Unexpected! How Terrifying!

The conference room, which once represented the pinnacle of Listoan's prestige, now appears somewhat empty.

At the height of Listoan's power, even without extra chairs, the shareholders were willing to stand here during meetings and listen to Neo and other Board of Directors members express their opinions at the conference.

Even if these people cannot speak or move around during the meeting, they are very happy to do so.

But now, many chairs in the room are still empty, and combined with the rumors circulating outside, a kind of emotion that is hard to describe is spreading among a small group of people in the conference room.

Gepu adjusted his glasses and sat down at the end of the table. As an important employee who had become a partner in the Group Company, he had also received an invitation from President Neo to attend this closed-door meeting.

Furthermore, no minutes will be taken of the meeting. In other words, the meeting will not be disseminated through any official or unofficial channels, and even if someone did, no one would admit it.

This is a meeting that will never appear in the history of Listoan, which naturally means that it must be different.

Neo, seated at the head of the table, glanced at his watch, as did the security guard downstairs.

The watch worth over two hundred thousand and the watch worth twenty-odd dollars both pointed to the same time. The security guard closed the gate, and Neo's face showed a slight smile.

He looked at the employees sitting around the conference table in the room. These employees were all very "important" to Listoan, and each of them possessed some kind of secret about Listoan.

For example... his gaze lingered on Gepu, who was sitting at the end of the table. The reason he chose Gepu at first glance was firstly because he didn't turn his head to look to the left or right, and secondly because it was also a subconscious behavior.

Selectively looking at one person from the left or right sides can give the impression of targeting someone, while looking directly in front of you will not.

After sensing the president's gaze, Gepu smiled humbly and bowed his head slightly to show his submission.

Neo nodded noncommittally and began the agenda for today's meeting. "You know, there have been some rumors circulating recently, and those rumors are actually true."

"I have submitted the Group Company's relocation application to the governor, and it should be approved in about a month at the latest. We will complete all the relocation work by the first half of next year."

He spoke calmly and clearly, with a strong presence, exuding composure and confidence. "I know many people are confused about what has happened during this period. Now I'm telling you, all of this was planned by me."

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly changed slightly. The Listoan Group's stock plummeted due to a rift with the mayor of Sabine City and the governor, losing 40 percent of its market value in just one week.

He even dampened the upward momentum of the Byler Industrial Index, which led more and more people to be pessimistic about the Listoan Group.

Following this, Neo, representing the Board of Directors of the Listoan Group, submitted a delisting application, causing Listoan's stock to plummet again. At this time, Neo and his associates took the opportunity to begin a massive buyback of shares at extremely low prices, and finally completed the stock buyback plan of more than 70% this week.

Another 20% or so of the shares are scattered among long-term investors and in accounts with no activity.

Some people are investing purely in the business, not in the stock, while others are very gamblers who don't believe a Group Company can simply disappear and are betting that Listoan will one day be relisted.

Regardless, the delisting plan is now unstoppable, and Neo can begin implementing the next step.

He said this to make those who already had different thoughts abandon those little schemes.

These are people who are hard to let go of, and if possible, Neo would not want to have any further contact with most of them. However, there are undeniable ties between these people and him, and between him and the Group Company.

Just like the new partner, Gepu, who helped the company monitor and amend a large number of books to weaken and eliminate some of the company's unreasonable accounts.

These people become partners seemingly because of their hard work and ability, but in reality, they possess company secrets. The company has to give them higher positions and more benefits to ensure they keep these secrets.

These people are all vampires, but the company can't abandon them all. If one of them decides to self-destruct, the Group Company will also fall into the abyss.

He wanted to stabilize morale and prevent these people from thinking about gaining new opportunities by betraying secrets; he would directly give them opportunities.

"The Group Company's performance has actually been poor for several years. We have been looking for new breakthroughs and have ensured our continued and stable development at the technological level."

"The most recent opportunity came from Heng Hui Group. If we could acquire some of Heng Hui Group's core businesses, we could quickly turn the current situation around. However, as everyone knows, our negotiations with the City Hall and the State Government have broken down."

