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

Northern training base.

The rain was falling heavily.

The deputy director of the War Preparedness Support Bureau was wearing a private's raincoat, his hat pulled low, and his trouser legs were covered in mud. He walked along the drainage ditch outside the cargo airport, his steps light, but the rainwater still made a splashing sound.

A small transport plane was parked in the distance.

The maintenance lights were on under the fuselage, and the cabin door was half-open, as if leaving an opening for someone.

The deputy director looked up at the control tower, then at the timing lights by the runway.

Passage 3.

Small transport aircraft.

The contract has been withheld.

All the words match.

He pulled his raincoat collar up, pressed his hand to his waist, and took another seven or eight steps forward.

But the closer he got to the plane, the more he felt something was wrong.

The airport is so clean.

The cargo truck didn't move, the mechanics didn't shout, and even the usually annoying police dogs didn't bark.

He stopped, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Just then.

Snapped.

The first searchlight shone down.

Then came the second bundle, the third bundle, and the fourth bundle.

The intense light from the tower pressed down on the runway, pinning him to the edge of the tarmac.

The deputy director instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes.

"Stop blocking it."

Zhou Weiguo's voice came through the rain, "The lights are on so brightly because I'm afraid you won't be able to see the road."

The deputy director put his hand down.

Around the tarmac, Longya Special Forces members appeared one by one from behind cargo containers, beside wheels, and next to tow trucks, all with guns pointed at them, and even the runway drainage outlets were blocked.

Zhou Weiguo, wearing a raincoat and military boots, stepped into the mud and water, his face expressionless.

"Deputy Director, you certainly know how to pick a location."

The deputy director took half a step back. "Staff Officer Zhou, this is a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstand?"

Zhou Weiguo glanced at his private's raincoat. "At your rank, you're going for a walk in a private's uniform?"

The deputy director gritted his teeth and said, "I received orders to move to a safe area."

"Whose orders?"

"In-process command"

"The process is starting again."

Zhou Weiguo reached out to the side, and a teammate handed him a powerful flashlight.

He shone the light on the deputy director's chest and said, "Take off your raincoat."

The deputy director didn't move.

Zhou Weiguo stared at him. "I'll count to three."

"one."

The deputy director pressed his hand down to his waist.

"two."

His hand had already reached the holster.

"Three is enough."

Zhou Weiguo rushed forward, his knee knocking away Zhou's wrist, and the butt of his gun smashed into Zhou's chin.

Click.

The deputy director fell into the muddy water with a muffled groan. His pistol slid half a meter before being kicked away by a member of the Dragon Fang team.

Zhou Weiguo stepped on his back, "I thought you could get hard enough to board the plane."

The deputy director, his mouth covered in blood, mumbled, "You have no right to arrest me like this!"

"Okay, you can talk to Chief Shen."

Zhou Weiguo squatted down and tore open his tactical vest.

There is a waterproof bag inside.

layer.

Two layers.

After the third layer was opened, three kraft paper envelopes rolled out. The seals were wet from the rain, but the red serial numbers were still clearly visible.

Zhou Weiguo pulled out half of the first portion, glanced up, and looked up.

War preparedness coordination procurement contracts.

He drew a second one.

Supplementary Agreement for the Transshipment of Port Supporting Equipment.

The third one.

Special casing acceptance settlement form.

Zhou Weiguo chuckled, "Wow, you've brought quite a few."

The deputy director lay prone in the mud, his shoulders tense. "Those are historical materials; I'm preparing to hand them over."

"Hand it over on the plane?"

Zhou Weiguo then poured out another piece of cardboard from the bag.

The rain washed away the red seal and crossed swords on the paper.

Internal inspection-free pass for the front-line coordination group.

Zhou Weiguo looked at the form, and the smile on his face disappeared.

"You're also planning to hand this over?"

The deputy director remained silent.

Zhou Weiguo put the pass into the evidence bag and said, "Take it away."

The temporary interrogation room was set up in the service building next to the airport.

The lights in the room were blindingly white.

The deputy director sat on an iron chair, his chin padded with gauze, his speech slurred, and blood was still seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Three contracts and a pass for exemption from inspection were laid out in front of him.

Zhou Weiguo sat opposite him and tossed his wet gloves into the tray.

