A Sharp Edge Emerges From The Mist Chapter 8

Temporary Alliance

Five days after the operation, 2:17 AM.

The small meeting room of the Criminal Investigation Division had been converted into a temporary night command center. The curtains were drawn tight, shutting out the last flickers of neon light from the outside world. The whiteboard was covered in printouts of data initially recovered from the Point C server, flowcharts of funds, and photos of Zhao Ming, Zhang Hai, and Qin Mo, all connected by a web of colored markers. The air was thick with the unique scent of instant coffee, permanent markers, and the smell of heated paper.

Lin Jianfeng sat at one end of the long table, her face illuminated by the pale glow of her laptop screen, looking focused yet weary. Xiao Chen and two other team members were slumped over the table, snoring softly. Only Lao Zhang from the technical department was still pushing through, scrolling through dense transaction records on another screen.

Suddenly, Lin Jianfeng’s private phone, set to silent, vibrated on the table. It wasn’t a text or a standard messaging app. A pitch-black dialog box popped up briefly in the center of the screen with a single line of minimalist white characters:

[W]

It vanished instantly, as if it had never existed.

This was a notification for a new message in the private section of the Deep Blue Library. Only the specially modified anonymous client on her phone could capture it.

Lin Jianfeng picked up her phone without a word, stood up, and gestured to Lao Zhang that she was stepping out. She walked to the empty pantry next door, closed the door, and opened the client.

The login required three layers of dynamic verification. Seconds later, a minimalist interface without any branding appeared. The current dynamic key was displayed at the top, and below it was a single, lonely link to an encrypted file titled: [New City Funding Network: Preliminary Probe].

Sent five minutes ago.

Lin Jianfeng clicked download. The file wasn’t large, but the encryption level was extremely high. Once downloaded, it automatically decrypted and opened within the client’s sandbox.

It wasn’t a document or an image, but an interactive, zoomable relationship map.

At the center was the New City Development Zone Project, with dozens of main branches radiating outward to various companies, foundations, and individuals, which then extended into even finer secondary and tertiary nodes. Each node had a brief annotation: company name, place of registration, legal representative (many were proxies or shells), primary business, and the most critical column—”Correlation with known ‘problematic funds’ (Low/Medium/High/Core).”

In the map, Xinlong Underground Bank (and several shell companies it controlled) was marked with a “High” correlation, but it wasn’t the final destination. The lines extending from Xinlong eventually converged on several nodes labeled “Core.” These core companies were registered in places like the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, with layers of nested shareholder information that made them nearly impossible to trace.

However, in the map provided by Shen Qingwu, several “suspected penetration paths” were marked with dashed lines, accompanied by a few screenshots of de-identified transfer records as evidence. These records showed that after complex flows through multiple cross-border and cross-company transfers, a significant portion of the funds eventually flowed into three entities registered locally in Shuangcheng.

All three of these companies appeared prominently on the public list of the first batch of key partners for the New City Project, and all were closely linked to several influential local families or chambers of commerce.

What made Lin Jianfeng’s eyes narrow was a very thin dashed line in an obscure corner of the map. It started from a “Core” offshore company and connected to a node labeled “Specific Regulatory Account (Abnormal).” Beside it was a small note:

[Note: This account has received multiple large injections of funds from unknown sources over the past three years. It has indirect links to several unresolved commercial disputes and the payers of compensation for two old “accidental deaths.” The actual controller of the account is under investigation, but the operational signature pattern has five characteristic matches with the seals found in the old archives of Qingyuan Industry (Note: The company founded by Shen Qingwu’s parents) from ten years ago. This is highly sensitive information for internal cross-verification only. Do not leak. Do not query directly.]

Qingyuan Industry. Shen Qingwu’s parents’ company.

She hadn’t just provided clues pointing to the potential darkness behind the New City Project; she had also subtly turned the heat toward her own family’s past, perhaps even pointing toward a fragment of the truth behind her parents’ “accident” all those years ago.

This “preliminary probe” contained a massive amount of information with clear directions, yet it skillfully avoided direct evidence and sources. It was more like a meticulously drawn map telling you where the treasure (or the monster) might be hidden, leaving the tools and the risk of digging to the person holding the map.

Lin Jianfeng closed the map and returned to the message interface. She paused for a moment before typing a reply. No pleasantries, straight to the point:

[Lin]: Map received. Three questions: 1. Who is the ultimate beneficiary of the “Core” nodes? 2. Which line did Zhao Ming touch? 3. How strong is the correlation between the “specific regulatory account” you marked and your parents’ case?

She hit send. The message turned into an indecipherable stream of data through the encrypted channel.

The wait wasn’t long, about three minutes.

[W]: 1. It points to an interest collective known as Anhe (The Dark River). It is not a physical organization; its members involve politics, business, and specific industries (finance, real estate, judicial brokers), bound by interests and secrets. The specific list and hierarchy are unknown. Xinlong is one of its major funding pipelines. 2. Zhao Ming touched the money laundering chain flowing from Xinlong to the New City land compensation phase and likely discovered the connection between some funds and the case from ten years ago. 3. The correlation is… very high. However, the chain of evidence is currently broken, and key figures involved have “disappeared” or met with “accidents.” This line is dangerous; do not touch it deeply for now.

