Nominal: My senior brothers are all big shots

He Bing quickly jotted down notes in his notebook. After finishing, he looked up at Sun Decai. "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

Sun Decai nodded. "Yes. I keep a record of every single transfer of money. The time, place, amount, and person involved are all recorded. The ledger is in the safe in my office, and the password is my wife's birthday."

He Bing asked, "Is there anyone else? Besides Liu Zhi, who else has taken money from Zhou Tianming?"

Sun Decai paused for a moment, then said, "Yes. Huang Zhiqiang, Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission. He accepted bribes. Han Ligang, Vice Mayor. He also accepted bribes. And Zhao Anguo, Secretary of the Changhui Municipal Party Committee. And..." He read out the names one by one, as if he were reading a death list.

He Bing wrote down every name, every number, and every detail.

That afternoon, the task force opened the safe in Sun Decai's office.

Besides the ledger, there was a thick stack of materials inside—copies of approval documents, meeting minutes, audio and video recordings, and bank transfer vouchers.

He Bing flipped through the ledger page by page, his expression growing increasingly grim. The contents recorded in the ledger were more detailed than what Sun Decai had confessed. Every transaction was documented with the date, amount, source, destination, and person involved. Liu Zhi's name appeared many times, each time followed by an amount. The earliest transaction was from 2016, and the latest was from last year. In total, it exceeded ten million.

Meanwhile, the funds investigation team reported that Liu Zhi had multiple overseas accounts located in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Cayman Islands.

The funds in the accounts amounted to over 50 million yuan. The opening dates of these accounts closely coincided with the time when he accepted bribes from Zhou Tianming.

He Bing closed the ledger and dialed the provincial party committee's number. The call was to Peng Jinyao, the secretary of the provincial discipline inspection commission. He Bing reported the situation revealed by Sun Decai, as well as the contents recorded in the ledger and the discovery of the overseas accounts.

Peng Jinyao was silent for a moment, then said, "You wait here, I will report to the Provincial Party Committee."

An hour later, Peng Jinyao called back. His voice was deep, each word like a nail driven into He Bing's ears: "The Provincial Party Committee has approved the investigation of Liu Zhi. On your end, secretly secure the evidence first, don't alert him. Liu Zhi is a department-level cadre, we need to wait for the Provincial Party Committee's unified plan."

He Bing said, "I understand."

After hanging up the phone, He Bing sat in a chair and remained silent for a long time.

He looked out the window at the gray sky, thinking about the dense numbers on the ledgers, the names Sun Decai had read out, Zhou Tianming standing by the dock in the photograph, and the first few names on the list.

He picked up the phone and dialed Lin Feng's number. "Secretary Lin, the provincial party committee has approved Liu Zhi's case. The problem now is how to solidify the evidence without alerting the suspect."

Lin Feng paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, then said, "Director He, you should investigate the overseas accounts first. I'll stabilize the situation here. As for Liu Zhi, I'll make him believe that the task force's target is only Sun Decai, and has nothing to do with him."

He Bing said, "Okay."

Lin Feng added, "Director He, there's one more thing. Don't tell anyone about what Sun Decai asked you to do for now, including some provincial leaders. The fewer people who know about it, the better, until the evidence is conclusive."

He Bing said, "I understand."

After hanging up the phone, He Bing stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, the military district compound was quiet, with a few staff members walking around in the yard, their steps hurried.

That evening, the task force held its first plenary meeting. He Bing stood at the front of the meeting room, with a copy of the ledger that had been taken from Sun Decai's safe spread out in front of him.

"Comrades, Sun Decai has spoken. He has confessed to many people and many things. You have all seen these materials." His voice was calm, but every word carried weight. "Our next task is to thoroughly investigate every penny, every person, and every event mentioned in these materials. No matter who is involved, no matter what their rank, we must investigate to the very end."

The conference room was eerily quiet. No one spoke, no one whispered. He Bing's gaze swept over every face, then he said, "Interrogation team, continue digging deeper into Sun Decai's life, get everything he knows out of him. External investigation team, follow the clues in the ledgers, go to the banks, the industry and commerce bureau, the tax bureau, and find out the origin and destination of every single penny. Funds investigation team, keep an eye on the accounts of Liu Zhi, Zhou Tianming, Huang Zhiqiang, Han Ligang, Zhao Anguo, and others; if you find anything unusual, report it immediately. Protective umbrella investigation team, dig out those who stood up for them, spoke for them, and did things for them, one by one."

The leaders of the four groups nodded in unison.

He Bing concluded by saying, "Comrades, this tough battle has only just begun. But we have already found a breakthrough. As long as we are united, there is no battle we cannot win."

Liu Zhi sensed something was amiss ten days after Sun Decai was detained. That evening, he sat in his study, an encrypted email on his computer screen.

The email was sent through his connections in the provincial government. It was short, containing only one sentence: "Overseas accounts may be under surveillance." Liu Zhi stared at that line for a long time, his finger hovering over the mouse, motionless. He remembered the early morning when Sun Decai was taken away.

He stood by the window, watching the provincial discipline inspection commission's car disappear into the night, still clinging to a sliver of hope—Sun Decai was timid but principled, and he wouldn't speak up.

Now, that last glimmer of hope has shattered.

He closed his emails, deleted his browsing history, emptied the recycle bin, and shut down his phone. The series of actions were executed flawlessly, as if he were performing something he had rehearsed countless times. Then he picked up his phone and dialed a number. The phone rang three times before being answered. There was no response.

"It's me," Liu Zhi said in a low voice. "The things need to be moved."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a voice said, "It's all arranged. Someone will handle it tomorrow morning."

Liu Zhi said, "Keep your hands and feet clean."

The person on the other end said, "Don't worry."

The call ended. Liu Zhi sat in his chair, closing his eyes. He was thinking about the money in those overseas accounts—fifty million, his savings of twenty years. He had planned to work for two more years, then retire, take the money abroad, find a quiet place, grow flowers, go fishing, and live a few days without having to worry. But now, that money had become a hot potato.

At three o'clock the next morning, a black sedan drove into an upscale residential area on the outskirts of Pingjiang. Inside were two men, both Zhou Tianming's subordinates. Wearing hats and masks, they moved swiftly and silently through the complex's garden in the darkness, entering the building where Liu Zhi lived. They didn't take the elevator, but climbed the stairs to the twelfth floor.