Chapter 147: Open The Door
Jingwei muted the connection before Director Han could continue.
The man remained visible on his tablet, waiting inside a concrete stairwell with one shoulder against the closed door. Sweat had darkened the collar of his uniform, and the tension in his face suggested that losing command was not the only reason he had hidden from the people outside.
Jingwei transferred the private call away from the communications wall before restoring the audio.
"Tell me what happened," he demanded quickly.
Director Han glanced toward the stairwell door when another voice rose beyond it. "Chairman Rong’s cousin arrived at the eastern entrance with his family. There are more than 30 people outside, although some appear to be employees or acquaintances. Your father ordered us to admit the immediate family members and refuse everyone else."
The arrangement might have sounded reasonable to someone who had never controlled a crowd.
But Jingwei already knew why Director Han had refused.
"The others will force their way through as soon as the exterior barrier opens."
"That was my assessment." Director Han lowered his voice as footsteps passed the stairwell. "Chairman Rong repeated the order. When I still refused to unlock the entrance, he removed me and transferred command to my deputy."
Jingwei knew the deputy director well enough to understand what would happen next.
The man had served Rong Group longer than Director Han, but seniority was the only qualification he possessed over him.
His career had been built on ensuring that important guests never waited at security barriers and that senior members of the Rong Family were spared routine searches.
He protected reputations and avoided offense.
There was no question that he would open the door.
Jingwei brought up the headquarters layout while questioning Director Han about his current position.
The eastern entrance opened into a reinforced vestibule controlled by two separate barriers. Even if the exterior door opened, the crowd would remain contained until security released the interior barrier.
The design had been intended to stop armed attackers.
Today, it might protect the building from the authority of its chairman.
"Get to the secondary control station," Jingwei instructed. "Do not confront my father or your deputy. Connect to the security network and wait for my authorization before touching anything."
Director Han acknowledged the order and slipped through the stairwell door.
Jingwei left the audio channel open before attempting to access the headquarters security system from his tablet.
His credentials failed.
The rejection didn’t surprise him enough to justify entering them twice, but he did it anyway. The second denial confirmed that Rong Jianfeng had removed his administrative permissions along with Director Han’s authority.
His father had made the decision before ending their call.
He had listened while Jingwei explained that a single person needed control over the building’s doors and resources. Then he had ensured that person would be himself.
Hanchuan read the denial notice from beside him. "Can you regain access?"
"Yes."
The certainty came automatically. Jingwei had designed the security hierarchy, selected its encryption and created emergency credentials no one at headquarters knew existed.
Using them would mean overriding the chairman of Rong Group inside his own building.
Before today, Jingwei would never have considered it.
Now, every second of hesitation brought the crowd closer to the door.
He connected his tablet to Xiling’s protected terminal and entered the first recovery code. The headquarters network accepted the request before presenting a secondary authorization challenge.
His father had ordered the passwords changed as well.
The deliberate nature of the lockout disturbed Jingwei more than the original disagreement.
Rong Jianfeng hadn’t reacted impulsively after seeing his relatives outside. He had anticipated that his son might attempt to enforce the restrictions remotely and removed that possibility in advance.
Shichen examined the authorization challenge over Jingwei’s shoulder. "The administrative network has been updated, but the mechanical controls predate the last security renovation. They may still recognize the original installation certificate."
"The certificate was replaced when my team upgraded the system."
"Your archive should contain the previous signature." Shichen opened the construction records on an adjacent display. "It will be expired at the network level, but the emergency controls may not verify its current status."
It was the kind of weakness Jingwei would have condemned inside a client’s security system.
Today, he needed his own oversight to protect the building from his father.
Zhiyi moved closer to the schematics while remaining outside his reach. Her attention traveled from the rejected credentials to the eastern vestibule.
"The emergency systems are independent of ordinary administration," she observed. "You don’t need control of the complete network if containment can be triggered separately."
Jingwei followed her reasoning.
The entrance sensors could seal the inner barrier automatically if they detected a weapon, hazardous material or forced entry.
The response bypassed executive authorization because no person inside the building was supposed to keep an entrance open during an active threat.
"I can initiate emergency containment," he confirmed as he opened the independent controls. "It will lock every exterior entrance."
Hanchuan studied the reset protocol rather than accepting the temporary solution. "How long before someone at the primary station can release it?"
