Chapter 198: Prison Warning, Pot Falls from the Sky

Inside the same Executive Government building, in different floor areas, several Executive Officials belonging to the Prison System sat in a conference room.

Seated at the head was Liu Bo, the highest-ranking official of the Prison System, his expression stern, his voice indifferent: "Who was behind the Qiming Street explosion?"

The few below exchanged glances, but no one picked up the conversation.

Liu Bo's gaze slowly swept across everyone's faces, finally landing on the middle-aged man to his right, and he asked calmly: "Was it you?"

The middle-aged man remained silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head, denying Liu Bo's guess.

Liu Bo's gaze immediately turned to the hook-nosed man on his left, and he asked again: "Then was it you?"

The hook-nosed man unhurriedly spread his hands, revealing a hint of a cold smile:

"This explosion was too big, just to kill one Qian Tong, and it wasn't even successful. You should know that such a method does not fit my style of doing things."

Liu Bo frowned, looking at the others: "Then was it you or you?"

Of the remaining two, one hurriedly waved his arms and denied it repeatedly.

The other revealed a hint of a cold smile, his tone carrying some arrogance and disdain:

"I did consider using some means to give Tian Guang Capital a serious warning, but the target I chose was not Qian Tong but Qian Huan, and I haven't had a chance to act yet."

Seeing everyone in the room deny it, Liu Bo's brow furrowed slightly, and his voice sank:

"I understand that no one wants to see the Second Prison split off, which would be like digging a piece of meat out of our pot. Therefore, I can understand some excessive behavior by everyone in private."

His words suddenly took a turn, and his tone became more serious: "But I must remind everyone that before taking any action, we should all keep each other informed."

"Now that this has happened, we can cover for each other. Otherwise, if you say nothing and something leaks out in the future and is discovered, outsiders won't think this was just your impulsive act, but will see it as a collective decision of our entire Prison System."

Having said this much, Liu Bo found that those below still remained silent, with no one stepping forward to take responsibility, and his face inevitably turned gloomy.

He coldly hummed, his tone carrying an unignorable chill:

"As soon as the news of the Qiming Street explosion this morning spread, the Chief Executive Official flew into a rage and immediately summoned me urgently to his office for questioning."

"Although I didn't know which of you did it at the time, I had to take the blame for you and managed to push the responsibility onto the Construction Party."

"The Chief Executive Official, considering the overall situation, accepted this disposition, but also seriously warned and reprimanded me. I am now relaying the Chief Executive Official's original words to you."

Liu Bo paused slightly, then imitated the Chief Executive Official's unique authoritative cadence and slowly repeated:

"Behind Tian Guang Capital stands the Guangming Group, not wild cats and wild dogs that can't chew through bones. So, use fewer outrageous and radical methods, lest you push people too far and they flip the table and the pot, and then no one gets to eat."

Hearing this, the hook-nosed man suddenly let out a cold laugh, his tone filled with strong dissatisfaction and anger:

"By the Chief Executive Official's logic, he wants to force us to hand over the Second Prison and not allow us any resistance. Is the Executive Government specifically serving the Guangming Group? Has the Chief Executive Official's butt sat crooked?"

Liu Bo's gaze pierced the hook-nosed man like an ice blade, and he had almost confirmed in his heart that the Qiming Street explosion was the work of this hook-nosed man before him.

His voice was cold and firm, every word resounding:

"The opportunity to resist does exist, but it must be conducted within the rules at the table."

"If you can prove you have the ability to make the Prison bring rich tax revenue to the Executive Government, instead of making it a bottomless pit that needs fiscal subsidies every year, even the Chief Executive Official cannot force us to split off the Second Prison, otherwise..."

Liu Bo's patience had been exhausted, and he couldn't be bothered to waste words:

"Otherwise, just obediently obey the Executive Government's orders, don't use your political future to oppose the Chief Executive Official, and don't drag everyone down with you."

Liu Bo slammed the table and stood up, walking out of the conference room.

The door was slammed shut with a loud bang, and his stern warning still echoed inside the room: "For the next half year, behave yourselves. Otherwise, without the Chief Executive Official taking action, I will personally kick you out of the Prison System."

Inside the conference room, the air seemed to freeze, dead silent. Silence spread among them, and everyone's face was full of suspicion and distrust.

After a moment, the hook-nosed man broke the silence.

His gaze swept across his colleagues looking at each other, and the corner of his mouth suddenly exaggeratedly stretched back to his ears, revealing a playful smile.

His voice carried a hint of provocative frivolity as he said slowly:

"I know this wasn't done by me, and you all have declared it wasn't you either. This is truly interesting. Could it be that Executive Official Liu is playing 'crying thief to catch thief' here, and did it himself?"

The hook-nosed man lightly clapped his palm in the air, making a crisp sound, and laughed wantonly: "Surely not, it's the Guangming Group fighting among themselves, hahaha."

The middle-aged man frowned, displeased, and interrupted the hook-nosed man's joking, saying heavily:

"Alright, since things have come to this, mutual suspicion is of no use and will only harm our unity. You should complain less."

"Fortunately, the Qiming Street explosion only killed some insignificant people, and Qian Tong did not die in the explosion. This is already a great fortune in misfortune."

"Between us and Tian Guang Capital, or rather the Guangming Group, there is still room for maneuver. From now on, everyone should best exercise restraint and not pull any more tricks."

"Also, notify the relevant personnel of the Second Prison to strengthen management recently, and let the people under each of you behave themselves recently. Don't touch the higher-ups' bad luck again during this sensitive period."

Soon, the group left the conference room and made phone calls one after another.

Inside the Second Prison, the District Chiefs of several areas successively received phone call instructions from their own bigwigs within the Prison System.

Most of the instructions meant one thing: to cooperate with Prison Warden Qian Huan's work as much as possible recently, and absolutely not let the other side catch any handle on them.

Of course, there were one or two calls that carried other meanings, or whether the people below would fully obey the instructions would only be known when the situation arose.

After all, as everyone knows, people are the most complex and hardest to completely tame creatures in this world, especially when they hold a little power, then a small portion of people's selfish thoughts will be infinitely amplified and become hard to control.

Almost at the same time, Prison Guard Feng Mu also received a phone call and received an important intelligence transmission...

(End of Chapter)