199: Chapter 195 The Twelve
"Ding."
"Ding."
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding—"
The notification sounds of incoming deposits on their life rings rose and fell, emanating from everyone's wrists in the room.
It wasn't a deposit into their personal accounts—it was the account the organization had selected as the official account, monitored via the life ring shared screen.
Numbers were jumping.
Jumping wildly.
The old man sitting at the head of the table slowly picked up his teacup and took a sip.
His face was gaunt, his hair gray but meticulously groomed, and his brows and eyes exuded the composure of someone who had long held a high position.
"Sun Zheng handled this matter efficiently."
He put down the teacup; his voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the meeting room heard it clearly.
A twenty-six or twenty-seven-year-old youth immediately threw his head back and laughed wantonly, his laughter full of arrogance.
"A bunch of fools!" He slammed the table. "Just a little deception and they all transferred their karma points in! Idiots! One point four billion idiots!"
He turned to look at a young guard standing against the wall: "How much is in the account now?"
The guard looked down at his life ring, his voice trembling slightly: "Reporting to Young Master... as of this moment, the organization's account has accumulated—four hundred and seventy-three million karma points. And it is still growing."
"Bang!"
The youth stood up abruptly, his chair sliding back half a meter. His eyes shone, and his whole face was flushed with excitement:
"Four hundred and seventy million! Four hundred and seventy million karma points! How many Gold Tier pieces of equipment is that worth? How many Silver Grade weapons? What kind of army could we arm with this?"
He became more and more agitated as he spoke, pacing around the round table, his speaking speed rapid:
"Our organization! We are clearly the true Bloodline of the civilization! How many people's karma points did we have to pool together just to barely scrape together this one Gold Tier Houseboat! Why—"
He stopped abruptly, pointing his finger toward a direction in the Void Realm.
"Why does Zheng Yuanshan, that... what is he even? Calling himself what? The entire civilization? Sitting on countless Gold Tier artifacts? And hosting some Top 1000 Tournament?"
"Why? Does he deserve it?"
"My granduncle is! I—Cheng Rui—am the one...! I am the most...!"
"Hehehe."
A female voice came from across the round table. A well-dressed lady in her fifties covered her mouth and chuckled, her well-maintained face full of indulgence.
"Little Rui, don't be so agitated. Sit down, sit down." Her tone was lazy. "Don't we have everything now? So many karma points, isn't that enough for us to spend? There will be Gold Tier artifacts, and *** will be yours too."
Cheng Rui snorted coldly but sat back in his chair.
A middle-aged man with a square face spoke up at the right moment, his voice steady:
"Elder Lin's wisdom is like a demon's. Last time, when the organization tried to sow discord between the Revival Society and the Survivors before the Top 1000 Tournament and failed, you ordered us to lie low. Then you formulated today's plan—to contact the convertible high-level members of the Revival Society, find management loopholes, use borrowed chickens to lay eggs, and implement the bank plan in the name of the Revival Society."
He bowed slightly, his gaze fixed on the gray-haired old man at the head of the table.
Elder Lin at the head of the table did not express his stance, only shook his head slightly, his gaze deep.
Just then, an old man sitting in the third seat on Elder Lin's left frowned. He was nearly seventy, with an aged complexion, and his voice carried a hint of hesitation when he spoke:
"I have something I must say."
Everyone looked at him.
"In the Earth Civilization Trial Covenant... mutual slaughter and harming Survivors of the same faction are explicitly prohibited. By doing this—defrauding millions, or even tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people of their karma points with false promises, will it trigger the Red Name mechanism? This hidden danger..."
"Old Qin."
An old man with a plump face and drooping eye bags interrupted him from across the table, his tone impatient:
"You've gotten old. What doesn't have risks? The Revival Society has already established itself, and we are a step behind. If we don't take extraordinary measures and act with ruthless methods, it is impossible to compete with the Revival Society."
He leaned forward, his tone intensifying:
"Are you willing to let that little brat just step on our heads like this? Are we just going to live like rats in dark corners?"
The old man called Elder Qin moved his lips but didn't speak again.
Another middle-aged man followed up: "Elder Li is right, Elder Qin, you are overthinking it. We have taken precautions for this operation—the bank was not established in our name. It was released by an attendant beside Sun Zheng, who secretly used the official Revival Society account behind his back. All blame will be borne by that attendant. Even if the Magic Sea investigates, it will at most count as a minor indirect influence, certainly not too much. This cost is completely worth it compared to the endless stream of karma points and the organization's entry into the world."
As soon as the voice fell, a man in his thirties sitting in the corner suddenly spoke:
"What if we can't fulfill the promises afterward... what if the Fate Master intervenes?"
One sentence.
The entire meeting room went quiet.
Even Cheng Rui, who was always arrogant, frowned, his expression uncertain.
The words "Fate Master" falling in this secret room carried more weight than anyone's name.
The silence lasted for five seconds.
Elder Lin at the head of the table finally spoke.
His voice was calm, carrying the certainty peculiar to an old politician:
"What kind of figure is Lord Fate Master. When has he ever meddled in private matters between us Survivors?"
He looked around at everyone, his tone unhurried:
"We are genuinely running the bank. As long as the bank gets on the right track, the promises made to the first one million Survivors can naturally be fulfilled. Moreover—the bank is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. Afterward, our organization will not use it all for our own development; we will also do real work for the civilization and lead the civilization forward."
He paused.
"And—I make the following decision."
Everyone's eyes converged on him.
"Our Twelve-Person Council will be renamed to the Thirteen-Person Council... ***... leaving a seat for Lord Fate Master. Everyone else will shift back in order."
Cheng Rui's smile froze.
"Sun Zheng—" Elder Lin's gaze passed over the crowd and looked at a figure in the corner of the meeting room, shrouded in shadow, "The order... ***..."
"Little Rui." He turned to the youth, "You have no objections, right?"
Cheng Rui sprang up.
"Elder Lin! Because that guy, the Fate Master, wants to demote my rank, I endured it!"
He turned abruptly, his finger pointing straight at the person behind him who was leaning against the bulkhead, his entire figure submerged in shadow.
"But why is this guy who defected from the Revival Society ranked ahead of me? Who knows what his true intentions are! Is it possible he's here in body but his heart is with the enemy??"
"Slap."
A loud slap.
The middle-aged man with the square face beside Cheng Rui stood up with a cold face, his right hand still maintaining the posture after the slap.
"Show some respect to Sun Zheng." His tone was icy. "In terms of seniority, you should call him Uncle."
Cheng Rui clutched his face, his eyes splitting with rage, confronting the middle-aged man.
"You dare hit me?"
"Say that kind of thing again, and it won't just be your face that I dare to hit."
The air between the two suddenly tightened. Cheng Rui clenched his fists, the square-faced man didn't move a muscle.
"Enough."
Elder Lin's palm slapped the tabletop. It wasn't heavy, but the sound clearly spread throughout the entire secret room.
Very imposing without being angry.
The two stopped their actions simultaneously.
"Sun Zheng is someone our organization spent great effort to recruit. Little Rui—if you say such things again, there will be no need for you to enter this meeting room in the future."
Elder Lin's tone left no room for negotiation.
"The seating is arranged like this."
His gaze turned to that patch of shadow.
"Director Sun Zheng. Do you think this arrangement is acceptable?"