by <unknown>
It was exactly because the free coin could be exchanged for almost all the resources and magical equipment through the trade network of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors that it was acknowledged by all the Immortal Cultivators, making it even more reliable than the legal tender of the Imperium.
If the trade network of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors collapsed, and all the core trade data were gone or messed up, it would mean the total collapse of the free coin as well as the collapse of all the Immortal Cultivators' confidence in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Who would ever fight for the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors?
Of course, even if all the data collapsed, they could always be gradually recovered given a couple of days.
However, at this critical moment, when the coalition fleet of the four families almost marched to the nose of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, it was certainly a catastrophe.
As long as twenty to thirty percent Immortal Cultivators, if not all of them, lost confidence, a calamitous chain reaction would be triggered.
"How did it happen?"
His face pale, Li Yao demanded, "Shouldn't the core trade data of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors be the top secrets? The dozens of defense measures were a great headache even for me. How could they have been sabotaged easily?"
"Nobody knew what exactly happened."
Li Jialing said quickly, "The grand explosions at the beginning were just a disguise to distract everybody's attention. When everybody, including Jin Yuyan, went to search the culprits of the explosions, the central database of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was uncannily compromised. Also, the enemy had Jin Yuyan's highest clearances, allowing them to import a hundred crystal processor viruses of the latest model. All the data were ruined unstoppably. By the time the specialists of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors discovered it, the damage was already irreversible. It was estimated that it would take at least 48 hours before the data could be recovered!
"To-to make things worse, after clearing the core trade data of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the enemy also implanted abundant other information, mostly the clandestine scandals and deals of the leaders of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, including a lot of scandals of Jin Yuyan himself. Everybody is panicked and wary of each other now!"
Survival of the fittest was the basic law that all the Immortal Cultivators abided by. Both the Immortal Cultivators from the four families and those of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were the same. None of them was close to being kind or generous.
Having rise all the way up to be the director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors from an unknown guy a hundred years ago, Jin Yuyan certainly had done plenty of betraying, conspiring, and backstabbing.
As for hoarding, gang fighting, or even hiring assassins to annihilate his business competitors, such things were not rare either. Many of them were in violation of the rules of the business world and the rules of the Immortal Cultivators.
All the senior managers, managers, shareholders, and business partners of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were more or less the same. Hanging around in the upper class in fancy clothes, which of them had clean hands? The unspoken tradition was that as long as the things were cleaned up, leaving no evidence behind, nobody would care about them.
After all, the victors enjoyed impunity!
However, it would be a whole different matter when somebody presented such things in public with solid evidence.
Now, not just the crime evidence of Jin Yuyan, but also the crime evidence of the four senior managers and many other common managers had been exposed to the public and sent to the highly-influential shareholders and business partners through the network of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.
It was not until then that many people realized that their certain batches of goods were actually swallowed by a certain scumbag who was smiling at them on the other side of the table and that a certain astonishing assassination that shocked all the Immortal Cultivators was actually directed by Jin Yuyan. Besides, Jin Yuyan had resorted to too many shameless, despicable approaches and misappropriated the interests of too many shareholders and business partners, before he made it to the bloodstained throne.
The stone raised a huge splash. Although a great enemy was up ahead, nobody could hold it back anymore. They demanded an explanation from Jin Yuyan. Somebody even started fighting each other.
"It was Wuying Qinxin—no, it was Wuying Qi, who remotely controlled her brain!"
Li Yao looked so awful that he was like a poisoned frog. He gnashed his teeth and said, "Wuying Qinxin and Jin Yuyan were a couple for a hundred years. A lot of Jin Yuyan's clandestine deals were conducted by Wuying Qinxin. Naturally, she had plenty of evidence in her hands.
"As for Jin Yuyan's highest clearances to modify the central database, hehe, when Wuying Qinxin helped Jin Yuyan with the Soul Transfer Technique, she could naturally scan Jin Yuyan's brain and soul to analyze and copy his soul signature.
"I wonder how long she—he had been planning for this. However, the problem remains. What is it that he wants? Just like what we discussed before, smudging Jin Yuyan, or even collapsing the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, will bring him absolutely no returns. It's not like he is going to take the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors down with him and let the four families claim the fruit?"
"Brother Yao, what do you mean?"
Li Jialing replied in surprise, "I don't understand. How is this related to Wuying Qi? Shouldn't Wuying Qi be utterly ignorant of everything that happened in the Seven Seas Grand Market? If he had known it, how could he have allowed the Seven Seas Grand Market to fall into chaos? The more chaotic this place is, the more unfavorable the situation will be for him!"
"Exactly. I thought so too."
Li Yao said with a bitter smile, "This is the greatest problem and the key to solve the dilemma. However, let's not rush into anything yet. Tell me, has Jin Yuyan got everything under control?"
"On the ground, yes."
