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

JFK Airport, Emirates First Class Lounge.

It's so quiet here you could hear a pin drop.

The air was filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee and fine leather goods.

Lin Che sat on a single sofa by the window, holding a glass of soda water in his hand.

Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see the massive A380 on the tarmac undergoing its final resupply.

That was the "war chariot" that brought him back to China.

He glanced at his phone.

It's 4 a.m. Beijing time.

At this time, most people are asleep.

But he knew that Fatty Wang definitely wasn't asleep.

The situation in China has been quite turbulent these past few days.

Although Tencent was outmaneuvered by him during the roadshow, it is still a penguin.

Once they regained their composure, Nanshan Invincible's counterattack was fatal.

Blocking links is just the first step; what follows are legal warnings, business complaints, and even using connections to investigate taxes.

For Lin Che, who was in New York and had Ma Zong's protection, these were all trivial matters.

But for Fatty Wang, who was at the forefront and had no connections, this was a catastrophe.

"Beep...beep..."

The phone was answered after only two rings.

"Che... Brother Che."

Wang Pangzi's voice came through the receiver.

Hoarse, trembling, with a weariness that seemed on the verge of collapse.

The background noise was very loud, sounding like someone was moving things or packing luggage.

"What are you doing?" Lin Che shook the ice cubes in his glass.

"I'm...I'm burning the hard drive."

Wang Pangzi sniffed, his voice trembling with tears, "Just half an hour ago, two people knocked on the door, saying they were the local police checking temporary residence permits. I didn't dare open it, Brother Che, I'm scared. Tencent's legal letter arrived in my hometown yesterday, and my parents' blood pressure went up."

Fatty Wang is a smart man and an excellent executor.

But he was just an ordinary person after all.

Faced with that vast business empire and the risk of imprisonment, his psychological defenses are crumbling.

"I want...I want to go out and hide for a while."

Fatty Wang finally said what Lin Che expected: "Brother Che, of the 200,000 yuan in activity funds you gave me, I still have 50,000 yuan left. I've transferred it all back to you. I really can't do this job anymore."

Lin Che did not speak.

He listened quietly to Fatty Wang's rapid breathing on the other end of the phone, and the sound of a lighter igniting a document.

fear.

This is the most authentic human nature.

Lin Che put down the soda he was holding.

He opened the mobile banking app.

That was a portion of the funds he had just transferred in his offshore account, which flowed back to a black card in China through underground channels.

"Fatty."

Lin Che spoke, his voice steady, without blame or comfort.

"Go check your ICBC card."

"what?"

Fatty Wang paused for a moment, "Why are you looking at that? There's only a few hundred yuan left in there..."

"look."

One word.

A commanding tone.

A rustling sound came from the other end of the phone.

It seems that Fatty Wang was frantically searching for another phone.

A few seconds later.

"bite."

Even across the Pacific Ocean, Lin Che seemed to be able to hear that crisp text message notification sound.

Then came a deathly silence.

A full minute passed.

There was no sound on the other end of the phone, only increasingly heavy breathing, like a drowning person just surfacing.

"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands..."

Fatty Wang is counting.

His voice trembled as if he were sifting through chaff.

"One hundred thousand... one million..."

Five million.

Lin Che read out the number for him.

"RMB, after tax, clean."

"Bang!"

A loud crash came from the other end of the phone, like something heavy had hit the ground, or like Fatty Wang had fallen over, chair and all.

"Che...Brother Che...this...this was the wrong transfer?"

Fatty Wang's tongue was tied in knots.

five million.

In Hangzhou in 2014, this meant owning two houses, elevating one's social class, and ensuring a worry-free life for the rest of one's days as long as one didn't do anything reckless.

"You didn't make a mistake."

Lin Che leaned back on the sofa, watching the plane taxiing outside the window.

"This is your resettlement allowance."

"It's not for the company, it's for you personally."

"Give...to me?"

Fatty Wang was dumbfounded.

He was just thinking about how to escape and how to avoid Tencent's pursuit.

The next second, a huge sum of money was thrown at his face.

