Age of Legends

Chapter 346 Surrounded
Shengfeng Express Headquarters.

Despite being called the headquarters, it's really just a two-story storefront on Shuwa Street. The ground floor is a courier station, and the second floor is the office area.

A group of Shengfeng Express employees were gathered here, talking and discussing something. The atmosphere was no longer listless, but rather quite lively.

"The city police investigation results are out. It turns out that there were two kinds of hazardous chemicals packed in the same package. The method was that one of them was not sealed properly, which caused the concentration inside the box to rise and mix with the other. When it reached a certain level, coupled with the rise in temperature inside the vehicle, static electricity was generated, and a reaction and deflagration occurred."

"The package was supposedly secretly switched and stuffed in. At least that cleared us of suspicion of transporting prohibited and dangerous goods! You have no idea what happened a few days ago. The media was in an uproar, and the reports were making everyone panic. We at Shengfeng felt like a mafia den. I really suspect that if we came to work again, armed police would arrest us all! We wouldn't even be able to argue back!"

"If Brother Jie had been injured, and this package had exploded at the courier station, a fire might have burned all our hard work to ashes!"

"This was intentional. This kind of tactic must have been orchestrated by Liu Qi. He's been targeting Brother Zhao for a long time!"

Bu Ruijie, his hand in a sling, had already been discharged from the hospital. He listened to his brothers talking.

Qian Junyi had his cane placed aside. He was wearing glasses. He had difficulty walking and was now the deputy manager of Shengfeng, in charge of fleet dispatch, freight yard safety, and some "ground promotion" work.

They were Zhao Tao's old brothers, comrades-in-arms who had been through many trials and tribulations together.

In their last battle with Boss Xiong, they narrowly escaped death, but Boss Xiong ultimately met a violent end.

This conflict with Liu Qi almost resulted in Bu Ruijie being burned to death, Zhao Tao potentially being arrested, and Shengfeng Express possibly being shut down as a result.

Only those who have experienced it know how dangerous it is.

"But you know... Liu Qi has done so many evil deeds, so he's finally getting his comeuppance! Who told him to dig up such a huge site? Now the archaeological team, the cultural relics bureau, the police, the entire construction site has been sealed off. It's said to be the ruins of the ancient Shu Kingdom, a major discovery. We don't know exactly how big the discovery is, but the results came out today. After the experts inspected it, they gave the municipal government a map, and all the projects on the map have been suspended!"

"Liu Qi's land king plot is exactly the one in the middle! It's hilarious!"

"I heard that the compensation plan is still being discussed. The government also wants to appease the developers. It is said that land swaps may be carried out, giving the land near the Third Ring Road to these developers who have been blocked to develop in exchange for land."

"Ha, that might be useful to other developers, but Liu Qi bought that land at a high price. He makes a living by marketing high-end concepts. The location is remote and there are no supporting facilities. It's practically a wasteland! He's completely finished now."

"That's for sure. It's said that the government will provide cash subsidies, but they will be disbursed over three years. Liu Qi can't afford to wait that long. I heard that his cash flow is extremely tight. Now that this has happened, the bank has directly issued a document freezing Yipin Real Estate's funds! Many of Yipin Real Estate's projects have been effectively halted. They say that suppliers and construction teams are all asking them for their money!"

"Liu Qi shot himself in the foot. Back when he acquired the land king, he was so arrogant, dining with all sorts of leaders, his reputation was immense, and some even said he was going to sell the land king and become the richest man in Rongcheng! Haha, who knew he'd run into this mess! The future richest man in Rongcheng has fallen from grace!"

Everyone was happily discussing Liu Qi's fate. One of them said to another, "Ha! Liu Yong, you were the one who caused the most trouble, always talking about 'taking up arms,' and when your business was shut down, you even publicly questioned where Brother Tao's 'ultimate move' was. See, Liu Qi was too wicked; he'll get his comeuppance. He didn't even have to wait for Brother Tao to unleash his ultimate move..."

The man paused, stunned.

Bu Ruijie looked at him.

Qian Junyi, who had been preoccupied with his thoughts, glanced over at this moment. Beneath the reflection of his glasses, a pair of slender eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, the scene fell silent.

After a long pause, someone said, "This... can't be right?"

"No way...no way..." Liu Yong, the stubborn and outspoken man, finally spoke slowly: "Do you guys remember when Liu Qi used all sorts of connections to pick a fight with Brother Tao? We were all planning to grab our weapons and fight him. Brother Tao seemed to have been persuaded by us and was preparing to 'negotiate' with Liu Qi...but then Brother Zhang Chen came out and stopped us, telling us in front of us not to choose the path of direct confrontation!"

"I remember. How could I not remember? He was from Yude, a good student. I just remember him saying, 'Liu Qi is taking too big a step, he might tear his balls!' He also analyzed Liu Qi's financial situation at length. I don't remember anything else, but I remember that sentence. I thought it was incredibly insightful!"

"By the way, Zhang Chen is not only a student at Yude School, but his mother seems to be involved in real estate too!"

"That Huang Huifen who was on TV is his mother, Xu Hui Real Estate."

"His mother also got land... With so many plots of land sealed off for the Shahe project this time, won't his mother's land also be affected? What are we going to do then... It's okay if Liu Qi falls, but if Zhang Chen's family also goes down in the same boat, we won't be able to laugh!"

The group then realized what was happening and were about to look for newspapers to compare with the projects that the municipal government had halted.

"No need to look anymore." Qian Junyi, who was sitting across the table, adjusted his glasses and handed over a piece of paper, which was a list of construction sites to be shut down issued by the municipal government.

"The area of ​​the ruins that was identified during the exploration was on the west bank of the Shahe River, while Zhang Chen's land was on the east bank of the Shahe River... which just happened to avoid the area of ​​the ruins," Qian Junyi said.

But these words did not bring any relief to the audience.

Instead, it fell into an eerie silence.

A group of people looked at each other.

Some of them suddenly felt a chill run down their spines, while others were simply in shock.

"Xuhui Real Estate, isn't that the one that competed with Liu Qi's Yipin Real Estate for that piece of land?"

"I tried to compete for it, but I didn't win because of the exclusivity clause, so I got the land on the East Coast. Back then, people were saying that Huang Huifen looked sullen..."

Is this just...good luck?

Or... is there another possibility?
But if it was a deliberate scheme, how could that be possible? Ancient Shu relics haven't been unearthed for thousands of years; who knows you could actually excavate them?

A sudden beeping horn sound from downstairs interrupted everyone's immersion.

Everyone peered outside, and a van pulled up downstairs. Hong Yao was driving it and had picked up Zhao Tao.

Zhao Tao got out of the car, and a group of people came forward to greet him.

Preliminary police investigation ruled out Shengfeng Express's illegal transportation of prohibited items, but determined that someone maliciously delivered the goods, thus temporarily clearing Zhao Tao of suspicion.

After a group of people escorted him up to the second floor, someone suddenly shouted, "Brother Tao! Is this your ultimate move?"

Zhao Tao paused for a moment, looked at everyone, but didn't reply. He just smiled, told everyone to disperse, and walked back to his room by himself.

(End of this chapter)