Gangster heir? Please call me a legitimate entrepreneur.

In the server room on the 18th floor of Sihai Building, the server exhaust fans were humming loudly.

The hot air was baking the empty Red Bull cans scattered all over the ground, giving off a cloying, fermented smell.

Zhang Ming sported a messy buzz cut.

He put both feet on the edge of the computer chair and curled up into a ball.

Fingers left afterimages as they tapped across the mechanical keyboard.

"Brother Su."

He turned his stiff neck, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.

"It's running...the data is running!"

Su Ye slowly walked over, carrying the chipped silver thermos.

The hem of the coat brushed against the edge of the computer case, creating a slight glint of static electricity.

"explain."

Su Ye lowered his head and took a sip of water, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Zhang Ming swallowed hard, then wiped his face with his dirty sleeve.

"Our delivery riders have been running around the streets and alleys for the past two weeks..."

He pointed to the rows of red address data on the screen.

"Plus the local gossip that Aunt Zhao from the neighborhood committee and others shared."

"Those scumbags whose doors were splashed with red paint, who ran away with their luggage in the middle of the night, and whose windows were smashed."

Zhang Ming clicked the mouse rapidly, dragging out a huge network of relationships.

"The big data model screened it out, and it all matched!"

"These people are all dead debt clients of Qian Donglai's loan sharking scheme!"

Chen Suan, holding a cup of completely cold black coffee, came over from the workstation next to him.

He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, which had slipped down to the bridge of his nose.

The lens reflected the screen's deep blue light.

"That old fox Qian Donglai packed all these uncollectible debts into the financial statements of his guarantee companies."

Chen Suan sneered, revealing his teeth stained yellow with coffee.

"They present themselves as high-quality assets to outsiders, inflate their valuations, and then fraudulently obtain loans from banks."

"It's just a broken lantern that can be punctured with a single poke."

The glass door to the conference room was pushed open.

Lin Dai walked in, her feet clicking as she walked in, wearing ten-centimeter red-soled high heels.

The burgundy trench coat brought in a blast of cool air from the corridor.

She held a USB drive in her hand and twirled it between her fingers twice.

"Director Chen, has the shell company for the asset divestiture been registered?"

Lin Dai parted her red lips slightly, her voice sounding as if it were mixed with ice shards.

Chen Suan threw the crumpled paper cup in his hand into the trash can.

"Four offshore investment companies with cross-shareholdings have a shareholding structure so complex that it would make auditors sick of it."

He sniffed.

"We used the name of Sihai Investment to take over Qian Donglai's non-performing asset portfolio."

"With just 30 million in legal foreign exchange, we can buy up all of his debts at a 90% discount."

Su Ye leaned against the edge of the server rack.

Screw the lid of the thermos onto the cup, and it makes a clicking sound like metal scraping together.

"Then let's buy it."

His gaze, behind his gold-rimmed glasses, swept over the two men, revealing the ruthlessness of a hunter closing in his net.

"After we buy it, we'll collect this debt."

Lin Dai took the USB drive.

He neatly stuffed it into the inner compartment of his briefcase.

"Don't worry, Mr. Su."

She turned and walked out, the hem of her trench coat billowing up.

"The Nanshan Pizza Hut team is already starving outside the court's enforcement bureau. As soon as the assets are transferred, the application for asset preservation will be submitted immediately."

"This time, I made sure Qian Donglai couldn't even pay for a sesame seed cake."

Jin Ding Teahouse, South District, Longhai City.

The private room was filled with cheap sandalwood incense mixed with a strong Cuban cigar smell that stung the eyes.

Qian Donglai nestled in a rosewood armchair.

The dark red Tang suit was stretched taut by the fat on her stomach.

He was twirling two walnuts with a patina in his hand, but now they were stuck between his fingers and he couldn't turn them anymore.

"It hit the daily limit down...it really hit the daily limit down!"

Qian Donglai stared intently at the computer screen in front of him.

The three real estate stocks he heavily invested in plummeted like waterfalls to the bottom.

The screen was filled with a ghastly green.

"Mr. Money!"

A henchman wearing a thick gold chain pushed open the door and bowed as he approached.

I tripped on the red carpet and almost fell onto the coffee table.

"W-What should I do? The brokerage firm called to ask for my margin!"

The younger brother's voice trembled like leaves in the cold wind, and his forehead was covered in glistening sweat.

"What's the rush!"

Qian Donglai suddenly jumped up.

He overturned the purple clay teapot, and the scalding tea splashed onto his leather shoes, but he didn't even try to dodge.

"Use the rent from those shops on South Street first! And have you collected the money we lent out for the water yet?!"

My little brother is about to cry.

