The Countermeasures Bureau Is Established, and the Response Is Swift

And so, without any argument, everyone chose option 2.

Shi Tiansheng nodded and said:

"In that case, we need to establish a strong department."

"This Powerful department must include Powerful independent individuals."

As he said this, he looked at Gao Linzhi and the others.

Gao Linzhi and the other two nodded.

At this moment, Su Hongxiu took a puff of her thin cigarette, a hint of doubt in her eyes:

"I do not understand."

"Why are you powerful independent players unwilling to join us?"

"You should know that we offered a very high price, even including original shares."

"Cooperation leads to win-win results, and a good platform can give you wings."

Li Gun chuckled upon hearing this, "Hehe, I don't know about others, but I know that I've always been carefree and easygoing since I was a child. In my speech and actions, I always got along very well with others at first."

"Once you get to know someone, they won't hold back their words and will occasionally say things that hurt your feelings, eventually ruining the friendship."

"Therefore, cooperation is fine, but direct joining is not recommended."

"As someone aptly put it, good wine is good for friends, but if you become complete confidants, then you'll have to resort to knives."

Gao Linzhi nodded; coincidentally, he was much the same kind of person.

Of course, he didn't join their organization.

The main reason is that I don't want to be betrayed, and I don't want to entrust my life and beliefs to others.

His primary principle in life and work is independence and self-reliance.

The tall, thin man codenamed "The Old Thousand" coldly uttered:

"I'm not used to being a dog."

"I don't want to experience the fate of being discarded like a hunting dog after the rabbit is caught; I don't want to become a second Xu Da or Han Xin."

Su Hongxiu was taken aback, her expression slightly displeased, but she didn't say anything.

Shi Tiansheng quickly steered the conversation back on track:

"Alright, let's first determine where the budget will come from."

Zhou Xuantong from Canglong Company said, "Our five major companies will provide a fixed budget."

"Of course, for this, we must have the final say from the organization."

"Secondly, for each strange incident handled, the company in the area where the incident occurred must allocate a portion of the funds."

Finally, any shortfall in the budget will be divided equally among all the companies.

"What if some companies disagree?" Shi Tiansheng asked.

This actually involves the core of coercive force.

"If they don't agree, our five companies will jointly impose sanctions on them, targeting them in terms of trade, raw materials, talent, and patents," said Rumike of White Stone Corporation.

The representatives from the other four companies nodded in unison.

Shi Tiansheng nodded in satisfaction.

"That makes things much easier."

"However, if this organization wants to truly exert its power and avoid too many restrictions, it still needs independent funding," he pointed out another issue.

At this point, the representatives of the five companies exchanged glances, knowing that the other side was right.

But they also want to keep the organization under their control.

At this moment, Li Gun spoke up, "Everyone, strange occurrences are happening frequently these days. Any other considerations must give way to this matter."

"You wouldn't want to control a city in ruins, would you?"

Upon hearing this, the representatives of the five mega-companies finally nodded in unison.

"Okay, we will allocate some fixed shares of high-quality assets, as well as some high-quality stock, to serve as the institution's fixed income."

"In this way, its independence is guaranteed," Su Hongxiu said.

The other four companies quickly agreed as well.

After all, their instructions before coming here were to quickly reach an agreement and deal with the anomalies swiftly.

"Very good, the funding will be resolved through these three methods."

Shi Tiansheng continued, "Another thing is that they need to be given the corresponding executive authority."

"This right should include the right to recruit personnel and the right to handle unusual occurrences in various cities."

"Of course, this authority to dispose of the matter will be strictly limited to areas related to the supernatural."

"The scope of implementation cannot be expanded arbitrarily; it will be limited by contracts."

"This is a document I've drafted; please take a look."

Soon, a secretary came up and handed out several documents to each person.

Gao Linzhi looked down.

There's a lot of content on it.

This includes staffing, organizational structure, and the scope of matters to be handled.

How to identify anomalies, and how to ensure that they don't cross the line?

Of course, there are many loopholes here.

However, the current situation prioritizes rapid response and expediency in urgent matters.

This is something most people can tolerate.

