24: Chapter 24 Fall to Death

Inside the private room of the Linjiang Hotel, the smell of alcohol and cigar smoke tangled together, making one's throat feel dry.

Zheng Jianguo sat in the seat of honor, a two-ounce baijiu glass pinched between his thick, fleshy fingers, the liquid swirling inside.

Several property developers queued up to raise a toast.

"Director Zheng, you really have incredible composure. I heard that the report from the Organization Department has already been sent up?"

One of the bosses leaned in close, presenting a long cigar with both hands.

Zheng Jianguo sneered.

He drained the baijiu in his glass in one gulp.

"Rules and regulations are dead things. They're written there for ordinary people to see."

He thought back to three years ago.

Back then, a few blind fools had also reported him for trading favors, sending the materials directly to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

And the result?

With just one phone call from Mayor Su Changming, all those so-called "whistleblowers" changed their tunes within three days.

The letters of complaint became waste paper, while he, Zheng Jianguo, actually shifted his seat and secured his position as the top leader of the Development and Reform Commission.

In his eyes, this was nothing more than Secretary Zhu Tianhe locking horns with Mayor Su.

When elephants fight, a wild boar like him would at most lose a few bristles.

Once this storm blew over, he was definitely going to skin that traitor Wang from Division Two alive.

"With Mayor Su taking office, the South City Project is his crowning achievement."

Zheng Jianguo's tongue felt thick from the alcohol as he slammed his palm heavily onto the table.

"The funds will definitely arrive in a couple of days. Just fill up your excavators with fuel and wait."

At eleven o'clock in the evening, the drinking party dispersed.

Zheng Jianguo waved his hand, declining the offer to go to an after-party.

That crowd from the Provincial Inspection Team hadn't left yet; he didn't want to screw up at this critical juncture.

He swayed as he walked to the roadside and hailed a taxi.

The driver wore a peaked cap, the brim pulled extremely low, and did not say a word.

Zheng Jianguo gave his home address.

It was a newly developed, high-end residential community.

The car drove through the drizzle, with the faint rumble of thunder in the distance.

"Keep the change."

Zheng Jianguo threw down a hundred-yuan bill.

He lived in a large, single-level apartment on the tenth floor.

He had divorced a few years ago after being caught in bed by his wife, and this apartment had become his palace of nightly debauchery.

Free from the constraints of family, he lived a life more comfortable and self-indulgent than a local tyrant.

Pushing open the door, the entryway was filled with a deathly silence.

He didn't turn on the ceiling light, only switching on a dim wall lamp in the entryway.

The alcohol burned his throat, leaving him parched.

Zheng Jianguo stumbled into the kitchen and took a huge gulp straight from the cold water pitcher.

A chilly draft swept through the apartment.

He frowned.

The French window on the balcony directly facing the living room was left slightly ajar.

That was where he usually smoked.

Rainwater was seeping in through the gap, and a large patch of the expensive carpet was already wet.

"The nanny is such an idiot, not even closing the window properly."

Zheng Jianguo cursed.

He casually tossed his water glass onto the coffee table and took wet steps toward the window.

The tenth floor.

The neon lights of most of Linjiang City distorted in the curtain of rain, resembling a smear of blood that wouldn't disperse.

Zheng Jianguo reached out, intending to pull the heavy French window shut.

Having had too much to drink, his force was misdirected.

His body leaned forward by half a position as he looked for leverage.

In that very second.

Out of the shadow that was supposed to be empty, a dark figure abruptly flashed forward.

The intruder wore pristine white latex gloves, moving as fast as a flash of lightning.

There was no dialogue.

There was no testing of waters.

The dark figure's latex-covered hand pressed precisely against the small of Zheng Jianguo's back.

Leveraging Zheng Jianguo's forward momentum from pulling the window, the dark figure violently hoisted him upward.

"Argh—"

Zheng Jianguo's cry for help was as short as a choked-off whistle.

His body, weighing over two hundred pounds, instantly lost gravity, and his feet left the floor.

Like a heavy sack, he plunged straight out of the window.

In the rainy night, there was a dull, heavy thud.

Immediately after, a deafening clap of thunder roared.

The sound of shattering bones was completely masked by the rolling thunder.

The dark figure stood by the window, looking down coldly for three seconds.

Confirming that the black speck at the bottom of the building was no longer moving.

The dark figure pulled out a microfiber cloth and expertly wiped away the footprints they had left behind.

