Third Disciple Scar-Tiger planted his steel-plated boot against the dented hood of an overturned Taichu Hospital refrigerated transport truck on the twisting highway of Black Cloud Ridge, glaring at ten bloodied security drivers through the freezing rain.
Behind him, two yellow logging trucks blocked both lanes of the mountain road. Thirty men in black martial uniforms with orange tiger emblems encircled the wreckage with steel-reinforced clubs, iron machetes, and two red plastic barrels of gasoline.
He was a hulking martial artist with a jagged scar running from his ear down to his neck. His legs were unnaturally thick, wrapped in tight leather gaiters over steel-plated greaves. For fifteen years, he had kicked iron sandbags every morning, forging his shinbones into hardened weapons that could snap concrete curbs in two.
Standing against the overturned truck were ten Taichu security drivers.
All ten were retired army scouts in dark tactical jackets. Their leader, Captain Yan, clutched a dislocated shoulder, his face covered in blood and rain. Despite their injuries, the ten veterans formed an unbroken wall of flesh and iron, shielding the rear cargo bay.
Inside that refrigerated bay were two tons of wild mountain ginseng and hundred-year snow-lotus, rushed from the northern nature reserves.
“Captain Yan, step aside!” Scar-Tiger barked, spitting into the muddy road. “Chairman Zhao Kun gave strict orders! Burn the herb crates and cripple these security guards! Not a single stalk of mountain ginseng reaches Taichu Hospital tonight! If you refuse to move, I will break your spines and toss you down the ravine!”
Captain Yan wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand, his eyes burning with defiance.
“These herbs are life-saving medicine for sixty dying kidney patients in our hospital’s ICU,” Captain Yan yelled through the howling wind. “We served on the border for eight years, Scar-Tiger! We don’t abandon our mission, and we don’t surrender to street thugs!”
The ten scout drivers braced their wooden batons, their jaws locked in grim resolve.
“Kill them!” Scar-Tiger roared. “Pour the gasoline! Burn the truck!”
Two Black-Tiger disciples raised their jerrycans, unscrewing the caps to splash gasoline over the wooden crates.
Suddenly, the black clouds above the canyon exploded with blinding white light.
THWIP-THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!
Twin million-candlepower xenon searchlights pierced the storm from above. The downdraft of high-velocity rotor blades struck the mountain pass like a hurricane, blowing the splash of gasoline right back into the thugs’ faces.
Scar-Tiger raised an arm to shield his eyes, shouting into the wind. “What the hell is that?!”
Hovering thirty feet above the asphalt was a sleek, matte-black rescue helicopter. On its tail boom glowed the emerald lotus insignia of Taichu Group.
Powered by the Taichu-1 solid-state graphene battery pack, the heavy aircraft hovered with unnatural stability against the ninety-mile-an-hour mountain gale.
Before the Black-Tiger thugs could grab their firearms, the helicopter’s side cabin doors slid wide open.
Two figures leaped straight out into thirty feet of empty air.
The first figure landed like an iron meteor.
KABOOM!
Tie Niu hit the asphalt with both combat boots. The massive kinetic impact sent shockwaves through the pavement, blasting rainwater ten feet into the air and buckling the road surface.
The second figure was Lin Mo.
Lin Mo descended through the storm like a falling autumn leaf. His Rank 2 Mid Jade-Gold qi circulated through his dantian, allowing him to touch the wet asphalt without making a sound. He stood upright, his dark overcoat fluttering in the wind, his eyes calm, sharp, and lethal.
“Chairman Lin!” Captain Yan gasped in astonishment, his bloodied face lighting up with newfound strength.
Scar-Tiger backed up half a step, staring at the crater beneath Tie Niu’s boots. Then, his gaze locked onto Lin Mo’s slender frame.
“So you are Lin Mo,” Scar-Tiger sneered, regaining his arrogant confidence. “You brought a helicopter to deliver your own death! You think a young corporate chairman can survive the Black-Tiger Martial Hall?!”
Scar-Tiger stepped forward, his leather gaiters squeaking as his leg muscles swelled to the thickness of tree trunks.