“Anhe.” Shen Qingwu had finally given a name to that blurry behemoth.

Lin Jianfeng’s finger hovered over the screen.

[Lin]: Understood. The police will start from Xinlong and the three local partners with a legal investigation. Regarding the connection between Anhe and the old case, I need more time to evaluate. Also, how much do you know about the connection between Qin Mo and Zhang Hai?

This time, the reply was slightly slower.

[W]: Qin Mo is my assistant. His background is clean, and he has no direct connection to Zhang Hai. Zhang Hai was once an employee in the investment department of Qingyuan Capital (the old name of my parents’ company). His abilities were mediocre, and he resigned voluntarily before the Nanwan project started for unknown reasons. I was unaware that he had become an agent for Nolan Consulting and am currently investigating. It cannot be ruled out that someone intentionally linked Qin Mo’s information to him as a distraction or a warning.

It was an explanation and a clarification, but there was a hint of protectiveness toward Qin Mo in her tone.

[Lin]: I will question Qin Mo according to procedure, but he won’t be a focus. Zhang Hai is the key. Find him.

[W]: He has disappeared completely. I am looking for him in my own way. I will sync with you if there is news. Warning: When investigating the three local partners, pay attention to the family relationship between Changhe Trading and a certain retired high-ranking official from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Also, the actual controller of Xincheng Construction is the brother-in-law of the owner of Tiedun Security, the largest local security firm. The operation must be thorough to avoid direct conflict.

Another specific and detailed warning. Shen Qingwu’s intelligence network had a thorough grasp of the city’s intricate web of relationships.

[Lin]: Received. I’ll be careful. Keep in touch.

The conversation seemed to end there. But Lin Jianfeng paused, her finger tapping another line onto the cold screen:

[Lin]: Thank you. And… stay safe.

The message was sent. This time, there was no reply for a long while.

Just as Lin Jianfeng thought the other party wouldn’t respond and was about to put her phone away, the screen lit up one last time.

[W]: You too. Next time we contact, use the new key. The old channel expires in one hour.

Then, the client automatically refreshed. All previous chat records were cleared, and a new dynamic key was generated. The avatar for the contact named [W] turned into a void of pure black.

It was as if all the communication just now had been nothing more than a fleeting midnight dream.

But Lin Jianfeng knew it wasn’t a dream. The interactive map was already etched into her mind, and those annotations and warnings weighed heavily on her heart.

She put away her phone and pushed open the pantry door. The corridor was silent, with only the emergency lights emitting a faint green glow.

Returning to the small meeting room, Lao Zhang looked up and pushed his glasses. “Captain Lin, we found something. We recovered some deleted communication log fragments from a hidden partition on the Point C server. There are several codenames for encrypted contacts. One of them, ‘The Ferryman,’ had three brief contacts with a Xinlong operator around the time of Zhao Ming’s death. The content is encrypted; we’re working on cracking it.”

“The Ferryman…” Lin Jianfeng chewed on the codename. It didn’t seem to have a direct counterpart on the map. “Keep cracking it. At the same time, let’s adjust our investigation focus.” She walked to the whiteboard, picked up a blue marker, and circled the names of the three local partner companies.

“Focus on these three: Changhe Trading, Xincheng Construction, and Hongtu Investment. Check their history of changes in shareholding structure, all government procurement or large project bid records in the last five years, and all contracts and financial transactions with subsidiaries or affiliates related to the New City Project. Especially projects that look completely legal on the books but have abnormally high profit margins.”

She paused and added, “Also, secretly investigate the social relationships of the major shareholders, executives, and their immediate relatives of these three companies, especially their connections with government departments, the judicial system, and… Tiedun Security. Be discreet; don’t alert them.”

“Yes!” Lao Zhang immediately began recording, and the sleepy-eyed Xiao Chen woke up, rubbing his face vigorously.

“One more thing,” Lin Jianfeng looked out at the still-thick night. “Re-examine everyone Zhao Ming had contact with in his last month, including those who seem irrelevant. He might have touched more than just the money line. He might have discovered the existence of this Anhe organization, or… touched a ‘history’ it didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Anhe?” Xiao Chen asked, confused.

“A codename,” Lin Jianfeng didn’t explain further. “A potential true target… hidden beneath all the clues.”

The meeting room buzzed with activity again. Lin Jianfeng sat back down, her gaze falling on the empty space on the whiteboard where Shen Qingwu’s note had once been.

A temporary alliance. Fragile, dangerous, built on a tightrope over a cliff.

But at least she was no longer facing this bottomless darkness alone.

She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip of the now-cold coffee. The bitter taste spread through her mouth, but it left her mind exceptionally clear.

The battle had only just begun.