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

At 3 a.m., the meeting room of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee looked like a pile of firewood that had just been lit.

The pungent smell of cheap tobacco mixed with the damp smell of human sweat made one's eyes water.

The exhaust fan blades were covered with a thick layer of black grease, making a clanging sound as they struggled to turn.

The toxic fumes in the room simply cannot be removed.

Li Dakang slumped in the leather chair in the main seat, his clothes wrinkled like a tattered rag.

The large bump on his forehead, which he had gotten from knocking on the provincial party committee's door, was now swollen like a ripe purple onion, with a shiny, bruised color.

He held half a cigarette between his two yellowed fingers.

The cigarette ash had accumulated to a considerable length, and with a trembling of his fingers, it fell with a "thud" onto the crotch of his dark trousers.

A tiny, dark red spark burned through the synthetic fabric, releasing a pungent, acrid smell.

A piercing burning pain immediately shot through my groin.

"Hiss—" Li Dakang suddenly shuddered and frantically slapped his thigh.

The cigarette butt slipped from his hand and rolled down his thigh onto the carpet, leaving a black hole.

"Ring ring—"

The three landline phones on the table started blaring one after another, as if they had gone mad, their plastic casings shaking violently.

Secretary Xiao Jin huddled in a folding chair in the corner, her eyes darker than coal dust.

He scrambled over and grabbed the receiver from the red landline phone.

"Feed? This is... Hey, stop swearing! Let's talk this out!"

Xiao Jin moved the receiver a little further away.

The cursing coming from inside made Li Dakang's ears ring.

I don't know what the person on the other end of the phone shouted.

Xiao Jin swallowed hard, his palms were covered in slippery sweat, and he almost dropped the plastic receiver on the table because he couldn't hold it.

"Secretary Li..."

Xiao Jin's face was ashen, as if covered with a layer of paper, and he stammered so hard his tongue was tied in knots.

"It's Wang Pangzi, the contractor for the Chengnan Road and Bridge renovation project."

"What did he say?" Li Dakang's throat felt like it was stuffed with dry grass, and his voice was so sharp it was unintelligible.

"He said he wouldn't see the remaining 80 million before dawn. So he led more than 200 starving bricklayers to the Jingzhou Bridge, where they held hands and jumped off!"

Xiao Jin sniffed. "He said if he's going to die, he wants to die in Jingzhou, so you can boost your political record!"

Li Dakang felt the acid in his stomach churning and rising right up to his throat.

It was so spicy it burned my esophagus.

He suddenly plunged his hands into his hair.

All ten fingers were taut, and the nails dug uncontrollably into the itchy scalp.

Using too much force, the fingernails scraped against the scalp, making a soft "shh" sound.

I scraped off several pieces of flesh with hair follicles still attached.

Sticky blood vessels seeped into the nail crevices, and when rubbed on the fingertips, they left a rusty smell.

He's like a gambling addict who's lost everything and is ready to stake his wife and kids on the game.

"Find my old leather-bound contact list! Now!"

Li Dakang slammed his fist on the table and roared, causing the lid of the purple clay cup on the table to bounce violently.

Xiao Jin frantically rummaged through his briefcase and pulled out an old-fashioned address book with a worn-out cover.

Turning the page, the paper smelled musty, like it had been sitting for a long time.

Li Dakang snatched it away.

He dipped his thumb in the dry, cracked skin on his lips and rubbed the pages, flipping them down with a rustling sound.

"Old Chen from the Lincheng Finance Bureau."

He muttered to himself, his fingers pounding the keys with a deafening thud.

"That bastard used to be short of money when he was building the district government office, I lent him two hundred million!"

The call connected, and after a few rings, someone answered.

A loud "clatter" sound came from over there as mahjong tiles were being shuffled.

"Feed? Old Chen! It's me, Dakang!"

Li Dakang forcibly pulled the dough upwards, forcing out a dry smile, but his voice trembled out of tune.

"Hey! Secretary Dakang!" Old Chen chuckled on the other end of the phone. "In the middle of the night, you have instructions?"

"No, no nonsense. Old Chen, I'm in some trouble."

Li Dakang gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white.