“I have practiced the Iron Sand Shin for fifteen years!” Scar-Tiger roared. “A single whip kick from me can snap a steel lamppost in half! Die!”
Scar-Tiger launched himself off the wet asphalt.
His body spun in a vicious rotational motion. His right leg whipped through the air like an iron axe, generating a piercing sonic whistle that tore through the rain. The kick was aimed directly at Lin Mo’s throat, backed by the full power of a Rank 1 Peak External Martial Artist.
Captain Yan shouted in warning: “Chairman Lin, watch out!”
Lin Mo did not dodge. He did not even shift his feet.
Lin Mo simply raised his right hand. His slender palm was enveloped in a faint, translucent jade-golden glow.
CRACK!
An explosive sound like a rifle shot shattered the storm.
Lin Mo’s open palm met Scar-Tiger’s steel-reinforced shinbone in mid-air.
The kinetic force of Lin Mo’s Rank 2 Jade-Gold qi did not yield a single millimeter. Instead, it detonated against Scar-Tiger’s leg like an artillery shell.
The steel plate inside Scar-Tiger’s leather gaiter snapped in half. Beneath the metal, the thick shinbone shattered into multiple jagged fragments with a sickening crunch.
“AAAGHHH!”
Scar-Tiger let out a blood-curdling shriek of agony.
The violent rebound force propelled his two-hundred-pound body backward through the air. He skidded twenty meters across the wet asphalt, slamming violently into the cliff rocks, clutching his shattered leg in hysterics.
“My leg! My iron shin!” Scar-Tiger wailed, thrashing in the gravel. “He broke my bone with a bare hand!”
The remaining twenty-nine Black-Tiger thugs stood completely paralyzed in terror.
Their leader, a Rank 1 Peak external master who could kick through concrete walls, had been crippled by a single casual palm from a young man in an overcoat.
Lin Mo lowered his hand and shook the rainwater from his fingers.
“A dog who bites innocent medicine drivers does not deserve to walk,” Lin Mo said in a flat, deadpan voice.
Tie Niu stepped forward, a savage grin spreading across his rugged face.
“Brothers,” Tie Niu bellowed to the eight Iron Guard veterans who had just rappelled down from the helicopter. “Teach these street animals the rules of Taichu Group!”
“Yes, Commander!”
The eight Iron Guard veterans charged forward with titanium riot shields and high-voltage shock batons.
In less than thirty seconds, the mountain highway became a one-sided rout.
Black-Tiger thugs were smashed into guardrails, disarmed, and dropped onto the pavement with electric shocks. Not a single thug managed to swing his weapon twice. All twenty-nine disciples lay face-down in the freezing mud, groaning in defeat.
Lin Mo walked over to Captain Yan and the ten injured scout drivers.
His [Pure-Heart Eye Lv.1] blinked softly.
[Target: Captain Yan & 10 Retired Army Scouts.]
[Average Goodness Score: 91/100.]
[Moral Status: Absolute loyalty to public health, defended life-saving medicine against armed syndicate thugs.]
Lin Mo knelt beside Captain Yan, using a clean towel to wipe the blood from the veteran’s temple.
“You held the line, Captain Yan,” Lin Mo said with deep warmth. “You and your brothers saved sixty lives tonight.”
Captain Yan’s eyes grew moist. “Chairman Lin, we took an oath when we joined Taichu Security. As long as our hearts beat, no medicine entrusted to us will ever burn.”
Captain Yan looked at his nine wounded comrades, his voice filled with deep emotion. “Many of our brothers returned from the western frontiers with shrapnel in their joints. Corporate security firms looked down on us, offering only three hundred yuan a month to guard construction gates. But you gave us modern equipment, dignified salaries, and a noble mission. We will guard Taichu’s medical corridors with our lives.”
“You are warriors of conscience, Captain Yan,” Lin Mo replied with a steady smile. “A society that forgets its border defenders has no right to peace. Taichu Group will make sure every one of your brothers lives with pride.”
