The money was returned — eighty-three thousand greenbacks in full. The Trade Association was forcibly dissolved. The management office resumed its pricing authority. The hen and her chicks were settled with a trading company called Anshun under a signed contract.

Shen Cong left Xinyi City before dark.

On the surface, every conflict had been resolved.

Beneath the surface, things were moving.

Wang Rui, Li Hua, and Ye Qianjin drove that same night to the 31st Group Army's garrison at Pizhou City — visibly heading there to report what had happened in Xinyi City to Li Xicheng.

And Shen Cong, as he drove away from Xinyi City, found his expression growing heavier with each kilometer.

What happened this afternoon had been a performance. He'd said a few hard words and released three disabled jin-person company owners without consequence — not because he didn't care, but because they weren't the ones giving the orders. Wang Rui and the others were proxies. Killing them would have been trivially easy. They were placed there to absorb exactly this kind of confrontation.

What required attention was Li Xicheng.

Li Xicheng's Talent of 1.714H was nothing remarkable. Even crossing into the Lv1 era wouldn't close the gap between them by any meaningful amount. But his position — 004 Battalion commander, Military Committee member, ranked above Shen Cong on the committee roster — was another matter entirely.

Li Xicheng already has his hands in Xinyi City. Ni Haiyang submitted a complaint to the Command and it was buried. That wasn't one person's decision. That was a coordinated action by a group.

I am the administrator of Xinyi City. And this group is openly running a profiteering operation in territory under my name. They even had the audacity to skim from my own transactions.

This is what it is. A conspiracy. They're moving toward harming me — it's only a matter of when.

These insufferable subjects won't give this emperor a moment's peace.

He struck the door panel with one open hand. His eyes carried a cold, sharp light. This world was dangerous not only for its escalating…