97: Chapter 97 One Hundred Million a Day! The Super Industrial Park Project Launched

The meeting room was deathly quiet.

It was so quiet that only the sound of the wind outside the window could be heard.

Two sheets of the financial report slipped from Old Zhou's hands and fell onto the floor tiles, but he didn't bend over to pick them up.

Old Zhou was used to stretching every penny. Buying meat and paying salaries over the past few days had already given him a heart attack, and now Lu Chen was talking about a super hospital and a school—he was planning to build a new city from scratch in Jiangcheng.

Zhao Tiezhu looked down at the calculator in his hand, his thumb beginning to tremble.

"Leveling the earthworks for the heavy industrial zone, three million a day. Piling for the main hospital building, five million. The underground pipe network for the family residential area..." Zhao Tiezhu muttered, his thumb frantically pressing the plastic buttons.

"Click-clack... click-clack..."

Zhao Tiezhu stared intensely at the numbers constantly popping up on the screen, his fingers pressing faster and faster.

"Factory Manager..." Zhao Tiezhu stopped, his voice cracking. "I... I can't take this job."

Lu Chen looked at him.

"I can't calculate it anymore!" Zhao Tiezhu slammed the calculator down next to the blueprints. "Twenty thousand mu of land! The heavy industrial zone, the Grade 5A hospital, and the family residential school are all breaking ground at the same time! How much machinery will that take? Just for the heavy trucks to haul dirt and clear the surface, we'd need two thousand of them running around the clock!"

The veins on Zhao Tiezhu's neck bulged out. "Advancing on three fronts—this isn't construction, this is throwing money away! The daily running costs for building materials and machinery alone will burn through at least one hundred million!"

Old Zhou's hand shook, and all the reports in his arms fell to the floor.

He couldn't even hold onto his paint-chipped thermos, which he usually kept by his side at all times. It hit his foot with a "clang," splashing tea everywhere.

"One hundred million a day!" Old Zhou roared with a hoarse voice. "Manager Lu, even the reserves that The Big Four Banks left us aren't enough to sustain this kind of drain!"

Old Zhou was so anxious he slapped the table. "Yesterday, buying scrap metal and materials, plus those tens of thousands of Tomahawk steaks—we spent tens of millions in a single day! And today, you want to launch an infrastructure project that costs one hundred million a day! The intent money deposited by The Big Four Banks absolutely cannot be used this way! Are we not planning to live past today?"

Lu Chen didn't bother to argue with Old Zhou.

He reached his hand into the inner pocket of his black jacket.

He pulled out a jet-black U-shield. Its edges were trimmed with a subtle, dark gold.

"Clap."

Lu Chen slapped the U-shield onto the table, pressed his index finger against it, and slid it across the smooth surface right to Wu Dong's hand.

Wu Dong stared at the China Construction Bank unlimited super platinum U-shield, his eyelids twitching twice.

"There are nearly two hundred million coming into the account every day." Lu Chen pulled over a folding chair and sat down, legs spread, hands pressed onto his thighs. "It's not intent money. It's clean, cash-settled funds. And that's a minimum. Every single day."

Two hundred million a day.

Wu Dong cursed under his breath. Other people calculated factory profits by the year, but his own factory manager calculated them by the day.

He wiped the cold sweat from his palms with the hem of his suit jacket, grabbed the U-shield, and clutched it tightly in his hand.

"Spend this money with your eyes closed." Lu Chen's voice was extremely steady. "If you run out, I'll get more."

Zhao Tiezhu's legs went weak, and he slumped onto the floor.

He had been in construction for twenty years; every job he'd taken required him to front the capital. He had even acted like a subservient grandson to contractors just to get a few hundred thousand in payments.

Burning one hundred million a day, and he was told to spend it with his eyes closed? Was this a war? This was paving a road in a mud pit with cold hard cash.

Lu Chen pulled out a double happiness cigarette and bit down on it. His silver windproof lighter clicked open.

