187: Chapter 187 I've encountered Commissioner Smith here too?

Hainan, Wanning.

The waves here tirelessly lapped against the golden beach, coconut groves swayed in the breeze, and the air was filled with the scent of sea salt.

Lin Zhou had deliberately trimmed his once somewhat flamboyant short hair and put on a pair of plain glasses with a common design. He wore a pair of colorful oversized shorts, and paired with sunglasses that covered most of his face, he looked exactly like an ordinary tourist letting loose at the beach.

He lounged on a deck chair worth a few hundred yuan, holding a freshly opened coconut in his hands.

Behind him, two young men in beachwear, with sturdy builds, possessed both the alertness of bodyguards and the physique of fitness trainers, and were currently scanning their surroundings vigilantly.

They were the military elites specifically selected by He Jun; even while on vacation, the sharpness in their eyes could not be completely hidden.

"Alright, you two should rest for a while too. Apart from the old men and women on vacation, no one here can do anything to me."

Lin Zhou bit on his straw, feeling the clear, sweet coconut juice glide down his throat.

This was his first real break since the founding of the nation.

He hadn't looked at reports, hadn't answered diplomatic calls, and hadn't even opened the system panel.

Just as he was enjoying this rare peace, a sound of laughter like silver bells drifted over from not far away.

Two young girls in cool beach dresses approached, looking like ordinary office workers relaxing during their vacation. One of them accidentally kicked the beach volleyball she was holding, and it rolled over to Lin Zhou's deck chair.

"Oops, sorry!" A lively girl with a ponytail ran over, her cheeks slightly flushed.

As she bent down to pick up the ball, she inadvertently glanced at Lin Zhou, who was wearing plain glasses on the deck chair. A thought popped into her mind: This was a handsome guy with a weary look in his eyes but deep, defined features. She didn't connect him at all to the mysterious and majestic "Supreme Lord" on the internet.

Lin Zhou smiled and handed over the volleyball: "It's alright."

Another tall girl with a more mature air also walked over and smiled apologetically: "My best friend is just a bit clumsy." She also sized up Lin Zhou, taking him for an ordinary person on vacation, and didn't recognize him at all.

"It's fine. Since we're out to have fun, we should relax," Lin Zhou replied casually. Looking at their bright smiles, he felt a rare, long-lost sense of ease. He even forgot about the two "bodyguards" by his side.

"Then we won't disturb you anymore. Have a great time!" The ponytail girl took the volleyball, waved at him, and walked away laughing with her friend.

Lin Zhou watched them walk away, the corners of his lips curling up. He enjoyed this freedom of not being recognized, something he hadn't experienced for a long time.

Just as he was immersed in this ordinary tranquility, his satellite phone, which had been on silent, suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

Lin Zhou's eyebrows twitched slightly. He took out his phone and saw an encrypted message from Zhang Zhe.

As an extremely rigorous Chief Justice, Zhang Zhe never sent trivial messages outside of working hours.

Lin Zhou sat up straight, avoided the guards' line of sight, and unlocked the screen.

The content inside was very simple, consisting of only one short line:

"Supreme Lord, we have received an anonymous internal report regarding suspected corruption by Grand Marshal He Jun in the naval procurement project. Please instruct."

Lin Zhou's pupils suddenly constricted.

He Jun? That tough guy who risked his life to follow him to Africa when he was at his most destitute?

The report mentioned that someone alleged He Jun had used his position in purchasing patrol boats to collude with intermediaries to inflate prices, and there was suspicion of misappropriating military funds.

Lin Zhou didn't say a word. His finger hovered over the screen for a long time before he finally replied with two words: "Pending investigation."

Before he could put the phone down, a second message quickly appeared; it was from Jack's Jinyiwei channel.

Jack's efficiency was much more brutal than that of someone like Zhang Zhe who followed legal procedures.

"Supreme Lord, we have discovered something amiss. Deputy Old Lu, whom He Jun sent to the US to negotiate the destroyer transfer, has been acting unusually lately."

"Old Lu has been meeting privately with the intermediary, Smith, from the US side for three consecutive days at the Hyatt Hotel in Washington."

"According to the fragments we monitored, they are discussing an 'additional service fee' involving an amount of approximately 20 million USD."

Lin Zhou huffed and drained the coconut water in one gulp.

He knew Old Lu; he was He Jun's comrade-in-arms from back in the day, a bond forged in life and death.

When expanding the military, He Jun had patted his chest and guaranteed that Old Lu was good material, which is why he let him be responsible for the most critical US procurement project.

Unexpectedly, before the navy's flag could even be raised, the roots beneath were already starting to rot.

Lin Zhou leaned back against the chair again, looking at the bright blue coastline in the distance, his gaze turning cold.

"Power really is a sharp blade that corrupts the heart."

He whispered to himself, then sent instructions to Jack.

"There is no need to alert the enemy. Continue tracking Old Lu. Let's see if this thread can eventually lead to He Jun."

"Also, collect evidence; I want to see ironclad proof. If He Jun really has a problem, no matter how many contributions he has made, I will remove this malignant tumor."

In Lin Zhou's view, this country could be poor and it could be weak, but it absolutely could not rot from the roots.

He Jun held dual power over the military and the police. This overlapping of functions was for efficiency in the early days of the nation's founding, but now it had become a hidden danger.

Even if He Jun himself had no issues, his failure to control his subordinates was also a dereliction of duty.

Lin Zhou threw away the empty coconut shell, stood up, and brushed the sand off his backside.

"No more resting. Back to the hotel. Old He, oh Old He, I hope you don't make me swing this first blade at one of my own."

The guards behind him hadn't yet recovered, only to see their Supreme Lord already striding towards the black business car parked on the side of the road.

Back in the hotel suite, Lin Zhou didn't call He Jun immediately, but instead opened his computer and accessed a hidden backend.

This was connected to the prototype of the "heimdall" AI system.

Li Xiang and that group of young people had just arrived at Bir Tawil and, under Jack's urging, had already stuffed this code into the "Oasis One" server.

"heimdall, search for all fund flows related to the naval procurement project."

Lin Zhou commanded softly at the screen.

In less than ten seconds, a complex map of fund flows unfolded on the screen, with red anomalous points blinking between Washington and Shanghai.

In that account in the US, there was indeed a deposit of 3 million USD, which had been transferred through several layers of shell companies to a mysterious overseas offshore account.

And the beneficiary of that account was none other than Old Lu's wife.

Lin Zhou closed the screen, his fingers trembling slightly, but his heart was as hard as stone.

He wasn't just heartbroken over the money; he was even more heartbroken over the original aspiration from when this country was founded.

At the same time, in a private room at a high-end club in Beijing.

He Jun was holding a wine glass, chatting and laughing loudly with several potential suppliers.

He didn't realize that his most trusted subordinate had already pushed him to the edge of the abyss.

He couldn't have imagined that the Supreme Lord, vacationing far away in Hainan, was already prepared to completely excise the tumor of power.