1: Chapter 1 Reunion Under the Gun

"Bang!"

The office door was violently kicked open, the deafening crash making eardrums ache.

Four police officers filed in, their dark muzzles pointed straight into the room, glinting with a cold metallic sheen in the morning light.

A chill instantly crept up Zhao Yang's spine.

Beside him, the intern's face was deathly pale. Sun Hongwei, the District Head of Donghu District, was even more shocked, frozen in place and unable to move.

The leading officer's gaze was as sharp as a knife as it swept across the room.

"Who is Sun Hongwei?"

Time seemed to freeze.

Zhao Yang looked at the scene before him, one so familiar it was suffocating—

The sunlight sliced by the blinds, the dust motes floating in the air,

the expression on Sun Hongwei's face shifting from shock to bewilderment...

Every detail was exactly the same as the images in his memory.

June 11, 2001, 8:12 AM.

Donghu District Government, District Head's Office.

He really was back!

From the year 2025, after half a lifetime of ups and downs filled with regret and humiliation, he had returned to the day of the wrongful case that changed both his and Sun Hongwei's lives forever.

He had returned to his self from twenty-four years ago.

"I am Sun Hongwei." The young District Head stood up, forcing himself to remain calm. "What is the meaning of this..."

"You are suspected of murdering your wife, Chen Xue. We are now placing you under arrest according to the law."

The officer produced an arrest warrant, his tone brook no argument. "Please cooperate."

"Chen Xue... is dead?"

Sun Hongwei stumbled back, only managing to steady himself by gripping the edge of the desk. The color drained from his face.

"Impossible... She was fine when I left the house..."

The moment the police moved to restrain him, Sun Hongwei struggled violently, his eyes fixed intently on Zhao Yang.

In that gaze was collapse, despair, and a soul-piercing question—

How did you know the police were coming?

Just two minutes earlier, Zhao Yang, having just been reborn, had rushed into the office and said only one thing to him:

"District Head Sun, give me the phone number of someone who can save you, now!"

At that time, Sun Hongwei had looked at him as if he were a madman.

But now, the prophecy had come true.

Countless fragments of memory reorganized frantically in Zhao Yang's mind—

Last night, his girlfriend wanted to break up with him. Heartbroken, he had drunk too much and slept all night slumped over a desk in the Television Station office...

When he woke up, he saw the young face of the intern, Tian Ye, and the electronic calendar on the wall displayed June 11, 2001.

A memo on the desk read: 8:10 AM, exclusive interview with Sun Hongwei, District Head of Donghu District.

In a daze, he had returned to the morning the wrongful case occurred.

"District Head Sun, please cooperate." Having cleared his head, Zhao Yang became very calm.

He heard his own voice speaking, so calm it didn't even sound like him:

"Don't embarrass yourself in front of your subordinates."

He had said these words in his past life as well.

At that time, it was a reporter's instinct to minimize conflict.

But saying it again now, every word carried a sense of dread—

Because he knew what would happen next:

Sun Hongwei would be taken away, interrogated, and convicted.

Fifteen years later, when the state explicitly required the implementation of the principles of legality and the presumption of innocence in cases of doubt, Sun Hongwei's wife-murder case was reopened for retrial.

Due to a lack of direct evidence, Sun Hongwei was finally acquitted and released.

Two years later, the real killer was caught, and Sun Hongwei was completely exonerated.

However, Sun Hongwei's promising life had been ruined because of it.

And Zhao Yang himself, because he insisted on investigating this case, had been suppressed for over twenty years, never able to recover.

All the hard and exhausting work was dumped on him. Even in his late forties, he was still lugging a heavy camera around, rushing to the front lines of interviews.

He eventually collapsed at an interview site.

All of this seemed as if a giant hand were pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

Now that he was reborn, Zhao Yang would never let all this happen again.

And he would make everyone involved behind the scenes pay the price.

"Zhao Yang..." Restrained by the police and handcuffed, Sun Hongwei looked at Zhao Yang with a gaze full of intense pleading.

In front of the police, Zhao Yang naturally wouldn't communicate too much with Sun Hongwei.

Instead, he looked at the two officers, a forced smile tugging at the corners of his mouth:

"Officers, this interview was personally arranged by Secretary Ji of the Municipal Committee. Although something has happened to District Head Sun, the interview still needs to be completed.

"Could you let District Head Sun finish writing down the phone number for General Manager Wang of Dongfang Electromechanical so I can arrange the follow-up interview?"

In this era, self-media had not yet risen, and the radio and television industry was in its heyday.

Television media had great influence; no matter who it was, they would show a reporter some respect.

At this moment, Zhao Yang invoked the name of Secretary Ji Hongwen of the Municipal Committee, easily intimidating the two officers.

The leading officer frowned and said in a low voice, "Make it quick!"

The general manager of Dongfang Electromechanical was clearly surnamed Zhang, yet Zhao Yang said Wang.

Sun Hongwei instantly understood Zhao Yang's meaning—he was being told to leave a contact number for help so a way could be found to save him.

His eyes immediately lit up, and he struggled to the desk to pick up the pen again.

Sun Hongwei's hand was shaking.

It wasn't the performative trembling of a killer pretending to be calm, but a purely physiological reaction following sheer shock.

Although the eleven Arabic numerals were written crookedly, they were clearly legible.

After the police took Sun Hongwei away, Zhao Yang turned off the camera.

At this moment, the office was deathly silent.

The intern, Tian Ye, held onto the tripod, his face pale.

"Yang... Brother Yang... what's going on? Did District Head Sun really kill someone?"

Zhao Yang didn't answer.

He walked to the window and watched the police car, lights flashing, drive out of the district government compound.

A few staff members were whispering in the courtyard; the news would spread like wildfire:

District Head Sun Hongwei of Donghu District had an affair and heartlessly killed his own wife.

Those who don't know the truth will always spread rumors.

Nothing had changed.

Except for himself.

Zhao Yang packed up his equipment and took one last look at Sun Hongwei's office.

The interview outline on the desk was soaked by the tea that had just been knocked over, but Sun Hongwei's handwriting was still clear:

The advantage of Donghu District lies in service, in treating investors like family...

Would a District Head who constantly spoke of "service" cruelly murder his first wife?

This year, Sun Hongwei had just turned thirty and had already become the District Head of a municipal district in a prefecture-level city.

A division-level cadre, his political future was bright.

He wouldn't disregard his future and commit such an insane act as killing his wife.

Zhao Yang had a good personal relationship with Sun Hongwei and knew that he was not only an upright person but also that the couple had a very good relationship.

A sudden murder of his wife was simply out of the question.

To put it bluntly, there was no motive for the crime.

It was highly likely that Sun Hongwei was being framed.

No, to be more precise, it was a setup.

Zhao Yang closed the door, his footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.

He knew that if he backed out now, he could still save himself.

But the various injustices he suffered in his later life had left a deep obsession in his heart.

Even if he had to go through hell, he would make those who manipulated the law and toyed with power pay the price.

From the moment he stepped out of the room, Zhao Yang had decided to step into this unfathomable vortex!

However, at the moment he turned toward the stairs, a detail caught the corner of his eye—

At the corner across from the district government building, a black Santana was slowly rolling up its window.

A second before the window closed, he seemed to see a pair of eyes.

A pair of excessively calm eyes, observing the building.

Although the distance was great, Zhao Yang could still feel the sinister and ruthless nature emanating from those eyes.

Zhao Yang's footsteps didn't falter, but his heart suddenly constricted.

In his past life, he had never noticed this detail.

Was it a coincidence, or... had someone been watching this arrest from the shadows from the very beginning?