Chapter 25: Desire Temperature (Part 2)

  Liu Jinfu's wife was known for her kindness in the village of Dafeng, and anyone who entered their home would immediately be served a plate of peanuts that had been boiled in salt water and then dried in the sun. This was followed by a bowl of hot, steaming white tea made with mountain spring water from Xiongshan, which would make one feel comfortable all over. Next, they would serve warm self-brewed wine, and the host and guest could speak freely. It is said that this woman's upbringing had been proper, as her father-in-law had repeatedly told her, "If a guest comes and you don't take care of them, then you are a foolish person who doesn't understand things." She did very well, and everyone who visited Liu Jinfu's home knew that she was a good woman, far better than other women.

  She is busy making tea and warming wine, as today at home are her closest relatives, who are holding the most important family meeting. Liu Jinfu, the man, is the village party branch secretary of Dafeng Village and also the eldest in the family. He has been to Hong Kong and seen the world, and is also a trusted person of the big figure Long Bing, so this important meeting is presided over by him. His nearly seventy-year-old father naturally does not have the qualifications as the head of the household, and can only serve as a representative, with his brother Liu Jinguo, brother-in-law Wu Wangcai, and sister's husband Yao Zhibao being the main participants. This woman has no decision-making power, only the right to make suggestions, and what to do is up to the men.

  Liu Jinfu's old man carried a bamboo pipe, puffing and inhaling the pungent smell of old dry tobacco. Liu Jinfu and other men who were heads of their families rolled up their sleeves and smoked trumpet-shaped pipes while drinking water wine and pounding tea with serious expressions. Everyone knew that this was an important family decision-making process that would determine the direction of the entire household's funds, and its success or failure would also decide the fate of the whole family in the future. The gate had to be tightly locked, and Liu's mother led her grandchildren to sit far away at the entrance, preventing outsiders from hearing this decision-making process. This was absolutely necessary because these days, the whole village and town were not peaceful at all.

  Liu Jinfu looked at the silent family members and couldn't help but sigh, saying: "It's wrong to say that our household has labor power. Just setting up a site and buying equipment would cost at least 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, not to mention the need to build relationships to buy explosives. The most critical thing is that no one knows whether drilling can actually produce gold or not? What if it doesn't work out? And what about our technical skills? Only God knows where there's gold, right? So, I think we'd better not take the risk."

  Wu Wangcai was dissatisfied with Liu Jinfu, the village branch secretary, being so timid and immediately said: "Brother, I have a way to get explosives. Those who want to work with us *** and *** have a way to get them, we don't need to worry about this aspect at all. What's the technology for blasting mountain caves? Besides, that *** is just a stonemason, he has the skills! You guys say, is it right?"

  Yao Zhibao took a few more fierce puffs on the nearly finished cigarette, then flicked it to the ground and said angrily: "What's there to be afraid of? Damn it! What kind of thing is worth taking risks for? In this world, even farming depends on the weather, everything has risks. Seven or eight months ago, I had a big loss due to the rain, my one mu three fen field didn't yield a single grain, my wife and kids were starving to death, we couldn't even afford new clothes for the New Year, I almost went out to rob people! You call this not taking risks?"

  Liu Jinguo downed the liquor in his cup and said to Liu Jinfu's wife, "Sister-in-law, help me get some more." After she poured him another drink, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and began speaking in a loud voice, "Big brother, I've always respected you, but this time I think you're too afraid of things! You all know that I work in the city, which boss isn't relying on being bold and daring to take risks to make their fortune? Zhou Baiwan, Zhou Boss, used to do antique business and smuggling, later opened a casino, then had connections with county leaders to get construction projects, and even opened coal mines. Which of these things wasn't done by taking risks and breaking the law? And what about those government officials in our mountain city? The tax bureau, public security bureau, industrial and commercial bureau, urban management team... each and every one of them is like a bandit, damn it! Who isn't doing it for themselves? Who doesn't say that the timid will starve to death and the bold will get rich? Big brother, when you should take risks, you must take them. If you don't, you won't make any money!"

  Wu Wangcai also chimed in, saying: "Big brother, you're the branch secretary of Dafeng Village, and you have a good relationship with Dragon Boss. Everyone wants to give you face, everyone knows that if they want to dig tunnels and mine gold within our village's borders, they need to get your approval, the village committee's approval. This time, Tan Boss is taking into account your big brother's face and pulling us all in as partners to work together on this project, digging tunnels. This is the best opportunity to get rich, once we dig out the gold, our family will be set for generations to come, no more poverty or hardship! Each person invests 5,000 yuan, what's there to fear? The 5,000 yuan investment is something everyone can afford, so why worry that we won't strike gold? If this place doesn't yield any gold, we'll just switch to another location, and we'll definitely find it!"

  Liu Jinguo looked at his elder brother Liu Jinfu, who was silent, and anxiously said: "Older brother, you must make a decision quickly, what are we going to do? Four sites have already started construction, everyone knows there's gold under the mountain, and they're all risking their lives day and night to dig. I heard that Old Fifth's site just dug six or seven meters this morning and hit gold sand, Liu Erxiu immediately spent 200,000 yuan to buy the site, and Old Fifth made over a million in three days. Now he's starting work on other sites too. You know about this, if we don't take action soon, it'll be too late!"

  "That's right, big brother, you're the branch secretary of Dafeng Village. Your village also made a decision yesterday that anyone who digs holes within the boundaries of Dafeng Village has to pay 4,000 yuan to the village," Yao Zhibao said with great anxiety. "I know seven or eight groups of people are coming to dig already. If they buy up all the land, we won't be able to dig anymore! I guarantee that there's definitely gold under my few plots of land. What if someone digs it out from underneath and takes it away?"

  Liu Jinguo, who was still drinking, slammed his cup on the table and shouted: "I won't be that stupid! Who doesn't know that Wu Laosi is a fool? He knew there were treasures under his land, but he let Mei Lao Wu buy it for 2,000 yuan. As a result, Mei Lao Wu made over a million, and didn't even give him a penny. He just cried at home, and his wife scolded him as a foolish husband! I'm telling you all, no one in our family is allowed to sell their land to others to dig for gold and get rich! We'll do it ourselves! Whoever dares to sell will be considered an outsider in our family!"

  Liu Lao Yezi tapped the dry tobacco rod on the sole of his shoe, knocking off the black ash stuck to the pipe. He then took a pinch of tobacco from a thick plastic package and pressed it tightly with his dark thumb. His son-in-law, Wu Wangcai, lit the lighter in front of Liu's copper mouthpiece, and with a click, the flame ignited. Liu puffed on the pipe a few times until the tobacco in the pipe glowed bright red, then began to speak: "Jin Fu, you're the eldest, your mother and I are old and haven't seen much of the world. But one thing I do know is that where there's a mountain, there's treasure. Whoever has fate will get it! Think about it, our Xiongshan, this bend in the river must have treasures hidden beneath it. That's for sure! Why did the Long family settle here generation after generation? Why could Long Piaozi become so rich and successful at just twenty years old, with cars, planes, and millions of dollars? There's a secret to it!"

  He coughed a few times, and a mouthful of thick phlegm gushed up from the depths of his throat. He spat it out onto the ground beneath his feet, not noticing that several similar mouthfuls had already accumulated there. He continued to speak, "I still remember how a few years ago, Liu Laoshi brought an old man with a white beard and a little girl who looked like a fairy to this mountain for a day trip. I also heard that the old man used a Feng Shui compass and even tasted the soil with his tongue. This must be the dragon vein that Long Piaozi sent someone to find! What is this dragon vein? It's just gold! ...Long Piaozi is clever, so he has achieved success. On the surface, it seems like he's running a mineral water factory, deceiving everyone by saying that the water can be sold for money and then dividing the profits among them. But in reality, he instructed Gao Laoshi to dig up gold from underground. Who knows how much they dug up over several months? ...At the time, I thought it was strange when Long Piaozi said that water could be sold for money. In all my years, I've never heard of such a thing! This is where Long Piaozi's cleverness and cunning come in, which is why he became rich... Cough, cough... When I was a village cadre, everyone was struggling to make ends meet. Now it's different - if you work hard and are clever, you'll have food on the table. Farming without any brains won't get you anywhere. I don't understand what Long Piaozi means by 'high-tech agriculture.' All I know is that having money means a good life. As the saying goes, 'A family with three ounces of gold can avoid disaster for three years.' If you want to get rich, you have to take care of yourself. That's the truth - after living in this world for 70 years, I've come to realize that if you don't look out for yourself, heaven and earth will punish you!"

