Zhao Peng paced across the elevated metal catwalk of Gourmet-King Monopoly’s central food processing plant at seven o’clock in the morning, pointing his espresso cup down at twenty industrial meat grinders that hummed like angry hornets.
Below him inside the North Industrial Zone loading terminal, steel conveyor belts rattled as workers dumped frozen slabs of dark, discolored meat into the stainless-steel hoppers through a choking stench of ammonia, bleach, and rancid tallow. Beside Zhao Peng stood Director Cao, the plant manager, holding an electronic production tablet.
“Speed up the grinding line!” Zhao Peng ordered, his eyes bloodshot from a sleepless night. “Our eighty restaurant branches across the city need forty thousand orders of steamed meat buns and dumplings before the lunch rush! If any kitchen runs out of dim sum filling, I will dock your monthly bonus!”
Down on the floor, fifty-year-old packing supervisor Auntie Fang stepped away from the main hopper. She threw her rubber gloves onto the concrete deck, her face pale with horror.
“Director Cao, we cannot grind this meat!” Auntie Fang cried out, her voice trembling. “Look at these pallets! The meat is black and slimy, and the yellow ice smells like rotten sewage! The agricultural inspection stamps on the wood are from October 2019! That is seven years ago!”
Auntie Fang pointed an accusing finger at the pallets stacked five layers high along the loading bay.
“Twenty years ago, Gourmet-King was an honest business,” Auntie Fang continued, her eyes brimming with tears. “We used fresh local pork. But since Young Master Zhao took over, you have been buying expired national reserve meat that was slated for industrial incineration! Look at what you are adding to the hoppers!”
Behind Auntie Fang, nineteen other line workers turned off their grinders, stepping back in refusal.
“You are pouring liquid formaldehyde and chemical bleaching powder into the hopper to mask the rot!” another worker shouted. “And those brown bags in the corner are concentrated poppy-husk extract to make customers addicted! If children eat these dumplings, they will suffer severe organ failure! We will not poison innocent people!”
Director Cao marched down the metal stairs, his face twisting into a furious scowl.
“Shut your mouths and get back to work!” Director Cao snarled, brandishing an iron clipboard. “Gourmet-King has served this formula for ten years! You are paid to pack meat, not to play doctor! If you refuse to operate the grinders, you are fired without severance! I will blacklist you from every food plant in the province!”
Before Director Cao could raise his clipboard, a deafening crash shook the factory.
BOOM!
The heavy steel roller gates at the front of the terminal were forced open.
Four armored tactical transport vans of the Righteous Iron Guard rolled into the loading bay, blocking every forklift ramp and exit door with military precision.
Commander Tie Niu stepped out first, flanked by twenty armored veterans with riot shields.
Behind them marched Chief Counsel Shen Qiaoqiao, her dark power suit sharp and her leather case in hand. Beside her walked Inspector Chief Wei, leading thirty uniformed officers of the Municipal Food and Drug Safety Taskforce, accompanied by television news crews carrying live broadcast cameras.
Guiding them through the maze of pallets was young courier Xiao Lin, wearing his yellow Taichu Express windbreaker.
“Inspectors, over here!” Xiao Lin called out, pointing toward the rear refrigerated vault. “The zombie meat was unloaded from trailer plate number Seven-Nine-Two! The chemical bleaching vats and poppy-husk bags are right behind the primary hoppers!”
Zhao Peng nearly dropped his coffee cup on the catwalk. His face went completely white as paper.
“Turn off those cameras!” Zhao Peng shrieked, sprinting down the stairs. “Who authorized this?! This is private corporate property! Expel these trespassers right now!”
Shen Qiaoqiao walked straight toward Zhao Peng, holding up a red-sealed legal order with razor-sharp authority.
“Under Article One Hundred and Forty-One of the National Criminal Code,” Shen Qiaoqiao said, her voice echoing across the concrete hall. “This is an emergency judicial search and seizure warrant signed by the High Court Chief Justice. Gourmet-King Monopoly is under immediate criminal investigation for manufacturing and selling toxic, unwholesome food products.”
Inspector Chief Wei pushed past Zhao Peng without a second glance.
He approached the nearest wooden pallet and used a utility knife to slice open the tattered burlap wrapping.
