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

At 2 a.m., the lights were still on in the provincial department's technical section.

Qi Tongwei sat in the next office, waiting. His left arm rested on the table, the gauze seeping blood again, but he ignored it. On the table sat a cup of cold tea, a layer of oil floating on the surface.

Lu Yike pushed the door open and came in.

"Decryption complete."

Qi Tongwei looked up.

Lu Yike placed a printed document in front of him. At the top was a table listing the data directories of five hard drives. The first four drives contained core asset assessments, cash flow records, and short-selling records for eleven companies in Jingzhou. The fifth drive was a contact list.

"This contact list," Lu Yike pointed to the last line, "is the contact network of 'Director Qin's' entire line."

Qi Tongwei's gaze fell on that line of text.

His brow furrowed.

"What's wrong?" Lu Yike asked.

Qi Tongwei didn't speak. He stared at the name for a long time, then slowly raised his head, his expression complex.

"Do you know him?"

"I don't know him." Qi Tongwei stood up, folded the printed document, and put it into his inner pocket. "But I have to see someone."

"Who?"

"Secretary Li," Qi Tongwei paused at the door, "he needs to look at this first."

Lu Yike didn't chase after him. She stood there, watching Qi Tongwei's figure disappear at the end of the corridor. His left arm hung down, and blood slowly seeped out from under the gauze, leaving a faint mark on the white wall.

She suddenly realized that the rain probably hadn't finished falling yet.

---

# Chapter 306 Name Certificate

Li Dakang's office is on the third floor of the South Building of the Provincial Party Committee.

At 3:30 a.m., only his room was lit. The curtains were open, and light leaked through the window, illuminating the corridor floor tiles like a pale patch.

When Qi Tongwei pushed open the door, Li Dakang was standing by the window, holding an unlit cigarette in his hand. He didn't turn around, just looked at the night outside the window.

"Did you get the hard drive?"

"Got it. Five pieces, all of them."

Li Dakang grunted in response. He turned around, his gaze falling on Qi Tongwei's bandaged left arm. He paused for two seconds, then didn't ask anything.

Qi Tongwei placed the printed copy on the table.

"There's a contact list on the fifth hard drive," he said. "It's the network of 'Director Qin's' entire chain of interests."

Li Dakang walked over and picked up the stack of papers. He flipped through them slowly, page by page, his gaze moving between the names and codes. When he reached the last page, he stopped.

The office was silent for a few seconds.

"Are you sure this is true?" Li Dakang's voice deepened.

"The hard drive was sealed directly from the scene, the entire process was recorded, and it didn't pass through anyone's hands." Qi Tongwei stood by the table. "The results of the technical department's decryption cannot be fake."

Li Dakang glanced at the name again. His fingers pressed a crease into the paper.

"The core people," he said, "and not just any ordinary people."

Qi Tongwei did not respond.

Li Dakang put down the printed document and walked to the window. He put the cigarette in his mouth, then took it off, repeating this several times.

"If we hand this over," he said in a low voice, his back to Qi Tongwei, "can Handong handle it?"

"We can't cover this up," Qi Tongwei said. "But this isn't just a matter for Handong alone."

Li Dakang turned around. He stared at Qi Tongwei, as if weighing the weight of his words.

"Does General Shen know?"

"It hasn't been reported yet," Qi Tongwei said. "This needs to be seen by you first."

Li Dakang's brow twitched. He walked back to the table, picked up the printout again, and read it through from beginning to end once more.

"Of these people in your contacts," he asked, "how many can you confirm?"

"At least seven, and their fund flows match those of Haiheng Outsourcing Retesting Office." Qi Tongwei pointed to several names. "The remaining three are code names, without real names. But this one—"

His finger stopped at the last line.

"This codename was contacted most frequently, and it was always last in the list."

Li Dakang stared at the code name. He remained silent for a long time.

"You know what that means," he said.

Qi Tongwei nodded. "That means the top of this chain isn't someone from Haizhou."

The office fell silent again. A breeze rustled the sycamore leaves outside the window.

Li Dakang folded the printed documents and put them into the safe on his desk. He locked the safe, turned around, and looked at Qi Tongwei.

"Your hand," he suddenly said, "go get someone to take a look at it."

"No rush."

"Not in a hurry?" Li Dakang walked over and stopped in front of him. "You snatched the sulfuric acid bottle from the car window all by yourself tonight, do you think I didn't know?"

Qi Tongwei remained silent.

"If you're crippled," Li Dakang said in a low voice, "who will carry the burden of Han Dong?"

Qi Tongwei raised his head. He looked at Li Dakang and suddenly laughed.

"Secretary, is this because you care about me?"

"I care about Handong." Li Dakang didn't smile. "Stop interrupting me and go treat your wound."

Qi Tongwei straightened up and gave a somewhat awkward salute. "Yes, sir."

He turned and walked out. As he reached the door, Li Dakang called to him from behind.

"Tongwei".

Qi Tongwei turned around.

"Regarding this contact list," Li Dakang's gaze was deep, "only the two of us know about it for now. We won't tell anyone, not even Sha Ruijin."

"clear."

"And one more thing," Li Dakang paused, "Go tell General Shen that I, Li Dakang, will guard this part of Handong for him. But the core area—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Qi Tongwei waited for two seconds, and seeing that he didn't intend to continue, nodded and pushed the door open to leave.

The corridor was deserted, illuminated only by the stark white light of the emergency lights. Qi Tongwei's shadow stretched long, swaying with each step.

He walked to the stairwell, took out his phone, and dialed a number.

The call will be connected after three beeps.

"General Shen," he said in a low voice, "we've got the hard drive, the data is intact. But there's a code name in the contacts—"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"I'll send it to you," Qi Tongwei said. "After you read it, you'll understand why I made this call first."

He took a picture of the printout and sent it in encrypted form.

……

The main training base on the northern front.

Shen Zhong sat heavily in front of the control panel, the light from the screen illuminating his expressionless face. Zhou Weiguo stood beside him, waiting.

The encrypted file arrived. Shen opened it and flipped through it page by page.

His fingers stopped when he turned to the last page.

"Chief?" Zhou Weiguo noticed his unusual behavior.

Shen Zhong didn't speak. He stared at the code name on the screen for a long time, then closed the file and leaned back in his chair.

"Send Li Dakang an encrypted briefing." His voice was flat. "It contains only one sentence: Handong will handle its own affairs. I will handle the core matters."

"Yes."

Zhou Weiguo turned around and started operating the terminal.

Shen Zhong sat alone. The horizon outside the window was beginning to lighten, and the morning light on the northern horizon was cold, shining on the canvas of the tent with a metallic sheen.

He raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

In my past life, this code name only appeared once. It was mentioned during an internal briefing on high-level anti-corruption efforts, and then—and then nothing more.

That meeting was later classified as "confidential," and all records were sealed.

He never expected to see it again in the whole game of Handong.

My phone rang. It was the second message from Qi Tongwei.

There are only four words: Wait for instructions.

Shen Zhong glanced at it for two seconds and replied, "Stay calm, don't alert them!"