“Third brother, you understand, it’s not that we don’t trust you, but that to convict someone of such a thing, you must first find them,”
Third Master’s brows furrowed instantly, “What if the two of them have already left Shangjing?”
“Even then, it would take at least a month to investigate.”
Third Master stated without hesitation, “That’s absolutely unacceptable!”
“Time is of the essence. If they’ve already leaked our classified documents, the other party must be making their move! We need to make adjustments as quickly as possible!”
At this moment, an elder suddenly stood up and said, “All you’re saying boils down to worrying about how Second Master’s resources will be allocated. In my opinion, as long as Third Master doesn’t take over, wouldn’t that perfectly clear his name?”
Third Master immediately sneered, “Not me taking over? I’d like to ask if anyone else present has the confidence to handle the situation properly in the shortest possible time.”
Someone else retorted, “Third Master, we all understand your intentions, but the problem is twofold: firstly, Second Master’s situation is still unclear, and secondly, you are the biggest beneficiary. We don’t doubt you, but outsiders will gossip if word gets out.”
Third Master continued to sneer, “At this point, you’re still worried about what outsiders say. Ha, anyway, my stance is clear. If you want to discuss, go ahead. According to the clan rules, if you don’t have a better solution within twenty-four hours.”
“Then I will directly and temporarily take over my second brother’s resources in accordance with the clan’s crisis clause!”
With a wave of his hand, Third Master strode out of the hall.
As soon as he stepped out of the doorway, Hu Tian was already waiting.
“Grandfather, how did it go?”
Third Master glanced back, saw no one following, and then said coldly, “They’re all on guard, but it doesn’t matter. Once twenty-four hours pass, we’ll forcefully take over, and then black will become white.”
Hu Tian’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but praise, “Grandfather’s methods are indeed effective! This way, not only will I smoothly inherit the position of heir, but we can also take control of most of the family’s resources in advance! The Hu family, it will be our Hu family sooner or later!”
“Keep your voice down! Don’t say such things outside in the future, lest walls have ears!”
Third Master reprimanded, but then a smug smile appeared on his face.
“Go back and prepare. After we take over, we can’t afford to miss any of the evidence we need.”
“Understood, Grandfather!”
Meanwhile, inside the hall, the atmosphere was somber. After all, no one in their position was foolish. They could all roughly guess Third Master’s thoughts and plans.
Some even suspected that the incident involving Second Master’s line was also related to him!
But that was no longer the main point. The person was missing, and all the evidence was provided by Third Master, which already raised suspicions of forgery. For instance, his claim of personally seeing Second Master go to the data archive last night.
If Second Master were still present, he could come forward to confront and verify the evidence. But with him absent, whatever Third Master said would be taken as fact.
However, what they truly feared was not this. It was that once Third Master controlled Second Master’s resources, if he were indeed the mastermind, then a lot of fabricated evidence might appear…
Yet, faced with this situation, they were helpless.
The Patriarch of the Hu family sighed deeply and murmured, “Second brother, what exactly are you doing? Don’t you have any awareness of this?”
Just as Zhou Tong was looking for Kulinan, Li Chonglou, far away at the General Bureau, followed Zhang Zhong into the newly opened Casual Hall.
The environment upon entering was somewhat similar to a bank, but only in style, and without any female hosts.
In the center of the hall stood a cylindrical pillar with a diameter of at least five meters, upon which were hung four large screens. Facing Li Chonglou, that is, the screen near the entrance, scrolled lines of small text.
“Silver Tier: Apprehend wanted criminal Black Tiger. No time limit, alive or dead, bounty one million.”
Behind this information were some basic details about Black Tiger and his approximate location, which was very thoughtful.
The lines below were similar mission details, with varying bounties, the lowest being one million, and the highest reaching five million per person!
This price was not low. Li Chonglou couldn’t help but ask Zhang Zhong, “These Silver missions are already in the millions, what about the ones above? Tens of millions?”
Considering that above these were Diamond, Glory, Black Gold, and Venerable tiers, with the lowest starting at a million, Li Chonglou felt the General Bureau’s immense wealth for the first time.
Zhang Zhong smiled, “Tens of millions? There are missions worth billions, but not here. This place only serves Silver Casuals.”
Li Chonglou’s interest was piqued, “Then how does one upgrade?”
“Points. Every completed mission comes with corresponding points, but points are not tied to the bounty.”
Li Chonglou nodded and looked back at the large screen, his eyes suddenly lighting up.
Now, the company needed money everywhere, whether it was the price war Zhou Tong mentioned or the transport team Gao Baisong talked about; the amounts required were astronomical. Previously, he hadn’t felt so urgent because he knew there was still money to be earned from Luo Feng.
But he had to consider future matters. Now that there was a channel, Li Chonglou instantly made a decision.
Let’s do it! If nothing else, let’s secure enough funds here first!
With that thought, Li Chonglou directly asked Zhang Zhong, “Then how do I accept a mission now?”
“In such a hurry?” Zhang Zhong’s smile widened, but he didn’t hesitate, leading him to a manned front desk.
“Someone’s here?”
A young man, who had been dozing, snapped awake when Zhang Zhong reminded him, appearing somewhat excited.
“This?”
Li Chonglou cast a questioning glance at Zhang Zhong, who explained, “This is someone from the supervision department. If you want to become a casual, you need to verify your identity first.”
Li Chonglou’s brow furrowed. He suddenly remembered something: if everyone had to go through this process, wouldn’t those free agents with a less-than-clean background be walking right into a trap?
How many people in the casual profession had a clean record…
However, when he voiced this doubt, Zhang Zhong calmly explained, “That won’t happen. We won’t thoroughly investigate past affairs. One is to establish an existing identity, and the other is to exclude some black sheep.”
“We can’t just ignore those who have irreconcilable grudges with our General Bureau, can we?”
Now he finally understood. Indeed, if there were irreconcilable grudges, having more of them would only cause disruption. Although spies could be hired, this at least served as a first filter.
However, Li Chonglou suspected that the deeper purpose was to control the information of every casual. This, in his opinion, was something that would eventually need to be changed.
Unless those in charge didn’t care about the bigger picture and only wanted to focus on the present.