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

VIP ward on the top floor of Kanghua Special Needs Hospital, Handong Province.

The room was filled with a strange smell of expensive agarwood mixed with disinfectant.

Yi Xuexi wiped the edge of the stainless steel insulated container clean with a tissue and then tightened the lid.

"Old Li, take a break. Once you've eaten, you won't be thinking about these things anymore."

Yi Xuexi patted the bedside table and let out a heavy sigh.

Li Dakang lay flat on the soft, imported electric medical bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.

He had just swallowed the last mouthful of congee when he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, so bitter that his bile felt like it was rising up.

Just hours earlier, he had signed the transfer agreement for the Bright Peak project in humiliation on this very bed.

That was half a lifetime of political effort, and Yan Qingfeng took it away for just one dollar.

"Old Yi, do you think I'm a sinner in Handong?"

Li Dakang's voice was dry and hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against a rough wall.

His hands, like withered tree bark, gripped the corner of the blanket tightly, his knuckles turning a deathly pale color.

Yi Xuexi shook his head, pulled out a chair, and stood up.

"He's not a sinner, at most he's a loser who's come to terms with reality. With Master Yan's methods, anyone would have to kneel down."

The voice just fell.

Suddenly, a series of crisp footsteps came from the corridor outside the door, approaching from afar.

A "click" sound.

The heavy, solid wood soundproof door was slowly pushed open from the outside.

Lin Yubing walked in wearing a tailored black business suit and red-soled high heels.

She was carrying a black metal briefcase with a mechanical combination lock.

Secretary Xiao Jin, who was standing in the corner, was startled and quickly took half a step forward.

"What...what are you doing! Secretary Li needs to rest, who let you in?"

Xiao Jin mustered his courage and shouted, but his legs were spinning.

Lin Yubing didn't even glance at him.

Those cold eyes, peering through the gold-rimmed glasses, swept directly onto Li Dakang on the hospital bed.

She walked to the bedside and slammed the black combination lock suitcase onto the cabinet.

"Secretary Li, you look quite well, you've recovered pretty well."

Lin Yubing's lips curled into a flawless professional smile.

Li Dakang's eyelids twitched suddenly, but he remained silent with a cold face.

Yi Xuexi frowned, and his tone became unfriendly.

"Mr. Lin, we've already signed the papers. Old Li just had surgery, what else are you trying to pressure us for?"

"Secretary Yi, you've misunderstood. We're currently cooperating for mutual benefit; how can you talk about forcing us?"

Lin Yubing fiddled with the combination lock on the metal box.

"Master Yan just returned from Los Angeles on a private jet, bringing back some rare local specialties."

She pointed to the black box.

"Master Yan instructed that this thing is too hot to handle, and Secretary Li must personally take a look at it."

Li Dakang snorted coldly and turned his face away.

"I, Li Dakang, cannot swallow the capitalists' sugar-coated bullets! Take them away!"

He still held onto a sliver of hope.

As long as he remains alive and holds his official position, once Han Dong recovers, he will always find an opportunity to challenge the Lingxiao Consortium again.

"Whether it's a sugar-coated bullet or not, you can judge for yourself after you've seen it, lest you regret it."

Lin Yubing's slender fingers moved rapidly across the cipher machine.

With a crisp "click," the metal lid popped open.

There were no bundles of greenbacks, nor dazzling gold bars.

Inside, there was a thick stack of A4 photocopies, neatly stacked, with a faint smell of ink.

Li Dakang was stunned for a moment.

He shakily reached out his hand, which had an IV tube inserted, and picked up the top piece of paper.

It would have been better if I hadn't looked at it.

Li Dakang's eyes froze instantly upon seeing it.

It was a bank statement from an overseas bank, stamped with a bright red English seal at the top.

The recipient's name was clearly printed in bold black letters.

Ouyang Jing!

Li Dakang felt as if someone had slammed a hammer into the back of his head, and his head was buzzing.

He frantically searched downwards.

the second one.

