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

Bai Zhi pushed up her frameless glasses and turned to leave the chairman's office, which overlooked the entire city of Jingzhou.

The solid wood door closed silently behind her, shutting out the faint aroma of tea from inside the room.

She wore a well-tailored white lab coat, exuding an aloof and cold aura.

The stiletto heels clicked crisply and rhythmically in the corridor of Lingxiao Medical headquarters.

This colossal beast, hidden deep beneath the surface of the Han River, is finally about to unleash its most deadly fangs.

Third floor, premium conference room.

More than a dozen department heads sat upright, not one of them daring to look down at their phones.

Bai Zhi pushed open the glass door, walked straight to the head of the table, and slammed the encrypted folder in her hand onto the table.

"Notify the Finance Department and the Logistics Dispatch Center."

Her gaze swept across the entire room, her voice as precise and cold as a scalpel.

"Starting immediately, all private tertiary hospitals and pharmaceutical import chains under Lingxiao Medical will undergo a one-month internal review of their capital structures."

The managers below exchanged puzzled glances.

"During the review period, the allocation of the 70% excess pooled funds to the provincial medical insurance fund pool will be suspended."

Bai Zhi tapped the hard cover of the folder.

"At the same time, the leasing rights for imported special-effect drugs and high-end medical equipment in all special wards for high-ranking officials throughout the province have been frozen."

"hiss--"

The CFO gasped, nearly breaking the pen in his hand.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and mustered his courage to stand up.

"Prosecutor Bai, this is a major part of the provincial medical insurance budget!"

"If we cut off the overall budget, the reimbursement accounts of those designated public hospitals in the province will be completely bankrupt and paralyzed within three days!"

Bai Zhi raised her head, a chilling light gleaming behind her glasses.

"That's a matter for the provincial finance and medical insurance bureaus to worry about. What does it have to do with us?"

"What should we write as the reason for stopping the medication?" The logistics supervisor swallowed hard. "The people lying in the special needs wards are all important figures."

"The reasons are readily available."

Bai Zhi pulled out a chair and sat down, crossing her hands and resting them on her chin.

"The logistics were disrupted, and cold chain transportation could not guarantee the activity of the medicine."

"Medical equipment requires regular maintenance, and in order to be absolutely responsible to patients, we are temporarily suspending its use."

She gave a cold, emotionless laugh.

"The entire process is legal and compliant; even if they had a microscope, they couldn't find any fault with it."

The vice president sat beside him, rubbing his temples in worry.

"Prosecutor Bai, what about ordinary people who need medical care and medicine?"

"If the outpatient clinic also runs out of food, the people downstairs will definitely smash up our front door."

"Activate the internal charitable fund pool under Mr. Yan's name."

Bai Zhi leaned back in her chair, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"All ordinary citizens holding local household registration in Handong can use our green channel."

She stood up, placed her hands on the table, and her imposing presence made everyone in the room feel suffocated.

"For expenses that can't be reimbursed through the unified reimbursement system, the charity foundation will cover the entire amount; if it's a penny short, we'll make up the difference!"

"Master Yan said that this time we're going to remove the lifeline from those powerful and wealthy, but we absolutely cannot harm the livelihoods and lives of ordinary people!"

The supervisors were thrilled and immediately took the order like wound-up machines.

Half an hour later, at the Special Needs Ward of Handong Provincial People's Hospital.

The corridor was covered with thick Persian carpets, so soft that you could walk on them without making a sound.

The temperature control system keeps this floor warm and cozy.

Ji Changming, dressed in a silk hospital gown, was comfortably leaning against the headboard.

This old fox faked a heart attack and hid in the hospital, living a life a hundred times more comfortable than he did in the provincial procuratorate office.

He was holding a small, gilded bowl and happily stirring the freshly stewed bird's nest with a white porcelain spoon.

A small radio nearby was playing melodious Peking Opera excerpts.

"Bang!"

The double doors to the ward were shoved open by someone.

The hospital director rushed in, sweating profusely, without even knocking.

"The quarterly inspection has caused a huge mess!"

The dean was panting heavily from running, his tie askew on his shoulder.

Ji Changming was so frightened that his hand trembled.

The scalding hot bird's nest was poured directly onto the snow-white quilt.

"Don't panic! My heart can't take a shock!"

He quickly put the bowl on the bedside table, clutched his chest, and pretended to catch his breath.

"Your imported vasodilator targeted drug supply has been discontinued!"

The dean, with a mournful face, pointed to the exclusive pharmacy at the end of the corridor.

"Lingxiao Medical just sent people over and sealed the warehouse door!"

Ji Changming sat up abruptly, completely abandoning his pretense of illness.

