The matte-black Benevolence Card touched the emerald sensor of the Taichu POS Terminal.
CHIME.
A clear, celestial tone echoed from the stage, cutting through the murmurs of five thousand spectators.
On the stage, Zhao Kai clutched his trembling head, his voice screeching into the auditorium air. “That machine is rigged! It is completely fraudulent! Who on earth transfers tens of millions in liquid cash without a three-year corporate payment plan?!”
Beside him, Liu Yan scrambled up from the floor, clutching her torn gown. “It’s fake! He was delivering food parcels last week! He cannot have fifty million yuan!”
Before the words left her lips, the forty-foot LED display wall behind the podium exploded into brilliant golden light.
Animated golden fireworks burst across the massive digital screen. The harsh crimson warning vanished, replaced by an official banking confirmation bearing the gold seal of the People’s Bank of China and the State Treasury Clearing Network.
In giant, glowing emerald letters, the transaction cleared before five thousand witnesses:
[INTERBANK REAL-TIME SETTLEMENT VERIFIED!]
[PAYER: TAICHU BENEVOLENCE HOLDINGS / CHAIRMAN LIN MO.]
[RECIPIENT: JIANGCHENG UNIVERSITY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH & ADVANCED LAB ENDOWMENT.]
[AMOUNT CLEARED: ¥50,000,000.00 RMB!]
[SETTLEMENT TYPE: 100% INSTANT LIQUID CASH TRANSFER — ZERO DEFICIT!]
[PURPOSE: ENDOWMENT FOR TAICHU-JIANGCHENG JOINT ADVANCED LAB CENTER!]
[LEAD SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS: PROFESSOR XU (GOODNESS: 93/100), LIN XIAOXIAO (GOODNESS: 94/100), CHEN YU (GOODNESS: 94/100)!]
[SUPERVISING TRUSTEE: UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT GU (GOODNESS: 91/100)!]
The announcement blasted from the surround-sound speaker array with absolute clarity.
Simultaneously, the personal tablet on President Gu’s desk pinged with an official notification from the Ministry of Finance.
President Gu looked down at his tablet screen. His fingers trembled slightly as he read the cleared account balance. Fifty million yuan in unrestricted scientific capital had settled into the university’s primary research account in less than three seconds.
The three senior Ministry of Education inspectors leaned over President Gu’s shoulder. They examined the cryptographic authentication code and the state treasury transaction serial numbers.
“The digital signature is authenticated directly through the central clearing house,” the lead inspector confirmed, his voice filled with amazement. “There are no liens, no conditional escrow holds, and no deferred installments. This is pure liquid capital.”
President Gu slowly raised his head, looking up at Lin Mo on the stage with profound reverence.
“Fifty million yuan... in cleared liquid funds,” President Gu announced into his desk microphone, his voice echoing through the vast auditorium. “The transaction is fully authenticated by the State Clearing House. Jiangcheng University has received the single largest unrestricted scientific endowment in its one-hundred-year history!”
BOOM!
A profound rumble echoed inside Lin Mo’s consciousness as the system interface lit up:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥50,000,000.00 RMB on Joint Advanced Lab Center & Academic Integrity Defense!]
[Beneficiaries: President Gu (Goodness: 91/100), Professor Xu (Goodness: 93/100), Lin Xiaoxiao (94/100), Chen Yu (94/100), and 5,000 University Researchers!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Absolute defense of honest scientific innovation, liberating vital national patents from corporate extortion.]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Received Cash Refund: +¥5,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥57,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Personal Wealth Milestone: Vault Reaches ¥57,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +5,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 150,449,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 8,850 Verified Righteous Allies (+140: upright university faculty, lab scientists, education researchers)!]
Five billion cash refund, Lin Mo thought, watching his vault balance reach fifty-seven point five billion yuan. Spending fifty million to build a world-class laboratory for honest scholars, and earning five billion in cash. Virtue generates wealth faster than any monopoly on earth.
Up in the student tiers, deafening cheers erupted from every row.
“Fifty million real cash!” a student shouted, pumping his fist into the air. “Taichu Group just gave fifty million yuan to our lab center!”
