Official Career Storm
Chapter 452

Chapter 452: Chapter 452

Song Guanchao fiddled with his cellphone, the menacing words of Tu Zhaorui still echoing in his ears.

Hou Wen must be captured!

Without his capture, there would be no way to quell Tu Zhaorui’s fury.

That man had been patient for over a decade before he made a move against Hou Wen.

If Hou Wen really managed to flee to safety, it was hard to guarantee that the man wouldn’t go mad and cause mutual destruction.

Although even if he blew the whistle, no one would believe him, as the whole affair was too absurd.

But it would still have an impact on him.

At that moment, Lu Feng sent a message.

As he had anticipated, Wang Meihua indeed knew Hou Wen’s English name.

He immediately contacted Mr. Ren, "Mr. Ren, I’ve sent you a name. Please check this person’s flight information."

"Okay."

...

"Secretary Song asked Mr. Ren to check on someone." Director Qin said.

"Who?"

"A foreigner, I don’t know who."

As they were speaking, Director Qin’s phone rang. It was Mr. Ren calling.

"Hello, Mr. Ren."

"I’ve found Hou Wen’s flight number."

Everyone in the office perked up.

Director Qin asked, "Has his plane taken off yet? Where is it headed?"

Mr. Ren said gravely, "It took off 1 hour and 18 minutes ago, headed for... Country E."

Their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, sank completely.

Although they had already guessed such an outcome, when it was confirmed, they couldn’t help but feel dejected.

"Hold on." Director Qin said, "Our country has an extradition treaty with Country E!"

He thought that after he spoke these words, the leaders would be invigorated.

However, the leaders still had expressionless faces.

Mayor Zheng said, "An extradition treaty and actual extradition are two different things. Such matters have exceeded what city administrative units can solve. Not even the province can handle it; it has to be the Ministry of Public Security."

"Besides, extradition isn’t as simple as us making a phone call for them to cooperate. It’s complicated."

While Director Qin gained some understanding, he was also strangely looking at him.

The other leaders were also looking at him with odd expressions.

Thinking to themselves, how could he be so familiar with such matters?

You wouldn’t have considered this before, would you?

Mayor Zheng felt his scalp tingle as he was scrutinized but couldn’t explain.

The more you explain such matters, the more complicated they become.

At this moment, Secretary Lu suddenly grabbed the phone and asked, "Which airline was Hou Wen flying with? Was it a domestic or an international flight?"

Mr. Ren was silent for a few seconds before saying, "United Airlines."

"Alright, I understand." Secretary Lu put down the phone and shook his head, "Hou Wen, we can’t bring him back."

Along with a feeling of pressure, he also felt somewhat relieved.

Thankfully, it was Song Guanchao who had taken on this dirty job.

Otherwise, he would be the one scratching his head right now.

Director Qin asked, "Why did Secretary Lu ask that?"

Secretary Lu glanced at Mayor Zheng, who kept silent to avoid making further mistakes.

Secretary Lu said, "If it was a domestic flight, even if it reached the USA, it would have to obediently follow orders and return to flight."

"But with foreign airlines... the moment he boarded the plane, domestic police lost all authority to arrest him. The crew from the foreign airlines would not heed domestic commands."

In other words, once on the plane, it’s considered USA territory.

To arrest someone, one must apply, go through various levels of application, and this could even involve diplomatic affairs.

Diplomacy has no small matters.

One misstep could easily affect the relations between the two countries.

Director Qin asked, "Does that mean, for sure, that Hou Wen cannot be brought back?"

Secretary Lu shook his head, "It depends on the situation, on whether Hou Wen will stay in Country E. If his destination is Country E, we have ways of extraditing him back through application. If Country E is just a transit point for him, then there’s no way."

Director Qin said, "If his destination is another country, he should have taken a direct flight, right? Why choose to transfer through Country E?"

At that moment, Mr. Ren’s voice came from the phone, "Hou Wen bought the ticket using his USA green card. He chose Country E because there were no direct flights to the USA during this time period."

Now everyone understood.

Director Qin commented, "Secretary Song really dares to take the blame."

No sooner had he spoken, he felt the dangerous gazes from everyone and immediately shut up.

