The old Taoist had taught Lu Zhao that political art lay in momentum and alignment—in clearly discerning each person's interests and finding suitable co-conspirators.
To read the momentum meant reading the arena as well: understanding the environment and deciphering the unwritten rules.
This was why his teacher had continually urged him to test the attitude of the Nanhai Circuit Politics Bureau before choosing his future direction.
Now, Lu Zhao realized he had fallen into habitual thinking. He had assumed most officials were corrupt and believed a city executive would inevitably disregard the rules.
Yet Nanhai Circuit had permitted him to come this far, allowing a mere junior officer to crush an entire municipal leadership team.
Part of that stemmed from some prominent figure wanting to borrow a blade to do their killing, but the fact that none of Lu Zhao's petitions had been dismissed proved the arena of power in Nanhai Circuit still followed rules; high-ranking officials were not bandits.
*So why did I assume Zhao De would risk everything in person, descending like a common bandit to silence witnesses?*
Who was best positioned to take the blame for him? None other than his white-glove secretary.
According to the intelligence Lu Zhao possessed, the vast majority of the evidence pointed directly to Liu Zhihui. And the only one who could testify against Zhao De was Liu Zhihui himself.
Gao Tianxiong had likely been enlisted by Liu Zhihui to snatch Lü Jinshan away. The greatest beneficiary of a recanted confession would be Liu Zhihui.
Lu Zhao finally reached the ground floor and bounded out into the torrential rain, surging in the direction Lü Jinshan and Gao Tianxiong had fled.
Because the main thoroughfares were controlled by the border defense company and a vehicular curfew was enforced, Gao Tianxiong and Lü Jinshan were not in a vehicle.
Bandits staged ambushes along the way—their escape route had clearly been planned in advance.
The border defense assault squad pushed in rapidly, suppressing the bandits in short order and clearing the way for Lu Zhao to safely leave the crossfire.
Barely ten minutes passed before the gunfire behind him gradually subsided.
News of the enemy's elimination came over the comms.
However, the fully armed soldiers could not keep up with Lu Zhao's pace. They could only deploy vehicle teams along the roadways, unable to venture deep into the narrow alleys.
***
On an elevated bridge leading into the Foreign District, Zhao De sped toward his destination behind the wheel of a black sedan.
Sheets of rain lashed against the windshield as the wipers swept back and forth relentlessly.
He made no attempt to conceal his movements, openly driving an official government vehicle.
Suddenly, his phone rang.
Zhao De glanced at the caller ID; it was Lin Zhiyan.
When he answered, a slightly anxious voice came through the line.
"Zhao De, let things end here. I can guarantee you won't go to prison."
Zhao De asked, "Team Leader Lin, is this your personal wish, or Chief Liu's?"
Lin Zhiyan possessed immense backing, but it only ensured that others dared not lay a finger on her, guaranteeing her personal safety.
A parent's authority could not simply be passed down to the next generation; political capital required personal competence to command.
After the two Martial Marquises of the Lin family died, only an empty banner remained. For now, at least, no one in the Lin family was capable of hoisting it.
Facing the same interrogation twice in a single day, Lin Zhiyan said in irritation, "With everything Lu Zhao has dug up, I can put you behind bars with a single sentence. I can call upon the Federation Chief! Even Chen Yunming won't be able to protect you!"
Zhao De was momentarily taken aback, then gave a helpless smile.
He had known Lin Zhiyan would bring up her pedigree. It was the standard tactic of prominent family scions—and their only one.
When it came to matters concerning the leadership of an entire municipality, ordinary people could never even get close. Strip that away, and Lin Zhiyan was merely a college graduate freshly entered into society; what genuine capability did she possess on her own?
Yet her backing truly was colossal, far greater than he had imagined—she had even brought up the Federation Chief.
She was willful, undeniably so, but her reach truly extended to the heavens.
*Still, is that Lu Zhao really so close with Team Leader Lin?*
The moment the doubt arose, Zhao De recalled Lu Zhao's appearance, and suddenly everything seemed to make sense.
