The darkest hour of the night is between three and four in the morning, but the warehouse of Jinfang Pharmaceutical was ablaze.
Outside the inferno, Leng Shan and Luo Lin were desperately fighting the flames, each holding a fire hose. However, the fire was too intense. Even though they were martial arts experts with internal energy and possessed strength far beyond ordinary people, capable of taking on ten men, their efforts were in vain.
In the top-floor office of the neighboring Xingwang Traditional Chinese Medicine Wholesale Company, Cao Yu and over a dozen burly men watched the growing flames with schadenfreude. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline.
"You injured my father, and you dared to force me to rush production for you, even stealing my woman! This is the consequence! Ptooey!"
Recalling the harrowing experience of nervously preparing the herbal paste in Jinfang Pharmaceutical's workshop, Cao Yu finally felt a slight release of his pent-up anger. He then waved his hand and signed a check for one hundred thousand yuan, handing it to a burly man with a yellow ponytail in the crowd. Still uneasy, he asked,
"Brother Qiang, can you guarantee that this fire will completely destroy Jinfang Pharmaceutical's warehouse before the 119 rescue arrives?"
The burly man with the yellow ponytail was Ah Qiang, a street thug Cao Yu had met at a bar. For the right price, he was capable of anything from deception and fraud to murder and arson.
Casually taking the check from Cao Yu, he patted his chest confidently and said,
"Brother, you can rest easy. My subordinates are professionals. We doused the area with plenty of gasoline before starting the fire. Unless a newly developed supersonic armed helicopter, the Raptor III, arrives with seawater from the confluence of the three seas!"
"Pfft!"
Cao Yu burst out laughing.
"Brother Qiang, you're hilarious. The Raptor III is a national treasure. I doubt even the governor of Sanhai Province could mobilize it. What makes you think a dilapidated pharmaceutical factory, which will be acquired by Jiuding Pharmaceutical sooner or later, could warrant such a response? Haha... Hahaha..."
Ah Qiang nodded smugly.
"That's why I told you to rest easy, hehe."
Cao Yu, now completely emboldened, thought for a moment and then added,
"Might as well go all the way. Brother Qiang, why don't you find an opportunity to cripple Jinfang Pharmaceutical's new boss for me?"
Ah Qiang made no attempt to hide his greed, immediately making a counting motion with his fingers.
"Easy, easy."
But just then, his phone rang.
Seeing the caller ID, he panicked and quickly signaled for everyone to be quiet. He then suppressed his sinister grin and nervously answered, covering his mouth and lowering his voice as much as possible.
"Mas... Master, where... where are you? Brother She and I have been looking for you like crazy..."
Coincidentally, the master who called Ah Qiang was none other than Leng Shan, who was currently crying out for help amidst the inferno downstairs.
Ah Qiang had not directly participated in the arson, opting instead to drink and chat with Cao Yu in the office. He would never have dreamed that his master was one of the victims.
As Leng Shan watched the fire grow, he knew that he and Luo Lin alone could not prevent the destruction of the Sumeru Mustard Seed Paste. In despair, he called Ah Qiang.
On the other end of the line, still struggling to fight the fire, Leng Shan couldn't wait for Ah Qiang to finish speaking. He roared hoarsely,
"Stop the crap! Don't you always brag about your subordinates being all over the streets of Juxian City? Are there any people you can command around Jinfang Pharmaceutical? If so, get them here to help put out the fire, and fast!"
"Wh... Where? Jin... Jinfang Pharmaceutical?"
Ah Qiang's scalp tingled, and his heart pounded. He frantically rushed to the floor-to-ceiling window and strained his eyes to look at the flames below.
Although the raging inferno illuminated a large part of the night, he was on the tenth floor, and it wasn't directly adjacent. Leng Shan and Luo Lin, who were fighting the fire, appeared no bigger than ants. It was impossible to see if Leng Shan was among them.
Even so, he realized what he had done, and cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.
On the other end of the line, Leng Shan continued to roar hoarsely,
"Yes! Jinfang Pharmaceutical! You don't even know this place, do you? I'm a security guard at this pharmaceutical factory and I'm risking my life to fight the fire! If the medicine in the warehouse is burned, the boss will kill me..."
"Wh... What?"
Ah Qiang's blood ran cold, and he collapsed to the ground, his pants instantly soaked.
But he knew that panicking was useless. He frantically yelled at the burly men present,
"Quick! Quick! Quick! Put out the fire! If you can't, I'll kill every one of you myself..."
At the same time, Ah She witnessed a scene that would forever be etched in his memory.
On the horizon, under the starry, dark sky, accompanied by an increasingly clear hum and dazzling lights, a supersonic armed helicopter, radiating a cold metallic sheen, broke through the air and arrived above Jinfang Pharmaceutical almost instantly.
The next second, as if from the heavens, torrents of seawater poured down, extinguishing the raging fire with unstoppable force. It then executed a perfect 180-degree turn and sped away at a terrifying speed of at least 340 meters per second, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"Is... Is that really the latest Raptor III developed in Mingzhu City? Bro... Brother Qiang, did your mouth have some kind of divine power?"
Cao Yu, a seasoned military enthusiast, had a look of utter disbelief. His spine chilled, his heart pounded, and he was terrified. He suddenly realized he might have poked a hornet's nest connected to the military. He stammered,
"Bro... Brother Qiang, you promised me that this arson would leave no trace. You have to keep your word... Waaah..."
Before he could finish, he burst into tears from sheer terror.
Amidst his cries, Ah Qiang's subordinates scrambled to flee, covering their heads.
Ah Qiang, who had already wet himself from Leng Shan's call, was now completely terrified after witnessing the supersonic armed helicopter arrive to fight the fire. Without thinking, he grabbed Cao Yu by the hair and stumbled downstairs, roaring furiously,
"Damn it! For a mere hundred thousand yuan, you're going to get me killed! You'll have to take responsibility for this!"
...
Leng Shan and Luo Lin were soaked to the bone, smelling of salty seawater. The scene, which had been an uncontrollable inferno moments before, was now a charred black ruin.
For a moment, they stood there, as if in a trance, gazing at the sky where the supersonic armed helicopter had disappeared, faintly hearing each other's heartbeats.
After a long pause, Leng Shan exclaimed in disbelief,
"Dr. Chen can even mobilize a supersonic armed helicopter? His... His influence is truly formidable!"
Luo Lin nodded in agreement, his expression filled with awe.
"Without a doubt, Mr. Chen's successful acquisition of Jinfang Pharmaceutical amidst Jiuding Pharmaceutical's various schemes was not a coincidence but a testament to his strength! I am fortunate to serve him; it's enough to boast about for a lifetime!"
Reminded by Luo Lin, Leng Shan suddenly realized the urgent need to check on the Sumeru Mustard Seed Paste. Disregarding the danger, he rushed into the still-smoking, charred warehouse and cried out hoarsely,
"If the medicine in the warehouse is destroyed, let alone serving, we might not even survive!"