"We can't get the money back, Mr. Qian! All those poor, indebted bastards saw that Ele.me was hiring riders, so they all went to deliver food!"

He swallowed hard.

"They get regular salaries and live and eat at the Sihai Logistics Park. Our people can't even get in their door to collect debts!"

Qian Donglai's eyes were bloodshot, with veins like spider webs.

He grabbed a cigar from the table and took a big puff.

The bluish-gray smoke billowed into the air, only to be irritably dispersed by him.

"Ring ring!"

The landline on the table rang like a death knell.

Qian Donglai grabbed the receiver.

"Hey! Old Li! Get me twenty million over there right now..."

"Qian Donglai!"

An angry roar came through the receiver, making Qian Donglai's ears ache.

"Who the hell did you mess with?!"

That was the voice of the director of the Agricultural Bank's credit department.

"The court's enforcement order was just slammed onto my desk! All the corporate accounts of those guarantee companies under your name are frozen!"

Qian Donglai's hand trembled.

The walnut slipped from my palm and hit the floor tile with a "thud," cracking in two.

"Frozen? Frozen? Why are you cutting off my pay?!"

He yelled in a hoarse voice, spitting on the microphone.

"Non-performing assets and debts have been transferred! Your pre-litigation asset preservation application has been filed by a creditor!"

The other side didn't give him a chance to breathe at all.

"Don't call me again! Clean up this mess yourself!"

"Beep beep beep..."

The blind sound pierced Qian Donglai's eardrum like an awl.

Before he could even recover his senses...

The door to the private room was kicked open again.

The teahouse's finance manager tumbled in, stumbling and crawling.

He was clutching several bank cards in his hand, his face as pale as if it were plastered with ash.

"Boss...something's happened!"

The finance manager knelt on the carpet, holding up a card.

"My private account at China Construction Bank... has also been frozen."

"The money in your WeChat and Alipay balances, as long as they are linked to your ID card..."

He gasped for breath, his voice cracking.

"Everything has been seized and locked by the court. We don't even have money to pay for our guys' supper tonight!"

Qian Donglai slumped in the armchair.

He scratched several white marks off the mahogany handrail.

My head was buzzing.

Capital chain.

His proud and deeply entrenched underground financial network.

In less than an hour, it was cut to pieces by an unseen hand using a legal procedure.

He wanted to run away.

I frantically pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened the ticket booking app.

Enter flights to Los Angeles.

A cold, impersonal notification popped up on the payment page.

"Your account has been frozen by the court, and the payment has failed."

"Su Ye...you're fucking ruthless!"

Qian Donglai let out a beast-like roar.

He smashed his phone against the wall.

The screen shattered into a spiderweb pattern, and the plastic casing flew off.

A cold wind carried fine snowflakes.

The wind howled as it swept across the unfinished buildings on the outskirts of the city.

There wasn't even a streetlamp around; the dark steel and concrete frame looked like a monster's skeleton stripped of its flesh.

A black Maybach came to a steady stop downstairs, its wheels pressed firmly against the frozen mud pit.

The tires crunched over the gravel with a dull creaking sound.

The car door opened.

Su Ye took a long stride, his leather shoes landing on the muddy ground.

The coat collar was turned up to block the cold wind from seeping into the neck.

He was holding that silver thermos in his hand.

Lei Hu walked around from the trunk.

He was carrying a large white tin megaphone, the edges of which were chipped.

He tapped the horn switch.

"Sizzle—"

A sharp whistling sound pierced the deathly silence of the unfinished building.

"Brother Su, that old bastard's driver has confessed."

Lei Hu pointed gruffly at the dark rooftop above his head.

"Qian Donglai didn't have money for a plane ticket, and he couldn't even afford the gas for the car he hired. He's hiding on this rooftop in the cold wind."

Su Ye looked up.

The gold-rimmed glasses reflected the faint headlights of distant cars.

You can vaguely see a dark figure loitering around on the edge of the rooftop, which is more than ten stories high.

Give me the things.

Su Ye reached out and took the megaphone from Lei Hu's hand.

The metal grip is cold and prickly.

He pressed the record button and cleared his dry throat.

"Tiger Boy".

Su Ye spoke calmly, turning his head to glance at Lei Hu.

"Huh? Brother Su, are we going to rush up and get him? I'll lead the brothers up the stairs!"

Lei Hu touched his bald head, rubbed his hands together, and tensed all his muscles.

"Why are you rushing? We're a legitimate business, not a group of thugs collecting debts."

Su Ye raised the megaphone.

A slow, deliberate smile curled at the corners of his lips.

"Open the copy of the Corporate Bankruptcy Law in your pocket."

"Recite the rules for this Mr. Qian."