Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Zhou Chenghai used the pretext of his protected person being threatened to mobilize manpower, clearly intending to surround and kill Shen Qinghou.

He turned his head and gave Gu Mingyuan a meaningful look. Gu Mingyuan's face still showed a pained expression, and his eyes did not flinch.

"Take your men outside. The Sharp Blade Brigade will take over here," Han Qiming told Zhao Feng.

Zhao Feng hesitated for a moment, glanced at the fourth floor, then at Yue Sheng behind Han Qiming, and finally nodded. He then led the remaining two team members, supporting their injured comrade, and slowly walked downstairs.

The corridor fell silent instantly, with only the breathing of a few people remaining.

Han Qiming took two steps forward, stood by the stair railing, and looked up towards the fourth floor.

Through the deformed frame of the security door, he saw Shen Qinghou sitting on the edge of a pool of blood, holding a zither, his fingers on the strings, his eyes as cold as ice.

Su Wan squatted behind him, revealing half of her face, which was pale and filled with terror in her eyes.

"Shen Qinghou," Han Qiming began, his voice steady and his pace slow, ensuring each word was clearly heard upstairs.

"I am Han Qiming, Director of the General Administration. Zhou Chenghai's actions tonight were not authorized by me; he acted on his own initiative."

Starting today, Su Wan's protection team will be directly taken over by the Sharp Blade Brigade and will no longer be handled by any personnel from any other place.

All your previous cases can be sealed in top-secret files and will not be pursued further. This is a formal condition for being offered amnesty, not a trap.

Shen Qinghou couldn't hear what he was saying, but his eyes were fixed on Han Qiming's mouth.

After losing his hearing, he forced himself to learn lip reading. As long as the other person spoke slowly enough and their mouth movements were clear enough, he could understand what they meant.

He read Han Qiming's lips word by word: Zhou Chenghai did not authorize, the Sharp Blade Brigade takes over and protects, the case is sealed, no further investigation, and he is recruited.

A cold smile appeared on Shen Qinghou's lips.

Protect?

His men stood guard downstairs at Su Wan's apartment, watching helplessly as Zheng Hongwen, with her address and phone number, came to her door, drugged her, and forced her to the floor.

Is this what they call protection?

Then Zhou Chenghai led his men up and fired several shots at them. Now they're saying it wasn't authorized? Do they think they're stupid?

Shen Qinghou spoke, his voice distorted due to long-term deafness: "Protect? Your men were stationed downstairs at my ex-girlfriend's place, allowing Zheng Hongwen to obtain her address and phone number."

Tonight, that man knocked on her door with a sleeping potion and pinned her to the ground. Is this what you call protection?

Su Wan squatted behind him. When she heard him say Zheng Hongwen's name, her fingers, which were gripping the hem of his coat, tightened suddenly, her nails almost digging into the flesh of her palm.

Standing behind Han Qiming, Gu Mingyuan heard Shen Qinghou say the name "Zheng Hongwen" and a strange smile appeared on his face.

He did indeed know about Zheng Hongwen.

He not only knew that Zheng Hongwen was coming to see Su Wan tonight, but he also knew Zheng Hongwen's identity.

It seems that Shen Qinghou had been eyeing Zheng Hongwen for quite some time, and this time he just happened to catch him making a move against Su Wan, so he killed him decisively.

Fortunately, Zheng Hongwen is dead, and there is no way to verify the truth. Even if Shen Qinghou knows something, there is no evidence to implicate him.

Shen Qinghou pointed downstairs and continued, his voice as cold as ice: "Also, your men rushed up and opened fire on us. You said you didn't authorize them, but who sent them? You can't even control your own men, so how can you guarantee Su Wan's safety?"

Han Qiming remained silent for a few seconds.

It is a fact that Su Wan was almost killed, and it is a fact that Zhou Chenghai fired the gun without authorization; he cannot refute this.

He spoke again, his tone no longer persuasive, but straightforward and pragmatic: "Zhou Chenghai is dead. He acted on his own initiative, and his death is his own doing."

But you must understand that if you kill someone from the General Headquarters and don't accept the offer of amnesty, the nature of this act will be the murder of a public official, and you will be wanted nationwide with nowhere to hide.

After reading his lips, Shen Qinghou's cold smile deepened.

He raised his left hand, pointed to his ear, then to Zheng Hongwen's corpse in the corner, and said in a loud voice with undisguised sarcasm: "He wants to kill us, so we'll kill him back. You think you can make me accept the offer of amnesty so easily? First, hand over the people who killed Chen Zhiyuan and my mother, and then we'll talk about other things."

Han Qiming's brows furrowed even more.

He knew what Shen Qinghou hated; those people were either already dead or held high positions of power, not people he could easily befriend.

The negotiations have reached a stalemate.

Lin Shen hid behind the door of the storage room on the third floor, listening to the conversation between the two. He typed a few words on his phone screen, but ultimately did not send them.

He could see that negotiations for amnesty had stalled, and now all he had to do was wait for Shen Qinghou to give a signal to break through the encirclement.

Han Qiming spoke again, the persuasive element gone, replaced by a cold, businesslike tone: "You've already killed Zheng Hongwen, the man who killed Chen Zhiyuan. You also killed Lao Zhang, who handled your mother's case. The rest aren't in my hands, and I can't give you the explanation you want."

After reading his lips, Shen Qinghou let out a short, cold laugh: "If you can't offer that, don't talk about surrender. If you can't even do that, your promise is worthless."

Gu Mingyuan stood behind Han Qiming and heard that Shen Qinghou did not directly call his name.

But when Shen Qinghou said "the rest of the people," his gaze went past Han Qiming's shoulder and fixed directly on his face.

That gaze was like two red-hot iron nails, piercing him from a distance of three or four meters, causing his pupils to contract slightly.

Shen Qinghou stared at Gu Mingyuan and continued, "Besides, Gu Mingyuan is on your side. His son, Gu Yanzhi, stole my championship, had my tendons severed, and sent someone to kill my mother. He's standing right behind you now. You expect me to sit at the same table as him?"

The sorrow on Gu Mingyuan's face vanished instantly, revealing the hatred that had been suppressed for a long time.

The hatred that had been building up in his heart since the day he received news of his son's death, like a spring that had been compressed for too long, suddenly released, tearing his face into a near-distorted state.

His jaw was clenched so tightly that his jaw muscles bulged out in two hard ridges, and the veins on his forehead throbbed twice.

An official behind Han Qiming couldn't help but speak up, his tone laced with undisguised contempt: "You people with special abilities shouldn't be so arrogant. The country isn't focusing all its attention on you yet. If they really mobilized all their forces to wipe you out, do you think you'd still be standing here talking?"

After reading his lips, Shen Qinghou wasn't angry; he just chuckled.

The laughter was short and dry, like the snapping of a dead branch, particularly jarring in the quiet stairwell.

"Then let's give it a try."

Han Qiming raised his hand to stop the team member.

His palm paused in mid-air for two seconds before slowly lowering itself.

When he spoke again, his voice was even deeper, switching to a final warning mode: "Shen Qinghou, think it through. If you don't accept the offer of amnesty, you will be a continuous threat to the country. I cannot let you leave here with Su Wan."