HCB Chapter 39 The Eye of the Storm, The "Blue Sky" That Has Been Left Behind
Chapter 39 The Eye of the Storm, The "Blue Sky" That Has Been Left Behind
The night was as dark as ink, turning the Jingzhou Public Security Bureau building into a silent behemoth.
The deputy director's office on the top floor was brightly lit, yet eerily silent.
Chen Hai finally arrived.
He carried the heavy metal box, each step feeling like it was pounding on his own heart. He walked into the office, not even having the courage to look at the familiar yet unfamiliar figure behind the desk, but instead slamming the box down heavily on the table with a loud crash.
The sound of metal striking wood was sharp and piercing, filled with suppressed anger.
"Everything is here." Chen Hai's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, and every word was deliberately distant.
He finally raised his head, and those eyes that were once full of sunshine, trust and brotherhood were now filled with only bloodshot veins and abyssal disappointment.
"Qi Tongwei, I need an explanation."
"Why did you do this? Hmm?" He leaned forward, his hands gripping the table like a cornered beast. "Are you afraid of Zhao Ruilong? Or are you afraid of his father, Zhao Lichun?"
"Have you forgotten the oath you swore in Millstone Town, before the gravestones of your fallen brothers? Have you forgotten that you said you would make all evil have nowhere to hide?"
"How are you any different from those people you despise and hate the most right now!"
He was practically roaring, each word like a poisoned knife stabbing viciously into Qi Tongwei's heart.
The atmosphere in the office was extremely oppressive.
Qi Tongwei did not answer immediately. He just looked at him quietly, at this brother who was the only one he could entrust his back to without reservation in both his two lives.
He saw the pain, the struggle, and the pure sense of justice in his eyes, a sense of justice so uncompromising that it could not tolerate even a grain of sand.
It was precisely this purity that allowed him to be easily crushed by those dirty tricks in his previous life.
In Qi Tongwei's mind, the out-of-control truck from his past life and Chen Hai lying in a pool of blood, his eyes gradually losing their luster, flashed uncontrollably.
My heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, sending a sharp, stabbing pain through me.
We must keep him away.
at all costs.
"Chen Hai," Qi Tongwei finally spoke slowly, his voice carrying a deliberately crafted, chilling weariness, "There are some things you don't need to understand right now."
He paused for a moment, met Chen Hai's incredulous gaze, and said, word by word, "You just need to trust me."
"Believe me?" Chen Hai let out a short, piercing laugh, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "How the hell am I supposed to believe you?"
"You made me watch criminals go unpunished! You made me personally deliver the irrefutable evidence that could have sealed them away to you for safekeeping!"
"What do you expect me to believe? That you've already joined them in their corrupt ways?!"
Qi Tongwei offered no further explanation.
He knew that at this moment, any words would be pale and powerless. What he wanted was Chen Hai's utter despair.
He slowly stood up, walked to the desk, and opened the metal box in front of Chen Hai.
Cai Chenggong's account book, the recording pen that concealed the illicit transactions, and all the physical evidence seized from the Shanshui Manor lay quietly inside, exuding a chilling aura.
He reached out and took out the ledger that recorded the blood and tears of countless people.
Then, he did something that made Chen Hai's blood rush to his head.
He pulled a metal lighter out of his pocket.
"Clatter".
After the crisp sound, a cluster of orange flames rose and danced in the deathly silent office.
"What are you doing!" Chen Hai roared in utter terror, like a fierce tiger protecting its cubs, and pounced forward recklessly, trying to snatch the ledger.
However, Qi Tongwei easily thwarted Chen Hai's attack with a simple twist of his wrist. His other hand, like an iron clamp, gripped Chen Hai's shoulder tightly, preventing him from advancing an inch further.
"Qi Tongwei! You fucking insane! If you dare burn it, I'll fight you to the death today!" Chen Hai's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, his eyeballs filled with ferocious blood vessels, staring intently at the approaching flame.
Qi Tongwei remained expressionless.
He simply held up the ledger and, little by little, brought it closer to the flickering flame.
The edges of the paper began to curl and turn yellow under the high temperature, and then a wisp of smoke, symbolizing the annihilation of evidence, rose up.
Chen Hai's heart, along with that wisp of smoke, sank completely into a cold and piercing abyss.
It’s over.
It's all over.
The hero in his eyes, the lone wolf who refused to kneel before the powerful and feared neither death nor honor, at this moment, completely overlapped with the shadow of the devil in his heart.
However, just as the flames were about to lick the main body of the ledger and burn all the evil to ashes, the flames suddenly burst forth.
Qi Tongwei's hand stopped.
He released the lighter.
The flames went out instantly.
He casually tossed the ledger, whose edges were only slightly charred, back into the box, and then released his grip on Chen Hai.
"Get out."
His voice was so cold it carried no human emotion, like two pieces of ice colliding.
