The subordinate who had gone to fetch the briefcase hurried over and advised him in a lowered voice.
"Boss, keep your voice down. What if that mysterious person hasn't gone far yet? They might hear what you're saying, come back, and cause us trouble again. That would be bad."
Chen Daqiang's heart jolted. He instantly swallowed the curses that were about to leave his mouth, then warily looked around. After confirming that only his own people remained at the scene and there were no outsiders present, he relaxed slightly.
He hadn't cursed much just now, and his voice hadn't been particularly loud. Besides, the other party had already collected the spiritual stones and left. The chances of that terrifying mysterious person hearing him were actually quite low.
But this concerned life and death, and he didn't dare take the slightest risk. Thus, he stopped cursing, though his expression remained ugly.
Another slightly plump subordinate stepped forward with a pained look on his face.
"Boss, the spiritual stones you handed over just now were our net earnings for the past half a month. That's equivalent to all the day-and-night work we've put in during this period going to waste."
The moment Chen Daqiang heard this, the anger in his heart flared like dry kindling. He slammed his palm onto the table and said irritably, "You think I don't know that? But at the time, apart from paying to avert disaster, was there anything else we could do?
"If I hadn't handed over those spiritual stones, we might all be lying on the ground right now, gravely wounded and on the verge of death.
"What use would the spiritual stones be if we were dead?"
The subordinates fell silent after hearing this. They looked at one another, their faces showing both agreement