He hung up the phone and stood up, "Secretary Lu, if there’s nothing else, I will head back first."

"Mhm." Secretary Lu also stood up.

The matter was settled, and there was nothing more to pay attention to.

The next thing they had to do was to minimize the impact of this incident as much as possible.

However, ten minutes later.

Secretary Lu and others were on their way back in the car when they suddenly received calls from their respective secretaries or assistants.

Secretary Sun’s voice was anxious, "Secretary Lu, something’s gone wrong, something’s gone wrong!"

"Don’t panic, spill it!"

"Song Guanchao, he’s gone mad! He let the cat out of the bag; the TV station is reporting it now, it’s trending on the internet, Weibo, Douyin... it’s trending everywhere! This guy is simply a madman!"

"What?"

Secretary Lu almost jumped out of his seat.

He immediately hung up the phone and opened the social media platform.

On the trending topics list, the number one spot was precisely this matter.

"Dujiang City Acting City Secretary Hou Wen, absconds with 7 billion embezzlement"

Checking the short video platform, the number one trending news was likewise this report.

The video likes had broken a million, with several hundred thousand comments.

The word was out!

Everyone knew!

Secretary Lu momentarily forgot his anger; looking at the trending news, he muttered to himself, "Has he gone mad?"

...

Mayor Zheng, Jiang Yuan, Minister Zhou... all members of the city committee, leaders at every level, all knew.

Their first reaction, same as Secretary Lu’s, was Song Guanchao mad?

Did he know what he was doing?

It wasn’t long before a video of Song Guanchao being interviewed was also exposed.

In the interview, facing the camera, Song Guanchao only said one sentence: "If Hou Wen can’t be caught and the 7 billion isn’t retrieved, I will bear all responsibility!"

Then, there was Wu Qiangwei being interviewed, with only one sentence: "I trust Secretary Song’s ability."

In addition, two others also accepted interviews.

The new City Secretary of Dujiang City, Zhang Meilin.

The Deputy Mayor of Dujiang City, Fu Ying.

They made speeches about the matter and issued a military order: "If the 7 billion in fiscal funds cannot be recovered, we will resign to admit our fault!"

Their commitments, among the widespread condemnation across the internet, earned a round of praise for the officials of Lingjiang City.

Despite such a scandal, the incumbent leaders did not evade responsibility or conceal the truth.

Instead, they stood up in time, decisively informing the public, while also actively resolving the issue.

This attitude won the netizens’ favorable view of both Lingjiang and Dujiang.

However, Secretary Lu and others were not at all pleased.

They were furious.

This Song Guanchao was simply making a mess!

It was bad enough that Song Guanchao was creating a ruckus, but why was Wu Qiangwei joining in the madness?

And what about Zhang Meilin, wasn’t she in the hospital?

How could she be discharged just like that?

Song Guanchao lacks a brain, but you, Zhang Meilin, are Minister Zhou’s person. For such a major issue, you didn’t consult with Minister Zhou and decided on your own?

Have they all gone mad?

If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you!

Secretary Lu had murderous thoughts; Mayor Zheng had already called Song Guanchao, he couldn’t hold back anymore, he wanted to question Song Guanchao, what exactly was he trying to do!

However, Song Guanchao’s phone was constantly busy and completely unreachable.

He clenched his cell phone, so angry that he could hardly breathe, and said to the driver, "Go to the City Committee!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the phone rang.

He looked down and saw it wasn’t a call from Song Guanchao, but from Director Qin.

"Speak!"

"The plane has landed."

"What?" Mayor Zheng did not immediately grasp the meaning of his words and after two seconds, he asked again, "What plane?"

Director Qin said, "The plane Hou Wen was on has landed."

Mayor Zheng suddenly fell silent.

He clearly knew that it took five hours from Fucheng to Country E.

It had been less than two hours; there was no way it could have landed in Country E.

So, it could only have landed within the country.

But reason told him that this was impossible!

Because Hou Wen had boarded a United Airlines flight, which was an international airline.

Domestic orders would definitely not be heeded by them.

So, where exactly had they landed?

After swallowing, Mayor Zheng asked, "Did it land... within the country?"

"Hmm."

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