168: Chapter 168 Free Labor

This dilapidated warehouse was obviously not fit for immediate habitation.

Although Lin Fan wanted to occupy this Dragon Vein node immediately, he couldn't bear to let his precious younger sister suffer in such an environment. He made an immediate decision, having the driver take the car to a five-star hotel five kilometers away, where he booked a presidential suite to settle Lin Xiaoya in.

"Brother, are you going back?"

Lin Xiaoya lay on the soft bed, hugging a pillow, looking worriedly at Lin Fan, who was preparing to leave.

"Yeah, I need to scout out the new territory and plan the renovations while I'm at it."

Lin Fan ruffled his sister's hair, his tone relaxed. "You get some sleep; I'll be back soon."

After soothing his sister, Lin Fan got back into the military off-road vehicle and had the driver take him back to the warehouse entrance.

Sitting in the car, Lin Fan took out the encrypted military communicator and dialed the number for the General Logistics Department.

Since General Ye Canglan had granted him the status of a Major General and the authority to take full charge, he wouldn't be polite at all about requesting the necessary funds and supplies.

"Beep... beep..." The phone rang for a long time before being answered.

"Hello, who is this?" A lazy, bureaucratic middle-aged male voice came from the other end, with the clattering sound of mahjong tiles audible in the background.

"I am Lin Fan, the person in charge of the New Martial Arts Special Strategy Department."

Lin Fan leaned back against the seat, his fingers tapping lightly on the edge of the car window, and got straight to the point. "I'm currently at the southern suburb station. You know the situation here; it's completely in ruins. I need to apply for emergency repair funds, as well as an engineering team. I want to see people here by tomorrow morning."

"Oh... it's Consultant Lin."

The voice on the other end paused, then immediately turned snide.

"Oh my, Consultant Lin, it's not that I don't want to help you. You know, with the war on the Ten Thousand Races Battlefield tightening recently, every cent of the military's budget has to be spent where it counts. Allocating such a large piece of land in the capital for you is already a special favor from above."

"As for the repair funds..." The other party drew out the end of the sentence, and the sound of rustling papers could be heard. "According to procedure, you must first submit a written application, then have it audited by the Finance Section, approved by the General Logistics Department, and finally submitted to the minister in charge for a signature. Going through this whole process will take at least three months at the fastest."

Three months? Lin Fan's eyes narrowed slightly; by the time three months passed, the opportunity would be long gone.

"Three months is too long; I can't wait that long," Lin Fan said calmly. "Handle it as a special case; this department was personally tasked by General Ye Canglan."

"Oh my, Consultant Lin, using General Ye Canglan to pressure me won't work."

The other party was clearly a veteran bureaucrat who wasn't buying it, and his tone even carried a hint of mockery.

"The country has its laws, and the military has its regulations. We are just following protocol. If you're really in a hurry, why not... fund a portion of it yourself? After all, you are the big boss of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion; this small amount of money shouldn't be a problem, right?"

After speaking, the other party didn't even wait for Lin Fan to reply and hung up the phone.

Listening to the busy signal coming from the receiver, the chill in Lin Fan's eyes gradually solidified.

"Deputy Director of the General Logistics Department... surnamed Tang, right?" Lin Fan had just glanced at the notes in the contact list.

The Tang Family.

It seems that although the matter of killing Tang Si at the Tianjiao Camp was done covertly, and even given a veneer of martyrdom, a top-tier family like the Tang Family clearly wasn't stupid.

They didn't dare to openly move against someone protected by General Ye Canglan, so they were just trying to annoy him with petty matters within the rules.

"Trying to force me to pay for the repairs myself?" Lin Fan looked at the dilapidated factory buildings outside the window, tossed the communicator back into his pocket, and scoffed.

"Playing games with a Shrewd Merchant? You're still too young for that."

Since the formal procedures wouldn't work, he couldn't be blamed for not playing by the rules.

In this world, as long as your resolve doesn't waver, there are always more solutions than problems.

Just as Lin Fan was pondering which unlucky soul's home he should visit to "fundraise" for the renovation costs, a harsh roar of engines suddenly came from the distance.

Vroom! Vroom! Several blinding beams of light instantly tore through the darkness.

Four or five maglev sports cars with exaggerated designs and flashy paint jobs came roaring down the dirt road like a herd of crazed buffalo.

These cars had clearly undergone illegal modifications; their chassis were extremely low, the rear thrusters were spitting out ghostly blue flames, and the roar of the engines made one's heart pound.

Accompanied by the screech of brakes, the sports cars began drifting and sliding on the open ground in front of the warehouse.

Dust filled the air as the tires kicked it up, instantly enveloping Lin Fan's military off-road vehicle parked on the side of the road.

"Cough, cough, cough..." The driver in the driver's seat choked, coughing continuously, his face turning red instantly, his eyes full of anger. "Chief, these people are too lawless! This is near a military restricted zone; how dare they..."

Lin Fan waved his hand, signaling Xiao Wang to calm down.

He lowered the car window and watched the outside with great interest.

After the sports cars came to a stop, the scissor doors slowly rose. A group of young men and women wearing designer combat armor and with dyed, multicolored hair climbed out of the cars.

This group wasn't very old, just in their early twenties, but the equipment on each of them was shockingly luxurious.

The youth leading them wore a dark red shimmering combat armor, spinning an alloy dagger in his hand, his red hair particularly eye-catching under the glare of the headlights.

"Yo, where did this piece of junk come from?" The red-haired youth glanced at Lin Fan's dusty off-road vehicle, his face showing exaggerated disgust. "In this day and age, someone still drives this oil-burning antique? Nobody would even want this car at a scrapyard, right?"

