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

The first conference room of the provincial party committee was so quiet that you could hear the faint hum of the fluorescent lights.

The provincial standing committee members and top officials of various cities who usually hold high-spirited discussions in this room are all like clay idols today.

The large, oval-shaped solid wood conference table was filled with the core of power in Handong.

No one drank tea, no one smoked, and no one even dared to breathe heavily.

Secretary Bai stood against the wall, her palms sweating profusely as she held the thermos.

"Bang!"

A thick stack of official documents was slammed onto the center of the conference table.

The dull thud made several municipal party secretaries tremble.

Sha Ruijin stood in front of the main seat, his hands supporting him on the table, his body leaning slightly forward.

His eyes, which were usually always smiling, were now bloodshot, staring intently at Li Dakang across from him like an eagle.

"Look! Everyone, take a look at this briefing!"

Sha Ruijin's voice wasn't loud, but it was incredibly imposing.

"At 9:30 a.m., when the market opened, 57 local companies in Handong were immediately locked at their daily limit down, and over 100 billion yuan in market value vanished in just ten minutes!"

He stretched out his finger and tapped the table hard; with each tap, the hearts of the officials present clenched.

"More than a hundred infrastructure projects at Guangming Peak were all halted and cleared overnight."

"Three hundred thousand construction workers and related service personnel couldn't even afford breakfast this morning!"

As Sha Ruijin spoke, his anger grew, and he yanked off his collar.

"And that's not all! With Chu Yunfei's Lingxiao Logistics shut down, cabbages at the Jingzhou South City farmers' market are selling for ten yuan a pound!"

"Do you know how many ordinary people who need to eat are blocking the entrance to the provincial party committee compound right now?"

Li Dakang lowered his head, staring intently at the teacup in front of him, his face turning as red as an eggplant.

He placed his hands on his knees, the veins on the backs of his hands bulging, but he couldn't utter a single word.

"Li Dakang, didn't you want political achievements?"

Sha Ruijin suddenly turned his head and pressed the muzzle of his gun directly against Li Dakang's forehead.

"Is this the 'grand vision' you've created for the Handong Provincial Committee? Is this the 'Bright Peak' you forced to achieve through donations?"

Li Dakang suddenly raised his head, his lips trembling, and finally couldn't help but speak.

"Secretary Sha, this isn't entirely my fault. Yan Qingfeng's actions were a premeditated and malicious attempt to disrupt the economic order!"

He gritted his teeth, still putting on a last act of stubbornness.

"He's using the livelihoods of the people of Handong to blackmail the government; this is outrageous!"

"fart!"

Sha Ruijin swore without holding back and slammed his hand on the table.

"They paid 47 billion yuan in breach of contract penalties, and their severance pay was not less than a penny! Their tax returns are cleaner than your face!"

Sha Ruijin pointed at Li Dakang's nose, mercilessly tearing away his fig leaf.

"Hou Liangping led his team to investigate for three days and three nights, but they couldn't even find an invoice for a dinner party."

"Tell me, what was his malicious intent? What law are you using to arrest him?"

Li Dakang deflated like a punctured balloon and slumped back into his chair.

Yes, we can't find any fault with it.

This compliant and legal capital withdrawal was like a blow to the head, leaving the authorities with no excuse to complain.

Sha Ruijin withdrew his gaze and surveyed the entire room.

"Alright, we'll talk about holding people accountable later." He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger as he sat back down in his chair.

"I didn't call you all here today to listen to your complaints."

He tapped the table, his gaze sweeping over the high-ranking officials who were pretending to be ostriches with their heads down.

"The hole has been created. Now, can anyone tell me how to fill it?"

The conference room was deathly silent; even the sound of Secretary Bai swallowing seemed particularly jarring.

Sha Ruijin sneered and called out names directly.

"Old Liu, you're the Finance Director, you go first."

Director Liu was startled, quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead, and stood up.

"Secretary Sha... this is too big a problem, our provincial finances really can't handle it."

Director Liu opened his notebook, his voice trembling like leaves in the cold wind.

"After the Lingxiao Consortium withdrew, coupled with the disruption of the upstream and downstream supply chains, the daily financial losses were astronomical."

"Even if we poured all 40 billion in breach of contract fees into restarting Bright Peak, it would only be a drop in the ocean. Moreover..."

Director Liu swallowed hard.