  These family members' words all hit Liu Jinfu's heart, and he thought that they had been living a hard life for too long. It would be great to have more money, so they wouldn't have to make every penny count. They could buy their children more books and new clothes, and when they grew up and started their own families, things would be easier to manage. Liu Jinfu thought it was unfair that some people in Guangdong, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong were so wealthy, living comfortable lives, driving cars, residing in high-rise buildings, and wearing nice clothes.

  Liu Jinfu spaced out for a moment before looking out the window and speaking in a hushed tone, "Let me tell you, there are many people who want to mine on the outskirts of Dafeng Village. They're all looking for ways to reduce their payments. However, the 4,000 yuan was decided by the village committee after they found out about the gold deposits below the mountain. This is for village expenses, and it was made clear that no one could make exceptions or waive payments, not even if the township leader came. Tan Boss hopes the village can reduce their demands, but I'm in a difficult position. You should tell Tan Boss that this is non-negotiable; I have to be fair."

  He continued, "There's one more thing. The ancient village over there is moving quickly. It has been decided that the villagers' meeting will be held the day after tomorrow to collectively discuss the establishment of a mining team in the village. Our Dafeng Village will probably also hold a villagers' meeting in a few days and establish a mining team. Every villager with a household registration will have a share." He thought for a moment, then looked up at Xianhui's guest, who was under 40 years old but already had a face full of wrinkles. What about Qian Yu Hui, the vice president of Longpeng Group? She was also almost 40 years old, but she looked like a 20-year-old girl, so beautiful and elegant! She never had to cook or do farm work, unlike Xianhui who used to be as beautiful as those girls in Longpeng Group. But since marrying him, she hadn't had a good day! Longpeng was so rich, he could make it rain! Why didn't he give himself more money? When they were in Hong Kong, he only gave her 3,000 yuan for travel expenses! One must have their own money to live a good life and make their children happy!

  Compared to everyone else, I have the most advantageous condition, which is that I have a good relationship with Long Bao. Whoever gives me three points of face, even those two old bosses Huang and Sun said that as long as I use my influence to guarantee that the villagers won't cause trouble for the village committee, they'll give me 5% of the shares. Those old bosses are outsiders, but these are all my own brothers and sisters, everyone has their reasons, brothers are for life, can't be looked down upon by brothers. Gritting my teeth, I took out 5,000 yuan to do it, besides, I don't even need to go into the cave myself to dig, it's a good deal! Even if we can't dig it out, there are still other ways to make money, but how could we possibly not dig out gold? I heard from others that Long Bao's men once dug out a pure gold brick as big as a palm.

  Liu Jinfu thought for a moment, then pulled out a pack of high-quality Baisha cigarettes that he couldn't bear to smoke from his pocket. This was given to him by an old boss who was going to dig for gold. He opened the cigarette case and handed one to each member. The old man hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Jinfu, Jinfu, this good cigarette is several cents per stick, you guys smoke it yourselves, I'll just smoke my dry tobacco!"

  Liu Jingui took the cigarette in his hand, put it under his nose and sniffed, opened his mouth and said: "This cigarette is real, it's really good!" He lit a fire, took a deep breath, and said: "Dad, you can smoke now! You should have smoked some good cigarettes this life!" Ah, when I was in the city, sometimes I was too embarrassed to smoke this trumpet-shaped cigarette, afraid that others would laugh at me. But there's no way, working just makes so little money, I have to leave some for my family. Now the tuition fees for the kids are getting higher and higher, so I can only smoke this trumpet-shaped cigarette. Later, when I worked on the highway, my salary increased a bit, and occasionally I would buy a pack of two yuan filtered cigarettes to smoke. Haha, if I strike gold in the future, damn it, I'll smoke these good cigarettes every day and drink bottles of wine!

  Old Liu carefully stared at the smoke, also learning from his son to smell the smoke, and then lovingly lit it up, inhaled it into his lungs, and tried to make the smoke stay in his lungs for a while before slowly exhaling the already very faint smoke. The five cigarette butts shone brightly, emitting wisps of blue smoke, the fragrance of the tobacco mixed with the aroma of water wine and the scent of pounded tea, wafting through Liu Jinfu's house, exceptionally warm and sweet.

  Liu Jinfu cleared his throat and said very seriously: "Alright, let's settle on this then. Each person will invest 5,000 yuan and cooperate with Manager Tan and the others. With me in the village, they won't dare to offend you, but I won't be able to go dig tunnels with you all. However, remember not to get into any conflicts with Manager Gao and the others, I know some of them are quite powerful, if something big happens it'll be troublesome..."

  Shi Wei had actually been in Tianlei Village for many days, and he was now sitting by the river, immersed in a deep sense of self-reproach. Zhou Jing, who had rushed over, was comforting him on one side.

  He shouted at the river water with a sobbing tone: "Damn it! Why did I have to shout loudly that this is gold and this is gold ore? Why did I have to go into Gaizhi's office? Why did I have to go into that mineral water factory? Why did I come to this damn Tianlei Township, damn Xiongshan Mountain? My own son doesn't care about me, I ran here, am I sick or something?!

  Zhou Jing was called over from Guangzhou by Shi Wei's several urgent phone calls, which was on March 27th when Shi Wei made an urgent call to ask him to rush to Tianlei Township immediately, saying that there was a situation that would make him extremely surprised and had to be seen in person, forcing him to ask for leave from school. Unexpectedly, after he arrived at Tianlei Township two days later, the situation in Tianlei Township had already started to heat up. The villagers who knew that there were gold mines on the mountain organized several teams to scramble for the land to dig gold mines and even fought with the employees of the mineral water factory built under the leadership of Gao Zhiyong, resulting in injuries at the time. Gao Zhiyong said that these lands had already been requisitioned by Long Bao for building a reservoir, but the villagers insisted that this name was used to build a mineral water factory and actually dig gold mines, which was a deception and completely invalid, and they also had the right to dig gold mines. The two sides were at an impasse, and finally, in order to prevent the county from knowing and sealing off the entire mountain, making it impossible for everyone to play, they reached an agreement. Since these lands suspected of having gold mines all belonged to the collective land of several villages on Xiongshan Mountain, anyone who obtained the consent of the township and village committees and paid a certain mining fee could dig and mine, and this mining period was valid until the county work team came to stop it. Liu Erxi would invest more than 100,000 yuan to buy the hole as long as someone dug into the gold vein. Everyone thought this was very fair, after all, only Liu Erxi had the equipment to refine the gold well.

  It's unbelievable that someone actually dug up a natural gold nugget! This has driven the entire village even crazier, and by April 4th, the sound of blasting rocks could be heard all over Mount Xiong. Those crazy villagers, in order to prevent the county from sending people to stop them, even used huge boulders to block off the only road into Tianlei Village. The conflicts between mining teams, and between the mining teams and the local villagers and village committee, are becoming increasingly intense. Yesterday, April 8th, Liu Jinfu's younger brother, Liu Jingui, the party secretary of Dafeng Village, had two fingers on his right hand chopped off by another group of people, and was also shot in the buttocks with a shotgun. He is currently lying in the hospital in Tianlei Village.

