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

Anti-Corruption Bureau of Handong Provincial Procuratorate.

Director Lu, who used to walk with a confident stride and was respected by everyone, has now become the bureau's "high-radiation source."

Ever since the news spread that Hou Liangping had been taken away by the supervisory team for "tea" and never returned, the air in the anti-corruption bureau office seemed to freeze.

In the past, whenever Lu Yike walked in, colleagues from all departments would eagerly gather around with teacups, calling her "Sister Lu" loudly and enthusiastically, as if they were vying for year-end bonuses.

But today?

As soon as Lu Yike stepped into the open-plan office, the once bustling office fell silent instantly.

Some were looking down at case files, some were pretending to make phone calls, and some were even frantically clicking the mouse while playing Minesweeper on their computer screens...

Everyone was using body language to convey the same central message: "Leave me alone, I'm not familiar with Hou Liangping's faction."

Lu Yike saw all of this, and on the surface she maintained a calm and composed demeanor, but in her heart she felt like she had swallowed a handful of bitter herbs.

She never believed that she had committed any heinous crime.

When she was digging deep into the Shanshui Group and relentlessly pursuing Qi Tongwei, Lu Yike was truly risking her life.

At that time, Hou Liangping held the "imperial sword," and everyone assumed that in order to crack major cases, the procedures could be "appropriately flexible" and "handled in a special way."

But now the situation in Handong has changed.

The phrase "procedural compliance" has gone from being a fig leaf to a Damocles' sword hanging over their heads.

The "prioritizing the overall situation" and "daring to fight" principles, which were once tacitly approved and even praised by the entire system, have suddenly become "violations and flaws" that the supervisory team must investigate one by one under the microscope.

Just then, the glass door to the office was pushed open.

Two staff members from the Supreme People's Procuratorate's dispatched supervision team, dressed in dark jackets and expressionless, walked in and went straight to Lu Yike's desk, placing a thin written notice on it.

"Comrade Lu Yike, please go to the Provincial Party Committee Guesthouse at 9:00 AM tomorrow to cooperate with the special investigation and interview."

Lu Yike gently pressed her fingertips against the paper stamped with the red seal, raised her eyelids, maintained the professional demeanor of a prosecutor, and calmly asked:

"Excuse me, what role will I play tomorrow? Will I be a witness providing information, or someone being investigated?"

The staff member's wording was as precise as an emotionless legal machine, with impeccable discretion: "At this stage, we only ask that you, as a relevant case handler, cooperate in verifying the clues."

These few words made Lu Yike's heart sink.

In official circles, you have to listen to things in reverse.

The phrase "at this stage" means that you could be moved from the witness stand to the interrogation chair at any time.

After the staff completed the handover, they turned and left decisively.

In the huge office, the surrounding colleagues lowered their heads even further, as if even breathing carried a sense of cautious cutting.

Lu Yike was feeling agitated when her phone on the table suddenly rang.

Caller ID: Empress Dowager (Wu Xinyi).

She took a deep breath, pressed the answer button, and before she could even speak, Wu Xinyi's rapid-fire voice, filled with anger and grievance, came through the receiver.

"Fine! Your aunt and that old fox Gao Yuliang are completely insane! They're lying in the hospital wrapped up like mummies, and they still dare to call and lecture me! Tell me to shut up? Tell me to mind my own business? Bah!"

Lu Yike's brow twitched suddenly, keenly sensing a danger signal: "Mom, Auntie called you? What did she say?"

"What else can I say? They're just trying to pressure me with the rules of the supervisory team!"

Wu Xinyi snorted coldly, her tone full of the arrogance of an older generation of political and legal cadres, "Don't panic, Hou Liangping fell because he had a dirty job. I've already contacted several retired colleagues and leaders from the provincial high court, as well as your father's former subordinates."

I've already spoken to them and told them to check things out. They all said you were just following orders and there's nothing wrong with it!

"What?!"

Lu Yike suddenly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a screeching sound, drawing the attention of her colleagues.

Ignoring all that, she covered her phone and quickly walked to a corner of the corridor without any blind spots in the surveillance cameras, only to feel a sudden rush of cold sweat on her back.

"Mom! Who gave you permission to go and find out what's going on with those old comrades?!" Lu Yike's voice trembled involuntarily.

Wu Xinyi was taken aback by her daughter's sudden questioning, and then her temper flared up:

"I'm your own mother! Seeing that you're about to be targeted, what's wrong with me using the connections I've built up over the decades to find out the truth? I've worked at the Provincial High Court for most of my life; who doesn't give me some face?"

"Show me some face? Do you think this is still the time when Secretary Sha held absolute power in Handong?!"

Lu Yike stamped her feet in frustration, a deep despair welling up inside her.

"Mom, do you know what the supervisory team is currently investigating? They're investigating the 'old circles' and 'networks of personal connections' within the political and legal system! Secretary Gao had Auntie call you; that's them leaving themselves a 'political severance package'!"

