Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

In the suburbs of Jingzhou City, there is an interrogation room converted from an abandoned air-raid shelter.

A damp, cold atmosphere permeated the air, water droplets clung to the walls, and in the dim light, Cai Chenggong huddled in an iron chair.

He had a stubble beard, sunken eyes, pale lips, and a sour odor emanating from his body.

The relentless pursuit of loan sharks and the police manhunt had driven him to desperation.

He hadn't slept for days, and since being captured and brought here, he had been living in constant fear.

Shen Zhong pushed the door open and came in, not wearing his signature pine-green military uniform. He was wearing a black jacket over a simple white T-shirt.

He carried a bottle of water and a piece of bread, but didn't go to the interrogation table opposite Cai Chenggong. Shen Zhong simply walked over to Cai Chenggong, pulled up a chair, sat down, and placed the water and bread in front of Cai Chenggong.

Cai Chenggong suddenly looked up, his eyes wary. He didn't touch the food. Shen Zhong didn't seem to care. He simply looked at Cai Chenggong calmly. The interrogation room was eerily quiet.

"Gao Xiaoqin and Ouyang Jing colluded to deliberately cut off loans and seize your Dafeng Factory." Shen Zhong spoke, his voice not loud, but it was like a thunderclap in Cai Chenggong's ears.

Cai Chenggong shuddered, his eyes widening in shock and confusion. This secret was known only to him. He looked at Shen Zhong, leaning forward slightly.

Shen Zhong continued, his speech slow and deliberate, each word carrying a chilling undertone. "You were deceived by Ding Yizhen. He used the guise of a bridge loan to force you to pledge your shares in Dafeng Factory. The thugs from Shanshui Group are hunting you down to the ends of the earth. Did you think you could escape? Did you think they would let you go?"

Cai Chenggong's breathing became heavy. Every detail Shen Zhong uttered was like a knife, piercing precisely into his heart.

His experience of being deceived, the humiliation of being hunted down, all his most hidden fears were recounted by Shen Zhong word for word. He was completely off guard. The person before him knew everything. He knew all his ordeals, all his despair.

Cai Chenggong's body began to tremble, and tears streamed down his cheeks. He choked back sobs, his voice hoarse.

"They're trying to drive me to my death. Dafeng Factory—that's the result of my and the workers' hard work. They cut off the loan just like that, who can I turn to for justice? That bastard Ding Yizhen, he lied to me! That vixen Gao Xiaoqin, she's a heartless monster!"

He cried uncontrollably, his body completely slumped in the chair. The pent-up grievances and fears of the past few days burst forth like a flood, unstoppable.

Shen Zhong didn't interrupt him, but listened quietly. The interrogation room fell silent once more as Cai Chenggong's sobs subsided.

Shen Zhong picked up the bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Cai Chenggong. "Drink some water. Explain yourself clearly, and you'll have a chance."

Cai Chenggong took the water and gulped it down. He was like a drowning man clutching a straw, his eyes fixed on Shen Zhong.

"Do you want to live? Do you want an explanation for the workers at Dafeng Factory?" Shen asked solemnly.

Cai Chenggong nodded vigorously, tears blurring his vision again. "I want to! I dream about it! I'll do anything to survive, to save Dafeng Factory!"

His deep voice deepened, carrying an undeniable air of authority.

"If you do exactly as I say, I guarantee your safety. I can also help you get back the shares of Dafeng Factory. But, if you don't agree..."

Shen Zhong paused, his eyes turning cold. "I'll send you back to the loan sharks. Guess what they'll do to you? Guess if you'll even walk out of that cage alive?"

Cai Chenggong's face turned pale, and his body trembled violently again. He knew all too well the methods of loan sharks. It was truly a living hell. Shen Zhong's words gave him his only chance of survival.

Without hesitation, he stated directly, "I agree! Secretary Shen, I'll do whatever you say! Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do!"

Shen Zhong nodded in satisfaction. He took a document from his briefcase and handed it to Cai Chenggong. "Take a look at this."

Cai Chenggong took the document with trembling hands. He opened it, glanced at it, and froze as if he had been electrocuted.

