Reborn in 72, I hunt to support my family and spoil my younger sister rotten.

The recycling station was piled high with scrap metal and broken tires. Li Xiangyang clutched the file bag tightly to his chest, and could hear his own heart pounding.

The flashlight beam swept across the tire gaps, only a meter away from where they were hiding.

“Boss, this place is full of junk, they can’t possibly be hiding here.” One of the men in black kicked a rusty iron barrel.

"Search carefully! If those documents are leaked, we're all doomed!" Zhao Ming's voice came from outside, the torrential rain almost drowning out his roar.

Ma Laosan gripped the wire cutters tightly, gesturing to Li Xiangyang to prepare for a breakout. But just then, the scrap metal beneath Chen Jianguo's feet suddenly slipped, making a crisp metallic clanging sound.

The flashlight beam shone instantly.

"There it is!"

Li Xiangyang leaped up and overturned the scrap metal bucket beside him, the clanging of metal echoing in the cramped space. Taking advantage of the moment the man in black was distracted by the noise, he grabbed the lumber boss and rushed towards the hole in the back wall.

Ma Laosan swung his wire cutters at the flashlight, scattering glass shards everywhere and plunging the recycling station into darkness.

"Quick! There's a hole over there!" Chen Jianguo shouted, feeling his way along the wall.

The four of them squeezed through a hole in the wall, their hands and feet scrambling, when Zhao Ming's hysterical roar came from behind: "Chase them! Don't let them get away!"

Emerging from the hole, one finds an even narrower back street. Rainwater has pooled in the broken cement, forming small puddles. Li Xiangyang's shoes step into one of these puddles, splashing up a cloud of mud.

"My car is at the street corner ahead!" the timber merchant said breathlessly, pointing into the distance.

But before they could run a few steps, another black sedan turned the corner from the street, its bright headlights illuminating them so clearly that they had nowhere to hide.

"It's over!" Chen Jianguo stopped in his tracks.

Li Xiangyang looked around and suddenly saw a half-open gate on his left. He kicked the wooden gate open, revealing an abandoned courtyard with several rusty gasoline drums piled in the corner.

"Come in!"

The abandoned courtyard reeked of rust and mildew, and several gasoline drums rattled dully in the rain. Li Xiangyang pressed himself against the broken wall, peering through the crack in the door to observe the activity outside.

Zhao Ming's car was parked at the alley entrance, the engine still roaring, the windshield wipers monotonously scraping the windshield. Two men in black split up to search, their flashlight beams flickering in the rain.

"Boss, there's no one here!" one of them shouted.

"Keep searching! They can't have gone far!" Zhao Ming leaned out of the car, raindrops dripping down his face. "If those documents are leaked, we're all finished!"

Li Xiangyang clutched the file bag tightly to his chest, feeling the weight of the evidence beneath the plastic packaging—Tianhua Industrial's offshore accounts, false valuation reports, and fund transfer vouchers—each one enough to bring the other party to their doom.

"Mr. Li, what do we do now?" The timber merchant's voice trembled, and his clothes were soaked through with rain.

Li Xiangyang looked into the depths of the courtyard and, by the dim light of the distant streetlights, saw a hole in the other side of the courtyard wall, which should lead to the next block.

“Go through the back wall, split up.” He lowered his voice. “Third Brother, you and Factory Director Chen go first and take the documents out. Boss Wang will cover our retreat.”

Ma Laosan took the file bag and stuffed it tightly into his arms: "Brothers, be careful."

Just then, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open, and the bright beam of a flashlight shone in.

"Here it is!"

Li Xiangyang shoved over a nearby gasoline can, the sound of the empty can rolling echoing through the courtyard. Taking advantage of the moment when the other side was distracted, Ma Laosan and Chen Jianguo had already crawled through a hole in the back wall.

"Chase!" Zhao Ming rushed into the courtyard, a steel pipe in his hand.

Li Xiangyang grabbed a brick from the ground and smashed it against his flashlight, plunging the courtyard into darkness instantly. The sounds of rain, footsteps, and breathing mingled together; the timber merchant had already crawled through the hole in the wall.

"Li Xiangyang!" Zhao Ming roared in the darkness, "You think you can escape like this?"

Li Xiangyang didn't answer; he felt his way along the wall towards the hole. Just as he was about to crawl out, he heard the whistling sound of a steel pipe cutting through the air behind him.

At the critical moment, Li Xiangyang dodged the attack by sidestepping, turned around sharply, and kicked Zhao Ming's wrist, causing the steel pipe to fall to the ground with a crisp sound.

Taking advantage of the moment when the other person was in pain, he squeezed through the hole in the wall and rolled into the alley next door.

A furious roar came from behind: "Chase them! Find them no matter what, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground!"

The next block was the old town, with its crisscrossing alleyways and rainwater pooling into small streams on the broken cobblestone streets. Li Xiangyang moved quickly along the wall, the sounds of car engines and footsteps echoing behind him.

His clothes were soaked through, rain dripping from his hair and blurring his vision. But his mind was unusually clear—he had to rejoin Ma Laosan and the others as soon as possible, and then find a safe place to organize the evidence.

"Mr. Li, over here!"

The timber merchant poked his head out from a doorway; he had already joined up with Ma Laosan and Chen Jianguo.

Li Xiangyang ran over quickly, and the four of them squeezed into an abandoned barbershop. The mirrors inside were broken, and the barber chairs were overturned on the floor.

"Are the files still there?" That was Li Xiangyang's first question.

Ma Laosan patted his chest: "They're all here. But we need to get out of here quickly, they'll be searching soon."

Chen Jianguo peered through the broken window and said, "There are two patrol cars. It looks like they won't give up easily."

Li Xiangyang pondered for a moment: "Let's split up. I'll contact my friends in the county; you two go back to the factory first. Remember, don't mention this to anyone for now."

"Then what are you going to do?" the timber merchant asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Li Xiangyang pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. "This is the phone number of an investigative reporter from the provincial newspaper. Contact him from a safe place after dawn."

Suddenly, car lights appeared at the end of the street, heading this way.

"Let's go!"

The four of them crawled out of the back door and ran off in different directions.

The next morning, Li Xiangyang woke up in a small hotel on the outskirts of the county town. He had run through the rain for most of the night and finally found this hiding place with the help of a scrap yard owner.

The phone rang; it was Ma Laosan calling.

"Xiangyang, we're safe. The documents have been handed over to the provincial newspaper reporters, and they said they could be published as early as this afternoon."

Li Xiangyang breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. By the way, any news from Zhao Ming's side?"

"I heard they didn't sleep all night, searching everywhere for us. But now the evidence is in the reporters' hands, so even if they find us, it's useless."

At 3 p.m., the provincial newspaper published an investigative report on its front page entitled "Unveiling the 'Hong Kong Capital' Merger and Acquisition Scam: Tianhua Industrial Suspected of Money Laundering".

The report details how Tianhua Industrial transferred funds through multiple offshore companies, used false valuations to lower acquisition prices, and the Zhao family's secret investments in the Cayman Islands.

Most importantly, the report also published photocopies of the original bank statements, clearly showing the true destination of the 3000 million yuan "equipment purchase payment".

The news sent shockwaves through the entire business community of the provincial capital.