61: Chapter 61 Trapped Like a Turtle in a Jar! The Standoff in the VIP Waiting Room

Jiangcheng International Airport Terminal T2.

In the spacious and brightly lit departures hall, there were very few passengers. Lu Chen, with his hands in the pockets of his old black jacket, strode at the front. The work boots on his feet made dull thuds against the marble floor tiles.

Wu Dong followed closely behind to the left, clutching his briefcase tightly, his head covered in sweat.

He had just witnessed over ten billion in funds coming in, and his mind was still reeling.

"Boss, are we really just going in to grab him like this?"

Wu Dong swallowed, asking in a low voice, "That old guy used to be someone from the higher-ups, won't it cause trouble if we forcibly detain him?"

Lu Chen did not look back.

Da Biao, walking on the right, slapped the back of Wu Dong's head.

"What kind of trouble? If he didn't have a guilty conscience, why would he be running?" Da Biao pressed the Bluetooth earpiece on his right ear, pausing for two seconds.

"Brother, I've locked onto him. He's in VIP Lounge No. 13 on the third floor of Zone C."

Da Biao looked up, his eyes sharp and ruthless. "The twenty brothers I brought have already sealed off both ends of the corridor. We even have men under the bathroom windows. Even if he grew wings today, he wouldn't be able to fly out of this hall."

Lu Chen's expression was calm.

"Go up."

At the same time, inside VIP Lounge No. 13.

The air conditioning was set very low, almost freezing. Sun Lide sat on the soft leather sofa, his fat body trembling uncontrollably.

He kept lifting his left hand to check his watch, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, and a few sparse hairs stuck damply to his scalp.

Sun Lide held his hands tightly against his chest, clutching a black password-protected briefcase.

Inside the bag were the original drafts of the survey data for the purple niobium-tantalum ore vein from three years ago, as well as the original copy of the transfer agreement.

This was the shadiest thing he had ever done in his life, and it was his only stepping stone to buying a big villa in Manhattan and enjoying a life of luxury for the rest of his days.

For the past two hours, he had been watching the live stream of the Jiangcheng International Exhibition Center on his phone.

That young man named Lu Chen not only brought out real ore to slap faces in public, but also brought in several trucks of cash to take over the tens of thousands of employees at Tengfei Electronics.

Wang Teng had fallen, and Morgan's Jason had vomited blood on the spot. Sun Lide was so scared he hadn't even eaten dinner, rushing to the airport overnight with his bag.

He turned his head to look at the four burly white men standing in the room.

All four were wearing high-end black suits, with invisible communication microphones clipped to their collars, their physiques as hulking as four walls.

They were special security personnel sent from overseas by Jason, the Asia-Pacific head of the Morgan Consortium.

"There are only twenty minutes left until boarding."

Sun Lide asked in broken English, "Is the private channel arranged by Mr. Jason confirmed to be okay? The police haven't targeted me, have they?"

The lead security captain, Smith, looked down at the trembling Sun Lide on the sofa, a look of undisguised mockery hanging at the corner of his mouth.

"Mr. Sun, please put away that timid, unsophisticated look."

Smith straightened his suit cuffs. "This is Jiangcheng in your China, but this channel is a VIP channel bought by the Morgan Consortium."

Smith pointed to the briefcase in Sun Lide's arms.

"The things in your hands are worth two hundred billion USD. For this data, Mr. Jason will use all his connections in China to ensure you board the plane smoothly. Even if your Jiangcheng police chief were standing here, don't even think about stopping you."

Hearing this, Sun Lide finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"That's good, that's good." Sun Lide wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Smith checked the time and nodded at Sun Lide.

"The channel is cleared. Let's go, I'll take you to board."

After saying this, he walked to the door and was about to reach out to open it.

Bang!

A muffled thud.

The two expensive VIP lounge doors flew open, slamming heavily against the walls.

Smith reacted extremely quickly, but due to momentum, he still stepped back as the door panel pushed him.

Outside the door, a young man in an old black jacket and work boots was unhurriedly taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one.

Da Biao was carrying a 60-centimeter solid steel pipe in his hand. He stepped forward and pointed the pipe directly at Smith's chest.

"This door is too flimsy."

Da Biao grinned, looking at the door with disdain.

"Foreign devil, step back. You're blocking my brother's way."

Sun Lide froze in place, and the briefcase dropped to the floor with a "clatter."

"Lu... Lu Chen!" Sun Lide's voice went up an octave, filled with a tremor bordering on despair.

Lu Chen didn't look at Sun Lide.

He looked down, the ghostly blue flame of the lighter illuminating his face, which was calm enough to make one's skin crawl.

He took a deep drag of the cigarette and then slowly exhaled.

In this luxurious setting, the smell of smoke seemed exceptionally cheap, yet it carried an alternative sense of dominance.