The contents of the document terrified him. It was a detailed report, clearly documenting multiple instances of collusion between officials and businessmen, and of bribery. The time, place, amount of bribes, and even the details of the conversations were all meticulously recorded.

Cai Chenggong stared at the shocking words, his mind reeling. Every single piece of evidence in this document was enough to shake up the officialdom of Handong.

But what terrified him most was that the name of all the perpetrators and bribe-givers was clearly written as—Shen Zhong!

He looked up at Shen Zhong, his eyes filled with confusion and fear. He couldn't understand why Shen Zhong would give him a piece of incriminating material that could "put him to death."

What does this mean? What is Shen Zhong trying to do?

Looking at Cai Chenggong's terrified expression, Shen Zhong knew that he had achieved his goal.

"Take this document and go to the capital to report me," Shen Zhong coldly instructed.

Cai Chenggong stared at him blankly, without moving.

"Find Zhong Xiaoai and hand this document to her personally."

"She's the ex-wife of your childhood friend Hou Liangping; she'll definitely believe you."

Shen Zhong gave him a name and an address.

Upon hearing that name, Cai Chenggong's body trembled violently once again.

"Remember, your only task is to make her believe that this material is genuine," Shen Zhong said coldly.

"Remember what you're supposed to say." Shen Zhong pulled out a chair. "If you mispronounce a single word, thousands of people at Dafeng Factory will go down with you."

Cai Chenggong gripped the brown paper envelope tightly, nodding repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice. The envelope was burning hot; it contained damaging information about a major general in the Handong Military Region.

He still couldn't figure out what Secretary Shen was after. Was he plotting against himself? That was a scheme too grand for Cai Chenggong to even contemplate.

"Commander." Zhou Weiguo walked in from outside, his leather shoes making a dull thud on the cement floor. "The route has been cleared, and all the sentries on the perimeter are in position."

Shen Zhong tilted his head slightly.

Zhou Weiguo stepped forward and tossed Cai Chenggong a tattered work jacket and a rag stained with engine oil.

"Change into it. Make your face dirty," Zhou Weiguo ordered.

Without saying a word, Cai Chenggong quickly stripped off his long-stale suit and put on his sweaty work clothes.

He squatted on the ground, grabbed the rag stained with engine oil, and frantically smeared it on his face and neck. Even his hair got a lot of dirt and grime mixed in.

When he stood up again, he was no longer the boss of Dafeng Clothing Group, but a vagrant who had been carrying bricks on a construction site for three days and couldn't even afford to eat.

The dull groan of mechanical bearings turning echoed from deep within the air-raid shelter. A seemingly dead-end concrete wall slowly slid to one side, revealing a narrow, dark passage.

"Take this road, go straight north after you get off, and you'll see a van with out-of-town license plates parked on the side of the national highway. The license plate ends in three eights." Zhou Weiguo pointed to the passageway. "Get in, don't make a sound, the driver will take you to Beijing tonight."

Cai Chenggong stuffed the brown paper envelope into his underwear, securing it tightly twice with tattered strips of cloth. Having done this, he bowed deeply to Shen Zhong, then turned and disappeared into the passageway.

This passage leads directly to the national highway. The surveillance cameras along the way had their signals cut off by the military region's technical team ten minutes earlier, and were replaced with a loop of empty footage.

The police from Handong City Bureau are still frantically searching for Cai Chenggong all over the world. Qi Tongwei and Zhao Ruilong are jumping up and down in a panic, but they can't even catch a glimpse of Cai Chenggong.

Faced with the military's superior intelligence network, the local forces' informants are practically blind.

The night was deep, and a cold wind howled along the national highway.

Cai Chenggong, his neck hunched, saw the van parked by the roadside in the distance. He ran over quickly, opened the back door, and tumbled inside. As soon as the door closed, the engine roared, and the van sped off into the night, heading towards Beijing.

The train carriage was filled with cardboard boxes of apples, and it was shaking violently. Cai Chenggong huddled in a gap between the boxes, his hand pressed against the hard envelope on his chest. He had to survive. Shen Zhong had shown him a path, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and go down it.