1142 Preserving Your Life

"We need to buy people's hearts to set up our intelligence network." Tang Xiu's eyes flickered as he explained, "Money may work on the average people, but we'll need to provide more capital for those who have power and wealth. Isn't this exactly the barriers you've been facing while laying out our intel network?"

"You're right on the mark, Sect Master." Jin Shi replied after hearing it, "That's precisely the point I've been helpless about. We have it easier when picking up intel operatives from the bottom levels of society, but it proves a bit troublesome when it comes to people at a higher circle."

"For instance?" asked Tang Xiu.

"Just like a certain boss of a small company." Jin Shi started explaining, "He only has a few or tens of millions in assets. Although he's just an averagely rich businessman, we need to pay him quite a lot if we want him to be devoted to us while gathering information. The Sect gave me 1 billion yuan for the expenses, but it was only enough to subdue 12 people of such people since I spent hundreds of millions just for them. If this continues, let alone 1 billion, even 10 or 100 billion won't be enough.

"Further, this is only the case with some ordinary rich businessmen. I doubt those genuine rich people will even spare a glance at the money, while those in power are even more dismissive since they have too many channels from where they could get capital."

Tang Xiu nodded in response and asked, "How many administrative regions does China have, though? Like, at the provincial-level, municipalities, autonomous regions, and cities?"

"We have 34 provincial administrative regions in the whole country. Of them 23 are provinces, four are province-level cities, five are autonomous regions, and two are special administrative regions. The total number of prefecture-level is 333, which includes 285 prefecture-level cities, 15 districts, 30 autonomous prefectures, and three leagues…"

Tang Xiu raised his hand to halt his explanation and said, "Since you already know it very well, meaning you've invested quite the effort and time in this respect. It will indeed help you deal with the issues since I made you the one in charge of the intelligence. But I'll help you pick the head of the intel cell network in each province from now on. They'll become your direct subordinates once picked, whereas you'll be responsible to pick each province's deputy leader by yourself. However, you'll need to have separate lines of communication and relationship between the two of them, while at the same time gathering information from them."

"Then it would be much easier for us if you're really involved in building the intel network, Sect Master." Jin Shi was happily surprised.

"I originally wanted to spend some time to rest and relax, though." Tang Xiu shook his head. "But even though I'm helping you deal with the situation in the mainland, you still need to lay out the network building overseas by yourself. I expect you to completely make China as our operation center in the next 6 months, and you're to start expanding overseas after the network here is almost up and running…"

"I see…"

Their discussion quickly passed the two-hour mark. When Tang Xiu brought Jin Shi and Wolf Head out of the viewing hall, Li Yuquan had long been waiting outside, and Xue Zengmei was there with him.

"You're from House Xue of Dongshan Province, right?" Tang Xiu glanced at Xue Zengmei and asked coolly.

"That's right. Xue Guanzhong is my father." Xue Zengmei nodded.

"Xue Guanzhong? As is the Head of Xus in Dongshan Province?" Tang Xiu lightly confirmed it. "Hehe… the Xues kind of sent themselves to my door, so let's get started from the Xues first! Xue Zengmei, take me to see your father. Tell him to put off everything on his schedule and wait for me at your Xue Family's residence."

Xue Zengmei's expression changed and hurriedly replied, "Young Master Tang, I'm at fault for the previous things, but please don't stoop to my level and forgive my ignorance. My father… he's definitely going to kill me if he knows I've offended you."

"I'm not looking for your father to pursue such a minor issue," Tang Xiu said indifferently. "Just notice him that I want to have a private discussion with him on some important issues. Tell him to pick the most secretive place the Xues have. And keep in mind that I don't want anyone to learn about our meeting."

Xue Zengmei's expression shifted and she immediately nodded. "Then I'll inform him right away."

Tang Xiu thought for a moment and waved. "Forget it. You go there in advance, then! Tell your father in person about this. Tell him that not even the core members of the Xues can know anything about the meeting between us, only the three of us must know it."

"Understood!" Xue Zengmei complied and left quickly.

Eyes shifted to Li Yuquan, Tang Xiu then lightly said, "Let's head out to the Blue Starfish Mansion."

****

At the Blue Starfish Mansion.

The place had now been requisitioned by the state's Special Abilities Bureau and Duanmu Lin himself didn't hurry to leave and presided over the operation instead, waiting for the news of Li Yuquan's traces. He was perfectly aware of how important the Aeroglider was as it would pose huge problems to the military once the news leaked.

"You haven't found anything yet?" Duanmu Lin asked in a heavy voice to Aquababe, whose expression looked ugly.

"No. We haven't found anything, Chief." Aquababe bitterly said, "Li Yuquan seems to have disappeared out of the blue. We've deployed everyone from the intelligence, but not even a hair of his has been found so far."

