205: Chapter 205 Lin Wan, do you still remember your dream?

Inside the office area of the Third Office of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, files were stacked like mountains.

Su Qinghan stood before the filing cabinet, sorting the newly delivered preliminary verification materials into categories and placing them into folders one by one.

Ever since taking on the heavy responsibility of liaison officer, she had been spinning like a top.

Nominally, it was for liaison and communication, but in reality, she was playing a dual role of buffer and spy within the cracks of the two sides' power struggle.

At the other end of the work handovers was the deputy leader of the Special Investigation Team, Deputy Team Leader Liu Hao.

This man had been parachuted in from The Capital, acting with swift and decisive resolution, personally verifying every single document submitted.

In the case of Political Commissar Wang Haitao, the Provincial Supervision Team and the Linjiang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection were at loggerheads.

For all written correspondence, Su Qinghan was doubly cautious, never giving others any leverage.

Last Friday, near the end of the workday, Su Qinghan went to the Special Investigation Team's base to submit supplementary materials.

Deputy Team Leader Liu Hao was sitting behind his desk reviewing documents when his private mobile phone on his desk buzzed.

He answered with only a few words, and the call was quickly cut off.

The brief sound waves spilling from the receiver reached Su Qinghan's ears, yet they pulled at an underlying thread.

The female voice on the other end of the phone was highly recognizable.

It was precisely her half-sister, Su Xiaoxiao.

The relationship between the two sounded quite intimate.

Su Qinghan pushed the file into the cabinet, her movements pausing slightly.

An influential outsider from The Capital had secretly gotten involved with the mayor's youngest daughter.

Just then, the sound of a phone ringing interrupted her train of thought.

The landline on the desk did not ring, but the private mobile phone in her pocket emitted a short, sharp vibration.

Taking it out to check, the name Zhu Wenhao was flashing on the screen.

A call during work hours must mean something important.

Su Qinghan swiped to answer.

"Zhu Wenhao, what is the matter?"

"Qinghan, there is a matter I need your help with. I don't know if you are free right now?"

Su Qinghan gathered up the documents spread out on her desk.

"Tell me, I'm not busy right now."

She held the phone between her shoulder and neck while tidying up her files.

Zhu Wenhao briefly explained the plight of Lin Wan's family in Jingjiang City, as well as the deadlock the Provincial Public Security Department was facing at the abandoned car factory.

"You want me to go and help Lin Wan so she will speak up?" Su Qinghan distilled the core request.

"Yes." Zhu Wenhao analyzed. "Lin Wan is currently extremely repulsed by the police, and indeed anyone in uniform. The cover-up and dismissal of the case by the High-Tech Zone Branch back then completely destroyed her trust in this uniform. Psychologists using 'medical' means to treat a heart ailment prescribed the wrong remedy."

He paused for half a second.

"The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. Only you, a discipline inspection cadre, appearing before her can reignite her hope for justice. What she needs to see is not sympathy, but strength."

"I remember you took psychology as an elective at Renmin University," Zhu Wenhao continued. "I believe you will succeed."

Regarding the punishment of organized crime and peeling back the painted skin of Secretary Lei Zhen's faction, this trip was an inescapable duty.

"Then I understand. I will go tell Secretary Zhou and head over now," Su Qinghan said decisively.

"Alright, I will send you the location."

The call ended.

Su Qinghan grabbed her coat and walked quickly toward the office of the deputy secretary of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In the deputy secretary's office in Heishi Town.

After ending the call, Zhu Wenhao dialed the private line of Director Qi Shan of the Provincial Public Security Department.

"Uncle Qi, I'm sending Su Qinghan over."

The other end of the line was silent for several seconds.

"Is that alright?" Director Qi Shan had some understanding of Su Qinghan's situation, but this case was of great importance and could not be trifled with.

"Uncle Qi, Su Qinghan is no ordinary person." Zhu Wenhao leaned back into his leather chair.

"She is a discipline inspection cadre. This identity carries with it the characteristics of discipline and purifying officialdom, which can maximize the victim's trust."

"Secondly, she has experienced a series of things that are unbearable for ordinary people."

