Reverse Attack : From Poor Boy to Tyrant CEO

11:00 PM, Private Library

Lin Mo's fingertips traced blood-rust grooves on teak shelves, each marking a Company Law amendment year. Gu Changfeng's collection held no books - only bulletproof glass capsules containing audit reports, their spines engraved with acquired firms' stock codes. When he pulled the "Longcheng Group 1998" file, the entire shelf slid sideways, revealing a railway map on the secret chamber wall. Lin Jianguo's fatal tunnel blazed crimson, pinned beside Junyao Real Estate's construction permit copy.

Chanel No.5 seeped through vents.

"Curiosity killed the cat." The special assistant's mercury nails gripped his shoulder, diamond pendant slithering into his collar. "The Chairman dislikes meddlers."

Lin Mo lifted a Zhonghua 2B pencil from the dust - identical to his father's relic. "Midnight fingerprint wiping? Afraid I'd find this?" He brandished bloodstained blueprints showing Gu's brother authorizing demolition permits three days pre-collapse.

Next Morning, Boardroom Warfare

The projector flickered as Lin Mo's M&A proposal lit the screen. When he reached "divesting Junyao Education's twelve shell companies," the assistant "accidentally" spilled latte over his documents.

"Can't even save PowerPoints?" She produced a backup USB. Pornography flooded the screen. "Oops - virus alert!"

Amid laughter, Lin Mo tapped his phone. Surveillance footage replaced the smut: 3:17 AM timestamp, the assistant submerging his USB in tea.

"Ceylon brew?" He lifted the corroded drive. "Motherboard erosion suggests six-hour exposure." A pH strip turned citrus-bright. "But this is lemon water."

Rooftop Negotiation, Noon

The audit chief crushed cigarettes under crocodile loafers. "¥20k monthly for silence."

Lin Mo pushed pickled vegetables aside, revealing a hidden recorder. "Your son's C$200k casino debt equals Junyao's monthly fraud sum." Overseas transfers glowed on his phone.

The man's temple pulsed. "Think Gu favors you? His 'scholarship program' vault holds seven missing students!"

"Fear the parents' private eyes," Lin Mo bit into cold mantou, "not me."

Lethal Gift, Locker Room

Three items awaited:

Real-time ICU footage - nurses swapping IV bags;

Blood-crusted railway badge engraved "Meddler's Fate";

Gilded banquet invite signed by Gu's brother.

Silver Dollar slicing the invite released bitter almond fumes. Gu's encrypted text flashed: "Wear gas mask. Camera in third button."

Blood Casino Ballroom

Under chandeliers, Gu's brother raised champagne: "Welcome to Junyao's game!"

Dealers revealed dice carved from missing students' teeth, numbers matching their IDs. Lin Mo's placard read: "Stake Type: Moral Conscience | Odds 1:500"

"Bet your mother's chemo slot for a board seat." Dragon cufflinks glinted.

Lin Mo unbuttoned his third button: "I bet you die in three minutes."

SWAT breached doors as he slipped the cyanide invite into Gu's brother's flute. The livestream hit dark web: "Junyao Human Casino Exposed."

ICU Dawn

Police lights dyed Wang Xiulan's IV tubes crimson-blue. Lin Mo placed his father's bloody badge in her palm. Junyao's charity contract now read "Canadian Sanatorium." Gu's biomechanical hand gleamed outside: "No more library duty."

Lin Mo scrubbed the badge clean, revealing laser-etched text:

"Sole Witness: Lin Jianguo - Tunnel 201 Collapse"

Translation Notes:

Cultural Anchors

中华牌2B → Zhonghua 2B (iconic Chinese pencil brand)

袁大头 → Silver Dollar (historical currency with contextual description)

Corporate Terminology

空壳公司 → shell companies (accurate financial term)

并购方案 → M&A proposal (industry standard)

Sensory Details

苦杏仁味 → bitter almond fumes (cyanide signature smell preservation)

鳄鱼皮鞋 → crocodile loafers (luxury item specificity)

Symbolic Retention

道德良知 → Moral Conscience (ethical dilemma central to plot)

人血筹码 → blood casino (human commodification metaphor)

The bitter almond tang of cyanide still burned on Lin Mo's tongue as he ripped off the gas mask, fingertips brushing the residual warmth of his suit's third button. Amid the cacophony of dark web alerts spreading the livestream, he fished out the dice from his pocket—the "1" pip carved from a student's tooth bore micro-engraved stock code: LNGG1998 (Longchang Group).

The elevator descended to the underground parking garage when his phone buzzed with an anonymous geotag:

"B2 Cold Storage. Password: Your father's employee ID."

In the liquid nitrogen mist, rows of refrigeration units stood like steel tombstones. Lin Mo typed "0217." Unit 3 hissed open, revealing not files but a cryogenic serum vial labeled with his mother's name and radioactive material warnings. The embedded monitor flickered to life—Gu Changfeng's brother's corpse lay dissected in the morgue, the coroner's tweezers extracting a jade-green chip: the very "antidote" container Gu Zhenting had offered in Chapter 2.2.

"You're quicker than I anticipated."

The wheelchair's whine scraping against ice raised Lin Mo's hackles. From shadows, Gu Zhenting raised his biomechanical arm, projecting Lin Jianguo's tunnel construction log:

"1998.03.12: Foreman Gu demanded support beam material substitution. Refused quality report. Disappeared after night shift."

The log ended with a photo of young Lin Jianguo standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Gu Changfeng, who casually palmed dice identical to the student-tooth gamblers' tools.

Key Translation Choices:

Sensory Retention

"苦杏仁味" → bitter almond tang (cyanide's signature scent)

"液氮白雾" → liquid nitrogen mist (visual/thermal texture preservation)

Technical Accuracy

"放射性物质警告" → radioactive material warning (ISO-standard hazard terminology)

"翡翠芯片" → jade-green chip (material and color fidelity)

Narrative Continuity

"LNGG1998" retained with parenthetical Chinese explanation for plot significance

"0217" employee ID unchanged as critical numeric motif

Metaphor Consistency

"钢铁墓碑" → steel tombstones (industrial death symbolism)

"轮椅碾过冰面" → wheelchair's whine scraping against ice (auditory tension)

Temporal Clarity

Date format "1998.03.12" preserved for archival realism