“Chairman Lin! Chairman Lin!”
Five thousand voices joined together, stomping their feet and chanting Lin Mo’s name until the concrete foundation of the auditorium vibrated.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Yu rushed forward to the base of the stage beside Professor Xu, weeping openly. The three researchers held each other’s hands, their years of cold basements, moldy dormitories, and bitter exhaustion vanishing beneath the thunderous applause of their peers.
“Chairman Lin!” Lin Xiaoxiao called out, wiping tears from her cheeks. “With fifty million yuan, we can build the full pilot production line for our solid-state battery! We can purchase twelve automated vacuum sintering furnaces and hire fifty student lab assistants! Our country will have its own independent graphene energy grid!”
“You will have everything you need, Xiaoxiao,” Lin Mo said with a warm nod. “An honest invention deserves the finest tools in the world.”
Professor Xu looked up at Lin Mo, his vision blurred with tears of profound gratitude. “Xiao Mo... you have lifted this entire department from despair. I am prouder of you today than on the day you graduated.”
On stage, Zhao Kai stared at the fifty-million-yuan receipt in sheer horror. His knees buckled, and he collapsed backward against the podium.
Beside him, Liu Yan stared at the screen, her mouth hanging open. The man she had mocked for wearing a two-hundred-yuan shirt had just transferred fifty million yuan in cash without blinking an eye. Her mind went completely blank with dizzying regret and shame.
Before Zhao Kai or Vice-Dean Ma could crawl away, Shen Qiaoqiao stepped to the center of the stage.
She held an encrypted digital drive and connected it directly to the stage projection port.
“President Gu, distinguished Ministry inspectors,” Shen Qiaoqiao spoke in a crisp, razor-sharp voice that cut through the cheers. “Taichu Legal has one more presentation for this Centennial Gala.”
The LED display wall switched instantly from the gold receipt to a series of forensic bank ledgers, offshore corporate contracts, and audio waveform files.
“This is the private bank ledger of Vice-Dean Ma Guoliang,” Shen Qiaoqiao announced, tapping her tablet. “Over the past four years, Ma Guoliang embezzled thirty-two million yuan in state scientific grants. Furthermore, he systematically sold twenty National Poverty Scholarships every semester to wealthy students for kickbacks of fifty thousand yuan each.”
In the front row, three Ministry of Education inspectors stood up from their velvet seats, staring at the projected Cayman wire receipts.
Shen Qiaoqiao pressed play on an audio recording:
“Ma Guoliang: As long as Young Master Zhao transfers three million to my Cayman account, I will force Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Yu to sign over their solid-state battery patents for five thousand yuan. If they refuse, I will destroy their academic records and evict them into the rain.”
“Zhao Kai: Excellent, Dean Ma. Once we secure their patent, our technology firm will list on the stock exchange, and your share will be worth thirty million.”
The crisp audio echoed through the silent auditorium. Every single word was caught on official television broadcast microphones.
The three Ministry of Education inspectors rose from their seats simultaneously. Their faces were dark with righteous fury.
The lead inspector pulled an official red-stamped warrant from his leather folder and marched up the stage stairs, followed by four uniformed judicial police officers.
“Ma Guoliang,” the lead inspector declared in a voice of cold iron. “By order of the Ministry of Education and the Anti-Corruption Bureau, you are stripped of all academic titles. You are dismissed from university employment and placed under immediate criminal arrest for grand embezzlement, patent extortion, and abuse of office.”
Two police officers stepped forward.
CLICK.
Heavy steel handcuffs locked around Vice-Dean Ma’s trembling wrists.
Vice-Dean Ma slumped onto the stage floor, his bladder giving out in absolute terror as dark liquid stained his cashmere trousers.
“President Gu... spare me!” Ma Guoliang sobbed, clutching at the officer’s boots. “I was blind! Young Master Zhao seduced me with promises of corporate shares! Have mercy!”
“Take him away,” President Gu ordered coldly, turning his back on the disgraced official. “You have disgraced the noble calling of an educator. Face the full severity of the law.”
The officers dragged Ma Guoliang down the stairs, his weeping wails echoing into the corridor.
