Chapter Summaries

Xu Qinglan used herself as bait to lure two extortionists into a trap, then had her bodyguards carry the unconscious men away. Yu Xiao and Meng Shen intervened, defeated the bodyguards, and summoned Jincheng police, leaving their risky investigation underway.

• Xu Qinglan followed the extortionists' directions to a secluded house, where two men attacked her after taking the money.
• Xu Qinglan incapacitated the extortionists, then blamed Da Wu and Xiao Wu for arriving late and ordered them to take the men away.
• Yu Xiao and Meng Shen, who had tailed Xu Qinglan, saw Da Wu and Xiao Wu carry two bundled people toward a minivan and identified themselves as police.
• Da Wu and Xiao Wu challenged the officers' authority and sent the minivan away, but Yu Xiao called Jincheng police and kept them from leaving.
• Da Wu and Xiao Wu tried to fight their way free but were quickly defeated by Yu Xiao and Meng Shen.
• Tong'an District officers arrived, recognized the visitors as Changning police, and concluded that Zhou Yi's involvement made their presence acceptable.

After Yu Xiao and Meng Shen disrupted Xu Qinglan’s attempt to deal with two blackmailers, Zhou Yi realized the men could expose a weakness in her case and contacted a senior official to act on it. Xu Qinglan kept the injured blackmailers alive for now and instructed them to mislead police, leaving their fate and the contents of the secret disc unresolved.

• Yu Xiao told Zhou Yi that he and Meng Shen had identified themselves to Tong'an Sub-bureau officers, making Xu Qinglan more cautious.
• Zhou Yi remembered that Zhang Yang and Liu Hao had been killed after attempting to blackmail Xu Qinglan, and called Wu Kunsheng to exploit the opportunity.
• Xu Qinglan visited Zhang Yang and Liu Hao in her basement, where they begged her to spare them and promised to keep quiet about the disc and its online backup.
• Xu Qinglan told the two men they would still receive the million and instructed them to tell the officers they had fought after drinking and were getting treatment.
• Zhang Yang and Liu Hao answered the call from the Tong'an Sub-bureau and prepared to follow Xu Qinglan's instructions.

After Xu Qinglan’s bodyguards were released, Zhou Yi shifted surveillance to Zhang Yang and Liu Hao, suspecting they knew one of her secrets. Xu Qinglan’s side abducted the injured men despite the officers’ pursuit, but her confidence was shaken when Liao Qing reported that Da Wu and Xiao Wu had been arrested.

• Tong'an officers questioned Liu Hao and Zhang Yang at the clinic, then released Wu Qiang and Wu Zhitong, while Yu Xiao and Meng Shen could not stop them.
• Zhou Yi ordered Yu Xiao and Meng Shen to watch Zhang Yang and Liu Hao, expecting Xu Qinglan might try to silence them.
• Three men abducted Zhang Yang and Liu Hao from the clinic, and Yu Xiao and Meng Shen were delayed by a group posing as drunks.
• Li Linsen and Cai Xiaobo pursued the van, but a black sedan rammed their car, while a stalled truck blocked Shao Mingbao and Zhu Jianping.
• Xu Qinglan told her companion that she had outmaneuvered Zhou Yi, then received Liao Qing’s call reporting that Da Wu and Xiao Wu had been arrested.

Zhou Yi’s police teams arrested Wu Qiang and Wu Zhitong while they were transporting Zhang Yang and Liu Hao, disrupting Xu Qinglan’s plan. Xu Qinglan quickly coordinated the suspects’ stories through her influence in Jincheng, leaving Zhou Yi aware that the case had been compromised and searching for another way to bring her down.

• Jin Xing handed the unconscious Zhang Yang and Liu Hao to Wu Qiang and Wu Zhitong, then doubled back to mislead the police.
• Zhou Yi’s officers ambushed Wu Qiang and Wu Zhitong on the road to their suburban hideout and arrested all four men.
• Xu Qinglan learned that Zhou Yi had anticipated the transfer and ordered her lover to contact the arrested men and warn Zhang Yang and Liu Hao.
• Zhang Yang and Liu Hao claimed they had been kidnapped over gambling debts instead of revealing their crimes, and Wu Qiang and Wu Zhitong later adopted the same story.
• Li Linsen reported that Xu Qinglan had coordinated the suspects’ accounts, and Zhou Yi resolved to seek another way to expose her.

