Actually, the crime of illegally manufacturing ordnance carried quite a heavy sentence under Earth Federation law. If it were an ordinary company without any backing, perhaps everyone would have been executed, but for a group with some backing like the Shangguan Family, it would at least make the Shangguan Family suffer damage to their foundation and lose their currently booming glory.
"Although I can't bring down the Shangguan Family, Miss Shangguan, you certainly won't keep your currently glamorous identity and halo. When that happens, your great beauty might make you the plaything of a group of men, rather than a career woman in control of her own future and life." Mu Xiao ruthlessly tore off the hypocritical face of the upper-class circles.
Indeed, once the Shangguan Family collapsed, Shangguan Yuanxin, as the primary heir, would inevitably be the first sacrificial victim.
Hearing these words from Mu Xiao, Shangguan Yuanxin's rosy, plump lips suddenly curved into a meaningful arc. "Mr. Mu, it seems you are not someone backed by some organization, perhaps just a talent who understands a bit of hacking technology and wants to use this to blackmail me!"
Like a bolt from the blue, these words rang in Mu Xiao's ears, and it could be said that Shangguan Yuanxin saw right through his trump card.
Is she bluffing me?
The more critical the situation, the calmer Mu Xiao became, without his heart skipping an extra beat. With a calm expression, he said, "I don't understand your words very well. If you agree to my request, I can even provide the complete program for the 'ZI-S001'. As long as you complete this machine, your family status and wealth will far exceed what the Bauhinia gets now..."
Shangguan Yuanxin stretched her slender, graceful body into a relaxed and leisurely posture, as if the control had returned to her hands. Interrupting Mu Xiao without courtesy, she smiled and said, "Mr. Mu, I am now even more certain of what I just said—you are a person without any background."
Suddenly, Shangguan Yuanxin changed the subject and said, "Wanting Bauhinia's property is impossible, but I am willing to hire you at a high salary to become my right-hand man. Such a status far surpasses that of any employee in the company, and this is also a great opportunity for you to enter our upper-class circles."
Mu Xiao's eyes were as calm as water, gazing at Shangguan Yuanxin's fair and charming face in silence.
Let alone just the aristocratic circles on Earth, even returning to aristocratic life on the Moon held no interest for Mu Xiao right now...
"It seems you still don't know where you went wrong..." Shangguan Yuanxin leaned forward slightly, opened the drawer beside her, took out a bottle of wine and two cups, then poured two glasses of white liquor and placed them in front of Mu Xiao. She took a small sip from her crimson lips before explaining unhurriedly, "If you had someone behind you, you would definitely know about things in our circle, which is that our Shangguan Family and the An Family have reached a marriage alliance. As it happens, I am the future daughter-in-law of the An Family. Even if the Shangguan Family collapses, I will still have a halo and a glamorous identity within the An Family. Therefore, your threat poses no threat to me at all. With the help of the An Family, the Shangguan Family will not suffer damage to its foundation. Although there will be some trouble, the loss will probably only be the property of the Bauhinia Group... As for why I won't give you Bauhinia's property, it is to avoid minimizing trouble, because I am not someone accustomed to being threatened."
The An Family? The An Family that controlled the SWAT forces? Could she be An Renwang's fiancée?
Mu Xiao frowned, realizing that his threat at the moment was no longer usable. He had originally thought to use 'ZI-S001', a mass-market machine from the late era, to scare Shangguan Yuanxin, but the unexpected variable of the 'An Family' had popped up, and he hadn't expected this woman to have such acute reaction skills.
In the late apocalypse, the Shangguan Family was considered a medium-sized organization, and what they were most famous for was the 'ZI-S001' machine model, so Mu Xiao had a certain understanding of the Shangguan Family's background. As for influential figures in the later period, Shangguan Yuanxin was not among them; it seemed she was the type who died early in history, while the An Family's most famous person, 'An Renwang', turned out to be quite a strong figure...
Sigh... It turns out that prophetic rebirth memories also have times when they are useless. Mu Xiao sighed inwardly, lamenting even more that without his status on the Moon,
his intelligence network was no longer sharp. However, even back on the Moon, he wouldn't pay attention to the 'family affairs' of an Earth nouveau riche. With the poise of a victor, Shangguan Yuanxin looked proudly at Mu Xiao and said aggressively, "Mr. Mu, you know what the consequences will be if you refuse me. This is also your only way out."
If Mu Xiao had someone behind him, it would certainly be some major-brand families, likely harboring a huge conspiracy targeting the An Family and the Shangguan Family. Shangguan Yuanxin had been worried about this point, but after figuring out Mu Xiao's 'trump card', she no longer had such worries. Even if the charge of 'illegal manufacturing' leaked to the outside world, she had plenty of time to make preparations.
Therefore, Shangguan Yuanxin fancied herself entirely standing on a victorious platform, except that she had run into Mu Xiao, and also run into this crucial day.
With a gentle expression, Mu Xiao gazed at the peerless beauty before him and smiled slightly. "Miss Shangguan, actually I originally intended to solve the problem with gentle methods. This would undoubtedly be a good thing for both you and me, but unfortunately you are not cooperating..."
"Huh?" The moment Shangguan Yuanxin felt more and more that something was wrong, a flash of sharp light appeared in Mu Xiao's eyes, and his entire temperament completely turned upside down. It was like a fierce beast breaking out of its cage, releasing a violent, bloody aura that frantically flooded Shangguan Yuanxin's entire Consciousness Sea. Her rosy, charming face instantly turned pale, an invisible fear occupying her body and mind, and her body lost its ability to react.
