Along the neon-lit streets, the Cadillac rolled smoothly forward.
Tapping his slender fingers against the armrest, a faint smile curved in Liu Ren's eyes.
Looking at Liu Ren beside him, A Chao asked in bewilderment, "How did you know he was our folk from Shaanxi, and not from the other side?"
"The eyes," Liu Ren replied with a warm smile. "A gaze that resolute is something no one can fake!"
At this point, Liu Ren's expression turned to one of utter disgust. "Back then, how much aid did Roosevelt pour into that lot? And what came of it? Their fighting was a shambles, yet they never stopped begging for more money! I'm no cash cow—where would I get that kind of money?"
With a dismissive wave of his hand, Liu Ren dropped the topic.
Back then, it wasn't as if his Silver Rock Arms hadn't supported the War of Resistance. But what was the result? The weapons and equipment they provided were actually sold right back to him by some damn profiteers! And at half price, no less... When Liu Ren first found out, he nearly coughed up blood from sheer fury.
Talk about a stab in the back—that was the ultimate betrayal. It had nearly taken half his life!
Because it was no longer a matter of money; it was proof that they were utterly beyond redemption.
From then on, Liu Ren oversaw the transport of all his weapons and equipment himself, never daring to entrust anything to them again.
Even before the war broke out, Silver Rock Arms had conveniently "lost to theft" nearly a million Garand rifles, tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, along with countless military components and machinery blueprints...
It could be said that whatever they needed, Silver Rock Arms granted without fail.
Even if his arms company lacked a particular technology, Liu Ren would exhaust every means to obtain it—not hesitating to steal, rob, or kidnap to get it done!
Because no one understood better than him the profound weight of that saying: The wheat has ripened thousands of times, but "Long live the people!" was heard for the very first time!
While everyone believed that great gentleman, radiant as the red sun, was the truly magnificent one, he was the one who proclaimed, "Long live the people!"
Liu Ren had grown up in an orphanage. He knew all too well that if his motherland hadn't raised him to adulthood, he wouldn't have even possessed the right to live.
In the orphanage, any child who was reasonably healthy was swiftly adopted.
Only those with disabilities or severe illnesses were left behind to be cared for by the state.
And he happened to be one of those severely ill children who wasn't expected to survive.
During medical exams back then, doctors declared he had congenital heart disease and wouldn't live past the age of five. Yet he had defied the odds and grown up, even receiving an education through the nation's free schooling. How could Liu Ren not harbor deep gratitude?
When a person forgot even their own motherland, they no longer deserved to be called human!
"Have the cargo ships bound for the Peninsula lose contact entirely... Then send a telegram asking MacArthur to search for them. If they can't be found, pin the blame on conglomerates like Mitsubishi!"
Speaking with icy resolve, Liu Ren's eyes showed no mercy.
Turning his head, A Chao asked, "What about the crew members' families?"
"Issue pensions. Treat them as fallen in the line of duty!"
Raising his head after speaking, Liu Ren fell silent for a long moment.
The cargo on those ships was simply too vital. It consisted entirely of the classified machinery blueprints previously seized from the Mitsubishi Group—treasures sufficient to give the homeland a foundational industrial base. As for the rest, Liu Ren would stop at nothing to "acquire" whatever was needed!
Hearing Liu Ren's words, A Chao remained silent for a long while before nodding. "Understood!"
He knew full well what Liu Ren meant by "fallen in the line of duty," for within the Silver Rock Group, no one could disobey his orders.
On the path to their motherland's resurgence, no sacrifice was too great to bear, and no betrayal small enough to tolerate.
Every step of the way, they had been painfully conscious of their own weakness.
Competing, snatching, plundering, and even killing—these were all means to arm themselves.
Back then, had the Qing dynasty not been so weak and inept, why would they have had to leave their homeland behind, begging for scraps thousands of miles away across the ocean, growing up amidst insults and humiliation?
Liu Ren was a businessman, pure "capital." He knew how to maximize profit and how to squeeze greater value out of every commodity.
Yet all of that applied only when the homeland was not involved. If there was even the slightest opportunity to make his country strong, he would wager without hesitation, staking everything he had!
In 1949, a historic day arrived.
Inside the office, complete silence reigned.
Sitting at his desk, Liu Ren gazed eastward. His eyes grew exceptionally gentle, as if anticipating something profound.
Due to the time difference, he was still waiting.
Before long, the telephone rang.
Picking up the receiver, Liu Ren listened to the voice on the other end. A brilliant smile immediately broke across his face, and his eyes welled with tears. "Good, good, good! Excellent! That is wonderful!"
Hanging up the phone, Liu Ren tilted his head back. No one knew how arduous his journey had been.
He was merely an unwanted orphan, yet fate had thrust him onto this path.
His ruthless methods and iron fist were nothing more than his desperate efforts to survive.
Even the subsequent establishment of Silver Rock Arms was merely meant to serve as a spark, preparing for the future.
Yet who could have foreseen that, step by step, he would climb all the way to the very top?
A few days later, Berlin, Germany.
Representing the New York Syndicate, Liu Ren sat inside a car, his expression solemn.
He had come this time to take over the assets of the Krupp Arms Group and technical expertise from Schneider Arms.
Yet compared to those, what Liu Ren cared about far more was Germany's prerequisite nuclear weapon technology!
As for why Liu Ren believed it was here—it was because Heisenberg was German!
Heisenberg had been one of the leaders of that wartime research. The technology was still here; it was merely unknown whose hands the blueprints were in!
Moreover, no one knew better than Liu Ren how many years of detours this could spare the homeland.
Yet now, Germany was divided between East and West. Lurking here were not only the Soviet KGB, but also agents from MI6 and CIA operatives.
To obtain this technology under such circumstances meant Liu Ren would have to employ every means at his disposal.
Everyone was hunting for this technology. The Federal Intelligence Service wanted to cut off any chance of others securing it, and the Soviets felt the exact same way.
With East and West Germany crawling with secret agents, Liu Ren had hatched his own ideas.
After all, if they could snatch it, why couldn't he?
Flipping through the documents in his hands, Liu Ren's gaze turned solemn. Analyzing intelligence was truly grueling work.
Trying to sift through the historical rosters to locate the person who actually possessed the technology was undeniably like searching for a needle in the ocean.
Yet just as the car passed through a certain street, gunshots suddenly rang out.
Instinctively ducking low, Liu Ren cursed, "What's going on?"
"Senior Brother, looks like a firefight broke out outside! A Russkie is chasing down a man, but he got intercepted," the burly Han Hu explained calmly.
"Say what?"
Staring at Han Hu in shock, Liu Ren's mind raced. His hand naturally drifted toward his waist, drawing out his axe!
Yet as he peered through the window, his expression froze.
Because that Russkie was clearly KGB! Don't ask how Liu Ren knew—the answer was that when he first arrived, he had met the local intelligence bureau chief, and that very man was currently outside returning fire!
The KGB and the Federal Intelligence Service are duking it out?
The moment the thought struck him, Liu Ren's pupils dilated. "Holy shit!"
Chapter 79