Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

Early morning, Longhu Mountain, the underground temporary detention room of the hotel designated by Nadutong Company.

The air here is filled with a mixture of disinfectant and musty smell, and the incandescent light overhead emits a cold, hard light.

The four walls have been treated with a special Qi-resistant coating. Not to mention a supernatural being, even a ferocious beast that has become a spirit would not be able to mobilize even a trace of Qi if it were imprisoned here.

Wang Bing was currently curled up on the cold iron bed in the corner of the detention room.

His once expensive custom-made white casual suit was now covered in wrinkles and stains, and his hands were tightly locked by heavy "closed-element handcuffs," with shocking red marks on his wrists.

The great-grandson of the Ten Elders, who once roamed freely in the world of supernatural beings, and the eldest son of the Wang family, now had sunken eyes, a pale face, and bloodshot eyes filled with fear and exhaustion.

Throughout the entire night, whenever he closed his eyes, images of Zhuge Qi's terrifying mental pressure, like a giant beast from the abyss, and his great-grandfather Wang Ai's dejected and aged figure as he conceded defeat would appear in his mind.

"Squeak—"

The heavy iron gate was pushed open from the outside, making a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

Wang Bing shuddered violently and shrank into the corner like a frightened quail.

Accompanied by the steady, even sound of leather shoes, Zhuge Qi slowly walked in, carrying his signature stainless steel thermos.

Today he wore a navy blue Zhongshan suit, the collar of which was neatly fastened, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He exuded the air of an old cadre who had been immersed in the system for decades—gentle, yet unfathomable.

Following behind him was Ma Hong, the burly action team leader, who was as imposing as an iron tower, and his secretary, Xiao Li, who was carrying a thick stack of documents.

"Young Master Wang, did you sleep well last night?" Zhuge Qi walked to a folding chair in the center of the detention room, and Ma Hong immediately stepped forward to wipe the chair clean with a tissue. Zhuge Qi sat down, unscrewed the thermos, and gently blew on the goji berries floating on the surface, his tone as casual as a neighborhood auntie chatting with someone.

Looking at Zhuge Qi's calm face, Wang Bing felt a sudden nausea in his stomach, and a fear from the depths of his soul made his teeth chatter.

"Section Chief Zhuge... I was wrong, I really know I was wrong!" Wang Bing suddenly rolled off the iron bed, knelt on the ground with a thud, dragging the heavy handcuffs, and crawled to Zhuge Qi's feet, pleading with tears streaming down his face, "Please, please let me out! Didn't my great-grandfather already promise you fifty million? You've given the money, you can't go back on your word!"

Zhuge Qi did not dodge, but looked down at Wang Bing, who looked like a stray dog, without a trace of pity in his deep eyes.

"Young Master Wang, your awareness still needs improvement," Zhuge Qi sighed, taking a sip of warm water from his thermos. He spoke earnestly, "That fifty million was a 'charitable fund' donated by your great-grandfather to support the cause of independent cultivators at the bottom of our supernatural world. This is a manifestation of social responsibility in civil matters, and it's also the company trying to salvage your reputation. But that doesn't mean that fifty million has washed away your feudal privilege mentality of disregarding rules and bullying the weak."

"I'll change! I'll definitely change from now on! I'll never dare to do it again!" Wang Bing kowtowed repeatedly, his arrogant demeanor as the heir of the Ten Elders completely gone.

"Whether you change or not is a matter of your attitude; whether you release me or not is a matter of company procedure." Zhuge Qi raised his right hand, which was wearing a white glove, and gently tapped the edge of the thermos. "This forty-eight hours of detention is to allow you to conduct a deep reflection here and write a written self-criticism of no less than five thousand words."

"Little Li, leave the pen and paper with him. Young Master Wang, rest assured, our Department of Extraordinary Persons always upholds procedural justice in handling cases. Once the time is up, as long as your report on your thoughts passes, I will personally send a car to take you down the mountain."

Zhuge Qi stood up, ignoring Wang Bing who was on the ground with snot and tears streaming down his face, and turned to walk out the door.

The moment he stepped out of the detention cell's iron door, the system's crisp notification sound rang in his mind.

"Ding! Detected that the host has completely broken down the psychological defenses of the Ten Elders' heir through extreme administrative means and psychological pressure, transforming him from an arrogant and domineering playboy into a prisoner who fears the rules of the system."

"The host's authority as a superior is deeply ingrained in people's minds."

"Reputation points +1200!"

