106: Notify the boss first

First was his physique.

His body had grown another size, nearing three meters in height. Standing there, he was like an insurmountable wall. Dark red, mysterious patterns faintly flickered on his exposed skin, flowing slowly as if alive, emitting a terrifyingly tyrannical aura.

His bones were probably comparable to the highest-grade alloys.

The only thing that remained unchanged was his face, still taciturn, even a little wooden.

"Old Ghost." Seventh Master nodded to him, a hint of weariness from his travels on his face.

Zhao Tianyang also grunted a greeting.

"You..." Old Ghost opened his mouth, unsure what to say for a moment.

"The Boss's family, and Tianyang's family, have all been settled," Seventh Master explained proactively. "We found an absolutely safe place, no one can find them."

Zhao Tianyang added, "I went to look for the owner, but I couldn't find him."

His logic was simple.

If he couldn't find the person, he would use the most straightforward method.

"So I came here to wait."

Old Ghost and Seventh Master exchanged glances, both seeing a hint of the obvious in each other's reactions.

This was very Zhao Tianyang.

Loyal, simple, direct, but not foolish.

"The Boss has his own arrangements; he will appear when he wants to," Seventh Master walked to the side and poured himself a glass of water. "The market outside, I've already laid the groundwork. The underground channels in several second-tier cities around Linzhou have been opened."

"However..." Seventh Master's tone shifted.

"Tianyang and I discussed it and decided that all distributors must personally come to Old Ghost Hall to pick up their goods."

Old Ghost immediately understood the deeper meaning.

"First, for safety," Seventh Master said in a deep voice. "As long as the goods leave the Old Ghost Hall, anything that happens on the road has nothing to do with us. Let them figure out how to deal with internal conflicts or official crackdowns themselves."

This completely shifted the risk to the downstream distributors.

It was reasonable.

After all, they were selling gold at cabbage prices.

If they wanted to make money, they had to bear the risks themselves.

"Second," Seventh Master's voice dropped even lower, "to consolidate influence."

He looked at Old Ghost, then at the silent Zhao Tianyang.

"This is the Boss's wish."

"The Boss said back then that he wanted those three major pharmaceutical merchants to come knocking on our door themselves."

"We have to let them know where the door is, right?"

Old Ghost's heart gave a sudden leap.

That's right.

The Boss's vision was never to secretly sell some potions and make a small profit.

What he wanted was to completely overturn the entire market!

He wanted to forcefully pull those three high-and-mighty monopoly giants from their thrones, then trample them underfoot, forcing them to come to Old Ghost Hall, wagging their tails and begging!

"How's the momentum building?" Old Ghost asked impatiently.

"It's big enough," Seventh Master's answer, however, carried a hint of strangeness. "So big... it's a bit abnormal."

"Abnormal?"

"The three major pharmaceutical merchants still show no sign of coming to us," Seventh Master frowned. "Logically, our sales volume should have been enough to collapse their pricing system and make them restless."

Old Ghost also felt something was amiss.

In the past few days, the turnover he had handled was already an astronomical figure.

The three major pharmaceutical merchants couldn't possibly be unaware.

Their silence, in itself, was a problem.

"Not only did they not come, but they started other activities instead," Seventh Master sneered, pulling up a few news articles and projecting them onto the light screen.

"New Star Project?"

"Joint discount?"

Old Ghost looked at the headlines on the light screen, his face full of disbelief.

"Fengxing Technology, in conjunction with Jully and Panshi, announced the launch of the 'New Star Project,' claiming to sign this year's top newcomers to boost the professional system's ecosystem."

"At the same time, they also announced that, to give back to society, the three companies would jointly launch an unprecedented promotional event with Qingyun: all basic potions would be sold at half price, with additional discounts, coupons, and tens of billions in subsidies."

Unfortunately, even with all discounts stacked, it still couldn't compete with Old Ghost Hall's prices.

Not to mention, few people could even stack all the discounts.

However, the momentum was indeed considerable, and public opinion was extremely well controlled.

At least the stock market had stabilized.

"They... probably still harbor some illusions," Old Ghost murmured.

Perhaps, in the eyes of those giants, they were just a makeshift group that had luckily obtained a formula and wanted to make a quick buck and run.

They didn't consider them real opponents at all.

"Illusions?" Seventh Master scoffed. "If we let them see our current inventory, they probably wouldn't even have the courage to dream."

Old Ghost strongly agreed.

Seventh Master had the same thought; he looked at the silent Zhao Tianyang and then thought of the elusive Boss.

Following the right person was more important than anything.

Just then.

"Beep beep beep—"

In the basement, a sharp, urgent communication request broke the trio's conversation.

This was an internal emergency communication connected to the front desk.

Old Ghost frowned and casually answered it.

"What is it? Didn't I say to suspend supplies today and have them come back tomorrow?"

His tone was a bit impatient.

Too many walk-ins and resellers had flooded in these past few days, severely affecting his accounting efficiency.

On the other end of the communicator, the front desk clerk's nervous voice came through.

"G-Ghost Master, they're... they're not here to pick up goods."

"He said... he said he's from the Black Market Management Office."

Black Market Management Office?

"Tell them to wait."

Seventh Master's reaction was calm. He said a sentence into the communicator and then hung up directly.

No matter what, they couldn't lose face for the Boss.

The communicator was hung up.

In the basement, a suffocating silence fell once more.

Only three servers, running at their limits, emitted a continuous, monotonous hum, like some anxious whisper.

Old Ghost looked at Seventh Master, and Seventh Master looked at him.

Both read the same heavy information from each other's reactions.

"Black Market Management Office..." Old Ghost's throat felt dry. "Chen Ao's people?"

"Who else could it be besides him?" Seventh Master's reply was calm.

But beneath this calm was a surging undercurrent.

They both knew what the name Chen Ao meant in Linzhou's underground world.

Rules.

Order.

And, absolute violence.

"Why is he interfering?" Old Ghost was utterly baffled. "The medicine we're selling is impacting the three giants; what does that have to do with him? Shouldn't he be happy to see the market disrupted? This can only benefit the black market!"

Theoretically, yes.

The breaking of the monopoly and the influx of more cheap goods would greatly promote the prosperity of the black market.

As the highest administrator of the black market, Chen Ao should be reaping the benefits.

They didn't know Chen Ao's purpose, but this news had to be reported to the Boss first!