"If we don't change, we'll be finished soon. So the Board of Directors and I have decided that we will shed all our burdens and start over."

He lowered his gaze, picked up a document from the table, glanced at it a few times, and looked around. "I know some of you might have some opinions about this, but it doesn't matter."

"The important thing is that when we move to the new location, we will be shedding at least 4,400 direct employees and about 7,000 employees with whom we have indirect employment relationships."

"This is Listoan's heaviest expense to date. Most of our profits are spent on things like paying these people's salaries."

"Once we get rid of these people and this heavy expense, even without Heng Hui Group's core business, we will be able to easily complete the transformation and regain our former glory."

He placed the documents back on the table and looked at the attendees around the conference table again. "Once our plan is complete, the Listoan Group will reapply for listing, and your shares will become exceptionally valuable!"

A faint, almost imperceptible smile played on Neo's lips, tinged with sarcasm, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that the atmosphere in the conference room had become lively.

His tone became more relaxed. "In view of everyone's support for the Group Company and myself during this period, I have decided to give you some extra stock as a reward for your loyalty to the Group Company, taking into account factors such as your years of service, level, and job responsibilities."

The atmosphere became more and more relaxed, and many people smiled. What these people in "high positions" feared most was suddenly falling to the bottom.

The more debate there was about Listoan, the more bewildered they became.

Fortunately, President Neo has now personally explained the reason, and they have also imagined some other things that Neo did not explain, such as Neo keeping it from them in the early stages to prevent the news from leaking, rather than not valuing them.

Sometimes the human brain is just that amazing; they didn't even actively look for excuses for Neo or the Board of Directors, and the idea just popped into their heads.

Regardless of other things, this is ultimately a good thing. A stable life and more income are just a matter of living in a different place.

Next came some more detailed instructions, requiring everyone to maintain the stability of their department as much as possible, hold talks with key department members, and then wait for further instructions.

The meeting was short. After it ended, Neo's secretary brought over a list. The triumphant smile on his face had been replaced by a cold indifference tinged with anger.

Four people on the list did not attend the meeting. These people, like Gepu and others, possessed some potentially illegitimate evidence against the Group Company, and some were even involved in the transactions themselves.

This is actually very common in large Group Company. A Group Company that wants to develop smoothly will definitely face some challenges.

Some challenges can be reasonably solved through gameplay, such as challenges from other players or non-human-caused difficulties.

However, some things are difficult to solve, such as the irrational "I just won't." This kind of person is common among the lower classes, or, as in the cases handled by Gepu, requires certain skills and methods to solve some inhuman problems.

Whenever these problems arise, someone needs to handle them, and now four guys are skipping the meeting, which is making Neo very unhappy.

If they leak information to the Sabine City Hall or the State Government, his future opportunities could very well be thwarted.

After a moment, he moved his facial features, told his secretary to leave first, and then picked up the phone to ask the Minister of the Group Company's Internal Security Department to come over.

About seven or eight minutes later, a middle-aged man with a bald head and a somewhat sinister expression entered the room.

Neo handed him the list. "Find out what these people are doing, who they've been in contact with recently, and what they're planning to do."

The Minister of the Internal Security Department took the list, glanced at it, and then looked at Neo, "If..."

Neo turned his head to look at a huge oil painting hanging on the office wall. It was a painting by a famous medieval painter. At that time, the government of the painter's country was suppressing a riot known as the Canned Riot, and a large number of rioters were sent to the execution platform.

This painting depicts this scene: numerous heads are tied with hair and hung on the edge of the execution platform, with a continuous stream of victims waiting to be beheaded, and the faces of the onlookers below are distorted and eerie.

There was a sense of fear, yet also a feeling of excitement. This led to two schools of thought discussing the painter's stance and whether he was trying to express fear, excitement, or something else on the faces of these people.

Neo stared at the painting for a while before looking away. He lowered his gaze, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one.

The lingering vibration of the Langsheng Lighter's reed still echoed as he exhaled smoke, a half-smile playing on his lips. "Many unexpected things happen in this world every day, Minister."