Four chemical saboteurs crawled on their bellies through the three-foot galvanized steel air intake on sub-level two, pushing four heavy blue plastic carboys ahead of them as their rubber kneepads squeaked against the metal seams.
“Attach the secondary nozzle to the main booster fan,” the lead saboteur whispered through his dual-filter gas mask amid the stench of industrial sulfur. “Once the three-hundred pounds of butyric acid hit the rotor blades, the airflow will push it into every boutique on all eight floors. By eight in the morning, every silk shirt and leather couch in this mall will rot.”
A second man chuckled, his voice muffled by rubber. “Young Master Zhao Kai promised us two million yuan cash. In ten minutes, we walk out the rear dock and disappear.”
Outside the ventilation shaft in the quiet service corridor, sixty-year-old Old Wu moved with steady, practiced calm.
He did not shout. He did not run away.
Old Wu had swept the streets and basements of Jiangcheng for forty years. After he foiled the kitchen saboteurs at Old Lantern Street and received Dr. Gu’s bone-conduction cochlear restoration, he had memorized every bolt, pipe, and latch in Grand Golden-Plume Plaza. He had promised himself that no scoundrel would ever harm Chairman Lin’s sanctuary.
Old Wu picked up a solid four-foot steel maintenance crowbar from his cleaning cart. He slid the heavy bar through the locking eyelets of the exterior intake hatch with a dull, firm CLACK.
He snapped a heavy brass padlock into place, sealing the hatch from the outside.
Then Old Wu reached up and tapped the small black button on his shoulder harness.
A 4K body camera activated, its green indicator light glowing in the dim corridor. The camera beamed a live, crystal-clear feed directly to the emergency monitors at Taichu Command Center.
“Taichu Security,” Old Wu spoke into his lapel microphone, his voice clear, calm, and steady. “This is Old Wu on sub-level two. Four rats are trapped inside Intake Shaft B-4. They have chemical tanks. The exterior hatch is secured.”
Inside the pipe, the lead saboteur heard the heavy padlock snap shut.
He lunged backward, slamming his gloved shoulder against the steel grate.
BANG!
The iron hatch did not move an inch.
Through the narrow intake slits, the saboteur saw an elderly man in a gray maintenance uniform holding a mop handle, looking at him with stone-cold eyes.
“Hey! You old bastard!” the saboteur screamed in terror, banging his fists on the metal. “Open this door right now! Do you know who we work for?!”
A second saboteur clawed at the grate with a pipe wrench.
“Wait... that’s the deaf janitor from the south dock!” the second man cried out, his voice cracking with hysteria. “He was stone-deaf three weeks ago! How could he hear us crawling inside a steel duct through concrete walls?!”
Old Wu adjusted his cochlear implant with one thumb. He looked through the iron bars and smiled faintly.
“Chairman Lin gave me new ears,” Old Wu said through the grate. “And my ears only listen to honest people. Rest quietly, boys. The welcome team is on its way.”
Ninety seconds later, the reinforced concrete floor of the service corridor began to vibrate.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Two heavy black armored SUVs slid to a halt at the end of the corridor, their high-intensity searchlights flooding the hallway with blinding white light.
The doors flew open.
Tie Niu stepped out. He wore his charcoal suit, his broad shoulders filling half the hallway. Behind him marched ten newly healed Righteous Martial Veterans, each holding a three-foot cold-iron riot baton.
“Uncle Wu!” Tie Niu boomed, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. “Are the rats inside?”
“In the pipe, Commander Tie,” Old Wu said, pointing with his mop handle. “Four of them. They have acid.”
Tie Niu walked up to the steel intake hatch. He did not bother asking for the key.
He reached out with his bare right hand, wrapping his thick bronze fingers around the two-inch steel locking bar.
CREAK... SNAP!
With a casual flick of his wrist, Tie Niu sheared the solid steel bar clean in half. He yanked the entire intake hatch off its hinges and tossed the twisted metal aside like scrap paper.
“Out,” Tie Niu commanded, his voice rumbling like a thunderclap inside the pipe.
