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

Lin Ting stubbed out his cigarette on the mottled windowsill.

That afternoon, two large trucks were parked outside the gate of Hongtu Machinery Factory.

Lin Dabiao led thirty Zhongtang men off the train, carrying crowbars and an oxy-acetylene torch. Sparks flew as the rusty iron gate was violently dismantled.

Two bronze plaques covered with red silk were firmly nailed to the gateposts with several expansion bolts.

Lin Fu tore off the red silk.

The left side reads "Lin's Heavy Industry Base," and the right side reads "Tazhai Lin's Holdings."

On the open ground of the factory, three hundred laid-off workers wearing old factory uniforms lined up in three rows.

Lin Fu opened ten black leather suitcases, and bundles of red banknotes were poured onto the makeshift wooden table.

Old Wei changed into a clean blue factory uniform and stood at the front of the line.

His daughter has been taken to a high-end sanatorium in the city by a car arranged by the Lin family. Old Wei's eyes are bloodshot, but he exudes a ruthless aura.

Old Wei used a megaphone to shout messages.

"Boss Lin gave us a resettlement allowance, and the factory will be owned by the Lin family from now on. Once we get the money, we have to sell our lives to the Lin family."

Anyone who doesn't work hard enough is betraying Boss Lin's life-saving grace, and I, Old Wei, will be the first to break their legs.

The three hundred veteran workers nodded in unison, no one spoke, their eyes all fixed on the cash on the table.

Lin Fu called out names from the roster. He gave out 20,000 yuan in cash for each name he read.

Old Wei turned around and pointed to the dozen or so technical backbones behind him.

"Take the money and come with me to the main workshop. We won't sleep tonight; we must get the No. 1 CNC production line working." Old Wei waved his hand and led his men straight to the factory.

The city center, at the entrance of the Sanyi Church.

Vice President Qiao Erye sat in a mahogany armchair, twirling two iron flasks in his hands, which made a clicking sound.

Scarface knelt on the carpet, not daring to lift his head, half of his face swollen high.

"Old Wei is a tough nut to crack; a few harsh words won't scare him. The men you brought didn't even get a scratch before rolling back. You've completely disgraced the Sanyi Society." Master Qiao slammed his iron fist on the table.

"Second Master, those bandits from Tazhai are all reckless bastards. They brought ten million in cash and threw it on the ground without even blinking."

"The leader was accompanied by a young boy who was ruthless; he tried to smash my head open with a steel pipe." Scarface cried out, covering his face.

"Bandits, even bandits have to keep to themselves in this old industrial area." Second Master Qiao stood up, walked up to Scarface, and kicked him in the chest.

Scarface screamed and rolled two meters away.

Master Qiao pressed the call bell on the table.

A young man wearing a hoodie and black-rimmed glasses pushed open the door and walked in. He was carrying a silver laptop and chewing gum.

Master Qiao kicked aside the scarred man at his feet and pointed at the young man.

"This is a master I hired from overseas at great expense. Those country bumpkins from the Lin family think that having money and connections is enough to establish themselves. All they can do with their brains is swing steel pipes."

"Let's show them what the rules of an old industrial area are like today." Master Qiao sat back in his armchair.

Master Qiao looked at the young man and asked, "How long will it take to get this done?"

The hacker adjusted his glasses, placed his laptop on the coffee table, and turned it on.

"As long as Hongtu Machinery Factory's control terminal is connected to the external network, it can burn their motherboards to scrap metal in ten minutes."

I wrote this Trojan virus myself. It can not only burn the motherboard, but also wipe all the data in their terminal, without even leaving any alarm logs.

Even if the police went, they could only classify it as a production accident caused by aging circuitry. The hacker typed a few keys, and a string of code flashed on the screen.

Master Qiao burst into laughter, opened the drawer, and threw three bundles of cash onto the coffee table.

"Get to work." Master Qiao lit a cigar.

11 p.m., Lin's Heavy Industry Workshop No. 1.

All the searchlights on the ceiling of the workshop were turned on, making it as bright as day.

Lin Ting sat on a folding chair in the corner of the workshop, holding a strong cup of tea that Lin Fu had just brewed.

Lin Dayou, along with several bricklayers from Yitang, was repairing the leaking corners of the factory building.

