My Right Hand Allows Me to Merge Thousands of Races-Chapter 50 - 48: Family Meeting (Bonus)

Jinghai City, Inner City, Zone 1.

Xu Family Mansion.

In the magnificent hall, a massive round table was placed, surrounded by 14 chairs.

At this moment, six chairs were occupied, while the rest were absent.

Undoubtedly, a family meeting was taking place here.

"There have been too many troubles lately." The stern-faced middle-aged man placed the file in his hand on the table, looked up, and surveyed the room, saying, "Let’s have a brief meeting, no need to wait for others. Everyone, summarize all matters and discuss them properly... Who would like to start?"

"The top priority for our Xu Family right now is the election of the third brother." At the ten o’clock position of the round table, a middle-aged woman spoke, "The family has invested a lot of time and resources over the years to help him rise to power. If he fails to win the election for Speaker, all efforts will go up in smoke, a loss we cannot afford."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded.

Important matters in Jinghai City are decided by voting in the city council.

The council consists of:

councillors;

Speaker;

City Lord;

and the artificial intelligence "0C."

Whether it is a councillor, the Speaker, the City Lord, or 0C, all have the right to propose motions.

But only if the approval votes exceed 80%, can a proposal be passed and executed.

Among them, the City Lord and the Speaker have single-vote veto power.

The City Lord, being the highest military commander of the City Defense Iron Guard, is a busy person who rarely intervenes in council affairs unless conflicts are exceptionally sharp, disputes are unresolved, and even the Speaker cannot calm matters, he will step in.

In general, the Speaker is the head of the city council!

It is conceivable how important this position is for a self-looping city!

Running for zone councillor is manageable, though costly, Xu Family is big and wealthy, so there is no pressure.

But running for Speaker is quite terrifying.

Over the years, Xu Family has almost emptied their legacy as a "nine-generation aristocratic family" to support the third brother’s election for the next Speaker!

They have paid unimaginable costs.

So, they can only succeed, not fail.

"Speak up, third brother!" The Xu Family eldest brother looked somewhat displeased at a well-dressed and elegant-looking man at the southeast corner of the round table.

"Ahem~"

Xu Tanqing cleared his throat, saying:

"The money issue is resolved, votes are not a concern, the recommendation letter from the old Speaker is secured. My biggest competitor is that Xue Family member from Zone 2, the rest are insignificant... The election is in six months, and the odds are about sixty-forty, sixty for me, forty for him."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of other Xu Family members varied.

The eldest brother frowned, the second sister touched her chin, the third uncle squinted his eyes... only the elder uncle smiled.

Obviously, their satisfaction with the "sixty-forty" result was not uniform.

Some felt it was good enough, while others thought it was barely acceptable and not quite safe.

But overall, it was barely acceptable.

Once Xu Tanqing successfully becomes the Speaker of Jinghai City, their family’s investment would be worth it.

In any case, man proposes, but heaven disposes.

Xu Family has done all they could, which is the limit.

The old Speaker is 184 years old this year and will retire in six months.

In addition to votes, a necessary condition for running for Speaker is obtaining the recommendation from either the City Lord, 0C, or the former Speaker.

The City Lord and the artificial intelligence do not support Xu Tanqing.

Initially, the old Speaker did not want to bother with the Xu Family either.

But the Xu Family offered him an irresistible price...

In short, upon hearing Xu Tanqing say he had a sixty percent chance of winning, the others present did not press further on this topic.

However, in the next moment, Xu Tanqing’s next words made their brows furrow deeply—

"That’s... uh, there are quite a few hidden dangers."

"Zhang Xinghai hasn’t been dealt with yet, and he seems not only to be on a desperate run... but also has intentions to counterattack us."

He briefly explained the situation.

Apparently, Zhang Xinghai went to a black clinic for a War Ghost Type-8 Military Exoskeleton implant, significantly enhancing his combat power. Not only did he gain the strength to protect himself, he even attempted to find opportunities to retaliate against Xu Tanqing.

Just yesterday morning, he contacted a journalist.

The journalist had been secretly investigating the Xu Family for years, although he didn’t grasp any solid evidence, he had discovered some clues.

Zhang Xinghai hoped to follow the journalist’s leads, find more clues, overthrow the Xu Family, and clear his name.

"The ’Dark Dagger’ plan absolutely must not be exposed!" Xu Family eldest brother said with a sullen expression, "Otherwise, not only will your election be affected, but even I will be implicated!"

