To avoid suspicion, Feng Wen had no choice but to get up and head towards the lumber mill.
The distance from the security department to the lumber mill was only a little over seventy meters. As soon as he stepped out, he saw flames soaring into the sky from the lumber mill and knew the fire could no longer be contained.
All the villagers of Yangli Village were alerted. Seeing the factory buildings catch fire, they spontaneously grabbed their buckets and basins to help extinguish it.
However, the fire was too intense. The semi-finished products were highly flammable, and the sheer volume stored meant it was beyond human capacity to put out.
"Which damned soul did this wicked deed? Can't people live anymore?"
Liu Xingzhi, Yang Jian's mother, cried heartbrokenly outside the fire scene as she watched the flames engulf hundreds of thousands of yuan worth of raw materials.
Yang Shuanglin desperately grabbed a bucket to fight the fire but was held back by Jiang Bin.
"Uncle, don't go. It's too dangerous. The fire is too big; human effort can't put it out."
As Jiang Bin dissuaded Yang Shuanglin, tears streamed down his face. This factory was his life's work, gradually developed with his entire heart and soul. It was on the verge of rapid growth, with a year-end output value exceeding fifty million and a goal of over a hundred million in total output for the next year about to be realized. This fire had burned all his dreams to ashes.
Yang Shuanglin, his eyes red with urgency, said, "Then call the police quickly! Call the fire trucks!"
"Uncle, the police have already been called. It's too late. We don't have a fire department in Xinqiao. It takes half an hour to get here from the town."
"What should we do then? The wind has picked up. If it keeps burning like this, the entire factory will be gone."
"Uncle, don't worry. Feng Wu is already organizing the security guards to push down houses and block the spread of the fire. You should retreat quickly; it's dangerous here."
As Jiang Bin spoke, he and Liu Yong helped Yang Shuanglin out of the lumber mill.
Meanwhile, Feng Wu directed over fifty security guards, dividing them into two groups to push down houses at both ends of the material warehouse, preventing the fire from spreading to the offices, guesthouse, and production workshops.
The glue workshop and the boiler room had already been affected by the fire. The glue workshop was filled with chemical substances, and the boiler room contained scrap wood from the templates, which also contained chemical glue. It burned even more fiercely than the raw material warehouse.
During the shutdown period, Liu Chao had been staying at the factory with a few workers, boiling glue in preparation for the full resumption of work.
Upon hearing the news of the fire at the factory, his first thought was to move materials from the glue workshop. It was the workshop he was responsible for, and the boiled glue supplied production for two factories, with some also sold externally.
The value of this workshop was even higher than the raw material warehouse; it was the core industry of the lumber mill.
"Liu Chao, stop moving! It's dangerous."
After pushing down four houses, Feng Wu saw Liu Chao still running towards the glue workshop and quickly rushed over to pull him back.
Just then, a loud explosion came from the boiler room next to the glue workshop, and a massive fireball flew towards Liu Chao.
Without a second thought, Feng Wu lunged forward with all his might, pushing Liu Chao to the ground. However, the fireball came too quickly. Although neither of them was hit by the fireball, they were both covered in sparks, and the clothes on their backs caught fire.
"Ah!"
Both cried out in pain and rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames.
Fortunately, there were many security guards nearby, and someone even brought water in basins. They all rushed over to put out the fire on them, but both were injured.
A security squad leader immediately arranged for eight men to carry them out.
Following the explosion, no one dared to continue fighting the fire. Under the persuasion of the security guards, everyone retreated from the lumber mill, watching helplessly as more than half of the factory was consumed by the flames.
When Feng Wen saw his brother being carried out, his legs went numb with fear. The loss of the factory buildings alone wasn't catastrophic, but if someone had died, he would have gone to prison, let alone his own brother.
"Xiao Wu, what's wrong?"
Feng Wen rushed over in a panic, shouting.
"Manager Feng was burned. Hurry, get a car to take him to the hospital!"
The security guard recognized him as Feng Wu's brother and knew he had a car.
Before he could react, Jiang Bin drove over. Feng Wen quickly helped carry the two men into the car and went with them to the hospital.
The fire trucks from the town arrived half an hour later and took another hour to completely extinguish the fire in the warehouse. The main reason was the large amount of raw materials piled up four to five meters high; the inside was difficult to burn through and even harder to extinguish.
While everyone was busy fighting the fire, the security department was suddenly attacked by over a dozen masked individuals. Two security guards on duty in the monitoring room were knocked unconscious.
These people smashed the monitoring equipment, and one of them skillfully removed the computer motherboard, taking all the surveillance videos from that night.
Jing Yongli, who was taking care of his father at the town's orthopedic hospital, received a call and immediately rushed back.
It was already five in the morning, and dawn was breaking. Seeing the factory burned down by more than half, Jing Yongli collapsed to the ground, tears welling up.
The fire not only destroyed the raw material warehouse, incinerating hundreds of thousands of yuan worth of raw materials, but also burned down the glue workshop, where chemical materials and processing machinery worth over a million yuan were stored.
Furthermore, the semi-finished product processing plant behind the warehouse was also affected. Except for the machinery and logs, all the processed materials and the simple factory buildings were burned to the ground.
Yang Jian, far away in Dongjiang, was woken by a phone call. Seeing it was Jing Yongli, he had a bad feeling, mainly because it was so early.
"Brother, something big has happened."
Jing Yongli's voice, choked with tears, came through the phone.
"Why are you crying? What happened?"
"Our lumber mill caught fire. A large part of the factory burned down, and the raw material warehouse and glue workshop are completely gone."
Yang Jian's sleepiness vanished instantly. He sprang out of bed, "Are there any casualties?"
"Liu Chao and Feng Wu were burned and have been sent to the hospital. Also, the security department was attacked, two on-duty security guards were knocked unconscious and are also seriously injured, and the monitoring equipment was smashed."
Yang Jian punched the wall, "So you're saying this fire was deliberately set?"
"It should be. Otherwise, no one would have attacked the security department."
"I'm coming back immediately. I'm going to personally kill these bastards."
Yang Jian could no longer control his emotions. It was obvious that the Hong Xing gang did this. Not killing Hong Xing would be insufficient to vent his anger.
He had originally planned to wait for Hong Xing to return to Nanhai and then use Ah Bao's hand to get rid of him. Now, he couldn't wait. This person had to die, and he had to kill him personally.
"Brother, you can't come back! I heard San Pang say they deliberately want to provoke you and lure you into a trap."
Before Jing Yongli could finish speaking, Yang Jian hung up the phone.
"Afeng, Junjun, get up quickly! We're going back to Xinhe."
Without even putting on his jacket, Yang Jian knocked on the doors of two people consecutively. Ah Nan was on night duty at the casino and hadn't returned, so he could only have the two of them accompany him.
Although he was blinded by rage, he wasn't so arrogant as to face the entire Hong Xing team alone. That would be no different from seeking death. They weren't made of paper; one good man needs three helpers. He needed people to cooperate with him.