Official statement: Tongwei is dead! You chose Ruijin, didn't you?

In the interrogation room of the detention center, the cold, hard light of the incandescent bulbs shone on the stainless steel interrogation chair.

Zhao Ruilong has lost a significant amount of weight since a few days ago.

The once powerful and influential Young Master Zhao now slumps in a hard chair, his once arrogant gleam long gone, leaving only the ashen look of someone worn out from staying up all night.

Zhou Zhengming sat upright opposite him and opened the case file.

Lei Ming sat next to him, fiddling with a voice recorder in his hand.

The large screen on the wall flickered and then lit up.

In the video, Gao Yuliang is leaning against a cradle in the special care ward, wearing reading glasses on his nose and holding a thermos in his hand, looking quite like a retired cadre enjoying his retirement.

Zhao Ruilong stared at the screen for two seconds, stunned. "Secretary Gao, you've recovered quite quickly. Coming down from the sixth floor and still able to sit and drink tea, you're truly blessed."

Gao Yuliang slowly unscrewed the lid of the thermos and blew on the steam: "Thanks to you, I didn't die. The King of Hell thought I didn't bring enough supplies and told me to come back and get some more."

Zhao Ruilong's face twitched: "What are you saying? I didn't push you downstairs. You were just being foolish."

"You didn't push me." Gao Yuliang looked at him through the screen, his tone calm, "But the things you and your family did could make many people in Handong not even have a chance to jump off buildings."

Zhou Zhengming didn't give them a chance to continue reminiscing. He pushed a thick stack of photocopies in front of Zhao Ruilong and tapped his knuckles on the table: "Alright, let's get down to business. The hard drive in the secret compartment of Shanshui Manor, Huang Sanbao's public relations ledgers, Chang Hai and Dr. Fan's testimonies, plus the materials Zhao Heng vomited up yesterday, and Wang Zonghui's financial records. The external evidence is all closed. Today's interrogation is to have you confirm a few key facts."

Zhao Ruilong didn't even glance at the materials. He leaned back in his chair, adopting a defiant attitude: "Team Leader Zhou, Director Lei, I've already confessed everything I needed to. The food court in Luzhou, the land in Jingzhou—I've admitted to everything. What else do you want to squeeze out of me?"

Lei Ming sneered and slammed the recorder on the table: "What you're telling me is what you want to tell me, that's just avoiding the important points. What we're asking you today is what you absolutely refuse to say."

Zhao Ruilong raised his eyelids: "I'm already sitting here, and the Zhao family has fallen. What else can I hide?"

"I'm hiding it from you through those shell companies overseas."

Gao Yuliang on the screen suddenly spoke up, his voice not loud, but like a thunderclap from a clear sky, "I secretly sent overseas dividends to those 'young masters and ladies' like Sha Haizhou, Bai Ruoning, and Shen Zhe'an every month."

Zhao Ruilong's expression changed instantly; his originally ashen face drained of color in a flash, and he instinctively sat up straight.

Zhou Zhengming stared into his eyes, pressing him relentlessly: "Sha Haizhou, Sha Ruijin's nephew; Bai Ruoning, Bai Wangshan's granddaughter; Shen Zhe'an, the grandson of retired leader Fang Jingyao. You transferred huge sums of money to them through consulting firms in the Cayman Islands, purchasing agents in Hong Kong, and your family office in Singapore. Zhao Ruilong, explain the nature of this money."

Zhao Ruilong's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, and he forced out four words: "Normal investment."

"What a fine 'normal investment'!" Lei Ming laughed angrily, leaning forward. "You people have a truly remarkable talent for creating terms. Money going into your own pocket is called a normal investment, beating a whistleblower to death is called a public order dispute, using policies to launder money is called financial innovation, and driving a fellow official to suicide is called a normal organizational investigation. What, have you been flipping through the Xinhua Dictionary until it's practically smoking?"

Zhao Ruilong lowered his head and remained silent.

His mind was in complete turmoil.

He accepted his fate when his domestic ventures failed; he also accepted his fate when the Zhao family, his powerful backer, fell.

But that overseas funding route was the last card he held in his hand.

He had originally planned to keep the families of these important figures in Beijing under wraps, using them as leverage in a critical moment to save his own life.

He had planned everything meticulously, but he never expected that Gao Yuliang, that old fox, would actually cause such a mess on his sickbed in order to get a reduced sentence through meritorious service.

That old bastard has a lot of shit in his own ass, but when he bites someone, he's more vicious than anyone else.

