The Stodgy Old Men

Wenren Sheng and Xu Qingshu's conversation lasted only a few minutes before he suddenly stood up.

"The two old gentlemen have arrived. Manager Wenren, would you like to come greet them with me?" he invited.

"Sure. They are seniors, after all." Wenren Sheng nodded.

The two went downstairs from the second floor and heard two feeble voices.

"These old bones are already waiting to die at home, yet we still have to be invited everywhere. Can't get a moment's peace."

"Indeed, Old He. If I remember correctly, you should be 232 this year, right?"

"Yes. Old Li, you're not much younger than me. We awakened our Alien Powers in the same period, after all. It seems there isn't much time left before we go meet the Source Seed."

"How have you handled your affairs?"

"What else can I do? Those unfilial descendants are fighting and snatching over everything, without the slightest brotherly respect. Fortunately, there are plenty of them, and a few are honest and filial. If I didn't want to leave a little more for those few, I wouldn't have come here."

"Same here. Sometimes I really want to follow those Western rules—once they come of age, everyone is responsible for their own fate."

"Hmph. If you followed their ways, then don't expect your children and grandchildren to burn incense for you every year after you're gone."

"Haha, even now, I don't hold out much hope. I still have to rely on some imported foundation to keep them in line."

Wenren Sheng saw two hunched elderly men conversing as though no one else were present in the small hall, while Feng Youlin carefully attended to them nearby.

When the elderly men mentioned their ages, he noticed a flicker of envy in Xu Qingshu's eyes. The man hid it well; if Wenren Sheng's gaze had not been sharp enough, he would never have noticed.

Xu Qingshu quickly stepped forward to greet them. Seeing someone approach, the two old men stopped talking, but they ignored him completely and looked only at Wenren Sheng behind him.

"What an impressive youngster." Old Man He straightened up and examined Wenren Sheng from head to toe. "I heard long ago that this city had produced a genius in the past two years, but I never had the energy to meet you. If I'm not mistaken, you must be that young man called Wenren Sheng?"

Wenren Sheng was somewhat surprised. Feng Youlin had just said that the senior figures coming today might be rather old-fashioned, and he had even prepared himself to be put in his place by a few old men. This was completely different from what he had expected.

"You flatter me, Senior He. I am Wenren Sheng," he could only say modestly.

"Old He is not flattering you." Old Man Li gave Wenren Sheng the same appraisal and said seriously, "Not bad, not bad. These two old fossils have been worrying for nothing. Those people in the West, relying on all sorts of clever contrivances, have shown signs of overtaking us. But now it seems we worried for nothing. This inherited Alien Power truly has successors."

Though it was praise, Wenren Sheng felt something was off. Feng Youlin had not been wrong; these two really were old fogeys. In his previous life, who would still say—or dare say—that science and technology were mere clever contrivances?

Still, they were praising him. Though he did not agree with them, one did not slap a smiling face.

He wanted to exchange a few polite words, but someone else started the fight outright.

"Clever contrivances? What a joke. You old antiques really think the world is still in the era from two hundred years ago? So Alien Power is that amazing? Dare you compare it with the latest technological weapons?"

A middle-aged man in his forties, his eyes somewhat bloodshot, was walking down from the second floor.

Wenren Sheng looked up. The man was clearly one of those at the table upstairs, the one who had secretly mocked him through phone messages earlier.

His brows furrowed. He immediately saw that something was wrong with the man.

"Wang Chenggui, what is wrong with you? How dare you disrespect our seniors like this! And Youlin, what kind of people did you arrange?" Xu Qingshu's expression changed as he rebuked them sharply.

Judging from his drastically changed expression, this scene had apparently caught him completely off guard.

Feng Youlin also looked alarmed. He hurried over and grabbed the man.

"Wang Chenggui, do you not want to continue working with Five Colors Group? If you do, then hurry over and apologize to our seniors." He spoke in a low voice, his tone full of threat.

At those words, Wang Chenggui's eyes became even redder. He flung Feng Youlin's hand away and cursed, "You dogs who use others' power! Didn't you just curry favor with these washed-up old antiques early on? Then you used every means to suppress us, withheld our contract payments, made us prepay for raw materials, and even forced our families to marry generation after generation, marrying our pretty daughters to your ugly sons..."

