Lin Mo set his thermos into the Maybach’s cup holder and closed the door.
“If Zhao Kai wants to play with rental monopolies,” Lin Mo said calmly, “we will go look at his toy spoons.”
Master Lu Jian sat in the front passenger seat. He adjusted his work jacket, his eyes gleaming with fierce pride. “Chairman Lin, an eighty-eight-story tower cannot be lifted with standard fifty-ton cranes. We need four heavy-duty internal-climbing tower rigs. We need high-pressure concrete pumps that can push slurry four hundred meters straight into the sky. If the rental cartel shuts us out, renting from other provinces will take three weeks.”
“Then we will not rent,” Lin Mo replied. “Renting heavy machinery is paying another man to hold a knife to your neck. Buying what we need is much simpler.”
Renting fifty-ton cranes at extortion rates just to save upfront cash is classic short-sighted corporate greed, Lin Mo thought deadpan. A hundred-times refund turns heavy capital expenditure into an immediate windfall. Why borrow someone else’s rusted crane when I can buy the best fleet in the country?
Twenty minutes later, the Maybach pulled into the VIP lot of the Jiangcheng International Exhibition Center.
Hall 1 was filled with the smell of hydraulic fluid, fresh industrial paint, and diesel exhaust. Enormous yellow, red, and orange booms rose toward the steel girders of the dome. Hundreds of construction managers, equipment dealers, and engineers walked the carpeted aisles.
In the center of the pavilion, a loud burst of mocking laughter cut through the mechanical hum.
“Look at this junk, Engineer Han!” Zhao Kai sneered, waving a half-smoked Cuban cigar. “Who in their right mind buys four heavy-duty German hybrid tower cranes at ten million a piece? You added anti-collision radar, magnetic brakes, and dual hydraulic valves. You raised the unit price by twenty percent! No contractor in Jiangcheng cares about your backup brakes!”
Beside Zhao Kai stood Black-Sand Boss Lei Bao, wearing a sleeveless leather vest that exposed thick, iron-hued arms covered in scars. Behind them lounged six wealthy bosses of the Jiangcheng Crane Rental Association, chuckling into their gold-rimmed teacups.
“Young Master Zhao is right,” one fat rental boss said with a grin. “Our cartel just leased every fifty-ton rig in the city to Zhao Real Estate. We buy the cheapest rigs on the market. If a cable snaps on site, the insurance pays for the funeral. Why waste money on dual hydraulic valves?”
Standing in front of the gleaming red display crane was a young engineer in his early thirties. He wore steel-toed boots and a grease-smudged blue technician’s coat. His name badge read: Han Dong, Chief Design Engineer, Shenzhou Heavy Industries.
Engineer Han clenched his calloused fists, his face flushed with anger and humiliation.
“My cranes are built with titanium-nickel structural joints!” Engineer Han said, his voice shaking with passion. “The magnetic brakes can halt a twenty-ton load in mid-fall within half a second! In a typhoon or an earthquake, these safety features save human lives! You call that a waste of money?!”
Lei Bao spat on the polished expo floor.
“Human lives don’t pay dividends, kid,” Lei Bao rumbled, his voice like grinding rocks. “We locked down every construction job in this province. You spent your company’s last forty million in development capital building four cranes, eight laser excavators, and six heavy crawler rigs that nobody will buy. Your board of directors will fire you by six tonight.”
The six rental bosses laughed loudly.
Engineer Han bit his lower lip until a drop of blood appeared. Around him, twenty-seven young technicians and mechanics lowered their heads in despair. Their factory had poured everything into this generation of safe machinery. If they could not make a sale today, their workshop would close.
“Who told you nobody would buy them?”
A clear, steady voice echoed through the pavilion.
The crowd turned.
Lin Mo walked down the main carpet, flanked by Master Lu Jian, Su Wan, and Tie Niu.
Zhao Kai’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Lin Mo? You dare to show your face here? Did you enjoy the news? My rental cartel locked every heavy rig in the province! You can hire all the migrant bricklayers you want. Without cranes, you will carry eighty stories of concrete up the stairs on your shoulders!”
Lei Bao folded his massive arms, glaring at Lin Mo with cold hostility. “Kid, you crushed my slag-steel yesterday. But steel needs cranes to lift. Beg me on your knees, and maybe I will rent you two twenty-ton rusted rigs for double price.”