  Think about how wicked Gao Zhongyi is, using Chairman Long's name to secretly mine for gold. If Chairman Long found out, he would definitely punish him severely! However, Chairman Long is still in the US, and Shi Wei had already sent a telegram to Long Bao on April 1st, but Long Bao didn't return. After reporting to Minister Kang of the Ministry of Construction and Vice-Chairman Xue Bingying, these two leaders instructed him not to report directly to Chairman Long. Now is the critical moment for negotiations, and such matters would be handled by the government. Absolutely cannot let Chairman Long be distracted, leading to mistakes in the negotiations.

  Zhou Qing and Shi Wei both knew that Long Bao, who was still in the US and had been deceived by Gao Zhongyue, would not know that the situation was getting more and more severe and was about to reach an irretrievable point!

  Shi Wei was scolding the river, a leopard ran over and stretched its head into the water to drink. Shi Wei got angry and threw a stone at the place where the leopard was drinking, splashing water all over the leopard's body. The leopard didn't care, shook itself dry, looked at Shi Wei with its head tilted, then suddenly let out a loud roar and plunged into the river, swam around in a circle before coming back to shore.

  Shi Wei's anger grew, and he pointed at the leopard, scolding loudly: "It's you, you dead dog! If it weren't for bringing you back to our old home to take a look, I wouldn't have come to this godforsaken place, nor would I have discovered that Professor Gao's secret! Damn him, what kind of Professor Gao is he? He's just a human-faced beast! I'll see how Old Liu deals with him!" He then shouted at the sky: "Old Liu, you dead dog! If you don't come back, someone in your family will die! Let's see how you handle it! See how you clean up the mess you made by using people poorly!"

  This reservoir was built according to the mountain shape of Xiongshan Mountain in Tianlei Township, which is a concave-shaped with a slightly pointed bottom and two open wings. The construction of the reservoir is to firmly connect the concave shape with steel, cement, sand and stone, and build an irrigation network matching it.

  Long Bao asked the helicopter to hover over the reservoir construction site on Xiongshan, and through the porthole, Long Bao could clearly see that the white stone slab with a recessed character at the bottom was indeed the protective facility he had built for his ancestors. From the air, it looked like a landmark.

  Looking down, the area surrounded by the pit is extremely lively, with people crowded together like watching a commotion or ants rushing to eat, and occasionally the sound of explosions can be heard shaking the sky. It seems that gold mines have indeed been discovered here, and these people are drilling into the mountains where the gold mines are located!

  Anyone in Tianlei Township who sees a helicopter knows that Long Hui, the pride of Tianlei Township, has returned. The safe landing site for the plane is the playground of Tianlei Township Middle School. As soon as Shi Wei and Zhou Qing saw the plane appear in the sky, they rushed to the playground of Tianlei Township Middle School from the mountain.

  Long Bo still directed the plane to circle in the air, he wanted to understand the excavation situation from high altitude, Meng Yuan opened the camera and took pictures.

  People busy on the mountain have some people watching the helicopter hovering in the air with great interest, listening to the huge roar of the plane's rotor with envy. Some people look at it and then rush into the cave to dig rocks even more desperately. There are also many people who glance at it numbly and curse in their mouths: "Damn son of a bitch, what are you showing off in front of us? I'll buy an airplane if I dig up gold!"

  The plane had been circling in the air for over ten minutes and was just about to turn towards the apron to land. Suddenly, at this moment, seven or eight people holding clubs, knives, and guns rushed out from the front of a mine cave located at the tip of the valley, and violently assaulted three or four villagers who were carrying rocks. A group of people rushed out of the cave and started fighting with them, while some idle onlookers who had no share in the gold mining immediately ran towards the scene of the fight. From the plane, it was impossible to hear the cries and shouts of pain, but Long Bo could clearly see the chaotic scene of dozens of people fighting and clubs flying wildly.

  A chaotic fight, dozens or even hundreds of people clashed, such a scene had been heard by Longbiao when he was in Tianlei Township. It was said that during the Qingming Festival, a Liu and a Wu got into a verbal conflict while paying respects to their ancestors, which escalated into a physical altercation. The Wu was injured by the Liu, and in anger, the Wu's family poured feces and menstrual blood on the Liu's ancestral tomb. This led to a major incident! Both the Lius and Wus were prominent families in Tianlei Township, and the event evolved into a confrontation between the two clans. Over 100 people armed with bird guns, knives, hoes, and carrying poles clashed on the mountain of tombs, resulting in one death, three severe injuries, and over ten minor injuries on the spot. The local police station was unable to stop the situation from deteriorating, and it wasn't until dozens of public security personnel were dispatched from the county that the situation was brought under control. The main culprits were arrested and put in prison, and compensation was provided to the victims' families. It took several years for the relationship between the Lius and Wus to ease up.

  This can't happen now, no matter what! Long Biao felt his chest burning and loudly ordered the driver: "Get down! Fast! Find a place to stop! Fast!"

  The pilot was actually struggling to control the plane, with a worried tone: "Chairman Long, there's no way to land now. The wind is too strong and we can't find a safe place to take off and land. The airflow changes here are unpredictable, we must leave immediately!"

  Long Bao saw that three people had already been knocked to the ground, his chest full of uncontrollable anger and anxiety. Hearing this, he threw the binoculars in his hand onto the seat and shouted loudly: "Take me down immediately!"

  Meng Yuan, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, had also obtained a helicopter pilot's license. He knew that the turbulence of the plane indicated that the airflow changes on Xiongshan were very strange and there was no reason to allow Long Bao, who was worth hundreds of billions of assets, to take such a great risk to land at the scene. He quickly turned his head and said to Long Bao: "Chairman Long, let's go to the middle school playground immediately and land there before coming here, it's too dangerous now!" After that, he didn't care whether Long Bao was willing or not, and instructed the driver to fly away from Xiongshan immediately.

  Long Bao's blood suddenly boiled over his entire body, and he burst out in a loud roar: "What the...?! Ah?! Get me down! Get me down!!"

  When the helicopter landed, a strong gust of wind blew up all the dust and scraps of paper on the playground, filling the sky. Longbiao hastily got off the plane and saw Shi Weizhou and several other teachers and villagers rushing towards him. Almost all the students in the school, regardless of whether they were still in class or not, rushed out of their classrooms to point at Longbiao and the helicopter.

  Long Bao did not see Gao Zhiyong and the command post staff he had specially assigned on the drill ground. His expression was as cold as ice, and he didn't shake hands with everyone. He rushed to Zhou Qing and said, "Follow me to the mountain immediately! Shi Wei, you go to the township government and police station to report that a group fight is happening on the mountain, and ask them to come immediately!"

  He strode forward, Shi Wei hastily followed behind him and shouted: "The road on the mountain is not good, the road is not good, the small car can't go up, only motorcycles can go up. Zhou Qing, you quickly start the motorcycle, Meng Yuan, Li Da Shan, you follow up..."

  It had just rained, the road was a bit slippery, and there were many potholes. Zhou Ying drove very carefully, and Meng Yuan and others also rented motorcycles to escort them in front and back.

  They soon arrived at a road with very high walls, and the wall had an entrance that could accommodate one car. There were several people standing by the gate, and on the wall next to the gate was a sign that read "Tianlei Township Mineral Water Factory Site - Donated by Li Heng Group Chairman and President Long Bao". On the wall was also written in white characters "No entry for outsiders at the construction site".

  "Look, Chairman Long! This is the mineral water factory. Do you want to go in and take a look? It's fun inside!" Shi Wei shouted, pointing at it. The words seemed like a row of skulls grinning at him, and he felt that this was the triumphant laughter of Gao Zhiyong and his men who had betrayed them. Zhou Qing was about to stop the car and tell Long Bing that this was the source of their troubles, but just as he was trying to control himself, he saw Zhou Qing slow down and shouted: "Go faster!"