"Today, I really want to see whether these old antiques are as formidable as the rumors say! If they're just old bastards who can be killed by a sniper rifle costing a few hundred thousand, what gives you the right to extort so much from us every year?"

The moment those words were spoken, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, instantly becoming a battleground.

By then, everyone on the second floor had come down. Wang Chenggui's voice had been so loud that anyone who was not deaf could hear him.

People in the small hall also poked their heads out from behind the screens, eagerly watching.

Sure enough, regardless of region or age, everyone loved a spectacle—as long as it had nothing to do with them.

Wu Shanshan walked to Wenren Sheng's side, her expression somewhat strange.

"Wenren, there's definitely something wrong with that Wang fellow," she said quietly.

Li Shuangyue, on the other hand, looked perfectly normal.

"Let's wait and see." Wenren Sheng swept his gaze over Wang Chenggui, and as usual, a stream of information appeared in his eyes.

Wang Chenggui, Mystery Points: 3/5.

Mystery Composition: Hate Power, ???

Just as he thought. Without the influence of Alien Power, such an intense conflict, the kind seen only in novels, could never openly play out in reality.

At this moment, Old Man He and Old Man Li returned to their previously hunched appearances. They did not fly into a rage, as though they had long grown accustomed to such scenes.

Old Man He shook his head. "Sigh, the masters of the Patrol Division are bad in this respect. They keep something good that has been passed down for thousands of years hidden away, secretly investigating and selecting people. The common folk can only know a vague outline. In this regard, they truly cannot compare to the openness of the West. There, everything has a clearly marked price. You can learn directly if you have money; the more money you have, the better you learn. If you have no money, you give up immediately. That is at least straightforward."

"It can't be helped. They have to consider people's hearts. If it were completely made public, wouldn't countless people develop false hopes, spending all day scheming and drilling for loopholes instead of working steadily? Take those imported lotteries, for example. They are entirely about luck, yet they can make countless people obsessed, unwilling to work. Let alone something as miraculous as Alien Power." Old Man Li seemed quite accepting of it.

"My apologies, seniors. Wang Chenggui has always been extremely respectful toward you. There must be something wrong with him today. Please forgive him." Xu Qingshu, the president of a major corporation, explained in a humble tone.

Seeing this, Wenren Sheng understood where the hatred at that table had come from.

Xu Qingshu was the head of a group with tens of billions in assets. In Wenren Sheng's previous life, he would unquestionably have been a member of high society. While not among the very top tier, he would still have held considerable status, regularly bestowed with all kinds of titles and praised wherever he went—the very goal these elites strove toward.

Yet here, he still had to grovel before two decrepit old men. The meaning of striving suddenly diminished by more than half.

If the end of one's struggle was still becoming someone else's dog, who could endure that?

Old Man He waved a hand, unmoved. "Of course we know this fellow has been affected by some strange power. But if he did not normally harbor such anger, he would not dare to explode in public on an occasion like this."

"That's right. Now that he has put us on the spot, we cannot go meet the Source Seed bearing the reputation of being cowardly turtles hiding their heads." Old Man Li spoke blandly.

Wenren Sheng was filled with respect. They were indeed senior experts of the Otherworldly Realm; even a tiger did not collapse after death. Still, at their age, falling for provocation was a little hard to justify.

"What should we do?" Xu Qingshu looked troubled.

"Enough, Little Xu. This has nothing to do with you. You are not their father or mother, so you cannot control them that much. Here's what we'll do. Young man, I'll write you a note. Go fetch that sniper rifle you mentioned and summon the masters from the Patrol Division. We'll have a contest right here in this secluded little building. Let him understand why Little Xu provides us with hundreds of thousands or millions for free every year!" Old Man He declared forcefully.

"Oh? It sounds like you want to take this on alone, Old He?" Old Man Li smiled.

"It can't be helped. I'm a few years older than you, Old Li. I'll be the first to go anyway, so even if I make a mistake, I'll have an excuse to smooth it over. I'll just have to leave my family matters in your care." Old Man He looked out the window, calm and unconcerned.

"Of course, of course. Just go in peace." Old Man Li answered sincerely.

"Get lost. Stop arranging my funeral in advance." Old Man He laughed and cursed.