Lin Mo did not even glance at Lei Bao. He walked straight past the cartel bosses and stopped in front of Engineer Han.
Beside him, Master Lu Jian reached out with a trembling hand, tracing the smooth, robotic weld seams on the giant crane’s outrigger.
“Magnificent,” Master Lu whispered, his eyes shining with pure architectural admiration. “German planetary winches paired with domestic magnetic sensors. Laser-calibrated counterweights. Chief Engineer Han, this machine is a masterpiece of modern engineering!”
Engineer Han blinked in surprise. “You... you understand structural rigging?”
“This is Master Lu Jian,” Lin Mo said calmly. “Chief Architect of Taichu Heavenly Construction. And I am Lin Mo, Chairman of Taichu Group.”
Master Lu turned to examine the wooden crates lined up beside the giant rig. He lifted a lightweight mesh vest equipped with micro-fans and titanium lumbar supports.
“Chairman Lin, look at these,” Master Lu said, holding up a vest. “These are active-cooling exoskeleton safety vests. High-altitude steel welders suffer from heatstroke and lumbar strain during summer pours. These vests stabilize body temperature and reduce spine pressure by forty percent. A worker wearing this can work eight hours without spinal fatigue.”
Active-cooling exoskeletons that prevent heatstroke and spinal damage, Lin Mo observed silently. No hospital claims, no lost workdays, and maximum daily productivity. Investing in worker health is simply flawless accounting.
Lin Mo looked at the weary, upright engineer. A soft blue light flashed across his vision:
[TARGET: CHIEF ENGINEER HAN DONG]
[GOODNESS SCORE: 89/100 — RIGOROUS SAFETY ADVOCATE, REFUSED THREE BRIBES TO DOWNGRADE CRANE CABLES, DEFENDED WORKER SAFETY STANDARDS]
[SUPPORT TEAM: 27 FACTORY TECHNICIANS & RIGGERS (GOODNESS: 82–88/100)]
[FINANCIAL DISTRESS: ENTIRE NEW PRODUCT LINE FACING LIQUIDATION DUE TO CARTEL BOYCOTT]
[INVENTORY: 4 FLAGSHIP HEAVY TOWER CRANES, 8 LASER EXCAVATORS, 6 CRAWLER RIGS, 4 HIGH-PRESSURE PUMP TRUCKS, 2,000 ACTIVE-COOLING SAFETY EXOSKELETON VESTS]
Eighty-nine points of goodness, Lin Mo noted. A brilliant engineer who refused to cut safety corners to please greedy rental barons. This is exactly the kind of man Taichu needs.
“Engineer Han,” Lin Mo asked, “what is the total asking price for everything displayed in this pavilion?”
Engineer Han gasped. “Everything? You mean... the four heavy climbing cranes, all eight laser excavators, the crawler rigs, and the four concrete pump trucks?”
“All of it,” Lin Mo said. “Including the two thousand active-cooling safety vests stacked in your supply crates.”
The six rental bosses burst out laughing.
“Hear that?” the fat rental boss snorted. “The young pup wants to buy the whole pavilion! That entire lineup costs forty-five million yuan in hard cash! Even Zhao Real Estate only buys two units on five-year bank credit!”
Zhao Kai sneered, crossing his arms. “Lin Mo, stop bluffing. You spent all your cash buying Lu Ban’er and that scrap steel mill. You don’t have forty-five million liquid to throw at cranes.”
Engineer Han swallowed hard, looking at Lin Mo with hopeful, nervous eyes. “Chairman Lin, the full package price, including factory warranty, three-year parts supply, and the safety vests, is exactly forty-five million yuan. But... our factory requires immediate payment upon contract signing.”
Lin Mo turned to Su Wan. “Bring the wireless terminal.”
Su Wan stepped forward, holding out the mobile POS terminal.
Lin Mo pulled the Black-Gold Benevolence Card from his coat pocket. He handed it to Engineer Han.
“Swipe it,” Lin Mo said simply.
Engineer Han’s hand shook as he took the heavy metallic card. He swiped the magnetic strip across the terminal and typed in: ¥45,000,000.00.
BEEP.
