Chapter 56: At the Critical Moment, the Skeleton Sees the Light of Day Again

"Thank you, Mayor Duan!"

This expression of gratitude from Qin Chuan was entirely sincere.

Because Qin Chuan truly had no idea that Gao Qingshan had already rushed back from Xingan City.

Still less did he know that the man would arrive in two hours.

The matter of Qin Chuan dispatching an excavator to dig up the vocational high school playground was neither huge nor trivial.

However, Qin Chuan had not gone through any official procedures whatsoever.

From this perspective, it was indeed illegal.

If someone were to seize upon this point—for instance, if Gao Qingshan personally came to the scene to stop Qin Chuan from continuing the excavation—

Qin Chuan really would have been helpless.

As for Duan Chunuang coming to the scene, Qin Chuan had initially assumed he was there to stop him from digging further.

Because the timing of his appearance was exceptionally shrewd, showing up right after Qin Chuan's first wave of excavation had yielded nothing.

Now, looking back, Duan Chunang had simply been sent by Gao Qingshan to stall for time.

If Duan Chunang could stop Qin Chuan from digging, that naturally would be for the best.

If he couldn't, it didn't matter either.

The moment Gao Qingshan arrived, Qin Chuan could be stripped of his position immediately.

The reason was simple: enforcing the law while breaking it, carrying out destructive excavations on a vocational high school playground without any authorization.

Once Qin Chuan was relieved of his post, who would care whether there were corpses beneath the playground or not?

Chen Mingguang might care, but the first wave of digging had indeed turned up nothing.

By then, as long as the playground was backfilled, even if Qin Chuan knew full well that Liang Guofa had committed murder, without a body and without evidence, he would never have a chance of redemption.

Duan Chunang waved a hand. "You don't need to thank me. It was your own performance that saved yourself."

"Alright, you'd better hurry up and arrange the excavation. Time is running out."

"Yes!"

Qin Chuan turned around. "Lu Zhiguo! I don't care what method you use, get me ten more excavators right now!"

Half an hour later.

Fifteen excavators were roaring as they plowed into the playground.

Yet, an hour passed, and still there was no harvest whatsoever.

"Captain Qin, th-this is already the third wave."

The fifteen excavators had already churned up the entire playground to a depth of nearly two meters, turning the earth over three times.

Standing at the edge, Qin Chuan knitted his brows tightly.

The information provided by the Eye of Sin was unquestionably authentic; of this, Qin Chuan was thoroughly certain.

If he were given ample time to sift through the playground's soil inch by inch, he would eventually unearth the remains.

However, the one thing Qin Chuan was desperately short of right now was time.

Twenty-odd minutes were all that remained of the two hours Duan Chunang had mentioned.

Although pushing hard might allow them to turn the playground over one more time, they had already combed through it three times.

Would turning it once more unearth a clue?

Something wasn't right!

He couldn't just use brute force!

Qin Chuan walked to the edge and looked at the playground, which now resembled a plowed field.

Suddenly, his gaze caught the basketball stands still standing in the distance.

"Have those two basketball stands been dug up?"

"The surrounding area has been hollowed out, leaving only the foundations. The operators were afraid that if they dug those out too, the stands would collapse..."

"Stop talking nonsense! Move the stands out of the way and dig!"

"Yes!"

With that, Lu Zhiguo directed the excavators to begin working on the two basketball stands.

On the other side, Liang Guofa, who had been watching the clock and waiting for Gao Qingshan's arrival, felt his legs tremble so violently he nearly collapsed onto his backside upon hearing Qin Chuan order the basketball stands to be dug up.

My dear Secretary Gao... if you don't get here soon... I...

Tears nearly welling in his eyes, Liang Guofa's gaze suddenly erupted with an unprecedented brilliance.

At the school gates, a black Passat slowly drove in.

Liang Guofa danced about, shouting in delight, "Qin Chuan! Stop! Stop right now! Secretary Gao is here! Secretary Gao is here!"

Duan Chunang and Liang Kai each cast a glance at Qin Chuan before hurriedly stepping forward to prepare their welcome.

