Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

On the large mahogany desk, the USB drive covered in yellow mud stood out conspicuously.

The small piece of mud that fell off earlier has already dirtied a spotless part of the tabletop.

Fatty Liu knelt on the carpet, his fat trembling uncontrollably, cold sweat dripping down his chin.

He had thought that offering up a priceless treasure would bring him great success.

Little did I know that my attempt to flatter him would backfire.

Zhou Yuan stood to the side, his eyes fixed on the USB drive, gleaming with a sharp light.

"Master Yan, please don't mind that this thing is dirty."

He rubbed his hands together, took two steps forward, and his tone revealed undisguised excitement.

"This contains a nuclear bomb capable of upending the entire officialdom of Handong!"

Zhou Yuan thought that Yan Qingfeng probably had a cleanliness obsession and disliked the junk dug out of the abandoned factory.

He pointed at the USB drive, getting more and more excited as he spoke.

"Although Sha Ruijin has backed down, there are definitely still many tough nuts to crack under him."

"All we need to do is find a hacker to decipher the ledger inside."

"Give a copy to each of those disobedient officials!"

Zhou Yuan made a throat-slitting gesture, his face full of smugness.

"Anyone who dares to disobey the Lingxiao Chamber of Commerce will have their dirt on them dumped in the disciplinary committee's mailbox!"

"I'll make sure they're completely subservient, not daring to utter a single word!"

"With this thing, we can send all the remaining troublemakers to jail!"

Fatty Liu nodded repeatedly on the ground, like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Yes, yes, yes! Secretary Zhou is absolutely right!"

"That old fox Cheng Du has accumulated a lifetime's worth of dirt on me; it's definitely going to be devastating!"

Yan Qingfeng remained silent.

He held the USB drive high in the air, through the expensive wet wipe.

There was not a trace of the ecstatic joy of having gained leverage over him in his deep eyes.

There was only pure, condescending contempt.

"Using dirt on someone to threaten them?"

Yan Qingfeng sneered, as if he had heard an absurd joke.

"Old Zhou, did you watch too many Hong Kong and Taiwanese gangster movies back in the day? Did it make your brain shrink?"

Zhou Yuan's smile froze abruptly, and he scratched his head awkwardly.

"Master Yan...isn't this also a good handle to manipulate them?"

"Dog meat is not served at a formal banquet."

Yan Qingfeng shook his head and casually tossed the wet wipe and USB drive onto the corner of the table.

"Using someone's weaknesses to force them to do things."

"This is a despicable tactic used by street thugs and incompetent politicians."

He opened the drawer and took out a cigar.

Zhou Yuan quickly and tactfully took out a lighter and lit it.

Amidst the swirling smoke, Yan Qingfeng's profile appeared even more ruthless.

"If you threaten him with evidence of corruption today, he might fight you to the death tomorrow just to protect himself."

"What I want is a place in Handong with a long-lasting and peaceful history, named Yan."

"This isn't a game of cat and mouse with a bunch of stray dogs."

Yan Qingfeng stood up.

The leather shoes slid silently onto the handmade wool carpet.

He walked to the corner of the table and picked up the USB drive again with two fingers.

Next to it, there was a black industrial-grade paper shredder, powered on, with its indicator light glowing green.

As Zhou Yuan watched Yan Qingfeng's actions, a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart.

"Master Yan, what are you doing...?"

Before he could finish speaking...

Yan Qingfeng loosened his grip.

"Clatter".

That USB drive, carrying Cheng Du's last hope, was enough to cause an earthquake of magnitude 8 in the officialdom of Handong.

It just floated down into the feed inlet of the paper shredder.

Yan Qingfeng casually pressed the start button.

"Buzz—click click click!"

The ear-piercing sound of metal being shredded instantly rang out in the spacious office.

Those industrial-grade alloy blades can even crush steel plates.

Not to mention a small plastic USB flash drive.

It didn't even last a second.

It contains countless pieces of irrefutable evidence of corruption, records of power-for-sex transactions, and details of overseas assets.

It all turned into flying plastic powder and metal fragments.

They fell one after another into the waste bin at the bottom.

Fatty Liu knelt on the ground, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

He was so frightened that he opened his mouth wide and made a strange "clucking" sound from his throat.

destroyed!

That was Cheng Du's trump card for saving his life.

It was treated like a useless pile of dog shit and shredded to pieces!

Zhou Yuan gasped, frozen in place like a wooden sculpture.

"Master Yan... Master Yan! Why were you strangled?!"

Zhou Yuan was so distressed that he kept slapping his thigh, his face contorted in pain.

"Those are all trump cards that can be used as knives!"

Yan Qingfeng stared blankly at the residue in the waste bin.

He pulled out another wet wipe and carefully wiped his slender fingers.

Every finger space was wiped clean.

It was as if I had just thrown away a bag of smelly garbage.

I felt it was too dirty to even look at it.

"A knife? A rusty knife covered in mud, and you treat it like a treasure?"

Yan Qingfeng threw the soiled wet wipe into the trash can, turned around, and walked back to the sofa to sit down.

"I, Yan Qingfeng, have never needed to resort to such despicable means to threaten anyone."

Fatty Liu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and mustered his courage to kowtow.

"Master Yan is so domineering!"

"But... without this leverage, what if those officials outwardly comply but inwardly defy us?"

He's now pinning all his hopes on this, hoping it will secure him a bright future with medical parole.

He had no confidence at all if the item was destroyed.

Zhou Yuan echoed this sentiment, wringing his hands anxiously.

"Yes, Master Yan. Sha Ruijin has backed down, but there's no guarantee that there aren't any stubborn guys out there trying to trip us up."

"If we don't have some dirt on them, how can they possibly obey?"

"We can't just keep throwing money around like that, can we?"

Yan Qingfeng crossed his legs and flicked the ash from his cigar between his fingers.

The temperature in the entire office seemed to drop to freezing point instantly because of his next words.

"Threatening them? That's beneath us."

Yan Qingfeng looked out at the deep night, a chilling smile playing on his lips.

"I don't know their secrets, and I'm too lazy to find out who embezzled how much money."

Zhou Yuan was completely bewildered, clutching his hair and utterly baffled.

Without relying on dirt or scandals, how can one win people over with virtue?

This capitalist's heart is blacker than coal. When did he suddenly become a benevolent person?

"Then... how do we get them to obey?" Zhou Yuan asked tentatively.

Yan Qingfeng did not answer immediately.

He took a deep drag on his cigar.

Then he slowly exhaled the smoke onto Fatty Liu's pale face.

Watching the other person cough repeatedly but dare not move away in a comical manner.

Yan Qingfeng pointed to the air around him, his eyes dark and unfathomable.

"Old Zhou, besides eating and drinking, what's the one thing a person can't live without?"

Zhou Yuan paused for a moment, then sniffed in response to his gesture.

It came out without thinking.

"Air?"

"right."

Yan Qingfeng chuckled softly and stubbed out his cigar in the crystal ashtray.

"With my current strength, I am the sky over Handong."

He raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as he stared at Zhou Yuan.

They threw out the most crucial mystery of the night.

"Tell me, if I cut off the oxygen supply to his area, do you think he'll survive until tomorrow?"