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

At nine o'clock at night, the rain was pouring down outside the Xinheng Data Center.

Water lines flowed down the glass curtain wall, and the white light from the machine room shone through, making the security booth at the entrance look like a cold, impersonal box.

Qi Tongwei led his team out of the car, his left arm covered with gauze by his coat, and he only had an emergency data preservation order in his hand.

Chen Pei-an, the technical director of Hsin Heng, stood in the lobby. He was in his early thirties, his shirt buttoned up to the top, his name tag hanging neatly, but there was a layer of sweat on his forehead.

"Director Qi, our company is a legitimate cloud service provider. This kind of show of force will affect our customers' trust."

Qi Tongwei handed him the security order.

"Customer trust is the responsibility of the marketing department. Deleting logs is the responsibility of the public security department."

Chen Pei-an took the paper and quickly glanced at it.

"We are just a regular cloud service provider. We don't know anything about the Haiheng model or the political and legal affairs commission's isolation equipment. The servers are automatically cleaned up every day, which is normal."

Lu Yike walked into the hall, followed by the prosecutor's staff.

She turned on the body camera, and the red light came on.

"Then please have Supervisor Chen explain in the video why the ordinary cloud service could identify the read-only interface of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission's isolation device and trigger remote cleanup."

Chen Pei'an's face was covered in even more sweat.

"It's a technical issue; I need an engineer to confirm."

Qi Tongwei raised his hand.

Two technical investigation personnel had already entered the server room, their shoe covers making a soft, grinding sound as they stepped on the anti-static floor. Rows of server racks were lit up with green lights, like a field of unblinking eyes.

Ten minutes later, the technical investigation team printed out the first log.

"Director Qi, after Team Leader Ma's USB drive triggered the countdown, a remote task appeared on the Xinheng disaster recovery line. The task name is: Handong Assessment Layer 2 Database Cleanup."

Several employees in the lobby looked up at the same time.

Chen Pei-an immediately spoke up: "This might be a script left behind by a departing maintenance worker. We don't have access to customer data; we're only responsible for the underlying environment."

Qi Tongwei held the diary in his hand without even glancing at it.

What are former maintenance personnel called?

Chen Pei-an paused for a moment.

"Zhou, Zhou Ming."

"Telephone."

"I changed my phone number after I left the company."

"address."

Chen Pei-an wiped his palm on the seam of his trousers. "The HR department has it."

Qi Tongwei then looked up.

"A former maintenance worker was able to mobilize disaster recovery lines outside the province tonight, wipe your core database, and bypass the supervisor's authorization. Supervisor Chen, your company's salaries aren't high, but your authority is quite extensive."

A young engineer next to him almost burst out laughing, but managed to hold it back.

Chen Pei'an's face alternated between pale and flushed.

Lu Yike pressed the printed document onto the table. "Please answer, is there any supervisor-level authorization?"

Chen Pei'an gritted his teeth.

"I want to see the backstage area."

"Can."

Qi Tongwei tilted his head slightly towards the computer room.

"Look, we're recording."

Chen Pei'an was led to the control panel. As soon as his hands touched the keyboard, Lu Yike reminded him.

"Read-only review. Any write operation will be immediately aborted."

Chen Pei'an's hand froze in mid-air.

Qi Tongwei stood behind him, without urging him.

The air conditioning in the computer room made the back of my hands feel cold.

The permission chain unfolds layer by layer on the screen, with an approval record popping up at the bottom.

Administrative and logistical printing terminal.

Qi Tongwei placed a photograph of an evidence item on the operating table.

Temporary pass for hospital caregivers.

The batch code is clearly printed in the enlarged photo.

The technical investigation team retrieved the records from the Hsin Heng administrative printing machine and matched the serial numbers.

Snapped.

Chen Pei'an's employee badge fell to the ground.

Lu Yike looked at the camera. "Record. The batch of forged passes printed matches the records of Xinheng Administrative Printing Terminal."

Chen Pei-an suddenly turned his head.

"I didn't know about the pass! Someone in the logistics department borrowed the printing privileges, saying it was to make temporary reception badges for the review team. I thought it was just a regular reception."

Qi Tongwei bent down, picked up his employee badge, and put it back on the table.

"Who borrowed it?"

Chen Pei-an's lips were dry.

"Logistics Supervisor, Liu Bin."

Qi Tongwei took out his phone and turned on speakerphone.

The voice of the hospital's on-call field clerk came from the other end of the phone: "Director Qi, the arrested caregiver has woken up after having his stomach pumped and is able to ask simple questions. He gave instructions from an intermediate number, which has spoken with Liu Bin, the logistics supervisor of Xinheng, five times in the past three days."

All the wind noise in the server room seemed to be suppressed.

Chen Pei'an took half a step back, his back hitting the server rack.

Lu Yike gave him no chance to catch his breath.

"Supervisor Chen, you just said you didn't know about the Haiheng model. Now the logistics supervisor is communicating with the hospital's killer, the fake passes are being printed by your administrative printer, and the disaster recovery line is being cleared from the second-floor warehouse of the Handong assessment. Are you still insisting that all of this was done by a former maintenance worker?"

Chen Pei-an's face fell completely.

"I only clear my logs."

After he finished speaking, he seemed to have all his strength drained away.

Qi Tongwei stared at him.

"Who told you to clean it?"

Chen Pei-an braced his hands on the control panel, his voice trembling.

"Someone relayed a message through Liu Bin, saying that they only need to clear the logs, not ask about the contents. They said this is a project coordinated by the province, and the company can't afford to take responsibility if something goes wrong."

"The exact words."

"Clear only the logs, do not inquire about the content. Execute after HS-QC confirmation."

Lu Yike immediately looked at the technical investigation team.

The technical investigators retrieved the key notes, printed them, signed them, and sealed them away.

The paper was still warm from the machine when it was ejected.

Qi Tongwei did not continue the conversation following the words "Director Qin".

He handed the printout to Lu Yike.

"Seal the original logs, printer records, and logistics communications. Chen Pei-an was taken away first as evidence of obstruction of justice, and Liu Bin was taken into custody simultaneously."

Chen Pei'an suddenly looked up.

"Director Qi, I'm cooperating. I can continue to explain!"

Qi Tongwei looked at him, his tone cold and hard.

"You're cooperating with the evidence, not me. Don't try to pass off your guesses as firsthand observations; I have no interest in fabricating your testimony."

Chen Pei'an opened his mouth, then closed it again.

In the lobby, none of the Xinheng employees dared to lower their heads and pretend to be busy anymore.

The person who was just talking about ordinary cloud services is now standing under the white light, with a wet patch on the back of his shirt.

Lu Yike affixed the seal and walked to Qi Tongwei's side.

"This is enough to nail Haiheng and Xinheng to the ground."

She paused and glanced at the HS-QC on the printout.

"But that's not enough to nail Chu Pingshan down."

Qi Tongwei pulled down the cuffs of his coat to cover the blood-soaked gauze.

"I won't be needed to nail Chu Pingshan down."

Lu Yike looked up at him.

Qi Tongwei looked at the black car outside the rain curtain; its headlights cast a bright line on the watery ground.

"The teacher will sit on the nail himself tomorrow."

The phone vibrated at that moment.

Qi Tongwei answered the call, but after only two sentences, his face turned cold.

"explain."

On the other end of the phone, the staff member spoke quickly: "Director Qi, the Provincial Government Office issued a notice late at night that Chu Pingshan requires the Provincial Party Committee to hear a report on the loss of control within the political and legal system before the Provincial Party Committee meeting."