| WRIAWW | Praise Our Lord | 84
Early in the morning, Zong Le heard the butler knocking at his door.
With more staff now in the prison and tasks being assigned accordingly, plus the fact that the Xiao Fu had been sent to a boarding school, the job of handling daily chores had fallen to the butler.
The butler was a top graduate from a prestigious butler academy. Had he not followed Madam Xue, he would have been a lifelong butler at Tianmen Mansion.
Though he had now fallen to the status of a prisoner, he had clear plans for his future. He knew that working diligently under Zong Le would bring him benefits down the line.
Especially after witnessing the criminals who had entered the prison later, the butler, who still enjoyed a certain degree of freedom, felt incredibly fortunate and thus worked even harder.
"Warden, are you there?"
Normally, the butler wouldn’t dare disturb Zong Le this early, but today was an exception, there was urgent business.
It so happened that Zong Le had just finished his morning jog and shower and was drying his hair by the sofa when he heard the knock. He set down the hairdryer and walked to the door.
"What is it?"
"Taikang Yongle Group headquarters sent a letter. They delivered an invitation to the hospital in the early hours of the morning. After Lady Liu Rouya received it, she immediately dispatched a chauffeur to rush it over."
Zong Le took the invitation.
It was an old-fashioned envelope made of expensive parchment, sealed in the center with a crimson wax stamp bearing Taikang Yongle Group’s equal-armed cross emblem.
"Alright, I understand."
He closed the door behind him and gently broke the wax seal with his fingertips.
The letter wasn’t long, it simply stated that Taikang Yongle Group had decided to hold its annual board meeting that evening. As the newly appointed dean of Taikang Yongle Hospital and a rare addition to the group in recent years, he was naturally invited.
"Seems like buying that formal suit wasn’t a mistake after all..." Zong Le muttered under his breath.
He had long been curious about Taikang Yongle as a group, so naturally, he had no reason to decline the invitation.
Once he made up his mind, he added the event to his schedule.
That evening, dressed in his formal attire once again, he drove to Taikang Yongle Hospital.
A black business car was already parked there, apparently, the group provided a dedicated vehicle for each board member. All he had to do was board it, and it would take him straight to the venue.
Unfortunately, to Zong Le’s disappointment, the car didn’t head to Taikang Yongle Group’s mysterious headquarters but instead drove to a high-end club in Guiyi City.
Although he hadn’t heard of it before, a quick search on his phone revealed it was a venue specializing in hosting corporate banquets and business events for large companies.
The car glided smoothly to a stop at the club’s entrance, where a waiter in a black tailcoat opened the door for him.
"Good evening. May I ask who you are...?"
Zong Le handed over the invitation. The waiter glanced at it and bowed respectfully. "Ah, Mr. Zong. Please follow me to the venue."
Given Taikang Yongle Group’s influence, the entire place had naturally been reserved for the board meeting.
From a distance, Zong Le could sense several auras inside, they were stronger than the S-level weirds he had encountered before, with a few even surpassing the former dean.They could undoubtedly be considered what the neighbors called "big weirds."
Although in his eyes, they were still pathetically weak.
"Every time we attend board meetings, these people insist on flaunting their auras. Who knows when this ridiculous rule started."
Before even entering the conference room, Zong Le heard the complaints from other board members behind him.
"Yeah. You can sense it from miles away."
He deeply agreed. In Guiyi City, casually displaying one's aura was like being a firefly in the night. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no intention of revealing his aura, not only was he low-key, but it would also expose his trump cards, making the effort not worth the cost.
Unexpectedly, his remark caught the attention of the directors.
"A new face..."
A shadow suddenly loomed over him. The nearly two-meter-tall scissor-handed man looked down, his metal claws glinting coldly under the lights. "You are still so young," he remarked with surprise. "You must be the new addition to the board of directors, right?"
"Hello." Zong Le nodded briefly, his gaze sweeping over the half-meter-long scissor blades.
Even he had heard of this weird who often appeared on TV. It was said that this man liked to use scissors to "trim" disobedient individuals.
"The younger generation is so formidable."
"I wonder if he can hold his position. He seems weak."
"He's probably too afraid to show his aura. What an easy target."
...
Zong Le turned a deaf ear to these unfriendly discussions. Upon entering the meeting room, he followed the attendant's guidance to his assigned seat and sat down quietly.
The number of eyes on him only increased inside.
After all, the board of Taikang Yongle Group gathered nearly half of Guiyi City's big weirds. Every face here was familiar, their strengths well-known, except for Zong Le, who stood out glaringly.
Especially since he showed no intention of releasing his aura.
In Guiyi City, the moment you appeared weak, countless piranhas would swarm to devour you until not even bones remained.
Clang, clang, clang.
