Uprooting the Roots

Chapter 25

"One million!"

At the sound of that number, every harvester was shaken.

Qin Hu's face darkened, while Gu Ming and Shen Rongfa both shuddered.

Meng Chao ignored them entirely and earnestly explained to his father, "Dad, I admit that I did think about studying it at the time. After all, I'd only heard of something called a 'Crystallized Nerve Ball' before. I wasn't certain, so I really wanted to learn about it.

"But Dad, you taught me right. A person has to be upright. If something isn't ours, we can never take it. Whatever this thing really is, let Manager Gu and Manager Shen worry about it.

"And what happened just now, too. We had a conflict with Manager Shen, but one thing was one thing and another was another. The item belonged to them, and I couldn't rob them, so I suggested splitting it fifty-fifty. If it really was a Crystallized Nerve Ball, both sides could make several hundred thousand. Wouldn't everyone be happy?

"Who knew Manager Shen wouldn't accept my proposal at all, while Manager Gu couldn't even be bothered to glance at the material? I had no choice but to take an enormous risk and buy it back. If I lost money, I accepted it. If I made money, I made it fair and square. Right?"

Hearing this, Meng Yishan finally let out a long breath. He and his old brothers looked at one another, and smiles overflowed across their wrinkled faces.

Shen Rongfa and Manager Gu, however, felt worse than if they had swallowed three pounds of fly droppings.

Neither dared look at Qin Hu's expression. They could only glare furiously at Meng Chao.

Qin Hu was so angry that he laughed.

"Your name is Meng Chao? Interesting high school student. Tiger Lord will remember you." He looked at the growing crowd of onlookers around them, the flesh on his face twitching wildly as he said in a low voice, "Take your Crystallized Nerve Ball and get lost!"

The Crystallized Nerve Ball gave the harvesters confidence. They were no longer as lost as before, and they followed the Meng father and son out with their heads high and chests raised.

"Wait!"

At that moment, the leader of another harvesting team affiliated with "Jiuxin" called out, "Old Meng, what are you planning to do next?"

"Old Li, you..." Meng Yishan was somewhat surprised.

Meng Chao blinked and rushed to answer, "My dad has already found a new corpse source, and now we have startup capital too. We're planning to strike out on our own!"

"You really found a new corpse source?" Leader Li's eyes lit up. After pondering for a moment, he gritted his teeth. "Meng Ge, how much corpse source do you have? Can you take us along with you?"

Meng Yishan was slightly stunned, but after thinking it over carefully, he did not find it strange.

Under Shen Rongfa's management, Jiuxin had been extremely harsh toward all the affiliated harvesting teams. Everyone was angry but dared not speak.

But endurance had its limits. Once the bottom line was truly crossed, working for one person was the same as working for another. With hands and feet, could able-bodied men really starve to death?

Even if the material really had been broken by Meng Yishan today, that was common during harvesting. After all, if Meng Chao had not acted so swiftly, the Golden Ghost would have long since rotted away, and they would not have recovered even a scrap of material.

At a time like this, a manager with some sense of propriety would usually wave a hand and let it pass after saying a few words, perhaps deducting a bit of performance bonus as a token punishment. Who would cling to the matter so relentlessly like that Shen fellow?

The many harvesters had long accumulated deep resentment toward Shen Rongfa. Leader Li had complained about him plenty of times while drinking with the others. Today's incident was the final straw that broke the camel's back. He simply could not endure it any longer.

Meng Yishan understood Leader Li's feelings, but this concerned the livelihoods of many harvesters. He could not help but cautiously consider his son's words. A new corpse source?

But Meng Chao was going all out.

Unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to provoke a Transcendent like Qin Hu.

That was why he had suggested splitting the material evenly just now. If they really found a Crystallized Nerve Ball, there would be no need to take things to the bitter end.

After buying the material, if he had not been afraid that delaying too long would affect its quality, he would not have chosen to open it in front of Qin Hu.

But now that he had offended the man, what was there left to fear?

The war was about to escalate. When that happened, what would be in shortest supply would not be corpse sources, but skilled harvesters.