Li Jialing said worriedly, "However, the situation in the space battlefield couldn't have been worse!"
Li Jialing told Li Yao that Jin Yuyan had been the director for decades after all. He had a lot of trusted subordinates and supporters in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Despite the disadvantageous circumstances, he did not lose his calmness but resorted to all the methods possible, winning the forgiveness and support of many big shots by giving away tremendous interests without batting an eye. He then punished the people who fought each other and who intended to flee heavily and ensured the order of the Seven Seas Grand Market on the surface.
The gunshots and explosions they heard were exactly from the troops loyal to Jin Yuyan when they were suppressing the people who were trying to flee through the spaceports.
However, while Jin Yuyan could control the order of the Seven Seas Grand Market on the surface, he could not control people's trust and confidence, particularly not the trust of the warlords and local magnates who were vacillating and observing the situation at the edge of the Seven Seas Space Zone with their armies.
In the battle of Seven Seas, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was outnumbered. They were fighting with their morale and confidence, and they had to crush the enemy unstoppably.
Should anything go wrong in the process, preventing the wavering warlords and local magnates from taking their side, they would be absolutely no match for the coalition fleet of the four families with only the forces in their headquarters.
Right now, it was not just that something had gone wrong; half of the sky had essentially collapsed.
The nature of the limp, compromising, and vacillation of the business class couldn't have been better revealed.
The moment they heard the news that a civil war broke out within the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and
abundant core trade data had been changed or cleared, many warlords and local magnates changed their attitudes and threw away all the agreements they had reached with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, starting to fight the fleets of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors for real.
The fleets cruising at the edge of the Seven Seas Space Zone lazily seemed to have been injected with excitants too. Refreshed, they all approached Yun Xuefeng's flagship-in-general, eager to pledge their loyalty to the commander.
As long as somebody started it, there would certainly be a lot of followers. Even the Immortal Cultivators who did not intend to abandon their agreements with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, seeing that other people were returning to the four families' side and the scales of victory were more and more inclined, certainly had no reason to die together with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.
Li Jialing said helplessly, "The whole Seven Seas Grand Market was a mess just now. Since we couldn't find you, many people said that even 'Black Wind King' had slipped away when the situation did not look promising. Some even say that Brother Yao was a fake Black Wind King that Jin Yuyan fabricated as a bluff because not even one ship of the Black Wind Fleet could be seen. The rumors are spreading on every street. It is even less possible to stop the collapse of confidence!"
"Understood. What about Boss Bai?"
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao said calmly, "Has Boss Bai sent any message? Is he exposed?"
"Not yet. Seeing that it was not good, Boss Bai chose to be Yun Xuefeng's 'loyal subordinate' at the earliest time. So, he is not exposed yet."
Li Jialing said, "But more and more fleets are gathered next to Yun Xuefeng now. Boss Bai is caught in an awkward situation now that he is surrounded, and it's hard for him to do anything. It must be noted that we intended to watch the tigers fight, but one of the tigers has collapsed before fighting. Are we going to charge forward and fight the tiger on our own?"
Chapter 2577: Drinking Poison to Quench Thirst! |
Li Yao did not expect Blackstar the Great's fatal moves to be so consecutive and brutal. It was like an incessant flood that did not give them any chance to catch their breath. During the first half of the day when he was unconscious, the situation in the outside world had been drastically changed.
The admiration for Wuying Qi rose up deep inside his heart again, which scourged his brain like lethal venom.
He saw Wuying Qi, who was ensconced on the high throne while pointing at the picture of the universe magnificently, and he almost couldn't stop himself from worshipping Wuying Qi.
"Damn it!"
Li Yao spat hard; his saliva piercing through Wuying Qi's illusion.
The illusions collapsed like a palace of glass, turning into thousands of dancing butterflies. Behind every butterfly was a series of patterns that looked like swirls. When two swirls were combined, they became Wuying Qi's eyes precisely.
Even if Li Yao closed his eyes, he could not move the thousands of aggressive eyes of Wuying Qi away from his head.
He could only slap himself heavily as quickly as lightning, managing to suppress his reverence and admiration for Wuying Qi.
"This is—"
Li Jialing was taken aback by Li Yao's sudden movement. Looking at Li Yao's highly-rising cheeks where two bloody handprints were particularly obvious, which implied that Li Yao certainly did not hold any strength back, the young lion was dumbfounded. "Brother Yao, what was that about? We may have been outplayed, but there is no need to blame yourself so hard. We-We'll work something out together."
"Who says that I'm blaming myself?"
With his nose bleeding, Li Yao grimaced. "I was merely refreshing myself through that special technique in order to resist Wuying Qi's dominance. The specific mechanism is too mysterious for me to explain right now. Don't be surprised if I continue to slap myself later.
"Also, bring me to Jin Yuyan immediately. This whole thing was planned by Wuying Qi, but there must be more to it. He certainly has more moves!"
