147: I know where it is.

Li Mo's hope, which had just ignited, and his face full of ecstasy, instantly froze.

The blood on his face seemed to turn cold at that moment.

A chill more biting than death itself shot up from his tailbone to the top of his head.

Why?

Why would he ask him?

Why could a low-level black market potion dealer, an ant he could crush with a flick of his hand, decide his fate?

What on earth was this deity thinking?

Old Ghost was also stunned.

He held Seventh Master, who still had some warmth, and stared blankly at Lin Yu, then at Li Mo, who was kneeling on the ground, his face ashen.

The boss... is asking for my opinion?

He's not joking, is he?

Wang Han and Wang Qingxuan, the father and daughter, felt their worldview being repeatedly shattered and reassembled.

President Li of Qingyun Pharmaceutical.

That legendary figure who commanded influence in Lincheng's business world, whom even Wang Han had to request an audience with.

His life and death, at this moment, depended on the opinion of a black market old man whom he had never even looked at directly before?

This world is truly insane.

Under everyone's shocked, fearful, or puzzled gazes, Old Ghost slowly and gently placed Seventh Master, whom he had been holding, on the ground.

He stood up.

His hunched back, at this moment, seemed to straighten a little.

His cloudy old eyes stared intently at Li Mo.

In them, there was no pity, no hesitation, only an unyielding, decades-long accumulation of resentment and hatred.

“Heh heh...”

Old Ghost began to laugh.

The laughter was dry, unpleasant, and filled with endless vicissitudes.

“Li Mo... I know him.”

He uttered the name, each word seeming to be squeezed from between his teeth.

“Of course I know him.”

“How could I not know him?”

Old Ghost's gaze made Li Mo's blood almost freeze.

He remembered, he finally dug that face out of a corner of his memory.

Decades ago, a somewhat talented researcher at Qingyun Pharmaceutical who had been “optimized” out by him.

So it was him.

“When I was young, I also worked at Qingyun Pharmaceutical.” Old Ghost ignored Li Mo's instantly pale face and just continued to tell Lin Yu, as if to himself.

“Back then, I also had a home.”

“Not big, but very warm.”

“My wife was virtuous, and my son was obedient and good at his studies.”

Old Ghost's narration was calm, so calm it was unsettling.

“Later, he came.”

Old Ghost's hand pointed at Li Mo.

“He became the CEO and began drastic reforms.

Everyone who couldn't keep up with him, everyone who disagreed with him, everyone he deemed useless, he kicked out.”

“I was one of them.”

“Without a job, without income, to support my family, I did everything.

But as a researcher, I knew nothing but compounding medicine.

Finally, I could only come to the black market and become an illicit drug dealer.”

“My wife thought I was useless and ran off with someone.”

“My son looked down on me as a father, left home after high school, and never came back.”

Old Ghost paused here.

He looked up at Lin Yu, and on his wrinkled face, he forced out a smile that was uglier than crying.

“Boss, my life, it's just like this.”

“My family is broken, my wife and children scattered.”

“It's all thanks to him.”

Every word, every sound, was an accusation of blood and tears.

Li Mo knelt on the ground, his mind racing.

Wang Han listened to all of this, his heart a mix of emotions.

He only knew Li Mo as a business legend, but he didn't know that behind this legend were countless broken lives like Old Ghost's.

Over the ruins, a deathly silence.

Everyone thought that Old Ghost's next words would be “Kill him.”

However.

After a long gaze at Li Mo, Old Ghost slowly shook his head.

He turned around, facing Lin Yu again, the towering resentment forcibly suppressed.

“Boss.”

“He is an absolute scoundrel.”

“But... he's not wrong either.”

Old Ghost took a deep breath, as if using all his strength.

“He is indeed a rare talent, seen once in a century.

In terms of methods, cunning, and understanding of the entire Lincheng pharmaceutical market, no one can surpass him.”

“Keeping him will be of great use for what we need to do.”

These words astonished everyone.

Including Li Mo himself.

He looked up, staring at Old Ghost's back in disbelief.

This man, whose life he had ruined, was actually... pleading for him?

Old Ghost did not look back.

He simply bowed deeply to Lin Yu.

“How to deal with him specifically is entirely up to the boss.”

“Whatever decision you make, Old Ghost will accept it.”

After speaking, he said no more, turned and walked back to Seventh Master, carefully holding his old companion, who had returned from the dead, back into his arms.

As if everything in this world no longer concerned him.

The entire ruin once again fell into absolute silence.

Lin Yu nodded, not immediately expressing his stance.

Li Mo's flame of hope was completely extinguished by Old Ghost's words.

But he did not despair.

Because he knew that the one who decided his life and death was never Old Ghost.

But this man before him, to whom even deities bowed.

Li Mo prostrated himself on the ground, his posture even lower; he didn't even dare to look up at Lin Yu, simply pressing his face, stained with blood and dust, tightly against the cold ground.

“Sir, I know I deserve ten thousand deaths.”

His words were no longer the anxious defense from before, but rather a calm that came from understanding something.

“A person like me, death is not a pity.”

“I just... don't want to die without value.”

Li Mo paused, seemingly organizing his words, but in fact, every word was the result of his careful deliberation.

“I'm just an employee.”

“Qingyun Pharmaceutical belongs to others; I just work for them.

They want to make money, so I have to help them sharpen their knives.

When the knife is sharp, it will naturally hurt people.”

He only mentioned this and then immediately changed the subject, avoiding giving the impression of shifting blame.

“I am very sorry for Mr. Old Ghost's experience.

But I know that apologies are the most useless thing in this world.”

“What I can do is compensate.”

Li Mo did not look up, but his words accurately reached Old Ghost's ears.

“I know the whereabouts of your wife and son.”

These words made Old Ghost, who had just re-embraced Seventh Master and was immersed in the emotion of regaining what he had lost, suddenly stiffen.

Even Wang Han, who was shocked by Seventh Master's resurrection, also turned his gaze.

Lin Yu still showed no reaction.

That calm demeanor put immense pressure on Li Mo.

He knew that merely “knowing the whereabouts” was not enough.

This could be seen as a threat, a bargaining chip.

And negotiating with this being before him was the most foolish act in the world.