"Of course, companies can send their own personnel to act as supervisors and auditors to prevent the misuse of funds and the abuse of disposal rights," Shi Tiansheng continued.

Everyone nodded.

"The name of this organization is the Countermeasures Bureau."

"One neighborhood head and nine deputy neighborhood heads."

"Those appointed to bureau-level positions must be selected based on their merits."

"First, your mental resistance must be extremely high, at least 1500 points or more."

"Physical strength can be weak, but mental resistance must be high," Shi Tiansheng continued.

Everyone understood.

The reason for needing high mental resilience is to prevent him from being controlled by others.

To prevent curses, bewitchment, and other such methods.

This is very important.

If the leader of the Countermeasures Bureau becomes someone else's pawn, the stronger the organization, the greater the harm.

This reminded Gao Linzhi of a Tokyo Ghoul manga, in which the highest decision-maker in dealing with ghouls is himself a ghoul family.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Upon hearing this, the group immediately began to whisper among themselves.

They quickly reached a compromise.

Of course, this is inseparable from the current intense situation.

However, the two major company camps, Eastern and Western, still argued over the specific allocation of quotas.

Zhou Xuantong began by saying, "In short, our territory in the East is large, so we need to occupy more high-ranking positions, at least six people."

"Hmph, we in the West have three companies, while you only have two."

"Of course we want to take more spots," Rumick said.

At this moment, Shi Tiansheng stepped in to smooth things over:

"Everyone, please listen to me."

"For the head of the neighborhood committee, one head and nine deputy heads will be appointed for the time being."

"However, four of these nine people can be selected through a rotating competitive process."

"Whoever has the best performance can be re-elected."

"Elimination and survival are achieved through full market competition."

"The five of you can each occupy five spots, and the other four spots will be decided by the market."

When he spoke, he clearly excluded the decision-making power of the independent participants.

Gao Linzhi didn't care about this.

Because he knew that power came from strength.

If you lack strength, you will end up like the Great Ying Empire, which, although nominally the hegemon at the start of World War II, ultimately had to sell its blood to survive.

Only after hearing this did the five companies reluctantly agree.

They were all confident that they could secure the other four spots through competitive means.

"These nine deputy directors respectively manage the Intelligence Group, Action Group, logistics group, Research Group, Transportation Group, Management Group, and Supervision Group..."

"Each person is responsible for a specific task; though small, it has all the essential parts."

As Shi Tiansheng recounted his story, they agreed in principle.

This meeting was indeed very efficient.

The parties involved were simply arguing over the list.

Gao Linzhi was not surprised by this.

This is similar to World War II in history.

Before World War II began, there was all sorts of maneuvering, nonsense, and delays.

Making a decision is incredibly difficult.

But as soon as World War II began and the situation became critical, efficiency immediately increased.

Many support agreements that would normally take years to reach were quickly finalized in just a few days.

Supplies that would normally take years to procure were gathered and delivered in just one month.

At the same time, productivity has also increased significantly.

The situation is similar now.

The strange threat isn't imminent; it's right beside us.

Moreover, the strange occurrences are now rampant and unrestrained.

A city can be destroyed at the drop of a hat.

Unlike before, it no longer just appears in some corner and causes an incident.

It's fair to say that if they continue down the same path as before, fragmented and sabotaging each other, even plotting to kill and steal the talents of unaffiliated individuals, then they can expect the planet to become a wasteland.

The old methods are no longer effective.

Gao Linzhi and the other two individuals are currently only listening in.

However, at the very end, Gao Linzhi spoke:

"We request that one condition be added."

"As long as individuals do not commit evil deeds or disrupt the existing order, they shall not be targeted in any way, including intelligence gathering."

"Unless he broke the law."

Several companies quickly agreed to this.

Because they know very well that now is not the time to start infighting.

Any problems can wait until we defeat the anomaly and take control of the situation.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the fact that independent individuals have already established a foothold in the market.

It's not something they can easily destroy.

Furthermore, independent individuals possess the ability to Mutual Destruction.

If the wandering people attract more strange occurrences, they won't be able to handle it.

This meeting was characterized by considerable candor among all parties involved.

The smell of gunpowder is also much less than before.

After experiencing it, Gao Linzhi suddenly realized that so-called high-level meetings were nothing special.