Getting up from the sofa, Duanmu Lin was about to speak again when his cell phone on the table suddenly rang. His expression shifted and grabbed the phone. After connecting it, he asked in a deep voice, "Anything?"

"Mr. Tang just returned to the Blue Starfish Mansion, Chief. And he… he also brought the wanted man, Li Yuquan with him," a low and deep voice replied from the phone.

Tang Xiu is with Li Yuquan?!!

Duanmu Lin furrowed his brows before stretching them again immediately. He hung up and then walked outside. Quickly after, he saw Tang Xiu and Li Yuquan in the parking lot.

"What's going on here, Tang Xiu?" Duanmu strode forward and coldly glanced at Li Yuquan before asking.

"Well, it was my intention to stay out of the matter, but then I happened to run into him." Tang Xiu said with a wry smile, "He's that Li Yuquan who stole the Aeroglider from the barrack. Just, I didn't expect that he handed it to the auction organizer previously but then immediately ran away after things went south here. Further, he turned out to still be alive and even broke into the branch store of my Magnificent Tang Corp. in Shanghai to steal some property. That's why he got caught by my men on the spot."

Duanmu Lin nodded in response without saying anything. Then, he looked at Li Yuquan and asked in a deep voice, "Did you tell anyone else besides the auction organizer about the Aeroglider's information?"

"I've never told anyone else except for him." Li Yuquan shook his head and said, "Also, the information I gave to the auction organizer was not comprehensive. I deliberately missed a lot of its important features."

"Why did you steal it in the first place?" asked Duanmu Lin in a deep voice. "Didn't you also learn that this Aeroglider is our country's secret?"

"I'm in dire need of money," said Li Yuquan bitterly.

He needs money, for real?

Numerous thoughts kept coming to Duanmu Lin's mind about the reason why Li Yuquan had stolen the Aeroglider. It was truly unexpected that the reason was so simple. He needed some cash, yet he dared to steal from the barracks? One must know how grave the issue was for such an action that would definitely send you directly to the martial court and get you executed many times over!

Duanmu Lin shifted his focus to Tang Xiu and forced a smile. "I now really get why people said that men will die for riches as will birds for food. A dignified former captain of the Blue Eagle that was supposed to be a valiant warrior who carried out dangerous missions for the state, yet it turned out that he would also be desperate for money."

"You should investigate this case about his situation clearly, I think," said Tang Xiu. "It's not easy to survive in society after getting abandoned and thrown out like that. It's even more arduous and difficult to get rich in such a case. Perhaps it was caused by some game of thrones in the army that changed his mindset."

"That kind of people do deserve death!" blurted our Duanmu Lin coldly.

"Well, we can say that this matter is over already since he didn't tell anyone else about the Aeroglider, Senior Duanmu," said Tang Xiu smilingly. "We can deal with this issue before it becomes a problem. You can give this guy to me and I'll make him the tester of the second-generation Aeroglider."

"You want him to be a tester for the Aeroglider?" Duanmu Lin cried out with a strange tone. "Tang Xiu, isn't it easy for you to find such a tester? He broke the law and he should be shot dead!"

"It's not like that." Tang Xiu shook his head. "I'm sure you're also well aware of the Aeroglider's performance, Senior Duanmu. The Magnificent Tang Corp. needs some testers to carry out the testing and adjustment in its research and development, where you can expect extreme dangers to occur in the adjustment procedures. I can tell you that over 200 people died when testing the first-generation Aeroglider, yet we were only barely able to have accurate shakedown tests then."

"What did you say?" Duanmu Lin finally realized what Tang Xiu just said, which sent a tempestuous storm to his heart. How could he have never thought that the Magnificent Tang Corporation would use so many lives in order to test and develop that first-generation Aeroglider?

This… is simply inhuman. They… how could the Magnificent Tang Corporation dare to…

The shock and anger on Duanmu Lin's face were very obvious that Tang Xiu could see it at once, and he went on lightly, "Senior Duanmu, some results require a price to pay. I don't think you need to be angry, much less sparing a thought to the researchers and scientists in my company don't take human life seriously. Further, I can tell you that we have broken no laws whatsoever because… all the testers my company used were all death-sentenced criminals we secretly bought from some prisons overseas. Do you think we've violated any Chinese laws for buying those death inmates?"

His statement made Duanmu Lin stunned. He would definitely be furious if those death inmates were bought from domestic prisons, but did he have anything to do with it when they were bought from other countries? He didn't even have the right to meddle in if Tang Xiu bought them from those overseas prisons!

Further, for him to be the director of the Special Abilities Bureau meant that he was never a soft and kind man, to begin with, so the anger in his heart instantly disappeared. He also recalled how he had cut off the results of Tang Xiu's research and development in this case so that Tang Xiu wasn't able to recover a large amount of capital in a short time. All the more reasons why his aged face now looked slightly ashamed and embarrassed.