Zhou Yi persuaded Wu Kunsheng to approve a plan to take Zhang Yang and Liu Hao to Changning, putting Xu Qinglan under pressure. After Gu Yuechang intervened, the transfer was paused pending a meeting, while Zhou Yi believed the investigation was closing in on someone.

• Zhou Yi asked Wu Kunsheng to investigate Zong Yunxiao's disappearance and Wei Jinrong's death, and Wu agreed while warning him not to move against Xu Qinglan without solid evidence.
• Zhou Yi arranged for Zhang Yang and Liu Hao to be taken to Changning for questioning under the pretext of a burglary report, leaving Xu Qinglan unable to intervene openly.
• Xu Qinglan asked her lover, Gu Yuechang, to intervene, and he summoned Wu Kunsheng to discuss the transfer request.
• Wu Kunsheng explained to Gu Yuechang that the plan was intended to draw out someone suspected of trying to silence Zhang Yang and Liu Hao.
• Gu Yuechang ordered Wu Kunsheng to prepare a report and hold off on moving the two men until officials could discuss the case, and Zhou Yi reacted with a cold smile.

Jincheng officials debated whether to assist Changning police in investigating Xu Qinglan, but Gu Yuechang ordered Wu Kunsheng to first verify suspected coordination between witnesses, delaying the broader inquiry. Xu watched a disc documenting her past crimes and opened its second video.

• Fei Yuzhu and Chen Qingyan opposed assisting Changning police, while Guan Tao supported Wu Kunsheng and Zhou Yi’s investigation.
• Wu Kunsheng defended treating Xu Qinglan as a person of interest and said he was investigating whether Wu Qiang, Wu Zhitong, Zhang Hao, and Liu Hao had coordinated their statements.
• Gu Yuechang ordered Wu Kunsheng to suspend other work until he determined whether the witnesses had coordinated their accounts.
• Xu Qinglan watched footage of Wei Jinrong abusing her and recalled how she secretly rose to power and helped Zong Yunxiao undermine Sifang Pharmaceutical Group.
• Xu Qinglan remembered forcing Wei Jinrong to write a suicide note and jump from a building, then opened the disc’s second video.

Xu Qinglan arranged for Zhang Yang and Liu Hao to be killed, but their taxi plunged into a river before rescuers could confirm their fate. When Li Linsen recovered one of their backpacks, Xu Qinglan urged Zeng Yue to find out what it contained and destroy anything that could incriminate her.

• Xu Qinglan destroyed the video disc and planned to kill Zhang Yang and Liu Hao before they could expose her.
• Gu Yuechang reported the investigation to Wen Lecheng, who ordered Wu Kunsheng not to compromise his principles; Wu Kunsheng accepted the rebuke without having evidence to resist.
• On March 10, Zhang Yang and Liu Hao left for the airport under police surveillance, but their taxi driver, Old Mu, deliberately crashed through a bridge guardrail into the river.
• Yan Xiaoqing reported the crash and Wu Kunsheng ordered a rescue, while Li Linsen retrieved a backpack thrown from the taxi.
• Xu Qinglan learned that Old Mu had taken Zhang Yang and Liu Hao into the river, then asked Zeng Yue to discover what was in the backpack and destroy anything that could harm her.

Director Zhou learned that Zhang Yang and Liu Hao had been killed, but their belongings might still contain evidence. As Jincheng police debated whether the deaths were an accident or a planned murder, Li Linsen received word that investigators had found important evidence.

• Li Linsen, Yan Xiaoqing, and Zeng Yue found Zhang Yang’s backpack, but its disc had been broken; Zeng Yue secretly admitted to Xu Qinglan that he had crushed it.
• The fire brigade recovered the taxi and the three bodies, but Liu Hao’s backpack was missing, and investigators learned that driver Mu Bingsheng had cancer and had taken methamphetamine.
• At a case meeting, Li Linsen argued that the many coincidences pointed to a planned murder, while Zeng Yue stressed that there was no proof and Yan Xiaoqing recommended continuing the investigation.
• As Deputy Director He Lian moved to end the meeting, Li Linsen received a call and announced that colleagues had found important evidence.

Cai Xiaobo, Shao Mingbao, and Zhu Jianping revealed Liu Hao’s recorded accusation against Xu Qinglan, giving the police grounds to investigate her and pursue evidence in Wei Jinrong’s hometown. As Xu Qinglan weighed how to stop Zhou Yi, her lover proposed a third path: make him leave the Southwest and Changning.

