149: Chapter 149 Zhao Cheng'an Reveals His Own Secrets

7:00 PM, a residential house in the provincial capital.

Cao Kun moved Zhao Tianyu's chair in front of the computer and opened the backend of several mainstream livestreaming platforms.

Zhao Tianyu was tied up, but his hands could move within limited range.

"At exactly 8 o'clock, if your father starts streaming, I'll let you watch," Cao Kun said. "If he doesn't..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Zhao Tianyu's face was pale. "My dad... will he really do it? Confess to those things?"

"That depends on how much he cares about you."

"If he cares about me, he should turn himself in! Not wait until he's being threatened!"

Zhao Tianyu suddenly became agitated. "If he really did those things... those children... they have parents too!"

Cao Kun looked at him, somewhat surprised.

There was actually a trace of genuine pain in this playboy's eyes.

"You seem to have had a sudden awakening."

"I just..." Zhao Tianyu lowered his head.

"Remembered some things. When I was little, my dad always forbade me from playing with those poor kids, saying they were unclean."

"But he was always going to support them. I didn't understand back then, but now..."

He didn't continue, but Cao Kun understood.

7:50 PM.

There was no sign of Chairman Zhao starting a stream.

Zhao Tianyu began to squirm restlessly. "He... he wouldn't really abandon me, would he?"

"There are still ten minutes," Cao Kun said calmly.

7:58 PM.

Sweat beaded on Zhao Tianyu's forehead. "He... is he not coming? Please, don't kill me. I can give you money, a lot of money..."

7:59 PM.

Cao Kun opened the livestream platform's search page and typed in 'Zhao Chengan'.

No results.

The final minute.

Zhao Tianyu closed his eyes, his body trembling with fear.

Just as the clock jumped to exactly 8:00 PM...

A livestream suddenly popped up.

The title was simple.

"Zhao Chengan – The Confession of a Sinner".

The man in the frame was slumped behind a rosewood desk. The charity trophies behind him reflected a harsh glare under the lights.

His complexion was ashen like a dying man's. His fingers tapped nervously on the desk, and his eyes dared not look directly into the camera.

"Hello everyone, I... my name is Zhao Chengan." His voice was like sandpaper grating. "Forty-five years old, from Nanhe County, Chairman of Hengtong Real Estate."

Comments began to scroll.

"What's wrong with Director Zhao? Is he sick?"

"He doesn't look right..."

"What the hell is with that title? A joke?"

Chairman Zhao took a deep breath, as if using all his strength.

"Every single word I'm about to say is true."

"Over the past ten years, I have used my identity as a philanthropist to assault at least seven girls. Six of them were killed by me."

The comments exploded instantly.

"????????"

"Holy shit! Is this real?!"

"Call the police! Call the police now!"

The viewer count skyrocketed from fifty thousand to five hundred thousand.

Chairman Zhao took a photo out of a drawer.

A little girl with pigtails, smiling with a missing front tooth.

His voice began to tremble. "I bought her new clothes, a new backpack, took her to the amusement park. She called me Uncle Zhao."

He paused, swallowing.

The livestream fell dead silent.

The next second, the comments surged like a tsunami:

"Monster!!!!!"

"Five years old! She was only five years old!"

"I'm going to be sick. Is this even human?"

The viewer count surpassed one million.

...

Chairman Zhao changed to another photo.

A collapsed six-story residential building.

"Three years ago, Phase II of Happy Homes, a project undertaken by Hengtong Real Estate."

His voice became numb. "To save costs, I used substandard cement and steel. When the construction supervisor discovered it and wanted to report me, I gave him three hundred thousand to keep his mouth shut."

He looked up, meeting the camera's gaze for the first time.

"The building collapsed. Eight people were buried, including a newlywed couple and a three-month-old baby."

Tears fell from his eyes, whether from remorse or performance was unclear.

"Afterwards, I spent five million to grease the wheels, shifting the blame to improper construction operations."

"The families of the deceased... the least received only two hundred thousand in compensation."

The comments were now a blur of angry symbols and curses, impossible to read clearly.

"Murderer! This is murder!"

"My cousin died in that accident! So it was this monster!"

"Hengtong's houses! My family bought a Hengtong house!"

...

Chairman Zhao opened a black notebook, flipping through the pages.

"Wang Jianguo, former Director of the Nanhe County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, accepted bribes from me totaling three point eight million."

"Li Zhiqiang, Deputy Director of the County Public Security Bureau, helped me handle investigations for two missing persons cases. He took two million."

"The County Education Bureau... I returned thirty percent of the donation funds to them personally."

He read out thirteen names, involving multiple departments including housing and urban-rural development, public security, education, and taxation.

"Over the years, I have bribed over twenty million in total. In return, my company evaded over two billion in taxes, illegally acquired twelve plots of land, and passed all quality inspections."

The entire internet exploded.

"The list! Screenshot it! Not a single one can escape!"

"This is systemic corruption!"

"No wonder he could run rampant in Nanhe County for so many years!"

The livestream continued.

Chairman Zhao took out two identical photos.

A pair of twin girls, wearing school uniforms, with brilliant smiles.

He covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking.

The livestream fell briefly quiet.

Then it descended into complete chaos.

"Is he even human?!"

"I can't imagine..."

"Death penalty! He must get the death penalty!!"

Chairman Zhao tremblingly took out a crumpled child's drawing.

Under a crooked sun, three little stick figures held hands.

He finally broke down completely, slumping in his chair, babbling incoherently, "She looked too much like my younger sister... my sister used to draw like that when she was little... I shouldn't have..."

He was choked with sobs.

...

In Nanhe County, before countless phone screens.

In the marketplace, Lin Xiaoyu's parents watched the stream. Her mother fainted on the spot, her father knelt on the ground wailing.

Survivors of the Happy Homes accident rushed into the streets, roaring at the screens.

The grandmother of the twin sisters.

A seventy-year-old woman, trembling, dialed her son who was working away from home: "Your child's father... we found the girls... it was that monster..."

In a provincial university dormitory, Zhao Tianyu's classmates gathered together, staring at the screen in shock.

"Is this... Zhao Tianyu's dad?"

"My God, we used to admire him..."

Netizens across the nation frantically forwarded screen recordings. #ZhaoChenganCrimes exploded to the top trending spot on all platforms.

...