But the problem is,

How many usable resources does the Bai Family still have?

The saying goes, "A general can't fight a war without soldiers." Even if Gu Ji has great skills, he still needs people and weapons, especially firearms. Right now, he only has a Myanmar-made Glock 17 replica with 14 bullets, which is no match for Qi Liran, who has automatic rifles.

Wang Jinkang felt a chill in his heart.

"If... if Qi Liran really wants to seize power, what should we do? Should we ask Mr. Bai for help or..."

"Of course we should go to Mr. Bai!"

Yang Chen quickly interrupted.

Although he didn't say the latter part, everyone understood what he meant.

If the military faction really intends to seize power now, they will definitely purge the Bai Family and its loyalists. The employees at the bottom, not wanting to become sacrifices in this internal conflict, must quickly choose a side.

Mr. Liu, who manages fraud prevention, is a core member of the group, and Yang Chen, being his sworn brother, will definitely side with the Bai Family. But it's different for the employees. To them, it doesn't matter who the boss is, as they are always being exploited, so there is no sense of belonging to the Bai Family.

From the previous conversations, everyone knows that the desperadoes trained by the group might very well turn against them.

Thus, the military faction currently holds the strongest force within the building.

The probability of victory is clearly higher for them.

For a moment, some people started to secretly step back, their eyes shifting, seemingly having a change of heart.

Gu Ji observed all of this carefully.

With a tactical goal in mind, he pursed his lips and pretended to agree.

"I think Mr. Yang has a point."

"See!" With someone stepping forward to support him, Yang Chen nodded in satisfaction, clearly considering Gu Ji as one of his own.

However, Yang Dong raised a question.

"Wa Xueming, according to what you just said, the military faction is upstairs now. How can we safely bypass them and join the Bai Family's people?"

The joy on Yang Chen's face gradually faded.

As everyone knows, the offices of the company's higher-ups are generally located in the upper floors of office buildings, and Jinyuan Building is no exception. If they want to join the Bai Family's people, they must go up, which would mean heading straight into the military faction's line of fire.

Unexpectedly, Gu Ji remained calm.

"The main goal of the military faction is to purge the Bai Family's loyalists, so their main activity areas are the office areas and stairwells. If we simply switch to moving through the elevator shaft, we can avoid them."

Yang Chen's eyes lit up at this.

This indeed is a good idea, as generally, who would think there would be people hiding in an elevator shaft? However, the height...

After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind, "We'll do as Wa Xueming suggested and go through the elevator shaft!"

Upon saying this, Yang Chen was ready to leave with Gu Ji.

But the other employees seemed oblivious, still standing in place, not moving a muscle.

He immediately berated them.

"What are you standing there for? Don't you know time is of the essence? Do you want to stay here and wait for death?"

"Um... Mr. Yang, I'm afraid of heights and can't climb the elevator shaft, so I won't go."

"Mr. Yang, I'm also afraid of heights!"

"Me too..."

...

In an instant, three people spoke up, finding excuses to defy Yang Chen's orders. Although the remaining few did not openly refuse, the increasing distance in their standing positions clearly showed they no longer wanted to follow him.

In other words, they no longer wanted any involvement with the Bai Family faction.

"Well, good for you!"

Yang Chen certainly understood the mindset of these employees, his eyes turning fierce as he said menacingly, "Don't blame me for not giving you a chance. I will emphasize this one last time, the Bai Family is the actual controller of Jinyuan Group!"

Despite the heavy threat in his words,

It did not change their thoughts. In the end, among everyone present, only Gu Ji, Pan Xinli, Yang Dong, and Ding Le chose to leave, while the others, including Wang Jinkang, insisted on staying.

After giving his close female secretary a fierce glare, Yang Chen snorted coldly.

"Let's go!"

...

Five minutes later, after getting ready, the group began to carefully make their way through the ruins of the fourth-floor public area.

According to the building's fire safety structure map, the building has a total of seven high-speed elevators, with two passenger elevators in the northern fire stairwell, and the other four passenger elevators are lined up in the southern public area facing the main entrance, making it easy for people on the fifth floor to spot them from the stands.

Though this floor has long been swept by Qi Liran and others, what if they left scouts behind!

So he preferred to take a detour to the east side.

Yang Chen looked at the circular hole above the elevator door on the left.

"The triangle key for the elevator door lock seems to be in the security room on the first floor."

