Zhao Dehai clinked his tall crystal wine glass against the rim of a silver champagne bucket at the head table of the Jiangcheng Grand Hyatt ballroom. The sharp ring drew the eyes of two hundred corporate chairmen and bank presidents.
It was noon, and the annual Jiangcheng Chamber of Commerce executive luncheon was in full swing. Beneath the ballroom chandeliers, municipal trade delegates mingled over white linen tablecloths adorned with floral centerpieces and vintage champagne.
With his silk jacket unbuttoned, Zhao Dehai raised his glass toward three middle-aged customs directors seated across from him.
These were the heads of Huachang Diagnostics, Kangtai Medical, and Shenglong Instruments: Boss Hu, Boss Kang, and Boss Shen.
“A toast to foresight, gentlemen,” Zhao Dehai chuckled, his heavy gold rings catching the light. “Lin Mo thought he could challenge the Zhao family by buying an empty twenty-eight-story glass tower. But medical hardware is the bone and muscle of modern healthcare. Without your exclusive domestic distributorships, his fancy hospital won’t even have a working MRI scanner by Friday!”
Boss Hu (Goodness: 16/100) grinned with oily satisfaction, clinking his glass against Zhao Dehai’s. “Chairman Zhao, you have our absolute loyalty.”
“Taichu Hospital sent us an emergency legal summons this morning demanding their down payment back,” Boss Hu sneered. “I threw their summons directly into the shredder! Our contracts have ninety-day grace periods. By the time they can even file a lawsuit, their seventy scheduled surgery patients will have abandoned them!”
Boss Kang (Goodness: 18/100) laughed loudly, slicing into a thick cut of imported Wagyu steak. “Exactly! Let those penniless patients beg on the street! If Lin Mo wants surgical robots, he can hire blacksmiths to forge some iron pliers! In this province, anyone who tries to heal the poor without our permission will starve!”
Boss Shen (Goodness: 17/100) nodded eagerly. “Our three companies control every pre-cleared medical device warehouse in southern China. We can afford to let our machines sit in storage collecting dust just to watch Lin Mo’s new hospital choke to death!”
The corporate executives at the surrounding tables joined in with polite chuckles. In their eyes, Zhao Pharmaceutical was an untouchable titan that had dominated the provincial market for twenty-five years.
Across town, on the top floor of Taichu Sanctuary Hospital, Lin Mo stood by the floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass wall of his corner office.
CEO Su Wan stood beside him, watching the live video stream of the Chamber of Commerce luncheon on her tablet. Her eyebrows drew together in a tight, angry line.
“Those three distributors are gloating on camera, Chairman Lin,” Su Wan said, her tone icy. “They are claiming that international maritime shipping takes sixty days, and that no domestic hospital can acquire advanced robotic surgical consoles without their authorization.”
Lin Mo took a slow sip of hot tea from a porcelain cup. “Why do people always assume boats are the only way to move metal across the planet?”
Su Wan looked up, blinking in surprise. “Chairman Lin?”
“A cargo ship travels at twenty knots,” Lin Mo said in a calm, deadpan voice. “A Boeing 747-8 freighter flies at five hundred knots. Why negotiate with petty middlemen who hoard iron when we can buy directly from the factory floor?”
Su Wan’s expression relaxed into a sharp, knowing smile. “Right after our briefing at two a.m. last night, Swiss Precision Medical in Zurich and Siemens Healthineers in Munich accepted our emergency airlift order. The three chartered Boeing 747-8 heavy freighters have been flying east for ten hours and just entered provincial airspace, awaiting final customs and overtime clearance.”
“Cash is the only resource Taichu Group possesses in embarrassing abundance,” Lin Mo replied dryly. “Settle the final factory-direct invoice for the twelve Da Vinci Xi robotic consoles and two ultra-high-field three-Tesla MRI systems in full cash, and release the double-wage overtime and five-star accommodation package for their flight crews and installation engineers.”
Lin Mo pulled out his matte emerald-green Benevolence Charity Card and swiped it across Su Wan’s payment console.
“Authorize forty million yuan in instant cash,” Lin Mo ordered. “Clear all three heavy freight jets from Zurich and Munich for immediate priority landing. I want those machines touching down at Jiangcheng International Airport before the dessert course finishes at Zhao Dehai’s luncheon.”
