Chapter 6: The Hero Leaps from the Loft

  The next day at noon, Ye Ming arrived in the provincial capital by long-distance bus.

  Before leaving, he made a phone call to Xu Fei, the deputy director of the Provincial Bureau's Logistics Center, and told him: He had beaten the county bureau chief in a fit of anger, received a major demerit, and was now waiting for reassignment. So he planned to go to the provincial bureau to visit him, chat about his future work problems, and seek his opinion.

  Xu Fei was a very young deputy director at the provincial bureau who Ye Ming met during training, just over forty years old. When Ye Ming attended the training, he was in charge of arranging food and accommodation for more than 100 trainees, and he greatly admired Ye Ming's handsome and talented appearance. Although he was ten or so years older than Ye Ming, the two men quickly became close friends who could talk about anything.

  During the training period, Xu Fei often went for a walk with Ye Ming in the evening or to a quiet teahouse to drink tea. Each time, the two of them hit it off very well. By the time Ye Ming finished his training, they had become an inseparable pair of good brothers...

  Xu Fei was surprised and regretful after hearing Ye Ming's account over the phone, saying: "Little brother, why didn't you call me before your municipal bureau officially issued the disciplinary document? Although I'm just a deputy director of the logistics center with no actual power, I still have one or two friends in the provincial bureau's supervision office. If they had made a call to your municipal bureau, perhaps the punishment wouldn't have been so severe."

  Ye Ming said: "Thank you, Director Xu. This matter is a bit complicated and involves some private and painful things about one of my colleagues. I don't want to drag it out any further and hurt her even more. I just want to settle this matter quickly and put an end to those rumors, so I didn't bother looking for you."

  Actually, there was another reason why Ye Ming didn't look for Xu Fei at first: from Xu Fei's mouth, he learned that he wasn't very successful now. Although his ability was strong and he was young, he was the former provincial bureau chief's protege. After the current chief Xia Bicheng took over as the new chief, he transferred him from the deputy director of the personnel department to the deputy director of the logistics center, although it was a lateral transfer, but the two positions were not comparable in terms of power and status: if he was the deputy director of the personnel department, the municipal and prefectural bureaus would give him face because their official hats were largely controlled by the personnel department. However, once he went to the logistics center, he had almost no influence on the municipal and prefectural bureaus.

  So he was afraid that if he opened his mouth to ask Xu Fei for help, it would put him in a difficult position...

  Ye Ming got off the car, it was already 11:40. He called Xu Fei's phone and found out that he had just left for a coastal city to purchase logistics supplies. On the phone, Xu Fei asked him to stay at the reception hotel run by the provincial bureau's logistics center for two or three days, and then they would have a detailed discussion after he returned.

  Ye Ming hung up the phone in a huff and took a taxi to Jin Fu Road where the Provincial Bureau was located. After getting off, he decided to go to "Heji Steamed Restaurant" near the Provincial Party Committee compound for a quick meal.

  On the second floor of "Ho Mei Steam Restaurant", Ye Ming chose a window seat, ordered three steamed dishes and a bottle of beer. He sat alone, sipping his drink while gazing down at the pedestrians rushing to and fro and the endless stream of vehicles.

  He didn't know: while he was sitting by the window leisurely drinking and eating, a bloody assassination was quietly taking place...

  Around twelve o'clock, a man in his fifties with gray temples and a serious expression walked out of the provincial party committee compound. He had an old briefcase tucked under his arm and was walking slowly on the pedestrian path shaded by dense foliage, furrowing his brow as if thinking about something, completely unaware that three thugs with knives and sinister glints in their eyes were following closely behind him...

  This middle-aged man, named Li Runji, is a Standing Committee member and Deputy Secretary of the Tianjiang Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. His wife is the Director of the Women's Committee of the Provincial Local Taxation Bureau, so he currently lives in the family quarters of the Provincial Local Taxation Bureau.

  Due to the provincial party committee's compound and the provincial local tax bureau being only about two miles apart, coupled with Li Runji being a very simple and clean leader, every time he commuted to and from work, he would walk by himself, never asking for a car to pick him up or a secretary to accompany him.

  According to him: If you persist in walking to and from work every day, your lifespan will be extended by several years.

