218: Chapter 218 The Silly Siren's Encirclement and the Cold Response

The heavy full titanium alloy gate slowly slid open to both sides.

Blinding flashes of light instantly flooded in through the gap in the gate. Riot police pressed firmly against their riot shields with their bodies. The crowd outside was pushing frantically.

Lao Zhou led dozens of security personnel to hold the front line. The back of Lao Zhou's uniform was completely soaked. Sweat dripped straight down from his chin.

"Stand your ground! Anyone who dares to step one inch past the gate's cordon line, beat them back with your batons!" Lao Zhou wiped the rain from his face and roared.

The people outside didn't care at all.

Several people with foreign media press passes hanging around their necks desperately shoved their microphones inside.

"Chenguang Factory's security personnel are attempting to violently assault civilians. What are you trying to hide?"

"Answer our questions quickly! You are maliciously refusing to hire workers from the Yamato nation. How do you explain this anti-human behavior?"

"Make your boss, Lu Chen, come out and apologize publicly."

In the crowd, several people wearing hats were mixed in, shouting frantically. These were shills planted by Freemasons.

"You must pay compensation! We demand that Chenguang Factory immediately establish a branch in Tokyo with no entry barriers."

"The technical workers of the Yamato nation are the best in the world. You have an obligation to solve our employment crisis. Go build a factory in Tokyo immediately."

"Make the recruitment list public. Accept international inspections."

Lao Zhou gritted his teeth and didn't respond at all. Da Biao had given instructions: when outside, no matter what others cursed, the factory staff were not to say a single word back.

Just then, an old bus emitting a pungent smell of diesel fuel forcibly pushed through the crowd and drove to the very edge of the cordon line.

The bus door opened with a "clank."

The Consul gripped a megaphone and turned to wave vigorously at the bus.

More than fifty men walked off the bus in a line. These men were all wearing ragged work uniforms. Their hair looked like a clump of weeds. Their faces were sallow, and they were so thin that their cheekbones protruded sharply.

They stood in the muddy water, deliberately hunching their shoulders and shivering.

The frequency of the flashes instantly doubled. The reporters' lenses were all aimed at this group of people.

The Consul ran over and grabbed one of the thinnest men. He dragged the man to the front of the cordon line.

"Defenders of human rights around the world, please aim your cameras at them!" The Consul's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice carried a realistic sob.

"Look at these people! They are all the top-tier, highest-quality heavy industry workers from our Sakura Country. They once poured their sweat onto the assembly lines of Mitsui Heavy Industries. Now, they are starved to skin and bone."

The Consul forcefully raised the man's arm, displaying his tattered cuffs to the cameras.

"They heard about the million-person recruitment drive at Chenguang Factory. They came to Jiangcheng full of hope. And what was the result? They were heartlessly turned away by you."

"Their entire families are starving. The charity that Chenguang Factory claims to stand for is nothing but a joke. Your bones are filled with narrow-mindedness and prejudice."

Several foreign media reporters immediately chimed in loudly.

"Chenguang Factory must provide an explanation!"

"Hire them immediately! Prove your innocence."

"Refusing to accept high-quality refugees makes you an enemy of the international community."

The Consul walked up to Lao Zhou and roared through the riot shield: "Go back and tell Lu Chen! We have brought the people today. These fifty high-quality technical workers are right here. You must sign the highest-level formal labor contracts with them on the spot, in front of the global media!"

Lao Zhou kept a cold face, gripping his rubber baton tightly.

The Consul slapped the shield hard: "If you refuse to accept even one person now, we will immediately broadcast Chenguang Factory's discriminatory atrocities to the whole world. The UN peacekeeping forces will take over your factory area tomorrow."

The reporters in the back were frantically typing on their keyboards. The smear articles for synchronous publication across the web had already been written. The headlines were all drafted. As long as Lu Chen said the word "no" today, with one press of the Enter key, the great web of public opinion could completely strangle Chenguang Factory.

The Consul stared at Lao Zhou, a cold, sinister smile pressing at the corners of his mouth. These refugees were gamblers and vagrants he had paid to hire from the slums of Kabukicho. As long as these people infiltrated the factory, carrying micro-bombs or listening devices, all of Chenguang Factory's secrets could be obtained. This was, from the beginning, an unsolvable open conspiracy.

The gate was fully opened.

A path was revealed.

Lao Zhou turned back, panting heavily. Dozens of security guards automatically scattered to both sides.

Lu Chen stepped out.

He was wearing a worn-out black leather jacket. On his feet were a pair of yellowed old leather shoes. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. His eyes were as calm as a stagnant pool of water.

The area outside the factory gate, which had been incredibly noisy just a moment ago, instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Hundreds of people stared at Lu Chen. No one spoke. Even the sound of camera shutters stopped for over ten seconds.

