Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

At two in the morning, the wind outside the Qingling bonded warehouse carried the chill of the corrugated iron shed.

Qi Tongwei stood beside the police car and handed a stack of investigation materials to the deputy head of the criminal investigation branch of a neighboring province. A corner of the paper was lifted by the wind, revealing the official seals of the Jingzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau and the procuratorate at the top.

The deputy detachment leader, surnamed Liang, was in his forties, with deep wrinkles on his face from sun exposure. He turned three pages, his brows furrowing more and more deeply.

"Director Qi, the paperwork you've prepared in Jingzhou is a bit intimidating."

Qi Tongwei stuffed the cigarette pack back into his pocket without lighting it. "What's scary isn't the paperwork, it's the people inside. The ledgers, the recordings, the transfer routes, the prosecutor's witness—as long as you follow the procedures for the investigation, no one can find fault with you."

Deputy Captain Liang glanced at Lu Yike.

Lu Yike handed over her identification, her tone decisive. "The Anti-Corruption Bureau is present, but only to witness the proceedings; they won't interfere with your local law enforcement. Director Liang, if the door opens, the credit goes to you; if it doesn't, you shouldn't bear the responsibility."

Deputy Chief Liang chuckled and closed the document.

"Are all people from Handong so good at blocking the door when they talk?"

Qi Tongwei looked up at the No. 2 bonded warehouse, where light peeked through the cracks in the roller shutter door. "We're not blocking your door, we're blocking their escape route."

Deputy Captain Liang didn't waste any more words, turned around and waved his hand.

"action."

Inside warehouse number two, a forklift was reversing, its tires screeching on the concrete floor.

Zhou Lan, the legal representative of Haiheng, stood in front of a row of export instrument boxes, holding a seal gun in her hand. She was around fifty years old, with her short hair neatly combed, wearing a wool sweater over a reflective warehouse vest, and her face still carried the toughness of someone who had dealt with government agencies for many years.

The black shockproof bag has been stuffed into the interlayer of the wooden crate.

Boom!

The roller shutter door was kicked open.

A powerful flashlight swept in, startling the forklift driver so much that he missed his footing, causing the forklift to lurch violently and the cargo box to sway twice.

"Police! Get your hands off the box!"

Zhou Lan's face paled for a moment, then she slammed the sealing gun on the table.

"What right do you have to barge in? I'm an outsourced service provider for the provincial government. The goods in our bonded warehouse have export permits. Are you, the Jingzhou Public Security Bureau, interfering in matters in a neighboring province?"

Qi Tongwei walked up to her, unfolded the letter of assistance, and pressed the paper almost against her eyes.

"Outsourcing to the provincial government is not a get-out-of-jail-free card."

Zhou Lan pursed her lips.

Qi Tongwei turned his head to look at Deputy Chief Liang. "Chief Liang, the people and the goods are in your jurisdiction. We'll cooperate."

Deputy Chief Liang immediately understood and gestured for the police officers to come forward. "Zhou Lan is suspected of transferring funds related to organized crime to gather evidence. Cooperate with the investigation in accordance with the law."

Two police officers pinned Zhou Lan down next to the shelf.

The metal shelf shuddered, and several seals fell to the ground, clattering and rolling away.

Zhou Lan struggled, her voice shrill. "Do you know who's behind me?"

Qi Tongwei didn't even look at her.

"I know, that's why I brought so many chapters."

There was a half-second of silence in the warehouse.

The local police officers exchanged glances, and their expressions changed.

Lu Yike squatted beside the wooden box, put on gloves, and opened the interlayer. When the black shockproof bag was taken out, its surface was still covered with sawdust. She supported it with an evidence bag, numbered it, took photos, and signed it in one go.

The technician connected the isolation equipment, and an encryption prompt quickly appeared on the screen.

"The outer layer is accessible, but the inner layer requires a key. The hint is the old project number for Haizhou Port Phase III."

Qi Tongwei looked at Zhou Lan.

Zhou Lan turned her face away, her nostrils taut. "Business data? I don't know anything about Haizhou Port."

Lu Yike turned the screen away. "President Zhou, you'd better think this through. Why would a Handong outsourcing company use an old coastal project as its inner key? If you pretend you don't understand, who are you installing it for?"

