As Fei Jingwei stumbled out the door, Guo Xiaopeng finally felt his heart settle. Liu Mei opened the door, and Yang Chun quickly slipped in.
"You're getting bolder," Liu Mei chided, giving him a playful glare. "Coming so early."
Yang Chun grinned, "Courage fueled by desire!" He reached for her chest. Liu Mei slapped his hand away, "No seriousness at all."
Only then did Yang Chun notice something was amiss in the apartment. He stared at the open suitcases and cabinets. "Where are you going?" he asked.
Liu Mei, stuffing things into a suitcase, rattled off, "Anywhere but here. I'm done with Haizhou. This place has lost all meaning."
"Did Guo Xiaopeng upset you again?" Yang Chun asked, raising an eyebrow.
Liu Mei's eyes flashed with anger. "He has nothing to do with me anymore! His Haizhou Pharmaceuticals is about to be taken down by that policewoman, Wang!"
"Are we making this real?" Yang Chun scratched his head, perplexed. "Wang is definitely a spy. I can smell it!" Liu Mei declared with certainty. Yang Chun shook his head, "You're not a police dog."
Liu Mei glared at him, then continued packing, ignoring him.
Yang Chun paced with arms folded, "Wang is a minor issue. If it comes to it, we'll eliminate her. The key is getting money from Guo Xiaopeng. Without money, it doesn't matter where we go."
"Guo Xiaopeng's money isn't easy to get. Chen Ran designed software for him. Any minor discrepancy in income and expenses is detected immediately. Plus, he's incredibly smart. We're no match for him," Liu Mei sighed heavily.
"Every system has flaws if you study it," Yang Chun retorted, unconvinced.
Before Liu Mei could respond, her phone rang. She answered it, and a sinister voice on the other end said, "Don't go out tomorrow. I need to see you."
Yang Chun listened with keen interest.
After hanging up, Liu Mei's expression turned grim.
"Lin Xiaoqiang?" Yang Chun asked.
Liu Mei nodded, "He wants money from Guo Xiaopeng too."
Yang Chun made a slicing gesture, "If it comes to it, we'll eliminate him too."
"We've killed too many in Haizhou already. Besides, he probably has accomplices," Liu Mei shook her head.
"Then let's placate him for now," Yang Chun suggested.
"Easy to say, but how?" Liu Mei considered the problem more comprehensively than Yang Chun. "He doesn't want cash. We could give him a fake bank draft. By the time he figures it out, it'll be too late."
"Where do we get the paper and seal?" Liu Mei asked.
Yang Chun patted his chest, "I have a way."
Liu Mei hesitated, "How long can we stall him?"
Yang Chun thought for a moment, then brightened, "Isn't he a drug addict?"
"Seems like he stopped," Liu Mei said.
Yang Chun, confident, replied, "I've seen this. No one ever quits completely. We just need to get him to relapse."
"He was clean in prison for years," Liu Mei reminded him.
"Old saying: 'Easy to catch the thief in the mountain, hard to catch the thief in the heart.' Quitting physically is easy; quitting mentally is hard. Once he gets a taste again, he'll be hooked. Then I'll take him to Yunnan or Guizhou and finish him off. Nobody notices a dead junkie there," Yang Chun said.
Guo Xiaopeng, Fei Jingwei, Chen Ran, and Lin Xiaoliang walked into the pharmaceutical factory's central control room. Lin Xiaoliang ordered the staff, "Take a break! All of you!"
The staff filed out.
Chen Ran sat at the main control computer, waiting for Guo Xiaopeng's instructions.
Guo Xiaopeng handed him a disk, "Modify the process according to this."
Chen Ran inserted the disk, quickly initializing the system. His fingers moved deftly over the keyboard.
Guo Xiaopeng and Fei Jingwei stepped outside, leaving Lin Xiaoliang to supervise.
Inside the control room, Chen Ran completed the program upload, shut down the system, and removed the disk. Lin Xiaoliang extended his hand, "Give me the disk."
Chen Ran handed it over without hesitation.
Lin Xiaoliang walked out.
Chen Ran glanced outside, letting out a sigh of relief.
The Haizhou Pharmaceuticals plant was in full swing, entering its busiest season in a year. The employees, despite working overtime and feeling dizzy from exhaustion, were happy. The bonuses and overtime pay promised by the company meant they could earn a year's salary in a month. Guo Xiaopeng personally inspected the workshop daily. He knew this was a project that needed to be completed quickly. A single day, even an hour of delay, could spell disaster. Time was no longer just money; it was life and death. As he saw his ambitions and grand plans coming to fruition, his spirits remained high.