  Recently, the provincial discipline inspection commission has been investigating and dealing with the disciplinary issues of Su Wei, the vice mayor of M City, the provincial capital. A special case team was established for this purpose. Due to the severity of the case, it is likely that higher-ranking officials will be implicated in Vice Mayor Su Wei's problems, so he personally took charge as the leader of the special case team.

  Through in-depth investigation, the task force found that many of Su Wei's disciplinary and illegal behaviors were closely related to Lin Hai, the current mayor of M City. However, Su Wei stubbornly refused to implicate Lin Hai.

  For this reason, the task force has recently increased its interrogation and investigation of Su Wei. Meanwhile, those above Su Wei have also stepped up their efforts to "rescue" him, constantly asking Li Run-ke's old friends and even superiors to plead on Su Wei's behalf, hoping that he will show mercy and at least not pursue the matter further.

  Li Run-ji was extremely angry and repeatedly scolded those who came to plead for Su Wei, eventually offending the forces behind Su Wei.

  They then hired three hitmen at a high price, and after figuring out Li Run-kei's work and life routines, decided to manufacture an "accidental collision" between pedestrians on the street, which would escalate into a mutual brawl, during which Li Run-kei would be stabbed to death in the "sudden accident".

  When Li Runji walked to the bottom of "Heji Steamed Restaurant", the three thugs who had been following him saw that there were fewer people around him and quickly accelerated their pace. One of them deliberately bumped into Li Runji with his shoulder, almost knocking him to the ground.

  "Hey kid, why are you so careless? Why don't you watch where you're going? Aren't you afraid of running into the utility pole?"

  Li Runji didn't feel any danger at this time, and patted the shoulder of the scoundrel who had bumped into him with his hand, saying half-jokingly and half-seriously.

  That scoundrel turned around, eyes gleaming with malice, and cursed: "You old thing that won't die, I love walking like this, what's wrong with it? I'm deliberately bumping into you, what's wrong with it? Do you dare to peck at me?"

  Li Runji was transferred from the army to the provincial party committee as a positive teacher, and He Zeng had never heard such unpleasant words. At this moment, before meeting, this young man bumped into himself, not only did he not apologize, but also spoke out of turn, and suddenly became furious, his face turned bright red, and he slapped the killer with a round slap.

  The assassin had been waiting for him to make a move, and when he saw him swing his fist, he dodged it with ease and suddenly pulled out a knife from his pocket and stabbed Li Runji in the abdomen.

  Li Runji only felt a severe pain in his lower abdomen, covered the wound that was bleeding profusely with his hand, and slowly fell to the ground.

  At this time, two other killers also rushed over, and the three people each held a knife, stabbing Li Run-ji who was lying on the ground in a frenzy...

  When the killer deliberately bumped into Li Runji, Ye Ming, who had been observing from the window upstairs, felt that something was off - he found that the young man who bumped into the middle-aged man was originally with two other people behind him, but he intentionally sped up his pace to chase after the middle-aged man in front. Obviously, this collision was intentional and not an accidental bump.

  Moreover, it can be seen that the three young men who made trouble all carried knives and other weapons on their bodies, which could not escape Ye Ming's eyes, who had been practicing martial arts since childhood.

  From this, he judged that it was an organized and premeditated murder. And the object of their murder should be the middle-aged man who had just walked out of the provincial party committee compound...

  Just as he was thinking and judging nervously, the expected thing happened: the young man in front pulled out a knife and stabbed the middle-aged man. The two accomplices behind him rushed over quickly, pulled out their knives and started slashing and chopping wildly at the middle-aged man who was rolling on the ground trying to dodge the knives...

  The middle-aged man, despite stretching out his hands to hold onto his neck and head, was hacked at by the several young men, his legs, back, and shoulders were chopped until skin and flesh were exposed, blood splashing everywhere.

  At this time, the pedestrians around saw such a bloody and cruel scene, and they were all frightened to flee in all directions, fearing that the city gate would lose fire and harm the fish in the moat.

  In just an instant, the middle-aged man lost his ability to protect himself, and his hands, which were clutching his head, slowly loosened due to the severe pain in his shoulders.

  And those few knives were all aimed at his forehead, and it seemed that the middle-aged man was about to be beheaded...

  Ye Ming felt a surge of hot blood rushing to his head, and before he could think twice, he grabbed an iron pillar stool beside him, jumped onto the windowsill, let out a loud roar, and swung the stool as he leaped into the midst of the three assassins' encirclement.