The brick kiln factory was unrecognizable; the scene before Xiao Lin’s eyes could only be described as unbearable to behold. The original three main buildings had been leveled, and amidst all this chaos, the most prevalent color was charred black.
"Brother, how on earth did you manage to escape from this pile of ruins? A rocket launcher, that’s not a small weapon!" Hua Qingyi stood behind Xiao Lin, speaking in a low voice. To others, it might look like ruins destroyed by fire, but traces remained, such as walls penetrated and steel girders blasted away; these weren’t results of a re fire. "Don’t tell you’re hiding an injury from !"
"Being able to escape is good enough. Why so much chatter?" Xiao Lin frowned. The destruction here was far more severe than he had imagined, and with Shaoqing and the bald guy gone with no news, he had no choice but to plan for the worst.
"You two brats, co over here!" Hua Muyun stood under the scorching sun amidst the ruins.
"How did you manage to get your old man here? Don’t you know this is Fourth Master’s territory?" Xiao Lin smiled at Hua Muyun while whispering to Hua Qingyi, wondering how the old man had managed to co over without Secretary Luo by his side.
"He insisted on coming, and there was nothing I could do. Who could stop him?" Hua Qingyi pouted with grievance. "Probably got bored staying in Yao Zheng’s office and wanted to take a walk!"
"Where is Yao Zheng?"
"He’s taking leave and staying ho, and the old man has been keeping a close watch on him 24/7, so there’s no escaping."
"Secretary Hua, what is it?" Saying this, the two of them had already reached Hua Muyun. The officials, led by Wu Mian, were conducting analysis and investigation on-site, while Hua Muyun was now standing directly in front of the dormitory area.
"What did you do to cause such a big scene here?" So things couldn’t be hidden from Hua Muyun, Xiao Lin knew. "Are you injured?"
"No, I’m fine now." Xiao Lin shook his head. "This was another hideout of Fourth Master, mainly dealing with high-purity drugs and not directly related to banned substances."
"Do you have evidence?" The explosion at the brick kiln factory had killed hundreds, which was no small matter.
"The drugs were hidden in blue bricks for transport. Now..." Looking at the rubble, it was incredibly difficult to find anything.
"Interrogate Ji Weihua imdiately!" Hua Muyun thought for a mont and decided to head to Sword.
"Old man, you should head to the city center first; it’s not safe here."
"Nonsense, where is safe?" Hua Muyun was clearly angry. "Get Secretary Luo to bring Yao Zheng over, and we’ll et at Sword to personally interrogate the relevant individuals."
"Old man..." Xiao Lin wanted to say sothing but was pulled back by Hua Qingyi, who shook his head. "Wu Bureau, we’ll handle things here. Please escort Secretary Hua to Sword."
"Hmm, then I’ll leave this to you." Although Wu Bureau was working, he was keenly aware of the situation concerning Hua Muyun. If one hadn’t been here personally, it was impossible to imagine how bad it really was. "How are the bodies of the deceased being handled?"
"Wu Bureau, regarding this matter, I intend to discuss it with you and Secretary Hua later."
"Alright, I understand."
After Hua Muyun left, Xiao Lin imdiately vented his anger on Hua Qingyi. "Why did you stop ? Don’t you know your old man is standing on the brink of death?" Xiao Lin suddenly shouted at Hua Qingyi, startling a few people working nearby.
"Calm down!" Hua Qingyi turned Xiao Lin around with a hook of his hand. "You can’t stop my old man from investigating the brick kiln factory. Now, the party committee is making a fuss about it; you know Wang Zhanting has been waiting for this opportunity for a long ti. You did make a mistake this ti, but fortunately, it’s still salvageable."
"Keep things separate. On the surface, it seems we have control of the situation, but both of us know that Fourth Master hasn’t shown up yet."
"She will co out sooner or later, if not for anyone else, then for you. She will appear at the critical mont." Hua Qingyi chuckled twice.
"Have you already planned to use as bait?" Xiao Lin felt a surge of anger. He had been wondering why this guy seed so composed, and it turned out he had already factored himself into the plan.
"Why put it so harshly? My old man isn’t interested in Fourth Master; it’s a matter for your Xiao Family. But since the Northern District is the way it is, as the party secretary, he certainly can’t wash his hands of it. We’ll just have to work harder to ensure his safety."
"Assassins are hard to guard against!"
"Yong isn’t here; ’Dungeon’ wouldn’t dare act too recklessly. Don’t worry about that. As for those who’ve infiltrated, if we’re careful, we can handle them. Besides, Yong has already had discussions about this kind of cross-border operation. Have so faith in your subordinates, or else you’ll be exhausted."
"I think the one I shouldn’t trust the most is you!" Hua Qingyi was becoming more bureaucratic by the day.
"That’s just politics. It’s naturally like this." Hua Qingyi’s smooth-talking nature was always well-executed. In the days following Hua Muyun at the party committee, he had fully grasped the underlying dangers. To be honest, he’d prefer to be out fighting like Xiao Lin rather than occupying that smoke-free battlefield. "If I could, I truly wish I wasn’t a Hua."
"You..."
"Enough with the ’you this, you that.’ It seems your n found sothing." Hua Qingyi knew what Xiao Lin wanted to say, but he didn’t want to hear it. The deeper they got, the more realistic they beca. Sooner or later, he’d beco like Hua Muyun—perhaps even more unscrupulous—while Xiao Lin would eventually beco colder and more ruthless than Xiao Zhenfeng, shunning all sentints.
"What did they find?"
"Boss, is this a shell fragnt?" Shi Shuai held a piece of tal up to the sun. "How did sothing like this end up here?"
"Ignore that and see if there’s any complete blue brick."
"There is, but it’s buried under a pile of stuff and can’t be retrieved." Shi Shuai pointed to the original factory location where Li Wei and Xu Ming stood above, seemingly using long sticks to pry sothing.
Xiao Lin always felt it looked a bit uncanny. He rembered that when he escaped, there wasn’t such a high pile of things here. His eyes watched Xu Ming plunging hard into the pile, producing an ethereal sound. He exchanged a glance with Hua Qingyi, and they instantly understood what was happening.
Their bodies sprang into action, and after two jumps, they arrived beside Xu Ming. Both hands picked them up by the waists, lifting them off the pile. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to vote for it at Qidian (qidian). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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