LWGP - Chapter 39
Chapter 39: The Plan
Before the two o'clock meeting, Qi Dong went to inspect the venue and saw Qi Jun. He found him sitting on the steps, looking utterly lost. He was so dejected, he looked like some naive kid who'd pulled an all-nighter gaming, gotten drunk and passed out in a park, only to get his ass blasted by some foot-picking brute.
As his older brother, Qi Dong felt sorry for his younger brother, but he still asked him where Wang Jiu had gone. The man finally snapped out of it a little, but his answer was vague.
"What are you thinking about? Even if you haven't encountered a Pioneer Instance yet, you'll have to go through it sooner or later. No need to be so insecure. She's not the type to judge you for that. She won't look down on you."
Qi Dong thought Qi Jun was worried about this. Qi Jun had a strange expression and forced a smile. "Got it. Is the meeting about to start?"
"Yeah, soon. That's why I'm asking where Wang Jiu went."
"I… I don't know."
Qi Dong felt something was off with him. He thought to himself, As expected of a man caught in a humble, unrequited love. He can't take the devastation.
Time was tight, so he couldn't ask more. He just told Qi Jun not to wander off.
Only Registered Players were qualified to attend this meeting. Even his younger brother could only wait outside.
People like Jian Ling and Xu Dong couldn't get in either, but none of them left. This was because many people in their group had been invited, and they also wanted to get firsthand information, as their families had instructed them beforehand.
So, no matter how impatient Jian Ling was, she had to wait obediently. However, seeing that many people had gone in but Wang Jiu still hadn't arrived, she couldn't help but mock Qi Jun, "Looks to me like she knows her true colors have been exposed and is too ashamed to show up! You poor, stinking men who were deceived by her. I see her for what she is—a peerless white lotus!"
Qi Jun was, after all, an elite in his field. How could he let this straw-headed, rich beauty bully him? So he sneered, "A white lotus is still a flower. It's better than a foxtail grass that willingly debases itself to be a mistress, only to be cast aside like a worthless weed."
"You!" Jian Ling was furious, but she suddenly restrained herself. "I won't get into a war of words with you. Anyway, many people already know now. Let's see how she's going to get by in the future."
Qi Jun suddenly understood. He asked, "What did you do!"
Jian Ling waved the phone in her hand and sneered, "Nothing much. I just sent the video to a dozen or so large group chats. Those groups don't have that many people, just a few hundred each."
Qi Jun took a deep breath and stood up. Seeing the look on his face, Jian Ling was startled. She grabbed the railing and demanded, "What do you think you're doing! I'm telling you! My family has several Registered Players. If you dare…"
Before she could finish, she suddenly shut her mouth, because Wang Jiu had arrived, walking over from the other side of the building.
Judging by her direction, she must have been in the small garden next to the venue. No one knew what she had been doing in there alone. Was she lamenting her collapsed persona, or was she figuring out how to polish up a new one?
She walked over with a particularly leisurely air, like a village girl strolling around her own yard after feeding the chickens. Seeing Qi Jun and Jian Ling at daggers drawn, she glanced over.
She didn't say anything. Qi Jun froze on the spot, while Jian Ling, with a whoosh, scurried behind a pillar in her high heels as if her feet had wings.
Wang Jiu paid them no mind and went inside. Qi Jun, however, glanced at Jian Ling.
See? This woman was truly in love with Yan Yanting.
She had clearly been terrified of Lao Wang ever since hearing the recording, yet in the end, driven by the natural enmity of a mistress wanting to take the wife down with her in a mutual-destruction bombing, she had torn the couple's faces to shreds.
And look now. The other woman was becoming more domineering and impressive, while you're scared like a dog.
What was the point?
Qi Jun suddenly forgave this straw-headed, rich beauty.
Inside the vast conference hall, Xiao Li and his group of four, all Registered Players, were already seated. Amidst the dense crowd, Wang Peng still had the mind to talk about Wang Jiu, but Xiao Jue shot him a cold look.
"What time is it to be distracted by such things? The world is about to be destroyed. Don't end up accompanying your old man."
