Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Qi Yuanbao rose abruptly and put on the snow-white leather coat again. Not bothering to look at the invader on the light beam who had been entirely surrounded, he strode out of his office.

At the door of his office, the floor slightly rose, separating a round floating disc, which had arc-shaped ribbons shining at the edge and was revolving slowly.

Stepping on the floating disc, Qi Yuanbao moved quickly in the headquarters of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and soon reached the lift that was specifically reserved for the senior managers.

After inputting his fingerprint, voiceprint, and iris data, Qi Yuanbao gained the permissions of the lift and descended from the 97th floor to the 33rd floor.

It was the largest conference room of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors with the most advanced facilities, and it had never been used easily.

At this moment, it was also a battlefield where his fate would be decided!

Taking a deep breath, Qi Yuanbao opened the door of the lift and flew out on the floating disc.

The vast conference room took up more than ten floors up and down. It was a gigantic room that was as magnificent as a palace and as deep as a cave, enough to accommodate ten thousand people simultaneously for a meeting.

The state-of-the-art remote projection system also allowed for the managers or shareholders in different Sectors a hundred thousand lightyears away to present their encrypted and disguised holograms in the place so that the spokespersons of the interests of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors in a hundred Sectors could be gathered.

At this moment, a thousand managers and shareholders had been gathered in the conference room. In order to stabilize the market, a thousand business partners who were in deep cooperation with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were invited to join the meeting too.

The participants who joined the meeting via remote projections were three times more than the actual participants.

Qi Yuanbao narrowed his eyes and looked around with his cold and gloomy eyes.

As he expected, besides the managers and shareholders of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors itself, the influential warlords and Sector Masters at the edge of the Imperium had all sent their spokespersons to investigate the situation. Even many of the middle class in the four families were hiding amid the holograms.

Their real bodies were perhaps marching toward the Seven Seas Space Zone on starships, but their projections or spokespersons were still eager to learn how to preserve their interests.

If Qi Yuanbao could show them his strength and convince them of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors’ inevitable victory, it was possible that they would change their attitudes in the upcoming battle of the Seven Seas.

It was exactly Qi Yuanbao’s purpose.

By the time Qi Yuanbao reached the conference room, the conference room was already as obstreperous as a grocery market.

Many people had learned the death of Jin Yuyan from Qi Yuanbao and Wuying Qinxin. With a great war coming near, such news was no different than an earthquake.

The middle class of the four families who had been secretly working with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were all as anxious as ants on a burning pan, scratching their heads and not knowing what to do.

They wanted to get away from the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, but they were reluctant to abandon the resources that they had invested in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Furthermore, they were worried that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would expose all of them when it was about to fail, dragging them to hell together.

As for the warlords and Sector Masters who had devoted their everything to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and made up their minds to follow the reformists, they had fewer concerns but simply shouted, asking the leadership of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to come up with a plan to clean up the mess now that Jin Yuyan had died.

Qi Yuanbao intentionally kept those people waiting for another five minutes. The moment he showed up, everybody’s scorching eyes fell on him, making him vaguely the new center of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.

Qi Yuanbao faced everybody’s eyes confidently and casually, as if he had everything under control, but secretly, he looked at Wuying Qinxin and received an affirmative reply—the “Wuying group”, which was quite influential in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, would support him.

That was enough.

Qi Yuanbao smiled and slowly flew to the center of the grand conference room. Pressing his hands together, he declared, “Please don’t be anxious, everyone. The sky has not collapsed yet, and as long as we work together, it will never collapse!”

The crowd was silent for ten seconds before noises got the better of it again. All the investors and people whose interests were concerned had too many questions they wanted to ask.

“Quiet, everyone. If you could just be slightly more patient and listen to me for three minutes!”

Qi Yuanbao filled his voice with spiritual energy, making the whole conference room shiver under his voice. Suppressing everyone’s suspicion and exclamation for now, he said unhurriedly, “I don’t want to lie to you. Half a day ago, a tragedy happened outside of the Commodity Market. Director Jin of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was assassinated by the assassins of the shameless four families. He is now unfortunately dead.

“Yes, an accident at such a critical moment when a final battle is about to begin is a huge blow for the market and the morale of our armed forces. However, the situation is not so terrible that it is beyond rescue. Or rather, we already have the situation under control. Everything is in our hands.

