19: Chapter 19: A Midnight Attack, a Max-Level Security Team Performs a Physical Salvation!

1:17 AM.

Zhao Tiezhu was woken up by the sound of engines.

It wasn't just one car. It was over a dozen.

He rushed to the door of the prefab shack in his slippers, his scalp tingling instantly.

On the road outside the factory area, over a dozen vans were lined up, all with their headlights off.

The doors opened, and people jumped out.

Steel pipes dragged along the ground, making a screeching sound.

Some held machetes in their hands, the blades glinting under the distant streetlights.

"Brother Tiezhu! People are outside! So many people!"

Old Ma scrambled out of the neighboring prefab shack, his voice cracking.

Zhao Tiezhu grabbed him and held him down, crouching by the wall to count.

There were no fewer than a hundred.

The leader was bald, wearing an open leather jacket with a dragon tattoo crawling from his neck to his navel, and he scanned the construction site while smoking.

"This is the dump?"

The short, fat man behind him nodded and bowed.

"Brother Ma, this is it. Boss Wang said to smash up the construction site and destroy all the equipment. If that Lu guy dares to show his face, break his legs."

Brother Ma flicked away his cigarette butt.

"Three million to smash a construction site? That's fucking easy."

He waved his hand.

"Go. Tear down the fence first, smash all the machines, and beat anyone you see, just don't kill them."

Over a hundred people rushed toward the wire fence.

Steel pipes clanged against it, some used pliers to cut the wire, others kicked it directly.

The workers in the prefab shacks were woken up; some lifted the curtains to look, their legs going weak as they collapsed to the floor.

"The thugs are here to hack us!"

"Call the police! Hurry, call the police!"

Zhao Tiezhu held Old Ma back, who was trying to rush out.

"Don't go out there and get yourself killed! Call Boss Lu!"

Before the call could be made...

The lights came on.

Dozens of high-power searchlights on the iron frames at the four corners of the construction site burst into life simultaneously, flooding the area with white light, illuminating the entire site and the surrounding road like it was daytime.

Brother Ma instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes.

"Who the fuck turned on the lights?"

From behind the curtain of light, a voice drifted over unhurriedly.

"It's the middle of the night, and you brought over a hundred people to my factory for a team-building exercise?"

Lu Chen walked out of the office building wearing a white T-shirt, holding that enamel mug, steam still rising from it.

He glanced at the smashed fence, then at the steel pipes and machetes scattered on the ground.

He took a sip of water.

Brother Ma squinted at him.

"You're Lu Chen?"

"I am. And you?"

"From the neighboring city. Friends call me Brother Ma."

Brother Ma brushed the dust off his leather jacket, "Little brother, someone paid me three million to take care of some business. I didn't want to make things difficult for you, but when you take someone's money..."

"You take care of their problems, right?" Lu Chen finished for him.

"Good, you know the ropes."

Brother Ma laughed, "Then stop talking. I'm smashing this site today. If you're smart, stick out your legs, and I'll tell my men to go easy on you."

The hundred-plus people behind him spread out, raising their steel pipes and machetes, semi-encircling the entire construction site.

Zhao Tiezhu stood at the door of the prefab shack, his face pale.

Over a hundred thugs, all armed.

Even if all the construction workers here charged, they'd just be asking for a beating.

Lu Chen took another sip of water.

He was unhurried, as if he were chatting on his own balcony.

"Brother Ma, right? You were hired for three million?"

"Yeah."

"Wang Teng paid it?"

Brother Ma didn't say a word. He tacitly agreed.

Lu Chen nodded.

"Three million to smash a site and cripple someone. That price is indeed a bit low."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..."

Lu Chen set his enamel mug on a nearby concrete block, "If you came to work as security for me, you'd earn more than that in a year."

Brother Ma was stunned for a second, then laughed.

It wasn't because he was amused.

It was because he thought this guy was crazy.

"Kid, are you not seeing clearly?"

He raised his hand.

The hundred-plus people behind him slammed their steel pipes onto the concrete ground in unison.

"Thud!"

"Do you think your few security guards can stop my men?"

Lu Chen looked at him for three seconds.

"Da Biao."

The voice wasn't loud.

But from the darkness behind the office building, footsteps could be heard.

Uniform.

Dense.

Brother Ma's smile froze on his face.

Black riot gear, helmets, stab-proof gloves, standard batons.

One row.

Two rows.

Three rows.

They poured out from three directions: behind the office building, the side door of the workshop, and the warehouse passage.

One hundred and fifty people.

Three horizontal lines.

They blocked the entire inner circle of the construction site completely.

Da Biao stood at the very front, slamming his riot shield onto the ground, the dull thud vibrating through the soles of their feet.

Everyone standing behind him... short crew cuts, solid muscles, their eyes as cold as blades.

Zhao Tiezhu's mouth hung open, unable to close.

This isn't a security team?

This is a fucking special forces unit, right?

Brother Ma's Adam's apple bobbed.

He involuntarily took half a step back.

He'd been in this business for over a decade; what kind of formation hadn't he seen?

But the vibe coming from these people on the opposite side wasn't right.

It wasn't the feigned toughness of street thugs.

It was something only people who had truly trained, fought, and carried guns possessed.

Cold.

Still.

More intimidating than a hundred steel pipes.

Lu Chen picked up the enamel mug and took another slow sip.

"Forgot to introduce them. My factory's security team. One hundred and fifty people, all retired soldiers and Sanda specialists from the provincial sports school."

He looked at Brother Ma.

"Monthly salary of 30,000, with the highest tier of social insurance and housing fund."