Looks were a scarce resource, and Lu Zhao's appearance could be considered the rarest of the rare.
In the Federation, countless outstanding cadres had fallen before women. The same applied to men—and in fact, handsome men possessed even greater lethality.
Women knew how to style and apply makeup, but rarely did men bother.
"Team Leader Lin, I have not fallen so low as to turn bandit, and I ask that you place some faith in my official integrity."
Zhao De's reply was firm, devoid of his usual smoothness. "If the Federation seeks my arrest, I will turn myself in. If Comrade Lu Zhao can produce incontrovertible evidence, then I, as city executive, am equally willing to concede defeat."
With that, he hung up the call, slammed on the accelerator, and sped into the Foreign District.
Zhao De had never contemplated killing Lu Zhao, much less killing the special investigation team.
He was an official, not a bandit.
Although agreeing to Lin Zhiyan's terms right now would save him trouble, it would be far too undignified.
It would brand him as having consorted with bandits in desperation and begged for a young lady's mercy, leaving a dark mark that anyone could dredge up against him later.
Zhao De had clawed his way up from a backwater town to where he stood today; he had not achieved it by groveling.
***
On a bridge within the Foreign District, the rain poured with increasing ferocity. Water vapor rose from the bridge deck, reducing visibility to less than ten meters.
Gao Tianxiong sprinted wildly. Lü Jinshan hung over his shoulder, heavy as a mountain, leaving him panting like an ox.
Suddenly, he halted and dumped Lü Jinshan onto the ground. The man had already been jolted to the brink of vomiting, and this impact nearly knocked the life out of him.
"Ow! Boss Gao, why did you stop running?"
A bullet whistled in from behind, the gunshot lost amid the thunder. A viscous liquid wrapped around the slug.
Looking closely, a water serpent coiled around Gao Tianxiong, winding from his waist up to his face and shielding every vital point across his body.
To a second-rank superhuman, a severed major artery was no longer a fatal wound. As long as the internal organs remained unharmed, they would not lose combat effectiveness in the short term.
Gao Tianxiong turned toward the silhouette at least a thousand meters away, barely visible through the curtain of rain.
Just like before, the man refused to give him even the slightest opening.
He said, "No need to run anymore. Someone will be here shortly to rendezvous with us and deal with Lu Tiger at the same time."
Liu Zhihui had assigned him two tasks: rescue Lü Jinshan and kill Lu Zhao.
The latter depended on circumstances, with no strict requirement for success—though Lu Zhao pursuing them provided the perfect opportunity.
"Ah?" Lü Jinshan's lips trembled. "He has an official commission after all! If we kill him and the higher-ups investigate rigorously, what do we do? No, no! We have to run, quickly!"
If he was taken away now and transferred to the municipal public security department, he could still claim he had escaped on his own. But if Lu Zhao died, an intense investigation would inevitably follow.
That was a matter of principle.
Gao Tianxiong shot him a disdainful glare. This man had served as an official for so long he had turned into a slavish coward, terrified of this and frightened of that.
A black sedan approached from the distance and pulled to a stop not far from the two men.
A man in a black formal suit stepped out holding an umbrella, the rain obscuring his face.
*Lü Jinshan isn't dead?*
Zhao De was genuinely surprised, his estimate of Lu Zhao rising another notch. Restraint was a virtue.
Still, it did not matter. Lü Jinshan had to die regardless.
He lightly raised his right hand, his fingertips slicing toward the sky.
Gao Tianxiong's mouth fell open, and then he saw his own headless torso. Lü Jinshan was flipped over by an unseen force, plunging with a loud splash into the surging river below.
It was the peak of the rainy season; the river rushed violently, and he vanished from sight in an instant.
Dazzling golden radiance pierced the dark night as a metal-nature flying sword cleaved the rain above the bridge, its blade light soaring into the heavens like a meteor streaking in reverse.
Lu Zhao could finally see the man across the bridge with his naked eye: a regular executive rank official of the Federation, City Executive Zhao De of Fangshi.
And he witnessed the most powerful bureaucratic echelon in the Federation—the city executive.
Chapter 88