"The city's local government financing vehicle (LGFV) bonds are maturing tomorrow at noon, and there's a significant shortfall. How much bridging capital can you scrape together? Borrow some to tide us over for ten days to two weeks!"

The sound of shuffling the cards stopped.

Old Chen clicked his tongue and hissed, "Oh dear Dakang, you're putting your brother in a difficult position."

"Didn't the province say last month that Jingzhou's GDP quadrupled? Those big red notices were posted all over the province, and you, a big spender, are still complaining about being poor?"

"That's all for show! It didn't go into the national treasury!"

Li Dakang was so anxious that the purple bump on his forehead became even brighter, and beads of sweat dripped down his brow bone.

"Give me two hundred million first! I'm begging you!"

"Feed? Feed? Oh dear, what's wrong with this signal? Dakang, I can't hear you... Bang! I banged three... Beep beep beep..."

The call was immediately disconnected.

A jarring busy signal echoed through the quiet conference room.

It was no different from giving Li Dakang a solid slap across the face.

Undeterred, he continued dialing numbers with trembling fingers.

"I called Old Liu in Haizhou! I'm the one who helped his son-in-law find a job!"

I called, but the phone was off.

"Call Old Zhao in Yancheng!"

The call connected. The person on the other end immediately said, "Secretary Li, you must be joking. Everyone knows Handong is now an independent kingdom that doesn't accept RMB. We can't transfer the money there," and then slammed the phone down.

Li Dakang made more than a dozen phone calls in a row.

My lips were frothing at the touch, and my tongue was so dry I could barely move it.

All I heard through the receiver were apologies, bad signal, meeting, and busy signals.

The superficial relationships within the system crumbled completely in the face of the staggering figure of 300 billion.

"Snapped!"

Li Dakang dejectedly released his grip.

The plastic receiver slipped and bounced back and forth on the table leg, its beeping sound like a death knell.

He looked as if his spine had been removed.

He slumped in the chair, panting heavily, his chest emitting a sawing sound like a broken bellows.

"Secretary Li...is there no one willing to lend it to me?"

Xiao Jin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice barely audible.

Li Dakang was too weak to speak.

He gripped the armrests of the chair with both hands, his legs cramping and trembling.

Feeling like I was made of lead, I dragged myself step by step to the French windows, my trousers rubbing against my leg hair, making me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

In the early hours of the morning, Jingzhou City was pitch black.

It was pouring rain outside, and the raindrops were hitting the glass with a loud pattering sound.

Because the province doesn't have the money to pay the electricity bill, most of the municipal streetlights have been turned off.

The whole city looked like a dead behemoth.

But it's in the city center, a few kilometers away.

A towering, all-glass curtain wall building is radiating a dazzling dark golden light.

That's the headquarters building of the Lingxiao Consortium.

Yan Qingfeng's territory.

The golden light pierced through the rain, stinging Li Dakang's eyes and causing tears to well up uncontrollably.

He knew that now the entire Handong region, and even several provinces to the south, were affected.

Only that building had money, mountains of cash.

There was a meeting at the provincial level just now, and everyone in the Finance Department cried.

A hole of 300 billion yuan, with the higher authorities ignoring it and major banks collectively turning a blind eye and refusing to lend.

The bump on Li Dakang's forehead throbbed with pain.

He gripped the curtains tightly, his fingernails tearing through the expensive velvet fabric.

"Little Jin".

Li Dakang suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed a piece of burning coal, exuding a desperate, madness.

Xiao Jin quickly ran over.

He tripped on the carpet with his shoe and almost fell flat on his face. "I'm here, Secretary."

"Go and start that Hongqi car downstairs."

Li Dakang turned around, wiped the rain and sweat from his face, his eyes filled with a desperate, reckless glint.

"Huh? In the middle of the night... with such heavy rain, where are you going?" Xiao Jin was stunned.

Li Dakang stared at the dark gold building in the distance, tugged at his wrinkled collar, and exhaled a breath of foul air tinged with the smell of blood.

"Go to Lingxiao Building."

"I'll kowtow to Yan Qingfeng like a grandson, and he'll have to pay up those 300 billion!"