How to Break This Deadlock

With money, most troubles simply don't bother you, and Zhang Xuezhou lived a very comfortable life.

He has the knack for making money from mythical beasts; he'll make a lot of hot money in the next year or two.

The existence of Zhu Liangping's Beast Factory almost solved his major time-related problem.

If he could participate in the sale of exotic beasts at the agricultural market, Zhang Xuezhou would go and take a look. If he couldn't participate, he would visit Zhu Liangping's exotic beast factory.

This gave him a lot of confidence in investing in real businesses, even though he owed Luo Gaogao and others five million in investment, owed Professor Luo Hui ten million for blood serum, and still owed Zhou Yueyan twenty million.

Zhang Xuezhou is doing very well, while some people are not doing very well.

This doesn't involve Zhang Xuezhou's enemies, but rather that there are indeed some people in Western Capital City who have been in a period of turmoil and instability in recent years.

"How come such a good TV series didn't become a hit!"

At least Changkong Yinghao and Changkong Yinglian, who suffered physical injuries, are not doing too well.

Also present at the gathering was the ailing Zhou Rihui.

The Scarlet Alliance State has always liked to use smokescreens. As the older generation is constantly being sent to their Twilight Years Mansion, the new generation is always the one who steps in to resolve international disputes. Even Zhou Xin did not attend.

But lofty ideals cannot withstand reality.

Changkong Yinghao lay inside a high-end therapeutic device, repairing his physical injuries, and could only pass the time by watching TV dramas.

The TV series he personally attended and filmed was "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer," in which he also played the important character Yu Canghai.

As a member of the production Lineage, Changkong Yinghao is also entitled to a share of the profits from the show.

However, he was very dissatisfied with the 1.24 million yuan dividend that came out after the report was released.

Changkong Yinghao definitely thinks the money is too little.

But what he disliked even more was the insincere compliance of the local areas Western Capital City, where a popular drama was deliberately shown as a midnight show, resulting in lukewarm reception in the local areas.

This also demonstrates the control and management capabilities of Western Capital City.

Compared to more than ten or even several decades ago, Western Capital City's control capabilities have actually been continuously improving, but this is still far from sufficient.

As long as there is a conflict of interest, such control cannot be fully implemented. Even promoting a film or television drama as a weapon of public opinion in Western Capital City would be very difficult.

"Trying it out with a harmless TV show has caused so much trouble," Changkong Yinglian said. "It's a real shame that the law has abolished the crime of treason, otherwise, piles of heads would be rolling!"

"Why bother with those harsh laws of the Luofu Empire? If we weren't more lenient with the law, our Alliance States wouldn't have survived these past few decades," Zhou Rihui, who was also recuperating, replied calmly. "Although our Western Capital City is powerful, the other provinces aren't pushovers either. The people in the fifth and Sixth Sequence combined are quite numerous. If they really fight us, a lot of them will die, and a lot of us will die too. Then we'll have to redistribute the territory!"

"If only we could produce two more Seventh Sequence Holder among us," Changkong Yinghao said with a headache.

"Two aren't enough. In the past, it was my father and Uncle Changkong who patrolled and suppressed them, but that wasn't very effective," Zhou Rihui shook his head and said, "We need at least ten or eight to be stationed in those provinces long-term, forming a pincer movement to forcefully suppress those who are restless!"

"You really have a wild imagination, ten or eight," Changkong Yinghao scoffed. "We'd be lucky if two or three people made it into the Seventh Sequence in the next twenty years!"

"If we only produce two or three Seventh Sequence Holder in the next twenty years, it only proves that our genetic research has made absolutely no progress," Zhou Rihui shook his head and said, "Staying stagnant in this explosively growing field is tantamount to falling behind."

"What you need to think about more is whether we can hold out for the next twenty years," Changkong Yinglian interjected. "If the Scarlet Alliance State collapses in our hands, that's not impossible!"

"We can't just slaughter a bunch of people," Changkong Yinghao frowned. "If we really target the locals, not only will it cause high- Sequence Holder from all over to band together, but they'll also see through our Western Capital City's weakness. Once those foreigners come and take advantage of our misfortune, we'll be completely finished, and no one will escape!"

Using the internal communicator of the sanatorium bed, the three engaged in a localized online chat, the content of which caused each of them to frown.

They are currently facing a deadlock: fighting is not an option, and not fighting is also not an option.

This explains why Zhou Xin's inspections of the Scarlet Alliance State still resulted in instances of outward compliance but inward resistance, even when it involved the broadcast of a television series.

The problem isn't a lack of resources, but rather an unequal distribution of them. However, if Western Capital City were to relinquish the resources it controls, it would lead to even bigger problems.

Many Lineage in Western Capital City seem to control various industries, but even with a monopolistic position, it is difficult for these industries to achieve 100% profitability.

This involves research and development, equipment installation, personnel costs, corruption, mistakes, and so on. The large amount of money poured into gene research is constantly draining resources. In addition, there are local subsidy policies, resulting in huge expenditures every year.

This is similar to many young people in cities who seem to earn high salaries, but actually don't save much money.

You earn money in Western Capital City and spend it in Western Capital City; don't even think about taking a single penny home.

This is a joke, but it also reflects the reality faced by many Lineage.

The limited availability of resources further hinders development. No matter how much money and effort they put in, the limited resources are there, and the allocated share is only so much. Moreover, the older generation is obsessed with genetic longevity, and there are certain problems with the direction of genetic research.

"They're testing us now!"

Zhou Rihui pointed to the "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" playing on the public screen.

This is not just a TV series; it has evolved from a matter of confusing public opinion into a point of contention between the two sides.

Many people wanted to see how well Western Capital City was managed, whether the older generation was willing to retire, and whether the new generation had enough control. Some elderly people in the area also had the idea of moving into their Twilight Years Mansion.

This TV series/film serves as a test point.

If control is weak, local powerful Lineage will take advantage of the situation; if control is strong, local powerful Lineage will simply put forward some pre-existing scapegoats.

As long as the crime doesn't warrant the death penalty, these people can be imprisoned for a period of time and then released early due to various meritorious deeds, or even reinstated to their original positions, without anyone suffering any loss.

How can we break this deadlock?

The Changkong Yinghao asked Zhou Rihui.

This left Zhou Rihui helpless.

He doesn't like to use his brain when he's fighting, and he's even less likely to do so when it comes to management.

He inherited Zhou Xin and ruthlessness, but not Zhou Xin intelligence.

Zhou Yueyan inherited wisdom, but she wasn't as good at ruthlessness and lacked sufficiently powerful methods, which resulted in her not having high prestige.

As for Changkong Yinghao and Changkong Yinglian, Zhou Rihui didn't expect the two of them to have any good ideas.

Both of them are extremely strong in terms of mentality and strength, but compared to Changkong Luo, they are indeed several levels below.

If Changkong Luo couldn't solve the problem back then, then Changkong Yinghao and the others certainly couldn't have solved it either; otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered asking him, a brainless person.

"I think the author of the Smiling, Proud Wanderer is really amazing. Didn't you guys realize that this TV series is actually a political drama?"

Changkong Yinghao's questioning of Zhou Rihui was destined to be fruitless, while Changkong Yinglian watched television with great interest, constantly comparing the film and reality.

To her surprise, if these martial arts masters were considered as individual Lineage forces, the situation was somewhat similar to that of the Scarlet Alliance State.