15: Chapter 15 Officials Investigate Illegal Construction? A Reverse Slap in the Face Turns into a Special Approval from the Municipal Level!

The third truckload of concrete had just been poured into the foundation trench, and the vibrator was buzzing away.

Zhao Tiezhu was squatting by the edge of the trench, checking the level with a spirit level, when he suddenly looked up.

In the distance, the dense sound of sirens drowned out the roar of the cement mixer.

Da Biao jumped onto a stack of bricks.

Three white enforcement vehicles, their blue lights flashing, charged straight toward the factory gate.

"Stop work! Everyone stop!"

Before the vehicles had even come to a complete stop, seven or eight people in uniforms filed out. The square-faced, middle-aged man leading them stood with a straight back, a stack of stamped documents tucked under his arm.

Zhao Tiezhu immediately shut off the vibrator in his hand.

A dark-skinned, thin young man climbed out of the foundation trench, his pant legs covered in cement slurry; his face turned pale the moment he saw those enforcement vehicles.

"It's over. That's exactly how the last construction site I worked at was shut down."

"Shut up!" Zhao Tiezhu barked, though his own voice was trembling.

Behind the enforcement vehicles, a black Audi followed at a leisurely pace and parked to the side.

The car door opened.

Wang Teng stepped out in shiny leather shoes, half a phone sticking out of his suit pocket, with a smirk on his face that was just asking for a punch.

Supervisor Sun followed behind, carrying a document bag, his face practically screaming: "I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Da Biao jumped down from the brick stack, and four security guards followed closely behind to block the entrance to the construction site.

"Gentlemen, if you have business, please contact the factory office first—"

"Move aside."

The lead enforcement officer flashed his ID; his surname was Zhou.

"We have received a real-name report alleging that Chenguang Electronics Factory is illegally constructing a residential project on industrial land and has unauthorizedly changed the nature of the land use. We are here to conduct an on-site investigation in accordance with the law."

Wang Teng sauntered over, his voice loud enough for the entire construction site to hear.

"Where is Lu Chen? Make him come out."

He looked around at the bustling construction site and clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

"Quite the lively construction project you've got here. It's a pity, though. Building residential apartments on industrial land, changing the land use... At best, you'll be fined and forced to demolish it; at worst—"

He reached out and patted the rebar cage next to him.

"Factory Director Lu will have to prepare to eat prison food."

The construction site went completely silent.

The mixer stopped, the steel worker put down his bending hook, and the mason's trowel hung suspended in mid-air.

Over two hundred people were all looking toward the office building.

Zhao Tiezhu clutched his hard hat, his heart pounding.

He had only been working for Lu Chen for a few days, but he felt he was a decent, honest man.

But now that the enforcement team was actually here, this wasn't a joke.

He had seen too many construction sites get shut down.

Captain Zhou raised his hand to signal the people behind him not to move yet.

"Just cooperate with the investigation. Call your boss out here."

Just as Da Biao was about to take out his phone, the iron door of the office building pushed open.

When Lu Chen came out, he was holding an enamel mug, walking at a leisurely pace as if he were out for a stroll.

Seeing his attitude, Wang Teng's smile deepened.

"Boss Lu, I really didn't want to take it this far. Everything was going so well with the data cables; why did you insist on building some garden apartment complex on industrial land?"

He pointed to the documents in Captain Zhou's hand.

"It's a report in black and white, with pictures and evidence. Demolish what needs to be demolished, fine what needs to be fined."

Lu Chen took a sip of tea and didn't respond.

Captain Zhou stepped forward, his attitude strictly professional.

"Factory Director Lu, please present the construction permit, planning permit, and relevant approval documents for this plot of land."

Old Zhou rushed out from behind, his face deathly pale, and leaned in to whisper in Lu Chen's ear.

"Boss Lu... do we actually have these permits?"

"Go to the safe and get the red folder. Second shelf, all the way in the back."

Old Zhou looked confused.

"A red one? How come I haven't—"

"You've never checked the second shelf. Go."

Old Zhou ran off.

Wang Teng crossed his arms, the corners of his mouth curling higher and higher.

"Boss Lu, don't waste your time. Construction permits have to go through the Planning Bureau for approval, which takes at least three months. You only started construction yesterday; what permits could you possibly have?"

Supervisor Sun timely handed over a tablet, the screen displaying aerial photographs.

"Captain Zhou, take a look. These were taken yesterday afternoon. The foundation has already been poured, and over a hundred people are working. This is clearly a commercial residential project. What kind of factory dormitory is six stories tall with a garden?"

Captain Zhou took it and scanned it for a moment, frowning slightly.

"Factory Director Lu, if you cannot produce legal documentation, I must issue a stop-work order."

A buzz of discussion arose across the construction site.

The dark-skinned young man squatted by the foundation, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Zhao Tiezhu walked over to Lu Chen with a grim face and lowered his voice.

"Boss Lu, if it's really not working out... why don't we stop for two days and get the paperwork sorted?"

Lu Chen shook his head.

"No need to stop."

Wang Teng laughed out loud.

"No need to stop? Planning to resist the law with force? Perfect, my phone's video recording function is actually quite good."

He actually took out his phone and pointed the camera at Lu Chen.

Footsteps came from the direction of the office building.

Old Zhou rushed out clutching a dark red folder, A3 size, with a golden national emblem printed on the cover.

He was running in a hurry, but he held the folder tightly, as if he were holding his own son.

"Found it!" Old Zhou panted. "It's actually here!"

Lu Chen took it and opened it.

The first page.

"Special Approval Letter for the Construction of Ancillary Facilities on Industrial Land."

A big red stamp. Municipal Planning Bureau.

He handed the folder to Captain Zhou.

