Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

10,000 meters above the ground.

The cabin air conditioning was blowing a gentle breeze, and the airflow on my face carried a faint scent of white tea.

The muffled sound of the airplane engine, transmitted through the bulletproof window, made my eardrums tingle.

Zhou Yuan leaned back in the wide leather seat of the first class cabin, his legs crossed and resting on the walnut wood footrest in front of him.

He was chewing on a piece of dried beef, his cheeks bulging out.

Teeth tore at the meat tendons, making a "crunching" chewing sound.

The tablet screen emitted a faint blue light, illuminating his rough face with short stubble.

"laugh--"

Zhou Yuan suddenly snorted, and a piece of meat scrap almost went into his trachea.

He quickly wiped his mouth haphazardly with the back of his hand, tapped the screen twice with his finger, and burst out laughing.

"Hey, Lao Su, look at this. Isn't this... who was it again?"

Zhou Yuan chewed on the meat, his speech muffled.

"That arrogant Hou Liangping from the anti-corruption bureau!"

Sitting on the other side of the aisle, Su Jianxin was flipping through several pages of Nasdaq financial reports that still smelled of ink.

Hearing the noise, he pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up his nose.

The lens reflected a cold white light from the overhead lamp.

"What's wrong with him?" Su Jianxin didn't look up, casually picked up the sparkling water on the small table next to him, and took a sip.

"Clatter".

Zhou Yuan threw the tablet directly at Su Jianxin, hitting the report on his leg.

"That bastard's driving an unlicensed taxi! Right now he's kneeling in a mud puddle by the roadside, wailing his death."

Zhou Yuan shook his leg, tapping his toes to the beat, his tone as irritating as could be.

"Those snot bubbles... tsk tsk, they're practically sticking out of his chin, he's crying like a complete idiot who can't find his mother."

Su Jianxin frowned.

He stretched out two fingers, pinched the edge of the tablet, and picked it up with a look of disdain.

There was still a bit of oil on the screen that Zhou Yuan had just put on it, making it sticky.

He glanced at the man in the video who was collapsing and howling in the rain, and a cold laugh escaped his throat.

"His Dao heart is broken."

Su Jianxin took out a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and carefully wiped the screen.

"After being a saint for half my life, I finally realized that... the broken rules I upheld couldn't even buy me a hot meat bun."

Zhou Yuan picked at the bits of meat stuck between his teeth, leaned out of the aisle, and frowned deeply.

"Old Su, give me a heads-up. Our Master Yan is in Handong right now, throwing money around like crazy. What's he after?"

He counted on his thick fingers, calculating each item one by one.

"Look at Zhang Hao and his gang of bastards, they get a luxury apartment as a gift when they buy a car, and all their medical expenses are fully reimbursed."

"The quarterly bonus is hundreds of thousands of cash points, not to mention the free rice and flour from the supermarket downstairs."

Zhou Yuan smacked his lips, swallowed the saliva in his mouth, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"The money we've spent this past month could buy half of Africa, right? Aren't we in the business of capital? Aren't we making a profit by doing this?"

Su Jianxin folded the handkerchief neatly and stuffed it back into his pocket.

He looked at Zhou Yuan as if he were an idiot, put the sparkling water glass back on the table, and the glass base made a crisp sound as it hit the table.

"Losing money? Is your brain filled with garbage?"

Su Jianxin leaned back and crossed his hands under his chin.

That seemingly refined scoundrel's face revealed a fanatical calculation.

"The traditional capitalists of the past relied on exploiting the surplus value of workers to save money in a stingy way. That was the lowest level of operation."

He held up one index finger and waved it in the air.

"Master Yan doesn't do that. What he wants is a monopoly, an absolute technological barrier, and a highly profitable industry."

"Holographic systems, solid-state batteries, and mutant seeds for agriculture. We have all these industries under our control."

Su Jianxin paused for a moment, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

"For Ling Xiao, money is just a matter of typing a couple of lines of code in the backend. The printing press is in Master Yan's hands, why would he be afraid to throw money around?"

Zhou Yuan scratched the back of his head, his short stubble scratching against his palm.

"No, surely throwing money around needs to make a sound, right? Do you really think they're some kind of saint bringing warmth to the people?"

