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

The dial tone, mixed with the deafening roars outside the window, slammed into Zhou Zhengrong's eardrums.

"Welcome Lord Yan into the pass!"

The roar of hundreds of thousands of starving people was like a black tsunami that had overflowed, instantly flooding the Jiangnan Provincial Government building.

Zhou Zhengrong slumped under the dark desk.

He gripped the expensive carpet tightly with both hands, dark red blood seeping from his curled fingernails.

Blood mixed with cold sweat dripped down, sticking stickily to the back of his hand.

A strong smell of urine emanated from the crotch of his trousers.

The stuffy air in the room caused his stomach to spasm violently.

The shriveled stomach wall rubbed against itself frantically.

"vomit--"

He opened his mouth wide and vomited a mouthful of bitter, yellowish-green bile, which made his trachea burn with pain.

The muscles at the base of my thighs were twisted into a tight knot, convulsing and twitching uncontrollably.

"Bang! Crack!"

The last bulletproof glass door on the first floor was smashed to pieces by a rioter using a dump truck.

The dry, cracking sound of glass shattering traveled up the load-bearing wall, making one's bones ache.

"Governor... we can't stop them! They've all run away!"

Secretary Xiao Wang huddled in the corner of the sofa, so frightened that she was foaming at the mouth and her teeth were chattering wildly.

"The entire SWAT team has abandoned their posts! They said the official RMB couldn't buy food, so they all ran off to the Handong border to grab Lingxiao points!"

Zhou Zhengrong's vision blurred in waves.

He knew that in ten minutes at most, those bloodthirsty disaster victims would rush to the top floor and tear him apart alive.

At the same time, on the 33rd floor of the Lingxiao Building in Handong Province.

The central air conditioning tirelessly blew out 16-degree cold air, and the air was filled with the fragrance of high-grade fir.

A giant holographic map floats in mid-air.

On the map of Jiangnan Province, scarlet riot alarms were flashing wildly, as if possessed.

Su Jianxin stood in front of the map, his eyes gleaming with greedy green light.

A bloodthirsty frenzy flickered across his otherwise refined, scoundrel-like face as he excitedly licked his chapped lower lip.

"Master Yan, your chance has come!"

Su Jianxin pushed up his reflective gold-rimmed glasses, his breathing rapid like a broken bellows.

"Those useless bastards in Jiangnan Province have been out of control for a long time. The granaries are empty, the tree bark has been gnawed off, and the people's resentment is all shouting your name."

He pressed his finger hard on the screen, his knuckles turning pale.

"If you just nod your head now, I'll immediately have Chu Yunfei's heavy mech cross the provincial border!"

"With a wave of our banner, those hundreds of thousands of starving people will be a ready-made suicide squad! We can physically annex Jiangnan Province in one night!"

Yan Qingfeng sank into the large leather sofa, the air conditioning blowing up the corner of his black shirt.

He didn't even lift his eyelids.

Holding a glass of whiskey, his slender fingers casually twirled the glass.

"Ding-dong."

The hard, spherical ice cube struck the glass, producing a crisp, cold sound.

The voice, heard in the large office, exuded an absolute arrogance, as if treating living people like ants.

"Physical takeover? Mr. Su, has your brain been assimilated by refugees from other provinces?"

Yan Qingfeng parted his thin lips slightly, his voice chilling to the bone more than the air conditioning in the room.

"What's the use of having a nominal provincial designation?"

Su Jianxin paused for a moment, his thigh muscles tensing up instinctively.

"But Master Yan, the common people only recognize our Lingxiao Points now. How can we expand our harvest without absorbing them?"

Yan Qingfeng snorted coldly and slammed his wine glass heavily onto the crystal coffee table.

A muffled "bang" was heard.

"Once you occupy the territory, you have to send troops to garrison it and spend real money to maintain stability."

A ruthless glint flashed in his dark, deep eyes, a hint of ruthlessness that seemed determined to kill.

"What can a bunch of starving refugees do besides wasting my special supply of mutated food?"

"Moreover, if we cross the line in name, those face-conscious gentlemen in the capital will have to jump out and argue with us, even if they pretend to be dead."

Yan Qingfeng stood up, his leather shoes landing silently on the Persian carpet.

"I don't seek fame, I just want actual control."

"What I want is the industrial base and deep-water ports of Jiangnan Province, not to be the director of their poverty alleviation office."

Su Jianxin gasped, taking a deep breath of the fir-scented air.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with difficulty, and beneath the refined mask lay a deep sense of awe.

"Master Yan, do you mean, without bloodshed?"

"Lin Yubing." Yan Qingfeng ignored him and directly pressed the holographic communicator on the desktop.

"Yes." Lin Yubing's cold, mechanical voice came instantly.

