At three o’clock in the afternoon, the wail of sirens shook the rusted corrugated roofs of South River Road.
Twenty bright red fire engines, four hazardous-materials containment vans, and six municipal drug-inspection cruisers screeched to a halt outside an abandoned chemical fertilizer plant.
Above the cracked asphalt, rain poured down on the weeds. Three hundred yards to the east stood the East Lake Garden complex, a dense residential neighborhood of twenty thousand working-class residents. Mothers were walking home from the primary school along the sidewalk, holding colorful umbrellas, while elderly retired dock workers watched from their balconies in confusion.
From the lead command engine, Firefighter Captain Chen Lie stepped down onto the mud.
He wore heavy yellow turnout gear and a fire-blackened helmet. Above his head, the System displayed a peerless, radiant green halo: Goodness: 97/100.
Three months ago, Chen Lie had inhaled toxic smoke during a warehouse blaze, his lungs scarred and his career finished. Lin Mo had stepped into the burn ward, paying for Dr. Gu’s miracle lung-cleansing acupuncture and funding his sick daughter’s heart surgery.
Now, Chen Lie stood tall, his lungs drawing deep, effortless breaths of the humid afternoon air.
“Squad Leaders!” Captain Chen Lie barked, his voice booming over the rumble of diesel engines. “Deploy perimeter hose lines! Charge the foam cannons! Hazardous-materials protocol level four!”
Beside Chen Lie, Master Lu Jian walked up, holding a bulky handheld ground-penetrating radar scanner. Master Lu’s Goodness Score shone in a clean green: 92/100.
“Captain Chen,” Master Lu said, pointing the scanner’s laser crosshairs at the cracked concrete floor of Warehouse #03. “There is a false foundation slab down there. Sixty feet beneath this rotting brick shed lies a reinforced subterranean vault spanning eight thousand square meters.”
Chief Counsel Shen Qiaoqiao strode forward, wearing a sharp black trench coat. She held a red-ribboned judicial inspection warrant bearing the gold stamp of the Provincial High Court.
“Captain Chen,” Shen Qiaoqiao announced, her voice crisp and authoritative. “This warrant grants immediate emergency entry under the Public Safety and Anti-Terrorism Code. If anyone refuses to open the doors, you have full authority to breach.”
Chen Lie smiled grimly, adjusting the chin strap of his helmet.
“We do not knock twice,” Chen Lie said.
He waved his arm toward six firefighters carrying heavy hydraulic rescue cutters and rotary diamond-blade saws.
“Breach the floor!”
SCREEECH!
Sparks erupted in showers of bright orange as diamond blades tore through the concrete slab.
Within four minutes, the false concrete plug gave way, revealing a heavy four-inch steel blast hatch locked with dual digital keypads.
Chen Lie stepped up with a specialized pneumatic spreading ram. With a hiss of high-pressure fluid, the two-ton steel hatch buckled, groaned, and popped off its internal locking bolts with a sharp bang.
A blast of freezing, chemical-tainted air hissed outward from the subterranean stairwell, smelling of rancid alcohol, acetone, and rotting medicine.
“Respirators on!” Chen Lie ordered, snapping his mask into place. “Move in!”
Thirty firefighters and drug inspectors descended the narrow steel staircase into the darkness, their helmet lights cutting through the gloom.
When they reached sub-level four, the halogen work lights flickered on.
The scene inside the vault made even veteran drug inspectors stop in their tracks.
The underground cavern was the size of two football fields. Stacked twelve feet high on wooden pallets sat thousands of cardboard cartons bearing counterfeit labels from international pharmaceutical companies.
An inspector ripped open a box with a pocketknife, pulling out vials of chemotherapy drugs.
“Look at this,” the inspector whispered in horror. “These vials expired six years ago! The original expiration dates were scraped off with razor blades and reprinted with counterfeit batch numbers! Over three billion yuan worth of expired oncology medication!”
Further back in the vault, Master Lu pointed his flashlight toward the rear wall.
There sat four hundred rusted fifty-gallon steel drums, sweating beads of corrosive liquid. Many of the drums were bulging outward from internal pressure, their hazardous warning placards peeling away.
