Tang Hongming still often came to chat with Director Li, the two of them no longer arguing like before, more silence, as if waiting for a third person to speak up, and they both knew that the third person would never come back.

  "I heard that in Shanghai, a group of farmers made a joke about Yang Ming's crazy idea of using an alligator skin as a city planning map. They thought they could use a cowhide to ensure the bull market would last forever. But the truth is, the bubble will burst eventually. The real estate market has been playing with fire and is just one step away from collapse. I guess they're waiting for the bear market to arrive!"

  "They don't have General He's vision and insight, that madman didn't also fall into your hands? As for this Tian Nan City, it still has to follow you to have hope."

  He Jie hugged Meng Na tightly, with a triumphant smile on her face, her hands moving up and down continuously.

  The Qifeng Building bombing incident has passed for a month. Although it was just a misunderstanding, the mysterious association was forced to be disbanded, and no bombs were found in the building. However, the public security personnel unexpectedly discovered multiple corpses inside. After investigation by the police, Yang Ming, the person in charge of the enterprise, had major suspicions of committing a crime and was detained according to law. It was later verified that Yang Ming had an underworld background, and he privately set up a torture chamber in the building, causing many people to die unjustly, with severe social impact. As a result, Yang Ming was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for life. In prison, this self-proclaimed genius spent his days drawing symbols and reciting incantations, and after forensic examination, he went mad.

  The underworld organization led by Yang Ming also dispersed under the police's crackdown, and the ringleader nicknamed "Big Brother Wang" escaped but was unexpectedly caught by a group of college students and handed over to the police station, thus thoroughly eradicating this vicious social scourge.

  Chifeng Group immediately announced its bankruptcy and was acquired by Cheng Jia Real Estate, which also became the leader in the real estate industry.

  "This is a good alligator skin, the texture, the domineering aura. However, we can't be at the forefront, as long as we maintain second or third place, it's fine. The big alligators in this industry aren't easy to deal with. You instruct them to sell Qifeng and we'll just take the cash. Also, have you cleared out the warehouses? When the market crashes, we can acquire dozens of real estate companies for fun."

  "Director He, if we do it this way, won't we be at the forefront?"

  "Foolish! Why not just push forward the successful real estate project of Mayor Zhang's godson? Besides, I acquired those small companies to sell them, get it? This one deal is all silver, haha!"

  "I just realized today, you are the real genius, Yang Ming is at most an occasionally sober madman."

  Anna's body slowly wrapped around, the two people were huddled together, when the office door was suddenly pushed open and a group of people walked in, including public security and taxation.

  He Jie suddenly understood something, her face turned pale, and she pushed Meng Na, who was still in a daze, to the ground.

  "What? My old man..."

  "He has already been taken away by the authorities, now it's your turn."

  It is said that 'laughing at others' misfortune will soon turn to one's own.' All crimes are hard to escape the punishment of law.

  This year's winter came unusually late, but once it did, it snowed for a whole month, and the city of Tianshan seemed to sink to the bottom of the snow.

  Li Kezhang returned to the Foreign Affairs Department, announcing that he would carry out reforms to change the current situation where most people only eat imperial rations and don't work. He wanted to reduce the number of idle officials for the country, causing everyone in the department to feel uneasy and start learning foreign languages. However, a month passed, and when someone asked about the progress of the reform, Li Kezhang looked bewildered.

  "Reform? What's there to reform? Isn't everything all right now?"

  From then on, among the young people led by Liu Li, Director Li had a new nickname: Teacher Li, homophonic with "Li Lao Chī", implying that Director Li was already senile.

  "It's great to be young!"

  Li Kezhang looked out of the window at the young people sweeping snow enthusiastically downstairs and turned to say to Tang Hongming.

  Tang Hong often came to chat with Li Ke, the two of them no longer arguing like before, but instead more silent, as if waiting for a third person to speak up, and they both knew that the third person would never come back.

