The Fall of Glory

Shen Hui was once the sharpest deputy squad leader of a special forces team, full of iron will and sincere devotion. After retiring and transitioning to a political career, he had only one simple thought: to use his abilities to do practical things for the people. But the grassroots level was muddy and grinding, and his pure intentions hit walls everywhere. He gradually saw clearly: without power, he could not hold the line or protect those he wanted to protect. To build roads through the mountains, establish factories that boosted livelihoods, and implement healthcare and agricultural reforms that benefited the people, he began to actively seek and consolidate power, testing the edges of the rules, step by step breaking through his former convictions. He pushed forward government affairs with thunderous methods, genuinely benefiting the local people, earning a reputation as a capable and decisive official. But he also slowly became familiar with the unspoken rules of officialdom, navigating gray areas, and eventually held great power, deeply entangled in the vortex of power. Merits and faults intertwined, good and evil hard to distinguish. He once thought that holding power would protect his original intention, but in the end, he found himself completely swallowed by the torrent. This is not a confession of a corrupt official. It is the story of an idealistic doer, written at the cost of a lifetime—original intention is easy to have, but hard to keep. — Description from novelcodex.org