“Industrial acetone and methyl-benzene solvents,” Master Lu said, his voice cold with fury. “Stored directly beneath a residential neighborhood without a single sprinkler head or ventilation scrubber. If a single spark ignited down here, the explosion would have collapsed the high-rise apartments above like a house of cards!”
Outside, crowds of residents from East Lake Garden gathered against the perimeter tape, murmuring in shock as news of the toxic stockpile spread through community chat groups.
“They put four hundred barrels of poison under our homes?!” an elderly grandmother cried, holding her grandson close.
“Zhao Pharma is evil to the core! Our children play right next to that fence!” a retired dockworker shouted, shaking his fist.
Shen Qiaoqiao walked into the manager’s glass office at the end of the catwalk.
On the mahogany desk sat four physical shipping registers, bound in leather and stamped with official wax seals.
Shen Qiaoqiao flipped through the pages.
Every single shipment of expired cancer drugs, every truckload of counterfeit antibiotics, and every order of illegal flammable solvents bore the personal red ink thumbprint and flamboyant signature of Chairman Zhao Kun.
Beside Shen Qiaoqiao stood two television crews from Jiangnan Provincial News, their cameras broadcasting live in ultra-high-definition.
“Broadcast it,” Shen Qiaoqiao said calmly to the camera operator. “Let fifty million citizens in this province see what the Zhao Family Consortium feeds to cancer patients.”
The cameraman zoomed in on Zhao Kun’s signature, broadcasting the ledgers live on every television network and smartphone screen in the province.
Outside the warehouse gates, the quiet hum of a sleek black luxury sedan sounded on the gravel.
Lin Mo stepped out into the rain.
He wore his clean white linen shirt and dark trousers, looking completely untouched by the damp weather. Behind him walked Su Wan, holding her carbon-fiber executive terminal.
Lin Mo looked down into the open concrete breach.
Through his newly unlocked Rank Two High Martial perception, he could sense the toxic chemical fumes swirling sixty feet below. He could also sense the righteous, unyielding courage of the thirty firefighters working inside the hazardous pit.
Zhao Kun built his fortune on fake medicine and poisoned drums, Lin Mo thought, his eyes cold and calm. He lived in a penthouse while burying a bomb beneath twenty thousand poor families. Some men do not deserve to do business in this world.
Captain Chen Lie climbed up the steel ladder, taking off his respirator as he walked up to Lin Mo.
Chen Lie saluted Lin Mo with a clenched fist, his eyes bright with deep emotion.
“Chairman Lin! The underground depot is completely secured,” Chen Lie reported. “Over three billion yuan of counterfeit drugs and four hundred drums of illegal solvents impounded. The provincial court has just issued an emergency asset-freeze and border-exit restriction order for Zhao Kun and Zhao Kai pending Monday morning’s Debt and Foreclosure Clearinghouse Tribunal.”
Lin Mo grasped Chen Lie’s thick gloved hand, nodding firmly.
“You and your men went into that poison pit without hesitating,” Lin Mo said. “You protected twenty thousand innocent people living in East Lake Garden.”
“It is our duty, Chairman Lin,” Chen Lie answered humbly. “When my lungs were destroyed, you paid for my treatment. You saved my daughter. As long as Chen Lie breathes, no corrupt villain will burn this city.”
An elderly community leader from East Lake Garden pushed past the police line, clutching Captain Chen Lie’s hand and then bowing deeply to Lin Mo.
“Thank you, Captain! Thank you, Chairman Lin!” the old man said, tears in his eyes. “If this place had blown up, twenty thousand of us would have died in our sleep! Taichu has saved our entire neighborhood today!”
Lin Mo patted the old man’s shoulder gently, then turned to Su Wan.
“Su Wan,” Lin Mo said in a clear, resonant voice. “Bring the payment terminal.”
Su Wan stepped forward, opening the secure disbursement console.
“What are your orders, Chairman Lin?” Su Wan asked.
“Fifteen million yuan,” Lin Mo commanded. “Ten million yuan to purchase three autonomous high-temperature fire-suppression drone platforms and thirty custom carbon-fiber respirators for Captain Chen Lie’s brigade. The remaining five million yuan will establish the Taichu Firefighter Family Educational Fund, providing full university scholarships and medical coverage for every firefighter’s child in this district.”
