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

Wang Dalu grabbed his travel bag, crouched down, and darted into the bathroom. He stepped on the toilet and used the steel pipe used to hang towels to pry open the ventilation louvers on the ceiling.

The sound of tactical boots pounding echoed down the corridor.

Wang Dalu, like a fat groundhog, squeezed his way into the narrow ventilation duct with all his might. It was filled with dust and so stuffy it was suffocating.

He had just climbed ten meters out of the pipe.

"Bang!" The door to his apartment, number 3814, was also violently broken open.

"Target not found! Traces in the bathroom! Ventilation duct, pursue!" came a low, angry shout from below.

Wang Dalu used both hands and feet to crawl forward desperately. He could hear the rustling sound of agents climbing in the adjacent pipe, like the Grim Reaper grinding his teeth.

Ahead is the hotel's vertical garbage disposal well.

Without hesitation, Wang Dalu kicked open the metal sheet of the ventilation duct and lunged into the dark shaft.

"He's there!"

"Pfft! Pfft!" The sound of a silenced gunshot rang out.

As Wang Dalu plummeted, he felt as if his left shoulder had been struck hard by a red-hot iron rod, and his entire arm instantly went numb. But he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound.

He plummeted rapidly through the garbage chute, crashing onto the second-floor ramp and tumbling into a pile of sour, smelly kitchen waste.

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his shoulder and the filth covering his body, Wang Dalu burst through the back door of the basement and rushed into the rainy streets of Hong Kong.

Gangsters, secret agents, auditing accounts, silencing witnesses.

Wang Dalu's mind raced with calculations. The other party didn't want money; they wanted Ouyang Jing's confession. This was aimed at Li Dakang!

"Dakang, what a huge hornet's nest you've stirred up..."

Wang Dalu, clutching his bleeding shoulder, disappeared into the darkness of Kowloon Walled City.

……

Two days later. Jingzhou City, Handong Province.

Continuous torrential rain washed over this industrial city. In the underground parking garage of the municipal government compound, a dilapidated Jinbei van with a fake license plate screeched to a halt in a corner.

The driver's side door was pushed open. A middle-aged man, reeking of a foul stench and with dark red blood clots clinging to his clothes, collapsed onto the concrete floor.

The municipal party secretary's car just drove into the garage.

Driver Li slammed on the brakes, peeked out, and his expression changed drastically. He immediately picked up the walkie-talkie: "Secretary Li, there's something going on in the garage. It looks like... General Manager Wang from Wangda Road!"

Three minutes later, the elevator doors opened.

Li Dakang, dressed in a black trench coat, moved with the speed of the wind. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his eyes were bloodshot.

When he saw Wang Dalu lying on the ground, his pupils contracted sharply.

"Carry it into the underground safe house. Seal off the garage, and no one is allowed to approach!" Li Dakang's voice was deep and carried an unquestionable authority.

Inside the underground safe house, there were no windows, only dim incandescent light.

Wang Dalu drank half a cup of hot water, his pale lips trembling, and recounted in detail the surprise attack on Wangbei Tower in Hong Kong.

"No badge number, no identification, and they just opened fire." Wang Dalu clutched his shoulder. "Dakang, they're after your Dafeng Factory's accounts. Ouyang is in their hands."

Li Dakang's hand, holding the cigarette, trembled uncontrollably. A long ash fell onto his leather shoes, but he didn't notice.

It's not Sha Ruijin.

Sha Ruijin couldn't mobilize such top-tier foreign black money agents.

It's Beijing! It's the power behind Zhong Xiaoai!

Li Dakang's mind was like a sophisticated computer, frantically calculating every possibility. Ouyang Jing, though greedy, wasn't stupid. She knew that once she implicated Li Dakang, all her assets and escape routes in China would be gone.

Given Ouyang Jing's money-grubbing nature, how could the Zhong family's agents make her break down and confess in a short time?

Physical pain? Not enough.

Li Dakang's eyes widened suddenly, and he didn't even notice the cigarette burning his fingers.

A chilling conjecture pierced his heart.

A bargaining chip! The Zhong family needs a chip that can instantly break down Ouyang Jing's psychological defenses!

This bargaining chip was also Li Dakang's Achilles' heel.

"Jiajia..." Li Dakang murmured to himself, his voice sounding as if it were coming from hell.

His only daughter with Ouyang Jing, Li Jiajia, is currently studying in Los Angeles, USA!

If the Chung family can extend their reach to Hong Kong, they can certainly extend their reach to Los Angeles.

Li Dakang suddenly stood up and overturned his chair. He took out his phone and dialed his daughter's overseas number.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently switched off."

The cold, impersonal system notification sounded like a heavy hammer, shattering Li Dakang's last glimmer of hope.

It's over. It's all over.

The Municipal Public Security Bureau? Zhao Donglai? Useless! Faced with a multinational machine of the Zhong family's caliber, the local police aren't even worthy of carrying their shoes.

Throughout Handong, and even across the entire country, there is only one person who can withstand the pressure from the Zhong family and has the ability to confront and rescue people overseas head-on!

Li Dakang grabbed his trench coat and rushed out of the safe house.

"Where to, Secretary Li?" Driver Xiao Li greeted him.

"Handong Provincial Military Region!" Li Dakang's voice was hoarse like a wild beast's. "Running a red light and driving at top speed!"

The gale-force winds and torrential rain pounded against the gate of the Handong Provincial Military Region.

Before the sentry post, the red and white barrier stood like an iron wall. Two armed sentries stood ramrod straight, coldly watching the black Audi that had sped up to the cordon and braked suddenly.

The car door opened.

Li Dakang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee of Handong and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Jingzhou, rushed into the torrential rain without even using an umbrella.

His well-tailored uniform as the municipal party secretary was instantly soaked through, and his sparse hair clung to his scalp. The domineering and imperious air he usually exuded at the meeting table was completely gone; at this moment, he resembled an old dog driven to the brink of despair.

"Li Dakang, Secretary of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee, requests an audience with Secretary Shen!"

Li Dakang shouted at the sentry, but the rainwater filled his mouth, distorting his voice.

"The commander is resting. No one is allowed to trespass on military grounds without an appointment." The sentry said expressionlessly, his gun barrel slightly lowered.

Li Dakang didn't back down. He knew this was his only hope. He raised his head, staring intently at the red-flashing surveillance camera above the sentry post. He knew Shen Zhong was watching.

Li Dakang bent his knees without hesitation, and with a "plop," this powerful local official of Handong Province knelt upright in the mud at the gate of the military region!

"Secretary Shen!" Li Dakang's shrill voice pierced through the rain. "I know you can hear me! Sha Ruijin has mobilized the Zhong family's overseas resources, and Ouyang Jing has been arrested in Hong Kong. Their next target will definitely be Los Angeles for my daughter!"

"Li Dakang is willing to reveal all his trump cards in Jingzhou! All I want is for my daughter to live!"

The torrential rain lashed his face. Li Dakang's eyes were bloodshot. For power, he could shirk responsibility, divorce, and turn his back on even his closest relatives. But Jiajia was his only blood relative in this world!

The monitoring room was deathly silent.

Zhou Weiguo stood in front of the screen, looking at Li Dakang kneeling in the pouring rain on the screen, his brows furrowed slightly, and turned to look at Shen Zhong sitting behind the one-way glass.