Lu Chen stepped inside, as if walking into his own bedroom, and walked straight to where Sun Lide had been sitting, bent down to pick up the briefcase, and threw it onto the coffee table in front of him.

"Deputy Director Sun." Lu Chen looked at Sun Lide, his tone like someone chatting back home, "Where are you in such a rush to go? It's a one-way ticket, too—are you not planning on coming back?"

Sun Lide's face turned pale, and he instinctively looked toward Smith.

"Lu Chen... what do you want! This is an airport! I am a retired government official; you are illegally restricting my personal freedom! This is kidnapping!"

"Kidnapping?" Lu Chen scoffed and leaned back on the sofa casually.

"Then call the police and have me arrested!"

He took out his old smartphone with a cracked corner and tossed it onto the side table.

"Call now, use my phone." Lu Chen raised his eyelids and looked at Sun Lide. "While you're at it, let the police check what's in your bag."

Sun Lide froze. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he gritted his teeth, not daring to touch the phone.

Once the police got involved, he would never make it out of the terminal; the contents of the bag wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

"Not calling?" Lu Chen took out a silver windproof lighter.

The lighter spun nimbly between his slender fingertips. "Then stand there quietly and listen to me."

"I have nothing to say to you! I don't even know who you are!" Sun Lide stiffened his neck, refusing to admit it.

"Three years ago." Lu Chen's tone was flat, without inflection. "The Jiangcheng Mineral Bureau issued a geological survey report regarding a 200 billion purple niobium-tantalum ore vein underground."

Sun Lide's pupils constricted, and his body shrank back another inch involuntarily.

"The public report stated that there was no mining value. Subsequently, the true original draft of this report was bought by Wang Teng for a huge sum of twenty million. He then turned around and gave it to Jason of the Morgan Consortium as a token of loyalty."

Lu Chen stared straight into Sun Lide's shifty eyes.

"That piece of trash report used to deceive the state was stamped with your personal seal. The final signatory was you, Deputy Director Sun."

Sun Lide's breathing quickened, and his legs began to feel weak and uncontrollable.

This matter had been handled very secretly back then. Wang Teng had just entered the detention center today, and Jason was far away overseas; all transactions were transferred through overseas shell companies.

He couldn't fathom how Lu Chen could have dug up this old debt from three years ago so thoroughly in just a few short hours!

"Mr. Lu, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want. I don't know what ore vein you're talking about." Sun Lide's face flushed red as he forced himself to stay calm.

"I have already completed the early retirement procedures and am going abroad to visit relatives today. You bringing people to block me is illegal restriction of personal freedom."

Sun Lide swallowed, his voice rising a few notches.

"This is a serious act of kidnapping!"

Lu Chen stopped fiddling with the lighter.

He scoffed, lifted his chin slightly, and pointed at the briefcase Sun Lide was clutching tightly.

"Going abroad to visit relatives?" Lu Chen's tone was extremely mocking. "Wearing the dog collar that the Morgan Consortium gave you?"

Sun Lide panicked completely. He knew that Lu Chen had to get what was in his bag today.

He retreated repeatedly, hiding directly behind the four white security guards.

"Mr. Smith! He wants to steal my commercial confidential documents! What are you waiting for!" Sun Lide screamed wildly at the foreigners. "Hurry and take him out! Otherwise, none of us will be able to leave!"

Smith twisted his thick neck, his cervical vertebrae making a cracking sound. He looked at Lu Chen sitting on the sofa with contempt, then glanced at Da Biao holding the steel pipe.

"You yellow-skinned monkeys. Have you watched too many movies?" Smith said in very broken, unpleasant Chinese.

He pointed at the steel pipe in Da Biao's hand.

"You dare to stop us with a piece of scrap iron?"

A heavy-duty tactical baton instantly extended. The other three foreign security guards did not hesitate at all, simultaneously pulling out high-power stun guns.

No one knew how they had managed to bring these through security, but they had brought them in.

Blue arcs crackled in the air, emitting a hair-raising electrical sound.

Smith took a step forward. Relying on his massive size advantage, he looked down at Da Biao.

Wu Dong, blocking the door, was so scared his calves were trembling.

He was just a sales guy; at most, he would slam tables and curse, but he had never seen such a life-or-death situation with real weapons. Besides, the killing intent radiating from these foreigners was too heavy.

"Bo... Boss." Wu Dong spoke with a trembling voice. "Can Brother Da Biao handle this alone? Should we bring those twenty brothers from outside in..."

Lu Chen was still sitting on the sofa. From the moment he entered until now, his sitting posture hadn't changed once.

He reached out to flick the ash from his cigarette and turned his head to look at Da Biao.

"Take them all down, just leave them breathing." Lu Chen's tone was cold, without a trace of warmth.