Inside the inner sanctum of Lu Rong, the Chief Financial Officer, the afternoon sun struggled to penetrate the heavy timber blinds. The thin slivers of light that managed to bleed through did nothing but illuminate the dust motes dancing in the stagnant, suffocating air.
Lu Rong reclined in his black leather chair, as motionless as a gargoyle. His gaze drifted past his polished black Italian marble desk, fixed instead on the sprawling Shanghai skyline below. His mind was a loom, weaving a complex tapestry of betrayal designed to finally unseat Li Ming—the primary obstacle to his absolute control. But the board's pieces had shifted. A new player had entered the fray: Gawin, the young Thai CEO, stepping onto the stage as a majority stakeholder in the Green Hydrogen Project.
Only days ago, the board's faith in the Chairman had been eroding, the organization's liquidity hemorrhaging into an abyss. Lu Rong had been a hair's breadth away from toppling the old dragon from his throne. Then, out of nowhere, this Thai tycoon arrived, hauling a mountain of capital into the project. In an instant, the board had pivoted, realigning themselves behind Li Ming, seduced by the promise of immense returns. The Chairman's legitimacy was restored, and his seat was once again secure.
A soft knock broke the silence. His private secretary stepped in like a ghost, stopping at a respectful distance before offering a stiff bow.
"Sir... Mr. Gawin has touched down at Pudong International Airport."
Lu Rong narrowed his eyes. Not a single ripple of intimidation disturbed his hawk-like features.
"Hmph," he grunted, a short, glacial acknowledgment.
As the secretary retreated and the door clicked shut, the mask of professional calm dissolved. A derisive smirk curled at the corner of his mouth. Lu Rong reached for his encrypted smartphone.
"Do you have what I asked for?" he rasped, his eyes turning dark and hollow. "I need it to close the game this afternoon."
The moment the voice on the other end confirmed the transfer, a notification pinged. Lu Rong rose slowly, his palm tracing the cold, unforgiving marble of his desk. He spent the next hour immersed in the dossiers—the raw, unfiltered intelligence he had just acquired. A spark of predatory malice ignited in his eyes as he dissected the history of his new victim.
A child playing at being a king, Lu Rong thought, his ego swelling.
The data confirmed it: Gawin, while talented, had been raised in the cradle of medium-sized Thai enterprises. His experience managing multinational, state-level mega-projects was effectively non-existent. In a project as volatile as Green Hydrogen—a vortex of high-stakes engineering and astronomical capital—Gawin's naivety was a stationary target.
"This project isn't a playground for the nouveau riche," he murmured to the shadows. "Brace for impact, boy."
The pattern of the blinds cast dark stripes across his face, rendering him a silhouette of calculated malice. He was ready to forge this information into a lethal blade. By the end of the afternoon, he would tear Gawin's credibility to shreds before the entire board, proving once and for all that inviting such an investor was a risk the CK Group could not afford to survive.