Sir! Don't close the net!

Li Yili lowered her legs, interlaced her fingers, rested her elbows on the table, and gazed intently at Wilson, who was sitting on the single sofa.

Wilson now is nothing more than a vicious capitalist who profits from human suffering while pretending to know nothing.

"Your next sentence won't be... [I heard Mr. Richard asked us to do this]."

“Ahem—it’s just a rumor,” Wilson coughed, his eyes flashing.

That's when they got smart.

Li Yili grinned, spread her hands, and leaned back in her chair. "Alright, I also have some inside information. The candidate for the executive officer of the Crusader Expeditionary Force may arrive in Guoweiton soon."

"A candidate for the Crusader Executive Officer?" Wilson asked, his face full of questions.

"that is……"

Li Yi wanted to explain to Wilson what a candidate for the Crusader Executive Officer was, but then she thought that there was no need to go into too much detail with Wilson, who was a ruthless businessman. She just needed to let him know what he would lose.

“If they detect even the slightest hint, they’ll raid your property and your home. If they find anything suspicious, they’ll monitor every shipment that comes and goes from Guo Weidun, and everyone will be registered,” Li Yili beckoned to Wilson. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Wilson swallowed hard and nodded quickly.

"So from now on, we need to prepare for the inspections by the candidates for executive officer that may come at any time. Those guys are very rough with their inspections. They are happy for you to use rogue methods so that they can use robber methods. But conversely, as long as we give them enough face and behave properly in all aspects, they will have to consider their image when they want to do anything. After all, this is the border between Nibelungen and Eden."

Li Yili raised her finger and shook it from side to side.

"Mmm-hmm-hmm—"

“Of course, employee benefits are a key area that the Crusade focuses on, and it’s also a way for them to gain more support from the civilians,” Li Yili said, pausing as she pointed her waving finger at Wilson.

Wilson felt a sudden unease and sat up straight.

People only realize things when they are reminded.

The more unfortunate one feels, the less indignant one becomes about the misfortune itself, and the more lost one feels about oneself, along with an inflated greed.

"As long as one caters to such greed, one can easily become a representative."

"In short... you have to give those older employees the normal treatment; you have to give back as much as they've done."

Wilson, who had just seemed to understand but not quite, immediately realized what was going on when he heard about the "normal treatment" and exclaimed, "No way! I'll go bankrupt!"

Do you think I can't do math?

"Cough cough cough... I, I just run a small business, and the costs alone are suffocating me. I can only survive on those meager profits..."

Tsk—

“I didn’t tell you to give it to them directly,” Li Yili rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just save some of the money for them, like that, the semi-annual bonus?”

"A six-month...bonus?" Wilson blinked; he could smell the profit potential.

"That's right. If the normal pay is 10, and you've only paid 3, you definitely won't pass the inspection. Your employees will go on strike, and your daughter will be labeled no matter where she goes. But just because you only paid 3 doesn't mean you swallowed 7."

Li Yili smiled slightly.

"As long as you pay the accumulated seven to those employees before the executive candidate comes to inspect, they will definitely praise you during the inspection. The executive candidate will not incite their dissatisfaction when the employees are praising you. Even if they have doubts about you paying so much in one day, you can say that Guo Weidun's situation is not good and it is difficult to improve his life slowly, so he has resorted to this last resort."

“That…that doesn’t mean I’ll have to pay every six months from now on,” Wilson said awkwardly. “Isn’t that…too much of a concession…”

……

“Are you stupid… Did you guarantee the employees that they would be paid every six months? If you don’t guarantee it, they won’t take it for granted,” Li Yili pinched the bridge of her nose. “Does the executive officer candidate come to Guoweiton every six months to inspect? You can just pay him when he comes, right?”

Wilson paused, then suddenly realized what he meant. He stood up abruptly and nodded vigorously at Li Yili. "I understand! Thank you, Mr. Richard!"

“If you understand, remember to tell your old colleagues about this. I don’t want to explain it over and over again,” Li Yili waved her hand and spun her chair. “Although Guoweidun is remote, it doesn’t mean that your voice can’t be heard. Don’t go too far in your actions, or if people investigate, none of us will be able to escape.”

Of course, even if they were truly "well-behaved," he would still try his best to have the executive officer candidates come to Guo Weiton for inspection every six months. Without giving them some hope, these blood-sucking bastards might just pack up and run away.

You have to boil the frog in lukewarm water.

