"Network maintenance is underway. Please try again later."
The electronic voice repeated the message twice, then automatically hung up.
Chen Xiaoqiu put away her phone and continued, "It's not just calls and messages. The internet's down too. We can't get online. The hospitals are having the same problem. Their intranets still work, but they can't connect to the outside world."
I immediately sensed this was a serious problem.
For people today, losing the internet was probably one of the worst kinds of disasters, natural or man-made.
The internet could spread some terrible things quickly, but making communication easier did more good than harm.
"Four Seas Fortune has invested in quite a few domestic and foreign telecommunications companies and internet giants," Chen Xiaoqiu explained. "You could say that if a company is well-known, they've invested in it. They own at least some shares in all of them."
"How is that possible?" the Thin Man cried out.
"Not enough to give them any real influence. They just get a share of the profits." Chen Xiaoqiu shifted gears. "But if the Ghost Kings are involved, this could become a big deal. At the very least, if they wanted to, it would be easy for them to place people in lower and middle management at those companies. With the right setup, they could take control of some important positions, even if those positions don't come with much real power."
Chen Xiaoqiu looked at me. "Everything you said is true. Those Ghost Kings aren't acting alone. They've banded together under a central command. If that's the case, it'd be even easier for them to pull this off. They wouldn't even need help from a company like Four Seas Fortune."
I felt dazed.
I knew there was something above the Ghost Kings, something capable of commanding