• Cai Xiaobo, Shao Mingbao, and Zhu Jianping brought a disc to the conference room, and Li Linsen played Liu Hao’s recorded accusation against Xu Qinglan.
• Cai Xiaobo said the police had found the disc beneath a loose floor tile in Zhang Yang and Liu Hao’s house.
• Li Linsen asked to bring Xu Qinglan in for questioning, and He Lian agreed that the police could proceed with a formal investigation.
• Xu Qinglan learned that Zhou Yi had requested a joint Special Case Task Force and sent people to Changtian to search for Wei Jinrong’s evidence.
• Xu Qinglan considered obstructing Zhou Yi or killing him, but her lover told her to make Zhou Yi leave the Southwest and Changning.

Xu Qinglan’s lover and his sister moved to protect their interests by trying to get Zhou Yi transferred, while Zhou Yi advanced his investigation into Xu Qinglan and the Sifang Pharmaceutical Group case. Allies in Changtian began helping him, and Zhao Qiushui revealed that Wei Jinrong had once been her family’s business partner.

• Xu Qinglan’s lover promised to arrange a meeting with Zhou Yi and, if talks failed, force him out of the Southwest; his sister agreed to intervene after learning the investigation could expose their involvement in Sifang Pharmaceutical Group’s breakup and Wei Jinrong’s death.
• Zhou Yi reflected on Zhang Yang and Liu Hao’s deaths, then sent investigators to search for Wei Jinrong’s evidence and ordered the Special Task Force to intensify its inquiry into Mu Bingsheng and Xu Qinglan.
• Xiao Han invited Zhou Yi to meet him and Sima Yanan in Jincheng, where Chen Yurong wanted to speak with him, and Zhou Yi agreed.
• Wen Wan urged Liao Wensong to help Changning’s investigation, and Liao said Ji Fengning and Xing Zhaokun had already sent a team to assist Zhou Yi.
• Zhao Qiushui complained that Zhou Yi had not asked for her help, then told Li Ruoyun that Wei Jinrong had once been her family’s business partner.

Zhou Yi met Chen Yurong and Guo Jing at a dinner intended to negotiate over Xu Qinglan’s investigation, but he refused to compromise his principles. After Guo Jing threatened him, Sima Yanan and Xiao Han defended Zhou Yi and left with him, while Chen Yurong decided to use her connections against him.

• Zhou Yi met Chen Yurong, Guo Jing, Sima Yanan, and Xiao Han at Starshine Hall in Jincheng International Hotel.
• Chen Yurong asked Zhou Yi to make an exception for Xu Qinglan, who was implicated in two cases under investigation.
• Zhou Yi refused to let friendship affect a fair and thorough investigation, and Guo Jing threatened him.
• Sima Yanan rebuked Guo Jing, and Xiao Han criticized Chen Yurong before leaving with Zhou Yi.
• Chen Yurong took out her phone and decided to use her connections to have Zhou Yi transferred.

Zhou Yi dismissed the Chen family’s threat while dining with Xiao Han and Sima Yanan, but Chen Yurong and her uncle arranged to transfer him out of the Southwest. The chapter ended with Zhou Yi stunned by his Ministry of Public Security transfer order and calling Xiao Xiangqian to find out why he had been sent to Linhai.

• At a hot pot restaurant, Xiao Han warned Zhou Yi that Chen Yurong might retaliate, but Zhou Yi said Jian Wanyan and Wei Siqi had agreed to let the investigation proceed.
• Chen Yurong persuaded her uncle that they should transfer Zhou Yi before he could investigate Xu Qinglan further, and her uncle agreed.
• Chen Yurong told Chen Qingyan that their uncle had approved the transfer plan, reassuring him that Zhou Yi would be removed as a threat to Xu Qinglan.
• After spending several days showing Sima Yanan and Xiao Han around Changning, Zhou Yi received a Ministry of Public Security transfer order sending him to Linhai.
• Xiao Han and Sima Yanan realized the Chen family had arranged Zhou Yi’s transfer, and Zhou Yi called Xiao Xiangqian for an explanation.

After Shen Jinchao transferred Zhou Yi to Linhai without consultation, Zhou learned that the move threatened his investigation into Xu Qinglan. When Chen Yurong mocked him with an invitation to celebrate, Zhou ordered police teams to raid Lingming Mountain and Yunxiao Pharmaceutical Group’s Raw Medicine Base.