"Being abandoned by her family, used as a bargaining chip for marriage. Then being purged by her father, almost ending up sitting on the bench at the Women's Federation. Recently, she was even intercepted on the street by organized criminals, repeatedly facing life and death."

"Yet, at the most critical moment, she still managed to capture the key evidence, which shows her quality of remaining calm in the face of danger."

Zhu Wenhao's deduction hit the nail on the head.

"A soul that has also been crushed by power resonates far more than any psychological comfort."

Director Qi Shan let out a long sigh, completely convinced by this analysis.

"Alright, I believe you, Zhu Wenhao, and I also believe that Comrade Su Qinghan can complete the task."

In the suburbs of Linjiang City, at an abandoned car factory.

The gray-white concrete building stood in the wilderness, and the cold wind blew through the dilapidated, glassless window frames, emitting a whimpering echo.

There were guards every three steps and sentries every five steps; fully armed SWAT officers had turned the area into an impenetrable fortress.

This high-pressure, grim environment was enough to make ordinary people tremble with fear, let alone a patient with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Su Qinghan's car arrived.

After getting out of the car, Captain Xiao Zhan came up to meet her.

"Sorry to trouble you, Comrade Su Qinghan." Captain Xiao Zhan gave a salute of equal rank, his tone revealing anxiety.

"We are all fighting side by side on the path of anti-organized crime. Take me to see Lin Wan." Su Qinghan nodded in response.

Before leaving, she had specifically taken off her iconic uniform jacket and changed into a very plain dark coat, paired with a simple-colored shirt underneath.

She restrained her sharpness, shedding the sense of scrutiny brought by the official uniform, and only carried the discipline inspection work ID in her inner pocket that could prove her identity.

Captain Xiao Zhan stepped aside to lead the way, and they walked through a corridor full of industrial waste, entering a spacious workshop deep inside the factory building.

On an old crate in the corner, Lin Wan was curled up like a puppet, her messy hair sticking to her pale cheeks.

Her eyes had no focus, and she did not react at all to anything happening around her.

Lins Mother, her eyes red and swollen, was holding her daughter tightly from the side, wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes from time to time.

Lin Zhengchu was pacing anxiously on the periphery, and upon seeing a stranger approach, his nerves tensed instinctively.

Su Qinghan walked over, ignoring the surrounding SWAT officers on armed guard, and went straight to Lin Wan.

She did not show her ID, nor did she put on the airs of a state cadre.

"Ma'am, let me handle this." Su Qinghan said to Lins Mother, who had been supporting her, her voice very soft. "I will take this young sister to the side for a private chat. Girls are shy and afraid of others listening. Is that alright?"

Lins Mother looked at the woman before her with a pretty face and an honest gaze, then looked at Captain Xiao Zhan, who was not stopping her from the side, and finally nodded, letting go and stepping back half a step.

Su Qinghan helped Lin Wan to the side, not pulling or dragging her, but gently lifting Lin Wan's arm to help her up.

The two walked toward the dilapidated, ventilated window at the other end of the factory.

Away from the crowd and the firearms, the cramped sense of oppression dissipated a little.

Su Qinghan did not ask about the details of the case, did not mention the importance attached by the Provincial Public Security Department, nor did she give any high-sounding promises of justice.

She stared into those empty, dead, well-like eyes.

Once upon a time, she had also been forced to the edge of a cliff with nowhere to turn, plotted against by her own flesh and blood, and chased by desperate criminals. She knew that trembling feeling of being isolated and helpless all too well.

The sound of the wind around them quieted down at this moment.

Su Qinghan's thin lips parted slightly.

"Lin Wan, do you still remember your dream?"

This sentence made Lin Wan's stiff body tremble slightly.

The unfocused gaze, the moment she heard this sentence, had an extremely subtle convergence.

The stiff muscles on her face twitched slightly, and deep in her hollow eyes, a glimmer of thoughtfulness finally leaked out.

Law, lawyer, punishing evil and promoting good, upholding justice.

Those obsessions crushed by violence and buried by power, in this plain and unremarkable question, found a long-sealed crack.