"Haha, Brother Zhao, you don't know about this." A yellow-haired youth beside him, holding a beautiful woman with a social media influencer face, chimed in with a grin. "This is called nostalgia! Poor people nowadays like to drive these junk cars to act tough, but in reality, they can't even afford one of our wheels."

"Exactly, it's in the way." The woman with the influencer face covered her nose and waved away the dust in front of her with a look of disgust. "Young Master Zhao, hurry up and chase them away. We've booked this place for practice tonight; don't let these bumpkins ruin our mood."

This group was clearly a bunch of playboys from the capital, accustomed to being arrogant, and they didn't take this car with military plates seriously at all. In the capital, a regular military license plate really couldn't intimidate these scions of noble families.

"Hey! Is the person in the car dead?" The red-haired youth, Zhao Wujing, a collateral descendant of the Zhao Family, walked up to the off-road vehicle with an arrogant strut.

Knock, knock, knock! He used the hilt of his dagger to rap on the car window in an extremely arrogant manner, producing a dull sound.

"Move the car quickly, don't block this young master from practicing!" Zhao Wujing pressed his face against the car window, his eyes fierce. "Did you hear me? This land is the dedicated territory of our Speed Racing Team. I'll give you three minutes to get lost, or else this young master will dismantle this piece of junk!"

He was just worrying about having no one to clean up, and they delivered themselves to his doorstep? The people of the capital were truly hospitable.

Hum. The car window slowly lowered. Lin Fan's harmless-looking face was revealed.

He looked Zhao Wujing up and down, his gaze lingering for a few seconds on his expensive combat armor and the luxury cars behind him, the smile in his eyes deepening.

"What are you looking at? Bumpkin!" Zhao Wujing felt a bit uneasy under Lin Fan's gaze, but upon thinking of his background, he immediately straightened his back and cursed viciously, "Keep looking and I'll dig your eyes out!"

"Young man, don't be so hot-headed." Lin Fan slowly took the red-headed document from his pocket, which was the "New Martial Arts Special Strategy Department Station Requisition Order" signed by General Ye Canglan.

He folded the document, revealing only the bright red military seal, and waved it in front of Zhao Wujing.

"This land now falls under my jurisdiction," Lin Fan said in a gentle tone, as if reasoning with an ignorant junior. "If you want to use this place as a racetrack, have you asked me, the owner?"

"What kind of trash paper is this?" Zhao Wujing didn't even see the content of the document clearly, nor did he care to.

In his eyes, this guy driving a crappy off-road vehicle was, at most, a small military officer of no significance, acting like he held a position of real authority.

"Stop trying to scare me with a piece of trash paper!" Zhao Wujing impatiently reached out to grab the document, cursing, "In the capital, my word is law! Give it here!"

However, his hand was caught by a slender, fair-skinned palm just halfway there.

The hand looked devoid of any strength, like that of a scholar. But when Zhao Wujing tried to break free, he realized with horror that his wrist seemed to be clamped firmly by an iron pincer, unable to move at all!

"You..." Zhao Wujing's expression changed, and he was just about to mobilize the Qi and blood energy in his body to resist.

Snap! A crisp sound of bone fracturing suddenly rang out.

"Ah~!" Zhao Wujing let out a pig-like scream, his whole body instantly went limp, and he dropped to his knees beside the car door with a thud, cold sweat pouring down from the pain, his features distorted together.

"My hand, my hand is broken!"

This scene happened too quickly, too suddenly. The smiles of the playboys who were still laughing and cursing around them instantly froze on their faces.

"Brother Zhao!" "Damn! This kid dares to make a move?!" "Kill him!"

After a brief silence, the group of playboys exploded into chaos. Clatter! A dozen people brandished their weapons; some pulled out alloy batons, some drew high-frequency vibration blades, and two even pulled out illegal spiritual energy pistols from their cars, surrounding him aggressively.

The influencer-faced woman was so scared she screamed repeatedly, pointing at Lin Fan and yelling: "You're dead! Do you know who Young Master Zhao is? He's from the Zhao Family! If you dare to touch him, your whole family will die!"

Lin Fan calmly pushed open the car door and stepped out. His movements were slow; he even took the time to straighten his slightly wrinkled collar.

But the moment his feet touched the ground. Boom! An aura so terrifying it was suffocating erupted from him as the center! It was the pressure of a Grandmaster Level Expert!

Hum! The air seemed to solidify at that moment.

Those dozen or so playboys who were rushing up aggressively were frozen in place as if hit by a immobilization spell. Thud, thud, thud! Under this mountain-like heavy pressure, this group of second-generation kids, who were only at the Martial Artist realm and relied on drugs to level up, couldn't even raise the thought of resisting. Their legs went weak one by one, and they knelt to the ground in succession.

Even the two guys holding the spiritual energy pistols couldn't hold onto their guns, which clattered to the ground.

"Grand... Grandmaster?!" Zhao Wujing, kneeling on the ground, couldn't care about the sharp pain in his wrist anymore. He widened his eyes, looking in terror at the youth in front of him who was even younger than himself, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

How is this possible? Such a young Grandmaster?! Even among the top-tier monsters in the capital, he had never heard of anyone breaking through to Grandmaster at this age!

Lin Fan looked down at the "free labor" kneeling on the ground, the smile on his face still gentle, but in the eyes of Zhao Wujing and the others, it was more terrifying than a devil.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Lin Fan looked around, his voice not loud, yet it clearly drilled into everyone's ears, carrying an unquestionable, bone-chilling killing intent.

"According to Military Order No. 10086, this place has been requisitioned as a military restricted zone, effective immediately."

"You trespassed into a restricted zone and intended to attack an active-duty officer with weapons..."

Lin Fan paused, a glimmer of mockery flashing in his golden pupils, and slowly spat out the last two words: "Execution."