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

"The list is out." Zhou Weiguo pushed the list of organization abbreviations in front of Shen Zhong.

It's 2 a.m. in the provincial military command office. The secure printer has just stopped, and the paper is still warm. The tea on the table has long since gone cold, and the paper cup is stained with tea; no one has bothered to replace it.

Zhou Weiguo circled two places in red: "There are seven valid entries for QC. Two were withdrawn, three had incomplete organizational information, and the remaining two are complete matches."

Shen Zhong took the paper but didn't speak immediately.

The one on the left is labeled "Regional Coordination Office" under a certain ministry, and the one on the right has four characters: "Frontier Coordination Group".

His finger hovered over "Frontline Coordination Group" for three seconds.

No one inside was urging them.

These four words might not stand out in official documents, but they carry a different weight when placed in this context.

"Have you checked this group?"

Zhou Weiguo opened another document: "The General Staff intelligence system has records. It was established three years ago, with a staff of six, responsible for cross-departmental coordination." He paused, "The team leader's surname is Qin."

The office was silent for a few seconds.

The louvers outside the window were patted by the wind, making a very soft sound.

The middleman surnamed Qin, QC, and front-line coordination team.

These points are now connected.

When Qi Tongwei arrived from the provincial department, his cuffs were stained with ink, indicating he had just come from the copy room. He pushed open the door, his steps steady, and placed a sheet of printed paper on the table: "Lu Yike checked the high-frequency number in the address book; it belongs to Xishan District in Beijing and has been out of service for over a year."

Shen Zhong picked it up and looked at it.

Below the number is a line of small print: The registered user does not exist.

"The card was opened using a passport." Qi Tongwei pointed to the bottom right corner of the page. "The passport number is genuine, and it was issued by the Beijing Entry-Exit Administration."

Shen Zhong looked up: "Passport holder's exit record?"

"Zero." Qi Tongwei's voice was very low. "But on the third day after the passport was issued, someone used this number to open a corporate account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Beijing."

Zhou Weiguo frowned.

This tactic isn't sophisticated, but it's insidious. The identity is real, but the person doesn't exist; the number is real, but the owner doesn't exist; the account is real, and the money really did flow through. The truth and the falsehood are mixed together, and at this stage, every single item has to be re-verified.

Shen leaned back in his chair and laid out the materials on the table. The whiteboard was still empty, so he got up, picked up a marker, and wrote the first line from left to right.

A middleman surnamed Qin.

QC code.

Frontline Coordination Group.

The pen tip scraped across the whiteboard with a piercing sound.

"I've adjusted the account transaction records." Qi Tongwei pulled out the transaction record from his briefcase. "The last transaction was at 3 PM the day before Chu Pingshan was suspended."

Shen Zhong added another line to the whiteboard.

Chu Pingshan.

Transactions conducted before suspension.

Zhou Weiguo stood in front of the whiteboard, looking at the arrows: "The timeline is tightly scheduled, but one link is missing." He turned to Shen Zhong, "How did you connect the frontline coordination group and the Handong line?"

There was a knock on the door.

Tian Guofu walked in, his briefcase still slung over his shoulder, his overcoat still on, his shoulders damp with night dew. He had come all the way from the Discipline Inspection Commission building, and upon entering, he placed a copy of a transcript on the center of the table.

"Liu Ming from the Provincial Environmental Protection Department confessed." Tian Guofu took off his gloves, his fingers red from the cold. "He didn't approve the hazardous waste disposal himself; it was an instruction verbally relayed by the deputy director of the General Office."

Shen Zhong opened the transcript.

Liu Ming's statement was only one page long, with messy handwriting and several key points highlighted in red pen—"Provincial leaders."

After those four words were uttered, no one in the room spoke.

Tian Guofu pulled out a chair and sat down: "I also spoke with the deputy director of the General Office this afternoon. He said the instructions came from 'above,' but he didn't say who specifically, but the meaning was very clear."

Shen Zhong picked up the marker and added another square to the whiteboard.

Sha Ruijin.

Approval chain.

Qi Tongwei stared at the whiteboard for a moment: "The chain is complete, but the middle section is still incomplete." He drew a question mark between "Frontline Coordination Group" and "Sha Ruijin," asking, "How does this group connect with Sha Ruijin?"

