The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

High-end office building in Binjiang District, Hangzhou.

"Yirenfang" Women's Clothing Headquarters

The corridor was crammed full of sample garments on the gantry racks, leaving only a narrow gap for people to squeeze through sideways.

The densely packed hang tags swayed slightly under the central air conditioning vents, like countless pendulums counting down.

Fatty Wang has been sitting at the front desk for an hour.

He finished the water in the third disposable paper cup and finally waited for General Manager Chen.

Mr. Chen, a typical e-commerce nouveau riche, with an oily face, was yelling into the phone:

"What I need are orders! Not explanations! Prepare inventory, prepare inventory, if you can't ship the goods, I'll fire you all!"

After hanging up the phone, he didn't even glance at Fatty Wang, and immediately picked up the teapot.

Boiling water was poured onto the "purple clay tea pet" on the table, and a wisp of white steam instantly rose up.

The golden toad had its mouth wide open, as if it could never be satisfied.

"Micro-light Logistics?"

Mr. Chen glanced at the business card and threw it directly into the wastebasket.

"That newly opened branch in the west of the city? I don't have time to play with you guys. The regional managers from the Tongda system are still waiting in line outside."

Fatty Wang didn't pick up the business cards.

He took a contract out of his briefcase and gently placed it next to the golden toad.

"Mr. Chen, we're not here to steal your orders."

Fatty Wang wore a professional smile, the same expression Lin Che had made him practice a hundred times in front of the mirror last night.

"We're here to sell insurance."

Mr. Chen paused, "What do you mean?"

"Your store's pre-sale data has exceeded 120,000 orders."

Fatty Wang took out an iPad, on which was a glaring red line graph.

"The daily processing limit of the Tongda Group's branch in the western part of the city is 80,000 orders."

"The remaining 40,000 orders are your death line."

"Once the warehouse is overwhelmed and the delivery is delayed for more than 72 hours, the fines, demotion, and negative reviews from Tmall will ruin this store."

Mr. Chen's expression changed.

He was certainly aware of the risk, but he was gambling on luck, gambling that Tongda could operate beyond its capacity.

"We will only ship these 40,000 orders."

Fatty Wang pointed to the contract.

"If the Tongda Group collapses, we'll activate it; if it doesn't, this contract is just a piece of paper."

Mr. Chen squinted and opened the contract.

My finger hovers over the price column.

"Triple shipping costs?"

He laughed angrily, slamming the contract down on the table. "Taking advantage of someone's misfortune?"

"It's a risk hedge."

Fatty Wang's voice was calm, and he did not back down.

"Mr. Chen, you're a big-picture thinker. Three times the shipping cost, but with the safety of the new shop, you know better than I whether it's a good deal or not."

The air was silent for ten seconds.

Only one line of small print on the contract cover stood out clearly under the light: "Emergency Activation Clause under Force Majeure".

Mr. Chen picked up the contract again.

He stared at the number, gritted his teeth, and uncapped the pen.

For businessmen, fear is always more valuable than greed.

........

In the west of the city, there's a local restaurant called Hao Zai Lai.

The private room was filled with smoke, and the noise almost lifted the roof off.

The disposable plastic tablecloth was stained with chili oil and wine, and several flies hovered over the leftover food.

Zhao Sihai was beaming, with one foot resting on the crossbar of the chair.

He held a half-empty bottle of Moutai in his hand, the red ribbon from the bottle wrapped around his rough fingers, round and round, as if he were playing with some kind of trophy.

"Come on! Drink!"

Zhao Sihai raised the bottle, "For Singles' Day!"

"General Manager Zhao is awesome!"

The franchisees below raised their glasses in celebration.

Someone pointed to the night view outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

In the distance, the factory of Weiguang Logistics was still brightly lit, and the roar of machines could be faintly heard.

"That idiot surnamed Lin is still running the machine idling."

One franchisee scoffed, "I heard he plays with sandbags inside. The electricity bill he burns every day is enough for me to buy two cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes."

"Let him burn it."

Zhao Sihai picked at the bits of meat stuck between his teeth, his eyes filled with disdain.

"Young people like them, they're inexperienced and think they can run a logistics business just by buying a few imported machines?"

"Once his funding runs out, Lao Li, you can take those German conveyor belts with you; it will be considered as payment for your franchise fee."

Laugh out loud.

In their eyes, Lin Che was a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Zhao Sihai looked out the window at the light in the distance.

He thought that by blocking the road, he had blocked everything.

Little did they know that on this battlefield of this dimension, the visible roadblocks are often the most useless Maginot Line.

One o'clock in the morning.

Microlight Logistics Office.

The contract that Fatty Wang brought back was placed on the table.

Lin Che ignored the bright red seal.

He sat in front of the server, his ten fingers flying across the keyboard.

Although the physical channels were blocked by Zhao Sihai, the contract signed by President Chen gave him a key to unlock the digital door.

API interface authorization code.

On the screen, a stream of green code scrolls wildly across a black background.

[Handshake... Success]

【Data Sync... 15%... 48%... 100%】

The screen then displays the message: Connection Established.

Weiguang Logistics' ERP system has been officially integrated into the "Yirenfang" shipping backend.

It became that grayed-out "alternative button" hidden beneath the accessibility options.

In the quiet office.

The sound of the server cooling fan suddenly changed.

The original low humming sound became sharp and high-frequency.

It was like a sleeping beast smelling blood.

It sensed the impending deluge of data.

Lin Che stopped what he was doing.

He looked at the gray button on the screen.

Twenty days left.

As soon as the bells ring for Singles' Day, the servers of major express delivery companies will crash and warehouses will be overwhelmed.

This button will turn into a golden money printing machine.

On the back of the contract, the bright red ink from the official seal shone through the paper, appearing like a drop of blood that hadn't quite dried under the light.

"The Trojan horse has entered the city."