• Shen Jinchao defended transferring Zhou Yi to Linhai, but Xiao Xiangqian was told by phone to let the order stand.
• Hou Xiangyang suspected the Chen Family was using Zhou Yi’s transfer to divert trouble and leave him vulnerable to Tian Zhengbing.
• Changning police officers were dismayed that Zhou Yi was leaving after only five months as their director.
• Chen Yurong invited Zhou Yi to a celebration attended by Xu Qinglan and others, then mocked him when he declined.
• Zhou Yi ordered Min Aiwu and the Auspicious Three Treasures to lead police teams to Lingming Mountain and Yunxiao Pharmaceutical Group’s suburban Raw Medicine Base.

Min Aiwu and his team secretly mobilized from Changning while Zhou Yi secured Jincheng officials’ support for an operation targeting Yunxiao Pharmaceutical Group. The chapter ended with Xu Qinglan’s guests celebrating Zhou Yi’s apparent absence, unaware of what he was doing.

• Wang Qifeng warned Wu Qiong to ignore the secret deployment, while Wu Qiong suspected Deputy Director Zhang Yu had tipped someone off.
• Zhou Yi asked Wu Kunsheng to support a search outside his jurisdiction, and Wu agreed after Wei Siqi ordered full cooperation.
• Wu Qiong entered Zhou Yi’s office to report something after he finished his call.
• Xu Qinglan hosted a banquet with Chen Yurong, Guo Jing, Hu Shiyuan, Huang Lifeng, Fei Yuzhu, and Chen Qingyan, and the guests wondered what was keeping Zhou Yi busy.

Zhou Yi launched coordinated raids on Xu Qinglan’s hidden weapons cache and the site where Zong Yunxiao was buried, while Xu Qinglan’s allies tried to intervene. The search at the western-suburbs base ended in a fatal clash, leaving Zhang Hua dead and Min Aiwu apparently dying after ensuring the evidence could be found.

• Zhang Hua told Xu Qinglan that Deputy Director Min Aiwu had brought police to search the raw-materials base, while He Lian reported that officers were searching for Zong Yunxiao on Lingming Mountain.
• Xu Qinglan and Chen Qingyan realized Zhou Yi was targeting both her weapons cache and evidence of Zong Yunxiao’s death, and Chen Qingyan asked Huang Lifeng to send Chi Bo’s team to the base.
• Min Aiwu’s officers found the weapons warehouse, and Zhang Hua and other security guards fought them to delay the search until provincial officers could arrive.
• Zhang Hua grabbed Min Aiwu’s pistol during the struggle, and a shot wounded Min; Ou Jinliang then shot Zhang Hua dead.
• Police arrested the security guards and searched the warehouse as Min Aiwu told Ou Jinliang that Xu Qinglan would not escape justice before closing his eyes.

Zhou Yi’s search of Yunxiao Pharmaceutical Group uncovered an arsenal, and a gunman’s attack left Min Aiwu gravely wounded, turning the case into a major criminal scandal. As provincial and local authorities clashed over control of the suspects and evidence, Zhou Yi headed to Jincheng to respond.

• Changning police found grenades, firearms, and ammunition at Yunxiao Pharmaceutical Group’s raw materials base, then refused the provincial department’s demand to surrender the evidence and suspects.
• Chen Yurong confronted Xu Qinglan, while Chen Qingyan tried to call political allies; Deputy Director He Lian then reported that Lü Junfeng and Changning officers had found human remains at Lingming Mountain.
• Cai Xiaobo told Zhou Yi that Min Aiwu had been gravely wounded after a suspect seized a gun and attacked the police, and Zhou Yi ordered Chen Gang to accompany him to Jincheng.
• Provincial and Jincheng leaders arrived at the raw materials base, where Cai Xiaobo and Chi Bo gave conflicting accounts of the search and the confrontation.
• Wu Kunsheng said the search had been a joint operation with Changning and argued that secrecy had made advance notice to the provincial department inappropriate.

Zhou Yi secured the transfer of the case to Jincheng and worked to build a case against Xu Qinglan, while she arranged for subordinates to take the blame and prepared to flee. After investigators exposed police officers who had helped coordinate suspects’ statements, Xu Qinglan tried to leave but found Zhou Yi waiting outside her door.

