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

Less than ten minutes after the joint meeting on political and legal affairs ended, a series of hushed phone calls rang out in the corridor of the provincial party committee building.

Representatives from all thirteen cities dared not linger at the entrance. Some walked towards the elevator while holding their phones to their ears, speaking in hushed tones.

"Don't give us the list yet."

"All project categories are temporarily suspended."

"Wait for the provincial party committee's new directive; don't do anything no matter who urges you."

As the elevator doors opened and closed, suits and briefcases receded like a receding tide. When Chu Pingshan got into his car, he glanced at the steps in front of the building through the window, his face expressionless.

He rolled up the document with "last place eliminated" printed on it into a paper tube and casually tossed it into the mesh pocket behind his seat.

The lights were on in the small conference room of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

Gao Yuliang didn't ask anyone to serve tea; he simply placed the meeting minutes on the center of the table upon entering. Qi Tongwei, Lu Yike, Li Dakang, and Wu Chunlin were all present. Team Leader Ma was seated in a separate, secure room next door, with two Political and Legal Affairs Commission officers on duty at the door.

As soon as Li Dakang sat down, he loosened his collar a little.

"I've finally gotten my revenge today."

Gao Yuliang looked up at him.

"If that's what you think, you'll be chopped up by Chu Pingshan tomorrow, skin and bones."

Li Dakang's face darkened.

Stop cursing me.

Gao Yuliang turned to the last page of the meeting minutes and pressed his fingertip against the voting results.

"Today, the knife simply paused for a moment."

He looked up, his voice low.

"The knife is still in his hand."

Qi Tongwei stood by the window without sitting down. He had just returned from the field command post, his police uniform cuff stained with oil, and his eyes still held a sharp edge that hadn't quite faded.

"Team Leader Ma is in a very bad mood."

Lu Yike put down the folder containing the interrogation records.

"To be precise, it has already collapsed."

A screeching sound of a chair being scraped against the floor came from the next room, followed by a man's hoarse shout.

"I'm not saying anything! I won't say a word! Take my wife and kids away first!"

The officer on duty at the door looked this way, and Qi Tongwei took a step, but was stopped by a look from Gao Yuliang.

"Let him shout."

Li Dakang frowned.

"How can someone like this be a witness? He changes his condition every single minute."

Lu Yike opened the record folder, pulled out a page, and pushed it to the center of the table.

"He wasn't negotiating. He was afraid of being worthless."

There were a few lines of messy handwriting on the paper, which were the name and location that Team Leader Ma had written when he lost control of his emotions. Some parts were smudged with water, as if he had spilled tea on it when his hand was shaking.

Wu Chunlin sat at the end of the table, remaining silent. At this moment, he picked up the paper, glanced at it, and his brows slowly furrowed.

Where are his wife and children?

"The old town of Jingzhou," Qi Tongwei answered quickly. "The community has no security, and one of the two exits downstairs is broken."

Upon hearing this, Li Dakang's face darkened.

"Such an important person, and you're just leaving his family standing outside like that?"

Qi Tongwei looked at him.

"We were just at the meeting, and Chu Pingshan's men were watching our every move. If I had made any moves against his family members before the meeting, the provincial government could have immediately written up the evidence that the Political and Legal Affairs Commission had coerced witnesses."

Li Dakang was momentarily speechless, then turned to look at Gao Yuliang.

"Can you move now?"

Gao Yuliang didn't rush to answer; he first looked at Lu Yike.

"Have you checked the USB drive?"

Lu Yike turned on her laptop, and the screen lit up. She didn't connect to the internet; she only pulled up a screenshot of the directory in the quarantine system.

"Three-level directory".

She turned the computer towards the crowd.

"First layer, map of the Handong project."

A series of numbers appeared on the screen, with place names, project names, and supporting asset categories separated into different columns. Several sensitive projects in Jingzhou, Lüzhou, and Lincheng were marked with small red dots.

Li Dakang snorted coldly.

"He really dares to make atlases."

Lu Yike then opened the second folder.

"Second floor, final payment for Phase III of Haizhou Port."

Gao Yuliang's fingers stopped on the table.

Qi Tongwei also turned to look at the screen.

"The third phase of the Haizhou Port line has been connected."

