Chapter 140: You Work For Me
Jingwei’s phone began vibrating before the lights inside Xiling shifted to their daytime setting.
He opened his eyes immediately.
The bedroom remained dark, but the shelter’s ventilation system continued operating with the same low hum that had followed him into an uneven three hours of sleep.
Cool air passed over his face as he reached for the phone, and the comfort sharpened the unease already gathering beneath his ribs.
Rong headquarters had sent its scheduled report 17 minutes early.
Jingwei opened the document and sat against the headboard.
Eighty-seven people remained inside the building. No one had left during the night, and the security team had refused entry to another 23 employees and relatives who had arrived after the doors were locked.
The internal temperature had risen to 31 degrees.
The number didn’t appear dangerous beside the reports coming from the rest of Yunzhou.
Entire residential buildings had already exceeded 40 degrees, while underground transit stations had become crowded emergency cooling centers.
Rong headquarters still possessed electricity, reinforced entrances, municipal water and a commercial cooling system supported by backup generators.
It should have been safe.
Instead, the cooling system was operating at maximum capacity because the 87 occupants had spread themselves across 13 floors.
His relatives occupied the executive apartments, while employees and their families had been assigned conference rooms, offices and staff lounges according to status.
No one had wanted to share.
They had treated the headquarters as a hotel during a temporary emergency, and the building was beginning to fail under demands it had never been designed to meet.
The water report was worse.
Consumption had reached 163 percent of the limit Jingwei established before entering Xiling.
Several people had taken repeated showers during the night to cool themselves, and the kitchen staff had continued preparing ordinary meals because Su Lihua believed rationing food on the first day would frighten everyone.
They had consumed nearly two days of food in less than 24 hours.
Three members of his extended family were now showing symptoms of heat exhaustion.
Jingwei read the report twice before calling the head of security.
The man answered immediately. Behind his strained greeting, Jingwei heard raised voices, a child crying and the steady blast of an industrial fan.
"You’re on the executive level," Jingwei observed.
"Yes, Young Master Rong. Your father called everyone into his office after receiving my consolidation request."
There had been no consolidation request. Jingwei had issued an order before leaving Yunzhou: if the cooling system could no longer support the occupied floors, everyone would be moved into the central interior levels. Residential status, seniority and family relationships were not supposed to matter.
The security director’s careful wording told him exactly what had happened.
"My father refused," mused Jingwei, unsurprised.
"He believes the temperature will stabilize after the electrical authority restores full capacity. Several senior members of the family also objected to moving into the conference rooms with employees."
Jingwei lowered the phone and looked again at the building report.
Rong headquarters had private apartments intended for executives who needed to remain on-site during political unrest, commercial emergencies or attempted attacks.
His family members had claimed those apartments when they arrived. Each suite occupied more space than some of the employees’ homes, and every one required separate cooling.
Under ordinary circumstances, the arrangement would have been reasonable.
Nothing about the world outside Xiling remained ordinary.
"Move the employees and their families onto the three central office floors," Jingwei instructed. He kept his voice low, although there was no one in the bedroom to disturb. "Place the children, pregnant women, elderly and anyone with a medical condition on the conference level. Shut down every unoccupied floor and redirect the cooling."
The security director didn’t answer immediately. His hesitation was enough to reveal that Rong Jianfeng remained close enough to hear him.
Jingwei allowed the silence to continue until the other man was forced to respond.
"Your father instructed me to wait for authorization from the building manager."
"The building manager works for us."
"Yes, Young Master Rong."
"And you work for me."
The reminder removed the last of the security director’s hesitation. "I’ll begin moving the employees."
"Move everyone."
A deeper voice entered the background before the director could acknowledge the order. Jingwei couldn’t distinguish the words, but he recognized his father’s tone.
The security director moved away from the sound. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped. "Chairman Rong has agreed to consolidate the staff. He hasn’t agreed to move the family."
"Then shut down the cooling on the residential levels."
The suggestion produced another silence.
Jingwei could picture the man standing outside his father’s office with one hand pressed over his other ear, attempting to hear through the noise surrounding him. He had spent 12 years protecting the Rong family. He had faced armed kidnappers without hesitation.
This morning, he was afraid to turn off their air conditioning.
"Leave one residential level active for anyone who cannot be moved safely," Jingwei amended. "Everyone else goes to the interior floors. If my father objects, tell him to call me."
The director accepted the compromise with audible relief before updating him on the water supply.
Municipal pressure had weakened throughout the night. The building’s reserve tanks remained full, but they were still connected to the ordinary plumbing because no one had completed Jingwei’s order to isolate them.
One of his uncles had refused to restrict shower access, arguing that the residents needed a way to lower their body temperatures until the cooling system recovered.
Jingwei rubbed one hand across his face.
"They’re draining the drinking water to avoid feeling warm."
"I explained that the pressure may not return."
"Stop explaining. Lock the showers and isolate the reserve tanks. Place guards outside the mechanical rooms and water storage. No one overrides the restrictions without speaking to me."
He ended the call only after the security director confirmed every instruction.
The report remained open on his screen.
Eighty-seven people.
Nine days of food.
Three suspected cases of heat exhaustion.
Those numbers had appeared manageable when he brought his family to headquarters. The building contained reinforced entrances, independent generators and enough stored food to protect them until the government stabilized Yunzhou.
Jingwei had left behind trained security personnel, medical supplies and detailed emergency procedures.
He had given them more protection than almost anyone else in the city possessed.
It still wasn’t enough.
The first message from Rong Xinyi had arrived while he slept. Jingwei opened it and found seven photographs of the eastern residential floor.
Two young cousins had dragged their blankets into the corridor and fallen asleep on the marble beneath a portable fan. An elderly aunt sat in an armchair with wet towels draped across her shoulders. Su Lihua knelt beside her, pressing another cloth against the woman’s forehead while attempting to smile for the camera.
The final picture showed Yunzhou through the reinforced windows.
Heat distorted the streets below. Traffic lights continued changing over empty intersections, and abandoned vehicles remained where their drivers had left them. The city looked intact from that height, but no one moved beneath the glass.
Xinyi’s message appeared below the photographs.
Father thinks the roads will reopen this morning. Can you arrange buses before everyone else begins trying to leave? We can move to a hotel outside Yunzhou until the grid is repaired.
Jingwei read the request several times.
His sister still believed there was somewhere else to go.
A better building. A colder city. A hotel whose management would open its doors after receiving the correct payment.
His father believed the same thing. If a supplier refused delivery, Rong Jianfeng would increase the offer. If a road remained closed, he would contact someone with enough authority to open it. Every obstacle had always belonged to another person, which meant someone could be paid, persuaded or threatened into removing it.
The Heat belonged to no one.
Jingwei left his room and walked toward the common area.
Shichen had reduced the shelter’s lighting overnight, leaving only narrow floor-level strips illuminated through the hallways.
The precaution preserved power they possessed in abundance. Xiling’s independent systems had been tested under greater loads than six people could create, and the cooling equipment maintained the residential level without approaching its limit.
Everything worked exactly as Shichen designed it to work.
That should have reassured Jingwei.
Instead, each functioning system reminded him of what his family didn’t have.
He found Zeyu sitting at the kitchen island with both hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. His clothes had changed, but the shadows beneath his eyes suggested that he hadn’t slept any longer than Jingwei had.
Neither man asked how the other was doing.
Zeyu glanced at the report still displayed on Jingwei’s phone before returning his attention to the dark surface of his coffee.
"Qinghe is in the communications room. His hospital began sending him patient reports around four."