Although Mu Xiao temporarily lost his combat power as a New Human, the aura of a former New Human powerhouse still existed, and it was entirely capable of completely deterring Shangguan Yuanxin, who was currently an Old Human. After all, before his rebirth, Mu Xiao was at least a moderately famous New Human lone wanderer who had experienced battles big and small, and his aura had merged into his combat instincts, free to release or retract.
Therefore, to Shangguan Yuanxin, who had not yet evolved into a New Human, Mu Xiao's aura was no less than a mental attack—and that was with Mu Xiao intentionally suppressing his aura to the minimum. If he were to release his former combat posture, that vast, militant aura could definitely crush Shangguan Yuanxin's psyche.
A person in a high position could cultivate the aura of a superior, invisibly oppressing ordinary people and making them tremble with fear.
Let alone a warrior who had experienced countless battles; the aura on his body was even more formidable and difficult to guard against, unless the superior had experiences identical to a warrior's and wielded the power over countless lives. But Mu Xiao's experiences were simply not something Shangguan Yuanxin could compare to.
"Actually, I'm also not used to being threatened by others, so now I'll give you a chance to compromise with me. Otherwise, I don't know what will happen next, nor am I certain whether we can continue talking as happily as we are now." Mu Xiao's eyes were cold and merciless. At some unknown point, his hand was already gripping a red energy blade that had expanded to over a meter in length, its scorching tip a mere half-inch away from piercing the fair, tender throat of Shangguan Yuanxin.
What he held in his hand was precisely the modified 'Overclocked Microwave Blade'. The original half-meter energy field had been increased to over a meter, increasing energy consumption. Fortunately, he had replaced it with a large-capacity energy block in advance, which could support a very long duration of use, except that the material couldn't continuously withstand such great energy...
"You... Who are you? Ordinary people wouldn't have this kind of pressure from you..." Shangguan Yuanxin's complexion was deathly pale. She felt a sharp, scorching sensation at her throat, but her eyes remained bright and firm, carrying an unyielding light.
"If your finger trembles at that frequency again, my blade tip will definitely pierce your throat before you can trigger the alarm." Mu Xiao was expressionless, the Overclocked Microwave Blade held in his hand not showing a trace of tremor as it directly pierced the outer skin of her throat. A wisp of blood flowed down her elegant, slender neck, but it was instantly evaporated by the scorching heat of the Overclocked Microwave Blade.
Shangguan Yuanxin's body stiffened once more, not daring to move an inch, as if locked onto by a ferocious beast, at any moment liable to be torn to pieces. That cold killing intent gripped her throat like an invisible giant hand, making even breathing difficult at this moment.
"Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the Shangguan Family and the An Family?" Shangguan Yuanxin said, forcing herself to stay calm.
"Get through today first." Mu Xiao gave a meaningful, cold laugh.
"What do you mean?!" Shangguan Yuanxin felt a chill rise within her, as if a catastrophic disaster was about to befall her family.
"I don't want to talk nonsense with you. Immediately deactivate all alarms in the room for me, including those two S-Rank Robots, or I'll take you hostage directly, strip off all your clothes, and parade you layer by layer through your company so people can properly appreciate you naked..."
"Shameless!" Shangguan Yuanxin's beautiful eyes were filled with anger, her originally pale face flushing with a wave of rage that slightly dispelled the fear in her heart.
"Deactivate them or not?" Mu Xiao said indifferently.
Shangguan Yuanxin originally wanted not to yield so easily to Mu Xiao's shamelessness, nor did she believe he truly dared to strip her naked and drag her downstairs, because such an outcome had only one result: facing the terrifying retaliation of two families. However, seeing his detached gaze, a sense of terror and chill involuntarily welled up in her heart, as if he genuinely dared to do this.
"You will regret everything you've done today." Shangguan Yuanxin cast a cold glance at Mu Xiao, took a deep breath, and reached out to hook her fingers in the air, causing a light screen to appear before her with many setting options. Mu Xiao watched intently as she canceled all options, before turning off the energy output of the Overclocked Microwave Blade. He also felt the hilt getting hot; if he kept it on a bit longer, there might be side effects from the overclocked output, causing the components inside to burn out.
"After today, you might even thank me." Mu Xiao's terrifying aura dissipated, restoring a natural and friendly smile to his face. But Shangguan Yuanxin was well aware of just how calm, brutal, and shamelessly vicious the person behind this smiling face was.
"Alright." Using the tone of casual small talk, without a shred of heat and in a lazy manner, Mu Xiao said, "Now hand over your company's financial account passwords, as well as your private account passwords, all to me."
Watching his lazy and nonchalant demeanor—as if he were asking her for a few bucks—Shangguan Yuanxin was exasperated to the point of almost going crazy and fighting him to the death.
No one had ever dared to speak to Shangguan Yuanxin like this, nor had anyone ever dared to treat her with such an attitude. Ever since she was a child, she had possessed countless halos and praises; this was the first time she had suffered such a massive blow. Naturally, under such a huge contrast, it would be strange if she didn't go crazy.
What if I don't give them to you? Aren't you afraid I'll drag you down with me?
Of course, Shangguan Yuanxin wouldn't actually say that, because she understood that her life was far more valuable than Mu Xiao's. Therefore, she stated the financial accounts and passwords "very cooperatively."
Mu Xiao used the optical brain on her desk to log into the bank and quickly opened the accounts she provided, only to find that the credit balance inside was not as massive as he had expected.
"The Bauhinia Group only has this little money? Are you insulting my intelligence, or trying to prove your own?" The look Mu Xiao directed at Shangguan Yuanxin was filled with teasing.
"The two billion credits inside the accounts are enough for you to spend for a lifetime." Shangguan Yuanxin crossed her hands over her full, proud breasts and said pointedly, "Besides, I don't know if you'll even have the time to spend all the credits inside."
Before you continue