A crisp electronic chime echoed across the entire pavilion:
[TRANSACTION SUCCESSFUL: TAICHU GROUP PAYMENT CONFIRMED]
[PAID AMOUNT: ¥45,000,000.00 RMB]
[RECIPIENT: SHENZHOU HEAVY INDUSTRIES SPECIALTY EQUIPMENT CORP]
Zhao Kai’s cigar tumbled from his lips, landing on the carpet.
The fat rental boss choked on his tea, coughing violently. The other five cartel bosses froze in place, their mouths hanging wide open in utter disbelief.
“He... he paid forty-five million in full?” “No bank loan? Instant settlement?!”
Before anyone could recover, a crisp chime resonated through Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥45,000,000.00 RMB on Chief Engineer Han Dong (Goodness: 89/100) and 27 Heavy Machinery Specialists!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Absolute refusal to compromise life-safety standards for commercial profit.]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Received Cash Refund: +¥4,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥28,607,180,000.50 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +4,500,000 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 6,850 verified righteous allies (+27: Engineer Han Dong & 26 technicians)!]
Twenty-eight point six billion yuan in liquid vault balance, Lin Mo thought, feeling the familiar, clean surge of qi through his dantian. Four point five billion profit in three seconds. When you reward men who build real safety, the universe pays you a handsome dividend.
Engineer Han stared at the printed receipt spitting out of the terminal. His eyes welled with tears.
“Forty-five million...” Engineer Han sobbed, dropping to one knee as he clutched the paper. “Our factory is saved! Our engineers will not be laid off! We can keep building safe machines!”
The twenty-seven young technicians rushed forward, hugging each other and crying tears of pure relief. Several of them wiped tears from their grease-stained cheeks with their jacket sleeves.
“Engineer Han, get up,” Lin Mo said, helping him to his feet. “You earned a five percent direct commission on this sale: two million two hundred and fifty thousand yuan. It will be wired to your personal account in ten minutes. Furthermore, Taichu Group appoints you as Chief Mechanical Consultant. You and your crew will oversee the assembly of these cranes at our Sky-Tower site.”
Engineer Han bowed deeply, his hands pressed together. “Chairman Lin, as long as Han Dong lives, not a single bolt on your site will ever come loose!”
Lin Mo turned his gaze toward Zhao Kai and Lei Bao.
The six rental bosses were trembling. Their exclusive leases with Zhao Real Estate were for fifty-ton scrap rigs. Now, Taichu owned the most advanced heavy-lifting fleet in the province outright. Overnight, the rental cartel’s monopoly had become completely irrelevant.
“You...” Zhao Kai stammered, his face turning purple with rage. “You bought four heavy tower cranes? What good are four cranes against Zhao Real Estate’s thirty active construction sites across the city?!”
Lei Bao stepped forward, his eyes burning with murderous fury. “Kid, buying machines is easy. Keeping them in one piece on a job site is another story. If a crane motor catches fire at night, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Lin Mo looked at Lei Bao with deadpan calmness.
“If a fire starts on my site, Lei Bao,” Lin Mo said softly, “you had better pray your martial bones are harder than your slag rebar.”
Before Lei Bao could reply, a loud commotion broke out at the main entrance of Hall 1.
CRASH!
The glass double doors were pushed open by a desperate crowd.
Over a hundred people flooded into the exhibition hall. They were ordinary middle-class citizens: young couples carrying infants, middle-aged office workers, and elderly grandmothers in faded cardigans. Many carried crumpled protest banners, and several were weeping openly.
In the hands of an older man at the front was a broken chunk of crumbling gray concrete. Protruding from the fractured stone were several green, splintered strips of dried bamboo.
“Help us! Is there anyone with a conscience here?!” the old man cried, his voice breaking with sheer anguish.
A young mother holding a baby collapsed to her knees on the red carpet in front of the television news cameras that had gathered to film the machinery expo.
“We spent three generations of savings to buy a home in Zhao-Imperial Garden!” she sobbed, holding up a baby’s bottle. “Move-in day is next week, but the third-floor balconies began collapsing this morning! When we demanded an inspection, Lei Bao’s security beat our husbands with clubs! They didn’t put steel in our pillars! They built our homes out of rotten bamboo and river sand!”
The old man raised the bamboo-filled chunk of concrete high above his head, shouting toward the stunned crowd of reporters and engineers.
“Where is Shen Qiaoqiao?! Where is Master Lu Jian?!” the old man wept. “The housing bureau won’t listen to us! The courts told us to wait six months! Our families have nowhere left to go!”