He lit the cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled a cloud of gray-white smoke.

"Zhao Tiezhu." Lu Chen spat out the three words.

"Yes!" Zhao Tiezhu scrambled up from the floor and stood at attention.

"Take the U-shield from Wu Dong and go settle the payments." Lu Chen tapped the table with the finger holding his cigarette. "If Jiangcheng doesn't have enough excavators, bring them in from the surrounding cities. Buy up every single excavator in the entire city. Don't haggle over the price; pay in full and in cash. I want this twenty thousand mu of land cleared so that not even a single mound of dirt can be seen by the end of the day."

"Understood!" Zhao Tiezhu bellowed.

"Factory Manager, there are too many casual laborers and drivers brought in from outside. Feeding them is a huge problem." Zhao Tiezhu scratched his messy hair. "Our factory cafeteria can't handle this kind of outsourced work. Besides, they aren't our official, registered employees."

"As long as they've entered the North City construction site," Lu Chen flicked the ash from his cigarette, "as long as they are digging dirt for me, Lu Chen, I don't care if they've signed a contract or not. The food must be top-tier."

Lu Chen looked at Zhao Tiezhu.

"For the outsourced workers, give them the same Tomahawk steaks as yesterday."

Zhao Tiezhu's hand trembled. The bargain calculator clattered onto the floor tiles, its back cover flying off.

Have the temporary excavator drivers brought in from outside eat Tomahawk steaks that cost hundreds per serving every day?

Was this a construction site or a state banquet?

"Factory Manager..." Zhao Tiezhu's eyes went red. "If these poor brothers find out about this food, they'll drive their excavators at the speed of a jet! They'll work their lives away for this!"

Lu Chen ignored Zhao Tiezhu and turned to look at Wu Dong.

"How did the task I assigned you last night go?" Lu Chen asked.

"It's done, Boss." Wu Dong swallowed, trying hard to suppress his pounding heart. "Over two thousand small scrap yard owners, along with their sorting staff and drivers. Eleven thousand four hundred and twenty people. All the labor contracts were signed overnight. They've been entered directly into our Chenguang Electronics system and issued employee badges."

Wu Dong took a deep breath. "Everyone has been stuffed into our employee apartments. They can fully enter the site this afternoon and go to the smelting center to sort scrap metal."

Lu Chen stubbed out his cigarette.

With these ten thousand-plus new hires, the total number of registered factory employees was now approaching twenty-nine thousand.

Coupled with the overflow critical hits from the loyalty lock, the legal cash automatically transferred by the system into The Big Four Banks accounts every day was about to break through the three hundred million mark.

There was too much money. It was truly impossible to spend it all.

Lu Chen stood up and zipped up his jacket.

"Old Zhou." Lu Chen looked at the administrative steward, who was still staring blankly at the floor tiles.

Old Zhou snapped back to reality. "Manager Lu, I'm here."

"Go draft a city-wide announcement." Lu Chen reached out and patted Old Zhou's shoulder.

Old Zhou hurriedly pulled a ballpoint pen and a small notebook from his pocket.

Lu Chen put both hands into his pockets and looked out at the gray Jiangcheng sky outside the window.

"Tell all the human resources agencies and labor markets around Jiangcheng." Lu Chen's voice rang out firmly in the room.

"I don't care what methods they use."

"Within one week."

Lu Chen turned around, his cold, sharp gaze sweeping over the three people in the room.

"I want one hundred thousand registered workers to sign in."

Xinghui Media, General Manager's Office.

Wu Dong sat on the leather sofa, holding that black-and-platinum U-shield between two fingers.

"Manager Wu." The fat man opposite him rubbed his hands. "All the bus stop signs and subway screens across Jiangcheng, plus that eight-hundred-square-meter LED screen on top of the World Trade building in the city center, are fully booked for this afternoon. People have already signed contracts, and the breach of contract fees..."