It's actually quite similar to those historical negotiations from my previous life.

Faced with a common enemy, even deep-seated hatred can be temporarily set aside.

Once the enemy has retreated, pick it up again.

Gao Linzhi is fully aware of this.

Therefore, he would never lower his guard against these large companies because of this.

However, towards the end of the meeting, Shi Tiansheng proposed:

"Here, I would like to nominate a gentleman as the deputy leader of the Action Group."

"That's Gao Linzhi, Mr. Gao."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Gao Linzhi.

They did not object to the proposal.

Since Gao Linzhi is the deputy director, it means that the other party has to do the work.

However, Gao Linzhi dismissed this with disdain.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in this position."

"I'm here just to observe the meeting."

"Just making sure you don't target us casual players."

"I will not be responsible for this organization."

At this moment, Su Hongxiu suddenly became somewhat dissatisfied. "This is a crisis facing all of humanity; those with strength should contribute their strength, and those with money should contribute their money."

Are you going to just ignore it and not get involved?

"Heh heh heh, what does this have to do with me?" Gao Linzhi sneered. "I still remember when I first entered the game, I was chased and killed by those Company Executive Players."

"Many Rogue Players died right in front of me."

"If it weren't for some luck, the Company Executive Players would have killed me already."

"Now, you're making me take responsibility."

Isn't this hilarious?

Zhou Xuantong frowned and said, "One should be magnanimous. Should we keep holding grudges about the past?"

"This world doesn't just belong to companies, it belongs to the vast majority of ordinary people."

The three Western companies, however, remained silent.

Their eyes lit up, as if they had seen something they could use.

"Hmph, the saying 'the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked'—I will always remember this."

"You don't need to use morality to blackmail me. I have no morals, and I won't be blackmailed by you because of morality."

"In short, we won't hold you back, and you shouldn't expect us to be cannon fodder."

"The cooperation between the two parties is based solely on mutual interests."

"In this world, your company reaps the most benefits, naturally because you've put in the work."

"To put it bluntly, even if this Blue Star is destroyed, we'll just be living in a game at most."

"But you have lost a huge source of wealth."

Upon hearing this, the Old Thousand immediately clapped his hands. "Brother Gao is right, I agree!"

"You!" Su Hongxiu was speechless for a moment.

Shi Tiansheng then tried to smooth things over, saying, "What happened in the past was beyond our control."

We understand your feelings.

"However, the establishment of the Countermeasures Bureau is beneficial to everyone."

"After all, when it comes to acquiring resources, Blue Star is much faster than the game world."

Gao Linzhi nodded in agreement.

In fact, he did not oppose the establishment of this organization.

On the contrary, by not officially serving as deputy director, he was secretly turning the Countermeasures Bureau into his puppet state.

This was something that couldn't be done before.

In the past, if you didn't occupy a position and do things, you would never be able to gain real power.

But it's possible to do it now.

After all, there are various kinds of magic.

He wanted to turn his opponent into a tool in his quest for Immortality.

As for dealing with the supernatural, that was just a side effect.

As for how to do this, he has his own way.

And so, a week later, the relevant personnel were allocated and the Countermeasures Bureau was quickly established.

It has two headquarters, one of which is the Blue Star headquarters, located in Dragon City.

One of them is the headquarters of Skyfall, which is located on Wolf Snake Island.

This is also to unite the independent individuals.

After all, with the expansion of game access, ordinary players have a higher chance of getting it.

After all, the Company Executive Players make up at most one ten-thousandth of the total number of employees.

Shortly after its establishment, the Countermeasures Bureau encountered a city-destroying anomaly.

In fact, strange occurrences are happening frequently in various places these days.

This time, the Countermeasures Bureau demonstrated its value.

Their response time was extremely fast.

We just received an emergency call from a certain city, and they dispatched troops 10 minutes later.

They dealt with this city-destroying anomaly in just half an hour.

Such speed is naturally due to the large number of experienced personnel they dispatched, as well as the abundance of game items.

Although Gao Linzhi's still willing to sell a large quantity of game items.

The strange creature, still in its early stages of development, was quickly sealed away using game props.