Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

"What do you know?"

He slammed his chopsticks down on the table and lowered his voice.

"This isn't about provoking others; it's my duty! If someone breaks the law, should I just turn a blind eye because they're a high-ranking official or have powerful connections?"

"Then what's the difference between us and those we despise!"

Seeing his righteous and stern demeanor, Zhong Xiaoai did not argue further.

She simply shook her head and silently began clearing away the dishes.

She knew that her husband had been blinded by his desire for revenge.

No matter what he said, he wouldn't listen.

Late at night.

Hou Liangping made sure his wife was fast asleep before tiptoeing into the study.

He opened his laptop, the light from the screen illuminating his face, which was slightly contorted with excitement.

Without the slightest hesitation, he booked the earliest flight to Handong for the next day.

He believed that as long as he personally took charge, with his many years of investigative experience, he would be able to uncover all the heavy evidence!

At that time, he will show everyone who is truly righteous!

He made Zhong Xiaoai and that aloof old man look at him with new respect!

The moment he completed the payment and successfully booked the ticket.

Thousands of miles away, in the Handong Provincial Military Region.

The cell phone in Zhou Weiguo's pocket vibrated very slightly.

He turned on his phone, and a message popped up on the screen.

The message is simple: Hou Liangping, tomorrow 07:15, Beijing to Handong, CA1837.

Zhou Weiguo put away his phone expressionlessly, turned around and knocked on the door of Shen Zhong's study.

Inside the study, Shen Zhong stood in front of a large map, which showed the detailed topography of the entire Handong Province.

"explain."

"Boss, the fish is here."

Zhou Weiguo briefly reported the information on his phone.

Shen Zhong listened without showing any surprise.

He turned around, picked up a red pen from the table, and drew a small circle around the location of "White Horse River" on the map.

His movements were casual, as if he were dealing with a trivial matter.

"Let him come."

A cold glint, unreadable to others, appeared at the corner of Shen Zhong's mouth.

He looked at Zhou Weiguo and gave the order.

"Treat him well."

"Let him find out whatever he wants to investigate."

"Yes!" Zhou Weiguo straightened up and turned to leave.

The next morning, at Handong Airport.

The plane landed smoothly.

Hou Liangping carried a simple suitcase and walked out of the arrival hall.

He took a deep breath, feeling the air in Handong thick with the scent of an impending storm.

He didn't come here for tourism; he came here to fight.

He felt like a lone hero, stepping onto the battlefield of judgment alone, filled with a sacred sense of mission.

He walked to the side of the road and flagged down a taxi.

"Master, to Baima River."

He didn't notice.

Not far from him, in a black Volkswagen sedan with ordinary civilian license plates.

Several young men dressed in plain clothes, yet exuding an exceptionally capable air, were coldly watching him through the car window.

One of them was holding a pair of binoculars, the lens fixed on Hou Liangping's profile.

"Target is on board. Destination: Baima River."

The taxi started moving and merged into the traffic.

The black Volkswagen followed at a leisurely pace, maintaining a perfect distance that ensured it would neither be detected nor lost.

The taxi bumped along the potholed dirt road for a while before finally stopping at a messy riverbank.

The car door opened, and a shiny black leather shoe stepped out, only to sink into a puddle of mud.

Hou Liangping frowned and withdrew his foot, looking at the glaring yellow mud on the shoe, his disgust expression undisguised.

He took out a clean white handkerchief, bent down, and carefully wiped the surface of his shoes until he was basically clean. Then he casually threw the dirty handkerchief into the weeds by the roadside.

Before us lay an extremely open space.

The once bustling sand quarry has completely disappeared, leaving only the track marks left by heavy machinery and the broken red bricks and steel bars scattered all over the ground.

The air was no longer filled with flying dust, but only with a strange smell mixed with the fishy smell of the river and the damp earth.

This is the battlefield.

Hou Liangping pushed up his sunglasses, a surge of pride welling up inside him.

That Shen Zhong is truly lawless.

Such a large industrial area, to be flattened so easily, is not only a waste of resources, but also a blatant trampling on the spirit of the rule of law.

Not far away, several villagers dressed in old clothes were squatting by the river, seemingly rummaging through the ruins for usable scrap metal.

Hou Liangping straightened his crisp suit collar and strode over.

He came with a mission, and also with a sense of superiority. In his view, these ordinary people had long been oppressed by criminal gangs, and as long as he, a "righteous official" from the capital, revealed his identity, even just a hint, they would cry and kneel on the ground, pouring out all their grievances.

"Hey, fellow villager."

Hou Liangping stopped two meters away from the villagers, covered his nose with his hand, and shouted down at them.

Several villagers looked up and scrutinized the city dweller who seemed so out of place with his surroundings with murky and wary eyes.

No one paid him any attention; everyone lowered their heads and continued searching for rebar in the mud.

Hou Liangping was somewhat displeased.

This group of people is truly callous and heartless.

He patiently took another step forward, his posture looking somewhat comical as he tried to avoid stepping into a mud puddle.

"I'm an official from Beijing, here specifically to investigate this sand quarry. Don't be afraid, that Shen Zhong guy and the soldiers won't dare do anything to you. If you have any grievances, just tell me."

He felt that his words were very well-said, both flexing his muscles and demonstrating his approachability.

An old man with a face full of wrinkles straightened up, holding a rusty steel pipe in his hand, and glanced at Hou Liangping sideways.

"From the city?"

"Yes, the capital city." Hou Liangping puffed out his chest.

"That's a high-ranking official," the old man chuckled, revealing a set of yellow teeth. "Why are you taking a taxi?"

Several villagers nearby burst into laughter.

Hou Liangping's face turned a deep liver color.

"How dare you talk to me like that? I'm here to help you!"

He was somewhat annoyed, and his voice rose several octaves, "This place was forcibly demolished, and you didn't have a single complaint? Was no one injured? Or had their property stolen?"

The old man stopped smiling, spat a mouthful of phlegm on the ground, which landed right next to Hou Liangping's freshly cleaned leather shoes.

"Help us? That sand quarry is a shady place. They dug up the riverbed, and the crops get flooded every time it rains. It was only because the People's Liberation Army came that it was leveled, and we even had to give them a big thank you with gongs and drums. If you, a high-ranking official, have nothing better to do, then fix this road instead of blocking our way to collect scraps."

After saying that, the old man waved his hand, as if shooing away flies.

"Let's go, let's not waste time."

Hou Liangping stood frozen in place, listening to the whispers and laughter behind him, feeling a surge of heat rush to his head.

Troublemakers!

What an unreasonable bunch of troublemakers!

He turned around angrily and trudged back to where the taxi was waiting.

Even with the facts laid bare, his logic remained perfectly self-contained: these people must have been threatened by Shen Zhong's people! Or even bribed!

That's the army, they have real weapons, how could ordinary people not be afraid?

The more they dare not speak out, the more it proves that things are very complicated here!

"Shen Zhong, you really have some tricks up your sleeve." Hou Liangping muttered to himself through gritted teeth as he sat in the back seat of the car. "You've managed to turn even this remote, impoverished area into an impregnable fortress. I'll see how long you can keep this up!"