In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

Is he worried that Lin Wenhua will take the opportunity to cause trouble, so he cut off his escape route in advance?

"Chairman Xu underestimates me. I am not a short-sighted person."

The conditions were easy to accept, and Long Tianding readily agreed, stating bluntly, "It's not worth it to ruin such a great situation for Lin Wenhua."

"Then I'll thank you in advance."

Xu Shi breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Everyone will benefit from it."

"What good can I do for you?"

Long Tianding was either teasing or curious.

"Well……"

Xu Shi thought for a moment, then made two strokes on the scrap paper used for calculating prices. "Look, there's a small change here, 2.42 million. It doesn't look neat, so let's erase it."

"That's it?"

Long Tianding bluntly stated that this amount of money was nothing to them.

"Just tell me if it's a benefit or not."

Xu Shi spread his hands.

Long Tianding paused, realizing that this was just the beginning, and from what he said, the bigger picture was yet to come...

Or rather, even small benefits like these, when accumulated, can be terrifying.

The two looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.

……

Seeing that Xu Shi had the upper hand in the confrontation, Su Lin was gratified and happy.

After leaving the first district, she even joked, "I thought the young master and Long Tianding would be at each other's throats, or even fight."

"Why are there so many fights to be had?"

Xu Shi rolled his eyes at her. "If you really like fighting that much, how about I transfer you to the field department to replace Du Wei?"

The truth is that most of the time people prefer negotiation to force, and even when force is involved, they may not want to strike first—after all, doing so will result in losses, whether economic or reputational.

Even if they possess nuclear weapons, most of the time they only use them to demonstrate their strength, rather than using them to bomb people at the slightest provocation.

Only petty thugs like to fight; that kind of thinking is unacceptable.

"If that's really what you want, then I'll go."

Su Lin gave a soft "oh." She had realized that she couldn't go against Xu Shi's jokes; it was better to go along with them.

"Okay, then I'll report for duty tomorrow."

Xu Shi nodded with satisfaction. "I'll go back and see who's suitable to take over your HR department."

"This……"

Director Su was dumbfounded. Why are you doing things differently again?

If we confront him, it's not an option; if we go along with him, it's not an option either. So what are we supposed to do? Just let him harass us? That would be too much.

"...Young Master must have already thought of someone to fill the vacancy of Supervisor Du."

Fortunately, she knew in her heart that Xu Shi would never really let her go to the field department, so she simply pointed out his thoughts in a huff, "I'm not going to compete with her for it."

"Oh, so you knew."

Xu Shi was just joking, of course, "Then why did you say that? Were you deliberately trying to annoy me?"

"That person" is definitely Xia Wuyou. She is the future head of the field department. Du Wei has already resigned to retire several times. Once this period is over, the application will be approved and the handover will proceed naturally.

"I wanted to compliment you, young master."

Su Lin pursed her lips, "Anyway, this way things are stable in 'Dragon City,' which will save the young master a lot of trouble."

"Stability is there, but peace of mind is not necessarily guaranteed."

Xu Shi stretched and said, "Long Tianding is a man with many thoughts in his mind. It's not something that can be completely resolved with just one negotiation."

Because I didn't offer him enough conditions to satisfy him.

Long Tianding failed to take back the sixth and seventh districts as he wished, so this will always be a thorn in his side. Even if he says he is not interested and will not interfere, leaving it as is will not resolve the knot in other people's hearts.

The same goes for equipment. The talks seemed to go smoothly and even rounded down, but he knew that Long Tianding definitely wanted more than that.

Starting from the mindset of "comparing with Ding Jun," if the younger brother drives a Mercedes-Benz and a Rolls-Royce, then what does it mean for the older brother to only drive a Mercedes-Benz and a Rolls-Royce? He should be driving a private jet, not just being content with merely matching Ding Jun.

During our conversation, he also expressed interest in the latest iteration of the "Serpent's Ring" equipment, including the new "Rust Mist"-based equipment that is under development and has been inspired by the "Forsaken" technology—that's what he wants.

But I definitely can't give it to myself. This stuff has to be squeezed out little by little, like toothpaste. You can't just let it all out at once, or your tongue will feel hot and numb.

"Has the young master confirmed his attitude towards him?"

Su Lin was well aware of this, and asked with concern, "Is it better to befriend him? Or... get rid of him?"

