Book 3, Chapter 169: Li Ying

Chen Chuan followed the instructions on the Realm Pass and found the safe house where Meng Shu’s group was hiding. When he reached the place, he sent a message to her, saying that the incident was over.

Then, he waited for a while until a few security guards escorted Meng Shu and Yan Yi out.

“It’s done. If Mr. Meng is a man of his word, then you’re now the company’s sole successor,” Chen Chuan said.

Meng Shu was silent for a while before saying softly, “While I’m not close with my grandfather, he keeps his promises. At the very least, on the surface, he’s someone who fights hard to maintain the rules.”

Yan Yi seemed to have received some sort of message. She looked up and said, “Miss Shu, Meng Huang had inserted moles beside many important Meng family members, but now that he’s dead, these people serve no purpose. You can capture them in the name of the successor and protect those family members.”

Meng Shu knew what she meant. Yan Yi wanted her to announce her new position to the rest of the family, win over their hearts, and swiftly take over Meng Huang’s place. “Help me with it, Big Sis Yan.”

Yan Yi nodded and quickly began hiring people and arranging the necessary personnel.

A message was sent to Meng Shu’s Realm Pass at that moment, and she turned to Chen Chuan. “Grandfather is asking me to see him.”

“I’ll go with you,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

Even though Meng Huang had been killed, his job wasn’t done yet. This next period of time was the most important. After all, Meng Huang might have had some backup plans, and Chen Chuan needed to keep an eye out for them.

Both he and Meng Shu returned to the manor. Since the southeast corner had nearly been demolished, they moved to the living room in the north wing. Meng Lai stood inside while waiting for them.

When he saw them enter, he first turned to Chen Chuan and said politely, “Mr. Chen, Aunt Yu told me everything. It’s all thanks to you that Meng Huang didn’t succeed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known how to clean up this mess.”

“You flatter me, Mr. Meng,” Chen Chuan said.

Meng Lai smiled and said sincerely, “Border Fusion has always been impartial when it comes to rewarding and punishing its employees. You’re a security advisor of the company, but even now, you don’t have a place to call your own home. As the company president, I need to address this problem.

“The board of directors has decided to give you a detached house in Martial Order District. Please accept it.”

Chen Chuan thought about it. Even though he had a room in Martial Valor University, that place didn’t belong to him, and he couldn’t move into the apartment his parents had left for him for the time being. If he had a house with reliable security, it would certainly make things easier for him. He could also move the things he had stored in Wu Bei’s storeroom to his house.

So, he didn’t refuse the offer. “Thank you, Mr. Meng.”

Meng Lai relaxed when Chen Chuan accepted the gift. He then turned to Meng Shu and said, “Xiao Shu, it’s been a long while since we’ve talked with each other. Why don’t you spend the night here?”

“Of course,” Meng Shu replied.

Chen Chuan could tell that Meng Lai had certain things to say to Meng Shu in private, so he didn’t linger. After exchanging a few more words with them, he left.

Once Chen Chuan was gone, Meng Lai’s expression grew a little more stern as he said to Meng Shu, “Come with me, Xiao Shu. As the company’s successor, you must understand certain things.”

***

When Chen Chuan was outside, he saw a message from Wu Quan, asking him to contact him when he was done. So, he went to a deserted place and called him.

It took only a moment for Wu Quan to answer. “Officer Chen, I already received Lao Wan and Xiao Lu’s report. You did great. It’s all thanks to you that we’ve managed to get rid of the existence from the other world and get rid of the future problems.”

“Director Wu, Meng Huang seemed to have really wanted to become the successor and had come today with a clear goal in mind. When I fought against him, he kept trying to enter the depths of the manor. I don’t know what’s there that attracted his attention so much,” Chen Chuan pointed out.

“This might be the reason why he was so hung up on gaining control of Border Fusion, and I believe we should tell you about it,” Wu Quan said grimly. “While you’ve never participated in the defense of the World Ring before, you’ve still come into direct contact with an existence from the other world today. I’ll send some information to you later. Remember to delete it once you’ve finished reading.

“Also, I’ll report your success of the operation later, but in order to make sure nothing like this happens again, you need to stay beside Meng Shu for the time being. You can come back once the situation settles down.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan said.

***

Meng Lai brought Meng Shu out of the living room. They walked along a corridor and took an elevator to underground level one. They then took a mini electric tram to where Chen Chuan had fought against Meng Huang. Aunt Yu was waiting there and bowed to them. “Mr. Meng, Miss Shu.”

“Please guard the place, Aunt Yu,” Meng Lai said.

“Understood,” Aunt Yu replied.