No one responded.

Shen Zhong walked back to the table and took out the encrypted letter from the General Staff from the drawer. The sealing wax was intact. He used a paper cutter to cut it open along the edge, his movements steady.

Inside were two pages of paper with very small print.

Zhou Weiguo leaned closer and took a look.

The first page contains information about the compilation process.

The forward coordination team consists of six people stationed there, and its funding comes from a special military account. The section for the unit providing operational guidance lists it as an "inter-departmental coordination mechanism."

Each of these words can be explained individually, but when placed in the context of tonight's materials, every single one becomes questionable.

Shen Zhong turned to the second page.

The column for the lead unit only has a code.

Zhou Weiguo paused for half a second: "This code name is the office number of the top five people in the Beijing hierarchy."

Tian Guofu, who was holding his glasses, stopped.

Qi Tongwei remained silent.

This isn't just a matter for Handong, nor is it something Sha Ruijin can handle alone. Going any higher, it's beyond the reach of local leadership.

Shen Zhong put the materials back on the table and pressed the edges of the papers flat.

"At this point, everything that Handong can investigate is in this room." He spoke slowly, "Anywhere above that is not a place you can touch."

Tian Guofu took off his glasses and wiped them: "What about Chu Pingshan's black notebook? The things written in it—"

"The core page hasn't been touched yet," Shen Zhong interrupted him.

The office fell silent again.

The incandescent light bulb was humming, and the clock on the wall was approaching three o'clock.

Qi Tongwei walked to the window, his back to everyone. His left arm was bandaged under his sleeve, and his shoulder was taut. He knew his injury couldn't be delayed for long, but no one could afford to stop right now.

"How do you calculate the amount for the Sha Ruijin floor?" He didn't turn around.

Shen Zhong picked up a marker, drew a circle on the far right of the whiteboard, and wrote "Provincial Committee".

"It'll be open the day after tomorrow." He capped his pen. "Prepare tomorrow."

Zhou Weiguo immediately followed up: "What materials do we need to obtain?"

"Get all the copies of documents that can pinpoint the approval chain." Shen Zhong pulled a list from his briefcase and pushed it to the center of the table. "Also, gather the independent evidence from Secretary Tian's disciplinary inspection system. Let's proceed on two fronts simultaneously."

Tian Guofu nodded: "I'll tidy it up today."

Qi Tongwei turned around: "I've asked the provincial department to double-check the testimony of the middleman surnamed Qin, and to reinforce the key details. The March 3rd festival, the accounts, the instruction window—none of these can be fabricated."

Shen Zhong looked at him and asked, "What did the military doctor say before the reinforcements were added?"

Qi Tongwei paused for a moment.

This sentence stung him even more than the pile of materials he had just received.

"The surgery is the day after tomorrow, there's no going back." Shen Zhong didn't look at him again, and lowered his head to organize the materials on the table. "After you finish dealing with the affairs in the hall today, go to the military hospital this afternoon for your preoperative check-up."

Qi Tongwei's lips moved slightly.

He wanted to say he could still hold on, but he swallowed the words back. Shen Zhong's tone left no room for negotiation. To continue resisting would be seen as ungrateful.

Finally, he only replied with one word: "Okay."

Tian Guofu picked up his briefcase, walked to the door, then stopped: "Secretary Shen, that black notebook... are you still going to look at the second page?"

Shen Zhong didn't look up.

"We'll see," he said. "We'll see tomorrow."

At three in the morning, only Shen Zhong remained in the office.

The whiteboard was covered with clues and arrows. The topmost code name hung alone, unconnected.

Shen Zhong stood in front of the whiteboard for a long time.

From Handong to Haizhou, from Qin Chu to the frontline coordination group, from Sha Ruijin to that code name in the capital, this line has been revealed. But the truly critical thing is still hidden beneath the surface.

He walked to the safe and entered the password.

Click.

The metal door popped open.

Shen Zhong took out the sealing wax file bag.

The red wax seal appears dark under the light, and the sound of the wax breaking open is crisp.

Pulling out the first page reveals a handwritten summary of clues related to "Qin Chu" by Gao Yuliang.