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

Lu Yike put the tape roll back on the tray and patted the powder off her hands.

"I'm not doing this for you." Her tone shifted back to business. "This case needs your knife. I'm doing this for the case."

She turned and walked towards the door. She stopped a step at the doorway.

She pulled the folding umbrella out of her bag and handed it to him.

"It's still going outside. Here you go."

The door opened, and she walked out first. She didn't look back.

Qi Tongwei held the umbrella, his thumb rubbing against an old scratch on the handle.

After a while, he stood up and followed them out.

……

Northern front, field command post. 1:00 AM.

The tactical screen inside the tent was still lit. Shen Zhong glanced through the third provincial party committee directive sent by Handong and put it down.

Zhou Weiguo stood to the side, waiting for instructions.

"The provincial party committee can stop the provincial department's law enforcement." Shen Zhong picked up a red pen and drew a line in the blank space of the copy of the instruction. "But it can't stop the military's terrorism-related inspections."

Zhou Weiguo caught that sentence and thought for a couple of seconds. "Mark the accounts associated with the Haizhou intermediary network in batches as suspected terrorist funds pending verification, triggering the military's independent freezing procedure."

Shen nodded.

"Use the General Staff's intelligence authority to send a copy to the joint military-civilian case file." He put down his pen. "The freezing order will be sent tonight. The Hong Kong side, the Cayman Islands side, no one will be missed."

Zhou Weiguo turned around in response, took two steps, and then stopped.

"General, there's one more thing." He pulled out a copy of a transfer order from the folder. "We intercepted the second 'compliant military transfer order' today. The target is still on the edge of the military-civilian integration sequence in Handong, and the method is as clean as last time."

Shen Zhong took it and looked at it for three seconds.

He recognized the code name of the origin. He reached out a second time to the name on the core page.

"He's in a hurry." Shen Zhong slammed the transfer order on the table, his pen tip poking a dent in the paper. "Haste makes waste. Let's wrap up this battle on the northern front, then I'll go back and meet him."

Zhou Weiguo didn't ask any more questions and turned to leave the tent.

Five minutes later, an encrypted text message was sent to Qi Tongwei's phone.

Shen Zhong's original words: The military's communication channels are frozen, effective tonight.

Qi Tongwei looked at the screen and let out a long sigh.

The provincial party committee can restrain the provincial government's legs, but it can't restrain the military's hands. No matter how fast the money in Haizhou runs, it can't outrun the General Staff's intelligence control freeze order.

He handed the phone to Lu Yike.

Lu Yike finished reading and looked up. "A dual-track system between the military and local authorities. On one end, the provincial department uses Professor Gao's backdoor to bypass approvals, while on the other end, the military uses a system involving the freezing of funds related to terrorism. With these two lines running in parallel, Sha Ruijin's brakes are off."

Qi Tongwei erased "Net Closure Paused" from the whiteboard and changed to a new line.

The operation was carried out a second time.

"Next time you risk your life for evidence again," Lu Yike put away her phone, leaned against the door frame, and looked at him, "I really will report you for suspension."

Qi Tongwei didn't even look up.

"Then you'll have to catch up with me first."

---

Jingzhou, Li Dakang's office.

Chen Yanshi stood in front of the table, leaning on his cane, without sitting down. He was over eighty years old, but his back was ramrod straight like an old bamboo pole.

A stack of papers lay on the table, the corners of which were curled and rough, covered with handwritten signatures and red handprints.

"The resettlement funds for 372 workers were withheld for four months." Chen Yanshi tapped his cane on the floor. "The company was robbed by short sellers, and the workers' hard-earned money cannot be left unresolved."

Li Dakang flipped through the stack of documents, his brows furrowed.

Which companies?

"Four in Jingzhou, two in Lüzhou." Chen Yanshi pulled a folded A4 sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it over. "Compiled by Zheng Xipo. The acquiring party stripped three layers of equity, and underneath are all shell companies of coastal funds. It's exactly the same as Haiheng Consulting."

Li Dakang unfolded the paper and scanned it twice.

The acquisition prices for all four companies were around 30% of their appraised value. Eleven copies of these 30% discount agreements were simply repackaged and repeated.

He slammed the paper on the table, his voice low and serious. "Old man, how did you get your hands on these materials?"

"Zheng Xipo spent two months going door-to-door, asking around until he found out." Chen Yanshi's eyes shone brighter than those of an eighty-year-old. "Dakang, I don't understand the intricacies of officialdom. I just want to ask one question—are you going to take care of these workers' money?"