Li Jialing found it hard to believe. "How do you know, Brother Yao?"
"Very simple. Considering the situation, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors will collapse if no changes happen."
Li Yao said, "I believe it is definitely not Wuying Qi's purpose, or at least not his only purpose. The sudden collapse of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors will bring him no good whatsoever. If I were Wuying Qi, I would achieve the most benefits if the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the four families are mutually destroyed by each other.
"Therefore, I don't believe that Wuying Qi's scheme will be so simple. There will certainly be more changes in the next moment. Hehe, he narrowly won the game just now, but next time, it will be the time for our counterattack!"
Li Yao and Li Jialing boosted their crystal suits and flew toward Jin Yuyan's command center in two streaks of brilliance.
On their way, they saw countless soldiers stationed at the streets and alleys in the Seven Seas Grand Market. Barricades had been set up in many critical locations. Tremendous armed shuttles, spiritual puppets, and Exos were patrolling in full wariness, braced for the arrival of the great enemy.
Fierce street battles seemed to have just happened among many streets. Pits of cannonballs and remains of tanks and crystal suits were everywhere. The soldiers were also pulling out the dead bodies and piling them up, which added to the solemnity in the atmosphere.
The citizens who lived in the Seven Seas Grand Market in the first place and the merchants who had come to the place for trades only dared to hide behind the glass windows and stare at the warring world outside in panic.
The pictures filled with rust, blood, and smoke made Li Yao sigh to himself.
Although Jin Yuyan got the situation under control for now through iron measures, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was already half lost judging from the tension in the internal district.
Compared to the four Kurfürst families and Blackstar the Great, the greatest advantage of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was "freedom". At least on the surface, people could travel and trade freely without supervision from anybody. As long as they abided by the basic rules, this place would be absolutely free. They could come and leave whenever they wanted and do whatever they wanted here.
"Welcome to the freest place in the entire universe", the slogan floating at the edge of the Seven Seas Space Zone, pointed out the greatest value of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.
The Immortal Cultivators here were also fighting for "freedom".
However, after the unexpected incidents, Jin Yuyan, in his desperation, stomped on the freedom that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors had always been proud of and suppressed the merchants that did not belong to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors with violence. Those people were only here for trades, and they wanted to escape to avoid the war. Was Jin Yuyan qualified to keep them in this place?
It was a typical case of quenching thirst with poison.
If the game in question was "violence", ten Business Alliances of Ten Thousand Sectors would've been no match for the four Kurfürst families, let alone Blackstar the Great.
If those people were succumbing to violence, why would they succumb to Jin Yuyan instead of the four Kurfürst or Blackstar the Great?
The Seven Seas Grand Market was like a suppressed volcano right now. Even though Jin Yuyan could hold the situation for now, the chaos would burst out a hundred times more intensely soon enough.
If the battle in space remained unchanged, Li Yao estimated that the Seven Seas Grand Market would fall into complete mayhem in two to three days at most.
However—
When they were about to return to the headquarters of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, they were suddenly surrounded by a tide of cheers. The panicked, frustrated soldiers a moment ago were shouting and dancing in wild joy as if they had just injected excitants.
"What is this about?"
Li Yao was slightly dazed, knowing that something unexpected must've happened. However, there was no need to ask the cheering soldiers, and he simply dived into Jin Yuyan's headquarters.
The command center was a total mess. A minor riot seemed to have taken place a moment ago because broken crystal processors and crystal wires were still on the ground. In some places, there were also tiny pits and explosion marks. There were even soldiers who were scrubbing the blood busily.
However, the leaders and military commanders, including Jin Yuyan, looked as if they were in a rather high spirit, so high that they were almost delirious.
Their eyes were all popping out and bloodshot, and they were biting their lips hard. Their hands were shivering beyond their control. Feverish anxiety was emanating from all of them.
Li Yao had seen their looks on countless gamblers; the gamblers who had lost everything in desperation, only to run into a windfall, which they brought into the casino, hoping to win back their losses.
Jin Yuyan obviously saw Li Yao walking in, but he did not have time to ask where Li Yao had been to, whether or not he had caught the masterminds of the explosions or his wife Wuying Qinxin, or any other critical questions. He still stared at the holographic map of the space zone, totally focused.
It seemed that the information on the map was even more important than "Vulture Li Yao, Black Wind King".
What's going on? Have those people lost their minds?
Li Yao looked at where they were looking. On the holographic map of the space zone, the blue spots, which represented the garrison fleet of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, were not in the best condition. Most of the blue spots were surrounded and stalled by red spots that were multiple times more, implying that the fleets of the two parties were having fierce fights.
What was even more dreadful was that, in places far away from the blue spots, a large cluster of dense red spots were congregating into a dazzling light ball, and even more red spots were joining it from various directions, making the red light ball larger and larger, to the extent that it was almost swallowing the entire space zone.