151: Chapter 151: The East China Chamber of Commerce's Overt Scheme of Pulling the Gate

At night, a fierce wind whipped up dust that filled the sky.

At the eight-thousand-acre wasteland site in the Chengbei High-Tech Zone, over a hundred heavy bulldozers erupted with a dull roar.

Steel tracks ruthlessly crushed the wild grass covering the ground.

Da Biao stood astride the top of a Mengshi off-road vehicle. He raised a megaphone.

"Move it, everyone! Smooth out this muddy pit for me. Anyone who dares to slack off gets their pay docked."

The drivers honked their horns in response, full of energy.

Lu Chen leaned against the door frame. He fished out a transparent plastic lighter. Click. A flame shot up.

He lit a double happiness cigarette. The blue-white smoke drifted away with the wind.

Wei Jianguo and Song Changming stood by his side. The two exchanged a glance. Their eyes were full of confusion.

"Factory Director Lu, this area is truly exaggerated," Wei Jianguo said, swallowing hard. "The Lithography Machine factory building, plus the surrounding supporting workshops, would occupy at most five hundred acres if we calculated it generously. You've leveled this entire eight thousand acres of land. What kind of terrifying thing are you planning to tinker with?"

"Don't worry about it for now," Lu Chen said, flicking the ash from his cigarette. "You'll understand in time."

Song Changming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Those East China financial magnates definitely won't let this go. Today, they forced the big bosses to sign sky-high labor contracts. That group of vampires must be brewing something sinister in the dark. We've taken such a huge step. If our capital chain or raw material supply gets choked, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Lu Chen bit down on the filter and offered no explanation.

A sudden change occurred.

A sharp overload alarm pierced the pitch-black night sky.

The searchlights of dozens of construction vehicles ahead flashed in unison three times. Bang. They all went out.

Immediately after, Chenguang Electronics' main factory area, the newly built three-hundred-acre living area, and Warehouse No. 1 all lost their light sources instantly.

The world plunged into total darkness.

Inside the Underground Level 3 cleanroom, the low-frequency operating noise of the 28-nanometer equipment came to an abrupt halt.

The one hundred thousand new employees who had just completed their onboarding procedures were holding their lunchboxes, gnawing on stewed meat. Suddenly, they were left in the dark.

After a moment of dead silence, a tsunami of furious cursing descended upon them.

"Damn it, why is there no light?"

"I've only taken half a bite of my food. What the hell is going on?"

At the same time, in the dispatch room on the third floor of the Jiangcheng City Power Supply Center.

Deputy Director Chen Hai steadied his purple clay thermos cup. His eyes were locked on the giant display screen on the wall. The massive color block representing the Chengbei High-Tech Zone had already turned a dead gray.

A cold, sinister smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

The attendant nearby was full of panic. "Deputy Director Chen, you really cut it off? There are a full one hundred thousand people over there. If a mass incident breaks out, we can't bear the responsibility."

"We are acting according to regulations. Shouldn't we shut down for maintenance if the load severely exceeds the limit?" Deputy Director Chen Hai scolded with a straight face. "If there's a problem, I'll take the heat. What are you panicking for?"

The attendant shrank back. "But the instruments didn't detect any abnormal peak data."

"I say it's overloaded, so it's overloaded. Shut up and execute the order immediately," Deputy Director Chen Hai interrupted sharply.

The private mobile phone in his pocket vibrated continuously. He opened the screen. A text message came from the special representative of the East China General Chamber of Commerce.

"The timing of the power cut is perfect. Cut off the supply for seven days. Let those one hundred thousand animals go crazy and bite each other in the dark. Once the machine tools are disconnected from power, they are just scrap metal. I want to see what trump card Lu Chen has to keep holding on."

Deputy Director Chen Hai tapped the keypad with his thumb and quickly replied.

"Taking people's money, solving people's problems. The excuse of circuit maintenance is flawless. Even the gods can't save them. Remember to settle the final payment."

Putting away his communication device, Deputy Director Chen Hai blew on the floating tea leaves at the rim of his cup. He contentedly drank the scalding hot water.

"A greenhorn dares to flip the table and smash the industry rules? Tonight, I'll teach you about the cruelty of society," Deputy Director Chen Hai muttered.

The scene cuts back to the muddy construction site.

Old Zhou ran over, stumbling through the mud. His left shoe had long been lost in the mud pit. His tie was crooked and slung to the side.

"Big trouble!" He panted like an ox. "The city power grid department answered the phone. They claimed the regional transformer couldn't handle the surge in electricity consumption. The main grid needs emergency troubleshooting for hidden dangers. It will be down for at least a week. The backup power line we spent a fortune to secretly install has also been ruthlessly cut."

