I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

In the south of the city, at the Juyi Teahouse, the top-floor private room was filled with smoke.

Three burly men sat around the tea table. They were the few remaining local bullies in the county town, besides Brother Guang.

When Brother Guang fell from power, twelve of his establishments were ransacked, and he was left at the county police station. This incident shocked everyone in the county.

"Brother Guang went in, and all his bathhouses and KTVs are now empty." A bald man stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"The Lin family just smashed things up, and then they left. They're just farmers from the countryside; they don't know how to manage a place."

"The three of us brothers will divide the territory among ourselves, and each of us will give the Lin family 30% of the profits every month. They'll definitely be happy with that."

The other two nodded in agreement, planning to take over Brother Guang's business and continue collecting protection money.

The door to the private room was kicked open, and the wooden door slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

Lin Fei walked in carrying a seamless steel pipe, followed by a dozen or so Zhongtang men in black vests.

The three local bullies jumped up from their chairs in fright, and the bald man swallowed hard and took two steps back.

"Fei...Brother Fei." The bald man's voice trembled, "We were discussing preparing a generous gift for the Lin family's great-grandfather..."

Lin Fei slammed the steel pipe onto the tea table, cracking the solid wood surface and shattering the teacup on the floor.

"Grandfather asked me to pass on a message to the people on the road in the county town." Lin Fei looked around at the three of them.

"The Lin family doesn't want Brother Guang's territory. They won't accept a single penny of protection money from the county."

The three local bullies were stunned. They looked at each other, not understanding what the Lin family meant.

If they don't want territory or money, why is the Lin family going to all this trouble to cause trouble?

"However, the rules need to be changed," Lin Fei continued.

"From today onwards, the county belongs to the Lin family. Anyone who dares to engage in prostitution, gambling, or drugs in the brothel, or anyone who dares to take a knife to the streets to collect protection money from street vendors, will suffer the same fate as Brother Guang."

The private room was deathly silent.

"Brother Fei... if we can't do this, what are we going to eat?" a local thug asked boldly.

Lin Fei swung the steel pipe and smashed it down on the back of the local thug's leg. The man screamed and immediately knelt on the ground.

"The Lin family doesn't care what you eat. Grandfather said that if you do business properly, the Lin family won't interfere."

"Anyone who dares to cross those three red lines will be invited to a teahouse by Zhongtang's brothers." Lin Fei slung the steel pipe over his shoulder. "Got it?"

The bald man nodded repeatedly, his back completely soaked.

Lin Fei left with his men, and that afternoon, all the thugs on the streets of the county received a warning.

Several billiard halls that wanted to secretly open underground casinos were robbed by their owners, who brought out a hammer and smashed the slot machines in the backyard.

No one dared to risk their life to test the Lin family's bottom line.

Five days later, the people in the county town found that life had changed.

The thugs with dyed yellow hair who used to collect protection money everywhere on the streets have all disappeared, and the vendors at the farmers' market no longer need to pay any money in addition to the management fee.

The elderly women who run stalls at the night market no longer encounter drunken thugs causing trouble when they go home at night.

The county town is so safe that it's hard to believe.

The people all know that this is not the achievement of the county bureau, but a rule set by the Lin family of Tazhai.

Lin's Supermarkets are booming, with all five large supermarkets packed with people every day.

Ordinary people would rather walk two more blocks to buy things at Lin's Supermarket.

In their eyes, the Lin family was not some kind of gangster, but a living bodhisattva who protected everyone and ensured a peaceful life.

The top-floor office of Lin's Supermarket No. 1 in the center of the county town.

Lin Ting sat behind a large desk, wearing a black jacket, with two walnuts in his hands, cracking as they sat in his palm.

A system notification sounded in my mind.

[Ding! Clan forces have been detected taking over the county's underground order and establishing new rules.]

The people of the county town have turned their support towards the Lin clan, and the clan's prestige has greatly increased.

[Family Prosperity Calculation in Progress...]

[Guang Ge's gang was destroyed, twelve illicit businesses were wiped out, and a reward of 8,000 prosperity points was given.]

[The daily turnover of the five Lin's Supermarkets has consistently exceeded one million, rewarding them with 5,000 Prosperity Points.]

