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

Even with the air conditioning set to its lowest setting in the conference room on the third floor of the Luzhou Municipal Government building, He Xia still felt hot.

Sitting opposite me were the deputy director of the environmental protection department and two contracted inspectors. A stack of official stop-work orders lay on the table. The deputy director cleared his throat, pointed to the documents, and said, "District Chief He, the data is right here. If it doesn't meet the standards, it doesn't meet the standards."

He Xia turned the page and pressed her finger on the name of the testing agency.

"I checked this organization. It's registered in Haizhou and has been established for less than three months. It hasn't even completed the provincial qualification registration process." She closed the documents and pushed them back. "Whoever reports it has to provide evidence. You need to complete the qualification process before we talk again."

The deputy director's face stiffened. The inspectors beside him exchanged glances, but no one responded.

He Xia stood up, the chair leg scraping the floor. "The project continues, the resumption order is issued today. If you want to sue, go through legal proceedings, I'll fight you."

……

An unmarked office building in Haizhou.

The encrypted call lasted forty seconds.

"Luzhou is untouchable; that woman won't fall for it. Jingzhou is even worse; Qi Tongwei has all the witnesses and evidence, there's no way to pry him open." The man's voice was low. "I suggest going through Secretary Sha and getting a direct order from above to transfer the personnel."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Qin—"

Before he could finish speaking, someone pushed the door open and entered, interrupting the conversation. "Okay, I'll hang up now."

beep.

The man stared at the now-off screen, pulled out the SIM card, and broke it in half.

……

In the provincial interrogation room, Lin Huahua slapped a hand-drawn timeline in front of Zhao Qinming.

"I've figured out the pattern of the card switching." She pointed to the marked nodes, "Every time you send a data transfer, within two hours, you go to the same place."

Zhao Qinming lowered his head, his lips trembling.

"Outside the east gate of Shunda Logistics Park, at the Qingfengge Tea House branch." Lin Huahua leaned back in her chair, looking at him. "Withdrawing cash, right?"

Zhao Qinming nodded, as if all his strength had been drained. "He told me to go there and get the money. Ten thousand each time, the cash was in a tea canister."

Lin Huahua wrote it down, her pen never stopping. "Did you see anyone when you withdrew the money?"

"No." Zhao Qinming shook his head. "The jar was placed there beforehand. But one time... when I came out, I saw a person going out through the back door. He was wearing a hat, not very tall, and there seemed to be a round piece around his neck."

Lin Huahua pushed the recording pen closer by two centimeters.

……

Qi Tongwei stood in his office at the provincial department and read through the summary of the three lines.

Zhao Qinming was at the very end, overseeing the transfer route, the location of the master tape, and the cash withdrawal at the tea shop. But the hand behind the evidence cabinet was much deeper.

He picked up the phone.

"He Xia and Sun Liancheng of Lüzhou, hold the line on the economic front; we can't let the project fail." He told Lu Yike, "I'll secure the location of the tea plantation; you continue checking that terminal."

Lu Yike responded on the other end of the phone, then added, "Sun Liancheng has uncovered the truth behind that environmental complaint."

"explain."

"The subcontractor that reported the incident was illegally discharging pollutants. Sun Liancheng provided three months of emissions monitoring data, but even they weren't clean."

Qi Tongwei's lips twitched slightly. "Have He Xia fight back."

That evening, at the Luzhou Industrial Park.

He Xia slammed Sun Liancheng's countermeasures report onto the conference table. The sound wasn't loud, but every word was impactful. "The whistleblower was illegally discharging pollutants; I've attached the data. Effective immediately, the subcontractor must leave the site, and the Huari supporting project will resume work tomorrow."

The deputy director wiped his sweat and didn't dare to speak again.

After the meeting, He Xia received a phone call in the corridor.

Du Bozhong is a local private entrepreneur who has been involved in heavy industry supporting businesses for twelve years.

"District Chief He, I heard there's a shortage of supporting facilities." Du Bozhong's voice was steady. "I'll take it on. But there's a condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"Help me find out exactly who's shorting my company." Du Bozhong paused for a moment. "Those guys in Haizhou have bought up no fewer than six companies in Handong at bargain prices in the last six months. Their tactics are exactly the same—first they spread rumors, then they report them, and finally they take over at rock-bottom prices. Lüzhou is next."

