"An interesting idea."
The Gray-Haired Office Worker smiled. "Then what do you think the Blood Alliance's true objective was?"
"It was simple. Just look at who stood to reap the greatest benefit from the Blood Alliance's سلسلة of destructive acts, and you'd know."
Meng Chao said, "Of course, once the Northern Advance Plan passed, all Nine Super Enterprises would benefit, meaning everyone was a suspect.
"No, that wasn't accurate. It should have been that all Eight Super Enterprises would benefit. Cosmos Group alone would suffer a devastating blow as internal conflicts erupted following the unexpected assassination of its founder, Shen Yuanbao. It would splinter apart, perhaps even collapse like a mountain crumbling and the earth breaking, withdrawing from the stage of history entirely.
"So here was the question: who stood to benefit the most from Cosmos Group's collapse, or even its annihilation?
"That was right. Naturally, it was its only rival in Dragon City—the Qingtian Corporation, another giant in the mining and smelting industries!
"Cosmos Group and Qingtian Corporation had been locked in a needle-for-an-awl confrontation and fierce competition for decades. They had long formed a balance of rival powers, each commanding vast quantities of core technology and tightly controlling market shares in their respective sectors. They were like two colossal, thick-skinned beasts; under normal circumstances, neither could swallow the other in a single bite.
"However, while rising talents emerged one after another within Qingtian Corporation, Cosmos Group's greatest weakness was that its founder, Shen Yuanbao, came from humble roots. In his youth, he had been too occupied with clawing his way upward to properly educate his descendants, and he had failed to cultivate a qualified heir who could win everyone's respect.
"His many children were either unworthy of their positions, too sharp-edged and conspicuous, or lacking in ability, incapable