Wei Jianguo was so angry he stomped his feet on the spot. "Bullshit! We didn't even start any new high-power equipment today. The load was very stable. It's definitely those grandsons from the chamber of commerce playing dirty tricks."

"It's over," Song Changming said, his hands and feet turning cold. "A week without electricity. The chip delivery dates for all major car companies are destined to be severely overdue. The huge breach-of-contract penalties could bankrupt Chenguang Electronics."

In the distant prefabricated housing area, restless emotions were rising rapidly.

The working masses at the bottom were already hot-tempered. Having just tasted the sweetness of a salary increase, they were immediately subjected to this disgusting torment.

"Someone is definitely doing this on purpose! Cutting off the livelihood of us poor people!" Li Tiejun waved his thick arms. "Brothers, grab your shovels and pickaxes! Follow me to the power supply building, smash the gates, and demand an explanation!"

"Count me in! Whoever dares to smash Factory Director Lu's rice bowl, I'll fight them to the death!" Tens of thousands of men roared in unison. The momentum was terrifying.

The situation was about to spiral out of control.

Da Biao flipped and jumped off the roof of the vehicle. He drew his alloy weapon and struck the hood hard. The sound of metal colliding stunned everyone.

"Shut the f*** up!" Da Biao's tiger-like eyes widened. "All of you, behave and wait where you are! Without the boss's orders, whoever dares to cause trouble on their own, I'll break their legs first and throw them into the sewer."

The strong men in the front row of the crowd restrained themselves slightly. But the anger in their chests was still burning fiercely.

Old Zhou was so anxious he was shedding tears. "Factory Director Lu, this move of pulling the firewood from under the cauldron is too vicious. One hundred thousand mouths. Cooking, water supply, and even flushing toilets every day all depend on the power grid to maintain operations. Seven whole days without electricity. We don't need outsiders to continue suppressing us. We will explode from within and cause a tragedy."

"I'll go to the city immediately to rent large diesel generator sets at a high price. I'll buy out all the stock in the surrounding counties," Song Changming suggested urgently.

"Save your energy," Lu Chen said, his tone devoid of fluctuation. "Since they have carefully laid out this dead end, all the power generation equipment available for rent on the market has already been snatched up with big money or sealed off by official pressure. You'll only waste your time if you run your legs off looking for them."

"Then what do we do? Just watch and wait to be slaughtered?" Wei Jianguo clutched at his already sparse hair. "Once the Lithography Machine's constant temperature system fails completely, the parameters of those precious amethyst lenses will all be ruined. Months of hard work will go down the drain."

"Would it work to find Director Li Jianguo to coordinate?" Old Zhou wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. "He has a close relationship with us."

"There are fixed procedural authorities within the system," Lu Chen said, his speaking pace steady. "He is in charge of public security and stability maintenance. He can't interfere with the internal dispatch affairs of the energy department at all. Finding him will only add to the chaos."

An atmosphere of despair loomed over everyone. The night wind made everyone's back feel cold.

This group of old-era remnants from the East China Chamber of Commerce didn't fight you with real blades and guns on a technical level at all. They directly used the most despicable basic resources to cut off the food supply and choke the throat. Yet, this kind of open conspiracy was the most fatal.

Lu Chen let out a cold sneer. He exerted sudden force with his fingertips, tossing the remaining half of the cigarette into the depths of the mud pit.

"The old-school financial magnates only have this low-level hobby of cutting off weak points left. It's incredibly tacky and vulgar."

Not a hint of panic could be found on his face. Instead, he wore a kind of contempt that defied common sense.

Lu Chen took steady steps toward the rear of the off-road vehicle.

He raised his arm and opened the rear trunk. He fished out a thick stack of blueprints and documents from deep within a compartment.

The surface of the paper faintly glowed with an eerie, dim golden light.

Lu Chen turned around. He slammed it onto Wei Jianguo's broad chest. It made a dull thud.

"They are trying to use the traditional power grid to hold our Achilles' heel," Lu Chen said, his eyes extremely cold and sharp. His voice pierced through the howling wind. "Since that's the case, we will completely abandon the crappy power lines. We'll build a star with our own hands."

Wei Jianguo reflexively hugged the documents in his arms. His hands couldn't stop trembling violently.

He took out his mobile phone. He pressed the side button to turn on the faint flashlight function.

The small beam of light hit the cover of the documents directly.

Wei Jianguo's gaze touched the row of bold, black-lettered text.

His pupils suddenly shrank to the size of needle points.

His heart seemed to stop beating, and his breath hitched.

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