  Zhou Jing was startled and quickly braked, answering in a low voice: "Chairman Long, the road ahead is blocked, we can only walk past, the car can't get through."

  As the dragon looked around, indeed, although this was a road under construction, expected to be built to allow three trucks to pass side by side, but the wall of the mineral water factory completely occupied the road, leaving only a small path for one person to walk.

  Long Bao got off the car, and Shi Wei followed behind him, chattering away, saying that this road was made like this because Professor Gao wanted to restrict everyone's entry and exit, in order to control the flow of gold ore. He himself was excavating ore day and night within the walls of the mineral water factory, and the gold content of the ore was so high that you could see yellowish native gold grains on its surface!

  Long Bao didn't answer, and with a burst of speed, he rushed up the mountain. However, his right leg, which still had an internal injury, stepped on a rock, causing him to stumble and fall forward! Shi Wei was caught off guard, but Meng Yuan, who was walking behind him, quickly pushed Shi Wei aside and tried to grab Long Bao, but missed. With a loud thud, Long Bao fell to the ground, his right hand landing in a muddy pit, covering his entire body with mud and water. Even his face was splattered with dirt, making it look filthy.

  Shi Wei and his bodyguards were shocked, just wanting to help Long Biao up, but Long Biao opened their hands and got up by himself. Shi Wei was extremely nervous and wanted to take off his clothes for him to change into, but before he could start undressing, Meng Yuan had already taken off his suit and said in a low voice to Long Biao: "Sorry, Chairman Long, it's our work mistake, an unforgivable error that let you get hurt! Please change your clothes and find a place to wash your face..."

  Long Bao tore off his dirty clothes and wiped his face and hands, then threw the clothes to the ground. He completely ignored the clothes that Meng Yuan handed over for him to change into, and instead cursed loudly: "Change your mom's crotch! We're all going to die!" He actually quickened his pace even more, but from his increasingly stumbling steps, it was clear that he must have been injured!

  The muddy mountain path was extremely difficult to walk on, but Longbiao dragged his injured leg and almost ran along the road. Every cell in his body heard the sound of his feet stepping into the puddle, the intermittent cannon fire, and the continuous noise of human voices. The cannon fire was like a death drum that tore at Longbiao's liver and lungs, while the faintly transmitted human voice was like a steel saw cutting through Longbiao's brain. Even the individual mud pits and personal shadows seemed to be massive stones piled on his chest.

  Long Bao finally slipped again, fortunately this time he was protected by Meng Yuan behind him. Meng Yuan took the opportunity to put Long Bao on his shoulder, with his left hand holding his waist, and rushed towards the fighting scene hundreds of meters away.

  Not a few people on the mountain noticed this group of people rushing over, but everyone soon shifted their attention back to their own picking and concern for the fight just now.

  Long Bao was very familiar with Xiongshan, he was supported by Meng Yuan and walked unsteadily, pointing out the fastest way to reach the accident site.

  A wounded man was being carried on someone's back, followed by two or three others holding knives and clubs. The injured man cried out in pain, "Oh my mother! Oh my mother!" They happened to meet Longbiao on the small path, and he hurried forward to see what was going on.

  The injured man's face was covered in blood, and it seemed that his head had been smashed. The person who was carrying him on his back was panting and cursing: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" The people behind them were also shouting: "Get out of here, all of you!"

  The wounded man's blood flowed onto the person carrying him, who was also covered in blood from head to toe. Longbiao knew he had to get him to the hospital immediately and hurriedly cleared a path on the side of the road. Shi Wei anxiously asked: "Where is he hurt? Who did this?"

  A person with a bruise on his forehead may have seen Shi Wei, and immediately said indignantly: "Who else could it be? It's that damn brother of Secretary Yuan! He relies on being the secretary's brother, he relies on being a rotten egg, wanting to come into our factory to invest, we don't agree and he starts fighting! I curse his ancestors eighteen generations!"

  Another person gritted his teeth and said: "What's the use of talking! Don't say another word, I'll blow up his whole family with explosives tonight!"

  A drop of blood, falling into the water would drift out a thread of blood, falling on the muddy ground would be a bright red patch, falling into Longbiao's eyes would turn into a knife and a bullet; those mournful cries of pain, those vengeful voices that shook the sky, directly pierced Longbiao's ears, turning into thunderclaps. The mud-covered, water-soaked, limping Longbiao was stabbed with pain all over his body.

  Seeing the crowd from a helicopter is just an ant-like feeling, it's only when you arrive at the scene that you realize what the gold rush craze is like. The construction site was already packed with people, all shouting and calling out to each other. A rough count showed there were several hundred or even over a thousand people. Dozens of drilling machines were scattered far and near, operating at full power to drill into the mountain rocks. Many places on the mountain had already been drilled into black caves, like pairs of black eyes. From time to time, people carrying loads would enter and exit from these "eyes", their faces covered in dust, without a hint of fatigue, but instead filled with excitement and longing.

  Long Wan and his men arrived at the scene with great difficulty, only to find that the incident had already subsided. Although there were still some onlookers in the distance, others were busy with their own work as if nothing had happened.

  Among the onlookers, some had already seen Longbiao's mud-stained face and body, and were secretly ridiculing his miserable state. Some of them, while mocking him, suddenly recognized that it was indeed Longbiao, and immediately recalled his despicable act of stealing gold from the mine and deceiving everyone. They began to whisper among themselves, casting envious yet disdainful glances at him with eyes full of jealousy.

  Four or five people were standing not far from the cave, holding machetes, bird guns and iron bars. It was estimated that this was the winning side of the fight. Long Bao ignored the crowd's pointing and talking, shook off Meng Yuan's hand, stepped forward and walked through the crowd, preparing to approach the cave to check it out himself. At a glance, Long Bao saw not only people outside the cave but also inside the cave.

  Two burly men immediately stood in front of him, blocking his way, pointing at Long Biao's face and shouting loudly: "Who are you? Get out! Scram! None of your business!"

  Just then, Meng Yuanli Da Shan stepped forward to protect him, and Long Biao pushed him aside with his hand, walked through the middle, and said coldly to the two of them: "Weren't you just fighting? I'll take a look at how many people you've injured, or if anyone has been killed."

  "Hey! Are you the helper Wu Kui brought? You want to fight?" A burly man stared at Long Bao and Meng Yuan, saying, "I'm telling you, Wu Kui has already been scared off by us! From today on, this place belongs to us. Don't think about causing trouble again! If you want to help, first weigh your own strength!"

  Another tall Han shouted loudly: "Get out of the way and watch the show! Get far away! Don't interfere with our fortune-making! I, Yuan Lao Er, will make you look good when I get angry!"

  At this time, Long Bao saw a man carrying a load of stones coming out of the cave. He intended to take a look at the gold ore himself and see if it was real. If it was true, what would it look like? He ignored the big Han's existence and rushed straight towards the man.

  Unexpectedly, the two big men flipped their hands over and suddenly revealed a chopping knife. They shouted at Long Bao: "Halt! Take another step and I'll chop you!"

  Before the words fell, the two were covered by Meng Yuanlei's empty-handed entry into White Blade, and then a standard combat capture was subdued on the ground. Zhou Jing Shiwei also followed immediately!

  The subdued Han suddenly let out a loud, ear-piercing yell, like the sound of a pig being slaughtered. This yell immediately startled the people inside the cave and several others who were standing at the entrance, staring at you. Five or six men holding guns, clubs, and knives quickly rushed out, baring their teeth and shouting angrily: "What's going on? What's happening? Ah, are they fighting?! Dare to fight Old Su?! Come on, let's kill him!"

  Get the hoes, pitchforks and machetes ready for Long Wan and Meng Yuan! One of them is even preparing to hang the bird gun's trigger!

