Gu Taishan — Deputy Commander of the Eastern Theater Command, Major General — lay on the ground where Shen Cong had dropped him. Like a dead dog.

The two men had never actually met before this evening. It didn't matter. For Shen Cong, whether he'd met someone was irrelevant. What mattered was whether they were planning to harm him. If they were, the outcome was simple: one of them would stop existing.

A death-eater hidden inside the Eastern Theater Command. That reason was more than sufficient.

Bao Wenhui grabbed Gu Taishan's wrist, then looked up at Liu Yiwu. "Sir. Deputy Commander Gu is confirmed as a death-eater."

Gu Taishan immediately erupted. "Nonsense! Bao Wenhui, you'd better watch your mouth! Liu Yiwu — what is the meaning of this? I, Gu Taishan, have never wronged you. You had me arrested? You're not even in charge yet and you're already acting like you're above the law? Release me at once! Liuzhan, Hao Xianfei, Shao Kang — what are the three of you standing there for? Get me out of these!"

Liuzhan was his iron-person driver. Hao Xianfei and Shao Kang were his jin-person guards.

None of the three moved. Shen Cong in his Hell Mech Armor was standing beside them, and the Four-Legged Dragon was behind them.

Liuzhan wiped sweat from his forehead. "Sir... how could you be a death-eater?"

"I am not a death-eater. They're framing me!"

Liu Yiwu had confirmation from both Shen Cong and Bao Wenhui simultaneously. He shook his head. "Gu Taishan. Make it easy on yourself."

With Gu Taishan in custody, Liu Yiwu immediately contacted Feng Weizhan. After careful probing, he established that Feng Weizhan had no knowledge of Gu Taishan's death-eater status — and more importantly, Feng Weizhan himself had been among those who'd most vocally opposed the death-eaters in the past. He'd been deeply involved in the nuclear detonation operations against them.

He had his own reasons to hate the death-eaters as bitterly as anyone.

With both men aligned, the Command's two most likely candidates to succeed Zheng Shubian moved in concert. Using Gu Taishan…