The lead saboteur pulled an eight-inch combat knife from his boot, lunging toward the opening in wild desperation.
“Get back or I’ll carve you up!” the man screamed.
Tie Niu did not even blink. He reached straight into the duct, grabbed the man by his tactical harness with one hand, and pulled.
WHOOSH!
The two-hundred-pound saboteur was yanked out of the pipe like a carrot pulled from soft mud. Tie Niu slammed him flat onto the polished concrete, disarming the knife with a light tap of his boot against the man’s wrist.
CRACK.
The knife skittered across the floor.
Before the other three saboteurs could back up, three veterans stepped forward, dragging them out by their ankles one by one.
Within twenty seconds, all four men were pinned face-down on the floor, their hands zip-tied behind their backs. The three-hundred pounds of corrosive acid were sealed into hazardous containment barrels by Master Lu’s safety crew.
The lead saboteur spit a mouthful of dust, staring at Tie Niu with terrified eyes.
“Do not kill us!” the leader begged. “Young Master Zhao Kai gave us fifty thousand yuan deposit! He has our families under watch! We were just following orders!”
Tie Niu snorted, wiping a speck of dust off his cuff.
“Tell that to the police,” Tie Niu said coldly. “And tell Zhao Kai that his taste in saboteurs is as cheap as his father’s tea.”
At five o’clock in the morning, the heavy glass double doors of Grand Golden-Plume Plaza opened.
Lin Mo strode into the central atrium, accompanied by Su Wan and Shen Qiaoqiao.
The early morning sun was just beginning to break through the storm clouds, casting golden rays of light through the eight-story glass dome. The granite floors gleamed like mirrors. Every boutique display window was pristine.
In the center of the atrium, Old Wu stood with fifty night-shift janitors, cleaners, and maintenance workers. They wore clean blue uniforms, holding their mops and brooms with quiet pride.
Their Goodness Scores glowed above their heads in brilliant, honest greens between 84/100 and 91/100.
When Lin Mo walked up, Old Wu took off his cloth cap and bowed respectfully.
“Chairman Lin,” Old Wu said softly. “The mall is safe. Not a single drop of poison touched the air.”
Lin Mo looked at the sixty-year-old man. He took Old Wu’s rough, calloused hands into his own and squeezed them warmly.
Zhao Kai spent fifty thousand yuan on thugs to ruin a ten-billion-yuan property, Lin Mo thought, feeling a mixture of scorn for the Zhao family and deep warmth for the old worker. He never understood that a loyal heart with a mop is stronger than a coward with a bomb.
“Uncle Wu,” Lin Mo said, his voice carrying clearly through the spacious atrium. “First you saved the Golden-Lotus kitchens, and tonight you saved this plaza. More than that, you protected the honest livelihoods of three thousand retail workers and shopkeepers who make their living under this roof.”
Old Wu’s eyes turned red. He shook his head humbly.
“I just did my job, Chairman Lin. You gave me my ears back and promoted me to night supervisor. I was only doing what was right.”
Lin Mo smiled, turning to the fifty night-shift workers standing behind Old Wu.
“Doing what is right must always be rewarded,” Lin Mo declared in a ringing voice. “Su Wan, bring the allocation terminal.”
Su Wan stepped forward, opening her slim carbon-fiber briefcase.
“What are your instructions, Chairman Lin?” Su Wan asked.
“Ten million yuan flat,” Lin Mo commanded. “Two million yuan to Uncle Wu as a second personal Hero Bounty, and promote him to Chief Sanitation and Facilities Supervisor of Grand Golden-Plume Plaza. In addition, upgrade his Old Lantern Street flat to a two-hundred-square-meter top-floor riverfront apartment in the Taichu Sanctuary Garden complex, fully furnished and with free lifelong utility maintenance.”
Old Wu’s breath hitched. He dropped his cloth cap, staring at Lin Mo in total disbelief.
“A... a top-floor riverfront apartment?!” Old Wu stammered, his chin trembling. “Chairman Lin, you already gave me a flat and restored my ears! A riverfront penthouse is a home for wealthy lords!”