Lin Mo pulled his Black-Gold Card from his coat pocket and handed it to Su Wan, who had stepped down from the helicopter with two emergency medical kits.
“Su Wan, allocate ten million yuan from our Special Operations and Veteran Relief Fund immediately,” Lin Mo announced.
Su Wan nodded crisply, opening her terminal: ¥10,000,000.00.
“Allocate three million yuan to Captain Yan and these ten scouts as an immediate bravery reward,” Lin Mo instructed. “Three hundred thousand yuan in liquid cash for each man. The remaining seven million will fund titanium-alloy body armor, high-mobility tactical transport vehicles, and signing bonuses to induct one hundred and ninety more retired scouts into our Taichu Mountain Patrol Division.”
BEEP.
A magnificent, resonant celestial chime echoed deep within Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥10,000,000.00 RMB on Mountain Patrol Division & Veteran Scout Bravery Awards!]
[Beneficiaries: Captain Yan (91/100), 10 Scout Drivers, & 190 Retired Military Veterans (Avg Goodness: 90/100)!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Protecting national medical supply corridors, rewarding heroic defense of life-saving medicine.]
[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: ¥66,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Personal Wealth Milestone: Vault Reaches ¥66,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 158,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,400 Verified Righteous Allies (+200: retired military scouts and martial security personnel)!]
One billion cash refund, Lin Mo thought, watching his vault balance comfortably reach sixty-six billion yuan. Spending ten million to protect honest veterans and secure medical lifelines, while earning one billion in profit. Doing good is the most unbreakable shield on earth.
Two Taichu medical specialists administered Dr. Gu’s specialized lotus vitality serum to Captain Yan and the scouts. Within minutes, the bleeding stopped, pain subsided, and the color returned to their faces.
Meanwhile, Tie Niu hauled Scar-Tiger up by the collar of his uniform, dragging him across the asphalt like a sack of potatoes and throwing him at Lin Mo’s feet.
“Chairman Lin, this dog wants to talk,” Tie Niu said gruffly.
Scar-Tiger clutched his shattered shin, tears and snot mixing on his terrified face. “Chairman Lin! Spare my life! I was only following orders!”
Lin Mo looked down at him with an expression of calm indifference. “Where is Zhao Kun right now?”
“He... he is at the Hidden-Dragon Underground Antique and Herb Pavilion in the southern district!” Scar-Tiger stammered frantically. “Chairman Zhao Kun is meeting with Black-Tiger Hall Master Huo tonight! They are using armed force to force all the mountain herbalists to sell their rare herbs at gunpoint! Chairman Zhao Kun wants to corner the entire snow-lotus and wild ganoderma supply in Jiangcheng before sunrise!”
Lin Mo’s eyes narrowed.
Zhao Kun was not satisfied with ambushing trucks. He was actively extorting honest mountain gatherers and cornering essential medicines in an underground auction.
“Tie Niu,” Lin Mo said, turning away. “Tie these thirty thugs to the guardrail and notify the highway patrol to pick them up.”
Tie Niu saluted sharply. “Yes, Chairman Lin! My men will ensure they are securely bound until the state troopers arrive.”
Ten minutes later, the two tons of rare herbs were safely transferred into the helicopter’s pressurized cargo bay.
Captain Yan and the ten scouts boarded the transport van to escort the secondary truck under Iron Guard protection.
Lin Mo climbed back into the rescue helicopter, followed by Su Wan and Tie Niu.
The heavy cabin doors slammed shut.
Inside the cockpit, the pilot checked the instrument displays, confirming the Taichu-1 solid-state battery was operating at optimal power output.
“Pilot,” Lin Mo ordered, his voice echoing through the tactical headsets. “Set course for the southern district. We are going to the Hidden-Dragon Underground Pavilion.”
The helicopter’s turbines screamed at full power. The aircraft rose into the rainy sky, banking south toward the glowing lights of Jiangcheng.
Outside the cabin windows, the storm raged, but inside, Lin Mo sat in absolute stillness, his Rank 2 Jade-Gold qi circulating like molten bronze through his veins.
The hunt for Chairman Zhao Kun had begun.