"Moreover, prices are out of control now, and we simply cannot cover the funding gap for maintaining stability."

Sha Ruijin's brows furrowed into a tight knot as he turned to look in the other direction.

"What about the National Development and Reform Commission? Lao Zhou, could you urgently contact a few large domestic capital firms or state-owned enterprises to take over?"

Director Zhou stood up with a bitter face and shook his head repeatedly.

"Secretary Sha, I've already called the phone countless times this morning."

Director Zhou was so worried that he kept scratching his head.

"Jiangnan's richest man, Ma Tengyun, made it clear that the technological barriers left by the Lingxiao Consortium are too high, and they dare not touch them."

"Other investors, upon hearing that Yan Qingfeng had voluntarily withdrawn from the territory, scattered faster than rabbits."

Director Zhou spread his hands, his face full of helplessness.

"It's all over the business district now. People are saying that if Master Yan doesn't give the word, anyone who dares to come to this land in Handong will die."

After hearing this, Sha Ruijin broke out in a cold sweat.

He finally realized just how formidable Yan Qingfeng's influence was in Handong.

This is not just a company; it's a business empire that controls the lifeline of the entire province!

"Old Zhang from the Public Security Bureau, can you control the order on the streets?" Sha Ruijin continued to ask, unwilling to give up.

Director Zhang of the Provincial Public Security Department stood up, his face full of bitterness.

"Secretary Sha, the police force is severely insufficient. This morning alone, there were over a hundred fights in the vegetable markets of various districts over fighting over vegetables."

Director Zhang pointed out the window.

"Right now, at the provincial inspection station, hundreds of elderly people have smashed down the doors."

"Chief Prosecutor Ji Changming was so frightened that he had a heart attack and was hospitalized. Zhao Donglai is also in a state of chaos in Guangming District. The law doesn't punish everyone; we can't just shoot hungry people, can we?"

The entire venue fell silent once again.

A deep sense of powerlessness, like a venomous snake, coiled around everyone's heart.

These powerful figures, who usually held themselves in high esteem and believed that power could solve everything, finally felt a chill to the bone.

No one can fill this hole.

As long as Yan Qingfeng doesn't back down, the economy of Handong will only be able to watch helplessly as it collapses.

Sha Ruijin leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his throbbing temples.

The meeting reached a complete deadlock, with no one able to come up with a decent solution.

Compromise? Bow down and beg for mercy?

For the prestigious Handong Provincial Committee, this was an impossible task, more difficult than climbing to heaven, yet reality was forcing them step by step toward the precipice.

Meanwhile, at the Second Prison of Handong outside Jingzhou City.

Inside the high walls and electric fences, prisoners are lining up to get some fresh air on the playground.

The early winter sun shone on the cement ground, carrying a chilly feeling.

Qi Tongwei, dressed in prison clothes, stood under the basketball hoop with his hands in his pockets.

He didn't join in his fellow inmates' chatter; he simply tilted his head back slightly and squinted at the sky.

A deafening roar of engines erupted overhead, shattering the prison's tranquility.

The prisoners all looked up and around.

A black, futuristic-looking private helicopter was seen flying in from the direction of Jingzhou city.

On the side of the helicopter, two large, flamboyant characters were painted in gold: Lingxiao.

"Wow! That plane is really impressive!"

A fellow inmate next to me, who was incarcerated for fraud, kept smacking his lips as he stared at the planes in the sky.

"Director Qi, you used to handle important matters when you were out there. Which high-ranking official in the province owns this plane with the 'Lingxiao' logo?"

Qi Tongwei withdrew his gaze and looked at his fellow inmate, whose face was full of curiosity.

His once arrogant face now displayed an extremely complex cold smile.

There is reverence, self-deprecation, and a sense of exhilarating clarity.

"A high-ranking leader?"

Qi Tongwei scoffed and shook his head.

"The person sitting inside isn't some leader. He's someone who can control the entire sky in Handong with one hand."

The fellow inmate was stunned and somewhat disbelieving.

"They can even block out the sky? Would Secretary Sha of the province agree to that?"

Qi Tongwei turned around, looking at the tall guard tower in the distance, his smile growing wider.

"Secretary Sha?"

Qi Tongwei snorted coldly, his eyes filled with a fanatical fascination with watching a show.

"Just watch. With that slap from Yan Qingfeng, our high and mighty Secretary Sha will probably have to personally come to their door and beg them to shut up."