Wang Peng, having such a huge pot of blame dumped on him, was dumbfounded.
My dear Brother Jue, you're always the one acting all serious and prioritizing the big picture, but who was it that acted on impulse before?
Beating someone up and proposing, all in one smooth motion. Ptooey!
MD, what an Old Dog Xiao!
Xiao Li obviously thought the same. He patted Wang Peng's shoulder, telling him not to fall into Xiao Jue's hands.
He understood his older brother. Despite how serious and decisive he appeared now, who knew how furious he was inside.
Wang Peng wasn't about to walk into the line of fire.
"There are more people now, stop talking." Xiao Qing saw the two whispering and reminded them in a low voice. Xiao Li looked up and saw that all several hundred seats in the hall were full. It seemed like a lot of people, but in reality, many still hadn't come.
It was too rushed, after all. With the current transportation problems and the previous plane instance incident, many people had given up on flying, preferring to take high-speed trains or drive themselves.
"But by the looks of it, many people who didn't come might have been dragged into Pioneer Instances."
Xiao Qing was an extremely decisive person. She had been caught in the first wave of Pioneer Instances, but she successfully became a Registered Player. That very day, she handled her affairs abroad, and the next day, she flew back to the capital on a private jet arranged by her family. At that time, she had investigated it. Statistically, one percent of the population should have been dragged in that day, but because this group was the very first wave, they considered themselves heretics and didn't dare to reveal themselves, just like her.
She had only mentioned it to her family. But by the time she returned, Xiao Li had also encountered it on Miao Mountain…
After that, the number of people around her who encountered such things increased.
The probability of being dragged in now was likely very high.
It was unknown how many people were on their third time; failure would mean permanent death.
No, there were also those who died on their first try.
Xiao Qing raised her eyes to the portrait of the deceased Lin Zi on the large screen at the front.
Her life story, her contributions to the country—many of her deeds could not be contained in a short video.
Yet she had died just like that.
She recalled hearing one of her lectures by chance when she was young, having gone to the neighboring medical school to find a friend. Even though she wasn't a medical major, she had still been deeply impressed by her.
People from that era—healing the world and saving people, serving the country and its citizens—their integrity was like a fragrance passed down through the ages.
And to think of how she had supported the nation's development in harsh places back then, only to suddenly lose her beloved daughter and search bitterly for many years to no avail.
Now, she herself was gone too.
Xiao Qing was deeply saddened. As she lowered her head, she heard a commotion of discussion behind her.
Wang Jiu had arrived.
Many people were already aware of Wang Jiu's situation. It was just that the theme of this meeting was serious, so no one would openly discuss such matters. At most, they would size up Xiao Jue, Yan Yanting, and the others, and discuss it quietly among themselves.
But most of the discussion was still about the game itself, and… who was stronger.
Having just returned to the country, Xiao Qing had recently been busy with Xiao Jue handling family matters, so she hadn't had time to inquire about others.
Listening now, she heard some names being mentioned with extremely high frequency.
Zhao Shu, Chen Guanghai, Xu Zhiyan, Chen Xiujuan…
Among them, many were already well-known names.
Military industry, medicine, scientific research, education, business, and so on—basically, many people were from these fields. And this was only a fraction of them; a larger portion hadn't come today.
Xiao Qing thought to herself that while this game's selection of Registered Players would inevitably become widespread by the end of the pioneer phase, the truly outstanding individuals would eventually reveal themselves and receive good rewards. And those who were already outstanding to begin with would naturally find it easier to shine.
But by the same token, many among the common masses who were initially buried due to a lack of capital could also easily rise.
The structure of the country and society would be shattered.
Take the Yang family, for example. They were already a wealthy family but had always coveted the power of the established elite. This time, they made a big move, eagerly recruiting people. Among them, that Zheng Yu, because of his ruthless methods, had seized opportunities from some people. Although it was done secretly, the capital had many eyes and ears, and even the Xiao family had heard about it.
It wasn't that no one wanted to stop them, but there was no evidence, and time was too tight. Everyone was just holding their positions for now.
Now, they had arrived. Some of the players sitting around Yang Dong were chatting warmly with him, clearly part of his faction.