"Captain Zhou, please take a look."

Captain Zhou took it, turned to the first page, and his eyes locked onto it.

Wang Teng leaned forward, only to be blocked by Captain Zhou turning his body.

Seven pages. Construction permit, planning permit, environmental impact assessment, fire safety—not a single page missing. Each page had a bright red official seal in the bottom right corner, dated—three days ago.

Captain Zhou flipped through every page, then turned back to the first one, staring at the approval letter for a full ten seconds.

"Factory Director Lu, the remarks column on this approval letter says—Internal Employee Dormitory Optimization and Renovation Project?"

"That's right."

Lu Chen took a sip of tea. "It's not commercial housing, it's not for external sale, and it doesn't change the nature of the industrial land. It's an employee dormitory."

He looked toward Wang Teng.

"Which article or clause of the law prohibits an enterprise from improving its employees' living conditions?"

The smile on Wang Teng's face looked as if it had been slapped off by someone.

"Impossible! You only signed the contract with the out-of-town transport team three days ago! How could you have possibly received—in advance—"

Lu Chen's tone was calm.

"Boss Wang, do you think you're the only person in the world with connections?"

Captain Zhou closed the folder and handed it back to Lu Chen.

He turned his head to glance at the aerial photos, then looked at the construction site in front of him, remaining silent for two seconds.

"The paperwork is complete, and the approvals are compliant. Investigation result: No illegal construction behavior exists."

He waved his hand at those behind him.

"Retreat."

Wang Teng stepped forward.

"Captain Zhou! Look again carefully! Approved in three days? What kind of connections did he use? This approval must be problematic!"

Captain Zhou stopped and looked back at him.

"Boss Wang, let me give you a reminder. Malicious reporting and interfering with legal operations also have legal consequences."

Wang Teng opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Also."

Captain Zhou paused, took out his phone to check something, handed it to a colleague next to him for a few seconds to confirm, and then walked back in front of Lu Chen.

"Factory Director Lu, since I'm here today, I might as well notify you of something."

Outside the workshop, it was so quiet that one could hear the sound of the wind blowing over the rebar.

"Yesterday, the Municipal Committee, in conjunction with the Housing and Construction Department and the Human Resources and Social Security Department, issued a pilot notice on encouraging key enterprises to improve the living conditions of frontline workers."

He looked at the construction site, and then at the workers who had stopped their work and were standing there in a daze.

"Chenguang Electronics Factory is the first pilot unit selected in this city."

On the construction site, not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

"For the Employee Housing Support Project, infrastructure-related taxes and fees are exempted. The municipal government will also provide an additional fifteen percent construction subsidy."

Three seconds of dead silence.

Then—

"Boss Lu is awesome!!!"

Li Qiang's voice cracked.

The cheers of over two hundred people exploded like dynamite, shaking the rebar cages with a buzzing resonance.

Zhao Tiezhu didn't even notice his hard hat had fallen off. Zhang Xiufang covered her mouth, tears streaming onto the ground. The dark-skinned young man couldn't even squat anymore; he sat down on the edge of the foundation, head tilted back, howling dryly.

Wang Teng stood there.

His face went from white to red, from red to purple, and finally to a dark, bruised purple.

Supervisor Sun had already quietly put the tablet back into his bag, head down, retreating toward the Audi.

Lu Chen held his enamel mug and glanced at Wang Teng.

"Boss Wang, next time before you report me, I suggest you call and ask first. Don't be so eager to send me warmth."

He blew on the tea leaves at the rim of his cup.

"If you hadn't come today, I wouldn't even have known about this subsidy."

Wang Teng's lips trembled twice.

He turned around abruptly and walked toward the car, but his leather shoe slipped on some broken bricks, causing him to stumble and nearly fall to his knees.

Supervisor Sun reached out to help, but he shoved him away.

The sound of the Audi door slamming shut was louder than the sound of steel hitting steel on the construction site.

The car sped away in a cloud of dust.

Captain Zhou and his team got into the enforcement vehicles, and before leaving, he rolled down the window.

"Factory Director Lu, your factory... is quite interesting."

The convoy drove out of the factory area.

In front of Lu Chen, the system interface popped up.

Notification sounds flooded the screen.

[The average loyalty of all 391 registered employees in the factory has exceeded 99%!]

[Hidden achievement unlocked: "Officially Certified · Conscientious Enterprise"!]

[Reward triggered: 3,000,000 Yuan in cash + Accelerated arrival of infrastructure subsidies!]

Three million.

Plus the nearly four million in fixed daily income.

Wang Teng had lifted a stone only to drop it on his own feet, and he had even helped lay a brick for Lu Chen.

Lu Chen closed the interface and downed the remaining half cup of tea in one gulp.

Zhao Tiezhu ran over, holding his hard hat in his hand, hesitating for a moment.

"Boss Lu, there's something I need to tell you."

"Speak."

Zhao Tiezhu fished a stone out of his pants pocket.

It was the size of a palm, with a dark surface, but the cross-section faintly shimmered with a very faint purple luster.

"This morning, while driving the foundation piles, we hit a layer of hard rock three meters underground. We broke two drill bits and still couldn't drill through it."

He handed the stone over.

"I've been in infrastructure for twenty years, and I've never seen anything like this."

Lu Chen took the stone.

The moment it touched his hand—

An electronic buzzing, so piercing it made his bones go numb, exploded in his brain.

The system interface popped up violently.

It wasn't green. It wasn't blue.

Blood red.

Highest-level alert.

The entire interface flickered violently, red text popping out line after line, the scrolling speed so fast that Lu Chen's pupils constricted.

[!!! Emergency Scan !!!]

[Detected ultra-rare natural mineral—]