Lu Yike didn't comment, and then clicked on the third level of the directory.

"The third layer is the asset valuation rating model."

The folder didn't contain complete documents, but rather a bunch of encrypted tables and model parameters. Some names were deliberately abbreviated, as if intended only for those familiar with the matter.

Wu Chunlin pushed up his glasses.

"Can these things be included in the exam?"

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Li Dakang immediately spoke up.

"Why not? We have the USB drive, and we have the person in our hands."

Wu Chunlin glanced at him but didn't look away.

"If anyone seizes on any link in the chain of origin, delivery process, storage chain, or decryption method, Chu Pingshan can claim that this was something pieced together unilaterally by the political and legal system."

He put the paper back on the table.

"Especially since Team Leader Ma's identity is currently unclear. Is he a suspect, a tainted witness, or someone under investigation? If we don't define it now, he could be implicated at any step."

Qi Tongwei lowered his eyebrows.

"Then let's control his brother-in-law first."

He placed his phone on the table; the screen displayed the location just sent by the field staff.

"Team Leader Ma's brother-in-law is in Jingzhou tonight; we can subdue him within an hour. As long as he speaks up, we can push this chain of events through Haiheng forward."

Gao Yuliang raised his hand and tapped lightly on the table.

"Tongwei, what can we get by holding him down?"

"Take the money."

"Anything else?"

Qi Tongwei remained silent.

Gao Yuliang closed the meeting minutes on the table.

"At most, we'll get a brother-in-law who takes money and an outsourced project manager who profits as an intermediary. Tomorrow, Chu Pingshan can conveniently throw these two out and say that the provincial government is promptly cleaning up the bad apples."

Qi Tongwei slowly loosened his fingers from the edge of the phone.

Lu Yike took over the conversation.

"Moreover, if Team Leader Ma's brother-in-law is arrested, Team Leader Ma will feel that we no longer need him. He is currently sustained by a sense of value, which cannot be removed all at once."

Frustrated, Li Dakang pulled out a cigarette, then remembered that smoking was prohibited in the conference room, and threw the cigarette pack back on the table.

"What about the entrepreneurs from Jingzhou? I called them all in and took statements from each of them. They wrote down everything clearly, from the 30% discount acquisition to the rating threats."

Gao Yuliang turned his head.

"Don't call it a transcript."

"Not working again?"

"You used the name of the municipal party committee to hold a risk discussion meeting for enterprises."

Li Dakang stared at him.

Gao Yuliang's voice remained steady.

"Clearly state the subject: collecting information on business risks during periods of significant economic policy adjustments. The location should be the Municipal Party Committee, not the Municipal Bureau. Submission of materials is voluntary; the political and legal system will only provide assistance with security assessments."

Li Dakang understood, and his expression softened slightly.

"Don't let Chu Pingshan accuse me of interfering with the audit."

"At least you haven't lost your mind from anger."

Li Dakang's face, which had just calmed down, darkened again.

Wu Chunlin watched the two exchange a few words but didn't laugh. He pushed another document in front of Gao Yuliang.

"There's one more question."

Gao Yuliang looked at him.

Wu Chunlin nodded at the materials and looked up.

"The provincial government will definitely seize the pretext of a joint review. If Chu Pingshan sends a letter stating that Team Leader Ma is an outsourced auditor from the Surveying and Mapping Office and requests that he be transferred to the provincial government's discipline inspection team for questioning, should we object?"

"block."

Qi Tongwei spoke almost immediately.

Wu Chunlin didn't look at him; his gaze remained fixed on Gao Yuliang.

"A hard block might not be legally sound."

Gao Yuliang picked up a pen and wrote a few words on a blank sheet of paper.

Witnesses who pose significant stability risks.

The pen tip fell very heavily.

"Team Leader Ma, we're not identifying any suspects yet."

He turned the paper towards Lu Yike.

"The application for protection was submitted by the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and witnessed by the procuratorate. The reason given was that the individual possessed significant information on potential stability risks and that there was a real threat to him and his family."

Lu Yike looked at those words, her eyes flickering slightly.

"This way, he cannot be taken away unilaterally for the time being."

"The provincial government can participate in the inquiry," Gao Yuliang put down his pen, "but they cannot take people away from under our noses."