A foul, sickening stench of decayed meat and harsh chemical formaldehyde filled the air.
Inspector Chief Wei peeled back the frost. Stamped clearly into the weathered wood of the crate was an official seal: [MUNICIPAL LIVESTOCK RESERVE — PRODUCTION DATE: OCTOBER 2019].
The television cameras zoomed straight into the moldy, blackened flesh.
“Viewers of Jiangcheng News,” a reporter said, holding a microphone with a shaking hand. “We are live inside Gourmet-King Monopoly’s central kitchen. Forty tons of expired meat from 2019—seven years old—is currently being processed with industrial bleaching agents and chemical flavorings to supply eighty restaurants across our city.”
Dr. Gu Qinghe, who had accompanied the inspection team, inspected the chemical drums stacked near the hoppers.
“These are drums of industrial-grade formaldehyde and carcinogenic sodium hydrosulfite,” Dr. Gu reported to the news cameras. “These chemicals bleach rotten black tissue into white meat and destroy bacterial odors. Consuming these compounds destroys kidney tubules and causes severe gastric bleeding.”
Across Jiangcheng, hundreds of thousands of citizens watching the morning news dropped their teacups in sheer revulsion.
Phone lines at City Hall, the police department, and the consumer protection bureau jammed within two minutes.
Zhao Peng collapsed against a stack of crates, his legs trembling violently. “Director Cao... you fool... why didn’t you hide the crates?!”
“You told me to grind it immediately, Young Master Zhao!” Director Cao stammered, weeping in panic. “You said nobody would ever look inside our private docks!”
Meanwhile, across town, the three wholesale cartel bosses received the news in their offices.
Boss Qian of seafood, Boss Ma of pork, and Boss Wang of grain stared at their television screens in horror. Because they had locked their warehouses overnight to boycott Taichu, fifty tons of their own perishable seafood and pork had begun to spoil with zero buyers. Now, their primary corporate client, Gourmet-King, was being raided on live television.
All three cartel bosses were ruined in a single morning.
Lin Mo walked into the factory bay, his stainless thermos in his hand.
He looked at the thirty chemical drums labeled with poison hazard symbols, his expression deadpan.
Grinding seven-year-old rotten meat with formaldehyde to make luxury dim sum is why corrupt monopolists belong in maximum-security prisons, Lin Mo thought deadpan. And rewarding workers who refuse to poison their neighbors is the easiest investment on earth.
Lin Mo stopped in front of Auntie Fang and the nineteen brave workers who had shut off their machines.
[TARGET GROUP: SUPERVISOR AUNTIE FANG & 19 ETHICAL FACTORY WORKERS]
[AVERAGE GOODNESS SCORE: 86/100 — COURAGEOUS REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN CORPORATE FOOD POISONING]
[STATUS: UNLAWFULLY TERMINATED BY GOURMET-KING]
[WHISTLEBLOWER: COURIER XIAO LIN (GOODNESS: 92/100)]
Lin Mo looked at the tearful workers and turned to Su Wan.
“Su Wan, issue an immediate whistleblower protection allocation,” Lin Mo commanded. “Ten million yuan from our sanctuary treasury.”
The entire factory bay fell silent.
“Courier Xiao Lin receives a two-million-yuan public safety bravery award for conducting surveillance and saving our city from widespread poisoning,” Lin Mo announced. “He will use this capital to establish the Taichu Courier Health and Emergency Relief Fund.”
Xiao Lin gasped, his eyes filling with tears of gratitude. “Chairman Lin... thank you! Our delivery riders will have real medical protection now!”
Lin Mo then turned toward Auntie Fang and the nineteen line workers.
“For Auntie Fang and the nineteen workers who stood up for human decency,” Lin Mo continued, “Taichu awards an immediate four-hundred-thousand-yuan severance and integrity bonus to each of you. Furthermore, all twenty of you are hired today at double your current salary to manage the sanitary cold-chain operations at our newly opened Grandma Chen and Taichu Hundred-Chef Culinary Sanctuary.”
Auntie Fang clutched her apron, bursting into weeping laughter. “Four hundred thousand yuan?! And a job at Grandma Chen’s kitchen?! Bless you, Chairman Lin! You are a living bodhisattva!”
