165: Why is Chapter 165 titled "Persuade"?

Silence stretched for several seconds.

Tan Hu gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the ground, barely managing to sit up.

He looked up at Skinny Monkey Man and asked, knowing the answer full well, "What did he say to you after he went to your place?"

Skinny Monkey Man's eyes flickered, and after stammering for a few seconds, he finally spoke.

"He didn't say anything special. Just... just told me to agree to the suggestions Fang Shouzheng made at the meeting. Said it would actually benefit us too."

Hearing this, Tan Hu's lips twitched inexplicably, and a strange smile actually appeared on his face.

"Was his attitude quite polite?"

"Uh..." The scene instantly flashed back in Skinny Monkey Man's mind. Indeed, before Gu Changming had made his move, he had appeared very easy to talk to.

"Yes." He let out two dry laughs.

Tan Hu chuckled twice, a short laugh with an ambiguous meaning.

He was starting to suspect that the guy had done it on purpose.

It wasn't a case of being polite before using force, but rather putting on a pushover act to make them strike first. That way, he would be the one in the right.

While the two were talking, Bai Xiao noticed a new message notification pop up in the corner of her vision.

After glancing at the content, she immediately spoke up.

"Alright, stop talking. A message just came in."

Everyone turned their gaze toward her.

Bai Xiao reached out and tapped the air in front of her, setting her message panel to public before showing it to everyone.

"It's from Su Wan. She says we should go to another meeting tomorrow."

Everyone was stunned.

Any one of them had the authority to call a meeting of the regional bosses like the one today; it wasn't limited to Fang Shouzheng.

But now that they had all been beaten up, the meaning behind Su Wan calling for it was quite different.

Hearing this, the others also looked down at their own message interfaces to confirm the news.

Once they saw it clearly, they couldn't help but look up and exchange glances.

A new round of silence descended, and no one spoke.

Bai Xiao glanced at them again, then sighed softly. Without another word, she turned and walked out of the hall.

Seeing her leave, Skinny Monkey Man instinctively called out, "You... you're leaving just like that?"

Bai Xiao paused and turned her head to look at him.

"What else?" she countered. "Do you want me to help you fight back?"

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the heavily injured Tan Hu and the other bosses.

Hearing this, Skinny Monkey Man was also momentarily speechless. He opened his mouth, but couldn't squeeze out a single word.

In the end, he could only slump his shoulders dejectedly and fall silent, resigned to his fate.

He had actually gotten off easy, only taking one beating, unlike Tan Hu and the others who had been hit twice.

...

Central District.

The area controlled by Su Wan and her group.

Inside the Office Hall, Lin Jianqiu was still slumped on the long sofa, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. A lingering, almost dazed look of disbelief remained on her face.

Su Wan was also sitting on a nearby sofa, eating snacks from the table while watching the somewhat cute-looking Lin Jianqiu.

"Ah~?"

Lin Jianqiu let out another long, meaningless sound.

After a moment, she tilted her head toward Su Wan and finally couldn't help but speak.

"No, really... how did he do it all by himself? He actually brought all those troublemakers to heel?"

Su Wan picked up a snack from the table and tossed it toward her, saying,

"He's strong, what else? When we saw him last time, he was already stronger than us. It's been so long now; if our strength has improved, naturally his would have become even greater."

Like a puppy, Lin Jianqiu caught the snack in her mouth and chewed mechanically twice. "Then what do we do?" she continued unclearly.

"What do you mean, what do we do?" Su Wan asked, resting her chin on her hand.

"I'm going to feel inferior again," Lin Jianqiu said in a muffled voice after swallowing the biscuit.

They had worked so hard to build something respectable—they had a Battle Group and a decent territory—but with one move from him, their little foundation looked like child's play in his eyes.

How could she have any confidence left?

Su Wan didn't respond to that. She walked over to her side, leaned down, and unceremoniously cupped Lin Jianqiu's face in both hands, rubbing it vigorously before pulling it upward.

"Let's go. Why think so much? It's almost time. Come with me to get Gu Changming, and we'll go to the meeting together!"

...

Inside the Conference Hall.

This time, the atmosphere was completely different from before.

There were no noisy arguments, no harsh sounds of chair legs scraping against the floor; the entire space was eerily quiet.

Su Wan's seat was still empty.

Well, she was late again.

Only this time, no one around the round table showed signs of impatience or whispered complaints like they used to.

Everyone's gaze fell more or less on that empty chair, and then they looked at each other, exchanging glances.

After comparing notes, they all knew, just as Skinny Monkey Man did.

Gu Changming hadn't just visited one of their areas; he had toured all four districts.

Except for Bai Xiao, who had better luck, everyone else had been given a sound thrashing by him. Some of the more stubborn ones had even been beaten twice.

If it weren't for the remarkable effects of current healing potion and skills, they would probably all be covered in bruises and have broken limbs right now.

Having experienced his "prowess," they were much more understanding of Su Wan's tardiness.

In the oppressive, almost suffocating silence, Fang Shouzheng picked up his water glass and took a sip. He didn't know what to say.

This was something he had never expected.

Yesterday, before Gu Changming left, he had said to him, "Do you need help? I can help you persuade them."

At the time, he thought that so-called "persuasion" was nothing more than private communication and showing off some negotiation skills.

But what kind of "persuasion" was this? In a physical sense, going door-to-door for heart-to-heart talks.

When he first received the incoherent intelligence reports from his subordinates, his first reaction was to wonder if something was wrong with their heads for even saying such things.

But once the reliability of the news was confirmed, it was his turn to be stunned.

Then he started wondering if he was dreaming; otherwise, how could one person take down all the power organizations within the Xinhuo Stronghold?

And some of it was one against four or one against five.

He had been in a daze all day yesterday. It wasn't until this moment, sitting in this meeting room and looking at this row of bosses—who were usually more arrogant than the next but were now being perfectly well-behaved—that he confirmed he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming.

He took a silent breath and slowly exhaled.

Then he cursed a few times in his head to calm his racing heart.

Footsteps rang out again, approaching from a distance.

Inside the Conference Hall, everyone's eyes turned in unison toward the door.

Their breathing eased slightly at that moment.

The door was pushed open.