Song Penghui, the mayor of Chuanhai City, was jolted awake by a phone call. After hearing the panicked report from his son's lackey, Hu Lai, all his sleepiness vanished, and he sat bolt upright.
Ten minutes earlier, Yan Li, deputy commander of the Criminal Investigation Corps, had arrested his son, Song Tianlin, at the Imperial Nightclub. He had explicitly stated that he was acting on orders from Zhou Yi, the recently appointed Deputy Director of the Public Security Department.
A seasoned official who knew the ways of politics well, Song Penghui instinctively caught the scent of a conspiracy.
He had done some homework on Zhou Yi.
After all, "Director Zhou" was at the height of his fame. Stories about him circulated everywhere, both online and through the grapevine. It was impossible even to pretend he had never heard them.
Discounting the obviously exaggerated and embellished rumors, Song Penghui could be certain of one thing: Zhou Yi hated evil with a passion and had an almost fanatical dedication to fighting crime, especially the Crackdown on Organized Crime.
"I cannot coexist with evil!" That declaration, rather adolescent yet full of righteous fervor, had supposedly come from Zhou Yi himself.
Although its authenticity remained unverified, it certainly fit Zhou Yi's record of cracking down on organized crime.
On the surface, then, it was perfectly logical for Zhou Yi to order his son's arrest after discovering that he had committed a crime. But how had a newcomer managed to anticipate Song Tianlin's crime so precisely and take immediate action? That was an unmistakable red flag.
Had it been Executive Deputy Department Director Tian Zhengbing, he would not have been particularly surprised.
Upon learning the terrible news, Song Penghui's wife, Yi Ling, tumbled out of bed onto the floor as though she had lost her