Chapter 50

Chapter 49

The headquarters of the Zha Family Trading Company.

The bedroom of Vice President Zhuge Yun.

He was lying under the covers, relying only on a single candle.

Zhuge Yun's face, shrouded in deep shadows, was almost pitiful!

“Ugh...”

Even though it was already past the hour of the tiger (3-5 AM), he could not fall asleep at all.

- Sob... sob...

The bone-chilling sobs that echoed at dawn had already lasted for more than three months.

No matter how he covered his face with the blanket or plugged his ears with cotton, the accursed wailing pierced through and made his entire body as cold as ice!

At first, for a few days, Xiaohui's colleagues searched the entire roof of the headquarters to find Jin Jiaxi.

They had to act collectively to get some sleep, or rather, to survive.

However, Jin Jiaxi's lightness and agility, which had reached the pinnacle of the Hua Jing realm, were nothing short of divine skills.

Moreover, her astonishing lightness and agility on the roof, honed through long practice, made it impossible for Xiaohui's colleagues, who were not accustomed to roof-treading, to catch her.

At that moment, Yan Shangluo, with a pale face, entered Zhuge Yun's bedroom.

His face was so emaciated that it was hard to look at.

- Sob... sob...

The wailing that echoed again made Yan Shangluo shiver all over.

Yan Shangluo clenched his teeth.

"Today, I must finish off that woman! If we keep this up, we'll all die!"

At that moment, Zhang Yilong, with half-closed eyes, also appeared.

"Ugh... I will definitely twist that woman's neck today. This is no longer a life for a human being."

Who doesn't know that and still endures it?

Zhuge Yun's hazy eyes turned to them.

"Call the Little Sword Master. Only then is there any hope."

Without the participation of Nan Gong Zhanghuo, who had recently reached the Hua Jing realm, the 'Jin Jiaxi Capture Operation' would inevitably fail.

Yan Shangluo's eyes turned vicious.

"That brat ran to the Nan Gong headquarters in Yiyi Fort to save himself!"

"Ah, then what should we do!"

Zhuge Yun pulled his hair and buried his head in the blanket, but suddenly his eyes sparkled.

"Should we offer blood to appease her?"

Yan Shangluo glared with a shudder.

"Shit, are you suggesting we become like Peng Jia?"

"There's no other way."

Zhang Yilong looked at Zhuge Yun with disdain.

"Really. The great strategist Little Zhuge, and the best solution you can come up with is just that? Zhuge Wuhou would weep in the afterlife."

Zhuge Yun, whose pride was hurt, glared at Zhang Yilong with a venomous expression.

"Ha, then why don't you come up with some great strategy from those muscles of yours?"

Zhang Yilong flexed his chest muscles, and his eyes turned sinister.

"Capturing that woman or appeasing her with blood are not fundamental solutions."

"Fundamental solutions?"

When Yan Shangluo showed curiosity, Zhang Yilong's dry lips moved again.

"Men forget through other men. How about we all scatter now and find the most handsome man in Jiangxi?"

"You're just putting on a show. How can you not know after all this time with that woman?"

Yan Shangluo looked at Zhang Yilong with disdain.

"She may look like a madwoman, but her admiration and obsession with martial arts are almost heaven-reaching. Do you think she likes Brother Xiaohui just because he's handsome?"

"Hmm..."

"Unless he was the Little Sword God, she wouldn't even look at him!"

Zhang Yilong sneered at him.

"Go find one. A 'master of absolute skill' who is young and handsome like Brother Xiaohui."

Yan Shangluo's incredible incantation left Zhang Yilong and Zhuge Yun speechless.

If it were a high-level expert on par with Xiaohui, it would be one of the famous Seven Martial Seats.

The youngest among them, around fifty years old.

Of course, they would never meet Jin Jiaxi's lofty standards.

"Shit..."

Zhang Yilong's eyes suddenly turned to the window.

Countless people in white nightgowns, wandering around the headquarters, caught his eye.

They felt as if they would die if they didn't walk around the courtyard, so they were struggling to survive.

It was as if they were in a ghost town, and the absurdity of the situation was incomprehensible.

Suddenly, the main character who had been tormenting everyone appeared on her own.

"Something's strange."

As the wailing (?) suddenly echoed from behind, everyone's heads almost snapped.

"Jin Jiaxi, that woman!"

"Ah!"

"Ghost, ghost!"

Zhuge Yun felt as if he couldn't breathe.

Jin Jiaxi appeared between the dim moonlight, with her long hair flowing.

No matter how many times he saw her, she never felt like a human.

Just when he thought he had gotten used to it, he couldn't adapt at all.

Zhuge Yun, who had just calmed down, looked at Jin Jiaxi again.

Despite hating her so much, seeing her eyes, swollen from crying, made Zhuge Yun feel uneasy.

"What do you mean by strange?"

Jin Jiaxi's gloomy voice continued.