"I understand, I understand—"

Wilson nodded repeatedly and left satisfied.

After that, several more people came, almost all of them were people who had previously contacted Li Yili about the matter of "going abroad". The questions they wanted to ask were the same as Wilson's: whether the newly opened route in Yangcun would affect their previous applications for "going abroad", and why they were suddenly being investigated about their treatment.

Li Yili, growing increasingly impatient, repeated what she had said to Wilson several times.

Li Yili drew back the curtains. The starry sky was so bright that the sun was nowhere to be seen; only a few rays of sunlight could be faintly seen in the strange halo.

"worn out……"

------

Abu Jean subtly peeked towards the stairwell, and after confirming that the two Cloud Clan members responsible for monitoring El-Qiong had come downstairs, he quickly walked to El-Qiong's side and lowered his voice, "Executor, I've found out. A batch of grain will be delivered to Li Yili's large ranch tomorrow, including chickens and ducks."

Al-Jonor raised an eyebrow slightly. "What do you think the problem is?"

“Ahem—that’s it. It’s strange. Li Yili buys a batch like this every month. If it’s for food, why would he buy it in bulk? Besides, his ranch has those too. If it’s for raising livestock, buying this much every month would make his ranch stink long ago,” Abu Rang gestured earnestly. “I specifically investigated, and Li Yili has never sold poultry from his ranch.”

Al-Jiong gently tapped the yellowed ledger beside him with his pen, his eyes flickered for a moment, then he released the pen, leaned back in his chair, and looked exhausted.

"But you still don't have direct evidence, right?"

"This..." Abu Rang opened his mouth, then turned his face away with a look of reluctance. "I'll try harder—"

“Abu, you should have noticed that Li Yili is not as arrogant as we thought. Perhaps the opposite is true. He is very cautious and careful. He is the defender and you are the attacker. The more time you have to prepare, the more prepared he will be. We don’t have that much time.”

Al-Jonor tilted his head, gesturing for Abu-Jan to look around at the Cloud Clan executives.

Abu Jean subconsciously straightened up and looked around. The Cloud Clan executives standing with them were all holding their breath, but some of them were not as driven as they were yesterday. Perhaps soon, most of them would give up. Once Dela Pal was confirmed as a cadre, nothing would really change.

Therefore, they must ensure the success of the séance no matter what, so as to at least prevent the black goat's offspring from being abandoned by headquarters.

Abu Jang

He took a deep breath, his gaze hardened, and he made up his mind.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Discovered Warehouse

It was the third day after Dela Pal left Guweden.

Since the purchased grain would be delivered to the ranch on this day, the ranch did not hire anyone. It was better to rely on the poultry to line up and go into the cages themselves than to rely on Valkyrie to help transport the goods. So, after spending some time in the sheep village in the morning to confirm that the work he had assigned was in order, Li Yili set off back to the ranch.

No sooner had Li Yili left than Abu Rang stood up abruptly, strode to the window, and stared at the carriage Li Yili had been riding in. As soon as the carriage disappeared completely, he turned around, raised his hand, and waved, "Everyone! Prepare to depart!"

The officers, unaware of the situation, were stunned. Before they could react, the other officers stood up abruptly, grabbed their briefcases in unison, and headed towards the stairwell.

"Wait...wait a minute! What do you want to do?!"

Several Yunzhong executives who were on Li Yili's side immediately panicked and shouted loudly.

"Don't you guys need to work anymore?!"

"Minister Dela Parr could be back at any time!"

"There's only one thing we want to do: complete the mission assigned to us by headquarters," Abu Jean, the leader, roared without turning his head. "What are you doing!"

Abu Rang's shout caused several executives on Li Yili's side to hesitate. After struggling with their emotions for a while, they hunched over and blended into the Yunzhong army. Soon, the Sheep Village building was empty, with only papers flying around.

Al-Qiong slowly put down his pen, took out a few documents and put them into his briefcase, stood up and straightened his clothes, walked through the fluttering papers and down the stairs, where several Cloud Clan executives were waiting for him.

“Everyone, Abu will buy us time. Success or failure depends on this,” Al Jiono patted the shoulder of the balding man in front of him, took out several documents from his briefcase and handed them to the people around him. “Jenno, you go investigate that guy named Tony Stark. He-Man, go find Peter Parker. Joel, you go investigate Bruce Wayne. I’ll go find Steve Rogers.”

