21: Chapter 21 Fear is the best sealing glue

In her opinion, the answer was obvious.

This cruise ship was a chartered ship of the Shengtang Group.

The people present were either her employees or her clients.

From the moment she boarded the ship, she was the person at the apex of the pyramid.

"No need to choose." Su Qingxue took a step forward, her voice regaining the decisive firmness of a meeting room. "The majority of the people present are employees of Shengtang, and I am the legal employer. It is only natural for me to take command of everyone."

She glanced at Chen Jian. This man was far too clear-headed.

Chen Jian immediately retorted, "President Su, no offense intended, but the employment relationship has a prerequisite: we are still within the company's system."

He spread his hands and looked around.

"Where is this? A Deserted Island without even a name. There is no labor law, no contract, and no Personnel Department. Your title in Shengtang, aside from that cruise ship resting at the bottom of the sea, is just a few words."

"What do you mean?" Su Qingxue's chin tightened slightly.

"The meaning is very simple. Whoever can keep everyone alive becomes the leader. It doesn't mean whoever has a prettier printed business card automatically upgrades."

The words weren't heavy, but falling into Su Qingxue's ears, they were no different from a slap in the face.

A blatant challenge.

There was a rustling murmur in the crowd. "Wang Lan's husband makes sense... President Su is the boss at the company, but this isn't the company..."

"That's what's said, but what can Wang Lan's husband do?"

"Then what can President Su do? She doesn't even know how to make a fire..."

"When it comes down to it, she's just a vase now..."

Su Qingxue heard every single word.

Every sentence was like scraping her bones.

In her twenty-six years of life, no one had ever dared to question her leadership face-to-face.

In Shengtang, a single look from her could make an entire floor fall dead silent.

But at this moment, standing among this group of disheveled, starving, and freezing survivors, for the first time, she felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

Her power base—money, position, and corporate system—was completely reduced to zero on this Deserted Island.

"Who the fuck is gossiping?!"

At this critical juncture, a thunderously angry roar came from behind the crowd.

When Wang Qiang lunged out from behind the reef, the ferocity on his face went without saying.

The fear and cowardice of hiding behind the reef for the past few hours instantly transformed into aggressive desire the moment he saw Su Qingxue being challenged.

Because he knew better than anyone present that if Su Qingxue fell, he would be nothing.

"Have you all rebelled against the heavens?!" Wang Qiang grabbed the collar of Xiaozhou from the Administrative Department, who had been gossiping the loudest just now.

Xiaozhou was scared out of his wits, his lips trembling. "Brother Qiang... Brother Qiang, I didn't..."

"Didn't you? Are my ears deaf or am I blind?!"

"Slap!"

A slap landed on Xiaozhou's face.

As crisp as the sound of firecrackers.

Xiaozhou's head jerked to one side, half of his face swelled up instantly, and blood seeped directly from the corner of his mouth.

He covered his face, tears streaming down instantly, but he didn't dare utter a single word.

Wang Qiang shook his hand, his five fingers still carrying a burning sensation from the strike, and he felt a lot more comfortable all over.

Once you get a taste of this pleasure of bullying the weak, you can't stop.

"Listen up!" He turned around, pointing at everyone present, his eyeballs almost popping out.

"Who is President Su? The helm of the Shengtang Group! Worth tens of billions! Her knowledge, her resources, her judgment—all of you losers combined aren't even worthy of carrying her shoes!"

"If anyone dares to disrespect President Su again, I'll knock out their teeth one by one first!"

His gaze finally locked onto Chen Jian.

"And you," Wang Qiang strode up to Chen Jian, glaring down at him. "Chen Jian, right? What's your annual salary? One hundred fifty thousand or two hundred thousand?"

Without waiting for Chen Jian to reply, the corner of his mouth twitched, squeezing out a harsh sneer.

"Just you? A kept man, and you dare to point fingers here? Have you ever managed people? Have you ever led a team? You can't even write a year-end performance report properly, yet you come to manage the life and death of dozens of people?"

"Who do you think you are?"

Chen Jian didn't move.

He just pushed up his glasses. "Are you done talking?"

This reaction made Wang Qiang even angrier.

In the company, what he hated most were people who didn't respond to either soft or hard tactics.

If you act tough with him, he isn't afraid; if you reason with him, he has a whole set of theories. Such people were born to disgust him.

"Whether I'm done or not, is it your turn to ask?!"