In the struggle, Ma Guoliang’s flailing foot kicked Zhao Kai’s six-foot gilded foam check. The cheap cardboard snapped down the middle with a sharp crack, falling face-down into the dirt like broken garbage.
Zhao Kai scrambled on his hands and knees, trying to crawl toward the backstage exit.
Tie Niu stepped out from the shadows, blocking the doorway with his massive frame. He looked down at Zhao Kai with cold contempt.
“Where are you crawling to, Young Master Twelve Thousand?” Tie Niu rumbled softly.
President Gu walked up to the edge of the stage, glaring down at Zhao Kai and Liu Yan.
“Zhao Kai, Liu Yan,” President Gu spoke with majestic authority. “You entered our campus with forged checks, attempted to rob our brilliant scholars, and brought criminal corruption into our halls. Jiangcheng University permanently bans Zhao Technology from our campus grounds. Furthermore, our legal department will file civil fraud charges against your company before noon tomorrow.”
President Gu waved his hand toward the campus security chief.
“Remove these two fraudsters from our campus immediately,” President Gu commanded. “Throw them onto the public sidewalk outside the main gate.”
“Yes, President Gu!” the security chief shouted.
Ten security guards, eager to redeem themselves after the basement lab incident, swarmed the stage.
Two guards grabbed Zhao Kai by his velvet collar, hauling him to his feet like a squirming pig. Two other guards grabbed Liu Yan by her arms.
“Let go of me! My dress costs eighty thousand yuan!” Liu Yan shrieked, kicking her high heels in the air as her diamond choker snapped, scattering fake rhinestones across the stage floor. “Lin Mo! Save me! We were together for three years! Lin Mo!”
Lin Mo did not even turn his head. He adjusted his watch, entirely deaf to her desperate screams.
The guards dragged Zhao Kai and Liu Yan down the central aisle of the auditorium. Five thousand students stood up, laughing, booing, and throwing crumpled program booklets at the two fraudsters until the heavy exit doors slammed shut behind them.
Outside on the rain-soaked campus boulevard, Tie Niu watched as campus security threw Zhao Kai and Liu Yan through the metal turnstiles onto the wet asphalt. To make matters worse, two municipal tow trucks had already hooked Zhao Kai’s gold Porsche and luxury sedan, hauling them away for illegally blocking the university fire lanes.
Back inside the auditorium, the hall erupted into fresh waves of joyful celebration.
President Gu walked over to Lin Mo, extending his hand with deep, sincere emotion.
“Chairman Lin,” President Gu said, his eyes bright with admiration. “Today, you purged a cancer from our university, saved three national treasures, and gave hope to five thousand honest students. On behalf of Jiangcheng University, I offer you our deepest gratitude.”
Lin Mo shook the president’s hand with a warm smile. “An honest university is the foundation of our city’s future, President Gu. Taichu Group will always defend those who pursue truth.”
Lin Mo stepped back up to the microphone. The five thousand spectators immediately fell quiet, waiting eagerly for his words.
“Today, we secured the research of Professor Xu, Lin Xiaoxiao, and Chen Yu,” Lin Mo announced. “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, the Centennial Campus Job Fair will open on the central quadrangle.”
Lin Mo looked out across the sea of graduating seniors, his voice carrying immense strength and confidence.
“Taichu Group is launching our Advanced Scientific and Engineering Recruitment Pavilion tomorrow,” Lin Mo declared. “We are opening three hundred and fifty permanent research and management positions. Starting salaries will be three times the industry average. Zero unpaid overtime. Comprehensive medical coverage for your entire family. And a free, fully furnished apartment in the Emerald River District for every hired graduate!”
For two seconds, the five thousand students stared in stunned disbelief.
Then, the entire auditorium erupted into the loudest roar in the university’s one-hundred-year history!
Students leaped on top of their chairs, hugging each other and crying tears of pure euphoria. The sound of cheering rolled out through the open doors, echoing across the campus quadrangle and into the autumn night.
Lin Mo stepped down from the podium, a faint, deadpan smile playing on his lips.
Zhao Kai had tried to starve honest scholars into submission. Tomorrow morning, Taichu Group would take every single brilliant mind in the university into its own empire.