He paused for a beat.

"That three million of yours isn't enough to cover their monthly wages."

The blood drained from Brother Ma's face inch by inch.

Lu Chen's voice remained unhurried.

"Da Biao, same old rules. 5,000 bonus for each one knocked down, 50,000 for capturing the leader. Medical expenses are fully covered by the factory."

Da Biao grinned.

That smile made even Zhao Tiezhu's spine chill.

"Did you brothers hear that?"

One hundred and fifty people simultaneously tapped their batons against their shields.

"Bang!"

It was as uniform as a thunderclap, shaking the iron frames of the construction site.

The thugs behind Brother Ma started to shrink back.

The hands holding the steel pipes were shaking.

The tips of the machetes were pointing downward.

A few were already sneaking toward the vans.

Brother Ma's expression changed repeatedly, and he gritted his teeth.

"Damn it, charge! A hundred-plus people afraid of a few of them—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Da Biao moved.

His 200-plus pound frame started moving with inhuman speed.

He rushed to Brother Ma in three steps.

His left hand grabbed the collar of the leather jacket, and his right knee drove directly into him.

"Crack."

The sound of ribs.

Brother Ma curled up like a shrimp, his mouth wide open, air exhaled but unable to be inhaled.

Da Biao dragged him forward two steps, like carrying a chicken.

He let go.

Brother Ma fell onto the concrete ground and rolled twice, clutching his ribs and letting out a pig-slaughtering scream.

The thugs behind him were all stunned.

The boss... went down in one exchange?

Then, one hundred and fifty black figures charged.

No war cries.

No cursing.

Just focused fighting.

Professional.

The batons accurately struck wrists, knees, and elbow joints.

They didn't touch vital areas, focusing specifically on the parts holding weapons.

Steel pipes dropped everywhere.

Machetes clattered and fell all over the place.

Screams were chaotic.

Zhao Tiezhu squatted at the door of the prefab shack and watched for half a minute, then spat out a word.

"Fuck."

Old Ma added from the side.

"Brother Tiezhu, I think when Boss Lu talked about digging an air-raid shelter, he really wasn't joking."

Five minutes.

From start to finish, five minutes.

The construction site was covered with bodies.

Over a hundred thugs lay sprawled on the ground, some howling while holding their knees, some crying while clutching their wrists, some passed out from the pain.

Not a single one of the dozen-plus vans escaped—all their tires had been slashed.

Lu Chen walked up to Brother Ma.

Brother Ma lay on the ground, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, all the ruthlessness in his eyes gone, replaced only by fear.

Lu Chen squatted down.

"Brother Ma. Three million to have you come smash my place and cripple my legs."

"Guess how much I spend to support this security team?"

Brother Ma didn't speak. His teeth were chattering.

"A month—4.5 million."

Lu Chen's voice was as calm as if he were reporting the weather.

"Your three million isn't even enough to pay their bonuses."

He stood up.

"Da Biao, tie them all up and wait for the police to collect them. Keep the vans; tow them away tomorrow."

Da Biao acknowledged, and his men got to work.

Lu Chen took out his phone and dialed 110.

"Chenguang Electronics Factory in the Dongcheng Industrial Zone. Over a hundred armed personnel broke into the construction site in the middle of the night to commit violence, and they have been subdued by my factory's security. Yes, over a hundred. Yes, they're all here. Just come and take them away."

He hung up and dialed another number.

Old Zhou's voice was tearful.

"Boss Lu, are you okay?! I heard from the construction site that a lot of people came—"

"I'm fine, it's handled. Do something for me first thing tomorrow morning."

"What is it?"

"For the security team members, a 5,000 bonus for each thug knocked down, 50,000 for capturing the leader. Da Biao is separate; he took down the leader, so 100,000. Get it all paid into their payroll cards tomorrow."

There was a silence of two seconds on the other end of the line.

"Boss Lu, how much did you spend today?"

"Not important."

Lu Chen glanced at the hundred-plus people tied up like zongzi on the construction site.

"Not a single hair on my people was lost. That's enough."

At 3:00 AM, the police cars took away the last batch.

Zhao Tiezhu and the workers stood at the door of the prefab shack, watching the security team line up and return to camp.

It was quiet for a long while.

The dark-skinned, skinny young man asked softly, "Brother Tiezhu, are we here to build a building or to be soldiers?"

Zhao Tiezhu took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and exhaled slowly.

"It's all the same. When you follow the right person, whatever you do feels secure."

The next morning.

At the entrance of the Tengfei Electronics building.

Supervisor Sun drove to the company and saw a crowd of people gathered at the entrance from afar.

He squeezed through and looked at the ground.

The keys to over a dozen vans were strung together on a red rope and hung on the door handle of Tengfei Electronics.

Beside it was a cardboard box.

It was filled with steel pipes broken in two and machetes with dulled blades.

A note was pressed on top of the box.

Supervisor Sun bent down and picked it up.

"Returning your things to Boss Wang. Next time you send people, remember to bring more."

His hands started to shake.

Twenty minutes later, a black Audi A8 screeched into the parking lot.

Wang Teng rushed to the entrance and saw the pile of scrap metal and the note.

He took out his phone and dialed Brother Ma's number.

Powered off.

He dialed the short, fat man's number.

Powered off.

All powered off.

They were all inside.

Wang Teng stood at the entrance of his own company, his legs going weak bit by bit.

The black phone in his pocket vibrated.

Jason's number.

He stared at the screen and didn't answer.

The phone vibrated a second time. A third time.

He knew what Jason was going to ask.

The one-month deadline had already passed by three days.