66: Chapter 66 Chen Fan Releases the Down-on-His-Luck Man!

After leaving the National Materials Laboratory, Chen Fan returned to the Fanxing Factory and sat in the control center.

His eyes were fixed on the encrypted information deciphered by Xiao Zhi on the screen, his brow tightly furrowed. The light cast cold, hard shadows on his face, outlining his profile like an icy sculpture.

Lin Hao paced anxiously beside him, his footsteps unnaturally clear in the empty control room. He clenched and unclenched his fists, the knuckles emitting soft 'crack' sounds. Finally, unable to hold back, he slammed a fist onto the metal control console!

"Bang!"

A dull thud reverberated.

"Liu Dazhu!" Lin Hao's voice squeezed through gritted teeth, laced with the fury of betrayal. "That's human nature for you, selling you out for profit in a heartbeat!"

His voice grew louder as he vented. After the outburst, a dead silence fell over the control room, broken only by the low hum of machinery.

Chen Fan slowly raised a hand, signaling Lin Hao to calm down.

His gaze remained locked on the screen—where the medical bills for Liu Dazhu's wife from the last three months were scrolling, the dense numbers shocking: a single dialysis session cost eight hundred, three times a week; erythropoietin two thousand monthly; various complication drugs... all in all, fixed monthly expenses approached twenty thousand.

Below were two more photos: one was the tuition fee notice from Liu Dazhu's son's school, a key middle school with a semester fee of eight thousand; the other was a loan shark's collection letter, showing a debt of two hundred and eighty thousand with a daily overdue penalty interest of 0.5%.

And at the very bottom was a screenshot of a bank statement. Three days ago, a sum of five hundred thousand had been transferred into Liu Dazhu's account from an anonymous overseas account.

Chen Fan finally spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse. "What I see is despair."

He stood up and walked to the large, specialized glass window. Outside, the production area was brightly lit. New automated assembly lines were undergoing trial runs, robotic arms precisely grasping, placing, and processing. In the raw materials area, meticulously sorted metal scrap was piled like mountains, emitting a cold, hard glimmer under the lights.

"His wife's illness is a bottomless pit," Chen Fan said, his back to Lin Hao, his voice soft yet each word clear. "The child needs to attend a key middle school; the tuition can't be delayed. Loan sharks are blocking the door daily; the interest snowballs. In such a desperate situation, all you see ahead is a dark tunnel, not a sliver of light."

He paused, his voice growing heavier. "And then, suddenly, someone hands you a rope, saying you can climb out if you grab it... If it were you or me, could we guarantee we wouldn't reach out?"

Lin Hao opened his mouth to retort, but the words caught in his throat. He finally slumped his shoulders in defeat.

Chen Fan turned around, his face having regained its usual calm. But those familiar with him could see turbulent undercurrents suppressed beneath that calm.

"Call him here," he said. "Some things need to be said face to face."

Ten minutes later, Liu Dazhu was brought to the control center.

He clearly hadn't rested well either; he looked like his soul had been sucked out. His eye sockets were sunken, his eyes rimmed with dark circles, his face unshaven. His work clothes were crumpled and stained with grease.

As soon as he entered and saw Chen Fan and Lin Hao, his legs gave way. If he hadn't grabbed the doorframe, he would have collapsed on the spot.

"Boss Chen... Boss Lin..." Liu Dazhu's voice trembled like a leaf in the wind. His eyes darted around nervously, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"Dazhu, sit," Chen Fan said, pointing to a chair opposite him, his tone terrifyingly calm.

Liu Dazhu didn't dare sit. He stood there stiffly, his two hands unconsciously rubbing the hem of his work clothes over and over.

The control room was so quiet you could hear everyone's breathing.

Instead of immediately questioning him, Chen Fan asked an unrelated question: "How was your wife's dialysis yesterday?"

Liu Dazhu's head jerked up. He was stunned for several seconds, his eyes visibly reddening. His lips trembled, his voice choked with tears. "Still... still the same. The doctor said her levels have risen again... If... if we can't find a matching kidney source soon, she... she probably won't last the year..."

By the end, tears 'plopped' down, hitting the cold floor. It wasn't an act; it was the despair of someone pushed to the cliff's edge by life, not even daring to cry out loud.

The control room grew even quieter.

"So," Chen Fan's voice remained steady, "you took the money from the Long Corporation?"

The words struck Liu Dazhu's heart like an ice spike. His whole body shuddered violently, the color draining from his face in an instant. His lips trembled even more fiercely.

The fear of being exposed instantly devoured him like a beast.

He wanted to defend himself, to say "it's not true," but all sound was stuck in his throat, leaving only ragged breaths.

A few seconds later, he fell heavily to his knees with a 'thump,' his forehead hitting the metal floor with a dull 'thud'!

"I'm not human! I'm not human!" Liu Dazhu wailed as he kowtowed, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows. "I've let Boss Chen down! I've let Boss Lin down! I deserve to die!"

He kowtowed with great force, each impact solid. After just three or four times, blood seeped from his forehead, mixing with tears and streaming down his face, carving two dirty trails.