The Xiao and Yang families were actually not on good terms, simply because before Xiao Qing went abroad, she had been harassed by this Yang Yu. The Yang family had intended to form a marriage alliance, but neither she nor the Xiao family thought much of him and had even issued a warning. Although the Yang family backed off on the surface, they actually held a grudge.
Xiao Qing looked at Xiao Jue. He had already recovered from the heavy blow dealt by his ex-girlfriend, Director Wang. Seeing the situation, he sneered and gave her a look.
Xiao Qing understood.
They were too hasty. It's easy to trip and fall, especially when being so impatient while the state still held immense control.
It was no different from seeking death.
But in truth, Yang Dong wasn't stupid. He was just seeking wealth and honor through danger. He was gambling on carving out a domain for himself in the new world.
It was just unknown if he could get his wish.
Just as some people were lost in thought and speculation, Wang Jiu's arrival quieted the discussions slightly, but it wasn't that effective. It just made people look at her with complicated expressions, or size her up frivolously, and then whisper among themselves.
Wang Jiu, however, couldn't care less. She casually picked a seat, sat down, and leaned back against the chair. She neither spoke nor caused a fuss, appearing as obedient and peaceful as ever. But many people knew she was no longer the Wang Jiu of before.
Yang Dong glanced over and sneered. He said a few words to the people beside him, and those men all turned to look at Wang Jiu with insolent eyes. They spoke a few sentences among themselves without deliberately lowering their voices. Many people heard them, and their words were extremely humiliating and vulgar.
Xiao Qing frowned and looked at Yan Yanting, only to see his face dark, his gaze fixed grimly on those men.
But in the end, he didn't intervene.
He probably still held a grudge against Wang Jiu.
"You few in the third row, what are you saying? It's too quiet. Speak up, let me, Xiao Jue, hear it."
Xiao Jue spoke with a smirk.
Those men were startled. They probably hadn't expected Xiao Jue to step forward when Yan Yanting hadn't said a word.
Constrained by past differences in social class, these men, despite their ambitions and belief that they could rise above others in the future, were still somewhat intimidated by Xiao Jue for the moment.
Yang Dong, however, was much more confident. He turned back and smiled faintly. "I used to hear that Young Master Xiao didn't understand a woman's heart, that he was a heartless man. It seems that's not the case now. How infatuated."
Being played for a fool by a woman—it was laughable enough to make people die of laughter.
A chill flashed in Xiao Jue's eyes, but on the surface, he acted unconcerned. Instead, he retorted, "A real man might never bow his head to other men, but it's fine to do so for certain women. To put it nicely, it's called being a gentleman. To put it bluntly, it's called being henpecked, which is one of the standards for a good man these days. Could it be that Boss Yang still clings to the feudal dregs of the past, thinking women are lowly? No wonder your wife wanted to jump off a building. And no wonder you're surrounded by a bunch of ill-mannered trash. Your ambitions are higher than the sky, wanting to create a new empire. Don't tell me you're planning to declare yourself king?"
This man had been pissed off for a long time. Wang Jiu had angered him so much his worldview was shattered, and he had no outlet for his viciousness. So he seized on Yang Dong and let loose.
People from prestigious families usually don't speak, lest they appear common. When they do open their mouths, they have to mock a person to death.
Everything Xiao Jue mentioned in his speech was one of Yang Dong's unspeakable secrets.
Whether it was his philandering and domestic abuse that led to his wife's depression and suicide, or his later impatience to build his own power base… Xiao Jue had laid it all bare.
Yang Dong's face instantly darkened. He stared viciously at Xiao Jue.
Beside him, Zheng Yu glanced over and sneered, "What time is it for President Xiao to still be thinking about some messy woman?"
Yang Dong: "Not messy, just indecent. But this is a serious occasion. I don't know why they'd let such a woman in."
The two joined forces to rebut Xiao Jue.
Although arguing like this was somewhat undignified, no one was willing to be at a disadvantage.
Moreover, for a vicious person like Yang Dong, he would never have dared to have a falling out with a prestigious family like the Xiaos in the previous era of peace. But things were different now.
