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

Zhong Xiaoai opened the email.

A line of address information in bold: Dijingyuan, Building 6, Area A.

Below is a surveillance video of about ten seconds.

The video footage was somewhat blurry, but the background of the old, dilapidated house and that old bicycle looked extremely familiar. Zhao Dehan rode the beat-up bike and stealthily turned into a large iron gate that bore a sign for a high-end villa area.

Zhong Xiaoai immediately handed her phone to the staff member next to her.

"Trace this sender's IP address immediately!"

The man took it, connected it to his portable device, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. After a while, he stopped and shook his head repeatedly.

"Director, after the other party finished sending the message, the path was physically cut off. The anti-tracking program had just started when the endpoint on the other end completely self-destructed. We can't find any trace of it."

Zhong Xiaoai's mind raced. Besides the Handong Military Region and warlord Shen Zhong, who else had such extraordinary connections?

Unaware of the situation, Zhao Dehan was sitting there brushing the dust off his trousers.

"You comrades are too hasty in handling cases. I, Zhao Dehan, am upright and have nothing to fear. I welcome any investigation from the organization. As for this office..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhong Xiaoai grabbed the collar of the yellowed white vest.

She shoved her phone screen right up to Zhao Dehan's nose.

"Director Zhao, you're riding this bicycle quite steadily. Isn't the scenery at Dijingyuan nice?"

Zhao Dehan saw the video footage on the screen clearly.

He froze completely. The composed demeanor he had displayed while complaining vanished without a trace. His old face visibly lost its color, turning deathly pale, and the fat on his cheeks trembled.

"Where...where is this? What Imperial Capital Garden?! I don't recognize it!"

Zhao Dehan waved his hands wildly in the air, his legs went weak, and he slid down the edge of the sofa onto the carpet.

Two special police officers immediately stepped forward and held his left and right arms firmly.

"This house isn't mine! How could it possibly be mine!"

Zhao Dehan shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking, "The houses there are so expensive! To be honest, I wouldn't even dare to dream of living in a place like that!"

Zhong Xiaoai sneered. This old bastard won't shed a tear until he sees the coffin.

Zhao Dehan was still desperately making up excuses.

"That's my friend's house! Yes! It belongs to one of my friends. I'm just staying here temporarily! I occasionally go over to check on things and stay for a bit!"

Zhong Xiaoai snatched the phone back. "Destination: Imperial Palace, let's go!"

In the darkness of the early morning, several SUVs with special license plates sped along the elevated ring road with sirens blaring.

Half an hour later.

The convoy came to a smooth stop in front of Building 6, Area A, Dijingyuan.

This is a luxurious detached villa with a large independent courtyard. The two double doors, made of pure copper, are tightly closed.

"Break down the door!" Zhong Xiaoai gave the order.

Two burly special police officers lifted heavy metal battering rams, took a few steps back, and smashed them hard against the lock cylinder of the door.

Five or six heavy blows in succession. The metal twisted and broke.

The solid copper gate was forcibly pushed open.

The switch was turned on. All the crystal chandeliers in the hall lit up.

A huge European-style living room was revealed. A white dust cloth covered the luxurious leather sofa, and a thin layer of dust settled on the marble coffee table.

No one lives here regularly. There are no traces of pots, pans, or other household items in the house.

Zhao Dehan was dragged and pulled into the hall by two special police officers.

He was covered in sweat, his legs were completely weak, and after being released by the special police, he collapsed onto the cold marble floor.

"Search each room separately," Zhong Xiaoai waved her hand.

The dozen or so officers from the task force immediately dispersed.

The team leader walked towards the kitchen area and opened the giant double-door refrigerator that was taller than a person.

"Director! Come to the kitchen!" the section chief shouted, his tone extremely excited.

Zhong Xiaoai walked over quickly.