Current reputation level: LV4 (32500/100000)

Hearing the notification in his mind, Zhuge Qi's lips curled up slightly. He handed the thermos to Ma Hong behind him, took off his white gloves, and casually instructed, "Old Ma, keep a close eye on him. Don't let him do anything self-harming in the next forty-eight hours."

That old mad dog from the Wang family is probably scrambling to pull strings and use connections everywhere right now. We not only need to make this case airtight, but we also need to create a model case file.

"Don't worry, Section Chief. The detention room is under 24-hour surveillance with no blind spots. Even if he wanted to bite his tongue and commit suicide, our miniature reconnaissance bees could put a defibrillator in his mouth in a second!" Ma Hong grinned, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth.

Zhuge Qi nodded slightly, glancing at the mechanical watch on his wrist: "It's almost time. Let's go have breakfast, then meet up with the comrades from the North China branch. Today is the final of the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony, Zhang Chulan and Zhang Lingyu's showcase performance, we can't miss it."

……

Half an hour later, in a quiet courtyard of the guesthouse at the front of Longhu Mountain.

A hearty breakfast of soy milk, fried dough sticks, and steamed buns was laid out on the stone table.

Xu San and Xu Si from the North China branch were sitting on a stone bench, both of them with undisguised fatigue in their eyes, clearly having not slept well last night because of Zhang Chulan's matter.

Feng Baobao, meanwhile, squatted on a stone bench, expressionless, holding a large bowl and slurping noodles as if nothing around her mattered.

Zhuge Qi walked steadily into the courtyard, followed by Ma Hong and Xiao Li.

"Good morning, Section Chief Zhuge." Xu Si stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, and greeted him. Ever since he witnessed Zhuge Qi's breathtaking combination punches that utterly crushed the Wang family of the Ten Elders on the ring yesterday, Xu Si's apprehension towards this young section chief had reached an unprecedented level.

"Good morning. Director Xu San, Director Xu Si, did you rest well last night?" Zhuge Qi smiled and sat down in the main seat. Xiao Li immediately placed a steaming bowl of soy milk and a few fried dough sticks in front of him.

"Section Chief, please stop teasing us." Xu San pushed up his reflective glasses and gave a wry smile. "Chu Lan is going to face Zhang Lingyu in the finals today. Zhang Lingyu is the Old Celestial Master's darling and the most outstanding disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion this generation. Although Chu Lan showed the strength of Yang Wu Lei yesterday, Zhang Lingyu's cultivation is unfathomable. We really have no confidence in this tough battle."

Zhuge Qi picked up a fried dough stick, slowly tore it into small pieces and soaked it in soy milk, his tone calm and without any fluctuation: "Directors, the most taboo thing in working within the system is to only look at the surface phenomena without digging into the underlying political logic."

Xu San and Xu Si exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of doubt in each other's eyes, and couldn't help but prick up their ears.

"Do you think today's final is just two young people fighting in the ring for a championship title?" Zhuge Qi picked up his soy milk and took a sip, his deep gaze sweeping over the two men through his glasses. "Wrong. This final is essentially a public 'political qualification review' held by the Old Celestial Master in order to legally and legitimately transfer the position of Celestial Master to Zhang Chulan."

"Zhang Lingyu is the final examiner in this selection process. In the Old Master's heart, Zhang Chulan has long been chosen as the sole successor. Therefore, Zhang Chulan will not only win today, but must win."

"But Zhang Lingyu's personality is so rigid and inflexible, there's absolutely no way he would hold back in the finals!" Xu Si retorted, frowning.

"Who said he needs to deliberately give in?" Zhuge Qi's lips curled into a knowing smile. He gently twirled the white jade ring on his finger and said quietly, "In administration, the most effective way to dismantle a capable but obstructive middle-level manager is to undermine his 'core confidence.' Once his thinking is flawed, his professional abilities will naturally suffer a significant decline."

"Zhang Lingyu is a perfectionist. His Dao heart is built on his absolute obedience to the precepts of the Celestial Master's Mansion and the illusion of his own purity. But what is the reality?" Zhuge Qi sneered. "He harbors the huge stain of Xia He in his heart. A while ago, I threw Xia He's criminal case file in his face, tearing away his self-deceiving fig leaf, and his Dao heart was already cracked."

How could an examiner burdened by a heavy historical baggage and already plagued by self-doubt before the competition possibly withstand Zhang Chulan, who had endured ten years of hardship and was now unleashing all his initiative in his quest for survival and the truth?