Yang Dong wanted the Registered Players present to see the strength of his Yang family, so they would flock to his side.
He had calculated well, but he didn't expect…
"Are women not qualified to sit here and attend a meeting with all of you? I just wonder if, in the future, women will be excluded from group activities like forming teams. Since this is a time for setting rules, it seems the Yang family has long had a policy focused on male authority. It's truly frightening."
"Surely Mr. Yang isn't trying to single-handedly set back the social civilization of gender equality by three hundred years?"
Xiao Qing spoke faintly. She didn't explicitly mention Wang Jiu, only hitting the key point—she was targeting Yang Dong's insane male chauvinism.
As soon as she said this, at least a third of the attendees in the conference room, who were women, all looked over, their gazes and expressions extremely displeased.
I, your mother, survived the pioneer assessment and distinguished myself, risked car crashes and plane crashes due to transportation problems to sit here, just to be looked down upon by you lot?
What kind of crap is this!
You should know that among the most powerful Registered Players today, half of the famous names were made by women!
Even without this game, they were already elites at the top of society. How could they tolerate this cancerous domestic abuser?
"Oh, so that's how it is. I'll have to be careful in the future. I absolutely can't drag Boss Yang down."
"Makes sense. We mere women are just afraid of holding men back. Being scolded is one thing, but being domestically abused is another."
"I was originally thinking of finding a few capable young men to form a team and clear new content, but I didn't expect to be so despised. It seems the military brothers are better—upright in character, real men."
The women who could sit here all had some spirit and courage. They couldn't stand people like Yang Dong the most, so they all started chiming in with cold mockery and sarcasm.
Speaking of which, when it came to arguing, men were really no match for women.
Open mockery and subtle sarcasm were a given. Moreover, they basically all understood Yang Dong's plan—wasn't he just recruiting people? Recruit my ass! Don't even think about any woman going to your side!
To slaughter a pig, first slit its throat. Get him!
Xiao Qing had targeted the slip of the tongue from Yang Dong and Zheng Yu, causing him to "lose Jingzhou through carelessness."
The women were collectively enraged. Yang Dong probably realized it too. He gave Xiao Qing a grim look and had no choice but to soften his expression, put on a capitalist's hypocritical face, and apologize. But the crowd's reaction was lukewarm, and many of the men also felt that Yang Dong had gone too far.
What kind of society was this? Women hold up half the sky!
Besides, his dark history of driving his wife to her death was already detested by women, which was a disadvantage.
Many of the men began to waver.
They also had wives and daughters. If there was a better, more righteous place to go, why would they choose the not-so-righteous Yang family?
They didn't look like good people, that Yang Dong and Zheng Yu.
Plus, Yang Yu's reputation was even worse. He just got shit-lucky to have survived this time.
Seeing the situation, Yang Dong naturally understood it as well. In his heart, he hated the Xiao siblings to the bone.
The entire hall watched the Yang and Xiao families tear into each other over Wang Jiu. After that fight, the banner of gender equality was raised, and it looked like they were about to start tearing into each other again.
But what about Wang Jiu?
Xiao Qing noticed that Wang Jiu had no reaction. The woman was busy playing on her phone, her fair, slender, and beautiful fingers constantly tapping something. Yang Dong's gaze was grim. He thought to himself that this woman must be up to some scheme. Could she be plotting against him or Ah Yu?
And listening to that crisp sound and the speed of her fingers…
Fucking hell, is she writing a 3000-word thesis?
This plan must be very complicated, very detailed, and very vicious!
Because the argument was over, the hall had become somewhat quiet, making the sound from her hands rather obvious—after all, everyone was a player, and many had received attribute points. It went without saying that their agility and hearing were good.
A young man sitting nearby couldn't help but crane his neck to look.
One look, and he was shocked.
Xiao Qing also figured it out from the sound, her expression turning a little strange.
Link-Up.
She was playing Link-Up.
Just as the "level cleared" sound effect played.
"Holy shit," Wang Peng muttered under his breath.
The perfect finishing touch for the entire scene.
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