Chapter Ninety-Eight: Subduing

The hall was stunned by Sun Qidao’s words.

Someone hurried forward at once. “Patriarch, you can’t.”

Others broke into a flurry of urgent debate.

An impulsive man even rushed up, intent on assassinating Sun Qidao.

“Old fool, asking us to surrender would be better than asking us to die.”

No one knew who had stirred him up, or whether someone behind the scenes had ordered it, but he acted without the slightest restraint.

Yet even though Sun Qidao had chosen to yield, he was still not someone others could trample at will.

Sun Qidao was still Sun Qidao; he had merely bowed his head to Shen An.

Before the man could even reach him, Sun Qidao killed him.

Only then did everyone realize that the aged Sun Qidao was by no means a soft persimmon to be squeezed at will.

The strength he revealed was formidable.

Among everyone present, aside from Shen An, no one was his match.

Sun Qidao had simply lowered his head to Shen An.

“Anyone dissatisfied can stand up. Leaving the family may not be a bad choice.”

Sun Qidao looked over the crowd. After bowing to Shen An, he suddenly felt a great release, as if a mountain pressing upon him had vanished, and he himself seemed entirely different.

No one dared speak.

“Sun Qidao, you admit defeat?” Shen An said with a smile.

“Since that is the case, show some sincerity.”

Sun Qidao lifted his head and looked at the young man before him. “What does Boss Shen want?”

He no longer had any bargaining chips.

If the other truly intended to deal with him, no chip would matter. Shen An could swallow the Sun family whole, and not only that—the Sun family would be destroyed.

“Surrender to me. Work for me,” Shen An said.

The silent meeting hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Everyone glared at Shen An with anger, while he remained calm and unruffled, untouched by praise or insult, as though he did not see the bloodthirsty looks aimed his way.

After a long silence, Sun Qidao finally spoke. “All right.”

Those two words seemed to drain him of all strength. In an instant, he sank back into the chair behind him.

At once, the people who had been glaring at Shen An fell silent as well, as if their fire had been extinguished. They looked like deflated balls, limp and hollow-eyed.

Some clenched their fists, then slowly let them go, smiling in bitter resignation.

Only then did they understand that the patriarch was not a selfish man.

From his perspective, this was the only way to preserve the Sun family for the future.

It was just that they hated it.

Shen An saw every expression on their faces, but paid it no mind.

“Good. From this day on, all the Sun family’s assets will be merged into Future Group.”

“The Sun family’s annual profits will remain as they are, unchanged. And in time, you will be glad you made this decision.”

With that, Shen An left.

At the same time, without anyone noticing, Mu Linqiu appeared there.

She walked toward Sun Qidao.

Shen An led the others away from the Sun family.

The next morning, on the nineteenth, a major headline was placed in a conspicuous spot.

Sun Group had merged into Future Group. Future Group would become the largest conglomerate in Silver City, and rank among the leading groups in the entire nation.

The news instantly jolted every large and small company, every prominent family in Silver City, awake.

At that moment, every gossip column and media outlet seemed to go mad, rushing toward Future Group.

In the span of a single night, the Sun family company was gone.

Such a shocking piece of news drew the attention of countless people.

At the Chu family estate, Chu Dongwang was also greatly shaken, sighing again and again.

“Weren’t you with that boy last night? How is it today...”

He truly could not understand why, all of a sudden, the Sun family had yielded—not merely yielded, but submitted, as though they had handed all their property and power to Shen An without reservation.

What he did not know was that before life itself, everything else was insignificant.

“I don’t know. After dinner I came back, and besides, I never heard him say he was going after the Sun family,” Chu Yixi said, looking wronged. The boy had not told her a thing.

Even Bai Weiwei had called to ask what exactly Shen An had done last night.

It was truly awkward. Chu Yixi had already received more than a dozen calls from friends, all of them from families with considerable standing.

Their questions needed no explanation; they were all asking on behalf of their families.

“Dad, tell them not to investigate me. It’s so annoying. I just went to dinner with Shen An yesterday—why does it feel as though the whole world knows?”

Chu Dongwang gave a wry smile. “All right, all right.”

At the Wang family, another great household:

“What do we do now? The Chen family is gone, and even the Sun family has gone over to him. We’ve always remained neutral and never offended that boy. Could there still be trouble?”

“How would I know? Let’s wait and see. In any case, don’t provoke him. Try to build a good relationship.”

That was the order from the Wang family head.

At the headquarters of Zhicheng Pharmaceuticals—

Bang!

A gunshot blew sparks from the television screen, and Xu Tianming’s expression was extremely ugly.

“The Sun family has gone over to Shen An.”

This news dealt him a heavy blow.

It had completely isolated him.

He had no one left who could be used.

If before he had still been able to contend with Shen An, now he had no strength at all left to fight him.

One Sun family was enough to leave him in chaos, let alone Shen An himself.

That most troublesome of opponents.

“Sacrifice.”

He looked at the sheepskin scroll in his palm.

Upon it were drawn strange symbols, with countless streams of blood seeming to flow across its surface.

There were also images of beasts, and of human beings.

“I’ve reached a dead end.”

Xu Tianming knew that man would absolutely not allow him to survive.

Now that Shen An had gained the Sun family as support, the other major families would surely move to curry favor with him; many might even secretly submit.

Besides, last night that boy had spent a long time talking with Chu Yixi.

There had to be some connection between the Chu family and Shen An. Perhaps they had already tied themselves together and become allies.

The more Xu Tianming thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

No? Who was he trying to fool? The Chu family might already be in-laws with Shen An.

Xu Tianming thought viciously.

Just thinking of Shen An’s present good fortune made him feel sick.

Soon after, one of his subordinates came over.

“How is the search for that thing going?”

He had previously sent people to track down the black jade stone. That thing was very important to him. As long as he obtained it, he would not need to sacrifice.

And without it, the seal could not be broken.

With his current strength, he was not qualified to fight Shen An.

In his eyes, Shen An was a monster. But the people sealed within were different; almost every one of them was a master.

He believed that once they were released, Shen An could be killed with ease.

As for the planned medicine, there were still not enough surge pills. Those pills could only be used at the very end.

“When we got there, we found signs that the ground had been dug up,” the subordinate said.

Xu Tianming understood immediately.

He waved a hand. It seemed that thing had already been taken by Shen An.

Xu Tianming abandoned the idea of continuing the search.

After sending the man away, he made his way into an underground chamber.