A resonant chime echoed in Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[DING! CRITICAL MEDICAL LOGISTICS & FACTORY-DIRECT EXPENDITURE DETECTED!]
[TARGET: 30 HONEST FLIGHT CREWS & PRECISION INSTALLATION ENGINEERS (GOODNESS: 83–89/100) & TAICHU PATIENT HARDWARE ENDOWMENT!]
[SPENT: ¥40,000,000.00 RMB!]
[100x PURE-HEART REBATE TRIGGERED: +¥4,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[PERSONAL VAULT BALANCE: ¥35,100,680,000.50 RMB!]
[BENEVOLENCE MERIT POINTS: +4,000,000 BMP (TOTAL: 37,150,528 BMP)!]
[GOOD PEOPLE NETWORK EXPANDED: 780 -> 810 MEMBERS!]
A surge of golden qi flowed smoothly through Lin Mo’s meridians, warming his bones and enhancing his spiritual senses.
Meanwhile, seven thousand miles away in the Zurich executive boardroom of Swiss Precision Medical, the global sales director watched the final forty-million-yuan settlement and crew bonus package clear in real time.
Eleven hours earlier, when Taichu Group’s overnight wire order had arrived, three massive Boeing 747-8 heavy freight jets had been fueled on the tarmac in Zurich and Munich within twenty minutes.
Thirty senior precision-assembly engineers and flight technicians (Goodness: 83–89/100) had boarded the overnight flights, and their phones now chimed on final approach with a one-hundred-percent overtime bonus and full family insurance stipends directly from Taichu Group.
Descending out of the high-altitude jet stream after their eleven-hour transcontinental flight, the heavy cargo turbines roared across the clouds above Jiangcheng.
By one-thirty in the afternoon, the three massive cargo planes touched down smoothly on the long runway of Jiangcheng International Airport.
Commander Tie Niu was already waiting on the airport tarmac with forty armored transport trucks and thirty-eight veteran Iron Guards. High-capacity mobile cranes lifted the sealed crates from the cargo holds, strapping the delicate medical machinery securely onto twelve heavy flatbed trailers.
The Swiss flight captain shook Tie Niu’s hand with immense admiration. “In thirty years of aviation logistics, I have never seen a corporation wire forty million in cash within five minutes. Your Chairman Lin is a legend in Zurich!”
“Our Chairman moves with absolute precision,” Tie Niu replied proudly, saluting the pilots before climbing onto the lead convoy truck.
Back at the Jiangcheng Grand Hyatt ballroom, it was now two o’clock in the afternoon.
The luncheon waiters were serving chocolate souffles and vintage cognac. Zhao Dehai stood up to deliver his keynote address on regional pharmaceutical stability.
“In conclusion,” Zhao Dehai proclaimed, smiling warmly at the cameras, “Jiangcheng’s healthcare infrastructure relies on order, discipline, and established partnerships. Upstart companies that attempt to disrupt our supply chains will learn that without our blessing, not a single screw can move into this city!”
Suddenly, a strange vibration resonated through the ballroom floor.
The crystal wine glasses on the linen tables began to rattle. A low, thunderous roar rumbled from the avenue outside, shaking the massive plate-glass windows overlooking Central Boulevard.
“What is that noise?” Boss Hu muttered, pausing with his cognac glass halfway to his mouth. “An earthquake?”
“Look outside!” an executive near the window cried out.
Two hundred guests turned their heads toward the panoramic glass windows.
Down on Central Boulevard, the traffic had parted completely. Six police motorcycle escorts with flashing blue lights led the way, followed by ten gleaming black-and-gold executive vehicles from Taichu Benevolence Group.
Behind them came a monumental convoy of twelve heavy flatbed semi-trailers.
Strapped securely onto the flatbeds beneath clear weather-sealed acrylic transport bubbles were twelve pristine, titanium-white Da Vinci Xi surgical robotic consoles. Their multi-jointed robotic arms gleamed brilliantly under the afternoon sunlight.
Following the surgical robots were two monumental transport skids carrying giant, three-Tesla superconducting MRI magnets, their polished casing bearing the official factory insignia of Siemens Munich.
Riding atop the lead transport truck was Commander Tie Niu. His black combat uniform was immaculate, and thirty-eight veteran Iron Guards stood flanking each transport vehicle with imposing military precision.
Beside each machine stood Swiss and German installation engineers in immaculate factory jumpsuits, holding clipboards and waving at the city pedestrians.