If he wanted to grow bigger and stronger, he had to fight with all his strength every time an opportunity came. How could a mere Qin Hu stop him from firmly grasping his destiny in his own hands?

"Uncle Li, we absolutely won't lack corpse sources. Forget one harvesting team—if another three or five teams came, everyone would have work to do, money to earn, and lives a hundred times more comfortable!" Meng Chao said decisively.

Meng Yishan did not know what exactly was going on with his son. He only knew that his son would never shoot an arrow without a target. He nodded at once and stood behind his son.

"Fine!"

Leader Li might not truly have believed Meng Chao, but he could not continue working under Jiuxin anyway. He tore open his protective suit and shouted, "Tiger Lord, my harvesting team has been affiliated with your company for several years. During this time, we've received your and Manager Shen's care, and everyone has gotten along well. But no feast lasts forever under heaven. We'll work until the end of this month. Is that acceptable?"

"Old Meng and Old Li are both leaving?"

The other harvesting teams affiliated with Jiuxin did not openly tear their faces apart like Meng Yishan and Leader Li, but their leaders and workers were all whispering among themselves, their gazes flickering uncertainly.

It seemed that if Meng Chao could truly find enough new corpse sources, they would very likely jump ship as well.

Shen Rongfa and Manager Gu had not expected a boy who had not even graduated high school to stir up such enormous waves.

Their vision went dark, and they had no idea what to do.

Qin Hu's eyes gleamed with viciousness.

He could endure a mere Crystallized Nerve Ball for a few days.

But with one word from this brat, more than half the skilled hands in his company might be pulled away.

This little bastard was trying to uproot his foundations!

"Kid, Tiger Lord already told you to take your Crystallized Nerve Ball and leave, yet you don't know when to stop. You want to strike out on your own? Heh heh, looks like you have no idea how deep these waters run!"

Qin Hu gave a strange laugh, and a string of firecracker-like bone cracks came from beneath his cloak.

Meng Yishan and the others suddenly changed color.

The power of a Transcendent was simply too terrifying.

But Meng Chao remained unmoved. He was certain Qin Hu would not dare act in public.

As for a few days later?

In a few days, he would contribute more to society and his strength would soar by leaps and bounds. Why would he fear a "Descending Mountain Tiger"?

Qin Hu indeed did not dare throw a tantrum in public.

He could only gather his killing intent and stab it straight at Meng Chao's face like a blade.

Yet inwardly, he was astonished. What material were this brat's nerves made of? Why was there no reaction at all? Was he really that dull?

After being at daggers drawn for so long without frightening Meng Chao, Qin Hu was just beginning to lose face when he suddenly heard an elderly laugh. "Little Friend Meng, we're here."

Qin Hu flew into a rage. "Who is it!"

He saw an old man and a young man strolling leisurely around the street corner. Far from being intimidated by his presence, they stared at him with curious faces, as though examining an irritable wild boar.

Qin Hu was about to erupt when Gu Ming tugged him.

"Ning, Ning..." Gu Ming stammered.

"What do you mean, 'Ning'? What sickness are you having now?" Qin Hu roared.

"White-Haired Ghost Hand, Ning Shewo, Master Ning!" Gu Ming said excitedly.

"Ghost Hand Ning?" Qin Hu looked closely.

He did not know Ning Shewo.

But he recognized the handsome young man behind the grandfather and grandson pair, dressed in a white Biochemical Battle Suit, carrying a longsword on his back, with slightly peach-blossom-shaped eyes.

Qin Hu sucked in a breath. The flesh on his face had nowhere to settle. After trembling for a long while, he finally forced out a fawning smile and hurried over. "Peng Ge, why are you here!"

Thunder Battle Team's vice-captain, Zhang Yupeng, looked at him for a while before recalling, "Tiger, it's you."

"Little Tiger, just call me Little Tiger. How would I dare call myself 'Tiger' in front of Peng Ge?"

Qin Hu rubbed his hands, bent at the waist, and smiled ingratiatingly. "Last year, I was fortunate enough to join the Thunder Battle Team in hunting the Hell Beast, the Nine-Winged Golden Eagle. Peng Ge's earth-shattering sword strike was simply... I never expected Peng Ge to remember me too. It truly was, ah, truly..."