The words were blunt, but that's the truth: if you're not friends, you have to assume you're enemies. She also believed that if Xu Shi wanted to, he could really do that.

Without realizing it, she had already placed Xu Shi in the position of "being able to do anything".

"To be honest, I haven't decided yet."

Xu Shi shook his head frankly, "Originally I was thinking of getting rid of him, but now I think it might not be necessary."

At least not now. The instability of the "Forgotten Ones" is one aspect, but eliminating them may not necessarily stabilize Sin City. They are currently cooperating with the "Feather Pen" to improve the lives of people in Sin City. Stirring up the waters at this time will inevitably hinder them.

"So...we'll observe further?"

Su Lin understood his meaning, "Use Lin Wenhua?"

"Yes."

Xu Shi did not deny that he had not yet figured out how to deal with Long Tianding, but he was determined to kill Lin Wenhua. Even if Long Tianding did not act, Xu Shi would force him to act.

The old man happened to have the second-generation chip that he had given him, and he could easily use this to test Long Tianding's true attitude.

It's not too late to make a decision then.

"Indeed, it's good to observe."

Su Lin wholeheartedly agreed, "It would be good if things could stay stable, otherwise I always feel that you, young master, will have a very hard time."

Human energy is limited, and it's unrealistic to try to do everything at once.

"If everyone were like you, I would have a much easier time."

Xu Shi sighed and said, half-jokingly.

"If everyone were really like me, I guess the young master wouldn't think this way."

Su Lin paused for a moment, then muttered a small complaint, "There will be far fewer variety, right?"

This actually has a self-deprecating tone. Xu Shi certainly doesn't have the same sense of novelty towards himself as he does towards other girls. They spend every day together, so it's hard to develop such feelings.

But thinking about it from another perspective, she felt a little happy, even smug.

After all, the young master said "everyone is like her," which is an absolute affirmation and trust. Otherwise, why not say that everyone is like Xia Wuyou? No one else has that right.

"Director Su is irreplaceable"—this is no empty statement.

"you're right."

Xu Shi also smiled, "So, Director Su, hurry up and learn more tricks, so that even if everyone becomes you, I won't get bored."

What kind of tricks should I learn?

Su Lin secretly rolled her eyes. Oh well, she'd been teased by the young master again...

However, at that moment, a message suddenly arrived.

"Soon, Miss He has disappeared!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 138 Can you come with me?

He Yuxia has gone missing!

To be honest, this was no small matter, but Xu Shi never expected that the first person to talk to him would be Tang Shuang.

Almost at the same time, he had just returned from Sin City when Director Tang arrived, while others, such as "Imaginary Number" Qi Maoyang and Su Lin's inside man, were a step behind her.

"Okay, okay, He Yuxia has disappeared."

This puzzled him a bit, but he still welcomed the other party in. "Director Tang, please sit down and talk slowly. It's rare to see you in such a hurry."

It's quite rare.

As the head of the inspection bureau, she usually presents herself as calm and composed. In fact, even now she is not particularly flustered, but Xu Shi has a keen insight into people's emotions, so he can clearly feel her anxiety.

"You're sitting up straight, aren't you?"

Tang Shuang frowned slightly, "It's like this has nothing to do with you."

"What is this nonsense?"

Xu Shi glared at her. "So you're saying I'm the one who caused He Yuxia's disappearance? Don't try to shift the blame onto me, Director Tang."

"She's my brother's older sister, a student of my beloved relatives and friends. Do you think I'd stoop so low as to do something like that?"

The latter is plausible, while the former is pure nonsense. Even if He Yuqiang is indeed Xu Shi's brother, he is still just a centipede's brother... But it's still quite good as a polite way of putting things.

"...Sorry, that's not what I meant."

Tang Shuang paused, realizing her words were inappropriate, and quickly explained, "My phrasing was flawed... What I meant was, this matter is also important to you, isn't it?"

"It seems so?"

Xu blinked, and his expression instantly brightened.

The disappearance of Miss He Er is not a big deal to him, because he is an outsider not only in the original work, but also in the real-world mess of "Shark Tooth".

However, because "Shark Tooth" is currently in a period of change, nothing related to their family should be underestimated. You may think He Yuxia is insignificant, but others may not.

Many people know that "Snake Ring" has the intention to share "Shark Tooth" and may even suspect themselves – could it be that you see He Jiayuan is old and frail and want to use this method to make him express his opinion in advance?