• Gu Yuechang and Guan Tao challenged the provincial authorities’ intervention, and Luo Peiyuan and Cai Mingsheng relayed orders to transfer the people involved and the evidence to Jincheng, ending the standoff.
• Zhou Yi learned that Min Aiwu had survived surgery, then went to the police bureau, where Wu Kunsheng updated him on the suspects and the examination of Zong Yunxiao’s remains.
• Zhou Yi planned to connect the cases against Xu Qinglan and seek approval for her criminal detention, while Xu Qinglan assigned crimes to Sun Mao and other subordinates and told them the company would protect their families.
• Sun Mao turned himself in on March 25, and Tian Wei and Zheng Xiaochao confessed on March 26 that they had obstructed police on Sun Mao’s orders.
• On March 27, Zeng Yue, two criminal investigators, Gan Youzhi, and Shi Liang were detained on suspicion of helping suspects coordinate statements, prompting Xu Qinglan to decide to flee abroad.
• Xu Qinglan packed to leave, but Zhou Yi was waiting outside her door.

Zhou Yi arrested Xu Qinglan before she could flee, exposing how his team had anticipated her plans and neutralized attempts to protect her. As political pressure mounted to remove him from Changning and send him to Linhai, Tang Qingrui stalled Zhou Yi’s transfer by claiming he was ill.

• Zhou Yi arrested Xu Qinglan at her villa on charges including firearm trafficking, assaulting police officers, and bribing judicial personnel, after the Changning City People's Congress Standing Committee authorized criminal measures against her.
• Chen Qingyan and Chen Yurong watched Xu Qinglan being taken away, and Chen Yurong realized they had underestimated Zhou Yi while Chen Qingyan vowed to see who would win.
• News of Xu Qinglan’s arrest shocked Jincheng’s business and political circles, while provincial leaders urged caution in the joint investigation.
• Cai Mingsheng pressed Tang Qingrui to arrange Zhou Yi’s handover so he could report to his new post in Linhai.
• Tang Qingrui said Zhou Yi was ill and delayed discussing the transfer, angering Cai Mingsheng, who recognized the excuse as a deliberate stall.

Min Aiwu learned that his apparent lung cancer was likely tuberculosis and kept the near-fatal misdiagnosis secret. Meanwhile, evidence tied Xu Qinglan to the murders, and Chen Qingyan learned his family would sacrifice her to protect him as Zhou Yi prepared to leave for Linhai.

• Min Aiwu learned that hospital examinations suggested he had tuberculosis rather than lung cancer, and he decided to keep the misdiagnosis secret.
• Police traced a recent debt payment to Mu Bingzhi, arrested Liao Qing, and obtained her confession that Xu Qinglan had ordered her to hire Mu Bingsheng to silence Zhang Yang and Liu Hao.
• The Special Task Force questioned Xu Qinglan, but she denied knowing or remembering anything while waiting for Zhou Yi to leave Southwest Province.
• Chen Yurong learned that Zhou Yi had to report to Linhai by April 15 and told Chen Qingyan that the family could not save Xu Qinglan after police found Wei Jinrong's daughter and his old evidence.
• Chen Qingyan accepted that Xu Qinglan would be made the scapegoat, then took comfort in Chen Yurong's promise that Hou Xiangyang would make Zhou Yi suffer in Linhai.

Zhou Yi received evidence and Shi Xinya from his former colleagues, then confronted Xu Qinglan with proof of her role in the conspiracy that destroyed Sifang Pharmaceutical Group. Xu Qinglan learned that Zhou Yi was racing to finish the case before leaving Jincheng, and his claim that she had been abandoned shattered her composure.

• Ji Fengning and Xing Zhaokun delivered Shi Xinya and Wei Jinrong's evidence to Zhou Yi in Jincheng, crediting Zhao Qiushui with finding them.
• Zhou Yi thanked Ji Fengning and Xing Zhaokun, then let them return to Changtian because he had little time before reporting to Linhai Province.
• Xu Qinglan entered the interrogation room and mocked Zhou Yi about his illness, and he said criminals confessing would heal his illness of the heart.
• Li Linsen and Yan Xiaoqing presented Xu Qinglan with evidence of her dealings with Zong Yunxiao and the conspiracy to seize and divide Sifang Pharmaceutical Group.
• Xu Qinglan challenged Zhou Yi for interrogating her before verifying the evidence and suggested she could stall until he left.
• Zhou Yi told Xu Qinglan she had been abandoned and would take the blame alone, causing her smile to vanish.