"Take your legal team and go to the Jiangnan Provincial Party Committee compound."

Yan Qingfeng straightened his perfectly wrinkle-free cuffs.

"Those regional officials are practically being torn apart by the people now; it's the perfect time to do business."

Yan Qingfeng walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the totalitarian city that belonged entirely to him.

"Go and have a 'friendly negotiation' with them."

"Take the 'People's Livelihood Franchise Takeover Agreement' with you, without changing a single word. Let them fend for themselves if they don't hand over the power grid, water network, and the right to mint coins in Jiangnan Province."

In the holographic projection, Lin Yubing's red lips curved into a cold arc.

"Understood, Master Yan. I guarantee they'll kneel on the ground, crying and begging us to take over."

Half an hour later, at the Jiangnan Provincial Government Building.

The firelight turned the night sky a fiery red, and the strong smell of burning gasoline mixed with the sweat of tens of thousands of people filled the nostrils.

Downstairs, hundreds of thousands of rioters were surging wildly up the stairs.

The heavy footsteps made the entire building tremble, and the gray-white paint on the walls crumbled down.

"Boom—"

The heavy mahogany door to the governor's office was violently kicked open from the outside.

The heavy door slammed against the wall, shaking down a pile of white dust.

Zhou Zhengrong was so frightened that his heart almost stopped and his eyes rolled back.

His legs went weak, and he rolled out from under the desk, collapsing like a lump of mud on the broken glass floor.

The sharp shards of glass instantly pierced his bespoke suit.

Several deep cuts were made on his thigh, and fresh blood seeped out, with a salty and fishy smell.

He was in so much pain that his whole body was shaking violently, but he didn't even have the strength to cry out in pain.

"Don't kill me! I know the password to the vault! I'll give it all to you!"

Zhou Zhengrong screamed in agony with his eyes closed, his teeth chattering wildly.

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, curled up in a ball, waiting for the mob's iron bars to come crashing down.

But what followed was a crisp metallic clanging sound.

"Da, da, da."

The sharp, high heels stomped mercilessly on the shards of broken glass scattered on the ground.

The glass was crushed into powder, producing a harsh, dry "crunching" sound.

It sent chills down your spine.

Zhou Zhengrong opened his eyes, trembling.

The people standing at the door are not rioters at all.

Instead, there were two rows of Lingxiao Legal Security personnel, fully armed and carrying assault rifles.

The cold, gunpowder-like smell of fir trees instantly masked the stench of urine in the room.

Lin Yubing walked in, wearing a tight black suit, stepping over the mess on the floor.

The lenses of the rimless glasses reflected a cold, piercing white light in the firelight.

She walked up to Zhou Zhengrong and glanced at his wet crotch with disgust.

Her fair wrist suddenly flipped over.

"Clatter!"

A thick, ink-smelling agreement was slapped hard onto Zhou Zhengrong's pale old face.

The sharp edge of the paper roughly scraped across his nose, leaving a red mark.

Zhou Zhengrong gasped in pain and frantically grabbed the agreement.

Agreement on the Comprehensive Takeover and Transfer of People's Livelihood Infrastructure in Jiangnan Province.

The bold, large characters were like a death knell, nailed to his retina.

His empty stomach convulsed again, and bitter saliva got stuck in his throat, making him cough.

"Chief Lin... what does this mean?"

Zhou Zhengrong's voice cracked in two, revealing a despair as if his spine had been utterly shattered.

"Didn't Lord Yan send you here to quell the rebellion? This...this is going to take away the lifeblood of our Jiangnan Province!"

The roaring sounds from downstairs grew closer, and the banging on the door was approaching the corridor.

You could even hear the dry, loud crashes of the mob smashing through the blast door.

Lin Yubing crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking down at this once arrogant high-ranking official.

Her red lips parted slightly, her voice as cold as a piece of raw iron just pulled from the freezer.

"Master Yan has no interest in being your provincial governor, nor does he have time to collect that fixed salary."

She pointed down at the mob downstairs who were about to eat people.

"Those hundreds of thousands of mouths outside, if our Lingxiao's mutated grain trucks take a single step back, they can tear you to pieces and feed you to the dogs within a minute."

Lin Yubing pushed up his glasses, his tone devoid of any human compassion.

"This agreement only concerns your life or death; it makes no conditions."

She bent down slightly, staring at Zhou Zhengrong's legs that were shaking wildly, and threw out her final line.

"Master Yan only wants you to transfer all the infrastructure and lifeline to Ling Xiao, skin and bones."

"Now, Governor Zhou, are you planning to cling to your laughable official dignity and let outsiders tear you apart..."

"Or would you rather quickly leave a bloody handprint and hope that Master Yan will take pity on you and spare your dog's life?"