"They approached me... said if I just revealed the vehicle route... and installed a little thing on the truck... they'd give me another five hundred thousand after it was done..." Liu Dazhu cried, gasping for breath, his words disjointed. "I... I didn't agree at first! Really didn't! Even though I haven't been at Star of Fortune long, I know Boss Chen and Boss Lin are good people! But they said... if I didn't do it, they'd have the loan sharks smash up my home... and cause trouble for my wife and son..."

He lifted his tear-streaked face, his eyes completely shattered. "Boss Chen! Boss Lin! I wasn't greedy for the money! I was scared! My wife is already like that... I can't let anything happen to her... My son is only in ninth grade..."

Every word was spoken with blood and tears.

Lin Hao's eyes were red. Though furious, he couldn't bring himself to curse. He stepped forward to help Dazhu up and handed the small device from the Long Corporation to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan had Xiao Zhi scan it. It was a black, square box, palm-sized, somewhat heavy, weighing around a pound.

"Scan complete. It contains a positioning system and an ignition device, a large amount of nanoscale thermite. Once ignited, it can ignite combustibles within .3 seconds and even melt metal." Xiao Zhi's scan results came out.

Liu Dazhu hurriedly explained, "I... I really didn't know what it was. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. They only said it was a tracker." Sweat poured down his back as he realized the unimaginable consequences if he had actually placed this on the truck.

"Dazhu, if this had been installed on the truck, your own life would have been in danger," Lin Hao also gasped, thinking how vicious Long Zaitian was.

"They gave me five of them. They're all in my truck," Dazhu immediately confessed about the remaining devices.

Chen Fan walked up to Liu Dazhu, meeting his gaze at eye level.

"Dazhu, I believe what you said," Chen Fan began slowly, his voice not loud, but each word hammering into Liu Dazhu's heart. "When people are in desperate straits, backed into a corner, it's not surprising what choices they make. If it were me, I might not have done any better."

Liu Dazhu was stunned, staring blankly at Chen Fan.

"But Dazhu," Chen Fan's tone shifted, his eyes suddenly sharp. "You chose the wrong path. If we hadn't discovered this in time, think about it—not just you, but the other brothers in the convoy could have lost their lives because of you."

Dazhu was so frightened he couldn't say anything, just hung his head, waves of fear washing over him.

"When you encountered difficulties, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell Boss Lin?" Chen Fan's voice held anger mixed with frustration.

"I've already had Xiao Zhi enter your wife's medical records and matching requirements into the national organ transplant shared database, with the priority set to the highest. Within three days, an expert team will conduct a secondary evaluation of her condition," Chen Fan's voice became calm again. "Additionally, the company's finance department will advance all her subsequent treatment costs until a kidney source is found and the surgery is completed."

Liu Dazhu was completely dumbfounded. Tears streamed down silently, and he was about to kneel again.

Chen Fan grabbed Liu Dazhu's arm.

"As for that five hundred thousand," Chen Fan turned to look at him, "keep it. Use it for your wife's treatment, your child's tuition, and pay off the loan sharks."

These words struck Liu Dazhu's mind like a thunderbolt, cleaving through his chaotic despair.

A gratitude and shame so intense it was nearly crushing overwhelmed him like a tsunami. Tears and snot smeared his face.

Chen Fan watched him quietly, waiting for his emotions to settle slightly.

"Now, I'm giving you two choices," Chen Fan's voice became decisive once more.

"First, leave Star of Fortune. Take the money and your family, move to another city, change your name, and start over. I'll find a way to handle things with the Long family, ensuring they can't find you."

Liu Dazhu's head jerked up.

"Second," Chen Fan paused, "stay, and make up for your mistake. Follow the Long family's plan tomorrow, send out the truck, and install that device."

Liu Dazhu hesitated almost not at all. He roughly wiped his face with his sleeve. For the first time, that honest, simple face erupted with a nearly ferocious determination.

"Boss Chen!" His voice was terribly hoarse yet exceptionally firm, each word seeming to roar from his chest. "I choose the second option! I, Liu Dazhu, am a worthless life, haven't read many books, but I know what it means to repay kindness! You've given my wife a chance to live, my son a future—from today on, my life is yours!"

Dazhu's tone was resolute. "If you tell me to go east, I won't go west! If you tell me to die, I won't even frown!"

"I don't want your life," Chen Fan patted his shoulder, his tone softening. "Your wife is still in the hospital waiting for you. Your son also needs your support. Remember, your task is to observe and relay information, not to risk your life. If you encounter danger, preserving your life comes first, understand?"

Liu Dazhu nodded heavily. His back straightened, and his eyes held no more hesitation or fear.

Chen Fan turned and looked at Lin Hao.

"'Phantom Protocol,' initiate as planned," his voice echoed in the control center.

Lin Hao gave an "OK" sign.

"Xiao Zhi, remove the ignition devices and incendiary material from these five square boxes. Leave only the tracker parts."

"Received, boss," Xiao Zhi replied immediately.