"You just mentioned the process, now the process is here."

The deputy director kept his head down.

"The first document is the original purchase contract."

Zhou Weiguo tapped the paper with his pen. "The second document is the local transshipment agreement. The third document is the settlement statement. The last digits of the three documents differ by one, and the difference in amount is hidden in the last digits."

The deputy director's eyelids twitched.

"This inspection-free pass is even more interesting."

Zhou Weiguo pushed the official document forward, which read, "Cross-sword mark, for internal use only by the Frontline Coordination Group. Goods entering Beijing do not need to be unsealed, verified, or registered."

The deputy director looked up. "I don't know how it got on me."

Zhou Weiguo was delighted.

"If you can get away with this, I'll write a self-criticism tomorrow saying I don't know how I got into Dragon Fang."

The two teammates next to him didn't laugh.

The deputy director's breathing became heavier.

Zhou Weiguo continued flipping through the documents, "Where did the difference in funds at the end of the account go?"

The deputy director shut his mouth.

"I'm being polite by asking; I'm saving you a chair."

Zhou Weiguo put down his pen. "When Chief Shen comes to ask, you might not even have a chance to sit down and talk."

The deputy director looked towards the door.

The door was closed.

Only the sound of rain tapping on the window.

After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out a few words: "Retired Cadre Service System."

Zhou Weiguo looked up. "Say it all."

"Core Service System for Retired Cadres"

"How do I get there?"

"The difference in the last digit of the contract number is treated as a discount on the goods, the inspection exemption certificate is used to delay the truck, and the goods are put into internal storage. Local accounts see it as a loss, military accounts see it as a supplement, and in the end, they all go into their warehouse."

Zhou Weiguo pushed the notebook forward. "Which warehouse?"

The deputy director's lips trembled. "I only know about the system, not the specific warehouses."

"Who gave you the evacuation order?"

The deputy director shook his head.

Zhou Weiguo frowned. "They seem to take good care of their teeth."

The door was pushed open.

Shen Zhong walked in.

His military uniform was buttoned all the way up, the epaulets weighing heavily on him under the lamplight. He held a cigarette in his hand, unlit, raindrops dripping from the hem of his boots onto the ground.

Everyone in the room stood up straight.

Shen Zhong ignored them, walked to the table, and threw a photo at the deputy director's face.

The photo slid down to his chest.

It was a metal plate.

The edges are dark, there is a mark in the middle, and there is a scale left by Lu Yike when he took the photo.

The deputy director froze upon seeing this, and the chair leg scraped against the ground with a loud thud.

Shen Zhong pulled out a chair and sat down. "Recognize me?"

The deputy director's lips moved, but he didn't make a sound.

Shen Zhong held the cigarette between two fingers and pointed at the photo.

"This thing just arrived from the Handong Railway."

Zhou Weiguo glanced at the photo, his face darkening. "The one from the retired cadres' activity center?"

Shen Zhong didn't respond, he just looked at the deputy director.

"Who issued you the evacuation order?"

The deputy director raised his hand to wipe his face, but the handcuffs were pulled away, and he was dragged back down.

"It has no name."

Shen Zhong looked at him.

The deputy director's voice suddenly rose, "They really don't have names! They never use their real names—not in documents, not on the phone, not even as a contact person!"

Zhou Weiguo took half a step forward. "Code name."

The deputy director stared at the photo, his teeth chattering, the gauze stained with blood.

"The launch will be collectively referred to as Q5."

The sound of rain inside seemed to grow louder.

Zhou Weiguo picked up the inspection exemption form from the front-line coordination group and looked at Shen Zhong.

The military and local authorities are on two separate fronts: one is the military supply contract, and the other is the activity center for retired cadres.

Paper, serial number, metal sheet, inspection exemption certificate.

Everything is connected.

Shen Zhong put the cigarette back on the table with a calm sound.

"Record."

Zhou Weiguo immediately picked up a pen.

The deputy director leaned back in his chair, looking completely drained, but his mouth was still moving.

"They said that once something is in the veteran cadre service system, no one will dare to dismantle it, and no one will dare to pursue the money."

Shen Zhong raised his eyes.

The deputy director looked at the photo of the metal piece, his voice hoarse.

"Both the military and civilian sectors have the Q5 as their upstream supplier."