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhou Zhengming continued to press him: "Who decided on the list of those receiving overseas dividends?"

Zhao Ruilong continued to grit his teeth and pretend to be dead.

Without wasting any words, Lei Ming pulled a high-resolution color photo from the folder and threw it in front of Zhao Ruilong.

The photo shows a toy cabinet in a children's room.

In the very center is a limited edition Ultraman Tiga figure, but the base of the figure has been forcibly removed, and inside lies a complex brass key.

"HSBC Hong Kong, VIP safe deposit box." Lei Ming looked at Zhao Ruilong's instantly devastated expression, his tone completely calm. "The box has been opened according to law. Scanned copies of the original contract for the Lingang project, detailed statements of overseas account splits, and English notes for each beneficiary are all inside. Zhao Ruilong, if you shut up now, you're pushing away the last chance for leniency."

Zhao Ruilong stared intently at the photo, his eyes twitching violently.

Suddenly, he laughed like a madman, his voice hoarse.

"My son is really unlucky... you guys even found his hidden toys."

Zhou Zhengming looked at him expressionlessly: "Whether your son suffers or not depends on your current attitude. If a minor is not involved in a crime, the organization will not engage in nepotism. But if you think you can continue to use your wife and children as your political safe, then that's a different story."

These words struck Zhao Ruilong squarely where it hurt. He was the kind of person who could disregard other people's lives and wreak havoc in Handong, but his son was his only weakness.

The interrogation room was so quiet that the only sound was the hum of the exhaust fan.

After a long while, Zhao Ruilong seemed to have been drained of his last bit of strength, and he slumped his head in despair: "The list... wasn't decided by me."

"Who is that?"

"The first draft that Wang Zonghui gave us, Zhao Heng took it back and made some adjustments, and finally it was approved by the people around Elder Bai." Zhao Ruilong swallowed and resignedly poured out his words, "However, the name Sha Haizhou was forced in later."

Zhou Zhengming's eyes sharpened: "Who requested this?"

Zhao Ruilong didn't look at Zhou Zhengming, but instead looked up at Gao Yuliang, who was drinking water on the screen, and smiled bitterly: "Secretary Gao, guess who it is?"

Gao Yuliang didn't even flinch, calmly uttering three words: "Sha Ruijin."

"Yes, it's our upright and righteous Secretary Sha."

Zhao Ruilong nodded, resigned to the situation, "Before Sha Ruijin was parachuted into Handong, someone from Bai Lao's side specifically gave me a message, saying that Comrade Ruijin would be under a lot of pressure doing dirty work in Handong, and his family also needed to be 'safe' arranged. Sha Haizhou was in Australia at the time, nominally investing in wineries, but in reality, the money for buying the wineries was all cut out through that money laundering channel."

Lei Ming immediately picked up a pen: "Specific amount."

"The total amount was over 36 million US dollars, plus two ocean-view houses in Sydney and absolute control of a winery."

Zhao Ruilong spilled the beans, saying, "If I remember correctly, Sha Haizhou later used this money to set up a new energy industry fund, which was directly registered under Bai Ruoning's best friend's name, thus laundering the money."

Zhou Zhengming pressed further: "Did Sha Ruijin himself know about this money?"

Zhao Ruilong grinned as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world: "Team Leader Zhou, that's a very foreign question. If Sha Ruijin didn't know about this money, why would he be so obedient, coming all the way to Handong to shield Bai Lao and his gang? It couldn't really be for some lofty ideal of fighting corruption, could it?"

No one in the interrogation room could laugh.

On the other side of the screen, Gao Yuliang understood everything perfectly.

Once this thin veil was lifted, Sha Ruijin's nature completely changed.

He was no longer a "tool" who was blinded by his old leader and passively carried out wrong instructions, but a beneficiary who had truly benefited from the bloody dividends of the Lingang project.

This water is so deep it could drown everyone.

After taking notes, Zhou Zhengming continued to probe deeper: "Besides Baiwangshan, what specific roles did the other two retired leaders, Fang Jingyao and Shen Bainian, play in the Lingang project?"

Zhao Ruilong hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, "Old Fang is in charge of coordinating connections in the financial sector and giving the green light to project approvals; Old Shen is in charge of foreign affairs and overseas funding channels. Of course, people at their level wouldn't personally handle things; it's their secretaries, drivers, and the second and third generations of their families who do the specific work."

"List of descendants." Lei Ming stared at him.