The Gulfstream business jet's wheels scraped heavily across the runway, and amidst a sharp screeching sound and the vibrations of deceleration, it landed smoothly on the private tarmac at Denver International Airport.
The passenger plane slowly taxied along the taxiway to its parking position.
As soon as the warning light indicating that flight mode had been deactivated went out, Lin Qi's cell phone vibrated.
Lin Qi pressed the answer button, and Margaret's crisp voice came through the receiver.
"Boss, we just received confirmation from Chicago. Gregg and Rob Pelinka completed the entire signing process at a private law firm near the Berto Center, and all legal documents have been signed. The Converse lifetime endorsement agreement is officially in effect, and the first full-guarantee advance payment has been deposited into Rob Pelinka's escrow account."
"Understood." Lin Qi unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. "Inform Gregg to continue the news blackout. Converse should not issue any public statements until things in Colorado are settled."
"Clear."
The phone call ended, and the cabin door slowly closed. A slightly chilly early autumn wind swept into the cabin, and the gray, undulating peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance appeared particularly stark in the morning light.
A black Chevrolet Suburban with Colorado license plates was already waiting by the runway. Lin Qi got into the car alone, without any entourage. The vehicle then drove off the airport expressway and sped towards the Cherry Creek private community, nestled among the green trees southeast of Denver.
Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of a detached villa built of red sandstone.
Security here is extremely tight. Dark security netting surrounds the compound, and two patrol cars belonging to the Eagle County Sheriff's Office are parked outside the lawn. Several plainclothes officers vigilantly scan the surrounding streets, keeping a close watch on the ever-present telephoto lenses of the media and the crowds of enthusiastic fans.
Lin Qi stepped out of the car, walked onto the porch, and rang the doorbell.
The man who opened the door was a middle-aged man with graying hair and a solemn expression. He was wearing a dark blue Oxford shirt without a tie, and his eyes were sunken and bloodshot. As a state legislator with considerable political influence in Colorado, and also a major shareholder of the resort hotel in Eagle County involved in the case, the dignity and composure he should have possessed had been completely worn away by the overwhelming media frenzy of the past two months.
"Mr. Lin Qi?" The man sized up the young man before him, his tone stiff and wary. "We've never dealt with each other before. If you're here as a middleman for the Chicago Bulls or Nike's lobbyists, you can turn back now. We don't need the money, and we don't accept checks of any kind."
"Mr. Evans, if I intended to resolve this with checks, I wouldn't have taken an early morning flight here alone," Lin Qi said calmly. "I'm the owner of the Boston Celtics. I'm not here today to clear anyone's name."
Evans' eyes flickered slightly. He hesitated for a few seconds at the doorway before finally stepping aside and saying, "Please come in."
The curtains inside were drawn tightly shut, and a suffocating atmosphere filled the air. In one corner of the living room, several heavy cardboard boxes were piled up, filled with letters from all over the United States, many of which bore crude curses and threats written in red ink.
Lin Qi sat down on the single sofa, and without any formalities, took out a bound folder of newspaper clippings from his briefcase and pushed it to the center of the coffee table.
Evans frowned and opened it.
Inside was a stack of front-page photos from the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune earlier this year: the exterior of the New Garden splattered with glaring red paint, shattered tempered glass doors, charred remains of homemade Molotov cocktails, and a threatening letter wrapped in a transparent evidence bag containing six handgun Bullets and a dead rat.
Evans ' pupils contracted slightly as he looked up at Lin Qi: "What does this mean?"
"This happened in January of this year at Boston's New Garden," Lin Qi said calmly, as if recounting someone else's story. "Just because I criticized Kobe Brian's playing style as 'individual heroism' on a nationally televised television program, extreme fans in Chicago and the West Coast attacked my arena with homemade Molotov cocktails and sent handgun Bullets to my office."
Evans's expression changed.
"In Chicago South Side, gang members openly declared on local television that they wanted me dead." Lin Qi looked into Evans ' eyes, his voice low and powerful. "To protect my family, I hired a special operations team with concealed carry licenses across the United States to provide 24/7 close protection for my fiancée and two children, and all our cars were replaced with the highest-level bulletproof SUVs."
Lin Qi pointed to the mountain of threatening letters piled up in the corner of the living room.
"I have top-tier security resources in the entire United States, yet I still have to raise the security level to the highest level when facing this group of fanatical believers. And what about you, Mr. Evans?"
A deathly silence fell over the living room.
Evans' hands, resting on his knees, clenched into fists unconsciously, his knuckles turning white.
"What are you trying to say?" Evans ' breathing became heavy.
"I want to tell you that you are fighting against much more than just a basketball player."
"Behind Kobe is a group of tens of millions of fanatical followers and a vast financial network involving billions of dollars. Those fanatical young people have no sense of reason; in their eyes, your daughter has hurt their idol."
Lin Qi looked at the exhausted father. "If you insist on bringing this case to a substantive trial next month, all the spotlights will be on the courtroom of that small town of 40,000 in Eagle County. Hundreds of media outlets from across the country will surround the courtroom with satellite broadcast vans. That young district attorney will treat the case like a reality show for votes, and the defense's top criminal defense attorney will interrogate your daughter in court about every single detail of the night of the incident, repeatedly humiliating her."
"Even if you gain the upper hand legally, your lives will be utterly destroyed." Lin Qi's tone was calm yet ruthless. "The media will be camped out at your door every day, and extreme fans will follow your daughter's every move. In this country where guns are rampant, who can guarantee that one day, a madman who has lost his mind won't do something extreme? Can you protect her with 24/7 armed special forces for three or five years, or protect her for a lifetime?"
"Enough!"
Evans jumped to his feet, his face flushed crimson, veins bulging on his forehead. "So you mean we have to swallow this insult? We have to bow down to that bastard?! The Evans family is a respectable and influential family in Colorado! He's ruined my daughter's life, and just because he's a star athlete, because he has a huge fanbase, does that mean we have to swallow our anger and pretend nothing happened?!"
Faced with his father's almost roaring questioning, Lin Qi remained seated on the sofa, not moving an inch.
"I have never made you swallow your anger." Lin Qi met his rage head-on, his expression unwavering. "Your anger shouldn't be vented in a scorched-earth manner. You want to punish him, you want him to pay the price he deserves, right?"
Evans, panting heavily, stared at Lin Qi.
"Then I'll offer you a better idea."