  Zhou Ding saw the situation was not good, immediately pulled the dragon spear back and used his body to protect it. He and Li Dashan jumped up from Da Han's body at the same time. Meng Yuan didn't know what action he used, waved his hand, and a cold light flashed out, just hitting the wrist of the person holding the gun. The bird gun fell to the ground and made a loud explosion! The iron ball shot out of the barrel, and several people in the crowd immediately cried out in pain after being hit! Long Bao was shocked and turned his head back to see two people covering their faces and falling to the ground!

  Meng Yuan instinctively turned around and pounced on Zhou Qing and Long Biao, knocking them to the ground. Li Da Shan let out a loud roar, snatched a wooden club from someone's hand, and swung it with lightning speed, knocking down three people who were rushing forward. He then shouted loudly, "Who dares to move! Who dares to move!"

  The other two or three people were intimidated by his tiger-like prestige and retreated hastily in terror, while the person who was clutching their wrist and lying on the ground cried out: "Quickly, quickly call my brother to send someone over, quickly!"

  The crowd of onlookers nearby suddenly shouted loudly: "A fight! Another fight!"

  "Who is so bold? Dare to hit Yuan Lao Er?" "My god! What are these people doing, their kung fu is so fierce! Two moves and they knocked them all down!"

  "My kid, his brother Yuan Secretary was just playing at Lin Boss's place with many rural cadres, if he knew his little brother got beaten up, it would be a great show to watch, absolutely more exciting than earlier!"

  "Why doesn't Secretary Yuan come out and take charge?" "He wouldn't bother with such things! Just now when Zhang Fu Gui was beaten, even if they wanted to kill him, he pretended not to know..."

  "You don't know anything! Who is that person, do you know? He's Long Biao! You've been wronged your whole life and can't even recognize him! I'm telling you, those three or four people are his bodyguards! What was Secretary Yuan doing there then? It was all in vain!"

  "Shut up, you guys! I think that gunshot just hit someone who was watching the show. I wonder how badly they're hurt?"

  Long Bao endured the chatter that ran into his ears, endured the wails of the two innocent bystanders who were injured in the crossfire, and with a stern face examined the two people hit by the iron pellets fired from the fallen bird gun. One person was hit by two iron pellets on the face, while the other was definitely shot in the right eye!

  Blood flowed across their faces amidst their wailing and screaming, this blood merged with the blood seen on Longwang Road, strangely forming a bloody sky and crimson clouds in Longwang's eyes. The massive, blood-colored clouds descended from the sky, dyeing the Xiongshan mountain before them into a blurry, reddish hue, a color that obscured their vision, thoughts, and nerves...

  Originally, Secretary Yuan and Township Head Li were going to look for Gao Zhìyǒng as soon as they saw Lóng Bó appeared in the sky, but Gao Zhìyǒng instead told them to temporarily hide and let Lóng Bó take the initiative to find them. The reason was that this was for their own good, and it could raise the value of these parent officials. They thought about it and agreed that Lóng Bó was no longer a philanthropist now, but just a boss who dug up gold, so they had to put on a show in front of him to let him know that they were in charge in Tianlei Township.

  But they never thought that while they were hiding, Longbiao would go to the place where his younger brother had just obtained a share and his younger brother's gang had a big fight!

  Secretary Yuan's face turned pale, extremely tense, and rushed to Long Bao's front, saying repeatedly: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, we are all familiar with each other, misunderstanding, misunderstanding!" Secretary Yuan looked at his brother still screaming on the ground, feeling extremely heartbroken, but could only scold him loudly: "Are you a pig?! This is Boss Long, don't you recognize him? Damn it, have your eyes gone blind?"

  Li Xiangzhang hesitantly stretched out his hand, planning to shake hands with Long Bao. Long Bao's expression was cold as he said: "Li Xiangzhang, you've arrived just in time. Where are the people from the police station? Everyone here is a suspect in the disturbance. That person over there is the one who injured these two victims..." He pointed at Shi Wei, Zhou Qing and several others who were escorting the injured to the hospital, saying: "The victims are up ahead, let's go take a look..."

  The Tianlei Township Hospital initially judged that the victim's right eye was already blind, and they were unable to treat the severely injured eyes. Long Bao immediately ordered the helicopter to take off immediately and send the victim to the Municipal People's Hospital as soon as possible, with all expenses borne by him.

  He sat in the command center set up next to the township government, his face as dark as iron. Meng Yuan and Li Dashan were blocking the door, while the township head and secretary were trying to explain to him that they didn't know about the severity of the accident on site. They explained that they had been busy mediating conflicts between villagers over gold mining in recent days, which led to negligence at work. He remained silent, waiting for his respected and trusted superior, Professor Gao, and his assigned staff to arrive. At this moment, he didn't want to listen to the nonsense of these party members; he only needed to hear what those few people had to say.

  Shi Wei had already told him that these government officials were involved in digging for gold, and also told him about Gao Zhiyong's behavior throughout the whole thing. He speculated that Gao Zhiyong might have discovered the gold mine while exploring underground mineral water resources, which is why he decided to secretly excavate it. Alternatively, it was also possible that he had already discovered the gold mine but intentionally deceived himself by saying he wanted to build a mineral water factory, and therefore halted the reservoir construction project in order to keep the gold mine a secret. As for these two possibilities, he would rather believe the former.

  However, he couldn't convince himself to believe the former because in order to keep the excavation secret, the reservoir had to be shut down. The wall was built at the beginning of this year, and with the wall, everything could be carried out secretly. That was when Gao Zhongyong suggested building a mineral water factory, and he remembered being very moved by Gao's words at that time! Also, the place where gold was extracted was a very secret location, and no one was allowed to enter. Shi Wei and Zhou Jing tried several times but were discovered each time, and the other party even warned them that if they came again, they would be killed! This is a systematic network of scale, Gao Zhongyong alone can't do it!

  Actually, since the helicopter of Longbiao appeared in the sky above Xiongshan, Gao Zhiyong was frightened out of his wits. It wasn't until he received a phone call that he could calm down. At 7 o'clock in the evening, he finally appeared in front of Longbiao with several others from the command center, all smiling.

  When he saw Long Bao's expression, he couldn't help but want to laugh: Is it necessary to be so sad? It really was all said by Chairman Wang, this is just a child! He calmly said to Long Bao: "Chairman Long, hello." Then he took out a resignation letter from his pocket, and the other three people also took theirs out and placed them on Long Bao's desk. He pointed at the letter and said, "Chairman Long, we've had this report for many days, and have been wanting to hand it over to you personally. Now is the time!"

  Long Bao didn't even look at these people, he just cast his gaze on the resignation letter. He recognized that the characters on the letter were Chinese characters, which he had known how to write since he was very young. However, he never thought that these characters would be combined into such a sentence in front of him, nor did he think that they would have such meaning in this situation. It was like a black tadpole playing in the mud, or a drop of black blood splashing on the muddy ground. Gradually, it floated to the space under his eyes, swimming back and forth, and as it swam, it transformed into every familiar face, smiling ambiguously at him, casting glances at him, with eyes that had flattery, fear, fawning, and respect. However, when Gao Zhiyong's voice sounded again, this gaze suddenly turned into ridicule, mockery, contempt, and disdain. Immediately after, the gaze turned into a raging fire, and he was mercilessly scorched by these flames!

  His entire body's blood suddenly boiled up!!

  Gao Zhiyong looked at Long Bao with a calm expression as his facial muscles began to twist, and said in an extremely floating tone: "Are you wondering why I want to resign? Want to ask us all why we want to resign? Well, let me tell you, we've made a fortune. Why can we make a fortune? Because we dug up gold. Are you still wondering how much gold we dug up? So that everyone wants to give up the salary you gave? Hehe, I can secretly tell you, with this gold, from now on we don't have to be manipulated by your incompetent and usurping self."