  Shi Li and Zhao Liming's relationship became increasingly close, although they didn't openly acknowledge it verbally, everyone could see that Zhao Liming was very happy.

  Liu Li no longer refused Wu Xiubo's invitation, and did it in a huff to show Shi Li, but Shi Li pretended not to see anything.

  Shi Li had more important things on his mind and didn't have time to waste on these romantic entanglements. The rain poured down as he returned to Japan, leaving the test ship in Tiān Nán City for Shi Li to use at any time. Shi Li had already completed the data simulation and was just waiting for human trials. He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

  As the sky grew darker, Shi Li and Zhao Liming held hands and left, with Liu Li hiding behind them. They didn't respond, but instead drove to the Deep Water Wharf in the suburbs. Liu Li hailed a taxi and followed them, feeling like something was going to happen.

  Although Zhao Liming has been maintaining that happy smile recently, for Liu Li who is familiar with Shi Li, that smile is not real, but the result of hypnosis and suggestion. Liu Li doesn't understand why Shi Li would hypnotize her when Zhao Liming loves her so much that he might even agree to die for her. Therefore, Liu Li decides to follow them and see if Zhao Liming really goes to Shi Li's house every day.

  The result was unexpected, they actually went to a container ship at Deep Water Wharf.

  After Shi Li and Zhao Liming boarded the ship, Liu Li hesitated for a long time, took out her police ID card and looked at it for half a day before making up her mind.

  "What do you do?"

  "I'm a police officer, and the one who just went up is my colleague, also a police officer. He called me over."

  The crew of the guard boat were skeptical and only allowed another crew member to accompany Liu Li on board after seeing her police ID.

  The place wasn't hard to find, the footprints in the snow were the best signpost. Liu Li easily found the container, and inside she heard a woman's moans. Liu Li's face suddenly turned red, the sailor who had accompanied her stared at her with a crooked smile, that smile made her extremely embarrassed.

  But just as Liu Li was about to leave, Zhao Liming's moans turned into screams, the kind of screams that came from extreme pain and despair. Liu Li and the sailors were all shocked and rushed over to open the container door, only to find Shi Li standing in front of them, muttering to himself.

  "It shouldn't be like this... The simulation test data was correct, how could it turn out like this..."

  Liu Liyu glanced over at Zhao Liming, who was wearing a metal helmet on his head. At this moment, white smoke was billowing out of the helmet. It was clear that Shi Li was using Zhao Liming for experimentation, and the experiment had failed.

  "Could it be a blood type mismatch? Ah Qian, don't worry, I will definitely find a suitable body for you..."

  Shi Li's eyes regained their brightness as he was about to approach Zhao Liming, but suddenly he clutched his head and fell to the ground, rolling around in agony, knocking over various precision instruments, along with Zhao Liming's lifeless body. Finally, Shi Li stopped foaming at the mouth, and his eyes seemed to regain their usual gloominess, as he reached out towards Zhao Liming's corpse, but couldn't touch it.

  "I'm sorry..."

  Before fainting, Shi Li said with tears streaming down her face, but it was unclear whether she was referring to Zhao Lei Ming or someone else.

  When the ambulance arrived, Li Kezhang and Tang Hongming both rushed over. Looking at the outcome of this couple who were considered to be the most promising in the foreign affairs department, both of them fell silent.

  Liu Li stood stupidly on the deck, seeing off the ambulance as it drove away. She seemed reluctant to leave and just stood there in the cold wind. Li Kechang and Tang Hongming walked over, exchanged a glance, and finally Li Kechang spoke up.

  "You see how simple this world is, it's either black or white, yet beneath that black and white, there's still good and evil."

  Li Kezhang said lightly, "It's snowing again. A few seagulls are flying over the sea against the wind and snow, their cries piercing through the layers of waves and cold wind to people's ears, so cheerful."

  "Alas, what comfort is this!"

  After a pause, Tang Hong opened her mouth, but she only said this one sentence, because in the center of her eyes, all she saw and thought about was this black and white world.

  Black and white have no color because their colors are too strong.