Chapter 97: 5 Days Left

Li Xue scrambled over to Mu Lin and frantically rolled him onto his back.

'She does care about me after all,' Mu Lin thought, patting her on the head.

"It's not my blood... What are you so scared about?"

Li Xue took a closer look. Mu Lin was completely unharmed, with not even a trace of blood on his lips.

She turned her head and saw Wu Long, covered in blood, lying among the decorative rocks.

HUFF... HUFF...

Wu Long gasped for breath, his gaze venomous. "You... It's you again..."

Mu Lin planted his foot on Wu Long's chest. "That's right, it's me. What of it? You want to pick a fight? Did you know that attack of yours could have actually killed someone?"

The reality of the situation finally hit Wu Long. He stared at Mu Lin, only to see that he was completely unscathed.

A wave of helplessness washed over Wu Long as he realized his all-out, furious strike hadn't even managed to break Mu Lin's skin.

How utterly helpless he was.

"Five days left,"

Mu Lin said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Wu Long asked, his voice hoarse.

"Originally, you had ten days to live. Now you only have five. If you transfer the Yuelong Group to the Li Group, you might have a chance to survive. Otherwise, you can just wait to die."

"Bullshit! Who the hell are you to decide if I live or die?"

Mu Lin's eyes flashed with cold light. "Then go die!"

He strode forward and raised his foot high.

One stomp would likely be enough to finish off the already weakened Wu Long.

"Wait!" Li Xue shouted sharply.

Mu Lin froze, turning his head to ask, "Why?"

Li Xue shot Mu Lin a glare. "Look where you are!"

'This is the entrance to the Li Group! How could you do something like this in public?'

'What would people think of you?'

Mu Lin couldn't care less, but since Li Xue had spoken up, he lowered his foot for the sake of the Li Family's security.

Wu Long struggled to get up but ultimately failed.

But the venom in his eyes didn't diminish in the slightest.

"President Li, you'll regret not killing me today."

Li Xue pressed her lips into a thin line. "Get lost!"

Wu Long's thugs ran over and helped him to his feet.

Before leaving, Wu Long turned back and said weakly,

"Since President Li has no desire to reconcile, I can't guarantee what might happen from now on!"

"You will pay the price!"

Wu Long limped away.

Li Xue let out a long sigh of relief, her brow relaxing slightly, but the beads of sweat on her forehead showed no signs of disappearing.

"He's finally gone!" Li Xue said, her heart still pounding with fear as she recalled the scene that had just unfolded.

She never would have imagined that Wu Long would actually try to kill her.

"Pathetic," Mu Lin said with a pout. "I've never seen someone so determined to dig their own grave."

"How can you say that?" Li Xue retorted. "That bastard is a complete lunatic. He'll do anything to get revenge on you. Do you want the Li Group to never know a moment of peace?"

Mu Lin just chuckled. "He doesn't have many days left."

"Just shut up! No one's going to think you're a mute!" Li Xue said coldly. "Keep this up and I'll dock your pay!"

Mu Lin chuckled again, brushing it off.

'Your money is my money,' he thought. 'If you dock my pay, I'll just have to fleece you a little more.'

Li Xue returned to her office, still feeling deeply unsettled. Gritting her teeth, she made a decision, turned around, and walked back out.

In a corner of the underground parking garage, an area had been sectioned off with partitions.

Li Xue pushed the door open. Inside was a variety of fitness equipment, where four experts were honing their skills.

The four experts saw Li Xue and immediately snapped to their feet.

"President Li!"

Li Xue asked, "How is this area?"

The leader of the group, a man named Kong Zheng, answered earnestly,

"Thank you for arranging this place for us, President Li! It may be small, but it's fully equipped. It's fantastic that we can continue our training while on duty protecting you."

Li Xue nodded. After the ambush by Gao Yi, she had planned to give them an additional bonus, but Kong Zheng had adamantly refused it.

So, Li Xue had asked what they wanted instead, and they had requested a place to train.

Li Xue had then allocated this space to them, letting them set it up as they saw fit.

This was the result—small, but fully equipped.

She was very pleased with the result.

"That's good, then," Li Xue said, pursing her lips.

"I came to see you about something else."

"Please give us your orders, President Li. We will do whatever it takes to accomplish the task."

"It's not that serious. Do you know Mu Lin?"