  Gao Zhiyong stared at Long Biao, who was still focusing on the resignation letter. Gao continued: "Do you want to ask when we discovered the gold ore? I'll tell you, it was last year, at the end of last year. Do you want to ask why I suggested building a mineral water factory? Let me tell you, if we didn't build the mineral water factory, there would be no reason for you to issue an order to stop construction on the reservoir. And if the reservoir wasn't stopped, others would find out about the gold mine in the mountain. Do you want to ask why the township and county governments aren't intervening even though the news of the gold mine has been leaked? This is a state-managed resource, and no one is allowed to privately excavate it. Don't they know that? I'll quietly tell you, this mountain has rich ore, and it's a rare kind of rich ore. But the government thinks it's just a small gold mine, not worth large-scale excavation. The mining administration took money but won't do anything because there's no historical geological data to support the existence of gold here. Now, not only are the leaders and village officials from Tianlei Township excavating, but also officials from other surrounding townships in Jiangping Town, and many leaders from the county and city have invested in it. What else could this be if not a small gold mine?"

  "Are you looking down on us, thinking we're not taking you seriously, and it's eating away at you, making you want to tear us apart? Are you convinced that we've embezzled your so-called charity project funds, and you think you can find a weakness in our defense here and send us to court? Unfortunately for you, every single account is crystal clear, with no evidence of embezzlement whatsoever. Even the wall around the mineral water factory was built by us ourselves. You don't even have ownership rights over a single brick or tile of that factory. And if you want to visit my excavation site without my permission, you'd be breaking the law - you don't even have the right to enter. Are you feeling very uncomfortable? Is it driving you crazy?"

  Gao Zhiyong took out two red cloth packages from the bag and placed them in front of Long Bao, opening the packages to reveal their contents. On the blood-red cloth lay a small piece of rock with visible specks of glittering gold dust and an irregularly-shaped natural gold nugget the size of a chicken egg. The contrast between the yellow and red was striking, and as it reflected in Long Bao's eyes, he felt a sharp pain!

  "See? This is gold ore and natural dog head gold! Do you know why Columbus sailed the seas? He, like all Western Europeans at that time, dreamed of a land filled with gold beyond the horizon! Don't you remember the wars fought over gold in history? Don't you remember how Colombia's capital was established? Can you forget the origin of San Francisco? Try to imagine the spectacular scene of 250,000 people panning for gold in San Francisco within 5 years!"

  Gao Zhiyong's expression was a mix of sadness and laughter: "Are you not heartbroken seeing everyone recklessly digging for gold, even fighting each other? Are you still eager to tell them that illegal mining and non-standard refining of gold will cause an ecological disaster? The toxic potassium cyanide will make your Xiongshan Mountain lose its birds and beasts, the fields will be unable to grow crops, the rivers will be unable to catch fish, and all living things will die because of gold? Let me tell you, there's a mine that excavates 700 grams of gold in one day, and several mines make a profit of 200,000 yuan after just one transaction. Do you think they'll listen to you? Your fellow villagers have all figured out that you're using the name of the mineral water factory and the construction of the reservoir as an excuse to mine for gold, deceiving everyone. You're so eager to leave a good impression on your fellow villagers, to be seen as a philanthropist who knows how to repay kindness, but you never thought they'd see through you as a cheat, did you? Do you still think you can argue your way out of this in front of them? Sorry, the whole village knows you signed off on the report, and everyone knows this mineral water factory is being built by you. Can you really talk your way out of this?"

  "Listen, Longbiao, the gold ore in this mountain is extremely rich, and it's even distributed just beneath the surface of the rocks, with only a few meters or tens of meters of rock covering it. The problem is that this vein is very hard to find, and now there are dozens of teams who have bought land and are preparing to start work. They're all made up of local poor villagers who have staked their lives on finding gold and won't give up until they do, even if the king himself came to stop them. They've put everything on the line, they're playing with their lives! Do you think that just because you show your face, you can control the situation? Can you really control it?"

  A pair of hands reached into the chest cavity, just like wringing out a washcloth, grasped the stomach and twisted it violently, squeezing out all the gastric juice from the stomach wall cells. The squeezed-out gastric juice was then poured back in through the mouth, and after pouring it back in, the twisting continued. Suddenly, the stomach area was filled with intense pain, which could only be slightly alleviated by using one's hands to press hard on the stomach, as if trying to squeeze out this ghostly pain.

  However, as time went on, the pain became increasingly unbearable, and this pain quickly formed a rapid current that violently shocked every organ, every blood vessel, and every cell. The lungs immediately reacted to the shock, convulsing violently, with contraction and relaxation losing all regularity. Those hands then began to knead and rub the lung lobes, forcing the airflow to impact the throat, causing a stifled and suppressed cough to erupt. Those hands then mixed stomach acid and lung tissue together, just like a master chef kneading dough.

  To add a touch of elegance to the dish, these hands sprinkled bile drop by drop onto the noodles, then minced the liver into fine particles with an invisible knife, and cut the spleen into neat rectangular strips, carefully arranging them on top of the noodles at regular intervals.

  It seems that these hands thought it was too dark to operate in the closed chest cavity, so they simply tore open the entire chest cavity and let in fresh air and bright light. They clenched a fist and started drumming on the heart chamber that had long since lost its heart, Boom! Boom! The sound was low and muffled, but it was like the rumble of thunder stored between heaven and earth, slowly releasing itself in sync with the rhythm of the pounding fist.

  After a while, it probably felt that the fist was not enough to satisfy its craving, so it simply dismantled both legs and easily peeled off the skin and flesh attached to the bones with its fingernails. With two white leg bones in hand, it started beating its chest cavity and entire body wildly. At first, the rhythm was still slow and had a bit of regular melody, but as it beat faster and faster, it eventually became frantic, like pills pouring into bottles on a pharmaceutical production line, or an automated mechanical arm punching holes in circuit boards at an electronics factory, or sewing needles flying through fabric at incredible speeds at a shoe or garment factory. It even deliberately placed the bones on its own eyes, as if to tell itself: "See? This is the thread on your body."

  Long Bao's eyes stared blankly as his body became fragmented and blood flowed out like a river, he thought the blood was very red, but as the oxygen in the air took effect, the blood gradually turned dark black.

  My ears are still receiving the voice of Gao Zhongyong, these voices are like the roads on Xiongshan Mountain, clearly and deeply engraved in my mind. I remember that in the past, I had to walk this road twice a day, with flowers, grass, rice, vegetables, red, yellow, green, white, and cyan along the way. The trees on both sides of the road were always playing with some small birds.

  Toxic liquid rained down from the sky, withering and killing all the flowers and grass. The giant hands uprooted every large tree, using a strange magical power to transform them into rotting wood covered in vibrant poisonous mushrooms. Waves of sound came forth as the giant hands wielded an axe, chopping at the rotting wood one strike at a time. Inside the wood were many insects, each chop causing them to be shaken out, crying and flying about in agony for their destroyed home.

  Gao Zhiyong left, and the three delegates also left. The leaders and villagers who were trying to eavesdrop on the conversation through the closed door also left. Meng Yuan, Li Dashan, Zhou Qing, and Shi Weiwu anxiously looked at Long Bao, whose face was as pale as death.

  Quiet, extremely quiet, Longpo doesn't need to listen to know it's very quiet now; Safe, extremely safe, Longpo doesn't need to open his eyes to know he is very safe; Peaceful, extremely peaceful, Longpo doesn't need to perceive to know what kind of peace it is now!

  A slow and weak descent into this quiet, safe, and peaceful terror will slowly bring a tired sleep.

  Kangding Village They brought a few more people to rush over by plane after learning that Longbiao had arrived in Tianlei Township and encountered some danger. When they arrived, Longbiao had just fallen asleep.

  Kang Dingzhuang immediately sent someone to follow Gao Zhiyong, but unexpectedly Gao Zhiyong took the initiative to find him and handed over all the accounts before leaving. Kang Dingzhuang knew that Long Biao must have checked the accounts, so he asked the finance department to send experts overnight.