“The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is an organization made of the people who worship freedom more than anything else in the first place. We have the most advanced and steady architecture. What pushes us forward is the torrent of capitalism, which will not dry out because of the fall of one leader. With that in mind, what’s there to be worried about?

“I believe that if Director Jin were still alive, he would’ve wished to see us continue believing in free capitals and fighting against the brutal, ravenous aristocrats!

“Everybody, everybody, we have preliminarily found the truth of Director Jin’s death. The four Kurfürst families bought over ‘Bloody Skull’, and it was done by ‘Red Lady’, the leader of ‘Bloody Skull’, in person. The relevant files will be sent to your terminals immediately. You will be able to tell if it is true after examining it.”

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

Tremendous data was sent to everyone’s crystal processor. All the proofs corroborated with each other. They couldn’t have been more convincing.

The managers, shareholders, and investors nodded their heads, unable to find any loophole.

“After the assassination, most of the members in Bloody Skull were already suppressed by us, and only part of the most ferocious members fled with ‘Red Lady’. They are still resisting, but there is no need to worry. Almost a third of the armed forces in the entire Seven Seas Grand Market is involved in the hunting. It is impossible for the Red Lady to escape.”

Qi Yuanbao suddenly changed the topic. “You must be very curious. If we have only sent one-third of the armed forces to hunt Director Jin’s killer, where are the remaining two thirds?

“It’s very simple. ‘Red Lady’ is not the mastermind behind the whole scheme. We even have reason to believe that even Director Jin’s assassination was just a disguise for an even greater plot.

“An enemy who is ten times more dreadful than ‘Red Lady’ has snuck into the internal district of the Seven Seas Grand Market, trying to cause greater damage and mayhem before the arrival of the four families’ coalition fleet and make us fail!

“The enemy is exactly—Vulture Li Yao!”

Shua!

Hardly had Qi Yuanbao’s desperate voice died down when the light beam around him displayed the gigantic picture of a grimacing Li Yao.

It was shot in public when Li Yao was still the “No. 1 warrior” of the reformists.

The gigantic picture made everybody gasp hard in disbelief.

“There’s no need to feel surprised, everyone. The news that Vulture Li Yao betrayed the reformists and joined the four Kurfürsten’s side came from the capital. I believe that you all have your own sources of intelligence, and they have reported the same, haven’t they?”

Qi Yuanbao smiled with his hands on his back. “Vulture Li Yao has only defected recently. Naturally, he is anxious to make a great accomplishment in order to consolidate his position and win the approval of his new masters.

“Assassinating Director Jin alone is not necessarily enough to shake the foundation of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, because any of the five senior managers, after being authorized in this meeting, can replace Director Jin and take over his responsibilities.

“However, if most of our defense is distracted by the riot after Director Jin’s death, and he takes the chance to sneak into our most central database, destroying all the trade data, just think about it, what consequences will be caused?

“Of course, our trade data have backups, and we have more than one center of super crystal processors. However, the destruction of the central data will disrupt our trades for three to five days. All the information about capitals, logistics, shares, options, and bonds will be messed up and paralyzed!

“As a result, the whole market will freak out, and all the other forces will lose confidence in us, even thinking that we can’t make ends meet anymore, since we cannot support such an enormous network of capitals and logistics!

“If the coalition fleet of the four families takes the opportunity to attack us, wouldn’t it be our doomsday?”

The horrible future that Qi Yuanbao described cast all the managers, shareholders, and investors into extreme shock.

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, finding it hard to believe Qi Yuanbao’s alarmism. One of the white-haired, prestigious managers said solemnly, “Manager Qi, this is a very important matter. Do you have any proof for your conclusion?”

Qi Yuanbao smiled casually and clapped his hands, saying, “Of course I do. Why else could I have been bold enough to talk about the nonsense in front of so many investors and partners?

“Allow me to present to you a great show!”

As he clapped his hands, more light beams were turned on. All of them were displaying the complicated tubes and gaps between the internal district and the external district not far away from the headquarters.

Through the combination of the pictures, it could be clearly seen that the ignorant invader was still wriggling wholeheartedly, and the defenders had surrounded him from all directions, pressing toward him without a sound.

“Take action now.”

Holding his temples, Qi Yuanbao spoke to the micro communicator, sneering, “Capture ‘Vulture Li Yao’!”