Amid the tension, someone tapped a spoon, and an icy, overwhelming aura abruptly centered on Zong Le.
Instantly, the whispers ceased. Several directors bowed toward the head seat in respect.
Zong Le noticed this unusual detail, he noticed the main seat in the entire conference room was empty, with only a cross-armed nameplate on it, and the deputy seat next to it was occupied by someone, who made the noise just now.
But the directors saluted to the main seat, which was strange.
"Everyone, let's pause the chatter briefly. The new annual board meeting is about to begin."
The deputy was a cloaked woman whose face was obscured, her voice raspy with age. "Before that, as usual, we will introduce some of our new partners who joined us this year before the meeting."
Amid sparse applause, Zong Le stood up and nodded to the room.
At this time, the greedy and covetous eyes around him suddenly decreased sharply.
The iron-fisted purges by the former dean were no secret to the board. Rumors of the new dean's swift rise to power, backed by capable subordinates, had already spread through Guiyi City. They weren't foolish enough to test the waters recklessly.
"Welcome to our newest member. Next on the agenda, the CEO will provide a brief summary of the group's annual financial report."
...
To everyone's surprise, the board meeting procedures of Taikang Yongle Group were quite similar to those of ordinary enterprises. There was none of the underworld atmosphere Zong Le had imagined, with sinister figures puffing smoke and discussing which territories to attack.
Instead, most discussions revolved around practical reports like annual performance metrics and year-on-year financial growth index of various subsidiary companies.
Of course, from the CEO's analysis, it wasn't hard to discern that Taikang Yongle Group's expansion in Guiyi City had nearly reached saturation. Their influence had penetrated or touched upon every industry, even in sectors they hadn't directly entered, they held significant shares in leading companies.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they controlled the city's economic lifeline.
"Surprised?"
During the mid-session banquet, amidst the chaotic revelry, Zong Le had just picked up a glass of juice when a hoarse voice spoke beside him.
Turning, he saw the cloaked deputy who had been present earlier. The surrounding weird figures paused briefly at the sight, casting what they likely thought were discreet glances in their direction.
"Yeah, a little," Zong Le admitted honestly. "I expected the annual meeting to be more straightforward. It's completely different from what I imagined."
"That kind of meeting is more common in organizations desperate for expansion. From what I know, gang meetings probably follow that model, one moment they're discussing strategy, the next they're planning a turf war. But our group has long passed that golden age of expansion. Haven’t you noticed? All enterprises under the group now operate under a leadership rotation system."
Talented individuals could rise swiftly just like Zong Le, and directly get promoted to the top and join Taikang Yongle. For the Taikang Yongle, this was an excellent way to absorb fresh blood. Traditional promotion methods were too slow and ill-suited for those with overwhelming personal strength.
"Indeed," Zong Le nodded. "Speaking of which, I have another question, if it's not too bold to ask. Why is the head seat in the meeting room empty? Do we not have a chairman?"
"We do," the deputy replied, her voice lifting slightly. "That seat is reserved for our 'Lord.' Unfortunately, our Lord remains in slumber. And the sole purpose of Taikang Yongle Group's existence is to await His awakening."
Beneath the hood, the old woman's sunken pupils seemed to blaze with fanatical fire as she raised her arms high and proclaimed, "When He descends, the entire world shall be plunged into eternal silence and despair!"
Before the words had even faded, the banquet hall abruptly fell into silence.
Strangely, without any prior signal, all the figures who had been clinking glasses, exchanging veiled threats, or probing for information turned in unison, raised their cups toward the deputy.
"Ah, our Lord! Praise our Lord!"
"Yes, everything is for the awakening of our Lord!"
"Praise our lord!"
"I can feel our Lord's awakening drawing nearer. May eternal despair arrive swiftly!"
"To our Lord!"
Dozens of voices murmured in unison, the sinister crimson liquid in their crystal glasses shimmering ominously. The candle flames flickered into an dark blue, stretching everyone's shadows into grotesque, elongated shapes.
Witnessing this scene that could only be described as cult-like, Zong Le tilted his head in confusion.
He could sense the recognition and piety reflected in their voice and pale expressions of these strong weirds present. Such positive emotions appearing among the original residents of Guiyi City was truly an unfathomable phenomenon.
Yet the reality was laid bare before him.
Apart from Zong Le, who remained detached, the enthusiasm of everyone present was unmistakably genuine.
The "Lord" they spoke of, sounded like some ominous existence.
Thinking back to the analysis in the Infinite Space forum, the survivors used various evidences and clues to show that there must be a super-powerful and terrifying weird in the entire ultimate copy, and deduced that the opponent is likely to be the final boss of the entire copy.
Zong Le reasonably suspected that the "Lord" mentioned by the big weirds and the survivors' analysis were the same person.
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