There wasn't a single vegetable leaf or piece of meat in the refrigerator. In the crisper drawer and the freezer, in every glass compartment, there were neatly stacked bundles of bright red hundred-yuan bills.

They hadn't removed the bank's plastic seals; the bags were stuffed full, leaving no space even for a coin.

Several police officers dragged Zhao Dehan, who was lying on the ground, to the kitchen door.

Upon seeing the refrigerator full of banknotes, Zhao Dehan let out a bloodcurdling scream. He lunged forward and clung tightly to the leg of a special police officer.

"Who did this?!" Zhao Dehan cried out at the top of his lungs, "Who did this?! Who put so much money in our refrigerator?! This is a deliberate scam! I had no idea what it was!"

The old fox's sophistry was weak and unconvincing.

Zhong Xiaoai watched him throw a tantrum on the ground, ignoring him completely, and turned to walk towards the solid wood spiral staircase leading to the second floor.

The master bedroom on the second floor is extremely large.

In the center was an extremely large double bed.

Three special police officers stood beside the bed.

"Lift up the mattress!"

The special police officers grabbed the edge of the heavy Simmons mattress, and several of them pulled at the same time, flipping the heavy mattress over onto the open ground.

There are no wooden planks under the bed frame.

It was all bundles and bundles of cash. The red banknotes were neatly laid out all over the large bed frame, incredibly thick, forming a solid bed of banknotes.

The red paper money was extremely conspicuous under the overhead light.

Zhao Dehan was forcibly carried upstairs to the second floor by two special police officers. As soon as he was pushed into the bedroom, he clearly saw the large bed with cash on it, which had no mattress.

At this moment, the old man's mental defenses, which he had been holding together for so long, completely collapsed.

All the sophistry he had just been using to protest his innocence was swallowed back. He knelt down on the thick carpet with a thud, covered his face with his hands, and burst into tears.

"I didn't spend a single penny! It's all here!"

He cried and pounded the carpet with his fists, not even bothering to wipe the snot running into his mouth.

"My family has been farmers for generations! We've been terrified of poverty since we were little! I wouldn't dare touch a single penny of this money! Director Zhong, I was wrong! I was really wrong!"

Zhong Xiaoai stood aside watching his miserable state.

This old guy amassed so much money by abusing his approval power. But that money alone isn't enough. It can only condemn Zhao Dehan to death; it can't bring the blame to Shen Zhong.

There must be corresponding bribery ledgers. We must find irrefutable evidence that Shen Zhong used military funds to transfer money to Zhao Dehan.

Two special police officers walked to the wall directly opposite the bedroom.

The wall was completely covered by heavy, burgundy velvet curtains.

The special police officer grabbed the edge of the curtain and pulled it forcefully to the side.

The slide rail made a dry, frictional sound.

Behind the curtains wasn't a floor-to-ceiling window at all, but a giant storage shelf built against the wall. The shelf was covered with a semi-transparent dustproof net.

The special police officers grabbed the netting and ripped it off completely.

All the police officers present gasped in shock.

An entire wall covered in hundred-yuan bills. From the baseboard to the ceiling. Every shelf was filled with bundles of banknotes tied into brick shapes. There wasn't a single gap.

Due to long-term accumulation and excessive height, the removal of the dust netting left the top few layers of cash without external restraint.

The dozen or so bundles of cash shook twice and then fell straight down.

The falling banknotes struck the bundles of money below, triggering a chain reaction of massive collapses.

Bundles of red banknotes poured down, cascading onto the solid wood floor. Hundreds and thousands of bundles of money rolled down, piling up into a small red mountain on the floor.

The air quickly filled with the distinctive smell of old banknotes—the smell of ink and a faint musty odor.

Two hundred and thirty million in cash. Such a terrifying scene would drive anyone mad.

But when Zhong Xiaoai looked at the banknotes scattered all over the ground, she was filled with extreme excitement.

Ledgers! The massive sums of embezzled money must be hidden in these piles of cash!