Delta: Who are you saying has suffered a loss of strength?

The client intervened forcefully, supporting Mr. Qi's construction team.

At first, the protesters were still making a fuss, but they were controlled by the client and didn't go too far.

But one day, for some reason, when Mr. Qi went to the construction site again, he was surprised to find that the protesters had disappeared.

Mr. Qi asked several times, but the client only said, "It's all taken care of, so you can focus on construction."

He didn't press the matter further; when it comes to engineering, it's better to avoid trouble.

In addition to engineering inspection professionals, environmental protection departments, government departments, and police inspection departments rarely come.

It was almost like a smooth journey; even General Qi had never fought such a well-funded battle.

But as the building grew taller, the client started making some strange demands. And things started to go increasingly erratically.

When the building reached over 300 meters, the client sent several sealed lead boxes, saying they would put the contents inside when the high-rise beams and columns were being poured.

Mr. Qi opened it and took a look. It contained several gold ingots, which were heavy and had some strange lines on them. Otherwise, they were just golden-yellow metal blocks.

He was stunned and asked the client what they meant. The client only said, "Just put it in according to the coordinates we asked for, and don't let too many people know."

Mr. Qi thought of the practice of "driving live piles" that he had heard about in China. It was a saying passed down from the older generation, where animals or people were buried in reinforced concrete as a sacrifice to ensure the smooth progress of the project.

But then I thought about it and realized that it was just gold ingots, not living things, and it wasn't illegal. It was probably just some special local custom, so I did it.

He personally oversaw those locations, placing the steel cages, pouring the concrete, and compacting and smoothing it. Apart from him and two other trusted confidants, no one knew that something was hidden inside those pillars.

Things started to go wrong from there.

The client, who had always ignored the construction site, suddenly started sending people to inspect it frequently, three or four times a week, as if they wanted to live on the site.

The people who came didn't check the construction quality; they just took the blueprints and went around checking the locations, and even used instruments to measure things around the building.

When Mr. Qi asked them what they were testing, they only said "structural monitoring".

Although Mr. Qi's Mandarin isn't fluent, after so many years of engineering projects, he can understand quite a bit of what he hears.

He clearly heard those people communicating in American English, saying things like "signal" and "frequency," which had nothing to do with his project.

Later, the client started to urge the project to proceed. The original contract was for a five-year construction period, but the client insisted on reducing it to three years.

Recently, they've been calling almost every two days to inquire about the delivery date.

General Manager Qi was under immense pressure and worked many night shifts, causing the workers to complain. He could only appease them by offering double wages.

These are all minor issues; the inspections are not as strict as those in China.

So what if we're rushing the construction period? At least the project funds have been paid, and everything will be fine.

What truly unsettled President Qi was that several of his trusted confidants who knew about the buried "gold ingots" resigned one after another, saying they wanted to return to China.

They were the group of people who had been with President Qi the longest, and they were also the employees that President Qi trusted the most. Their character and work ability were beyond reproach.

General Manager Qi believed he had never mistreated them, but he never expected that they would resign at this moment.

Although work has been a bit tough lately, there have been tougher jobs, and I've managed to get through them all. Why do you suddenly have to leave?

Despite all the persuasion and offers of various conditions to keep the other party from leaving, they remained unmoved and insisted on returning to China without giving any reason, showing remarkable determination.

Mr. Qi had no choice but to assume that they were homesick after being abroad for too long. In the end, he gave each of them a large sum of money and told them to go back first, rest for a while, and then come back.

Unexpectedly, after that, President Qi could no longer contact them.

This incident saddened President Qi for quite some time. Being far from home, it wasn't easy to find a few trustworthy people, and this whole mess made him feel betrayed.

I've been so good to them, how come they're such ungrateful wretches?

An even more outrageous thing happened not long ago.

That night, he worked overtime until very late again. He returned to the hotel from the construction site and walked from the elevator to his room.

The hotel corridors are covered with thick carpets to absorb sound and prevent noise from the hallways, so you can hardly hear any footsteps.

As he yawned and reached for his room key at the door, the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Three local-looking men suddenly rushed out, each clutching a dagger, its blade gleaming coldly. Without a word, they stabbed at President Qi's chest.

Having been a big boss for so long, Mr. Qi has seen plenty of fights and disturbances.

But he was a leader, and he had never experienced anything like this before. He was stunned and his mind went blank.

Fortunately, he had been worried that the poor people might harm him, so he had hired a security team since he arrived in Longdu.

The security team was right behind him at the time. They were very responsible and did not let their guard down once he entered the room.

Two strong bodyguards rushed up and pulled him back, while one of them raised his arm to block the knife.

The group then got into a fight with the three thugs.

Fortunately, the security company's personnel were skilled and well-trained, and they successfully subdued the three thugs.

Shortly afterward, local police arrived and took the person away.

Afterwards, he went to the hotel to check the surveillance footage, but the hotel said that the surveillance cameras for that time period were just broken.

When I went to the police to ask about the situation, the police said that the three people were unemployed people from the nearby slums, and that they had been smoking Western leaves and were in a daze, so they robbed me.

Mr. Qi didn't believe a single word of it.

The hotel he stayed at was the best in Longdu, with exceptionally strict security measures. There were three access control points: the lobby, the elevator, and the corridor. Only hotel guests could get in.

How could three drug-addicted poor people sneak in? How could they know which room he lived in? How could they have a key to open his door?

Only then did he realize that the problem was serious.

Whether his subordinates who returned to China have made it back safely is still unknown!

Even if someone was plotting against them, why would they resign voluntarily? President Qi still couldn't understand it. Besides, the resignation agreements were signed and sealed voluntarily; no one forced them…

Just the day before yesterday, President Qi wanted to report and coordinate some matters, but found that he could no longer contact the person in charge who had been in contact with him for so long.

They simply changed the person in charge to handle things.

What exactly is going on that necessitates changing the person in charge at the very end of the project?

The more President Qi thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Even a blind person should be able to see that there was a problem.

But now that things have come to this, what can President Qi do?

All he wants now is to finish this project as soon as possible and go home.