Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

The air in the study seemed to freeze for a moment.

It was a tattered copy of *Das Kapital*. It was a book that her father, Liu Jianguo, most frequently read in his study. When Liu Ming was sorting through the belongings he was about to donate to the National Library, he simply shook the pages out of habit.

"Clatter".

A thin kraft paper envelope slipped out from the hollowed-out back cover and fell onto the rosewood tabletop.

The envelope was unsigned, with only four characters written in pen.

—To my son.

The handwriting was vigorous and powerful, conveying a resolute determination that transcends time.

Liu Ming's pupils suddenly contracted.

His heart skipped a beat at that moment.

In his life, he had witnessed countless storms and waves, teetered on the brink of life and death, and surveyed the pinnacle of power. Yet, faced with this letter that was decades overdue, his once rock-solid hands trembled so badly that he couldn't even open the seal on the envelope.

"Sizzle."

The sound of paper tearing was particularly jarring in the quiet study.

Liu Ming pulled out the slightly yellowed letter inside.

Unfold.

His father's familiar handwriting was like a series of knives that crossed time and space, stabbing fiercely into his eyes.

[Xiao Ming:]

By the time you read this letter, I will probably be gone.

Don't cry, and don't be afraid. This is my own choice.

Liu Ming's breath caught in her throat.

Your own choice?

What does that mean?!

He stared intently at the paper, his eyes stinging and his vision blurring, but he forced himself to read it word by word.

The game in Jiangnan Province has reached a dead end. Luo Binwang and his associates have created a vast network, so vast that it has even obscured the central leadership's view.

I have evidence of their sale of national mineral resources. But I know that, given my position as a deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, this evidence won't even reach Yancheng; it will be intercepted en route, and even those around me might be silenced.

[I considered seeking help from Elder Lin. But Luo Binwang also has powerful backers in Yancheng. If Elder Lin were to forcefully intervene, it would only cause upheaval at the higher levels, and might even drag our Lin family into that quagmire.]

This is not in the national interest.

Liu Ming's fingers tightened unconsciously. The edges of the letter were crumpled by his grip.

He seemed to have already guessed what his father was about to say.

Therefore, I must use the most extreme and undeniable method to break this stagnant situation.

I'm going to use my own life to set up a scheme.

Luo Binwang was an extremely arrogant man. He thought he was in control of everything, and he thought that killing me would cover up the truth. Therefore, I deliberately let him know that I had a trump card up my sleeve.

I deliberately left that diary with the coded message in my office.

I deliberately left the lighter with the overseas account information in Wang Hai's hands.

Because I knew he would be eager to attack me.

Only the "mysterious death" of a single high-ranking official, only this seemingly flawless "suicide due to depression," could one day become the poisonous thorn that pierces the darkness.

……

"madman."

Liu Ming's voice was terribly hoarse, and tears finally welled up in her eyes.

"You...you're crazy."

He always believed that his father was passively murdered. He always believed that it was Luo Binwang's cruelty and ruthlessness that drove that upright official to his death.

But he never expected this.

This was actually a deadly trap, a deadly scheme where lives were used as bait!

The handwriting on the letter paper became somewhat messy at this point, as if the writer was trying hard to suppress their inner emotions.

Xiaoming, I'm sorry.

As your father, I wasn't there to watch you grow up, nor did I see you marry and have children. And now, I even have to place this heavy burden of revenge on your shoulders.

But I had no other choice.

Because you are my son, Liu Jianguo's son. Because you carry the same blood as me, blood that will never bow to darkness.

I know those clues are scattered and dangerous. If you can find them one day, it means you've already acquired the ability to bring down that group.

If you haven't noticed, or if you've chosen to live a peaceful life, that's okay too. That's your life, and all Dad wants is for you to be safe and sound.

But if you decide to take this path...

Son, remember this.

Don't trust anyone except yourself. Use those clues to muddy the waters. Don't rush into revenge; leverage existing power. Leverage Elder Lin's influence, leverage the power of the central government. Use the most reasonable rules to kill those who break the rules.

This is the last lesson your father can teach you.

The letter ended with only one short sentence.

But it was as heavy as Mount Tai.

May our land be peaceful and prosperous.

……

"Clatter".

A tear fell heavily onto the letter, blurring the character "Qing".

Liu Ming slumped into a chair, utterly dejected.

He covered his face with his hands and let out the most suppressed and heart-wrenching sob of his life in the dimly lit study.

Thirty years.

Thirty years.

He carried with him the longing for his father and the hatred for his enemies, fighting his way from Qingyun County to Ningzhou, from the provincial capital to the city. He believed himself to be the one wielding the knife, the one strategizing and manipulating everything.

But until today, until I saw this letter.

Only then did he truly understand.

The path he has walked in most of his life, every risky move he has made, and even the breakthroughs he has sought in desperate situations.

It turns out that it was all part of that man's plan all along.

He is not a chess player.

He was merely the "crossing pawn" left on the chessboard by his father to checkmate the enemy!

And that man.

That seemingly gentle and somewhat bookish deputy director of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

He was the one who truly valued himself as a son, and was even more capable than Heaven itself... a peerless national hero!

With his death, he created the first crack on the iron plate of Jiangnan Province.

He used his own life to pave a bloody path for his son, a path leading to revenge and to the backbone of the nation.

"dad……"

Liu Ming raised her head and looked at the black and white portrait on the wall.

The man in the photo still smiles so gently, as if he has already seen through everything in this world.

Liu Ming stood up.

He did not wipe away the tears on his face.

He straightened his spine, which had been bent by the weight of time.

Facing that portrait, facing the father who played a grand game with his life.

He bowed deeply.

"I've broken your trap."

"I have avenged you."

"May this land of China be peaceful and prosperous..."

Liu Ming gritted her teeth and said, word by word.

"...I, too, protected it for you!"