He Xia gripped her phone without saying a word.

Six companies. They all signed eleven agreements with Jingzhou at a 30% discount, practically identical.

"Mr. Du, I can't agree to that condition. But I can connect you with someone."

"Who?"

"Director Qi of the Provincial Public Security Department."

……

In the provincial government office, Lu Yike stared at the fragments of the log on the screen.

The Political and Legal Affairs Commission's authority to assist in investigations bypassed the explicit lines of the Provincial Party Committee Office, and the information pulled out from the internal network mirror sent chills down her spine.

The erased card swipe record at the evidence cabinet originated from a shared terminal in the technical department. However, the login ID was bypassed by a second intermediary, using an old account belonging to a former employee.

She sent the screenshot to Qi Tongwei, along with the following text: "No more than five people in the provincial department are above Zhao Qinming in rank and have the authority to allocate equipment in the technical department."

Qi Tongwei didn't reply with a text message, but returned the call.

"If we narrow it down to five, things will be easier. Let's leave it for now and wait for the tea plantation to harvest the fruit."

The fruit came out on the third day.

Lu Yike then went into the Qingfeng Pavilion branch and sat by the window for forty minutes. A man came in through the back door, changed his SIM card at the bar, and pulled an envelope from under the counter.

She covered her phone with a teacup and took seven pictures.

The brim of the hat was pulled low, revealing only the lower half of his face and neck. On the left side of his neck, there was a round metal plate—without any writing, but with patterns engraved around its edges.

It's exactly the same as the one on the sole of the assassin's boot in the eastern suburbs.

Back in the car, Lu Yike encrypted the photos and sent them out.

Qi Tongwei read it twice and then handed the phone to Lin Huahua.

Do you recognize it?

Lin Huahua shook her head. "Never seen it before. But the emblem matches."

Qi Tongwei took the phone back.

"Follow but don't seize."

Lin Huahua was taken aback. "The Director?"

"Catch one middleman, then switch him in Haizhou." Qi Tongwei leaned against the car window. "Don't catch him, follow him to uncover the entire network in Handong."

This choice is a gamble on time.

……

A red-headed document popped out of the fax machine in the Provincial Party Committee Office, and before the ink was even dry, the secretary jogged over and delivered it to Qi Tongwei's office.

"Emergency Notice on Regulating the Procedures for Detaining Persons Involved in Cases in Other Locations", issued by: Sha Ruijin.

The core message can be summarized in one sentence: the fund manager will be transferred to the provincial detention center for unified management, effective immediately.

After reading it, Qi Tongwei put the paper on the table without writing a single word in his comments.

Lu Yike stood at the door. "He's trying to take people away from us."

"Take it off and you'll die." Qi Tongwei looked up. "The provincial detention center just had a 'detention accident' last month, and the case file is still pending."

He opened the drawer and took out a document that he had prepared long ago.

"Letter of Protection for Terrorism Witnesses from the Political and Legal Affairs Commission." He signed and stamped the letter at the bottom. "The right to protect witnesses in major terrorism cases rests directly with the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and is not subject to ordinary detention and transfer procedures."

Lu Yike took it and glanced at it. "What if Sha Ruijin doesn't recognize this?"

"Whether he admits it or not is not important." Qi Tongwei stood up. "The terrorism designation is stamped by the military. If he wants to overturn it, he'll have to talk to the northern front first."

……

Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee.

Li Dakang slammed Sha Ruijin's official document in front of his secretary.

"Have Secretary Sha's secretary come to my office."

Ten minutes later, the man stood in front of Li Dakang's desk, his palms sweating.

Li Dakang didn't offer him a seat. "Go back and tell Secretary Sha one thing: if this person loses even a single hair, I will personally go to Beijing to hold him accountable. I've extended the funding for administrative security, and the safe house will not be dismantled."

The secretary opened her mouth.

"Don't you understand?" Li Dakang looked up at him. "Then let me put it another way. If this person gets into trouble in the provincial detention center, their self-examination report can be extended by a whole page."

The secretary practically ran away.