Liang Kai sighed inwardly.

Given how persistent Qin Chuan was, perhaps Zhao Yongzhi really was buried beneath the playground.

Though he deeply desired to avenge Zhao Yongzhi, the current situation had fundamentally shifted with Gao Qingshan's arrival.

Screech.

The car came to a smooth halt before them.

Duan Chunang stepped forward, pulled open the rear right door, and said respectfully, "Secretary Qingshan."

Gao Qingshan nodded and slowly stepped out of the vehicle.

"Sorry to have troubled Mayor Duan to make this trip."

"It's nothing worth mentioning. Secretary Qingshan rushed back from Xingan City and hurried straight to the scene despite the exhausting journey; Chunang has much to learn from you."

Gao Qingshan nodded again, clearly pleased by Duan Chunang's words.

However, this did not mean he was satisfied with Duan Chunang's work, for had Duan Chunang handled it properly, he wouldn't have had to make this trip himself.

Thus, he merely said he had "troubled" him—meaning there was effort, but no real achievement.

"Secretary Qingshan!"

Seeing the two finish speaking, Liang Guofa hurried forward, nearly dropping to his knees before Gao Qingshan.

"You must uphold justice for me!"

"Qin Chuan from the Criminal Investigation Brigade, without any procedures or permission and under a fabricated pretext, excavated the vocational high school playground. What's more, without any evidence and in full view of the public, he arrested our school's vice principal, the head of the academic affairs office, a teacher, and several students!"

"He's completely out of his mind. Utterly out of his mind! Just now, he even put handcuffs on Deputy Director Zhao Yunhu from the Organization Department!"

"It is utterly lawless! Completely lawless!"

"Secretary Qingshan! You must seek justice for us!"

With snot and tears streaming down his face, Liang Guofa bore no resemblance to a school principal now; he looked for all the world like a shrew hurling abuses on the street.

Though Gao Qingshan found him distasteful, Liang Guofa had succinctly laid out Qin Chuan's offenses in just a few sentences, which still proved somewhat useful.

"Enough. Look at you, crying and wailing like what kind of spectacle is this."

"County Zhilin is a place governed by rules and laws; no one is allowed to trample upon the law!"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! Secretary Qingshan is entirely right."

Following closely behind Gao Qingshan, Liang Guofa straightened his back, fixing a vicious glare on Qin Chuan as if he wanted to tear him to pieces and devour him alive.

Watching Gao Qingshan approach, Qin Chuan sighed inwardly.

Getting through this hurdle was not going to be easy.

Yet, upon walking over, Gao Qingshan didn't even cast a single glance at Qin Chuan—not even out of the corner of his eye—completely ignoring him.

Instead, he turned his attention to Liang Kai.

The impression it gave was as though Gao Qingshan hadn't come for Qin Chuan at all.

Qin Chuan was stunned for a moment before offering a bitter smile.

Able to rise to the position of County Party Secretary, Gao Qingshan was naturally no fool.

With just this tiny gesture, Qin Chuan understood that to a County Party Secretary, an official of their rank—even holding substantial real power—was nothing more than someone unworthy of a second glance.

If Gao Qingshan wanted to deal with him, it wouldn't take much effort at all.

Letting nature take its course, a single word from him would suffice.

"Liang Kai, what is your Public Security Bureau playing at? Halt these illegal actions immediately, deal with the personnel involved at once, and have Zhou Xuexue report to me in person tonight!"

Well then, Qin Chuan had now officially been categorized as "personnel involved."

Liang Kai rubbed his hands, still trying to make a case for it: "Secretary Qingshan, we received intelligence..."

"Hmm? What intelligence? Is it reliable? It's nothing more than someone's wild fabrication. That's enough, execute the orders immediately..."

Boom!

At that very instant, a thunderous roar interrupted Gao Qingshan's words.

In the distance, the basketball stand that had been standing upright suddenly collapsed with a resounding crash.

Lu Zhiguo's voice rang out, sounding as high-pitched and piercing as if he had swallowed an aphrodisiac: "Captain Qin! Bones! Human bones! There are human bones beneath the basketball stand!"