"Stop taking the medication? Are you kidding me?!"

He pointed at the dean's nose and started cursing.

"Such a prestigious hospital as the Provincial People's Hospital can't even handle a few boxes of targeted therapy?"

"This is a special floor for special needs! It's funded by special provincial government grants; who dares to hold us back!"

The dean looked distressed, spread his hands, and almost knelt down.

"The money's sitting in the account, but we can't buy the medicine!"

"The entire high-end pharmaceutical distribution rights in Handong are controlled by that woman, Bai Zhi!"

He wiped the oil and sweat from his face, his voice trembling.

"Not only has your medication stopped, the entire floor is without it!"

"The retired Party Secretary and the families of high-ranking officials from Beijing who are here for recuperation—they all have to tough it out tonight!"

Ji Changming felt a loud buzzing in his head.

I saw stars.

Only then did he realize that Yan Qingfeng's soft knife had finally cut solidly into the lifeline of their privileged class!

Suddenly, a hysterical commotion erupted outside the door.

"What are you doing at this hospital?! Where's my dad's anti-aging cell enzyme injection? Prepare it and administer it right now!"

A middle-aged man with a large belly grabbed the head nurse by the collar and yelled wildly in the corridor.

"Director Li, we're really out of medicine! The cold storage has been sealed off, and Lingxiao's pharmaceutical representatives aren't even answering their phones!"

The head nurse was so anxious that tears streamed down her face, and the medicine tray in her hands trembled and clattered.

The entire VIP floor was in complete chaos.

Those high-ranking officials who are usually aloof and unmoved even when Mount Tai collapses before them.

They were like ants on a hot plate, pacing anxiously in the corridor.

Some people were yelling and cursing on the phone, while others, with red eyes, were pulling strings to borrow medicine from other provinces and source it.

Even without money to pay salaries, they can still stand tall and talk about the bigger picture.

Without electricity or water, they could hide in villas with generators and tough it out.

But there's no medicine available now!

Who is not afraid of death?

The more power a person holds, the more they value their life above all else!

Now that even life-saving oxygen tubes have been pulled, panic has been completely ignited within the elite circles.

Meanwhile, in Office No. 1 of the Provincial Party Committee compound.

Sha Ruijin slumped in his chair, all the buttons on his collar ripped open.

The broken Duan inkstone on the ground hadn't been cleaned up yet, and a puddle of black water had dried on the mahogany floor.

The red secure telephone on the table started screaming again, like a death knell.

Secretary Bai stood trembling to the side, her face as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Secretary Sha, the Bureau of Veteran Cadres... has also been thrown into chaos."

Secretary Bai swallowed hard, his calves trembling.

"Several retired provincial leaders are relying on imported ventilators and special drugs from Lingxiao Group to prolong their lives."

Seeing Sha Ruijin's ashen face, he steeled himself and continued reporting the death.

"The equipment is currently shut down, so new drugs can't get in."

"The families of the former leaders smashed up the gate of the Municipal Health Commission and are now on their way to the Provincial Party Committee compound to confront you!"

Sha Ruijin's legs went weak, and he clung tightly to the edge of the table with both hands.

He stared at the incessantly ringing phone, so exhausted that he didn't even have the strength to reach out and answer it.

He knew that the fire had already burned through the roof of Handong and was heading straight for the power center of the capital city along the telephone line.

Thousands of miles away, in a large courtyard with red walls in the Western Hills of Beijing.

A soft wool rug was laid out in front of the heavy mahogany desk.

An elderly man wearing a dark blue Zhongshan suit slammed his dragon-headed cane heavily onto the ground with a loud crack.

The carpet absorbed the sound, but the terrifying murderous aura caused the temperature in the entire study to plummet.

"I don't care about the Zhao family's messy accounts, and I don't care whether Handong goes bankrupt or not."

The old man had a cold face, and a condescending tyranny shone through his cloudy eyes.

"But why is the imported targeted drug that Xiao Ai's grandfather is used to taking being blocked in cold storage by Handong!"

The senior secretary standing next to him quickly bent down and tentatively asked a question.

"Sir, should we directly order an attack on Sha Ruijin, or should we tip off that businessman named Yan Qingfeng?"

The old man snorted coldly and turned his gaze to the thick darkness outside the window.

Withered fingers tapped slowly on the surface of the rosewood table.

"What is Sha Ruijin anyway? He's a piece of trash who can't even handle a businessman. Send him straight to the archives to sweep floors!"

A chilling sneer appeared at the corner of the old man's eye.

"Connect me directly to the Lingxiao Manor's internal line. I want to hear for myself what kind of extraordinary benefits this pampered Master Yan wants before he'll release the hand gripping my neck!"