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

A dozen minutes later, all military vehicles and personnel had been evacuated.

On this riverbank that has been restored to its "original landscape," only a group of distraught workers and a fat man lying unconscious in the mud remain.

On the military off-road vehicle returning to base.

Zhou Weiguo dialed the encrypted number he knew by heart.

The call was connected.

He straightened his body, his voice filled with the exhilaration of completing the mission.

"Boss, Operation 'Clean Stream' has been a complete success; the fish are in the net!"

Early morning, in the presidential suite of the most luxurious hotel in downtown Handong.

The heavy curtains kept out the morning light.

Liu Xinjian opened his eyes amidst a sharp headache. The aftereffects of the hangover made his entire skull buzz. He struggled to sit up, grabbed his phone from the bedside table, and tried to check the time.

The screen lit up, and a dozen missed calls from the same number popped up.

The number belongs to Fatty Wang.

Liu Xinjian frowned, a surge of irritation rising within him. What was that Fatty Wang doing, going crazy so early in the morning?

He rubbed his throbbing temples and impatiently dialed the number back.

The call was answered almost immediately.

The next second, a shrill, inhuman scream, like a pig being slaughtered, burst from the receiver, piercing Liu Xinjian's eardrums.

"Chairman Liu! Chairman Liu! It's all over! Everything's over!"

"Our territory...our territory has been wiped out! The army has taken it all!"

Fatty Wang was rambling incoherently, his voice filled with despair and fear.

The loud wail nearly sobered Liu Xinjian up. He pulled the phone away from his ear and angrily shouted into the microphone:

"What the hell are you spouting?! What unit? Speak clearly!"

"It's true, Mr. Liu!" Fatty Wang on the other end of the phone was crying so hard he was almost breathless. "Before dawn, a lot of military vehicles and soldiers rushed in, all carrying guns! They said... they were on a military mission, clearing some kind of riverbed obstacles..."

"Bulldozers! And excavators! They completely razed our conveyor belts and offices! They even snapped the ship's mooring lines and sent everything floating away! Everything's gone! Chairman Liu, everything's gone!"

Fatty Wang described everything that happened in the early hours of the morning in a rambling, disjointed manner, each sentence like a small hammer striking Liu Xinjian's nerves.

Liu Xinjian's breathing began to become rapid.

His biggest concern wasn't the equipment.

"Where are they? Where are the ledgers?" he asked in a low voice.

"They had guns pointed at them, crouching on the ground, too scared to move..." Fatty Wang's voice trembled even more violently. "The...account books...they rushed into the office, knocked over the cabinets, saying it was...evidence of obstructing military operations, and...temporarily took them into custody!"

The word "safekeeping" struck Liu Xinjian's mind like two bolts of lightning.

His vision suddenly went black, and his hand holding the phone slipped, almost dropping it onto the carpet.

Those account books were his death warrant!

The document clearly records every single black income earned by the sand quarry over the past few years, and even details the final destination of most of the funds!

A surge of heat rushed to my head.

He felt a metallic taste rise in his throat and couldn't help but cough violently. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and opened his palm to see a small patch of glaring red.

He forcefully suppressed his surging blood and dizziness, and with all his might, roared into the phone, "Where the hell are you right now?!"

"I...I'm in the hospital...I..."

Liu Xinjian hung up the phone before he could finish speaking.

Utter trash! Utterly and utterly trash!

He jumped out of bed and paced frantically around the room. He knew this was no accident. Someone was targeting him! A premeditated, precise strike!

He grabbed his phone and immediately began using his network of connections.

His first call was to a deputy director of the municipal public security bureau, someone he had bribed.

"Hey bro, can you check something out for me? Was there any action taken over the White Horse River area early this morning?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by an extremely cautious voice: "Chairman Liu, this matter... don't ask me. I can only tell you that it wasn't our operation. There's a lot of commotion over there, but we haven't received any notification, and we don't dare to go and check."

Liu Xinjian's heart sank.

He made a second call, this time to a friend in the provincial government.

The responses were largely the same, and even more blunt: "Chairman Liu, this is a matter for the military; we local officials have no say in it."

force!

It's the military again!

Cold sweat beaded on Liu Xinjian's forehead. He gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and through his secretary, managed to contact an acquaintance working in the logistics department of the provincial military region. This was the highest-ranking military connection he could access.

After the call was connected, he adopted a humble attitude and asked in a consultative tone.

After hearing his words, the other person let out a long sigh.

"Chairman Liu, this operation was personally ordered by the newly arrived Standing Committee Member Shen."

"Shen...Standing Committee Member Shen?" Liu Xinjian's voice changed.

"Yes, it's Shen Zhong, the military-uniformed Standing Committee member who hasn't officially reported for duty yet."

The other person's voice was kept extremely low.

"His order was delivered directly to headquarters, ostensibly to ensure the safety of military transport and to clear obstructions from illegal work sites. The paperwork was complete, the reason was legitimate, and there were also orders from the highest level above. Our commander and political commissar could only cooperate according to regulations."

The phone hangs up.

The room was deathly silent.

Liu Xinjian stood there, holding his phone, lost in thought.

Heavy!

It's that same heavy weight again!

All the clues connected at that moment. He Xia…District Chief…Clearing obstacles…Account book…

This was no accident; it was revenge! A naked, undisguised act of revenge! That man surnamed Shen was avenging his wife!

A surge of overwhelming rage rose within him, burning so intensely it hurt his very insides. He abruptly raised his hand and smashed the antique vase beside him onto the ground.

at the same time.

The news that "the newly appointed military member of the Standing Committee has not yet arrived, but the troops have already been mobilized to clear the area" spread like wildfire through the power circles of Handong Province at an astonishing speed.

In the provincial party committee compound, Building No. 1, Zhao Lichun listened to his secretary Qian Guodong's report, his hand holding the calligraphy brush remaining motionless for a long time.

The Political and Legal Affairs Commission building. Gao Yuliang put down the phone, walked to the window, looked at the bustling traffic below, and fell into a long silence.

At the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee meeting, Li Dakang overheard his secretary's whispers during a break in the meeting, and his usually serious face showed barely suppressed astonishment.

The entire officialdom of Handong was once again violently shaken.

Just as this unseen undercurrent was surging, a civilian airliner from Beijing flew through the clouds and landed smoothly on the runway of Handong International Airport.

The hatch opened.

Shen Zhong took He Xia's hand and they walked down the gangway side by side.

The wind from Handong blows in my face.