  The next morning, Long Bao finally woke up in a daze. He had countless dreams that night, which seemed to be past events replayed at an extremely fast speed during his sleep, with many key scenes unfolding important and specific details. However, after waking up, he couldn't remember anything, as if he hadn't dreamed at all.

  Longbiao changed into the clothes brought by Kangding Village, washed his face and went out. Several people followed in a hurry. As soon as they walked out of the door, Longbiao stopped again, turned around and walked back to the room, sat on the stool for a while before saying to them: "Go, you go and investigate clearly how many teachers, how many township cadres, how many village cadres, and how many villagers are involved in this matter. Dafeng Village, Dafeng Village, no more... You also go and investigate again how many county and city leaders have participated..."

  Actually, Zhou Jing and Shi Wei had already made up their minds in many cases, but since Long Bao asked them to investigate clearly, they had no choice but to continue searching around. By noon, they summarized the situation and reported back to Long Bao. The situation showed that many teachers were also preparing to organize or participate in the mining operation, 90% of the village cadres and all the township cadres had joined or were about to join, and now there was not a single person left in the township government, they all went up the mountain. According to their own words, as government workers, they had to go to the mining site to maintain order on the spot, prevent theft of minerals, and protect national resources at the same time.

  In the afternoon, several county leaders in Shancheng called the command center and comforted Long Bao with a sincere and apologetic tone. Long Bao immediately told these leaders about the situation he had witnessed, expressing his belief that such disorderly mining activities must be resolutely prevented to avoid unnecessary disputes and ecological disasters. He also expressed his complete ignorance of the matter and sincerely hoped that the government would take action to manage it. The leader explained that they are currently studying with the county and city mining management bureau leaders on how to effectively maintain order, protect national resources, and stop the current chaos. They are now waiting for the county and city decision to come down so that a specific red-headed document can be formed to include this small gold mine in government planning and management.

  After five o'clock in the afternoon, more than a dozen people gathered at the entrance of the command center, occasionally laughing and chatting. Several people from Mengyuan squeezed in and heard several rural cadres talking about how gold is a precious metal that naturally symbolizes wealth, and having gold can lift you out of poverty. They talked about how someone's mine sold ore to Liu Erxi, Liu Boss, and made 230,000 yuan in just five or six days, and how another mine dug 20-30 meters but still hadn't found any ore, yet they didn't give up and continued digging. They also talked about how another mine had a dispute with someone today, and how another mine had already hired hitmen from the county town to guard their site, and so on.

  At first, Meng Yuan and others didn't pay attention, not thinking that the crowd would grow bigger and bigger. In less than half an hour, 50 or 60 people had surrounded them, their voices becoming increasingly coarse. Some even pointed at the command center and started shouting: "Don't think you're a rich boss just because you have money! This mountain is yours? We can dig it too!" "Damn it, do you think you're better than me just because you have money? I haven't robbed or murdered anyone, what does it have to do with you if we dig up something from under the ground?" "You're really arrogant! What's so great about building a road with your money? Whether you build a road or not, I'll still live my life as usual! If you're jealous that we dug up gold that you secretly wanted, then why don't you just destroy the road you built?"

  Kangding Zhuang and Meng Yuan realized that the local villagers who were digging for gold had been incited by others to vent their grievances and dissatisfaction towards Longbiao. They had received emergency training in this regard and knew that if they could not effectively control the increasingly agitated crowd, more and more people would join in, which might lead to a siege event! Because from the words of these villagers, it can be seen that they have already regarded Longbiao as the biggest obstacle to their getting rich, and Longbiao has become their common enemy.

  However, just as they were explaining to the villagers outside the door that Longbiao had nothing to do with this matter, Longbiao's face turned iron-green and he shouted at Li Dashan beside him: "Bring them in! Let them speak!"

  Li Dashi couldn't understand for a moment that Long Bao had two inaccurate "them"s in the same sentence, and he didn't know whether the two "them"s referred to Kang Dingzhuang or the villagers, or which one referred to Kang Dingzhu and which one referred to the villagers. He was completely at a loss. He knew that Long Bao had suffered a lot of grievances and also knew that Long Bao hadn't eaten a single grain of rice for two days and one night, so he softly advised: "Chairman Long, let Minister Kang go and persuade them, you can rest assured here and don't need to listen to what those people outside are saying. The villagers' misunderstandings are all because they are ignorant and foolish..."

  Long Bao appeared in front of him again, the same illusion as yesterday. He clearly saw another self standing in front of him, and he saw that self's entire body more clearly. That self was floating in mid-air, its entire body seemingly transparent like ice. The transparent torso had its chest cavity completely open, with no heart, liver, lungs, or stomach inside. A murky mass was squirming around inside the chest cavity, making him feel nauseous. Its feet and hands were gone, and the dark blood was dripping down from the pale head, mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils, landing on the ground with a rhythmic sound that seemed to be the devil's music. Just as he felt this, those hands grasped his thigh bones and floated over, waving up and down as if conducting the black devil's music in an exaggerated manner.

  Generally, music has a melody, a rhythm, and will gradually reach a deeper level. But today, this devilish music is completely different. It doesn't need any beat or drumming, nor does it need multiple instruments playing together. All it needs is the conductor's baton dancing like a golden snake, and just a bit of external force - that external force being the human voice!

  At this time, the sky had already darkened, and the command center turned on the outdoor lighting. Outside, nearly three to four hundred people had gathered, each one furious, shouting and cursing Longbiao's name, calling him a deceitful son of a bitch who was pretending to repair the reservoir but actually wanted to steal the treasure that belonged to all the people of Tianlei Township. They shouted that Longbiao was an ungrateful wolf, digging up gold for himself and then wanting the government to stop them. It was truly unjust to have sympathized with him in his childhood... Liu Jinfu and a group of people from Dafeng Village and Gudian Village were also shouting and demanding to come in!

  Long Bao could see with his naked eye that something was gushing out of those people and passing directly through the door, walls, and all obstacles, attacking not one but two versions of himself. He could even hear, touch, and feel the sound of them hitting his body, which sounded like a faint rustling noise. When he touched it, it felt icy cold to the bone. It looked like billions of crawling insects covered in hair-like protrusions. They seemed to be everywhere, biting and gnawing at both versions of himself, devouring flesh, blood, bones, hair, and teeth. They ate rapidly and excreted rapidly, producing a sticky substance that was yellow, white, red, green, black, wet, and dripping in small clumps.

  Long Wan was in a daze, letting the insects devour him, letting the voices indoctrinate him, and even more so, letting the cold wrap itself around him.

  Long Bao didn't know how Liu Jin Fu got in, nor did he know how the uncles and grandfathers from Da Feng Village and Gu Zhai Village got in. He just vaguely thought to himself: Without their own permission, Kang Ding Zhuang would not allow them to enter, that's right.

  Liu Jinfu, with a pleading expression and tears streaming down his face, said to him: "Dragon... Chairman Long! You already have so much money, it's just a matter of lifting your hand to earn more. Why bother about this small amount? Let's not fight over food anymore, we beg of you."

  Another person said: "Chairman Long, I've seen you grow up! You had a hard time when you were young, and you know how hard it is to get through tough days. My three kids are studying, if we don't make some money, we can't survive! Now you're saying the government will seal our cave, aren't you pushing us to the end of the road? If you really do this, my whole family will have no choice but to jump into the river and drink pesticide!"

  Another one said: "Chairman Long, we don't know how to extract gold either, and we don't have the technology. We just want to find the gold and sell the cave to you. The gold will still be yours. We only need a little labor cost. You must consider our hard life and difficulties!"

  Shi Wei said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "I've told you all a thousand times, this gold was not dug up by Chairman Long, but was a plot by Gao Zhongyong using Chairman Long's name. Chairman Long is doing all this for your own good, helping you build roads, schools, reservoirs, and develop high-tech agriculture. Don't just look at the gold in front of you, refining it will release many toxic substances, and in the future, you won't even be able to farm, raise fish, or have drinking water. By then, it will be too late to regret!"

