Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

Zhuge Qi paused, the gentleness in his gaze not diminishing, but that gentleness was like the winter sun, warm and comforting, yet dazzling when you looked at it.

"I admit that it's not easy for Quanxing to leave, but not being able to leave and not wanting to leave are two different things. Does Xia He want to leave? Has she contacted the Celestial Master's Mansion? Has she contacted Na Du Tong? Has she contacted anyone who can back her up?"

Zhang Lingyu lowered her head, her gaze fixed on her fingers.

"I didn't help her find her way," he said.

The sound was very soft, almost drowned out by the autumn wind that squeezed in from outside the window.

"Yes, you didn't," Zhuge Qi said. "Neither did she. Neither of you took a single step in that direction. I wonder if Master Lingyu has ever heard an old song called 'Turning Back Is Too Hard'?"

Zhang Lingyu's body swayed slightly.

It's not about to collapse, but rather a kind of tremor where something shakes the foundation from the inside.

He sat there, his back still straight, but his dignified air of "immortal demeanor" seemed to have lost a supporting pillar, making him look slightly weak.

He opened the document again.

This time he turned to a later page.

Xia He's name appeared more than once.

Each time they appeared, the context was different. Sometimes they were cooperating with Shen Chong's actions, sometimes they were carrying out missions alone, and sometimes they played a supporting role in large-scale events.

She was never "forced" to do anything.

She had the choice every time, and every time she chose the Quanxing side.

Zhang Lingyu's hand hovered above the paper, as if it were being held back by something invisible.

He couldn't stand it.

It's not that my eyes can't see, it's that my heart is too full, so full that the words in front of me are blurry.

The black lead characters jumped into his field of vision one by one, piecing together faces he recognized and those he didn't.

Some were crying, some were bleeding, and some had lost all expression.

And all those people were related to Xia He.

Or to be more precise, they are all related to things that Xia He tacitly approved.

Zhang Lingyu closed the file, this time with a slightly heavier movement, the papers colliding with a crisp snap.

He looked up at Zhuge Qi, the thin layer of anxiety in his eyes had mostly faded, but his Dao heart was already teetering on the brink of collapse.

"Do we still want to see him now?" Zhuge Qi asked.

Zhang Lingyu remained silent for a long time.

So long that the already cooled tea on the conference table began to swirl with a second layer of chill, so long that the autumn wind squeezing in through the window made the leaves of the pothos in the corner tremble several times.

Then he spoke.

"No...it's gone."

He spoke those three words with great difficulty.

Each word is like a hurdle, and you have to cross it before you can say the next one.

Zhuge Qi sat opposite him, without showing any expression that said, "I knew you would say that."

He didn't even make any gesture of victory.

He simply nodded slightly, as if receiving a work report.

"Alright, Master Lingyu, take care. I won't see you off."

Zhang Lingyu stood up.

His movements remained unhurried and steady.

But when he stood up, he braced his right hand on the table as if he were unsteady on his feet. He quickly regained his balance and bowed slightly to Zhuge Qi.

"Excuse me, Section Chief Zhuge."

Zhang Lingyu turned around and walked towards the door.

His steps remained upright, the hem of his snow-white Taoist robe swaying gently with each step. From his back to his profile to the last silhouette before entering the door, he maintained the demeanor befitting a high-ranking disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

But Zhuge Qi could tell that the steps were heavier than when he came.

Zhuge Qi stood there, looking at the door panel. The ever-present, perfectly timed smile on his face slowly faded, becoming something fainter and calmer.

"Flowers grown in a greenhouse, no matter how tall they grow, will still sway in the wind."

Xia He is Zhang Lingyu's ideal woman, but also his inner demon.

The greatness of the white moonlight lies in the fact that even if the person is standing in front of you, it cannot compare to the shadow in your heart. For Zhang Lingyu, it has become an obsession.

The one the other party is clinging to is not the Xia He of today, but merely the phantom of the past that has long since vanished like a dream.

"If you don't slay your inner demons, you'll see the end of the road ahead." He shook his head. "What a pity, that bandit Old Master raised a heart of a bodhisattva."

Zhuge Qi sighed and prepared to make a few phone calls.

He almost shattered the Dao heart of someone else's disciple. If they come looking for trouble, he might not be able to handle it.

Leaving Xia He in North China was partly a convenient way to shift blame.

Xia He cannot be released.

Even if the Celestial Master came, he couldn't possibly take him back; that's a different matter from Lü Liang's situation.

This is an obstacle that Zhang Lingyu must overcome.

If it's a matter of killing someone, it could give them a chance to personally eliminate evil and uphold justice.

This time, the main purpose was not to warn Zhang Lingyu, since according to my understanding of him, this was an inevitable outcome. What I needed to do was to deal with the old master behind him.

If he could use Lü Liang to indirectly control the Lü family, he could also use Zhang Lingyu to control Longhu Mountain.

Your perspective is determined by your position; you have to think from the angle of your position. I'm not here to be a babysitter for these people.

Now that he has joined the company, he needs to consider the gains and losses from the company's perspective.

Among them, the Jianghu of Extraordinary People is the main target he wants to rectify.

What I want to do is to control all the extraordinary people in the world!

The most challenging task, and the one he most wanted to accomplish, was to restrain the supreme master of Longhu Mountain, Zhang Zhiwei.

Zhuge Qi glanced at the system interface.

"Reputation Value LV3: 35892/50000".

The number was more than he remembered.

Recently, I have been deeply influenced by three important figures: Feng Zhenghao, Zhang Chulan, and Zhang Lingyu. Each time, I have gained a considerable amount of reputation.

Feng Zhenghao received the most, after all, it was a clash between the Ten Elders, a direct confrontation plus psychological pressure, the system's settlement interface was filled with a long string of results.

Zhang Chulan is second; although there aren't many battle scenes, his reputation is still quite high.

Zhang Lingyu is the fewest, but not few either.

Zhuge Qi looked at the number and did a quick calculation.

It's still a little over 14,000 away from Lv4.

I've almost finished taking care of things in Tianjin, but if I finish one last thing before returning to headquarters, it should be enough to level up to LV4.

This was not Zhao Fangxu's order.

Zhao Fangxu had three things he wanted me to do on this trip: check the files, clean up the mess, and establish his authority.

I wasn't involved much in the first matter, and I believe Mr. Zhao will understand. Investigating internal matters isn't really my job.

The other two tasks were more than enough to get by.

The affairs of Feng Zhenghao and Lü Ci were all paving the way for sealing off the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, and these were things that President Zhao had already dealt with.

What he was about to do next was not what General Manager Zhao had instructed him to do, but rather his own judgment.

After all, you can't expect the leader to speak up for everything.

As a subordinate, you should always consider the leader's perspective, and when it's necessary to play the bad cop, you should.