Old Wei stood in front of the main control panel, his hands rapidly typing on the keyboard. A dozen or so veteran technicians surrounded the CNC machine tool, watching the pressure gauges and conveyor belts.

The tracks of the No. 1 machine tool began to turn, emitting a dull mechanical roar.

Old Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead and jogged over to Lin Ting.

"Grandpa, the main motor is running normally and the voltage is stable. As long as the parameters are correct, we can start trial production of the first batch of tracked chassis for heavy bulldozers first thing tomorrow morning," Old Wei reported loudly.

Lin Ting took a sip of tea and nodded.

The voice just fell.

The 55-inch LCD screen on the main control panel flickered twice and then went black.

Old Wei suddenly turned around, ran back to the control panel, and pounded on the keyboard.

The screen lit up again. The previously green operating parameters had all turned into blood-red gibberish.

The garbled text scrolled wildly, faster and faster.

A white skull icon popped up in the center of the screen, its jaw opening and closing, while a piercing electronic mocking sound emanated from the speakers.

The alarms blared simultaneously from every corner of the workshop.

"Cut off the main power supply, pull the switch quickly!" Old Wei shouted at the top of his lungs.

That's too late.

A sharp metallic scraping sound came from inside the No. 1 machine tool, and the pointer on the instrument panel hit the bottom, exceeding the limit.

The giant electrical distribution box behind the machine tool exploded with a bang, bursting into a huge fireball.

Sparks shot out three meters away, igniting the nearby insulating mat.

Immediately afterwards, the main control chassis of machine tool No. 2 and machine tool No. 3 exploded one after another.

Thick black smoke billowed into the workshop through the ventilation ducts, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt rubber.

Snapped.

All the searchlights in the workshop were turned off.

The entire factory area went dark, with only the embers crackling.

The flashlight beam swayed wildly.

Lin Dabiao and Lin Fei rushed up with fire extinguishers and sprayed them wildly at the burning electrical box.

The white dry powder extinguished the open flame.

Lin Fei smashed the fire extinguisher on the ground and pulled out a steel pipe from his sleeve.

"Who did this? Get out here right now!" Lin Fei roared.

He shone his flashlight on the workshop door and windows, but there wasn't a soul in sight. All the men from Zhongtang outside rushed in, crowding the workshop.

Old Wei slumped in front of the control panel, clutching his hair with both hands, his voice trembling.

"No one came in; this is a network virus intrusion," Old Wei said, pointing to the screen that was still flashing a skull.

Lin Fei rushed over, grabbed Lao Wei by the collar, and lifted him up.

"What bullshit virus? I think there's a mole in the factory. Old Wei, was it one of your men who did this?" Lin Fei raised a steel pipe.

Old Wei didn't struggle and let Lin Fei hold him.

"Brother Lin, you can kill me, but you can't throw dirty water on the old workers."

The factory's control panel is connected to the external network, so someone hacked into it directly.

"The hacker tampered with the underlying control logic from the outside, directly maxing out the voltage limit of the machine tool, causing the motor to overload and short-circuit." Old Wei pushed Lin Fei's hand away.

Old Wei's eyes were red as he pointed at the smoking machine.

"The motherboards of all three imported core machine tools have burned out. These motherboards are not available in China and have to be shipped by sea for three months."

"The money the Lin family invested was all gone on the first day." Old Wei slammed his fist on the ground.

Lin Fei couldn't understand these technical terms, and in his anger, he kicked the iron frame, the steel pipes crashing to the ground with a loud clang.

Lin Dabiao clenched his fists and cursed, "These cowards from the Sanyi Society, if you have the guts, draw your knives in front of us!"

This invisible enemy left the Lin family men, who were used to head-on confrontations, completely unable to find a point of leverage.

No matter how hard the steel pipe in your hand is, it can't hit someone typing on a keyboard several kilometers away.

Lin Fu held a flashlight and shone it on several machines that were still emitting black smoke.

Lin Fu slapped his thigh in frustration: "Grandpa, we haven't seen a soul! We've suffered such a humiliating loss!"

Lin Ting put down his teacup and stood up.

The leather shoes rustled as they stepped over the broken glass and dry powder scattered on the ground.

Lin Ting walked up to the broken main control computer.

The skull on the screen kept opening and closing its jaw.

Lin Ting: "Can't see it? Then drag out the dog behind the internet cable."