The thirty firefighters standing around the engines looked up in stunned silence.
“Fifteen million yuan?!” a young rookie firefighter stammered, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Autonomous fire drones and university scholarships for our children?!”
Captain Chen Lie’s lips trembled. He tried to speak, but words caught in his throat.
“Chairman Lin... that equipment costs a fortune,” Chen Lie whispered. “Municipal fire departments have waited ten years for those drones!”
“Then you will wait no longer,” Lin Mo said gently. “Those who run toward danger to save others should never carry second-rate tools. You risk your lives for the public every single day. The very least we can do is ensure you have the best armor and that your children never have to worry about tuition.”
Tap.
Su Wan swiped Lin Mo’s Black-Gold Sovereign Benevolence Card across the console.
BEEP.
A magnificent, earth-shaking system chime rang out deep in Lin Mo’s soul:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥15,000,000.00 RMB on Municipal Firefighting Technology & Family Protection Fund!]
[Target Beneficiaries: Captain Chen Lie (Goodness: 97/100) & 30 Heroic Brigade Firefighters (Goodness: 88–97/100)!]
[Purpose: High-temperature autonomous suppression drones, advanced life-support respirators, and permanent children's educational trusts!]
[Pure Altruistic Intent Verified: Equipping front-line civic defenders, protecting urban safety, and honoring public service!]
[Triggering 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Cash Refund Received: +¥1,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥91,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,500,000 BMP | Total BMP: 184,449,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,780 Verified Righteous Allies (+30 municipal emergency personnel formally integrated)!]
One point five billion more added to the vault, Lin Mo noted, watching his liquid vault climb to ninety-one point five billion yuan. Investing fifteen million in public safety, and gaining one point five billion in liquid wealth. Goodness is the most powerful law in this world.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Across the rain-soaked gravel yard, thirty mobile phones chimed as bank verification texts arrived.
The thirty firefighters stood tall. In unison, they snapped their heels together and rendered a sharp, thunderous military salute to Lin Mo.
“Thank you, Chairman Lin!” the thirty men shouted as one.
The residents of East Lake Garden watching from behind the police lines began to clap and cheer, shouting their thanks to both the firefighters and Lin Mo.
While their voices echoed through the misty afternoon, Shen Qiaoqiao hurried out from the warehouse office, her tablet screen flashing bright crimson.
“Chairman Lin! Su Wan!” Shen Qiaoqiao called out, holding up the screen. “Look at the financial markets!”
On the tablet screen, the provincial stock exchange ticker was flashing red alert banners:
[Emergency Trading Halt: Zhao Pharmaceutical Group (Ticker: 002888)]
[Reason: Criminal Investigation for Counterfeit Drug Distribution & Severe Public Safety Hazard]
[Stock Status: Frozen at Limit-Down (-10.00%)]
[Pending Sell Orders: 42,000,000 Shares with Zero Buyers]
Below it, a second alert flashed:
[Emergency Trading Halt: Zhao Real Estate & Commercial Consortium (Ticker: 002999)]
[Stock Status: Frozen at Limit-Down (-10.00%)]
[Credit Rating Downgraded to 'D' (Default Imminent)]
Shen Qiaoqiao tapped a financial news dispatch, reading aloud in a sharp, confident voice:
“Sixteen regional commercial banks and state asset trusts have simultaneously issued emergency debt recall notices to Zhao Family Consortium! Total immediate margin recall: twelve billion yuan in cleared cash, due before tomorrow morning at nine o’clock! If the Zhao family cannot produce twelve billion yuan by dawn, their entire corporate empire will be placed into bankruptcy liquidation!”
Su Wan looked over at Lin Mo, her eyes calm and analytical.
“Chairman Lin,” Su Wan said in a low voice. “The Zhao family has less than one hundred million in liquid cash left. Their stock is worthless, their warehouses are sealed, and their credit is frozen. They have nowhere left to run.”
Lin Mo looked out across the rain toward the silhouette of Zhao Tower on the horizon.
“Twelve billion yuan,” Lin Mo said, his voice flat and steady. “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, the debt auction begins. Prepare our teams. When the Zhao empire falls, we will make sure the pieces are put to good use.”