Wang Qiang raised his foot. "Bang!"

He kicked hard into Chen Jian's calf.

It wasn't a light kick, but the kind of violence filled with one hundred percent malice, wanting to kick a person down to their knees.

The tip of his leather shoe struck right on the shin, and a bursting wave of pain surged up.

Chen Jian let out a muffled groan, dropping onto one knee.

"Husband!"

Wang Lan screamed and rushed over, squatting down beside Chen Jian to help him up in a flurry.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Jian supported himself on the sandy ground with one hand. He raised his head to look at Wang Qiang, anger surging in the depths of his eyes.

But he forcefully suppressed it.

Because he knew better than anyone that getting into a fight with Wang Qiang right now wouldn't solve any problems, except resulting in mutual destruction.

The moment Wang Qiang saw Chen Jian kneel down, his entire spirit and energy rushed back.

That's right! This is how it should be!

Whether in the company or on the Deserted Island, the strong should climb up by stepping on the heads of the weak; this was the law of nature.

"Listen carefully to me," Wang Qiang took a step forward in front of Chen Jian, lowering his head, his voice dropping to a frequency chilled to the bone marrow.

"You have the ability to make a fire, fine, President Su has use for you, so you can still stand and speak now."

"But if you dare to steal President Su's thunder again, if you dare to act high and mighty in front of this bunch of people again..."

He raised his foot, resting the sole on Chen Jian's shoulder, and slowly pressed down.

"I don't mind letting you keep those five dead ones company."

Wang Lan tightly hugged Chen Jian's arm, her whole body shaking like a sieve.

She wanted to curse, but her throat felt as if it were being choked, and not a single word could be squeezed out, because this Deserted Island was temporary, and after returning, she still had to rely on Su Qingxue.

The surrounding survivors watched this scene in absolute silence.

No one stood up to speak for Chen Jian.

Fear is the best gag.

When you witness someone being kicked down publicly for saying something they shouldn't have, your mouth will automatically make the safest choice for you: close.

Su Qingxue stood a few paces away, watching all of this.

Her expression was very complicated.

Wang Qiang's approach was too crude, so crude that it caused her, an elite-educated president, a wave of physiological discomfort.

But she didn't open her mouth to stop him.

Because she discovered a cruel fact: Wang Qiang's fists were more effective than her rhetoric.

Just now, she had earnestly reasoned for ten minutes, and these people had been half-believing.

Yet with a single slap from Wang Qiang, all skeptical voices vanished instantly.

Violence was the most efficient management tool here.

She knew in her heart that this was wrong, but at this moment she needed Wang Qiang. She needed this unreasonable mad dog that only recognized its master.

Therefore, she chose silence.

Wang Qiang withdrew his foot.

He turned around, facing Su Qingxue, and bowed ninety degrees. The fierce look on his face instantly switched into an extremely flattering smile.

The speed of that switch made everyone present feel a chill down their spines.

"President Su! These people don't know what's good for them and wronged you! With me here, whoever dares to disrespect you, I, Wang Qiang, will be the first to refuse!"

Su Qingxue slightly nodded and didn't say much.

She needed to pull the situation back into her own rhythm as soon as possible.

"Chen Jian." Su Qingxue walked up to Chen Jian, her tone recovering the cold hardness of a negotiation table.

Supported by Wang Lan, Chen Jian stood up, bent down to grope for his glasses from the sandy ground, and placed them back on the bridge of his nose.

The lens had a crack across it.

He didn't look at Wang Qiang.

He simply looked quietly at Su Qingxue, waiting for her to speak.

"Those survival skills you mentioned are indeed important."

"But management ability is equally indispensable."

She glanced around the circle.

"Even if you find water, how will you distribute it?"

Chen Jian's movements paused for a split second.

"Who drinks first? Who drinks more? Are the wounded given priority? What if someone is dissatisfied with your distribution? What if someone snatches the water? What if someone hides the water?"

A series of questions came crashing down, each one hitting precisely at Chen Jian's weak spot.

Chen Jian's brow furrowed.

"What these problems require are not survival skills, but iron-fist methods to set rules, enforce rules, and suppress violations." Su Qingxue's aura propped itself back up at this moment.

She stepped forward, face-to-face with Chen Jian.

"You might be a wilderness survival expert; you can find water, make fire, and identify poisonous plants. But letting you manage people..."