"Minutes, if the deputy knows which authorization he needs."
Every option returned Jingwei to the same problem. He could delay his father, but the building remained under the control of people who believed family authority mattered more than survival protocol.
The eastern cameras opened across the communications wall.
More than 30 people crowded beneath the shallow overhang outside Rong headquarters.
Umbrellas, jackets and pieces of cardboard protected their heads from direct sunlight without shielding them from the heat radiating off the pavement.
Children stood between luggage cases while adults pressed against the exterior glass.
A black sedan had stopped several meters from the entrance. Its front tires had sunk into the softened road, and vapor escaped from beneath its hood.
The people outside had reached the last functioning building available to them.
They wouldn’t leave voluntarily.
Rong Jianfeng stood on the protected side of the inner barrier with the deputy director and four guards. Beyond the exterior glass, his cousin struck the door while gesturing toward the family members gathered behind him.
The man wasn’t begging for shelter. He was demanding entry into a building he believed belonged to him.
Qinghe noticed a woman supporting an unresponsive child near the back of the crowd. His attention remained on her while he asked whether the headquarters could support the additional people.
Jingwei opened the revised projections.
The answer appeared before the calculations finished updating.
After all, it was just common sense.
Admitting the entire crowd would shorten the food supply, increase water consumption and add more demand to a cooling system already approaching failure.
"They’ll reduce everyone’s survival time," Jingwei replied.
Qinghe watched the woman lower the child onto a suitcase. "Some of them may not survive another hour outside."
The quiet observation contained no request to open the door. Qinghe understood that identifying the cost of refusing them didn’t eliminate the cost of letting them inside.
On the security feed, the deputy director approached the exterior controls.
Jingwei’s fingers settled over the containment command.
Hanchuan offered no instruction. Rong headquarters belonged to Jingwei’s family, and whatever happened there would remain Jingwei’s responsibility.
That distinction had once felt like authority.
Now, it felt like blame.
His father had chosen to open a secured building to a crowd after pretending to accept the restrictions necessary to preserve it. If Jingwei permitted the decision, every person already inside would pay for his unwillingness to challenge Rong Jianfeng.
He activated emergency containment.
The headquarters accepted the original installation certificate. Red indicators appeared across the eastern vestibule before spreading to every exterior entrance.
On the camera, the deputy director entered his code.
The door remained locked.
He tried again before turning toward Rong Jianfeng to explain the unexpected failure. His confusion drew the attention of the people outside, and the crowd pressed closer to the glass.
Director Han’s voice reached Jingwei through the private audio channel.
"I’m connected to the secondary station."
"Maintain containment," Jingwei ordered. "If anyone attempts to reset the system, block the authorization."
The instruction placed Director Han in direct opposition to the chairman who had dismissed him.
He accepted it without hesitation.
Jingwei’s phone began ringing.
His father’s name filled the screen.
Rong Jianfeng hadn’t returned to his office. When Jingwei accepted the call, his father appeared inside the eastern vestibule with the crowd visible behind him. Heat flushed his face despite the cooling that still protected the interior of the building.
"You locked the entrances," his father accused, his face turning red for an entirely different reason than just the heat.
Jingwei watched one of the men outside shove a guard attempting to communicate through the intercom. "I stopped more than 30 people from forcing their way inside."
"My cousin’s family is among them."
"Your cousin brought a crowd to the door."
"We can admit our relatives and refuse everyone else," Rong Jianfeng insisted, lowering his voice as though the people separated from him by glass might hear the distinction.
"They won’t allow you to choose once the barrier opens," scoffed Jingwei.
"Then security will control them," countered his father, his voice rising with every word.
Jingwei looked toward the deputy director, who was still entering codes into the unresponsive panel.
"You removed the only person capable of doing that," he replied.
The accusation stopped his father for only a moment.
Outside, Rong Jianfeng’s cousin placed both hands against the glass and stared at him. Behind the man, someone attempted to shade the unconscious child while the woman beside her pleaded for help.
Being watched changed something in his father’s expression.
Rong Jianfeng could accept restrictions issued privately. He couldn’t remain inside a cooled building while members of his family suffered within sight of him, regardless of what admitting them would cost everyone else.
"You will release the containment system," he ordered, facing Jingwei through the screen.
Jingwei kept his hand away from the controls.
His father’s remaining restraint disappeared.
"Open the door. Now."