The twenty workers cheered, embracing each other and bowing repeatedly toward Lin Mo.
Lin Mo swiped the Black-Gold Benevolence Card on Su Wan’s mobile reader: ¥10,000,000.00.
BEEP.
A magnificent celestial chime resonated deep inside Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥10,000,000.00 RMB on Whistleblower Courier Xiao Lin (Goodness: 92/100) & 20 Righteous Food Workers (Goodness: 81–88/100)!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Courageous exposure of toxic corporate food crimes and refusal to poison the public.]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Received Cash Refund: +¥1,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥45,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,000,000 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 8,050 verified righteous allies (+50: food safety inspectors and forensic analysts)!]
One billion cash refund, Lin Mo thought, watching his vault balance reach forty-five billion. Spending ten million to protect honest workers who prevented mass poisoning, and earning a billion in profit. Doing good is the most powerful economic force in existence.
Inspector Chief Wei stepped forward, holding a thick stack of red official municipal seals.
With sharp, resonant thuds, Inspector Chief Wei and thirty police officers slapped emergency closure notices across every doorway, warehouse entrance, and loading bay of the central plant:
[MUNICIPAL EMERGENCY CLOSURE ORDER]
[REASON: VIOLATION OF NATIONAL FOOD SAFETY CODES — PROCESSING EXPIRED AND ADULTERATED MEATS]
[STATUS: TOTAL SHUTDOWN OF ALL 80 GOURMET-KING FRANCHISES IN JIANGCHENG]
Handcuffs clicked onto Director Cao and Zhao Peng’s wrists.
“Zhao Peng, Director Cao,” the lead police officer declared. “You are under arrest for commercial endangerment, manufacturing toxic food products, and economic fraud. Step into the van.”
Zhao Peng thrashed violently in his steel handcuffs, his silk robe torn and stained with black meat grease.
“Inspector Wei, you dare touch me?!” Zhao Peng shrieked, spitting blood onto the concrete floor. “My father is a senior member of the provincial commerce chamber! My family controls thirty billion in municipal assets! A single phone call from my family will strip you of your badge!”
Inspector Chief Wei did not even blink. He adjusted his glasses with cold dignity.
“Your family cannot save you from forty tons of chemical-bleached meat broadcast live to two million citizens, Zhao Peng,” Inspector Chief Wei said firmly. “In fact, your family board members will be questioned by municipal anti-corruption prosecutors before noon. Take them away!”
The officers dragged Zhao Peng and Director Cao toward the armored police transport vans, their screams drowned out by the flashing television cameras and cheering bystanders.
Behind them, Auntie Fang and the nineteen line workers removed their heavy chemical respirators, taking their first deep breaths of clean morning air as they walked out into the bright sunshine.
Two Taichu Express executive shuttle buses pulled up to the factory gates.
Tie Niu stood by the open doors, offering a crisp salute to the workers. “Auntie Fang, brothers and sisters, welcome to Taichu Group. Your new uniforms, housing vouchers, and medical benefit cards are waiting for you at the Sanctuary Canteen.”
The twenty workers boarded the buses with tears of relief and broad smiles, waving gratefully to Xiao Lin and Lin Mo.
Chief Counsel Shen Qiaoqiao stepped up beside Lin Mo, checking her watch.
“Chairman Lin,” Shen Qiaoqiao said, a warm smile touching her face. “All eighty Gourmet-King restaurants across Jiangcheng have been shut down and padlocked by the police this morning.”
Shen Qiaoqiao turned her tablet toward Lin Mo, showing live traffic monitors across the downtown district.
“With Gourmet-King closed,” Shen Qiaoqiao reported, “over one hundred thousand citizens, office workers, and morning commuters are currently flooding toward Old Lantern Food Street, looking for Grandma Chen and the Taichu Hundred-Chef Sanctuary!”
Lin Mo looked down at the tablet screen, where long green lines of public transit and morning commuters converged toward the historic district.
“When an empire poisons its own citizens, it collapses in a single morning,” Lin Mo said, placing his thermos into his coat pocket. “And when people are offered pure food cooked with conscience, no advertising campaign in the world can stop them. Let us head to Old Lantern Street. Grandma Chen will need every clean soup bowl in Jiangcheng today.”