82: Chapter 82 The Old Foxes Leave the Scene, Three Poisoned Knives Firmly Pin the White Gloves of the Beijing Circle

As Shen Du's final statement, sounding like a funeral knell, fell, the data network on the holographic screen continued to emit a glaring, eerie red light.

This nominal "closed-door meeting" had, in reality, already come to an early end at this very moment.

The atmosphere in the conference room, previously stifling to the point of deathly silence, exploded instantly like a deep-sea bomb had been dropped into it.

The dozen or so business titans present, who normally wouldn't bat an eye even if Mount Tai collapsed before them, could no longer sit still.

They began to whisper to each other frequently, consulting in low, urgent tones.

Everyone's eyes were filled with undisguisable shock, anxiety, and even panic.

In this cutthroat business world, there has never been any such thing as pure "national righteousness" or noble sentiments.

What this group of old foxes had pursued for decades was nothing but the bloody harvesting of wealth.

And how to safely stuff real gold and silver into their own pockets.

But now, as the cruel truth was mercilessly torn open by Shen Du.

As they realized that their Shanghai turf, on which their very survival depended, had been infiltrated by Northern Capital to such a riddled, tattered extent.

To the point where it could be wiped out in a single wave at any moment.

Not a single person could continue to sit securely in that leather chair, which symbolized their dominance.

"Clatter—"

After a brief and chaotic commotion, Li Jianfeng, the leader in heavy industry and high-end manufacturing, was the first to abruptly push back his chair and stand up.

This industrial titan, who managed over a hundred thousand industrial workers, had his brows deeply furrowed in a frown.

He swept a heavy gaze across everyone, skipping even the pleasantries, and said in a deep voice:

"This matter is too serious; it has already exceeded the scope of conventional business warfare. Everyone, I must take my leave first. I need to rush back to the group immediately to hold several emergency meetings and stabilize the fundamentals. As for the subsequent strategic deployment and joint operations plan... we will schedule another time!"

With that, Li Jianfeng, without any hesitation, grabbed his jacket from the table and strode towards the two heavy purple-copper doors.

Li Jianfeng's departure was like pushing over the first domino, instantly triggering a chain reaction throughout the room.

Immediately after, Su Yunjing, dressed in white with a cold and arrogant temperament, also stood up, her face masked in frost.

She nodded slightly at Shen Du, leaving behind only the words: "Yunjing Pharmaceuticals needs to return to initiate the highest level of risk control assessment." She then hurried out of the venue in her high heels.

Subsequently, traditional e-commerce tycoon Chen Mingyuan rushed out while wiping cold sweat from his forehead and clutching his phone.

Private real estate magnate Fu Zhaonan also had an ashen face and strode out of the venue without even saying goodbye.

In less than ten minutes, the top-floor conference room, which had been bustling with elites, was more than half empty.

This group of tycoons fleeing Bund 18 in such a rush did not mean they intended to surrender and raise the white flag immediately. Rather, as the absolute decision-makers in their respective industries, they were naturally suspicious by nature and would never rely solely on Shen Du's one-sided testimony.

What they had to do now was race against time to return to their respective headquarters. They needed to utilize every secret intelligence network and connection at their disposal to frantically verify whether these nuclear-level data points Shen Du had thrown out today were one hundred percent authentic!

Once confirmed, the entire business world of the Yangtze River Delta would inevitably be plunged into an unprecedented bloodbath!

As the last batch of tycoons, eager to return to their nests to verify intelligence, hurried away, the two heavy purple-copper doors of the conference room were once again heavily closed by the security guards in black from the outside.

"Bang." A muffled sound completely cut off the chaos in the corridor.

In the vast and luxurious top-floor space, the dead, stagnant silence returned once more. Because of the sharp decrease in the number of people, the oppressive feeling in the air actually became even more intense.

The clamor faded, and only five people remained in the room. Shen Du, in the main seat, watched coldly from the sidelines.

On the other side of the round table, Wu Tianheng, Zhou Zhenghai, and Zhu Qingshan—the three old-money patriarchs representing the strongest foundation of Shanghai—did not move an inch.

At this very moment, these three old foxes turned their heads in unison. Three pairs of eyes, having seen all the ups and downs of the business world and radiating a bone-chilling coldness, were like three poison-tipped daggers. They stared fixedly, pinning down the person sitting diagonally across from them: Qin Zhengye, the father of Qin Tiankuo and the controller of Sheng Tang Communications.

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense, as if the air were about to ignite.

As the "Trojan Horse" of the Beijing Circle interest group, ostensibly sent to take root in Shanghai, Qin Zhengye's background and identity naturally made him the primary suspect and the target of public criticism at this sensitive juncture.

In the eyes of the three major families, the man sitting before them was the inside man cooperating with the northern pack of wolves to tear at their flesh!

Facing the undisguised murderous aura and the aggressive, encircling posture of the three major families, even Qin Zhengye, who had seen his fair share of storms, couldn't help but break into a fine layer of cold sweat on his forehead.

He knew all too well what terrifying power these three old guys possessed in the Yangtze River Delta. If he couldn't explain himself clearly today, these three local snakes would undoubtedly join forces without hesitation and, before the sun set tonight, uproot all of the Qin Family's industries in Shanghai!

"Hey, hey, hey, three brothers, could you please not look at me with those kinds of eyes?"

Qin Zhengye took a deep breath, raised his hands in a feigned relaxed manner, made a gesture of surrender while attempting to smooth things over, and smiled bitterly:

"If I, Qin Zhengye, were truly a loyal dog sent by the Beijing Circle to bite you to death, there would be no need for me to take such a huge risk today to sit here and attend this closed-door meeting!"

Watching their faces, which remained as cold as frost and unmoved, Qin Zhengye gritted his teeth, pointed directly at the glaring profit distribution chart on the big screen, and raised his voice:

"Use your brains and think carefully! If I were truly of one mind with that bunch of man-eating, bone-chewing guys from the North, then the local Shanghai Merchants' share displayed on the screen today would absolutely not still be twenty-five percent!"

Qin Zhengye's finger tapped heavily on the table as he roared, enunciating every word:

"If I had fully cooperated with them in shorting the market, that number would have already fallen below twenty percent!"

However, this self-defense, which sounded logical, fell on the ears of Wu Tianheng, Zhou Zhenghai, and Zhu Qingshan like a gentle breeze passing over water, failing to stir even the slightest ripple.

In the eyes of old money at their level, the blood of capitalists flowed with nothing but lies. This kind of pale, powerless verbal statement wasn't worth believing, not even the punctuation marks.

The three men's gazes remained icy. Even the corners of Wu Tianheng's mouth had faintly curled into a cruel sneer.