aircannonsinc Chapter 136 The Mentally Ill Mayor, Who Gave You the Audacity?
Chapter 136 The Mentally Ill Mayor, Who Gave You the Audacity?
Liu Jianguo's face was purplish-red from being strangled, and his toes barely touched the ground.
The distance is too close.
He was so close that he could see the faint but menacing scar at the corner of the man's eye and smell the unique scent on him, a mixture of gunpowder, dirt, and high-grade tobacco.
This face has appeared countless times in recent internal briefings held by the Provincial Public Security Department.
It even took center stage at the commendation meeting for the special campaign against crime, which was broadcast on television.
That wasn't an ordinary policeman.
That was the "Lone Wolf" who turned the Golden Triangle upside down and could return unscathed even after breaking the legs of the Zhao family's young master.
Qi Tongwei, Director of the Public Security Bureau of Handong Province.
"Director Qi... Director Qi..."
Liu Jianguo let out a hissing sound like a broken bellows. His hand, which was gripping the baton, loosened as if he had been electrocuted. He even subconsciously tried to raise it to salute, but the tie around his neck pulled him back.
"You recognized me?"
Qi Tongwei tightened his wrist slightly, pulling the large, sweat-covered face even closer. "I thought the police in Yantai City only recognized Mayor Zhang and not the national emblem on their badges."
"It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"
Liu Jianguo trembled all over; his former arrogance had vanished into thin air, replaced by an instinctive fear of facing a natural enemy.
He wanted to kneel, but his neck was being strangled so he couldn't.
"Director! I was misled! Zhang Guohua... no, Mayor Zhang said there were rioters attacking government offices, I didn't know it was you! Even if I had a hundred lives, I wouldn't dare to lead people to surround you! You're my idol! Really! Who in the entire provincial public security system doesn't respect you!"
Liu Jianguo was incoherent, with snot and tears streaming down his face; he was nowhere near the demeanor of a bureau chief.
He was genuinely afraid.
There are too many legends about this living Yama.
Some say he's ruthless killers, others say he has powerful connections, and even the provincial party secretary has to give him some leeway.
Did he just bring men to handcuff him?
This is like a mouse daring to challenge a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a toothpick, and then trying to turn the Tyrannosaurus Rex into a specimen.
This isn't the way to seek death.
Qi Tongwei released his grip.
Liu Jianguo collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, panting heavily. As he panted, he crawled toward Qi Tongwei's feet, trying to wipe the mud off Qi Tongwei's leather shoes.
"Get out of here."
Qi Tongwei kicked him away, not even glancing at him directly. His gaze swept across the crowd and fixed on Zhang Guohua, who was wearing an executive jacket.
"Nausea."
Ye Cunxin stood aside, watching the scene on the ground, twirling the shiny black Glock pistol between her fingers, her face full of undisguised contempt.
"Is this what they call law enforcement?"
She scoffed, her high-heeled tactical boots clicking crisply on a pebble. "Treats the common people like a vicious wolf, and superiors like a shameless dog. Is her spine terminally rickets?"
Zhang Guohua was completely frozen at this point.
If Zhao Donglai showing his credentials earlier made him panic, then Liu Jianguo's reaction now is a death sentence for him.
Liu Jianguo's stern cry of "Director Qi" was like a heavy hammer, shattering his last shred of hope.
Qi Tongwei.
It really is Qi Tongwei.
That madman who dared to slam his fist on the table with Gao Yuliang at the Standing Committee meeting and who dared to point a gun at the provincial party committee's chief secretary at the airport!
Cold sweat instantly soaked through Zhang Guohua's expensive executive jacket, clinging to his back, sticky and icy.
What did he just do?
He wants to place Qi Tongwei under "shuanggui" (a form of internal party discipline).
They want to arrest Qi Tongwei and put him in a detention center?
Should we also lecture Qi Tongwei for not understanding procedural justice?
Mayor Zhang.