[Establishing a new order in the county town, gaining the support of the local people, is rewarded with 10,000 prosperity points.]

[Current total family prosperity level: 54,000 points.]

Lin Ting stopped eating the walnuts and looked at the virtual panel that only he could see. 54,000 prosperity points—that was a huge sum of money.

[Ding! The family prosperity level has exceeded the 50,000-point threshold.]

[Level 2 Shop Permissions Updated for the Eternal First Clan System.]

[Unlock a new reward library: Basic Infrastructure Blueprints.]

Lin Ting clicked on the option in the infrastructure blueprint library. Rows of data models flashing blue light appeared on the panel.

[Quick-build light steel residential building blueprints: adopting modular assembly technology and combined with a special high-strength concrete formula.]

The construction period for a 30-story building has been shortened by 70%, its earthquake resistance level has been improved by three levels, and the cost is only one-third of that of traditional buildings.

[Special high-strength concrete formula: setting time reduced to twelve hours, hardness comparable to military-grade blast-resistant armor, and low raw material cost.]

[Large-scale cold chain storage center blueprints: Equipped with a temperature-controlled circulation system, increasing preservation efficiency by five times and reducing energy consumption by 80%.]

Lin Ting flipped through the blueprints, the walnuts in his hand spinning even faster.

Everyone outside thought that the Lin family wrecked Brother Guang's place in order to become the new underground leader in the county.

They had no idea that Lin Ting's vision had long since transcended the low-level pursuit of protection money.

How much money can you make by being involved in organized crime? Can it provide a good life for 100,000 members of the Lin family?

The Lin family aims to become a formalized, corporatized, and monopolistic oligopoly.

The blueprints provided by the system are the source of the Lin family's confidence in their superior attack.

There was a knock on the office door, and Lin Fu pushed it open and walked in, holding a stack of account books in his hand.

"Grandpa, the accounts for the five supermarkets yesterday are out. The net profit is 480,000."

"Our golden fruit has become famous, and now even big bosses from the city are driving over to buy it." Lin Fu put the account book on the table.

Lin Ting didn't look at the ledger. He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in his office.

Looking down from here, you can see the outline of most of the county town.

"What's going on with those guys in the underworld?" Lin Ting asked.

"They've all behaved themselves." Lin Fu smiled. "Lin Fei led some men to give them a warning, and now those local thugs don't even dare to open their mahjong parlors."

The people on the street are all praising the Lin family. Several shop owners insisted on bringing banners of appreciation to the entrance of our supermarket.

Lin Ting turned around and walked to a county town planning map hanging on the wall.

He scanned the map. His gaze swept past the bustling central business district and settled on an area in the lower right corner of the map.

There were four words marked there: East District New Town.

"Lin Fu, what's the current situation with those unfinished buildings in the East District?" Lin Ting asked, pointing to the map.

Lin Fu stepped forward and glanced at the location on the map.

"Is Grandpa talking about the Riverview Mansion project? That's a huge mess," Lin Fu explained.

"Two years ago, a developer from the provincial capital bought the land, saying he wanted to build the most high-end residential community in the county."

As a result, the building was only half-built when the funding dried up, and the owner absconded overseas with the pre-sale funds.

Lin Fu shook his head.

"There are still more than a dozen half-built piles left there, and all the steel bars on the construction site are rusted."

The county took over the project and wanted to find someone to take it over, but the debt was too high and the problems were too deep, so no one dared to touch it.

That piece of land was left to lie fallow, becoming a malignant tumor in the county town.

Lin Ting picked up the red pen on the table and drew a heavy red circle around the location of Jiangjing Mansion.

"Call Lin Dayou over from Tazhai," Lin Ting said.

"You're calling for the head of Yitang?" Lin Fu was taken aback. "Grandpa, Uncle Dayou is in charge of the bricklayers and construction. What do you need him for?"

Lin Ting threw the red pen on the table and looked at the red circle on the map.

"Our Lin family has 100,000 people, and many of our young men don't even have a decent brick house to live in. They are crammed into old houses in the village every day."

Lin Ting turned to look at Lin Fu.

"The Lin family has taken on a malignant tumor that others dare not touch. Tell Dayou to take the clerks from the Good Samaritan Hall and get ready to work."

"The Lin family should build their own house."