'Of course I know him,' Kong Zheng thought. 'What he did at the Huangshanghuang 2020 Hotel is still fresh in my memory.'

However, Mu Lin had told them to keep it a secret, so Kong Zheng paused for a moment, pretending to think.

"I know him. He's the deputy leader of the Engineering Department's special team. At the company, he..."

Li Xue knew how the rest of that sentence would go. "You don't need to say any more. From now on, you will no longer be assigned to my protection detail. Your new job is to protect him. Understand?"

'Understand? My ass!'

Kong Zheng's mind was in turmoil. 'What kind of joke is this? Mu Lin needs *us* to protect *him*?'

'It's more like he should be protecting us.'

But he couldn't say that out loud. He could only remain composed and professional.

"Yes! I'll make the arrangements at once."

And with that, Kong Zheng found himself in a difficult position.

'What am I going to do?'

When Mu Lin returned to the office, Chen Xi was leaning back on the sofa, reading a document.

"Brother Lin, you were awesome! You beat the crap out of that Wu Long."

Mu Lin waved his hand dismissively. "It was nothing. Just a small matter. Relax."

Then he paused. "How did you know? Did you go out and watch?"

Chen Xi waved his hands frantically. "Of course not! I saw it in the group chat!"

Mu Lin smiled. "It was nothing. Focus on your work. With the Lu Family out of favor, this is a great opportunity for you to prove yourself."

Chen Xi understood, of course. Although the special team was down to only four people, sometimes a larger team wasn't an advantage. Unity and a drive to improve were far more critical.

"Brother Lin, do you have some inside information?" Chen Xi had never heard Mu Lin speak so bluntly before.

"No," Mu Lin said nonchalantly, "but you can figure it out if you just use your brain. What do you think the company's current landscape looks like?"

"Not good. It's still full of the Lu Family's people. After the Lu father and son left, all their loyalists should have been fired, but that didn't happen."

"The result is that it's as if the Lu father and son never even left. As long as Sister Xue can't bring herself to halt operations for a complete purge, their people's positions will remain secure—and will only grow stronger."

Mu Lin snapped his fingers. "Exactly!"

'That's the heart of the matter!'

"So, in order to make big moves without being held back, she needs to use her own people,"

Mu Lin said slowly.

The realization hit Chen Xi instantly. "You mean us! That makes perfect sense!"

Seeing that they understood, Mu Lin nodded, pleased.

Chen Xi rolled up his sleeves. "Then I'd better start working harder!"

Zhou Yu's big, bright eyes widened. "Me too!"

"Come here," Mu Lin said, gesturing for them to gather around.

Though unsure what this was about, Chen Xi and the others exchanged a look before walking over.

"What did you want to say?"

Mu Lin said, "You all keep saying you're going to work harder. So, how are you going to do that?"

Mu Lin's question left everyone dumbfounded.

'How am I supposed to know how to work hard?' they thought. 'If I knew that, would I be stuck here?'

'As a rich heir, if I knew how to really try, I'd have already shot for the moon.'

"We don't know," they could only admit, shaking their heads blankly.

"See? That's why you guys are still lacking. You have a lot to learn."

Mu Lin rubbed his hands together. "Let me ask you, what's the biggest company in Anhua City?"

"Wandu Technology?" Chen Xi guessed.

"And its market cap?"

"A little under a trillion, I think... I don't know the exact number."

Zhou Yu chimed in, "Eight hundred ninety billion. Their financial report just came out a couple of days ago!"

Mu Lin asked again, "Then what about our Li Group?"

Zhou Yu was stumped.

The Li Group wasn't publicly traded and didn't release financial reports, so who would bother tracking its valuation?

"A little over forty billion," Chen Xi piped up. "My grandpa is always talking about it!"

"Forty billion, is it?" Mu Lin said nonchalantly. "And the Yuelong Group?"

"Under a hundred billion. For a construction company, that's incredibly impressive. Their influence extends beyond Anhua City, and they have projects in other regions."

Mu Lin tilted his head and looked at them. "So, if we want to take the next step, what do we need to do?"

Chen Xi recalled the words his grandfather was always repeating. "Big projects! They don't just bring in capital, they bring influence, which in turn attracts even more capital."

"Projects like the one Wansheng Group landed—the more of those, the better. But that's easier said than done. Right now, the Li Group is only a big fish in its own small pond. We haven't made a name for ourselves on the bigger stage!"