  A man with a sorrowful face said: "The fortune teller told me that I would make a fortune this year, and it just so happens that this year we discovered gold at the foot of the mountain. This is my chance to get rich! I invested 4,000 yuan with others, and we've already dug seven or eight meters into the tunnel. We only need to dig a few more meters to find the gold, and then I'll be rich! Chairman Long, we know you have connections in both the underworld and the legitimate world, so I'm begging you, please show mercy and spare our lives!"

  Another person shouted: "Chairman Long, if you are determined not to let us dig, can you give each of us 30,000 yuan? Tianlei Township has 170,000 people, do you dare to take out 500 million and divide it among us? If you don't want to take it out, then you have no right to control us. We are digging for gold with our own money and doing the work ourselves, if we lose or gain, it's all our own! The whole Xiongshan Tianlei Township is not yours alone, why do you need to interfere in so many trivial matters?"

  Liu Jinfu said to Long Bao, who looked bewildered with empty eyes and was already starting to lose his hearing: "Chairman Long, Chairman Long, if you want to build a reservoir and develop agriculture, we won't stop you. We just ask that you wait until we've finished digging up the gold at the foot of the mountain before you start construction. This is not an unreasonable request! Moreover, we don't blame the Professor Gao you invited, and we believe you really didn't send him to dig for gold..."

  Long Bao continued to sit blankly, at this moment he was listening to them talking while staring vaguely at the two of himself who were frantically fighting, grabbing and biting each other, in a short while they had messed with each other until they were scattered all over the ground, crawling around in a multicolored mess.

  Nobody knew what Longbiao was thinking at this moment, and Liu Jinfu was most afraid of Longbiao's expression, because after the tomb robbery incident in Longjia Village, Longbiao knelt in front of his ancestors' graves with that same expression. Not long after, Wu Xizhong died in prison, and there were rumors that it was Longbiao who ordered his powerful bodyguards to do it. The more Liu Jinfu thought about it, the more afraid he became, and his legs softened, causing him to kneel down in front of Longbiao, begging loudly: "Chairman Long, you must help us speak up for us! You absolutely cannot let the government seal our cave, or else people will definitely die! Which villager doesn't want to get rich? Which villager wants to lose money?"

  More people knelt down in front of Long Bo, and Long Bo vaguely knew that these people were all his elders, each one's generation was older than him. One person suddenly opened a paper tube in his hand and spread it out at Long Bo's feet, saying sorrowfully: "Chairman Long, this is the couplet you wrote when you were nine years old, this is the couplet you wrote when you were ten years old, this is the couplet you wrote when you were eleven years old, this is the couplet you wrote when you were twelve years old, this is the couplet you wrote when you were thirteen years old, and this is the couplet you wrote when you entered university at the age of fourteen. I have collected one every year, sometimes giving you one dollar, sometimes two dollars, because I knew that as a poor child, you had to study, take care of your grandfather, and bear the burden of living for two people. I pitied you and sympathized with your difficult life, but I was also poor and could only help you in this way. Now that you are rich, I am still poor. Now I have the opportunity to become wealthy, why don't you think about yourself and sympathize with our current difficulties?

  It's been many years, the bright background color on the couplet has long faded, only the black characters, those very childish characters are still silently and quietly showing that period of time, that hardship, or expressing that emotion.

  But the couplet at this moment is placed on those bloody fragments, and it's inevitable to get stained with some unclear blood. It's not right to call it blood, because no one knows what these colorful smudges are.

  Longwan suddenly looked at the couplet with great attention, and such a couplet was indeed interesting. What's more, it's reasonable to say that "the heavens add years to people's lives, and the spring is full of good fortune". Isn't that right? However, every year so many people die, and just because the heavens have added years doesn't mean people will live longer. Sometimes when the heavens add years, people will lose their lives! Just like myself, with only a few years left.

  This couplet is also fun, "Four sides come to wealth, eight directions advance treasure", yes, everyone wants money and wants to get rich, can't bear the whole world's wealth is their own, ridiculous, really if four sides eight directions all have money pouring in, then where can his house hold it?

  Money? What is money? Life? What is life? Is it that money gives birth to life, or does life make money? What would happen if there was no money but life? What would happen if there was no life but money?

  Money, I'm in charge of hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars in assets, but it's not mine; Life, I'm 21 this year, and if I calculate based on 70 years, I still have 49 years left, but in reality, I only have nine years left. I remember that the money for repairing the reservoir was given to me by Old Money, my grandfather, as a reward, and also includes my current salary in the group. However, I don't actually know how much money I have, and even if I did, would it make any difference? If I pat my pockets, I definitely won't find a single cent; what's the difference between having and not having? From a normal person's perspective, the future days are indeed long, and life will certainly be as beautiful as imagined. But in reality, I've been continuously overworking myself for so many years, adding to old injuries and illnesses that haven't been well taken care of; I'm actually already plagued by all sorts of ailments, it's just that they haven't acted up yet. The most helpless thing is that the other 40 years have already been taken away by heaven, and heaven has given me such a shameless curse.

  After receiving a phone call, Meng Yuan showed an extremely difficult expression and quietly told Kang Dingzhuang about it. Kang Dingzhuang was shocked and hastily whispered to Long Biao's ear: "Chairman Long, the US side has changed the negotiation conditions again, the delegation wants you to return to preside over the work..."

  At last everything empty began to occupy the final territory of nothingness.

  Long Bao couldn't bear the extreme cold that permeated his entire body, a fear that was extremely difficult to endure. This fear was the infinite boiling of illusory blood in an empty temperature, the intense struggle of trembling nothingness in the void, and also the desperate attempt of ferocious nothingness to escape the danger of being grasped by the ubiquitous emptiness. It was the resolute nothingness that finally succumbed to the indulgent emptiness with a sense of helplessness.

  He maniacally, despicably, and crazily laughed loudly, the laughter was like the eighteen thunderclaps in the legend of Tianlei Village, and also like the mad and aimless lightning, rampaging wildly above Xiongshan Mountain. Then, amidst the loud laughter, he suddenly stood up, picked up the stool under his buttocks, and fiercely smashed it at those voices, those colorful flesh and blood!

  Liu Jinfu and his men were so frightened that they retreated one after another, hastily retreating out of the door!

  The next day, early in the morning, Daweicun Village received another phone call reporting that a large amount of human feces and women's menstrual blood had been splattered on the white ancestral tomb of the Long family. Long Bao remembered that when he saw the ancestral tomb from the plane, it was like a pure coordinate on Bear Mountain, but now the coordinate was filthy!

  Long Bao heard the news, his facial muscles twitched twice, and he walked towards Dafeng Village without saying a word. Kang Dingzhuang and others wanted to send him by car, but after being stared at coldly by him, they fell silent and could only follow behind him at a distance.

  Long Wan rushed to the beach where they often played, staring at the river, this river, his brother Long Quan drowned in it, yes, he died in this river, I want to drink it away, I want to drain this cursed river!

  He bent down and drank from the river like an animal!

  Suddenly he heard a voice that seemed infinitely kind, infinitely tolerant, infinitely warm and infinitely loving whispering in his ear: "Child, aren't you tired?"

  Suddenly, a wild and fierce dragon burst out of its body, yet hesitated to ask: "You? Who are you? Are you my Qi grandfather? My maternal grandfather? My Qian grandfather? My Su grandfather?"

  "This voice still seems infinitely kind, infinitely tolerant, infinitely warm and infinitely loving: 'I am Chairman Wang, I'm an old man, I've seen everything, I know everything, child, are you tired? Don't you feel tired at all?'"

  The dragon's movements slowed down in the midst, slowly relaxing, he stared steadily at the owner of this voice, and replied steadily: "I'm tired, I'm very tired, very tired, very tired......"