"From this moment forward, without my orders, you are not permitted to interfere in any aspect of this case."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind locking you up first on charges of obstructing official business."
Chen Hai felt as if all his strength had been drained away. He slumped against the wall and collapsed to the ground, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. He looked up at Qi Tongwei's cold and completely unfamiliar face, his heart churning with turmoil, but ultimately only a deathly desolation remained.
He doesn't understand.
He really couldn't understand him anymore.
Finally, he struggled to his feet, without saying another word, and walked out of the suffocating office like a soulless zombie.
The door was slammed shut.
Only Qi Tongwei remained in the office.
He looked at the metal box that had been locked again, and the ice in his eyes, which had never melted for millennia, finally cracked open, revealing a deep-seated pain.
Chen Hai, I'm sorry.
Only by making you hate me, by getting you completely away from me, can you... survive.
……
The news that Qi Tongwei "burned the evidence" and broke with his confidant Chen Hai on the spot swept through every corner of the officialdom in Handong like a hurricane in a very short time.
Shanshui Manor.
As Zhao Ruilong listened to Gao Xiaoqin's embellished report, he downed the glass of red wine in one gulp and let out a triumphant and arrogant laugh.
"I knew it! In this world, where are there any truly fearless people who don't care about money?"
"Who does Qi Tongwei think he is! If I just show my fangs a little, he'll still have to wag his tail obediently!"
Gao Xiaoqin sat to the side, pouring him a full glass of wine, her face adorned with a perfectly charming smile, but deep in her eyes, a lingering doubt flickered.
She had a feeling that things weren't that simple. The man's calm, unwavering gaze, even with dozens of submachine guns pointed at him, didn't seem like someone who would easily back down.
……
The office of Li Dakang, of the Hantong Provincial Party Committee.
After listening to his secretary's report, his brows furrowed so deeply that they could almost trap a fly.
"Qi Tongwei...has he given in to the Zhao family?"
He could hardly believe it. How could the "Lone Wolf," who dared to openly defy orders and single-handedly storm a drug lord's lair on the southwestern border, have chosen to bow down so quickly?
"It seems that the waters of Handong are even muddier and deeper than I imagined." Li Dakang shook his head, a hint of undisguised disappointment flashing in his eyes.
He had thought that this knife from the central government would help him cleave through the tangled and intricate iron plate of Handong.
It now appears that the knife had already chipped on its own before he could even use it to gain leverage.
……
Hou Liangping's temporary office at the Provincial Procuratorate.
On the phone, I heard my mentor Gao Yuliang's voice, filled with heartache and disappointment.
"Liangping, you've heard, haven't you? This Qi Tongwei, he... he's disappointed me so much as his teacher!"
"Not only did he try to burn crucial evidence in front of Chen Hai, but he also suspended Chen Hai indefinitely from his duties, the only person who could testify against Zhao Ruilong! What is he trying to do? This is a complete defection to the Zhao family, a move to become their watchdog!"
"Liangping, now, all our hopes are on you! You must withstand the pressure and uncover the truth! We absolutely cannot let these corrupt officials cover up the truth!"
Hou Liangping hung up the phone, his expression extremely grave.
He walked to the window, his gaze fixed on the direction of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, his expression becoming unusually complex.
Tongwei.
Have you really changed?
Or is this yet another scheme of yours that no one can understand?
For the first time, his belief in "procedural justice" and his judgment were severely shaken.
……
At this moment, Qi Tongwei, who was at the very center of the storm, seemed to be a completely detached outsider.
He locked all the evidence in the safe at the back of his office.
Then, he took a break.
He didn't investigate the case, nor did he attend any meetings. He simply changed into some ordinary casual clothes and, alone, drove his Audi aimlessly through the streets and alleys of Jingzhou.
He went to Handong University, and stood for a long time on the playground where he had poured out his sweat and ideals, even touching the rough texture of the plastic track with his fingertips.
He went to Lone Eagle Ridge, on the hillside where he had shot himself in his previous life, and lit a cigarette in the howling mountain wind.
The sound of the wind is just as it was back then.
But his heart no longer held the resentment and despair of the past; only the coldness and calm of the deep sea remained.
He knew that everyone was watching him. Everyone thought that this lone wolf who had invaded Handong had had his claws worn down by reality and had chosen to submit.
well.
This is exactly the effect he wanted.
He wanted to make everyone completely lower their guard.
He wanted to make the real big fish, hidden in the deepest part, surface on its own.
Just as he stubbed out his cigarette and prepared to drive down the mountain...
His phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number with no registered address displayed.
He swiped to answer the call.
On the other end of the phone came a not-so-loud, yet undeniably authoritative and aged voice.
"Is this Comrade Qi Tongwei?"
Qi Tongwei held his phone, looking calmly at the city below shrouded in twilight.
"I am."
"I am, Sha Ruijin."