Zhou Lan's face darkened, and she didn't answer.

The technician typed for more than ten minutes, and the outer database opened.

A map showing the supporting infrastructure for major projects in Handong fills the screen. Luzhou, Jingzhou, and Lincheng—logistics, water supply, electricity, roads, and financial credit lines—are laid out like a dense network.

Deputy Captain Liang took a closer look and gasped.

"This isn't an audit report, it's an asset roadmap!"

Qi Tongwei didn't say anything, but just told the technician to continue flipping through the pages.

When I turned to the investor section, the names on the screen turned into a series of blank numbers.

A-17.

B-09.

C-31.

No company name is specified.

There are no natural persons.

There is no ultimate beneficiary.

No one spoke in the warehouse.

Zhou Lan, who had been standing upright just moments before, gradually relaxed her shoulders a little.

She smiled.

"Director Qi, thank you for your hard work crossing provincial borders in the middle of the night. And that's all you've got."

Qi Tongwei turned to look at her, his face expressionless. "What's the rush? Blank spaces are words too."

Zhou Lan's smile froze.

Lu Yike stared at the screen, her finger hovering over the mouse. "It's been cleaned up. The outer layer retains the project map, but the core list has been replaced with numbers. It was a rushed cleanup; some indexes weren't completely removed."

Qi Tongwei picked up his phone and dialed Gao Yuliang's number.

After the call connected, he finished explaining the situation, while the warehouse fans were still humming overhead.

There was a moment of silence on Gao Yuliang's end, followed by the sound of a paper cup hitting the table.

"very good."

Qi Tongwei frowned. "Teacher, the list is empty."

Gao Yuliang's tone, however, calmed down. "The blank space proves that someone is hiding the true beneficiary. Seal this hard drive as evidence, and highlight any signs of replacement. Don't dwell on the blank space; ask them why they're afraid of their names being exposed."

Qi Tongwei glanced at Zhou Lan.

Zhou Lan's face tightened completely.

Gao Yuliang continued, "Team Leader Ma either needs the original list or knows where the cloud backup is. Don't let him sleep soundly; send the bonded warehouse records back tonight."

The phone hangs up.

Lu Yike sealed the evidence bag tightly and looked up at him. "Director Qi, is this a win or a loss?"

Qi Tongwei turned his police cap back onto his head. "They showed off their skills."

She looked at the taut scars on the back of his hand and suddenly reached out to pull his sleeve down a little. "Don't always think of yourself as a steel plate; even steel plates crack."

Qi Tongwei paused for a moment, just about to speak.

Lu Yike had already turned around to sign the document, as if nothing had happened.

Deputy Chief Liang coughed beside him, deliberately looking away. "Your procedures in Handong are quite rigorous, and your emotional work is also very meticulous."

Qi Tongwei: "..."

……

At 3:30 a.m., the lights were still on in the provincial government office.

Chu Pingshan sat behind his desk, listening to the phone report without saying a word. His secretary stood at the door, opening and closing his notebook repeatedly, a layer of sweat on his back.

Half a minute passed.

The clock on the wall ticked loudly.

Chu Pingshan picked up the pen, held the nib on the paper for a few seconds, and then put it down.

"Inform Team Leader Ma that he will attend the joint meeting of political and legal affairs officials first thing tomorrow morning to personally explain the data management issues related to Haiheng Consulting's outsourcing."

The secretary bowed his head and took notes. "Governor Chu, should we have him write an explanation first?"

Chu Pingshan looked up.

The secretary immediately shut up.

"Let him come to see people, not to write an essay."

When the call was made, Team Leader Ma was sitting on the edge of a bed in a budget hotel. The curtains weren't fully drawn, and the streetlight cast a narrow white line across the floor.

My phone vibrated again.

Not a secretary.

It was an anonymous text message.

"You've been pushed out. If you want to live, take the key to the third phase of Shanghai Zhougang Port."

Team Leader Ma stared at the screen, his face twitching slightly.

He yanked open the suitcase beside the bed, scattering clothes all over the floor. He reached into a hidden compartment, rummaged around for a while, and finally pulled out an old USB drive.

The white label had turned yellow and had four characters written on it.

Haizhou Backup.