The entire boulevard was lined with thousands of cheering citizens and medical students, taking photos and waving banners welcoming Taichu’s high-tech equipment.
Inside the ballroom, Boss Hu’s eyes bulged like an enraged bull’s. “Those... those are factory-sealed Da Vinci Xi consoles! And three-Tesla superconducting magnets! How... how are they here?”
“That is impossible!” Boss Kang screamed, knocking over his chair. “Those machines take three months to ship from Europe! We hold the exclusive provincial import clearance!”
Right at that exact second, Boss Hu’s phone rang with a frantic tone.
He pressed speakerphone with trembling fingers. The voice of the Swiss Precision Medical Vice-President of Global Compliance boomed through the receiver in flawless English, broadcast to the entire room:
“Attention, Huachang Diagnostics! Our global board has just concluded an emergency review. Your firm has engaged in malicious contractual breach, intentionally withholding life-saving surgical hardware from certified medical facilities for anti-competitive extortion! Effective immediately, Swiss Precision Medical revokes your regional distributorship! All future supply contracts in East Asia are permanently awarded to Taichu Benevolence Group!”
A second phone rang in Boss Kang’s pocket. It was Siemens Healthineers global compliance, delivering the exact same revocation notice.
Boss Hu’s knees turned to rubber. He collapsed onto the dining table, knocking two dessert plates and a bottle of expensive red wine to the floor.
“Revoked...” Boss Hu whispered in horror. “My family’s twenty-year license... destroyed in one afternoon...”
Boss Kang and Boss Shen looked at each other with gray, lifeless faces. Their exclusive monopoly, worth hundreds of millions in annual kickbacks, had evaporated before their eyes.
Zhao Dehai stood frozen at the podium. His face turned from purple to an ugly, mottled gray.
His fingers twitched violently. The heavy crystal wine glass in his grip slipped and shattered into a hundred jagged shards on the parquet floor, splashing dark red wine across his polished leather shoes.
“Lin Mo...” Zhao Dehai hissed through gritted teeth, his chest heaving with murderous fury. “You chartered international cargo jets... just to bypass my distributors?!”
Across town, the Taichu convoy rolled triumphantly into the underground receiving bays of Taichu Sanctuary Hospital.
Dr. Gu Qinghe stood on the loading dock, watching forty technicians guide the massive three-Tesla MRI magnets into the shielded subterranean bunker. Tears of profound relief shone behind his glasses.
“Seventy critical patients can now undergo precision surgery on schedule,” Dr. Gu said softly. “Chairman Lin has broken the blockade in a single afternoon.”
Back in the Grand Hyatt ballroom, Zhao Dehai’s personal assistant ran up to the stage, whispering urgently into his ear.
“Chairman Zhao,” the assistant murmured, panting for breath. “Calm down. We still hold the ultimate trump card.”
Zhao Dehai wiped the sweat from his forehead with a trembling hand. “What trump card?”
“Tomorrow evening is the annual Jiangcheng Medical Charity Auction at the Municipal Exhibition Center,” the assistant whispered. “The centerpiece lot is an authentic, three-hundred-year-old Changbai Wild King Ginseng. It was excavated last month from the primeval Changbai mountains.”
The assistant leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial hiss.
“Our spies inside Taichu Hospital reported that Dr. Gu Qinghe has twelve pediatric leukemia patients in critical condition. Their bone marrow vitality is completely drained. Dr. Gu’s meridian needles cannot stabilize their marrow without the potent life-force essence of that three-hundred-year wild ginseng. If they don’t get it within forty-eight hours, those twelve children will die.”
Zhao Dehai’s cold, vicious grin returned, flashing like a venomous serpent’s fangs.
“A three-hundred-year wild king ginseng?” Zhao Dehai whispered, his fingers curling into tight fists. “Gu Qinghe needs it to save his little leukemia patients? Excellent. Prepare fifty million yuan in emergency liquidity from our offshore reserves.”
Zhao Dehai turned toward the window, glaring at the distant emerald LED sign of Taichu Sanctuary Hospital.
“Tomorrow night, I will buy that ginseng at any price,” Zhao Dehai swore with cold malice. “Even if I have to grind it into dust and feed it to my dogs, not a single root fiber will ever touch Gu Qinghe’s hands! We will crush their hope before the entire city.”