Qi Tongwei walked over step by step, each step seemingly tapping on Zhang Guohua's heartbeat. "I haven't finished what I was saying. You said you wanted to call Secretary Gao of the Provincial Party Committee? Go ahead and call, I'll wait. Let's see if Secretary Gao still has a chance to answer your call. Or should I call for you?"
As he spoke, Qi Tongwei actually took out his phone and pretended to make a call.
"No! Don't hit me!"
Zhang Guohua suddenly yelled, his voice shrill and distorted, and rushed forward, waving his hands wildly, trying to stop them, but was firmly held down by the shoulders of two special police officers.
"A misunderstanding! Director Qi! This is a huge misunderstanding!"
Zhang Guohua's face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled like withered leaves in the wind. The arrogant official demeanor he had just displayed vanished completely.
His mind raced, frantically trying to find a glimmer of hope in this seemingly hopeless situation.
Admitting to embezzlement? That's suicide.
Admitting to covering up a crime? That would land you in jail.
The only way...
"I...I'm sick!"
Zhang Guohua suddenly roared, his eyes wide open, his whole body contorted in an exaggerated way, "I have a mental illness! I have a certificate from the hospital! Just now... just now I had a breakdown! I don't know what I'm saying! Really! I have intermittent schizophrenia!"
The surroundings were deathly silent.
Even Liu Jianguo, who was kneeling on the ground, forgot to cry and stared wide-eyed at the usually imposing mayor.
"I have a certificate! I really do have a certificate!"
Zhang Guohua, as if grasping at a straw, struggled desperately, spitting as he spoke, "I was under too much work pressure! Sometimes I can't control myself! What I said just now wasn't my intention! I love the people like my own children! I am honest and upright! I was having a fit just now! Yes! I was having a fit!"
"Pfft."
Ye Cunxin couldn't help but laugh out loud.
She laughed so hard she was shaking, and she even had to hold onto Qi Tongwei's shoulder to keep her balance.
"Mental illness?"
Ye Cunxin wiped away the tears of laughter, walked up to Zhang Guohua, and looked him up and down like he was a monkey. "The selection criteria for cadres in Yantai City are quite unique. A severely mentally ill person like him can become mayor? Does that mean they should transfer the director of the mental hospital to be the Party Secretary?"
"I don't think he's mentally ill."
Zhao Donglai interjected coldly, "This is the madness of power. After being an official for a long time, they really think they are local emperors, saying whatever they want. When something goes wrong, they use mental illness as a shield. I've seen this trick many times in the police station; even murderers love to use it."
Zhang Guohua's face turned pale and then red, but he stuck to this excuse and continued to ramble on.
"I'm a patient... I'm not criminally liable... I need to go to the hospital..."
That's enough.
Qi Tongwei's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable pressure that instantly silenced all the noise.
He looked at Zhang Guohua, his eyes showing no anger, only a kind of pity for a dead man.
"Zhang Guohua, stop acting."
Qi Tongwei took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. "Your acting is terrible. A real madman doesn't need to prove to others that he's insane."
"and."
Qi Tongwei exhaled a puff of smoke, which landed on Zhang Guohua's face. "Even if you're truly insane, once you're in my hands, I can make you normal. Or, I can turn you into a madman who can never speak."
Zhang Guohua's pupils suddenly contracted.
He understood the murderous intent in those words.
"From the East".
"arrive!"
"Arrest all of these people."
Qi Tongwei pointed at Zhang Guohua, then at Ma Dapao, who was so scared he wet his pants, and Liu Jianguo, who was still trying to play dead.
"Take them all away. Detain them in another location. Send them directly to the provincial detention center."
"yes!"
At Zhao Donglai's command, the special police officers pounced on them like wolves and tigers.
Just moments ago, Ma Dapao was all arrogant, but now he was completely paralyzed into a pile of minced meat.
He watched helplessly as the cold handcuffs snapped onto his wrists, the crisp sound signaling the complete end of his life of wealth and luxury.
"It's...it's all over..."
Ma Dapao's lips moved, his eyes staring blankly at the sky, mechanically repeating, "It's all over... This time it's really over..."
He still can't understand how he could have provoked this true god when he was just dealing with a few ignorant troublemakers as usual.