Zhang Yupeng smiled. "I'm not here for anything. Old Ning said he had a young friend here, so I accompanied Old Ning to take a look and see whether there might be a chance to cooperate."

Ghost Hand Ning's young friend!

Qin Hu looked at Meng Chao in uncertainty.

He saw Meng Chao chatting and laughing with Ning Shewo, even familiarly inviting Ning Shewo to appraise the Crystallized Nerve Ball. They looked like friends who had forgotten the difference in their ages.

It was as though Qin Hu had been punched viciously in the face. Only then did he realize that he had been blind.

No, it was not that he had been blind. It was Gu Ming and Shen Rongfa, those useless fools who could not accomplish anything and ruined everything instead—especially Shen Rongfa!

Qin Hu shot Shen Rongfa a vicious glare.

Shen Rongfa shuddered, wishing he could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

At this point, Qin Hu naturally could not resort to force.

Both were Transcendent teams that hunted monsters, but the Thunder Battle Team was several times larger than their Mad Blade Squad. He could not make an enemy of them head-on.

He could only suppress the blade stabbing through his heart and, with a smiling face, wish Meng Chao a smooth journey.

Meng Chao pinched Meng Yishan's waist, snapping his father out of his daze.

"Let's go. We'll find somewhere quiet to talk with Old Ning and Captain Zhang."

Just as everyone was about to leave, Meng Chao suddenly remembered something. He turned back and strode toward Shen Rongfa.

Shen Rongfa was so frightened that he burrowed toward the ground like an earthworm.

"Manager Shen, don't be afraid. I'm quite civilized. I only want to take back what belongs to me."

Meng Chao stretched out his hand and raised his voice. "To get me into Jiuxin for work, you took a ten-thousand-yuan shopping card from my dad. Originally, it was a willing transaction on both sides, so that would have been that. But I don't plan to work at Jiuxin for even another minute, so please return the shopping card to me!"

Shen Rongfa was dumbfounded.

He had completely forgotten about that.

Qin Hu was dumbstruck as well.

In front of the vice-captain of the Thunder Battle Team, they were arguing with him over a ten-thousand-yuan shopping card. Did he, the Descending Mountain Tiger, not need his dignity?

Ning Xueshi could not hold it in and burst out laughing.

The bell-like laughter entered Qin Hu's ears like thunder, making his tiger eyes split wide. "Shen. Rong. Fa!"

Shen Rongfa tremblingly presented the shopping card with both hands.

Meng Chao snatched it away in one motion, thoroughly satisfied. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Oh, there's one more thing. Tomorrow, my dad and all the uncles will come to the company to settle everything. I remember you've always withheld insurance payments from their wages, saying they were all being paid at the highest rates for high-risk occupations. So you must have the original insurance policies here, right?

"Please prepare all the documents. We'll pay them ourselves in the future. When we come tomorrow, everyone will verify everything item by item. Clear accounts, documented proof, so there won't be any disputes later.

"That's all. Sorry to trouble you, Manager Shen, and thank you, General Manager Qin."

Meng Chao tucked the shopping card into his pocket and strode away without looking back.

Watching everyone's retreating backs, Qin Hu's brows furrowed so deeply they could have squeezed out gasoline.

He turned to look at his brother-in-law's panicked expression, thought for a moment, and asked incredulously, "You damned dog, don't tell me you even cheated the employees out of their insurance?"

"Brother-in-law, listen to my explanation."

Shen Rongfa was scared out of his wits. Ignoring the agony in his cheeks, he sobbed with tears and snot running down his face. "I-I was just confused for a moment..."

"What use are you to me!"

Qin Hu slapped Shen Rongfa across his swollen, pig-like head.

It rang out ten times louder than Meng Chao's slap.

Shen Rongfa screamed and spun around seven or eight times on the spot. White fragments were mixed into the blood he spat out.

The teeth Meng Chao had kindly left for him earlier were all slapped out by Qin Hu.