Approval of bridging funds for the first phase of the Guangmingfeng project land, and details of the 30 million yuan kickback received by the Jingzhou Municipal Construction Bureau.

The third one.

The whereabouts of funds invested in Australian real estate by the wife of a deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, and the money laundering scheme of the brother-in-law of a deputy director of the public security bureau.

Every single bad debt is accounted for down to two decimal places!

Every clue was tightly tied to the necks of the key officials in Jingzhou!

"Beep—beep beep beep!"

The vital signs monitor by the bed suddenly started screaming like crazy.

Li Dakang's heart rate spiked to the red line, and he gasped for breath.

The photocopies in my hand were scattered all over the ground, like death warrants flying everywhere.

"This...this is what Ding Yizhen has in his hand!"

Li Dakang forced out a distorted roar, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

In his efforts to capture the fugitive Ding Yizhen, he nearly emptied the city police bureau's coffers, even alarming Interpol.

As a result, this biggest bombshell in the Han Dong officialdom quietly fell into Yan Qingfeng's hands!

Seeing that something was wrong, Yi Xuexi bent down and picked up a piece of paper from the ground.

With just a glance, Lao Yi's hand trembled violently, and the piece of paper fluttered back to the ground.

"Good heavens... the entire Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee is rotten to the core."

Yi Xuexi gasped, and a layer of white sweat instantly broke out on his back.

Lin Yubing pulled over a chair for companionship and sat down slowly.

"Secretary Li has a good eye."

She rested her hands on her knees, as calmly as if she were having a casual chat.

"Hou Liangping used his connections in China to get Interpol to arrest the man, but they didn't get a single thing."

Lin Yubing pushed up his glasses, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

"Yan Ye's men kicked down the security window ten minutes early and carried Ding Yizhen into the car like a chicken."

Li Dakang's chest heaved violently, his breathing heavy and labored, like a broken bellows.

"You killed him?"

"Killing him would dirty your hands."

Lin Yubing chuckled, "That old corrupt official was so scared he wet his pants. He took ten million US dollars from Master Yan to buy his life and is currently visiting farms all over Europe."

Li Dakang felt weak all over, and his vision blurred.

Despair spread from the depths of his bones, instantly freezing all his fighting spirit.

He understood everything.

If Yan Qingfeng were to hand over this ledger to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, it would be a normal political anti-corruption effort.

But they just wouldn't pay!

Yan Qingfeng treated it as a "local specialty" and slapped it directly on Li Dakang's bedside table!

This is no longer a matter of political stance.

Once this nuclear bomb is detonated, the entire Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee will be wiped out.

Li Dakang will have to spend the rest of his life sewing in Qincheng Prison!

This is a threat, and also the most thorough form of dimensional reduction attack!

"Master Yan said that the officials in Jingzhou work too hard every day."

Lin Yubing stood up and straightened her skirt, which was without a single wrinkle.

"Lingxiao Consortium will cover this debt for you in a safe for now."

She walked to the door, turned around, and uttered one last, heartbreaking sentence.

"Secretary Li, you're a smart man. You should think carefully about whose advice to take from now on."

"Click".

The ward door was closed.

The room was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Xiao Jin huddled in the corner, her legs so weak she collapsed to the ground.

Li Dakang lay motionless on the bed, like a dried-out piece of rotten wood.

Sweat soaked through the back of the hospital gown, making it feel cold against my skin.

His previous resentment and his ambition to settle scores later.

Before Yan Qingfeng's light and effortless strike, it was crushed into invisible powder.

A full five minutes passed.

Li Dakang, his trembling, withered hand pointing to Xiao Jin, who was huddled in the corner, barely daring to breathe.

He used the last bit of strength in his body to speak, his voice hoarse.

"Notify the Municipal Party Committee...to issue a top-secret document..."

"Within Jingzhou, anyone who dares to investigate the Lingxiao Consortium even a single word will be skinned alive by me, Li Dakang!"