1751 Amulet
However, Meng Chao still did not make his appearance.
A long-focus camera captured a blurry image of him being surrounded by several high-level officials of the Azure Alliance. They were discussing something with serious faces.
There were also a few emissaries wearing the badges of the nine mega corporations that represented Deity Realm experts.
First, they smiled and warmly welcomed Meng Chao’s return. At the same time, they greeted the higher-ups of the Azure Alliance naturally. They did not seem like competitors who had different interests. Instead, they seemed more like long-lost brothers.
Then, the special envoys who represented the nine great families started to whisper to Meng Chao and the other low-level superhumans.
“Do you see that? It’s not as simple as that silly boy thinks.”
Yun Feidian did not hide the sarcasm on his face. “Do you think that the old men who founded the nine mega corporations are old, stupid, and incompetent? Do you think they’re unaware of the tricks we’re playing?
“No, they know everything.
“Or rather, they have everything at their disposal to know, but they’re deliberately pretending to blink in confusion.
“After all, the Blood Alliance’s existence is more beneficial to them than harmful.
“No matter how much trouble the Blood Alliance causes, they are always on the nine great families’ side. They support the nine mega corporations to fight against those in the lower reaches of the Raging Tiger River so that they can establish an independent kingdom that belongs to the nine great families.
“If the Blood Alliance succeeds, the old men will be able to share the interests of their families. They will even join hands to override the Blood alliance and eat the biggest piece of the pie easily through reasonable and legal means.
“What if the Blood Alliance fails? Only Yun Feidian and the Blood Alliance who will go down in history as inhumane. The glorious images of the heroes of the older generation and their corporate interests will not be affected at all.
“To put it bluntly, the old men need someone to help them do the dirty and hard work. That’s why they’re tolerating our existence temporarily.
“It’s just that..
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. You old fogeys want to use me, Yun Feidian, for free? How could it be that easy?!
“The old fogeys won’t ruffle their feathers and easily get involved with us, but it doesn’t matter. They always have children, many, many children.
“And these children who are related to them by blood have their own trusted aides and a large number of interest groups that are bound by broken bones and tendons.
“In the past few years, I’ve gambled a lot and helped Thundercloud Technology gain an astronomical amount of funds.
“I’ve never kept any of the funds for myself. I’ve invested all of them into the Biochemical Beast Project, the Bionic Drone Project, and the Artificial Monster Neuron Project.
“Then, through a series of business operations, the projects are exaggerated and packaged in a glamorous way, turning into popular investment products that can make a lot of money.
“In the end, more than half of the projects’ shares were sent to the children and disciples of those old men.
“There are so many descendants of the nine great families, yet who hasn’t worked with me, Yun Feidian? Who hasn’t taken my money? Who doesn’t have shares in the Thundercloud System Project? Who hasn’t used these seemingly flashy money-making projects with my help to reap from the financial market and the pockets of ordinary investors repeatedly?
“Hehe, it doesn’t matter if my reputation is ruined, but what about these projects?
“Take note that many children of the wealthy families have invested their lives in projects related to the Thundercloud System after they got a taste of it. These projects even owe the major banks and mega corporations in Dragon City plenty of debt.
“Even if they hack me, the ‘inhumane leader of the Blood Alliance,” into pieces and drain the last drop of oil out of me, it won’t be enough to fill one-tenth of the deficit.
“When that time comes, who will the rich and powerful disciples, who’ve lost their capital, go after? They will be looking for you, Meng Chao!”
The many high-ranking members of the Blood Alliance on the screen looked at each other in bewilderment, and they all showed expressions of sudden realization.
Indeed, many of them had initially been attracted by the high shares and the money that Yun Feidian had offered in the name of a “business collaboration.”
Many people also used questionable means to take illegal loans and even misappropriate public funds to pull the lever to the maximum. That way, they could catch the fast train that was the Thundercloud System.
When the lever was about to break and many of Yun Feidian’s projects were not as profitable as he had promised, at least in the short term, the desperate guys were finally compelled by Yun Feidian to join the Blood Alliance so that they could get the help of their “brothers” in the association and tide over their difficulties temporarily.
However, he had fallen deeper and deeper ever since.
“Those who have a beneficial relationship with me are not merely the children of the rich and powerful.”
Yun Feidian continued to sneer. “From the first day I became the leader of the Blood Alliance, I’ve anticipated that I would be kicked away and even turned into a devil who has committed the most heinous crimes and is deserving of execution.
“Since then, I’ve been thinking about what kind of amulet I should make for myself.
“It’s far from enough to just tie your life to the children of the rich.
“Hence, I have also extended olive branches to the Dragon City Retired Teachers Association, the Supernatural Tower Construction Foundation, the Dragon City Miners Mutual Aid Association, the Dragon City Zombie Infection Rehabilitation Association, and even Broken Star Club. With very favorable conditions, I attracted them to invest a large amount of money in Thundercloud Technology and its associated companies.
“When I was working with these groups that represented the interests of millions of Dragon City’s ordinary citizens, I was generous but also extremely careful.
“Sometimes, even if a certain project was clearly losing money, I would rather offer money or even embezzle funds from other projects to fill the hole so that the ordinary citizens who invested in the Thundercloud System could earn real money. More and more people were then willing to hand over a lot of money to the Thundercloud System for operation.
“Take the Dragon City Retired Teachers Association as an example. This organization has invested 30% of their retirement funds into various major high-tech projects in the Thundercloud System.
“Over the last few years, the Thundercloud System has been soaring and rising in the capital market, especially in the past year.
“With the huge market driven by our victory in the war, the Retired Teachers Association’s return on investment has reached 180%. Those teachers who have been poor for most of their lives have all earned a lot, and their teeth are about to fall out from laughing.
“If today, the god of fortune who made them rich turns out to be the unpardonable leader of the Blood Alliance and the popular investments that made them a fortune turn out to be lies, the retired teachers who have fallen from heaven to hell will not only cry but die on the spot!
“Can Meng Chao bear that responsibility?”
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om