"Dark Dagger" was a proposal initiated by the Xu Family many years ago to facilitate their family’s development.

The content is as follows:

Establish a secret agent organization with powers to eavesdrop, monitor, track, infiltrate... and even assassinate any unit or person that might threaten the safety of Jinghai City, with the right to act first and report later.

Moreover, 0C is also an important part of the plan, providing the "Dark Dagger" organization with the necessary information and intelligence.

The proposal was not approved and even sparked anger among millions of people in Jinghai City at the time.

People can accept being monitored by artificial intelligence for privacy. After all, 0C is not human; it’s just a tool.

Just like the anti-fraud app in a communication device, it pays attention to your communications at all times but only alerts you when you encounter fraud.

0C is the same; it is just an observer, recorder, and manager in the network, without leaking any citizen’s personal privacy.

These are instructions written into its program, carrying a mission of confidentiality while it supervises... even the City Lord has to step aside.

But people absolutely cannot accept being monitored by "humans" for all their privacy.

Information emails, instant messages, videos, photos, stored data, voice chats, file transfers, video conferences, social network information...

These are all personal privacy.

0C can do it, humans can’t.

Therefore, the "Dark Dagger" plan was directly denied.

But the Xu Family wasn’t reconciled and decided to take a risky move, secretly carrying out the plan anyway. However, without the assistance of 0C, it could only be considered a castrated version of "Dark Dagger."

Yet this special agent organization has brought enormous benefits to the Xu Family in recent years!!

"Rest assured, that reporter has been dealt with by me, Zhang Xinghai hasn’t found any clues."

Xu Tanqing quickly added a remark.

Huh~

Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

If the Dark Dagger plan were exposed, the Xu Family would lose at least 30% of its family strength.

But fortunately, Zhang Xinghai is just a dog at the end of its road, unlikely to cause any waves.

However, this is just the appetizer. After mentioning the Dark Dagger plan, Xu Tanqing coughed and said with difficulty:

"There’s one more... um, slightly larger hidden concern."

Upon hearing this, everyone present looked at him in confusion, waiting for his follow-up.

He clenched his teeth, bracing himself to reveal the big problem after the small one:

"Chen Yinglong is dead... assassinated an hour ago, the identity of the assassin is unknown... the branch of the Shadow Dragon Association in Zone 17 was also wiped out."

As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell silent.

"What did you say?!"

The Xu Family’s eldest jumped up, furious and anxious, roaring: "Then... what about that batch of goods? Damn it, don’t tell me that batch of goods was stolen? If that comes to light, we’re all dead!!"

The others also turned pale, looking helpless, with deep fear and horror in their eyes.

Indeed, the Xu Family is a giant entity, holding 9 seats in the Jinghai City council alone.

They wield significant influence across the council, business, and the Iron Guard Army.

Since Jinghai’s founding to its current state as a Second-level Self-looping City, only a few hundred years have passed.

What does a nine-generation family mean?

Yet even with such strong family power, the fear felt by every Xu Family member present was palpable.

"I’ve already moved the goods... don’t be so scared."

Xu Tanqing shrugged, saying: "I originally didn’t even want to come to the meeting... just guessed you’d be alarmed."

"Alarmed?" His second uncle gritted his teeth, "How can you talk so lightly about business that could lead to extermination?"

"Moved it away? That’s good... that’s good..."

The second sister of the Xu Family managed to calm down, showing reminiscence and hurriedly asked:

"Was the assassin’s target Chen Yinglong, or that batch of goods? Was it ordinary gang vendetta, or specifically coming to investigate?"

"How the hell should I know? It’s still being investigated~"

Xu Tanqing said impatiently: "Rest assured, another batch of main material is also almost shipped to Jinghai. In just three more days, that batch of goods will disappear from this world, and all evidence will be erased."

Huh~

Upon hearing his confident guarantee, everyone present felt slightly at ease.

It’s no wonder the Xu Family members were so frightened...

If the Dark Dagger plan were exposed, it would only cause the Xu Family to lose 30% of its power.

But if the batch smuggled by Chen Yinglong is exposed, it would mean the righteous iron fist of the Human Federation would completely erase the Xu Family from this massive planet that has experienced five Celestial Convergences... gone forever!!

Luckily, as long as nothing happens within these three days, the Xu Family can escape the risk and rest easy, continuing to play music and dance.

The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish!

Risk-taking is worth it.