Su Jianxin chuckled, his chest vibrating with two muffled sounds.

"This is called 'dimensional reduction and hijacking.' You think giving welfare is doing charity? That's the deepest chain."

He pointed to the floor beneath his feet, as if pointing to hell.

"Give the common people a large, single-level apartment in the south of the city, and provide their parents with free holistic medical care for life."

"Is his livelihood, the lives of his entire family, inextricably linked to Ling Xiao's system?"

Su Jianxin's tone was chilling, like a razor blade just pulled out of ice water.

"It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. You expect them to go back to that impoverished life where their pockets were emptier than their faces, and then talk about selfless dedication? Is that even possible?"

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, his mouth slightly open.

The bits of meat that were stuck between my teeth fell onto the tip of my tongue.

"What if those people in the capital insist on sending people down to investigate us?"

Zhou Yuan blinked. "What if they go among the common people and stir up trouble, gathering dirt on us?"

"Are you stupid?"

Su Jianxin rolled his eyes and tapped his knuckles on the armrest.

"If you go to the streets of Jingzhou now and shout 'Master Yan is no good,' the fat butcher selling pork will chop you up with a butcher's knife. The old ladies buying vegetables will drown you in their spittle."

He spread his hands, his smile sinister.

"Anyone who dares to touch Ling Xiao is destroying the livelihoods of tens of millions of people and cutting off their lifeline."

"Click".

The mahogany door to the lounge was pushed open from the inside.

A rich, bitter aroma of coffee wafted into the front cabin along with the airflow.

Yan Qingfeng was wearing a dark black silk shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms and no tie.

He carried a white bone china cup, his footsteps making no sound on the thick carpet.

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Zhou Yuan immediately pulled his crossed legs back.

His back was ramrod straight, and his hands were obediently resting on his knees.

Su Jianxin also dropped his lecturing manner and lowered his head slightly.

"Rules, beliefs."

Yan Qingfeng parted his thin lips slightly and uttered a few words, his voice as deep as if he were holding an ice cube.

He picked up his coffee and took a small sip, the scalding liquid flowing down his throat.

"These illusory things can't be eaten."

Yan Qingfeng turned around.

My gaze drifted through the porthole to the pitch-black night outside.

The clouds high in the sky resembled thick, unyielding ink, occasionally flashing with faint streaks of lightning, reflecting his cold and stern features.

"But I, Yan Qingfeng, can provide them with food, and even let them eat the finest meat."

He held the cup by the handle with one hand, the steam from the cup blurring half of his face.

The corners of his mouth curled up little by little, forming a cold, emotionless smile.

"Old Su is right. This is a calculated strategy."

Yan Qingfeng walked step by step to the main control screen and placed the coffee cup on the metal control panel.

The screen was displaying tens of millions of flashing red coordinate dots representing Handong.

Those are every ordinary citizen who has bound their Lingxiao Points.

"Now, these tens of millions of people are the strongest moat for my Lingxiao Consortium."

Yan Qingfeng braced his hands on the metal tabletop, leaning slightly forward.

A tyrannical aura, looking down on everything, surged in his eyes.

"Those old fogies in Beijing, do they think they can touch me with just a few official documents?"

He scoffed softly, the last syllable of his voice carrying a hint of bloodshed.

"We don't even need to lift a finger; the people of Handong will be the first to rush up and tear them to pieces."

Yan Qingfeng turned his head and glanced at Su Jianxin.

"Where are we almost?"

Su Jianxin quickly looked down at the fluorescent hands on his watch.

"Mr. Yan, we'll land at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in two hours."

He pushed up his glasses, his tone filled with excitement.

"Those guys on Wall Street... they've probably already gotten wind of this and are sounding the alarm."

Yan Qingfeng picked up his coffee cup.

He tilted his head back, swallowed the last mouthful of bitter coffee, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He casually tossed the empty cup onto the leather seat next to him.

"Send them a letter."

Yan Qingfeng straightened his collar, his tone as if he were instructing a pig to be slaughtered.

"Just tell them that the 'ancestor' who collects protection money has arrived. Tell them to spread all their account books on the table and get ready."