Jeno, who was in charge of Chattoni Stark, raised an eyebrow and took the documents. "They are not residents of Gowerton."

“Yes, they are not residents of Guoweiton, but merchants from other places who want to do business in Guoweiton and have rented several warehouses,” Al Chiono turned around and gestured for the others to walk and talk. “They all started purchasing in Guoweiton after Li Yili took office.”

"So you suspect that those people were all fakes created by Li Yili, and those warehouses were where Li Yili hid the contaminants?" Geno quickly caught up.

“It’s very likely that the pollutants you’re aware of aren’t just ordinary contraband; they’re the legacy of contamination. If we don’t prepare a series of containment measures, they will continue to contaminate the surrounding environment,” Al-Chonno said, his brow furrowed.

Geno, Seaman, and Joel all nodded. They were all veteran executives and naturally knew how troublesome it was to deal with contaminants. Although the materials needed were not contraband, they were not things that could be used on a daily basis, and once the list was drawn up, everyone would understand.

"So you mean these people all bought materials to block pollutants?" Seaman asked, flipping through Peter Parr's bill as he walked. The meager purchase list made him frown slightly.

"No—they have absolutely nothing to do with the materials used to block pollutants. Think about it carefully. Since Li Yili can steal the pollutants we transfer without leaving a trace, it's not surprising that she can also take away the blocking materials we purchase. All we need to do is move the prepared blocking materials along with the pollutants every time they are transferred."

Al-Chonno stopped at the fork in the road and looked around. Because of the Cloud Clan Executive Officer and the large-scale movement of the Cloud Clan, most of the residents of Guoweiton had followed out of curiosity, leaving the streets deserted.

"The loss of contaminants is more important than the materials used for blocking them, so we certainly wouldn't notice that the materials we prepared for blocking them were also gone."

"Is that so!" Joel's eyes widened as he quickly flipped through Bruce Wayne's ledger. "If it's these warehouses, there is indeed enough space to set up containment materials and store that amount of contaminants!"

"Okay! Let's split up!"

Al-Jeanor gripped his briefcase tightly.

If only we could find the pollutants that Li Yili had hidden...

------

As soon as Li Yili got off the carriage, he felt inexplicably irritable. The natural air no longer made him feel at ease as usual. Instead, it gave him a feeling of gunpowder, as if something would explode at any moment, and that explosion would blow away everything he wanted.

"What's wrong, Mr. Richard?"

Seeing that Li Yili's expression was obviously off, Yolan pulled on the reins and cautiously probed.

"No, it's nothing..."

Li Yili rubbed his forehead and shook it from side to side, his brows furrowed as he recalled the events of the past few days. Although there had been some unexpected events, things had progressed within his plan, and the results would be much better than he had anticipated. However, his intuition told him that something was wrong.

He recalled a saying that intuition is the brain automatically collecting and organizing all the details around it, processing them at a speed that is almost like skipping through them, to arrive at a general answer.

He

The attitude of this statement has always been to neither spread nor believe rumors.

But he had never felt so uneasy and agitated.

Was some extremely important detail overlooked? Or was there a misjudgment due to common biases?

The noisy sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground, along with the cacophony of poultry calls, interrupted Li Yili's thoughts, which infuriated her. She instinctively glared at him, and the coachman, who had just raised his hand to yell at Li Yili, froze, quickly shrank back, and looked away, his eyes darting around, unable to meet Li Yili's gaze.

Oh no, I'm starting to lose control of my emotions.

The coachman's expression, a mixture of fear and self-consciousness, made Li Yili realize her actions. Remorseful, she slapped her face and waved brightly at the coachman, "Oh~ you must be tired from delivering goods, I was a little embarrassed just now—"

Before Li Yili could finish speaking, the sound of footsteps, louder than horses' hooves, surged in. Undisguised hostility followed the heavy, noisy footsteps. The black horse paced back and forth restlessly, and the poultry in the cage flapped their wings anxiously.

Li Yili's smile gradually faded as she turned to look. A vast army of cloud warriors, billowing with dust, pressed towards her. Behind them, a throng of people—the residents of Guoweidun—stood. Unlike the cloud warriors, whose expressions were serious yet indignant, the residents of Guoweidun were full of curiosity. But Li Yili was certain that they would soon be united against a common enemy.

"Acting Minister Richard, you seem very busy—"

Abu Rang, who was in charge, stood up in front of Li Yili with a snap.

"Do you need our help?"