Meng Lai opened the door and walked down the underground tunnel with Meng Shu. They didn’t have any problems passing through the ritual. This wasn’t just because they had the same blood flowing through their veins, but also because Meng Lai was the president of the company, while Meng Shu was the successor. The ritual recognized them.

If Meng Huang had also been a successor, he wouldn’t have had any difficulty walking down the tunnel.

When Chen Chuan had come here, the tunnel had been devoid of people, but when Meng Lai and Meng Shu came in, they saw a long-haired woman with a gorgeous, perfectly proportioned body.

She had a beautiful face and gave off a gentle, serene air. She was so beautiful, in fact, that she didn’t seem like a real person at all. At present, she had her hands over her belly as she smiled and bowed to them. “Mr. Meng, Miss Shu.”

“This is Li Ying, the company’s active biosentient entity,” Meng Lai introduced to Meng Shu.

That made Meng Shu cast a glance at the woman. She had heard of Li Ying before, but had never seen her.

“Are you wondering why the company’s active biosentient entity isn’t in the company? I moved her here. Her body is in the biowell right ahead in charge of protecting my body.

“She’s what Meng Huang was after. If the existence from the other world ate her, it could stay in our world permanently. It would also become stronger and possess more knowledge. Not that it would have ever succeeded in consuming her.

“The government and the other companies might allow an existence from the other world to run a company, but they won’t let another existence that ate a biosentient entity appear in our world again.”

Meng Shu was able to glean a lot of information from those words.

The government and companies will tolerate an existence from the other world running a company, but they won’t let one that has eaten a biosentient entity do it? Was there such a case before? Or was there one such existence among them right now?

She felt as if she had just been dumped a lot of information. Even though it was quite shocking, it wasn’t really that important when compared to the Great Crash.

She then cast a glance at Li Ying. Even though she was just an active biosentient entity, Li Ying looked no different from a real human. “Grandfather, was Li Ying just bait?”

“Yes and no. Have you ever thought about the possibility that if the existence from the other world could eat Li Ying, then Li Ying could do the same?” Meng Lai offered with a smile.

Meng Shu’s heart beat faster, but her gaze remained as calm as ever.

Her reaction pleased Meng Lai, and he said languidly, “I was actually the one who gave Meng Huang the clues to contact the existence from the other world and pulled strings to make it easy for him. He didn’t know about it, of course.”

Finally, Meng Shu whipped her head to her grandfather.

As if he was talking about the weather, Meng Lai continued, “This isn’t anything strange. Plenty of people are doing that nowadays. It’s just as I cautioned Meng Huang. He’s not forbidden from working together with those existences, but he needs to be able to control them, not the other way around.”

At this point, his voice gained a touch of regret. “But he didn’t pass the test, and that means he would not be a good company president.

“Our real plan is to capture an existence from the other world to make Li Ying stronger. An active biosentient entity is the deciding factor behind whether a company can become strong.

“Black Orchid had to move away from Central City after losing their biosentient entity. They went to Yangzhi City to rebuild their strength, but in the end, they never succeeded in making their comeback.”

He leveled a stern gaze at Meng Shu. “Xiao Shu, if we don’t want to become like Black Orchid, we must have a powerful active biosentient entity. Li Ying is the foundation of the company. She’s the one thing we can’t replace if we want the company to continue existing. As for us, we’re all replaceable.

“Did you know that over the past decade or so, some people within the government and the mega corporations have all been pushing a certain bill. They want to give ranks to all active biosentient entities and create rules based on them.

“Should the bill come to pass, the development of all companies that aren’t mega corporations is going to be limited. They will never have the chance to get stronger and become mega corporations.

“Right now, Sheni Peninsula and Trokka Peninsula are already enforcing this rule. Over there, the medium-sized and small companies can never get stronger and threaten those above them.

“The Great Shun Republic is still arguing about this, because while they can stabilize their rule if they pass this bill, it would be a blatant acknowledgment of the status of the mega corporations, which would give them more power.

“For the moment, the country’s main policy is to suppress the mega corporations and help medium-sized and small businesses rise to power while getting rid of unruly companies. The current situation is beneficial for us, but if this continues, we will forever be the government’s pawns.

“That’s why we need to continue moving forward, but we can’t do it with the established rules. This forces us to resort to more extreme methods.

“Xiao Shu, once you take over the company, you must make every effort to carry forward and make Li Ying stronger.”

As he spoke, they arrived next to the biowell.

“She’s right here,” Meng Lai said.

Meng Shu looked down the seemingly bottomless well and asked, “What can a stronger active biosentient entity do?”

As Meng Lai watched Li Ying walk over, he said, “Plenty, but the two most important features are that she gains the ability to fight and can open a gate between the two worlds at any moment.”