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

Cheng Du gripped the blood-stained phone, his fingertips scrambling across the screen.

He looked through the broken glass windows of the hall at the two infantry fighting vehicles belching smoke in the courtyard.

The soldiers stood motionless in the rain, their automatic rifles gleaming coldly in the lamplight.

His brain was in a state of high-frequency operation triggered by extreme fear.

Who should I contact?

The Zhao family was his base in Handong, but Zhao Ruilong was far away in Hong Kong and always acted in a shady way.

The current situation cannot be resolved by stabbing someone in the back; this is an open and blatant war.

He needed to find someone who could weigh the weight of the matter on the grounds of righteousness and legitimacy.

He thought of Li Dakang.

The Party Secretary of Jingzhou City who only cared about GDP and was extremely averse to military interference in politics.

In Jingzhou, Li Dakang would never allow anyone to take over the Public Security Bureau with a gun.

With trembling hands, Cheng opened his contacts and dialed Li Dakang's private number.

Every second of waiting for the call to connect felt so long it made him want to vomit.

"Feed".

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded tired and impatient.

"I'm Li Dakang. Cheng Du? What emergency do you have so late at night?"

Upon hearing this sound, Cheng Du felt as if he were a drowning man grabbing onto the last piece of driftwood.

His previously limp body suddenly erupted with a hysterical force, and he began to wail loudly into the microphone.

"Secretary Dakang! Help! Please save the comrades from the Guangming Branch!"

Li Dakang paused for a moment on the other end, then his tone became stern.

"What are you crying about? Speak clearly! What's wrong with the police station?"

Cheng Du wiped the cold sweat from his face, speaking at an extremely fast pace, his lies pouring out like water from a burst dam.

"Shen Zhong... Shen Zhong from the provincial military region has gone mad! He just led two companies of soldiers and drove an armored vehicle straight into the gate of our branch office!"

Li Dakang raised his voice: "What did you say? Shen Zhong led troops to storm the Public Security Bureau? What does he want to do?"

"He's trying to steal someone away, Secretary Dakang!"

While making his accusations, Cheng Du secretly glanced at Shen Zhong, who was sitting in a leather swivel chair.

Shen Zhongzheng lowered his head, took out a clean white silk handkerchief from his pocket, and slowly wiped the jet-black pistol in his hand.

He seemed completely unconcerned about what Cheng Du was saying on the phone; that utter disregard sent a chill down Cheng Du's spine.

"Secretary, we just caught a suspect who was spreading rumors and maliciously damaging the reputation of the Guangmingfeng project online."

He took a deep breath and continued to fabricate the lie that he had already rehearsed hundreds of times in his mind.

"That person is named Zhang Xiao. We have evidence that he is employed by certain forces to deliberately smear the image of Jingzhou."

"Unexpectedly, Shen Zhong, without saying a word, led his soldiers in to snatch the prisoner away."

"He also said... he also said that Zhang Xiao is his man, and anyone who dares to interrogate Zhang Xiao is going against him!"

A loud bang of Li Dakang slamming his fist on the table came from the other end of the phone.

"This is utter nonsense! That's a local criminal case. What right does Shen Zhong have to interfere?"

Seeing that Li Dakang had taken the bait, Cheng Du's eyes gleamed with a frantic hope, and he continued to embellish the story.

"Secretary, you have no idea how terrible the situation was on the ground."

"Just now, our criminal investigation team leader, Lao Ma, wanted to go up to him and talk to him about the law and procedures."

"And then...and then Shen Zhong actually gave the order for his sniper to shoot Old Ma dead on the spot!"

"Old Ma's body is still lying in the hall; his head is smashed!"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Several seconds later, Li Dakang's voice, trembling with rage, finally came through.

"He really dared to shoot and kill someone? In the lobby of the police station?"

"It's absolutely true, Secretary! The room is covered in blood. All of our dozens of police officers have been disarmed and are kneeling in the corner with their heads in their hands."

Cheng Du cried even harder, his voice echoing in the empty hall.

"He also threatened that the security of Jingzhou would no longer need our police, and that he would implement military control and take over the defense of the entire Jingzhou."

"He doesn't respect the municipal party committee or you at all. He said... he said you have to salute him even if you come, otherwise he'll arrest you too!"

Snapped!

That was the sound of Li Dakang smashing the water glass.

"What a solemn figure! What a distinguished Standing Committee member in military uniform!"

Li Dakang's roar, coming through the microphone, made Du Cheng's ears tingle.

"Is he trying to stage a coup? Does he even respect party discipline and the law?"

"Listen to me, Cheng Du! Stay there at all costs! No matter how he threatens you, you can't let him take that suspect who's spreading rumors away!"

"I'll call Secretary Zhao of the Provincial Party Committee right now, and I'll be there right away!"

"Let's see if Shen Zhong can really cause a ruckus in Jingzhou tonight!"

Cheng Du nodded repeatedly, his voice trembling, "Yes! Yes! I will definitely hold the line! Secretary, please come quickly!"

The phone hangs up.

Cheng Du felt completely exhausted and collapsed onto the ground.

He gasped for breath and turned to look at Shen Zhong, only to find that the other man had stopped cleaning his gun.

Shen Zhongzheng looked up, staring at him calmly, his eyes devoid of any emotion, only a clear understanding that saw through everything.

On the other side of the hall, Zhou Weiguo had already set up a portable projection device.

Several soldiers skillfully hung a temporary curtain on the white wall.

"Have you finished the call?"

Shen Zhong spoke slowly, putting his sidearm back into its holster.

Cheng Du swallowed hard, forced himself to stand up, and tried to regain some of his confidence as the bureau chief.

"Secretary Li Dakang will be here soon. Your actions have violated the law, and it's not too late for you to back down now."

A barely perceptible sneer appeared on Shen Zhong's lips.

He gestured to Zhou Weiguo to pour a glass of warm water and place it on the table in front of Cheng Du.

"Your accusations just now were very persuasive."

Shen Zhong stood up and walked to Cheng Du.

"Rumormonger? Sabotaging the Bright Peak project? Taking over Jingzhou's defenses?"

Every time Shen Zhong uttered a word, Cheng Du's eyelids twitched.

"There's a tactic in military strategy called 'using a borrowed knife to kill someone,' and you executed it quite well."

Shen Zhong looked down at him, and a sense of oppression washed over him like a tidal wave.

"But you forgot, Li Dakang's knife isn't so easy to borrow."

Zhou Weiguo walked over and whispered in Shen Zhong's ear, "Boss, the equipment is ready and we can play it anytime."

Shen Zhong waved his hand, indicating that there was no rush.

He looked at Cheng Du's face, contorted with fear, and said softly, "Li Dakang can't protect you."

"This phone call was your own doing, digging his own grave. Since he wants to see a show, I'll let him see a big one."

Du Cheng's pupils trembled as he suddenly realized that Shen Zhong seemed to have been waiting for him to make this call from beginning to end.

His lies, those of a nobody, are full of holes when faced with Shen Zhong, who possesses both "God's perspective" and "absolute force."

"Li Dakang won't arrive for another half hour."

Shen Zhong pointed to the phone in Cheng Du's hand, his knuckles lightly tapping the table.

Don't waste your time.

"Let's take down the next one."