Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 193: The Prelude to the Storm, A Game on the Edge of the Abyss

Beijing Film Academy staff quarters.

Late at night.

Yan Huaizhong, wearing reading glasses, sat at his desk, his red pen tracing lines across a stack of graduation theses.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking was neither hurried nor rushed, but rather rhythmic.

Yan Huaizhong put down his pen, surprised that someone would come to his door at this hour.

He got up to open the door.

Chen Yan stood outside the door, his black trench coat billowing in the October night wind of Beijing, his face cold and hard.

He was holding a heavy kraft paper envelope.

"Come in and speak."

Yan Huaizhong stepped aside to let him in.

Chen Yan entered the study, and the chill of the night wind blew in with him.

Without any formalities or sitting down, he simply placed the brown paper envelope on the desk.

The envelope landed on the table with a dull thud.

"Principal Yan, I need you to help me submit some materials."

Chen Yan got straight to the point.

Yan Huaizhong's gaze fell on the bulging envelope, but he did not reach out.

"To whom should it be handed?"

"They've already made their move."

It's a nuclear bomb.

Once it explodes, the entire business and political circles of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will be severely impacted.

How did you get these?

Yan Huaizhong's voice was dry.

"When I was in Europe, I spent a portion of my 15 million euro copyright fees on hiring an independent auditing firm and a private investigator in Switzerland."

Chen Yan didn't hide anything, "This is my trump card."

He glanced at the envelope on the table. "I haven't printed it out yet because I'm waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to uproot them."

Yan Huaizhong's gaze returned to the envelope on the desk.

It lay there quietly, like a Pandora's box.

He knew that once he reached for that envelope, his peaceful retirement would be over, and he would be swept into the eye of this raging storm.

Chen Yan did not urge him or say another word.

He simply stood there, silently passing on the pressure bit by bit.

The only sound in the study was the monotonous ticking of the old-fashioned wall clock, one tick after another, reaching Yan Huaizhong's ears.

After a long while, Yan Huaizhong let out a long breath.

He walked back to his desk and picked up the envelope.

The envelope was heavy, causing his wrist to droop.

"I have an old classmate who is the director of the Second Supervision Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection."

Yan Huaizhong looked at Chen Yan, his eyes filled with a mixture of fear and scrutiny. "I'm going to visit him tonight, but I can't guarantee he'll accept."

He will answer.

Chen Yan answered with certainty.

Why?

"Because this document contains not only evidence of Lu Haiming's crimes, but also a list."

Chen Yan looked at him, "A list that can help them purge their ranks."

Yan Huaizhong looked at the young man in front of him.

He possessed a maturity far beyond his years, and a coldness that allowed him to place everyone on a chessboard.

This feeling made Yan Huaizhong's head spin.

"Chen Yan, what exactly do you want?"

Yan Huaizhong still asked the question.

"I want a clean film set."

After Chen Yan finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the door, "A film set where you don't have to kneel before capital or be coerced by power."

The door opened, then closed again.

Yan Huaizhong stood alone in the study, the envelope in his hand burning hot.

Finally, he picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number that had been dormant for many years.

……

8 PM.

The open-air plaza of Shougang Third Factory.

A dozen high-powered searchlights illuminated the entire square as bright as day, pushing the surrounding darkness to the very edge of the factory.

Zhang Yuan shouted as he directed dozens of workers to set up the main stage.

The stage backdrop was horrifying.

That wasn't a traditional spray-painted poster, but a heavy-duty, multi-section, all-terrain tracked vehicle that was ten meters high and thirty meters long.

This steel behemoth was only completed at the front and the front chassis; the rear half was still an exposed steel frame with a dense network of pipes and clearly visible welding marks.

Even so, the sheer scale of heavy industry looming over them was enough to make anyone stop in their tracks.

The transport vehicle was covered by a huge red dust cover, which billowed in the night wind as if it were breathing.

Chen Yan stood below the stage, looking up.

At the edge of the square, Lin Qingqiu, wearing a 60-pound exoskeleton suit, was undergoing weighted walking training.

Each step she took was heavy and steady, the metal joints making a slight grinding sound, and the concrete beneath her feet echoing rhythmically.

Sweat had already soaked through her tactical vest, which clung tightly to her body, but her steps remained steady.

Wu Gang strode over to Chen Yan's side, his expression serious.

"Director Chen, the five major cinema chains have made a move."

Wu Gang handed over a newly printed evening newspaper.

The front-page headline was an article written by well-known entertainment critic Zhou Man, with the title in bold, sensational font.

The article uses various euphemisms to question the funding sources for the "Wandering Earth" project, implying that they used the film project to launder money.

"For tomorrow's opening ceremony, the five major cinema chains have chartered three buses and brought over half of Beijing's entertainment and financial reporters."

Wu Gang lowered his voice, "They came to see us make a fool of ourselves, and also to take pictures of you being taken away."

Chen Yan took the newspaper, glanced at the headline, and casually tossed it aside.

"Let them do it."

"The more people, the better."

……

At the same time.

Chang'an Avenue.

A black, extended Lincoln drove smoothly through the dazzling stream of cars.

The car was quiet, with only the soft sound of ice cubes hitting the side of a glass.

Lu Haiming leaned back in the soft leather seat, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand.

In the passenger seat, the secretary was giving a report in a low voice.

"President Lu, the special task force from the provincial department has arrived in Beijing and checked into the West Suburbs State Guesthouse."

The secretary turned a page of the document. "They will gather outside the Shougang Third Factory at 9:30 tomorrow morning and take action at 10:00 sharp to catch them red-handed."

Lu Haiming took a sip of red wine, the astringency of tannins spreading on his tongue.

"Have the media arrangements been made?"

"Zhou Man personally led the team."

The secretary immediately replied, "They will release the photos and press releases as soon as the task force makes arrests."

He paused for a moment, then said, "The title is already written: 'Science Fiction Scam Fails, Young Director Chen Yan Arrested for Organized Crime.'"

Lu Haiming finally smiled, a soft but genuine smile.

He was finally going to strangle that annoying fly.

"Cancel all meetings tomorrow morning."

Looking out the window at the dazzling night view, Lu Haiming spoke in a relaxed tone.

"I want to go to the scene in person."

"I want to see him put on handcuffs."

He swirled the wine in his glass, the red liquid inside swirling under the light, turning the neon lights outside the window a deep, dark red.

at the same time.

Deep inside an unmarked courtyard house in Beijing.

An elderly man with gray hair hung up the phone; he was Yan Huaizhong's old classmate.

He stared at the few pages of documents that had just been faxed to him on the table, remaining silent for a long time.

After a long while, he picked up another red telephone.

"Connect to Line 1, the operation can begin, but there's more than one objective."