Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

"Yu Xiaomei is from the prosperous era of the imperial dynasty."

Cui Changhe wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, his voice even lower, "She's Cai Yongchang's woman, responsible for accompanying important guests at the KTV. She can get information out of them—about projects, approvals, who has conflicts with whom, you name it. Then Cai Yongchang passes this information to Xu Yaozong."

I was the one who arranged her phone call with Zhao Baoshan—Xu Yaozong asked me to ask Zhao Baoshan if there was anything that needed to be dealt with at the construction site, so I gave Zhao Baoshan Yu Xiaomei's number.

Later, Zhao Baoshan told me that Yu Xiaomei was also scared. She said she heard Cai Yongchang and Xu Yaozong arguing in the private room, seemingly about the profit-sharing ratio. Cai Yongchang said that Xu Yaozong was too ruthless and would get into trouble sooner or later.

Yu Xiaomei told Zhao Baoshan what she had said, and Zhao Baoshan asked me to warn Yu Xiaomei to be careful. I did, but she said she had signed a contract and couldn't leave. Then she died on New Year's Eve.

He lowered his head, covered his face with his hands, and his voice, muffled, squeezed out from between his fingers, said, "Zhao Baoshan is dead too. I'm next."

The interrogation lasted for more than four hours.

Cui Changhe revealed everything he knew, including the equity structure of Xincheng Trading under Xu Yaozong's name, the list of shell companies used for money laundering, the bribery records of project managers at various construction sites in the building materials industry, the information collection network within Huangchao Shengshi, and the personnel composition and modus operandi of the thug team led by Luo Bing.

As he spoke, his tone shifted from fear to a kind of numb calm—after confessing everything, he leaned back in the interrogation chair and closed his eyes, as if he had finally unloaded a burden that was about to crush him.

According to Cui Changhe's confession, the task force launched four simultaneous operations in the early morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year.

The first team, led by Lu Zheng, conducted a surprise search of the Royal Dynasty KTV. They took away shareholder Cai Yongchang and more than ten related personnel on the spot and seized a batch of electronic devices that recorded customer information and conversations, including a tablet computer that Yu Xiaomei had used before her death. The tablet contained consumption records, conversation summaries, and relationship diagrams of all Royal Dynasty KTV's VIP customers over the past three months.

The second team, led by Zhao Rui, searched the offices and warehouses of Xincheng Trading and seized a large number of forged supply contracts and false transaction records. In Luo Bing's office, they found a pipe wrench that matched the traces left at the scene of Zhao Baoshan's murder in the east of the city, as well as a roll of dark-colored blended square towel that had not yet been used.

The third approach, with the cooperation of the provincial economic crime investigation department, froze three accounts controlled by Fang Min in the provincial capital, involving more than 20 million yuan.

The fourth approach involved coordinating with the provincial police to secretly monitor Nie Shichang's residence and office, awaiting the opportune moment to make arrests.

At 6:10 a.m., Lu Zheng and his men apprehended Luo Bing, who was preparing to drive out of the city, in the underground parking lot of an upscale residential community in the east of the city.

When Luo Bing saw the police, he showed no surprise. He simply placed his car keys on the hood, then slowly squatted down and put his hands behind his head.

His movements were very practiced, as if he had done it countless times.

When the police officers pulled him up from the ground and pressed him against the car door, he suddenly smiled, glanced back at the direction of the underground parking garage exit, and said something that silenced everyone present for several seconds:

"I knew you would come. My eyelids were twitching all day yesterday."

Almost at the same time, news also came from the provincial capital.

In accordance with the instructions of the special task force, the Provincial Criminal Investigation Corps found Nie Shichang in the office of "Zhongyuantou" Company in the High-tech Zone of the provincial capital.

But he wasn't arrested on the spot—he was sitting in his office in a leather swivel chair, his tea had gone cold, and a half-open copy of the Zizhi Tongjian lay on the table.

Seeing the police enter, he took off his reading glasses and placed them on the pages of his book, stood up and straightened the collar of his Zhongshan suit, then proactively extended his hands.

His wrists were thin, with loose, pale skin covered in age spots.

These hands provided Shen Wangshan with his first start-up capital thirty years ago, and thirty years later, they guided his nephew to rebuild a miniature version of the Black Gold Empire in Yi'an.

Now, they are piled together, waiting for the cold handcuffs.

"Where is my nephew?"

As Nie Shichang was being escorted out of his office, he asked a question in a calm tone, as if he were asking about the weather today.

The police officers escorting him did not answer.

He didn't ask any more questions, but simply nodded slightly, as if confirming an ending he had long anticipated.

At 8:30 a.m., the task force arrested the last target, Xu Yaozong.

The arrest took place not in Yi'an, but in the VIP waiting room of the provincial capital's airport.

Xu Yaozong had a first-class ticket to Kunming, and his passport, visa, and an overseas bank card were neatly arranged in his handbag.

He was stopped by airport police 20 minutes before boarding.

As he was being escorted out of the waiting room, he glanced back at the boarding gate. The electronic screen was still displaying flight information—boarding for the flight to Kunming had begun.

He was only twenty meters away from that plane ticket.

On the afternoon of the third day of the Lunar New Year, the task force conducted simultaneous interrogations of the five main suspects who had been apprehended—Xu Yaozong, Luo Bing, Cai Yongchang, Cui Changhe, and Nie Shichang.

The interrogation was conducted by Jiang Ruolan and Zhou Pei respectively, with Lu Zheng and Zhao Rui assisting. Two pre-trial experts from the provincial department were also dispatched to assist.

Five interrogation rooms were lined up on the third floor of the municipal bureau, and the corridor was filled with police officers passing materials and interrogation records back and forth.

Xu Yaozong sat in the interrogation room for a long time, refusing to say a single word.

His state was different from Cui Changhe's collapse, Luo Bing's composure, and Nie Shichang's calmness—he was angry.

The kind of anger that comes from having a carefully crafted plan shattered and having nowhere to vent it.

At thirty-eight, he was at the most ambitious age of his life. He inherited all the resources and experience of his uncle Nie Shichang and spent half a year building a criminal organization that was more efficient and covert than Shen Wangshan's back then.

He originally thought he was smarter than Shen Wangshan—that he could achieve his goal without resorting to the old-fashioned violence, but by using "legal" means such as equity control, contract traps, and commercial coercion.

But in the end, he and Shen Wangshan fell into the same trap—violence.

Once murderous intent is set in, once blood is spilled, even the most sophisticated business structure cannot withstand the penetrating power of criminal investigation.

What broke his silence was a bank statement.

The task force found a crucial record in Fang Min's account—three months ago, Xincheng Trading transferred a large sum of money to an overseas account with the note "consulting service fee".

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