Chapter Four: A Seventy-One-Hour Run

Farland Logistics sent its rescue order at exactly six in the morning. [ORDER: PREVENT THE COLLAPSE OF FARLAND LOGISTICS' REGIONAL SETTLEMENT NETWORK.] [TIME LIMIT: 70 HOURS, 3 MINUTES.] [FAILURE: TRUNK ROUTES HALTED ACROSS ELEVEN PROVINCES; 84,720 DIRECT JOBS AT RISK; SUPPLY-CHAIN EXPOSURE NOT YET CALCULABLE.] [HINT: THE CASH SHORTAGE IS AN OUTCOME, NOT THE BREAKPOINT.] The client was Lu Congshan, sixty-three, founder of Farland Logistics. In the news, he had opened a new western port the previous night and promised that no driver would go unpaid before the Spring Festival. According to the Ledger, Farland had 4.6 billion yuan in cash. Only seventeen million was freely available.