"It takes too long, just pry it open directly..."

Gu Ji removed the fire axe from his belt, slowly inserting the axe blade into the gap between the two doors, "Once I pry it open a finger's width, you insert the steel pipe."

Pan Xinli nodded from the side.

The fire axe was originally designed for clearing burning objects and forcibly opening doors to rescue people, so its quality and tensile strength are absolutely reliable.

He observed to find the right leverage point and applied force to the side.

Accompanied by a teeth-gritting metallic scraping sound, a gap was pried open in the outer layer of the elevator door.

Until the gap was wide enough to fit two hands inside.

"Everyone help out!"

Gu Ji said in a low voice.

Yang Dong and Ding Le immediately stepped up. Together, they used their strength to completely pry open the metal outer door of the elevator.

Perhaps unable to stop in time, Ding Le almost fell headfirst down, looking into the pitch-black, seemingly bottomless elevator shaft, a chill crept up in his heart.

Gu Ji took out a high-power flashlight to illuminate the area.

The entire elevator shaft resembled a super-extended version of the ventilation shaft at Laird Airport, only without any branching paths. What first came into view was the elevator cab stuck on the third floor, along with finger-thick traction cables linking it. Out of six, two had snapped due to the building's vibration. Nearby were two more, long rectangular black metal rods which were the elevator car guide rails and counterweight rails.

The surrounding area was enclosed by bare concrete load-bearing walls, and it was thanks to their protection that damage to the internal elevator's metal framework was avoided.

"Where do we climb up from?"

Yang Chen scanned the area but didn't find any ladders to climb.

Gu Ji pointed at the black elevator guide rail.

He immediately widened his eyes.

"How do we climb that? Are you sure this thing can hold all five of us at the same time?"

"Don't worry, the main guide rail not only has to bear the elevator cab but also handle the impact during braking and emergency brakes with the safety clamps. It's extremely rigid and reliable, enough to withstand our climbing weight."

Gu Ji had previously studied emergency handling skills for special equipment within the system.

Special equipment refers to facilities that involve life safety and have a higher risk factor, like boilers, elevators, lifting machinery, and amusement park facilities. So, naturally, he was quite familiar with the internal structural components of an elevator.

Just saying so might not convince everyone.

So, he directly removed the firefighter backpack and took out five escape safety harnesses from it.

Gu Ji first put on the escape safety harness. It was somewhat like a firefighter's waist knot, mainly designed to distribute body weight and provide safety. Then, he grabbed the wire rope with his left hand, shook it to ensure it was stable, used it to extend his right hand to grasp the guide rail, wrapped his feet in a scissor-like manner around the rail, opened the escape safety harness buckle and fastened it above, locking it in place.

This way, while the legs were secured, the escape safety harness replaced arm support, effectively alleviating fatigue.

Then, he began to climb upward like a monkey climbing a tree.

Ding Le regretted following along a bit.

"We really won't slip and fall, right...?"

"It's better than being killed."

Pan Xinli revealed a mouthful of blackened teeth, whether it was a laugh or a cry was indistinguishable, grabbed the safety harness from the ground, imitating Gu Ji, and was the second one to climb up.

Next was Yang Dong.

Leaving Ding Le and Yang Chen standing at the elevator door, they looked at each other, took a deep breath, and then followed into the elevator shaft.

The five of them clung to the guide rail, resembling candied hawthorns on a stick.

"Hoo... Use more leg strength, body friction, and the harness to distribute the burden on your arms, otherwise you'll get exhausted quickly!"

Gu Ji steadied his breathing, not forgetting to guide the others below him. Despite carrying a lot of equipment, with an entire firefighter backpack, a fire axe, and a pistol, he didn't feel particularly tired, moving with ease instead.

Mainly because his physical fitness was quite strong, and he frequently trained in pole climbing during college.

"Haa... how much further do we have to climb? I'm about to give in!"

Yang Chen was panting heavily.

Having long worked an office job, he was already in a sub-healthy state and couldn't handle such strenuous activity. Without the safety harness aiding rest, he probably would have slipped and fallen long ago.

"Almost there, just 8 more meters."

Gu Ji sped up, reaching the 10th floor first, unclipped the safety harness, grabbed the wire rope, stepping on the edge of the elevator door for support, reached out for the mechanical latch at the top, and pushed the elevator door open with force.

And just as he entered the tenth floor.

The system alert sounded right on time!

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