Every phone call you make now trying to use connections will be recorded. This won't save me; it will only label me as "forming cliques for personal gain and resisting investigation!"

On the other end of the phone, Wu Xinyi was silent for two seconds, clearly taken aback by this serious accusation, but she still refused to back down verbally:

"In officialdom, things aren't always black and white. I'm not trying to cause trouble, but I'm afraid you'll suffer because of your stubbornness!"

In our subsequent conversation, you shifted all the blame to Hou Liangping, claiming that he was the one who approved the transfer of the case files and that you knew nothing about it. Also, you can't say a word about those peripheral clues you secretly gathered!

Lu Yike instantly became alert, her hair standing on end: "How did you know I had secretly prepared the case files?"

On the other end of the phone, Wu Xinyi's voice visibly faltered, and after a long pause, she mumbled, "Well... last time I went home, I was tidying up your study when I glimpsed a few draft files."

"Did you touch the materials inside?!" Lu Yike's voice was almost a growl.

"I...I just tidied it up a bit, I didn't take it out..."

Lu Yike didn't believe it at all. She knew her mother's "self-righteous and overstepping her bounds" personality all too well.

She grabbed her briefcase, didn't even ask for leave, rushed out of the prosecutor's office building, stepped on the gas and drove like a shot, heading straight home.

In the blue file folder kept in the study at home, there were handwritten drafts of financial transactions between the Chen family, the Zhao family, and the Shanshui Group, which she and Hou Liangping had privately compiled!

Those are classified leads that must never be exposed to the public; if they were to leak out, the consequences would be unimaginable!

He sped home, and when he opened the door, Wu Xinyi was sitting on the living room sofa, looking somewhat flustered.

Lu Yike didn't even change her shoes before rushing into the study and pulling open the storage cabinet.

The blue document bag remained safely in its original place.

She had just breathed a sigh of relief when, after untying the knot and quickly checking the papers inside the bag, her face turned deathly pale, even her lips lost all color.

The only missing piece was those two handwritten drafts that recorded the core financial connections!

Lu Yike rushed back to the living room with the file folder, staring intently at her mother, her eyes bloodshot: "Mom, where are those two handwritten drafts in the folder? Who did you show them to?!"

Wu Xinyi's psychological defenses completely collapsed. Her eyes darted away, and she confessed in a low voice:

"I...I showed it to Judge Zhang, a retired judge from the Provincial High Court. He has extensive experience in handling economic corruption cases. I just wanted him to take a look and assess whether these unfiled materials might get you into trouble..."

boom--!

Lu Yike felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and a strong sense of dizziness struck her, almost causing her to lose her balance.

Internal case files not included in the official files are highly confidential. Giving them to retired officials outside the office without authorization is no longer a "procedural flaw."

According to the disciplinary committee, this is classified as "illegally leaking state secrets"!

"You were clearly looking out for me, but this step you've taken is practically pushing me into an abyss!"

Lu Yike's voice trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Wu Xinyi panicked completely. Her face drained of color, and the tough demeanor she had displayed as a veteran political and legal cadre vanished entirely.

"I...I really didn't know the consequences would be this serious. Then...then you should call Old Zhang right away and tell him to return the draft, and pretend nothing happened!"

"Call up?"

Lu Yike gave a bitter laugh and slumped weakly onto the sofa.

"The supervisory team is now monitoring all unusual communications within the political and legal system around the clock. Secretary Gao just warned you, and you immediately went to submit your drafts. If I were to contact Judge Zhang now, the supervisory team would immediately accuse us of 'coordinating our statements and destroying evidence,' which would be like walking into a trap!"

However, if she doesn't retrieve the manuscript and allows it to circulate, and if Judge Zhang is pressured by the supervisory team to confess, she will become the source of the leak, and what awaits her will be an even more direct imprisonment than Hou Liangping.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, a dead end has been reached.

Lu Yike sat there alone, experiencing for the first time so vividly and cruelly the "trap at every step" in officialdom.

She believed she had always upheld her principles and never sought any personal gain, but her political life was instantly stripped away simply because her mother "overstepped her bounds" out of love.

Just as the mother and daughter were speechless and felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Suddenly, three very clear and rhythmic knocks came from outside the door.

Immediately afterwards, a calm and restrained male voice, devoid of any emotion, clearly entered the house through the security door:

"Comrade Lu Yike, we are staff members from the Central Joint Supervision Office. Please open the door. We need to verify with you in person the issue of your mother privately passing on classified information."

Lu Yike's palms instantly became covered in cold sweat.

The meeting, originally scheduled for tomorrow morning, was moved up.

Gao Yuliang's phone call, which he used to "protect himself and distance himself," along with his mother's leaked handwritten manuscript, not only became the best breakthrough point for the supervisory team to close in, but also completely blocked Lu Yike's last way out.