Chapter 20: Catching an Affair

Less than half an hour later, Xu Qi felt the entire office building trembling. The sound of rapid, heavy footsteps echoed like a downpour against the floors. He knew that Wang Cheng had discovered the issue and that the entire staff had been mobilized.

He waited for another hour before the corridor erupted in noise and his office door was pushed open. A middle-aged man wearing a light blue cotton-padded jacket, distinct from the workers' attire, rushed in. His eyes turned red the moment he saw Li Qi, and he grabbed the boy’s hand firmly.

"Kid, I’m Lin Zhiqiang, the Deputy Mine Safety Director of the Central Mine. You’ve done a massive service this time. On behalf of every miner here, I thank you for your immense kindness. You didn’t see it—the gaps behind those two beams were wide enough to fit an entire arm. If we had been even a step later, just a single step, the shifts going down today would have been buried alive..."

Lin Zhiqiang was a burly, broad-shouldered man, but now his tiger-like eyes were brimming with tears. His large hands clamped onto Li Qi’s like iron pincers, causing the boy to wince in pain.

"Uncle Lin, take it easy, it hurts, it really hurts..."

Wang Cheng, standing nearby, wore a look of disdain. "Why are you whining like a girl who’s just been ravished?" He pursed his lips and mimicked Li Qi in a high-pitched voice, "It hurts,