Even the mayor was removed from office.
Is this still the Handong that upholds the law and procedures?
Why does it feel like I've returned to that era of ruthless warfare?
Several cars sped away, leaving only Qi Tongwei and his group, along with a group of villagers who were still in shock.
The night wind was cold.
Qi Tongwei stood by the dirt road at the entrance of the village, looking at the rolling mountains in the distance, his face terribly gloomy.
Something's not right.
He suddenly spoke.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Donglai walked over and handed Qi Tongwei a bottle of water. "Weren't all those bastards arrested? If we interrogate them, we can definitely uncover all the mess in Heishi Township."
"I meant Zhang Guohua."
Qi Tongwei unscrewed the water bottle, took a sip, and the icy water flowed down his throat, suppressing the anger in his heart, but not the doubts in his mind.
"In that situation just now, he actually tried to use Gao Yuliang to pressure me."
Qi Tongwei narrowed his eyes, tapping his fingers lightly on the water bottle. "Gao Yuliang has already been dealt with internally because of the Hong Kong incident. Although there hasn't been an official announcement yet, it's no secret among the upper echelons of officialdom. As the mayor of a city, Zhang Guohua couldn't possibly have been unaware of this."
"Then why did he bring it up again?" Zhao Donglai asked, surprised. "To scare us?"
"No."
Ye Cunxin leaned against the Jeep door, her arms crossed over her chest. The night wind blew her long hair, revealing her delicate yet aloof face. "It's just a habit."
"Habit?"
"It's a long-term, subconscious mindset," Ye Cunxin analyzed. "This shows that in his subconscious, the Han University gang has not fallen, or rather, there are still people behind Gao Yuliang, and there is still a force that makes him feel that even if Gao Yuliang gets into trouble, that system can still protect him."
Qi Tongwei turned around, looked at Ye Cunxin, and a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.
"clever."
Qi Tongwei crushed the empty water bottle. "Gao Yuliang is gone, but the Zhao family is still here. Zhao Lichun is still here. On the surface, this group is the Han University clique, but in reality, their roots are all in the Zhao family."
"This water is deeper than I imagined."
Qi Tongwei threw the crushed water bottle into the trash can with a dull thud.
"Walk."
"Where to?"
"I haven't finished watching it yet."
Qi Tongwei opened the car door and got in with practiced ease. "This is just Heishi Township. I want to see just how many Heishi Townships there are in Yantai City and Handong Province."
……
The next three days.
Qi Tongwei did not return to the provincial capital, nor did he stay at the city's guesthouse.
Three off-road vehicles, like a sharp knife, weaved back and forth through several impoverished counties surrounding Yantai City.
They went to the most remote Wangjiaba.
There was no road there, so cars couldn't drive in. Qi Tongwei led his men on foot for more than ten kilometers along the mountain path.
What we saw was poverty even more shocking than that of Heishi Township.
The whole village has only one well, and the water drawn from it is yellow and salty.
The children had no shoes to wear in winter, and their feet were so cold they looked like red radishes, oozing yellow fluid.
On the wall of the village committee office, a brand-new red paper was pasted up: "Warmly celebrate Wangjiaba Village's complete eradication of poverty, with per capita annual income exceeding 12,000 yuan!"
They went to Lijia Gou, which is known as a "demonstration site for industrial poverty alleviation".
In the orchard spanning hundreds of acres, most of the saplings had long since withered and died, with only a few shriveled fruits hanging from the remaining crooked trees.
The so-called "fruit processing plant" was filled with clutter and garbage, and the machines were already rusty before they were even unpacked.
The village party secretary, drunk, pointed at the wasteland and boasted, "This is our green ecological park! We'll develop tourism in the future! The money... it'll come flowing in like water!"
Everywhere.
Every place.
They all have the same recipe and taste the same.
The formalistic display boards were even more beautiful than magazine posters.
The data in the report was written more captivatingly than a novel.
But the lives of ordinary people are truly bitter, so bitter that they want to cry.
On the evening of the third day.
