146: Chapter 146 Information Gap Overwhelming

Da Biao retracted his baton, resting it against his chin. He gave a cold smile.

General Manager Zhou Haitao hissed in pain, his face turning black as the bottom of a pot.

He had been in the East China business circle for so many years that even the local city leaders would give him some face when they saw him.

When did it become a security guard's turn to step on him and lecture him?

General Manager Zhou Haitao raised his hand and pointed at Da Biao's nose.

"Kill him. Beat him to death. I'll take responsibility if anything happens." General Manager Zhou Haitao roared.

The three bodyguards in black behind him immediately rushed forward.

The bald bodyguard in the lead was the fastest; he raised his baton high and brought it down hard, aiming for Da Biao's temple.

Da Biao didn't even blink. He didn't even bother drawing the baton at his waist.

He slid his left foot forward half a step and tilted his body slightly, dodging the falling baton.

He reached out with his left hand and grabbed the bald bodyguard's black tie. With his right hand, he hooked downwards, tightly gripping the back of the bodyguard's neck.

Before the bald bodyguard could react, he felt his feet leave the ground.

Da Biao exerted force from his waist and abdomen, swinging the nearly two-hundred-pound brute around.

Then he slammed him ruthlessly onto the hood of the nearby black Rolls-Royce.

Bang.

A deafening crash echoed.

The custom hand-hammered aluminum alloy hood instantly caved in, forming a huge deep dent.

The front windshield cracked with a snap, spiderwebbing with dense fissures. The bald bodyguard screamed and passed out directly on the hood, spitting out bloody foam.

The remaining two bodyguards stopped in their tracks.

They looked at the totaled Rolls-Royce hood, then at Da Biao, who was standing there without even catching his breath; they gulped, not daring to take another step forward.

Such a huge commotion should have caused panic.

But something strange happened.

The long line of two thousand migrant workers, less than five meters away from the Rolls-Royce, only fell silent for a brief second when the loud noise rang out.

Immediately after, a louder chorus of urging erupted from the queue.

"What's all the noise? Haven't you seen a fight before? Those in front, hurry up and move forward."

"Exactly. Hurry up and press your thumbprint. I need to take this resettlement fee and wire it to my wife. Mind your own business."

The queue continued to surge forward, completely unperturbed.

The loudspeaker calling numbers from Warehouse No. 1 and the continuous rustling sound of money-counting machines completely drowned out the noise of the damaged Rolls-Royce.

No one cared what these people in suits were making a fuss about.

They only cared about the twenty thousand yuan in crisp banknotes they were about to receive.

In the queue on the right auxiliary road, Chairman Wei Jianlin wiped the hot sweat from his neck.

Beside him, President Wang of BYD nudged him gently with his elbow.

"CEO Wei, this General Manager Zhou of Huasheng really has a death wish. Causing trouble on Factory Director Lu's turf—are those few bodyguards he brought enough to even be a snack for Da Biao?"

Chairman Wei Jianlin watched General Manager Zhou Haitao, who was hopping mad, with cold eyes. He cursed him as an idiot in his heart.

Chairman Wei Jianlin lowered his voice to a whisper.

"This grandson is full of old-school thinking. He has no idea what kind of monster is hidden in that factory ahead. Just watch, he won't even be able to leave this road in Jiangcheng today."

President Wang nodded and quickly unbuttoned his suit to let some air in.

Neither of them dared to cut the line and stood there honestly in the sun, all because they were afraid of angering the living Yama inside.

General Manager Zhou Haitao, on the other hand, just stuck his face out to get hit.

In front of the Rolls-Royce, General Manager Zhou Haitao was trembling as he looked at the dented hood and his unconscious subordinate.

He completely lost his reason and pointed at Da Biao, cursing wildly.

"You gatekeeping dog, how dare you smash my car. You couldn't afford to pay for this ten-million-plus car even if you sold your blood for your whole life."

Feeling unsatisfied, General Manager Zhou Haitao turned his head and shouted toward Warehouse No. 1.

"Does your Chenguang Electronics Factory really think you can turn the world upside down just by making one broken machine? The Morgan Consortium has long since sealed off the source of materials for the entire industry."

"Which domestic car company would dare to use the stuff you burned from the waste soil you dug up in the Great Northwest? If anyone dares to use it, Morgan will destroy them."

The more General Manager Zhou Haitao spoke, the more confident he became; he patted his bulging briefcase.

"I have operated in the three East China provinces for twenty years. I understand the rules of the political and business worlds better than you do. I'll say this today: as long as I, General Manager Zhou Haitao, say the word, your Chenguang Electronics Factory won't receive a single order for even a screw from any external car company."

"These peasants in line will smash your broken factory tomorrow when you can't pay their wages. That pile of broken machines will end up just gathering dust in the warehouse as scrap metal."

Just as General Manager Zhou Haitao was in the middle of his rant.

A slow, dragging sound of footsteps came from the factory gate passage. It was the sound of plastic slipper soles scraping against the rough concrete floor.