“You are a double hero of Taichu, Chief Supervisor Wu,” Lin Mo said gently. “And our supervisors deserve the river view.”
Lin Mo turned to the remaining fifty night-shift cleaners.
“The remaining eight million yuan,” Lin Mo continued, “will be divided equally among all fifty of our night-shift maintenance brothers and sisters. That is one hundred and sixty thousand yuan in cleared cash bonuses for each worker. Furthermore, every single one of you is granted permanent lifetime employment with full medical and pension benefits at Taichu Group.”
The fifty cleaning workers stood frozen for three long seconds.
Then, loud cries of joy and disbelief erupted across the marble atrium.
“One hundred and sixty thousand yuan?!” an elderly cleaning woman sobbed, falling to her knees and pressing her hands together. “My grandson can finally pay his university tuition!”
“Permanent employment with pension?!” another veteran floor-polisher shouted, tears pouring down his cheeks. “We have spent thirty years being treated like dirt by commercial landlords! Chairman Lin is our savior!”
Tap.
Su Wan swiped Lin Mo’s Black-Gold Sovereign Benevolence Card across the terminal.
BEEP.
A magnificent, celestial chime echoed deep in Lin Mo’s consciousness:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥10,000,000.00 RMB on Civic Hero Bounty & Sanitation Worker Relief!]
[Target Beneficiaries: Old Wu (Goodness: 89/100) & 50 Night-Shift Maintenance Workers (Goodness: 84–91/100)!]
[Purpose: Riverfront home upgrade, personal hero bounty, direct cash bonuses (¥160,000 each), and permanent lifetime labor security!]
[Pure Altruistic Intent Verified: Rewarding civic courage, protecting elderly labor dignity, and upholding social justice!]
[Triggering 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Cash Refund Received: +¥1,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥87,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 179,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,680 Verified Righteous Allies (+50 maintenance and sanitation personnel formally integrated)!]
One billion more in cleared cash, Lin Mo thought, watching his liquid vault climb to eighty-seven billion yuan. Zhao Kai tried to turn this mall into a toxic sewer. Instead, he just helped fifty honest elderly workers buy homes and secure their families forever.
The fifty cleaners crowded around Lin Mo, bowing deeply and weeping with profound gratitude. Old Wu held Lin Mo’s hands tightly, his tears dripping onto the marble floor.
While the workers celebrated in the golden morning light, the heavy glass doors of the mall were pushed open abruptly.
Shen Qiaoqiao hurried across the atrium, her high heels clicking rapidly against the stone. Her face was taut, her eyes sharp behind her designer spectacles.
She carried a red folder bearing the golden seal of the Jiangcheng Banking Regulatory Commission.
“Chairman Lin! Su Wan!” Shen Qiaoqiao called out, her voice tense. “The Zhao family’s counterattack has escalated to the financial system.”
Lin Mo turned around, releasing Old Wu’s hand with a gentle pat.
“What did Zhao Kun do now?” Lin Mo asked calmly.
Shen Qiaoqiao opened the red folder, showing a certified emergency financial audit notice.
“Ten minutes ago,” Shen Qiaoqiao explained rapidly, “three corrupt Vice Presidents of Jiangcheng Commercial Bank—led by Vice President Liu, who is Zhao Kun’s personal financial puppet—issued a joint emergency credit freeze. They have called in two hundred million yuan in working capital loans across fifty small manufacturing and packaging factories that supply Taichu.”
“Two hundred million?” Su Wan’s eyes narrowed. “On what grounds?”
“They cited ‘sudden commercial risk,’ ” Shen Qiaoqiao said, her voice laced with disgust. “They are demanding that all fifty factory owners repay their entire loan principal in cleared cash by noon today. If the money is not in the bank vaults by twelve o’clock, the bank will seize their factory gates, freeze their accounts, and halt all production by judicial order.”
Shen Qiaoqiao looked at Lin Mo, her jaw tight.
“Chairman Lin, those fifty factory owners do not have two hundred million in cash. If their factories are sealed at noon, Taichu Hospital’s entire pediatric and emergency medicine production line will grind to a dead halt.”