A pure sense of oppression seeped out from the gate. Lao Zhou was the closest, and he felt a chill run down his back. This was a fierce aura of someone who had truly seen blood and killed people.

The moment the thin man, who was being used by the Consul to play the victim, saw Lu Chen's gaze clearly, his legs went weak, and he collapsed directly into the muddy puddle.

The Consul swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling his throat ache with dryness. He forced himself to raise the megaphone, just about to shout.

Lu Chen lowered his head and fished a transparent plastic lighter out of his jacket pocket.

"Click."

A flame sprang up. Lu Chen bowed his head and lit a double happiness cigarette he was biting in his mouth.

He took a deep drag. The red glow of the cigarette tip was exceptionally piercing in the gloomy light.

Lu Chen slowly raised his head and exhaled a gray-white smoke ring toward the sea of camera lenses.

In the second-floor control room, Wu Dong was frantically typing on his keyboard. Dozens of high-power directional recording devices had already locked onto Lu Chen's position. Using hacking technology, the sound wave signals were instantly reverse-connected to the channels of the satellite broadcast trucks outside.

In all relevant live broadcast rooms on the clear web and the dark web, Lu Chen's deep, hoarse voice rang out clearly.

"Want to enter the factory?" Lu Chen, biting the cigarette butt with his jacket open, kept his gaze on the Consul's face. "Sure. Our Chenguang Factory has always been the most reasonable."

As soon as these words came out, all the reporters outside were stunned. Lao Zhou also widened his eyes, unable to believe his ears.

This was completely contrary to logic. How could the boss compromise so easily?

The Consul was stunned for a full three seconds. Then, an unconcealable ecstasy erupted in his eyes.

Lu Chen had backed down. Under the pressure of powerful international public opinion, this young boss with ruthless methods was finally afraid.

As long as these fifty people got in, the next step would be a thousand, ten thousand. The plan to build a branch in Tokyo could be realized immediately.

"Everyone heard that! Chenguang Factory has agreed to accept them!" The Consul turned around and shouted at the group of reporters, his voice trembling with excitement.

The reporters immediately followed up.

"Mr. Lu, are you implicitly admitting that your previous refusal to hire was based on prejudice?"

"When can these fifty workers process their employment procedures?"

"Do you have any preliminary plans for the site selection of the Tokyo branch?"

The Consul walked quickly to the cordon line, pointed at the dozens of men sitting in the muddy water, and loudly made demands to Lu Chen: "Boss Lu, you promised this in front of the world's media. For these fifty people, we require you to waive all cumbersome verification procedures. Take them into the factory immediately and arrange core technical positions for them. Provide them with ten times the base salary. Not a single condition can be missing."

Lu Chen watched his performance quietly. There was no ripple in his eyes.

He only felt that the person in front of him was pitiful. He didn't even know his death date had arrived.

He extended two fingers and took the double happiness out of his mouth. The cigarette still had more than half left.

Lu Chen curled his finger. With a light flick.

The cigarette butt, carrying a spark, traced an arc in the air, landing in the muddy puddle at the Consul's feet with a "plop," and immediately extinguished.

Lu Chen stuffed his hands back into his jacket pockets.

"What's the rush? The gate of my Chenguang Factory has always been open." Lu Chen's voice was extremely cold.

He tilted his head slightly and glanced at the passage behind him.

"Da Biao, push the gear up. Let's properly handle the entry security check for our new employees who have traveled from afar." Lu Chen raised his voice.

A heavy grinding sound came from deep within the gate.

Da Biao grinned, revealing two rows of stark white teeth. He pressed both hands against a three-meter-high black metal door frame. Two twelve-ton heavy forklifts were pushing from behind.

The black metal door frame was forcibly pushed to the very center of the gate. It stopped steadily behind Lu Chen.

This door was entirely jet black. There wasn't a single gap. A ring of blue light at the top was glowing eerily.

This thing stood there, exuding an evil nature as if it wanted to swallow living people whole.

All the reporters outside shut their mouths. The cameras immediately turned, aiming fixedly at this inexplicable black iron door.

The ecstasy on the Consul's face froze. He stared at that black door, and an inexplicable feeling of extreme danger rose in his heart.

"What is this thing?" The Consul stepped back half a step, his voice tight.

Lu Chen stared at the Consul. A cold brutality flashed in his eyes.

"A temperature-measuring instrument. To prevent infectious diseases." Lu Chen's tone was nonchalant, his gaze sweeping over the fifty people who had gotten off the bus.

"Line up. Walk through this door. As long as the instrument's light doesn't turn on, the contract will be signed immediately." Lu Chen lifted his chin and pointed at the door frame.