Grandma Su came back more than a month ago, and afterward, she either roamed around the subspace with some of the ladies or spent time in closed-door cultivation.
Today, however, she stood before the group, representing the Shadow, as she prepared to update everyone on the progress they had made over the past year.
"Over the past year," Grandma Su began, her voice calm but full of authority,
"The Shadow has grown significantly, especially in terms of low-level personnel. Our focus has been to extend our reach globally, covering every corner of the world.
The idea is simple: the more eyes and ears we have in place, the better we can gather first-hand information."
Hearing this, everyone in the hall nodded, as this was what she had done in the old world, which is how they were able to hide for so long without anyone knowing about their personal information.
She paused for a moment, but seeing that everyone had an eager look on their faces, she continued.
"Although the Shadow members from the old world have been scattered all around the world, the initial number was still too few for this world, with it being more than ten times bigger.
So both Yan Yuehua and the Shadow Guards used the family cards we received before we came to this world, which has made our foundation more solid for the next plans to move forward," Grandma Su said, which surprised all the ladies.
This is because they did not know that Xu Qianghua had already distributed a certain number of family cards to Grandma Su and the six Shadow Guards who are spread across the world.
But he did not tell anyone about this as it was a last-minute decision. This was because he wanted all the core Shadow members to be with him when the merge happened.
However, Grandma Su and Li Xinyue voted against it. They both wanted the core personnel to be scattered all over the world, which would give them a better start and allow them to set up their bases worldwide without making too much noise.
And Xu Qianghua conveniently forgot about this, which is why no one else knew, except for Bai Lingyun. But we know the reason for her knowing, so it should not be a shocker for her to know about this.
Everyone in the room nodded, recognizing how effective such a widespread, low-profile network could be.
"But there's more," Grandma Su said with a small smile. "We've also created a specialized branch within the Shadow, one that focuses on assassinations."
There was a slight reaction in the room at this, but Grandma Su was quick to explain.
"This branch," she continued,
"Uses the Family Cards to summon highly skilled assassins. These assassins are not directly affiliated with the Xu family in public, but they are bound by strict rules: they may take on kill missions for any client, but under no circumstances are they allowed to accept any contracts involving members of the Xu family or its branches."
"On the surface, this branch operates like any other assassin organization," Grandma Su clarified.
"They accept missions, carry them out efficiently, and maintain a reputation of ruthless precision. However, the true purpose of this branch is far more complex.
By taking on contracts from clients all over the world, these assassins embed themselves deeply within various forces, empires, and other factions. Through this, they gather critical information, feeding it back to us in ways that no ordinary spy could."
She allowed everyone time to let the information sink in before continuing. "The assassins are excellent at gathering intelligence, even when it comes from the most secretive and dangerous places.
They can extract information that would otherwise be impossible to obtain during their missions. This will allow us to avoid potential threats and use this information to increase global influence."
Grandma Su took a deep breath before continuing.
"In terms of recruitment, we've used a variety of ranks of Family Cards. Most personnel recruited through Black Iron and Bronze cards are assigned to low-level roles.
These recruits gather information across towns, cities, and smaller regions. They blend in easily and work unnoticed as they gather valuable information from everyday life."