Chapter 98 - Mastermo's Father

Li Ling stood in front of the door and gulped in fear. 

Xia reached out his hand to open the door, but his hand was stopped by Li Ling, who grabbed onto it and obstructed Xia from opening the door. 

"What are you doing?" 

Li Ling looked at the man and shook his head, "Let me prepare myself first." 

Xia frowned as he heard this, "What do you need to prepare for?" 

Li Ling sighed, "I need to prepare to be cursed at." 

Xia could not understand what this man was talking about. There was no way Mr. Huang was a man with such a foul mouth that even Li Ling needed to be afraid. It wasn't like Xia hadn't met that man before and in fact, the last time he met the man, he was quite impressed with him. 

Mr. Huang had talked to them politely last time, so there was no way Xia would believe that the man would curse them out today. Li Ling hadn't done anything to get cursed at so why was he saying such a thing? 

Li Ling gestured Xia to move away from the door and Xia did just that. 

Li Ling also stepped back and opened the door so that he was behind the door and not standing in the doorway. 

Xia was also standing by the side, looking at Li Ling's action with curiosity. 

When Xia saw that Li Ling hadn't moved from behind the door, he decided to take a step forward and he instantly regretted it as he saw a flying file heading his way. He immediately ducked and avoided it by a few inches. 

"What the hell are you doing?!" Xia heard an angry voice of a man and he immediately snapped his head to look at the owner of the sound, "Where the hell is your boss?!" 

Xia gulped in fear as he heard the man. He instantly understood why Li Ling was so afraid, but he still could not understand why they deserved such treatment. They hadn't done anything wrong and T.I.A.D. was still pretty popular, so why were they being treated with such hostility. 

Li Ling wasn't a man who would push his secretary to take the blame for his wrongdoings so when he heard Mr. Huang asking about him, he stepped up and came out from his hideout behind the door with a warm smile on his face that could win over everyone, at least, everyone except for Mr. Huang, who wasn't impressed. 

"Hello, uncle! You look so handsome today," Li Ling tried to win the man over by means of flattery but Mr. Huang's facial expressions didn't change. 

Li Ling knew he would not be able to survive this no matter what flattery he tried. Mr. Huang was mad and it was all Li Ling's fault. Li Ling had forgotten that he had a meeting today, but now he suddenly remembered why there was a meeting today. 

Originally, today was pretty much free for him but a few weeks ago, he received a request to have an emergency meeting that was requested for by the board members and it was hard to refuse them so although Li Ling knew that an emergency meeting was going to be troublesome, he still had to go along with it. 

"Sit down and start talking!" Li Ling heard the man speaking and like an obedient puppy, he listened to him, tucking his tail in between his legs and sitting down in one of the empty seats. 

"Now explain!" Mr. Huang wasn't playing around. As soon as Li Ling sat down, the man didn't even let him take a breath and ordered for him to explain. 

Li Ling looked at the man and the dazzling smile on his face did not falter as he heard the man's hostile voice and responded, "What is uncle talking about?"

"You don't know what I'm talking about?!"

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew." 

Mr. Huang glared at him as he spoke, "Do you think this game is a joke?" 

"Of course not." 

"Do you think the customers are a joke?" 

Li Ling shook his head again and answered, "No way."

"Then why the hell are you treating them like a joke?!" Mr. Huang sounded and looked so angry that Li Ling almost felt like the one standing in front of him wasn't Zhihao's father but was Taki's demon-king father. 

Xia didn't think he had any need to step in but he felt like he needed to say something or this boss of his would end up digging up his own grave if he opened his mouth. 

"Mr. Huang, please calm down," Xia spoke and he instantly regretted it as he heard the man snapping at him. 

"I am calm!" Though Mr. Huang had said it, the truth was far from what he said. One look and even a two-year-old would be able to say that this man was angry enough to have steam coming out of his head. 

Li Ling lightly tapped Xia's lap under the table, gesturing for him to stay quiet. 

Xia looked at the man and didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry, but he listened to him nonetheless. If Li Ling didn't need any help, why would Xia go out of his way to help someone so ungrateful? 

Li Ling, "Is this about the players who were not allowed to enter the further levels?" 

"So you do know what this is about!" Mr. Huang snapped. 

"If it's about that, then I guess you can say that I know what this is about," Li Ling beamed, "But I still don't understand why that's such a big problem." 

Xia wanted to hit his head against the wall and pass out as he heard this. This boss of his really was trying to dig his own grave. 

Li Ling noticed the change in Xia's expressions, but he didn't pay it any mind. 

"You don't see a problem with it?" Mr. Huang smiled as he spoke, but the smile lacked a sense of joy and instead, it seemed more like he was mocking the man as he spoke. 

"I don't," Li Ling answered honestly, not finding a reason why he should lie to the man. 

"Did you know how much we lost because of your decision?" Mr. Huang asked angrily and though it made Li Ling flinch there was no way he was just going to give in to the man like that. 

"As I said before, I still don't see a problem with it." 

"What?!" 

Before Mr. Huang could start lecturing the man, Li Ling spoke up first to defend himself and his actions. 

"Uncle, I understand why you're so mad at me, but I still don't understand why such a meeting was needed for you to scold me like this." 

Xia suddenly felt admiration towards Li Ling for standing up against the angry man like this. He felt as if he really need not worry. There was probably a reason why this man was the boss and he was a mere employee. 

"If you really want to criticize my decision making, I think you should first blame your side." 

"What?!" The mocking smile on Mr. Huang's face twitched as he heard this, but Li Ling was nowhere near done. 

"Am I wrong? I have the power to make decisions because of you. If you don't trust my decisions, why would you give me that power?"

"What the hell are you talking about?! When did I give you the power to make decisions without consulting us?" 

"I didn't say you did. I said your side did, not you." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Your wife signed a contract with me and it was clearly mentioned in that contract that although you'll have a share in the game, I will have the authority to make decisions. All decisions would lie with the Gamemaster and me." 

"Cause we trusted that the Gamemaster wouldn't be such a big idiot." Mr. Huang was not happy to hear Li Ling, "Where is that Gamemaster of yours?" 

Li Ling tilted his head as he spoke, "Did you guys really not read the contract you were signing? All your meetings would be with me and the only one who'll get the authority to contact the Gamemaster is also me." 

"This is unreasonable," Mr. Huang fumed, "Your side is making us lose money." 

"Uncle, are you poor? Why should a few pennies affect you like this? " Li Ling smiled, but it was as fake as it could get. 

"Mr. Li, you really are..." Mr. Huang gritted his teeth, but didn't continue his sentence. 

Xia couldn't understand what this conversation was about in the beginning, but now that losses were mentioned, he understood the situation better and now he knew why Li Ling was afraid of attending. 

On the outside, T.I.A.D. may look as successful as a game could be, but the reality was far from true. With every new stage that was released, more and more players were demoted and not allowed to play the further levels. This didn't stop some hardcore fans from still playing and trying their luck once again, but not everyone was as optimistic. 

Seventy percent of players who were demoted to the first level lost the hopes of winning and gave up. The more players that left the game, the more losses the game would face and although Li Ling didn't care about the losses, there was no way the other board members would feel the same way.