"How long is 'not long'?" Xu Zongyin shook his head. "I said from the start that we should recruit whoever we could. We need to keep a low profile, not act arrogant or show off. We have to make ourselves look like good people."
"You insisted on showing off and throwing your weight around. And now look where we are. That classic plot from those city-life novels—the Dragon King or War God returning after three years—is about to happen to the Xu family!"
Everyone wanted to laugh when they heard that, but the thought of the Mysterious Man, who had appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly, wiped the smiles from their faces.
It was obvious that, given his rate of growth, it would take him a year at most to wipe out the Xu family!
"What we know for certain is that his constitution is very high. He can easily kill Xu Hai, who has a constitution of 30; he can run through the city at 200 kilometers per hour; and he managed to evade our most extensive manhunt in a very short time." Xu Zongyin sighed.
"He's probably hiding in some uninhabited area. Forget a mid-sized company like ours—even if the power of every company in the world were combined, it would be hard to catch him without ten or eight years and a good opportunity."
"In that case, we should put our fallback plan into action and secretly move our funds and talent to other cities. We can activate the contingencies we set up there before." Fourth Branch's Xu Zongtie spoke up.
"Right. We should prepare in advance."
"We can't be like those idiot villain families in online novels, who keep showing off and waiting to die even when someone's already targeting them in secret."
"Exactly. We need to prepare new identities and leave behind substitutes. Better safe than sorry."
"A man of great wealth does not sit beneath a crumbling wall."
The meeting room descended into chaos.
It was hard to imagine that these lofty Company Executives had been frightened like this just because they had failed to catch a wanted fugitive.
"That's enough! I'm not dead yet!" Xu Zongxin, the company chairman, clan head, and head of the First Branch, suddenly roared. "He's just a lowlife, a bug who happened to get lucky and acquire some game talent. We don't even know if he'll survive three months in the game, and you're already this scared?"
"Are you still members of the Xu family? Can you even shoulder the responsibility of carrying on the clan?"
Everyone fell silent.
They looked at one another, but inwardly, they were complaining.
If the First Branch weren't so unwilling to humble itself, or if the Second Branch were in power, their situation would at least be better now.
At least they could recruit that man. Wasn't he after gold?
Give him some.
Then offer him a Xu beauty, a villa, a high-ranking position... Surely he wouldn't be hell-bent on opposing the Xu family.
Once he had a child, he'd have a weakness.
"Chairman, what should we do now?" Xu Zongyin asked, straightening up.
"Hmph. If we can't deal with him, there are plenty who can. Weren't we tracking a woman named Lin Qing?"
"She's suspected of possessing an exceptionally powerful talent, and she has a golden item. Share that information with a few major companies and tell them the wanted fugitive holds a clue." Xu Zongxin said it outright.
"Big Brother, that's the foundation of our future rise. We can't expose it!" Third Branch was the first to object.
"Exactly. Once the major companies learn about this, we'll be in trouble too!"
"We shouldn't let the fear of choking stop us from eating. We still have a chance to catch that woman and take back the treasure!"
Everyone objected at once.
"Shut up, all of you! Aren't you afraid that fugitive will go into hiding and come after us? If the major companies hunt him, they'll draw even more of his hatred. That will keep us safe." Xu Zongxin snapped, furious.
No one spoke for a while.
But none of them were convinced.
The reason was simple.
They had worked hard to uncover the information about Lin Qing.
She was among the earliest numbered targets!
There were hundreds of thousands of large, medium, and small companies across Blue Star.
How many companies could get an opportunity like this?
That was why they had kept it absolutely secret from outsiders.
They knew that once the major companies found out, they'd have no chance of hunting Lin Qing themselves.
At least Lin Qing was in East Wolf Village right now, so they knew where to look.
All that remained was to keep working at it.
With both covert and overt schemes, given enough time, they could definitely get their hands on her.
Xu Zongyin softened his tone. "Chairman, there's no need to rush into hunting that fugitive."
"We still have time. How about we keep hunting him for three months? If that doesn't work, we can use the information about Lin Qing as leverage and ask a major company to step in."
"Let's do that, then." Xu Zongxin took a deep breath and announced the end of the meeting.
He was the first to leave.
The others, however, gathered around the Second Branch.
Clearly, the Second Branch had better foresight than the First and Third Branches.
When it came to carrying on the clan, people followed whoever had the best foresight and ability.
A clan couldn't inherit power like an emperor, simply passing it down to the eldest legitimate son. That was asking for trouble.
After all, competition between clans was fierce.
If they chose an idiot eldest son as heir, it could take just one generation for the entire clan to be wiped out.
Of course, the main line still had a significant advantage. Outstanding members of the collateral branches often had to be adopted into the main line. This was how clans could choose both the worthiest and the eldest without changing the rules of succession.
After all, there was no fundamental difference in the resources they had to work with.
"Brother Yin, I don't think the First Branch should stay in the chairman's seat," Third Branch's Xu Zongtong, who had spent the meeting picking arguments, was unexpectedly the first to speak.
"Exactly. His stubborn insistence on having things his way has put us in this passive position. Now a venomous snake has its eyes on us. It's unbearable."
"Right. How am I supposed to show off my might at night now? I can't get it off my mind." Fourth Branch sighed.
"If you can't perform, just say so. What do you mean, you can't get it off your mind?"
"Get lost!"
Xu Zongyin sighed. "Actually, Big Brother isn't wrong. The problem is that times are changing too fast."
"The balance of power can't keep up. Players are growing stronger at an astonishing rate, and ever since Skyfall World appeared, there have been far too many uncontrollable factors."
"That's what old clans and established companies hate most."
"Only new small companies and independent players welcome uncertainty."
"If we want the Xu family to get through this period safely, we need to spread out more—scatter our forces among different cities, and even change our surname, from Xu to Yu."
Everyone nodded silently.
"Damn those independent players. Why can't they behave themselves? Why do they have to stir up trouble? Can't they just obediently join us?" Third Branch said angrily.
"Join you? In your dreams!"
Gao Linzhi shook his head at the old man standing before him.
The man was from West Wolf Village. He had come to persuade Gao Linzhi to join their village.
At that very moment, people from West Wolf Village had arrived in East Wolf Village.
They had brought a long convoy of four-wheeled carriages, pulled by horned horses.
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