This sound was exceptionally clear amidst the surrounding noisy human voices and the sound of money-counting machines.

Everyone's gaze was involuntarily drawn to the passage entrance.

When Chairman Wei Jianlin and President Wang saw that figure walk out, they immediately straightened their backs and even held their breath.

Lu Chen walked out slowly from the direction of Warehouse No. 1, holding a chipped enamel bowl.

He was still wearing that faded, worn-out black jacket, and his hair looked very casual.

He held a pair of bamboo chopsticks in his right hand and was still chewing the last bite of plain noodles.

He chewed and swallowed slowly, completely ignoring the intense conflict happening outside.

When Da Biao saw Lu Chen come out, he immediately stepped back half a step and bowed his head slightly.

Lu Chen walked down the steps of the guard booth and stood on the uneven, muddy ground.

He didn't even look at General Manager Zhou Haitao. He first lowered his head to glance at the American Express black card on the ground, covered in black mud and deformed from being stepped on.

Then he looked up and glanced at the huge dent on the hood of the Rolls-Royce.

Finally, his gaze slowly moved to General Manager Zhou Haitao's face.

General Manager Zhou Haitao adjusted his suit collar that had been ruffled by the shock. He adopted that condescending attitude he always used when facing downstream contract factories on the verge of bankruptcy.

"Lu Chen. You finally decided to come out of your broken office." General Manager Zhou Haitao sneered, pointing with his thumb at Da Biao beside him.

"Is this how your people treat big clients who bring money to your door? No wonder your Chenguang Electronics Factory has ended up in a state where you can't even pay the electricity bill. If you can't even manage a gatekeeper, what kind of Lithography Machine are you building?"

Lu Chen held the bowl and didn't respond.

General Manager Zhou Haitao thought Lu Chen was intimidated by his earlier deterrence, and his tone became even more arrogant.

"Lu Chen. I advise you to recognize the reality. You are handing out resettlement fees in sacks here; you can indeed fool these ignorant migrant workers."

General Manager Zhou Haitao stretched out his hand and pointed to the long line in the distance. "But with the high price you paid to buy those broken stones in the Great Northwest, plus the money you've scattered to create hype these past few days, your cash flow must have hit rock bottom long ago."

"You are barely holding on by using high-interest loans to light up that Lithography Machine. Now that you are on the edge of life and death, you probably can't even pay the interest for the next second. You might fool others, but you can't fool me."

General Manager Zhou Haitao reached into his pocket, took out a thick, folded document, and shook it in front of Lu Chen.

"I came here personally today to deliver a five-billion advance payment. This is to keep you alive." General Manager Zhou Haitao lifted his chin.

"As long as you sign this transfer agreement now and hand over half of your production capacity to my Huasheng Group for free, this five billion will be in your corporate account within ten minutes."

"Your broken factory will be able to survive for a few more days. Otherwise, tomorrow when the debt collectors come, you won't even have the chance to buy a block of tofu to bang your head against and die."

Chairman Wei Jianlin listened from behind, his scalp tingling. The dozen or so presidents nearby looked at each other, all trying desperately to hold back their expressions, fearing they would laugh out loud and anger the man in front.

Five billion. They thought General Manager Zhou Haitao was an out-and-out top-tier clown.

In the few hours that had just passed, Lu Chen had mobilized one hundred thousand invisible accounts at the New York NASDAQ trading center, forcibly smashing through all the defensive lines of the Morgan Consortium and Wall Street.

Including principal and interest, he had forcibly torn thirty-four billion US dollars from the bellies of David and that group of financial crocodiles.

That was genuine foreign exchange spot currency.

Converted into RMB, this was a terrifying figure of over two hundred billion.

Just a moment ago, he had used a brilliant scheme involving fifty billion RMB in paid-in taxes to force Secretary Zhou of the Provincial Party Committee to collapse into the mud.

He didn't even blink as he withdrew eight hundred million in cash, stuffing it into sacks to pay the workers their resettlement fees.

Now, General Manager Zhou Haitao was actually holding a mere five billion, running up to this man who could overturn the global market with a wave of his hand, and brazenly saying he wanted to keep him alive.

Lu Chen finished listening to General Manager Zhou Haitao's long-winded speech. The expression on his face did not change at all.

He looked down at the enamel bowl in his hand.

At the bottom of the bowl, there was only the last half-mouthful of cold noodle soup left, with a piece of green onion broken in two floating on top.

Lu Chen held the chipped bowl and slowly turned it half a circle in the palm of his right hand. This half-bowl of leftover soup felt extremely heavy in his hand.

Then, he took a step, treading on the muddy ground. He walked step by step toward the smashed Rolls-Royce.

General Manager Zhou Haitao thought Lu Chen was going to take the document, so a smug smile appeared on his face as he handed the agreement forward.

Lu Chen did not look at the agreement. He stopped in front of General Manager Zhou Haitao and raised his right wrist.