatisfaction, he maintained a humble demeanor and solemnly promised Jia Dongming, "Director Jia, please rest assured."

As soon as I return to my unit, I will immediately report this matter to my superiors in detail.

If there are indeed such problematic individuals within our ranks, I will not tolerate them and will certainly deal with them according to the law.