Xu San and Xu Si broke out in a cold sweat. They then recalled the scene when Zhuge Qi had forced Zhang Lingyu to flee in disarray with a pile of files at the Tianjin branch. It turned out that since then, this head of the Extraordinary Persons Affairs Department had already extended his reach to today's Luo Tian Grand Ceremony finals! This kind of terrifying scheming, planning ten steps ahead for every step, was simply chilling.

"Section Chief, your insight is brilliant." Xu San wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with genuine admiration, "Then... if Chu Lan really wins today and successfully takes over the position of Celestial Master, will our company's mission be considered perfectly accomplished?"

"Successfully completed?" Zhuge Qi put down his chopsticks, took out a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth. The smile on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by a chilling coldness.

"Gentlemen, the real show is just beginning." Zhuge Qi stood up, hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the vast primeval forest behind Longhu Mountain. "Have you forgotten that there's a group of treacherous rats lurking in the shadows, watching us during this Luotian Grand Ceremony?"

"You mean... Quanxing?!" Xu Si suddenly stood up, his face changing drastically.

Zhuge Qi nodded slightly, turned around, looked at the shocked expressions on the two people's faces, and began to expound his chilling "Second Brother Philosophy": "These past few days, Old Ma led his men to discover a lot of Quanxing's spies at the foot of the mountain. In fact, I can tell you for sure that Gong Qing, the acting leader of Quanxing, is currently lurking by the side of the Old Celestial Master, disguised as a little Taoist boy."

"What?! Gong Qing is with the Celestial Master?! Why don't you order his arrest right away?!" Xu Si was so anxious he was jumping up and down. That's the acting leader of Quanxing Sect. If he were to pull off an assassination or poisoning plot while he's with the Celestial Master, the entire world of supernatural beings would be turned upside down!

"Arrest people? Why arrest them?" Zhuge Qi retorted, his tone revealing absolute rationality and cold-bloodedness.

He sat down again on the stone bench, picked up his thermos, and said slowly, "Director Xu, let me tell you a story. The legendary physician Hua Tuo had three brothers. The eldest brother treated illnesses before they manifested, the second brother treated illnesses in their early stages, and Hua Tuo treated illnesses when they were terminal. As a result, everyone in the world only knew of Hua Tuo's superb medical skills, but no one knew about his two brothers who took preventative measures."

Zhuge Qi's eyes gleamed with the shrewdness of a politician: "We're well-connected. If we rush in and arrest Gong Qing now, the Old Master will at most say, 'Thank you for your hard work, company.' The outside world will have no idea how big a crisis we've averted. Longhu Mountain will still be the same lofty Longhu Mountain, and our company will still just be a 'security captain' maintaining order."

"If we want to truly grasp power in our hands, and if we want these unruly and powerful families and influential clans to have absolute awe and dependence on the company, we cannot be an unknown big brother."

Zhuge Qi's fingers struck the stone table heavily, producing a dull thud.

"We must wait. We must wait until the Quanxing Sect launches a full-scale attack on the mountain, until the century-old reputation of Longhu Mountain is substantially threatened, until the 'early onset' of chaos and panic in this number one sect in the world. At that time, we, Na Du Tong, will once again enter the fray as saviors, with overwhelming force, and wipe out the Quanxing Sect in one fell swoop!"

Only when they witness the real blood and fire, and see the company's overwhelming and ruthless methods, will they understand who truly rules this world!

silence.

A deathly silence.

Throughout the entire courtyard, apart from Feng Baobao's carefree slurping of noodles, Xu San and Xu Si didn't dare to even breathe loudly.

Looking at the young man in front of them, holding a thermos and wearing a gentle smile, they felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads.

It's too cruel.

This is not just a matter of overwhelming strength; it is a complete crushing defeat in terms of both strategic vision and mindset.

Using the entire Celestial Master's Mansion and the Quanxing Sect as a chessboard, they aimed to reap political capital from all over the world.

Is such deep scheming and ruthless tactics really something a young man in his twenties could possess?

"Alright, don't be so tense. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up." Zhuge Qi looked at the two of them with mournful expressions, smiled, patted Xu Si on the shoulder, and swept away the heavy atmosphere. "Go and get ready. The final is about to begin. Old Ma, notify all the brothers in the action team that after 8 pm tonight, they will take over all the defenses outside Longhu Mountain."

Tell them, not even a fly is allowed to leave without my order. I will ensure that these Quanxing people, once they can get in, can never get out.

"Yes, Section Chief!" Ma Hong tapped his feet together and gave a standard company salute.