Morning, a little after nine o'clock.

The area near the Shengli District Police Department had been cordoned off. A large number of patrol vehicles from the Municipal Police Department, along with members of the Police Department's Special Operations Team and riot police, were setting up checkpoints at various intersections to intercept civilian vehicles for strict inspection, under the guise of a police anti-terrorism drill.

At this moment, the majority of the city's residents were unaware of what had happened last night. People were still going to work and conducting business as usual.

On a street at the edge of Shengli District, an off-road vehicle and a van were parked.

In the passenger seat of one vehicle, a well-maintained woman in her forties looked up at the police patrol car ahead and immediately said to her colleague, "If we do this, we won't be able to get in. They'll definitely make trouble when they see the equipment."

"Then what do we do?" the cameraman in the back seat asked.

The woman pondered for a moment. "Leave all the equipment behind. Xiao Wang, Xiao Li, you two switch clothes with the drivers in the back. We'll walk in."

"Not even the broadcasting equipment?"

"No." The woman waved her hand. "Just take two phones, charging equipment, and audio equipment. Then notify the station to connect with us via phone later."

"Okay!"

Five minutes later.

The woman led an assistant and a cameraman, and walked toward the patrol post at the street entrance.

The three of them originally thought that walking would prevent them from being stopped, but they didn't expect to be stopped by two SWAT officers as soon as they approached.

"Come on, random inspection. Show me your IDs and open your bags so I can take a look," a SWAT officer said expressionlessly.

"Do you need to be inspected even when walking?" the woman asked, taking out her ID.

"Random check," the officer replied. "Open your bag."

The woman hesitated for a moment, then opened her handbag. After the officer glanced at it, he pointed to the audio equipment and asked, "Why are you carrying this?"

"I teach online geography courses, this is the equipment I use for class," the woman replied quickly, her ability to adapt very strong. "Look, I even have this learning app on my phone."

"Okay, go ahead," the SWAT officer said, no longer suspicious.

The woman secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly led her team away from the street entrance.

Twenty minutes later, the three arrived at the Shengli District Police Department. They climbed over the wall to enter the courtyard and found Su Tianyu and the others.

"Hello, I'm Xu Yuan, a reporter from the Real News Channel's news program," the female reporter said, extending her hand to Yu Mingyuan.

"Hello, hello, thank you for your trouble," Yu Mingyuan responded politely.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, we're short on time, let's start now," Xu Yuan said decisively, turning to signal her assistant to connect the phone for filming.

After setting up the simple equipment, Xu Yuan gave a brief introduction and began to ask Yu Mingyuan questions: "President Yu, I'd like to know, what are the real demands of so many association members collectively storming our city's law enforcement agency?"

"First of all, I must clarify that we are not storming a law enforcement agency, but standing on the side of protecting workers' interests, holding a helpless mass protest. The incident started with the mine disaster some time ago. Our Tongji Association has… Up to now, the families of our deceased miners have not received a single penny of compensation, and the labor fees that Baolong Mining Company promised us have not been fully paid. Under such circumstances, the Shengli District Police Department not only did not protect the legitimate rights and interests of the workers, but also arrested a large number of our fellow workers. We previously wanted to announce the details of the incident to the outside world through the media, hoping to gain widespread social attention, but for some reason, even the words 'mine disaster' have become sensitive words on various online broadcasting platforms and media platform search engines..."

"Okay, I understand what you mean. Has there been any direct conflict between our workers and the police officers...?"

"That is absolutely not the case." Yu Mingyuan immediately shook his head: "Our association has always abided by laws and regulations and loved our city. I can take you to see that all the workers are protesting in an orderly manner at the police department, without any excessive behavior. You can also go to the main building or other buildings to see that we have not damaged any public facilities here, nor have we injured a police officer..."

"Okay, let's go in and take a look."

In this way, Yu Mingyuan led the reporter toward the main building, accompanied by Zhou Tonghui, Bai Hongbo, and others, while Su Tianyu did not show his face. Because he is now a public official, it is really inconvenient for him to flaunt himself in such matters.

Inside the main building of the police department, most of the police officers had stopped working, but they stayed in their own areas, without any verbal altercations or disputes with the workers. In fact, they didn't dare to, because they were very afraid of arousing public anger.

In the corridors of the main building, the workers sat in an orderly manner against the walls, shouting slogans from time to time. At least on the surface, the two sides had not formed a fierce confrontation.

...

In the afternoon, a little after three o'clock.

The online media platform of the Real News Channel took the lead in reporting exclusively on the Shengli District Police Department incident.

In the report, Real News Channel concealed the direct conflict between the association and the police department, and did not mention that someone from the Baolong Group was killed last night. It simply described the cause and process of the protest, and did not completely exaggerate the incident to a very serious degree.

But this also aroused widespread discussion in society, because many onlookers did not know that the Shengli District Police Department actually had five or six thousand people holding a protest.

Such a big thing, yet not a word of it leaked out beforehand, which made many people feel curious and incredible. Some busybodies began to dig deeper into the truth, and some even sneaked into the vicinity of the Shengli District Police Department to take photos and videos.

This report from Real News Channel was just a signal of attack, warning the Regulatory Commission that the power above Li Mingsheng's head had begun to fully intervene in the incident.

...

The Mayor's Residence.

After receiving a call, Ouyang Zhen frowned and said to Li Mingsheng, "You don't have to show your face, I'll go talk."

"Okay." Li Mingsheng slowly stood up and said, "I only have one request."

"Speak!" Ouyang Zhen replied.

"Taking advantage of this incident, we must weaken the absolute power of the Regulatory Commission, otherwise I won't be able to do anything in The Dragon City," Li Mingsheng said bluntly. "The Regulatory Commission actually has a veto over the appointment of cadres above the level of Director in The Dragon City. Isn't this nonsense? Their power is too great, they are a bit too all-encompassing!"

Ouyang Zhen nodded slowly, "I understand what you mean."

At half past seven in the evening, Ouyang Zhen arrived at the Regulatory Commission, preparing to hold the first negotiation with Riel.

...

At the same time.

Outside the Shengli District Police Department, Su Tianyu was sitting in his car, smoking a cigarette, when he suddenly saw Kong Zhenghui walking over and pulling open the door to sit in the back seat.

"Give me a cigarette," Kong Zhenghui said in a hoarse voice.

Hearing this, Su Tianyu threw the cigarette case over. Kong Zhenghui lit one, took a deep breath, and said, "...I just received a call, Uncle Jiu's wife is gone."

"Ah?!"

Su Tianyu turned his head sharply, "When did this happen?"