"Fatty, I know what you're afraid of."

Lin Che's voice was soft, but every word struck Wang Pangzi's heart.

"You're afraid of going to jail, afraid of implicating your family, afraid of not being able to make a living in this city."

"Right now, this five million is in your account. If something really happens, this money is enough for you to send your parents abroad to retire, and it's also enough for you to hire the best lawyers."

"but."

Lin Che's tone suddenly turned cold.

"In this world, every gift comes with a hidden price."

"This five million isn't buying your labor."

"I'm buying your life."

On the other end of the phone, Fatty Wang was kneeling on the floor covered with cigarette ash and scraps of paper.

He stared at the long string of zeros on his phone screen.

Tears and snot covered his face.

The fear vanished.

Instead, there was a frenzy of scholars dying for their confidants and an ambition completely ignited by money.

The wages of avarice is death.

When the benefits become too great, fear becomes a joke.

With this five million, let alone a legal letter from Tencent, he would dare to carry a bomb and charge into the Tencent building, even if it meant blowing it up.

"Brother Che..."

Fatty Wang wiped his face, his voice no longer trembling, but instead revealing a fierce edge.

"Go ahead and say it."

"Who do you want me to do?"

Lin Che smiled.

He knew that from this moment on, the cowardly and timid Wang Defa was dead.

What lives is the sharpest knife of the Weiguang Group.

He was also Lin Che's most loyal watchdog.

"We don't need to worry about Tencent anymore."

Lin Che watched as the gate indicator light came on. "Their blocking of micro-group buying has conveniently helped us complete the first phase of traffic cleanup."

"The current users are already very interested."

"Next, we'll change battlefields."

Lin Che stood up and straightened his collar.

"Do you remember that abandoned warehouse I had you take over in the west of the city?"

"I remember!" Fatty Wang replied immediately. "It's the old logistics distribution center of Zhao Sihai. It now has a sign that says 'Weiguang Logistics,' and it's completely empty inside."

"It won't be empty anytime soon."

Lin Che picked up his briefcase and headed towards the boarding gate.

"Singles' Day is just around the corner."

"I want you to sign up all the idle transportation resources around Hangzhou within half a month—those unlicensed taxis, tricycles, and even part-time college students."

"Use the remaining five million to smash it up."

"Monopolizing all the 'last mile' in the west of the city."

Although Fatty Wang didn't understand the specific strategy, he understood one word: smash.

"No problem! Brother Che, as long as the money's right, I can turn all the rickshaw drivers in Hangzhou into your soldiers!"

"very good."

Lin Che handed over the boarding pass.

The flight attendant smiled and guided him toward the jet bridge.

"Fatty, wipe away your tears."

"The real war has only just begun."

"When I land, I want to see Weiguang Logistics flags planted all over the streets and alleys of Hangzhou."

hang up the phone.

Lin Che turned off his phone and threw it into his bag.

He entered the cabin.

The spacious first-class seats enveloped him.

He closed his eyes, and a huge map appeared in his mind.

That's not an administrative map, but a capillary diagram of a logistics network.

In the previous Singles' Day in 2014, Alibaba experienced its worst warehouse overload in history.

Countless packages were piling up at the transit center, turning express delivery into slow delivery, and Mr. Ma had to bow and apologize in front of the media.

That was Alibaba's darkest hour.

This was also the moment when the Tongda-affiliated express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express) collapsed.

And this time...

This disaster will become the red carpet for his coronation.

He holds the "Weiguang Logistics" card, the huge order flow of "Weipintuan," and the "imperial sword" given to him by Mr. Ma.

"Zhao Sihai..."

Lin Che muttered the name to himself.

That local logistics tycoon who entrenched himself in the west of Hangzhou, that thug who had caused Lin Che trouble in his previous life.

Your good days are over.

The plane began to taxi.

A tremendous feeling of being pushed back in your seat came over you.

Amidst the roaring noise, Lin Che fell into a deep sleep.

In my dream, there was a burning sea of ​​fire and a logistics empire rising from the ground.