Li Dakang stood up.

"Tube."

He pressed the internal phone. "Notify the finance department and the Federation of Industry and Commerce that there will be a special meeting tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM to verify enterprise-related assets. All acquisitions within Jingzhou's jurisdiction that are discounted by less than 30% must be re-examined."

After hanging up the phone, he looked at Chen Yanshi. "Old man, since you've started this fire, don't worry about who gets burned."

Chen Yanshi chuckled and tapped his cane again. "I've burned more fires in my life than you've eaten salt."

……

South of Jingzhou City, at Zheng Xipo's home.

Zheng Shengli was squatting in front of the computer, checking the data in the live stream backend, when he suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Dad! I found out where the equipment from that Qingfeng Pavilion tea shop branch you mentioned was moved to before it closed down!"

Zheng Xipo poked his head out of the kitchen, still clutching a spatula. "How did you find out?"

"I have a friend in the live streaming circle who does second-hand equipment recycling. A couple of days ago, he bought a batch of tea sets and surveillance equipment." Zheng Shengli enlarged the screenshot of the chat history. "The shipping address was at the Jingzhou North Logistics Transfer Station, and the recipient was listed as an individual—but the shipping fee was paid through a company account."

He circled the name of the public account holder. Zheng Xipo leaned over to take a look, and almost dropped his spatula.

"This company name... is similar to those shell companies you investigated before—"

"We matched!" Zheng Shengli's face flushed with excitement. "Dad, did I do a great job?"

Zheng Xipo hit him on the head with a spatula. "Send this to Director Qi first, then talk about meritorious service."

Twenty minutes later, Qi Tongwei's phone received a new message and three screenshots. The new location of the goods after the middleman's transfer was revealed in a shipping bill.

……

East of Jingzhou City, in an old alley.

As dusk fell, the courtyard gate was half-closed. Gao Yuliang sat on a stone bench drinking tea. He saw Qi Tongwei enter but didn't look up.

"Sha Ruijin's third order," Qi Tongwei said, sitting down opposite him. "The freezing order from the military has taken effect; the funds can't be taken away. But the provincial department's enforcement power is still holding us back."

Gao Yuliang blew on the steam from his cup. "That's the right thing to do. He's waiting for you to get impatient, because if you get impatient, you'll overstep your authority, and if you overstep your authority, he'll impeach you."

"So I didn't overstep my authority." Qi Tongwei showed him photos of Chen Yanshi's stack of documents. "Li Dakang initiated an investigation into the company's assets, and the resettlement funds for over three hundred workers were withheld. Could this be considered a sign of a mass incident?"

Gao Yuliang put down his cup and glanced at him.

"The Political and Legal Affairs Commission has an authority called 'Social Stability Risk Assessment for Mass Incidents'," Qi Tongwei continued. "During the assessment period, the personnel and assets of the relevant parties involved can be placed under control in accordance with the law, without requiring case-by-case approval from the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Leading Group."

Gao Yuliang's lips twitched slightly.

"She learns quite quickly."

He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and took two steps. "Tie the workers' rights protection together with the Haizhou short-selling case, and go through the stability assessment process. It's legal, compliant, and reasonable. Sha Ruijin's approval lock is useless on its own."

Qi Tongwei nodded. "We'll start tomorrow."

Gao Yuliang turned to look at him, his gaze hardening. "Tongwei, you've got the evidence in hand. Stand up and smash it down. Don't kneel and beg for instructions anymore."

The wind in the yard rustled through the orchid trellis.

Qi Tongwei stood up. "I understand."

……

Provincial Department, late at night.

Lu Yike stared at the log comparison chart on the screen, her coffee had gone cold for two cups.

By cross-referencing the public terminal borrowing records, the stability assessment system access logs, and the evidence room access permissions, the scope of suspects narrowed down from five people to two.

The inspection system has cross-regional access permissions.

Two names.

She encrypted the results and sent them to Qi Tongwei, along with the following message: Choose one of the two options, observe quietly and you can lock the outcome.

The reply came quickly. Qi Tongwei only sent two words: Keep an eye on it.

At three o'clock in the morning, Lin Huahua's message came in.

"One of the two individuals logged into the system abnormally at 6:15 this morning, requesting access to the transfer records of the 'Joint Military-Civilian Protection Point' managed by the finance manager. The request was blocked by the system due to insufficient permissions, but the request record was left."

Lu Yike looked at the record, her back pressed against the chair back, a chill creeping up from her tailbone.

He didn't want the case files.

He wants the witness's new address.