The convoy stopped beside a dry riverbed.
Zhao Donglai held a thick stack of materials in his hand, which were the records they had made during their field visits over the past few days.
In addition to the notebook found in Zhang Guohua's car, there were also original accounts forcibly retrieved from various towns and villages.
This stack of paper wasn't heavy, but in Zhao Donglai's hands it felt like a massive boulder.
"Director."
Zhao Donglai's voice was a little hoarse, and this tough man's eyes were bloodshot. "I've finished reading it. This isn't just embezzlement. This is bloodletting."
"The national poverty alleviation funds allocated each year are often in the billions, or even tens of billions. They are then skimmed off by the provincial, municipal, county, and township levels..."
Zhao Donglai pointed to the lines of numbers in the notebook, his fingers trembling. "When it reaches the ordinary people, let alone meat, they can't even get a sip of soup. In some places, to pass inspections, they even force people to borrow money to renovate their houses, doing some kind of 'vanity project,' ultimately leaving already poor families with a mountain of debt!"
Of the 12 million projects, less than 500,000 were actually implemented.
Ye Cunxin sat on a large rock, holding a withered blade of grass in her hand, which she snapped in two. "Where did the rest of the money go? It went into Zhang Guohua's pocket, into Ma Dapao's dinner table, and into the Swiss bank account of people like Zhao Ruilong."
"These people are utterly heartless."
Qi Tongwei stood on the riverbank, his back to the crowd.
The setting sun cast his shadow long, like a black sword piercing the vast earth.
He was holding the government work report of Yantai City from last year.
The text above, written in bold black font, reads: "Over 70% of the city's investment is allocated to improving people's livelihoods, resulting in a significant increase in the people's sense of happiness and fulfillment."
"Happiness?"
Qi Tongwei sneered, his laughter filled with deep mockery and sorrow.
"Have those experts sitting in their offices, those scholars calculating GDP with calculators, ever been here?"
Qi Tongwei suddenly turned around and slammed the report onto Zhao Donglai's hood.
"They're always talking about the National Happiness Index and treating a per capita income of $10,000 as a political achievement!"
"A bunch of good-for-nothings!"
Qi Tongwei's anger finally erupted. He pointed at the faint outline of the city in the distance and roared:
"Do they know how long it takes for an ordinary person to spend 100 dollars? Do they know what an egg means to a child here?"
"Instead of exploring the hardships of the people at the bottom, they spend all their time fantasizing about those cold, hard numbers!"
"What does this blood-stained GDP have to do with people's happiness?!"
"If this is what they call a golden age, then it's a mirage built on piles of bones!"
Zhao Donglai and Ye Cunxin both fell silent.
They had never seen Qi Tongwei so angry.
Even when facing drug dealers, even when facing Zhao Ruilong's gun, he remained calm and ruthless.
But now, he was like an enraged lion, roaring for these strangers.
"Director, should we... continue the investigation?" Zhao Donglai asked cautiously.
"Investigate? Of course we should investigate."
Qi Tongwei took a deep breath, trying to calm the rise and fall of his chest.
He raised his head and looked in the direction of Jingzhou City.
That was the center of power in Handong.
It is also the source of all these evils.
"Checking here will only catch a few flies. If you want to really stir up this stagnant water, if you want to completely overturn this table, you have to go up there."
Qi Tongwei's eyes turned cold again, like a steel knife that had been tempered.
"Get in the car."
"Back to the provincial capital?"
"Yes, back to the provincial capital."
Qi Tongwei opened the car door, his voice low and resolute:
"I want to go directly to see Sha Ruijin."
"I want him to see these account books, these photos, and see just how rotten Handong has become under his rule."
"I request to convene an enlarged meeting of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee."
Qi Tongwei got into the car, slammed the door shut, and with the car vibrating, uttered his last few words:
"This time, I'm not just going to kill people."
"I also want to destroy his spirit."
The SUV roared, kicking up clouds of yellow dust, and sped off toward the provincial capital.
A storm powerful enough to devastate the officialdom of Handong is brewing.