Even the glass Zheng Jianguo had just drunk from was placed in an extremely natural position that aligned with a drunkard's habits.

The apartment door closed gently.

Two minutes later, the dark figure vanished behind the hidden door of the emergency staircase.

The next morning.

The sky over Linjiang was gray and gloomy, as if covered by a layer of deathly aura.

The cleaning lady was sweeping fallen leaves at the bottom of the building as usual.

She spotted a man in the green belt, lying face down in the mud.

"Hey, boss, wake up. Go home and sleep."

The cleaning lady poked him with her broom handle.

The man's body was as stiff as stone.

Curious, she rolled him over.

A face completely crushed and deformed from the high-altitude impact met her eyes, its bloodshot eyeballs staring blankly at the sky.

The cleaning lady's shriek shattered the peace of the entire residential community.

Half an hour later, the area was cordoned off.

Criminal investigators and forensic examiners arrived at the scene.

Preliminary investigation report: The deceased, Zheng Jianguo, had a blood alcohol level far exceeding the limit, and there were no signs of a struggle indoors.

Conclusion: Accidental fall to death after drinking.

At the headquarters of the Provincial Inspection Team.

Team Leader Qiu Rui was sitting in the small cafeteria, peeling a boiled egg.

"Team Leader Qiu, something has happened."

His subordinate, Xiao Wang, walked in quickly, keeping his voice extremely low.

"Zheng Jianguo fell to his death from a building at around eleven last night."

Team Leader Qiu Rui's hand peeling the egg froze.

He pinched the egg white, causing several cracks to appear.

"Fell to his death?"

"The report from the police says it was an accident." Xiao Wang handed over the document. "They say he was under a lot of pressure at work recently and drank heavily on a regular basis."

Team Leader Qiu Rui stuffed the entire egg into his mouth, chewing extremely slowly.

His gaze drifted out the window, where the rain still hadn't stopped.

"He didn't fall earlier, and he didn't fall later. He just happened to fall the night before we were going to place him under detention."

Team Leader Qiu Rui brushed the broken eggshells off his hands.

"Go to the Public Security Bureau and seal all the surveillance videos and original investigation records from the scene."

"I don't believe in coincidences."

...

At eight o'clock in the evening.

Inside the living room of the Donghuwan Apartment.

The television was broadcasting a brief report on the Linjiang News.

"The Director of the Development and Reform Commission, a certain Mr. Zheng, has died in an accident. Currently, the police have ruled out homicide..."

The news anchor's tone was completely devoid of emotion.

Su Qinghan sat on the sofa, her fingers digging into the flesh of an apple in the fruit bowl, her gaze unfocused.

"He's really dead?"

She turned her head to look toward the window.

Zhu Yuntong held a book in his hands.

He had already turned to the very last page of that book.

"Dead."

Zhu Yuntong didn't even look up.

"It's just silencing him to prevent him from talking."

Su Qinghan's heart pounded violently.

"Did Mayor Su Changming do it? That was his core loyalist, his right-hand man!"

Zhu Yuntong closed the book.

He turned around, his back to the French window.

"Dead men are safer than the living. That is the truth people like your father believe in."

"If Zheng Jianguo entered the Discipline Inspection Commission, he would sell out your father within three minutes."

"Rather than letting him speak out of turn, it's better to silence him forever."

Zhu Yuntong walked over to the television and gave it a light press with his fingertip.

The screen went black.

"But he clearly already made a procedural separation and issued supplementary documents. Why would he still kill him?" Su Qinghan asked in confusion.

Zhu Yuntong sneered.

"Because of the Inspection Team. If Team Leader Qiu Rui uncovers a financial black hole of even a single copper coin, those separation documents will be nothing but waste paper."

"Only with Zheng Jianguo dead will the clues be temporarily cut off."

"Mayor Su Changming is cutting off his tail to survive."

Su Qinghan stood up and walked over to him.

"Then our clues... are they all gone?"

Zhu Yuntong reached out and gently cupped Su Qinghan's chin.

His eyes were as deep as a pool in the darkness.

"Gone? No."

"In this game, Mayor Su Changming thinks he is being clever, but in reality, he is making one blunder after another."

"By killing a Director of the Development and Reform Commission, he is insulting the intelligence of the entire Provincial Inspection Team."

"With someone like Team Leader Qiu Rui, the more you try to make it look like an accident, the harder he will work to uncover a conspiracy."

Zhu Yuntong looked out into the darkness outside the window.

"The fire that follows will burn even higher and brighter."