"For the past few days, some of the officers and staff have been missing."

Zhuge Yun, with a nonchalant smile, replied.

"Of course, they must be busy after the Grand Festival. All the branch managers are swamped."

"Do you really not know? That's not it."

Jin Jiaxi's face was unusually serious.

"No one watches the headquarters as closely as I do."

Indeed, she was always watching the headquarters and the Black Heaven Massacre from the roof.

"There's always a pattern to people's movements. Habits ingrained in the body are not easily changed."

In fact, Jin Jiaxi's love for 'observation' was the reason she liked being on the roof.

Her senses, honed from observing people and objects for a long time, were on a different level from ordinary people.

"For several days, the movements of some people were completely different without any special signs. Eventually, they disappeared altogether."

The unusual movements and subsequent disappearances made Zhuge Yun's expression turn serious.

"Director Zhang! Gather all the officers immediately! Right now!"

"Ah, I understand!"

* * *

Before the dawn had fully faded, the officers of the Zha Family Trading Company gathered in the meeting room, all with bewildered faces.

Vice President Zhuge Yun had never gathered the officers outside of business hours, even for urgent matters.

Zhuge Yun scanned the empty seats around the conference table and clenched his teeth.

"Where is Tongyun Chief Lu Yingxiao?"

Zha Family Tongyun Chief Xiao Pengxin was the closest branch manager to Zha Family Liquor Chief Lu Yingxiao.

"Um... that is..."

Perhaps due to the unprecedented urgency in Vice President Zhuge Yun's expression, Xiao Pengxin was drenched in cold sweat.

"Speak! Hurry up!"

"Actually, he hasn't been seen for several days. At first, I thought he was staying up all night with the wine masters at the distillery, but..."

"Don't beat around the bush! Keep talking!"

"Ah, I understand! He hasn't been seen for four days! I thought he might be sick, so I went to his residence, but he wasn't there either!"

Zhuge Yun clenched his teeth.

"The wine masters! Did the wine masters disappear too?"

"How could you know...?"

Xiao Pengxin's eyes widened.

When he went to the Zha Family Distillery, several wine masters, who were the technical experts, had also disappeared.

Moreover, they were the core wine masters who knew the brewing methods of Han Bing Jiu and Xue Hua Xin Jiu.

He was about to report this at the upcoming general meeting.

Zhuge Yun's terrifying gaze then turned to Zha Family Guesthouse Chief Li Xu.

"Did Chief Xincheng and his skilled workers also disappear?"

Li Xu nodded frantically.

"Y-Yes. He hasn't been seen for four days along with the skilled workers."

"List of the missing skilled workers! Do you have it?"

Li Xu, who was about to report at the general meeting, pulled out a report from his pocket.

"Here it is!"

Zhuge Yun quickly unfolded the report and checked the list.

His eyes widened.

"Ah!"

The names on the list were all core skilled workers who knew the key recipes of Xincheng.

Most seriously, the list included the skilled workers who managed the secrets of Hei Qing Shui and Jin Jia You.

Zhuge Yun then checked all the empty seats at the conference table.

Most of the missing were key officers responsible for the core secrets of each branch.

The pillars of the Zha Family Trading Company had all disappeared.

'Someone is shaking the Zha Family Trading Company to its core!'

It was clear that someone had been preparing this for a long time.

When the headquarters became chaotic due to Jin Jiaxi, they seized the opportunity to act.

'Treason?'

While human greed is indeed terrifying, those who knew how Xiaohui dealt with traitors in Hefei would not easily betray him.

Moreover, their current chairman, the Little Sword God, was now mentioned as one of the new Eight Martial Seats in the martial world.

The fear of repercussions made it almost impossible for traitors to emerge.

Furthermore, those who knew about Xiaohui's infinite trust and care for his staff during the battle with the Black Heaven Alliance would never betray him on principle.

'Then who?'

No matter how much he thought, he couldn't come up with a suitable enemy.

The Zha Family Trading Company, which had taken over the land once ruled by the Black Heaven Alliance and become the new overlord of Jiangxi, was in a position that shook the world.

Who would dare to do this?

Zhuge Yun clenched his lips and looked at Li Yuesong, who had become the Grand Manager.

"Grand Manager."

"Yes, Vice President."

Li Yuesong's expression was resolute, indicating he understood the severity of the situation.

"Is there anyone within our ranks who might betray us?"

Li Yuesong's voice was firm.

"Definitely not. If there were any signs, I would have reported them long ago."

Li Yuesong, with his outstanding skills, had influence over the entire headquarters.

Chairman Xiaohui's trust in him was almost boundless.

"Any signs of the Black Heaven Alliance remnants regrouping or seeking revenge?"

Some of the Black Heaven Alliance remnants, who did not kneel to the Zha Family Trading Company despite the Little Sword God's strong pressure and persuasion, had returned.

While the Black Heaven Alliance had fallen, not all of them had submitted to