Chapter 607: Borrowing Use
Chapter 607: Borrowing Use
After issuing the command, a cruel smile spread across Seventh Master’s face as he waited to relish the moment Ye Xiu’s head exploded. However, the expected gunshot never came. The scene of Ye Xiu’s head exploding didn’t happen. The four bodyguards hadn’t fired a single shot.
"I told you to kill him! Are you deaf?" Seventh Master roared, infuriated that his men had disobeyed his command.
No sooner had he spoken than the four bodyguards collapsed limply to the ground.
Only then did Seventh Master and his secretary see that the black shirts of the four bodyguards had been slashed over their hearts. The cuts were tiny, just a centimeter long, but as the men fell, blood gushed from the wounds.
"This..."
The faces of Seventh Master and his secretary went white with utter horror. They hadn’t even seen Ye Xiu move before all four bodyguards were dead.
"I don’t like people pointing guns at my head," Ye Xiu said calmly. "Others have tried it before. Like these four bodyguards, they’re all dead now."
With a calm expression, Ye Xiu flicked his wrist, and the pistol from the nearest bodyguard’s hand floated into his grasp. He toyed with it, saying, "Let me personally check if this thing is loaded."
With that, he raised his hand and fired!
The bullet roared past, grazing the top of Seventh Master’s head and giving him a free center part.
Seventh Master trembled violently, his face turning as white as paper. "You... are you a Martial Artist?" he exclaimed in horror.
He wasn’t a fool. To kill four bodyguards without him or his secretary noticing anything, and to make a pistol float into his hand... these were undoubtedly the methods of a Martial Artist.
"Of all 365 days in a year, today is the day my mood is at its worst and my killing intent is at its peak." Ye Xiu ignored the question. He continued toying with the pistol and said calmly, "So, please, don’t provoke me."
Fear filled Seventh Master’s eyes. As the underworld boss of Nanjing, he was known for his ruthless nature. Yet Ye Xiu’s expression, tone, and gaze remained as calm as still water, completely unchanged by the act of killing. It made Seventh Master feel as though he were facing a demon.
"What... what do you want with me?"
Seventh Master struggled to maintain the same composure as Ye Xiu, trying to preserve his demeanor as the king of the Nanjing underworld, but his trembling body betrayed his inner fear. His mind, however, remained clear. He had initially assumed that Ye Xiu, an outsider, was here to plead with him not to interfere with the Guanlou Mountain project. But it was clear now: a man with Ye Xiu’s status as a Martial Artist would never come to beg.
"You’re holding up better than I expected, not completely scared out of your wits," Ye Xiu commented approvingly. "I came here to ask you how to solve the problem of construction companies, contractors, and foremen withholding wages from their workers."
Seventh Master paused. "Big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp. It’s the same in every industry. Why would you want to solve it?"
Beside him, the secretary chimed in, trembling, "This world is built on the unequal distribution of wealth. Leaders always get more than their employees. They always squeeze every drop of value from them. The strong are entitled to greater benefits. Construction companies exploit contractors, who exploit foremen, who in turn exploit their laborers. That’s just how it is. But the laborers are grateful to the foremen for giving them work, and the foremen are grateful to the contractors..."
Ye Xiu waved his hand, cutting her off. "I don’t care about any of that, and I have no interest in it," he said. "I only care that everyone involved in the Nanjing project gets paid what they’re owed."
"That’s an unsolvable problem," Seventh Master said. "To them, denying them profits is like murdering their parents. If you ask those companies, contractors, and foremen to earn less, it will cause a massive uproar."
"And what would that uproar entail?" Ye Xiu asked.
"The project would come to a standstill," Seventh Master explained. "A project involves too many moving parts. Take cement, for example. If you tell the cement haulers to earn less, they’ll just stop making deliveries. Even if you get your own people to pick up cement from the factory, the trucks will run into all sorts of problems on the road and never reach the construction site."
Ye Xiu frowned. The complexity of the construction industry had once again surpassed his understanding.
Yet, to spend the entire 78.89 billion and complete the Mist Chant Martial Meeting project in two and a half months, everyone involved—not just the laborers, but the foremen, contractors, construction companies, even the cement and concrete haulers—was supposed to be earning several times their usual income!
"It seems I’ve underestimated human greed," Ye Xiu sighed.
"You’re right. Everyone involved in the Nanjing project stands to make a fortune, but they all want to make *more*. The only way to do that is to squeeze it from those below them," said Seventh Master.
"Is there really no solution?" Ye Xiu asked again.
"None!" Seventh Master shook his head.
"I do have a way, but I need to borrow something from you," Ye Xiu said.
"What way? What do you need to borrow?" Seventh Master asked curiously.
"I need to borrow your head!"
With that, Ye Xiu raised the gun and fired. The bullet struck Seventh Master squarely between the eyes.
"Ah!" the secretary screamed. She couldn’t believe it. One moment, Ye Xiu and Seventh Master were talking, and the next, he had suddenly killed him.
"Do you know why I killed him?" Ye Xiu asked the secretary. Before she could answer, he continued, "Because he’s the underworld boss of Nanjing. He represents not just the construction companies, but the entire chain of contractors and middlemen. Only his death will serve as a warning to everyone involved in the Mist Chant Martial Meeting project. Besides, he deserved it."
After saying this, he stood up and left.
As he was leaving the Wu Corporation building, a security guard taunted him, "Yo, Seventh Master saw you already? The gift you brought him must have been impressive..."
THUD!
Ye Xiu’s kick landed squarely on the guard’s mouth, forcing the rest of his words back down his throat. Seeing this, the other security guards swarmed him.
Ye Xiu made short work of them, leaving them all sprawled on the ground.
He then called Qing Luan. "Notify everyone involved in the Mist Chant Martial Meeting project. The chairman of the Wu Corporation, Seventh Master, has been executed by an instructor of the Red Flame Army for exploiting his workers. Let him serve as an example to anyone else who dares to exploit those beneath them."
"Understood," Qing Luan replied.
* * *
When Ye Xiu returned to Guanlou Mountain, he saw the members of the Ye and Long Families sitting on the ground, basking in the sun and idly watching the spectacle, while Liu Dakang and the other workers, all bruised and swollen, were being forced to work.
Ye Xiu frowned. "What’s going on?"
Liu Dakang ran over, complaining, "Divine Doctor Ye, after you left, the members of the Ye and Long Families beat us up and forced us to work."
A cold glint flashed in Ye Xiu’s eyes. He shot a sharp look at the gathered family members and demanded, "Who gave you the audacity to do this?"
"Why, Princess Kristina, of course!" a young man from the Long Family sneered as he stood up and walked arrogantly toward Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu remembered his name was Long Guang.
"Ooh, look how angry you are," Long Guang said, prodding Ye Xiu’s chest with impunity. "Ye Xiu, we belong to Princess Kristina now. If you dare touch us again, you’ll be making an enemy of the princess and the three Judicator Families."
At this, all the members of the Ye and Long families burst into relaxed, smug laughter.
"You’re courting death!"
Ye Xiu’s hand shot out and clamped around Long Guang’s neck.
"Kill him, I dare you!"
Kristina descended from the mountain, her face an emotionless mask. "Ye Xiu, don’t forget your place. You, the Ye Family, and the Long Family are all just dogs belonging to the three Judicator Families. If you dare kill him, don’t blame me for being ruthless."
CRACK!
Kristina’s voice had barely faded when a sickening crack echoed through the air.
Ye Xiu had snapped Long Guang’s neck. He fixed his cold gaze on Kristina and said, "I’ve killed him. Now it’s your turn to be ruthless."
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