Chapter 458 Cleaning Up the House, Closing the Net and Heading to the Capital

The Finance Department Office at Blue Ocean Pharmaceutical Factory.

Deputy Section Chief Wang Defa was sitting at his desk, holding an enamel mug and humming a model opera tune. The abacus in front of him was clicking away, and the desk was piled high with expense reports for the month.

"Section Chief Wang, you seem to be in a good mood."

The office door was pushed open.

Su Yue stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, backlit, her face bearing that signature, unsettling smile. Gu Beichen stood behind her like a guardian deity, the holster of his gun barely visible.

Wang Defa's hand trembled, and the lid of the teacup fell onto the table with a clatter, rolling twice.

"Hey, Director Su, Brigade Commander Gu, what brings you two here in the middle of the day?" Wang Defa forced a smile and tried to stand up, but his legs felt a little weak.

Su Yue ignored him, walked straight to the desk, picked up the teacup and looked at it.

"West Lake Longjing, pre-Qingming." Su Yue put down her teacup with a dull thud. "Section Chief Wang, your monthly salary is forty-five yuan and eight fen, yet you drink such fine tea. Looks like you're rich!"

Sweat instantly poured down Wang Defa's forehead.

"This...this was given to me by that...relative..."

"Which relative?" Gu Beichen took a step forward, and the oppressive feeling of someone who had emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood instantly filled the entire room. "Is it the relative who gave you the blueprints, or the relative who gave you the gold bars?"

Wang Defa's face turned deathly pale. He slumped back into his chair, knocking over his abacus and scattering the beads everywhere, the clattering sound seeming to be his final farewell.

Su Yue took out the pipeline diagram with the mimeograph mark from her pocket and gently patted it on Wang Defa's face.

"Section Chief Wang, let's settle the accounts."

"Will this debt be paid with your life, or with the life of the person behind you?"

Wang Defa stared at the blueprint, as if he'd seen a ghost, his whole body trembling violently. Suddenly, he grabbed the scissors from the table, not to stab Su Yue, but to plunge them fiercely into his own wrist—

"Don't let him die!" Su Yue shouted.

Gu Beichen moved.

His movements were as fast as lightning. He kicked the scissors away, and they grazed Wang Defa's ear before embedding themselves deeply in the filing cabinet behind him, the handle still buzzing.

"Want to die? Not so easy."

Gu Beichen lifted Wang Defa off the chair with one hand and slammed him hard against the wall.

"You don't even deserve to die until you've vomited everything out of your stomach."

Wang Defa's face was pressed firmly against the rough lime wall, his features distorted by the pressure.

The air in my lungs was squeezed out little by little by that iron-like hand.

The feeling of suffocation was overwhelming, like a tidal wave crashing over me.

"I'll talk...I'll talk!"

He frantically pounded on Gu Beichen's arm, kicking his feet wildly in the air, leaving two glaring black marks on the white wall with the soles of his shoes.

Gu Beichen let go.

"Bang!"

Wang Defa collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, coughing violently, his face covered in snot and tears.

Su Yue pulled up a chair and sat down, looking down at him while toying with the paper stained with oil ink in her hand.

"Tamper with it in this location."

She pointed to the condensate valve marked in red on the drawing, speaking in a casual tone as if she were discussing today's weather.

"By simply closing this valve by half a turn, the temperature in the fermenter will rise by 0.5 degrees Celsius. This small temperature difference is just at the critical point where the temperature control probe alarms, and the monitoring room won't be able to detect it at all."

Su Yue folded the blueprint into a paper airplane and threw it at Wang Defa's head.

The tip of the paper poked Wang Defa on the forehead.

"However, those tens of millions of bacteria will all mutate and become inactive due to this slight temperature difference. Three months of production and millions of dollars of investment will be wasted in an instant."

Wang Defa trembled so badly he dared not look up.

"What a clever scheme," Su Yue sneered. "You understand technology, finance, and even psychological warfare. Lin Ruolan, that good-for-nothing who only knows how to buy bags, couldn't have come up with something like this. Lin Jianguo must have taught you, right?"

Wang Defa suddenly looked up, his face filled with terror.

"How did you know...?"

“Because this method is too old-fashioned.” Su Yue stood up and kicked the abacus beads on the ground. “During his years abroad, he did a lot of this kind of corporate espionage. Tell me, what did he promise you?”

“Five…fifty thousand US dollars…” Wang Defa’s voice was barely audible, like a mosquito’s hum, “and…a spot to send my son to study in the United States…”

Gu Beichen drew his sidearm from his waist and slammed it heavily on the table.

The dull thud of metal striking a wooden table sent a shiver down Wang Defa's spine.

"To sell out core national secrets for $50,000."

Gu Beichen straightened his cuffs, not even glancing at the pile of trash on the ground.

"This kind of crime is enough to keep you in jail for the rest of your life in the Northwest."

Wang Defa completely broke down and crawled over to try to hug Su Yue's leg, but Gu Beichen kicked him away.

"Factory manager! I have no choice! My son is in their hands... They said if I don't work here, they'll kill my whole family..."

"take away."

Gu Beichen had no interest in hearing such cheap confessions.

The guards at the door rushed in and dragged Wang Defa out like a dead dog.

The office fell silent once more.

Su Yue walked to the window and opened it.

The sea breeze blew in, dispelling the nauseating smell of betrayal in the room.

"The Lin family is in a panic."

She gazed at the shimmering sea in the distance, her fingers tapping lightly on the windowsill.

"If they can't win a direct confrontation, they start resorting to underhanded tactics. That Lin Jianguo can't be allowed to live."

Gu Beichen stood behind her, shielding her from the wind.

"The net has already been set up in the capital."

He took the gold-embossed invitation out of his pocket and put it back into Su Yue's hand.

"This time, I'm not just going back to receive an award."

Gu Beichen gently tidied her wind-blown temples, his movements soft yet carrying a chilling aura.

"They're also going to close the net."

Su Yue gripped the invitation tightly, the hard edges of the paper digging into her palm.

"Then let's go."

She turned around, a very faint smile curving her lips.

"Go to the capital and teach the Lin family a lesson."

Three days later, at Beijing Nanyuan Airport.

A military transport plane pierced through the thick clouds, roaring loudly, and landed steadily on the runway.

The hatch opened.

A biting north wind, carrying snowflakes, swept towards us.

Su Yue wrapped her cashmere coat tighter around herself and led Gu Ping'an and Gu Ningjing down the gangway.

Gu Beichen walked behind, carrying two huge military packs. His crisp military overcoat made his figure appear even more upright.

Grandma Zhang Huilan also came along this time, saying she wanted to go back to the old house to take a look and support her grandchildren.

As soon as the group stepped out of the terminal, they were blocked by the scene in front of them.

At the exit, four or five black Hongqi sedans were parked haphazardly, completely blocking the originally spacious passageway.

The license plates weren't ordinary civilian plates; they were all from a certain circle of influential people in Beijing.

A group of men dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses stood beside the car, their arms crossed in front of them, giving off a "keep away" vibe.

The one in the lead was leaning against the car door, trimming his nails with nail clippers.

Upon seeing Su Yue and her group emerge, the man blew on some nail clippings and leisurely approached them.