Chapter 240: Back Then

When Zhang Wenda heard this, he thought he must have misheard, and stared at the burly man in disbelief. "What did you just say? He founded Big Circle?"

"Is that so hard to understand?" Tan Yougen continued to eat his breakfast.

"If he's the boss of Big Circle, why are you letting him stand next to you? What kind of joke is this!" Zhang Wenda felt as if he was witnessing something more bizarre than anything he had ever seen.

'The heads of two organizations sworn to destroy each other are now just casually chatting in the same room?'

"That was in the past," Big Circle Leopard began to explain. "When Big Circle was first founded, it wasn't like this. It wasn't the mortal enemy of the Third Line, and we didn't do anything heinous."

"Honestly, in the beginning, I just wanted to help the comrades from Bureau 749 put food on the table."

However, Zhang Wenda didn't believe a word of it.

"It was a state-owned enterprise, wasn't it? After Bureau 749 was shut down, people couldn't even afford to eat?" Zhang Wenda was completely bewildered.

"It wasn't that extreme. The leadership were the ones who made mistakes during the ideological shift. When Bureau 749 was dissolved, most of the staff were given severance pay."

After Tan Yougen spoke, a look of fury appeared on Big Circle Leopard's face. "Severance pay, my ass! That old bitch intercepted it all! Old Tan, don't tell me you didn't know about this!"

Tan Yougen didn't argue. Instead, he turned to the increasingly confused Zhang Wenda and began to explain.

"Things were chaotic when Bureau 749 was dissolved. The Third Line internally approved the severance pay, but a high-level executive embezzled the money. She then lied, telling everyone that the higher-ups hadn't given a single cent."

"Because of this, the veterans of Bureau 749 had a very hard time. Many of them grew to resent their former employer. That resentment is part of the reason why Big Circle opposes the Third Line today."

"And were they wrong to resent it? I'm asking you!" Big Circle Leopard's expression hardened as he glared at Tan Yougen. "Tens of thousands of people, dismissed just like that? What the hell were you thinking, that this was just kids playing house?!"

"Director Liu was in charge of it back then. The procedures were all followed, and the money was definitely disbursed. Who could have known she would embezzle it all?" Tan Yougen's expression grew impatient as he spoke.

"Then why didn't you follow up? Fuck! Once we lost our stable jobs, we weren't one of you anymore, is that it? We became outsiders overnight, right?" As Big Circle Leopard spoke, he became genuinely furious, his forehead turning red and veins bulging.

"Do you know there were men so desperate for a bite to eat they'd put their own wives on a bicycle and take them out to sell themselves? Do you know how many people used the abilities they gained at the Bureau to commit robberies?"

After speaking, Zhang Wenda saw the man's finger jab towards him. "You tell me, didn't your parents have it rough back then! When your mother gave birth to you, she was so poor she couldn't even produce milk!"

"Huh? What does my family have to do with this?" Zhang Wenda was stunned.

Just as he was about to ask, BANG! Tan Yougen shot to his feet. "Am I an Immortal? Do I call all the shots at the Third Line? I'm just a deputy now! How could I have been in charge of something that huge back then?"

"You're not a junior like Zhang Wenda; you were there! When that ideological shift exploded, do you have any idea how chaotic society was? Don't you know? The social order was on the verge of collapse!"

"Just because order collapses, does that mean we abandon all our morals? Does it mean you can cut off the lifelines of subordinates and friends you've lived and eaten with for decades?"

"It wasn't like that in the past! But after the ideological shift erupted, those became its rules! We couldn't change them!"

Big Circle Leopard glared at Tan Yougen, breathing heavily. The atmosphere instantly became incredibly tense.

"Oh, dear. Why are you two fighting again? You fight every time you see each other. Why don't you just not meet at all?" The headless Ouyang Shuangdian walked in from outside.

At her persuasion, the atmosphere in the room finally eased. One man stood with his back to them, arms crossed and silent, while the other sat back down and drank his soy milk.

As for what happened to Bureau 749 back then, Zhang Wenda wasn't personally involved, so he didn't feel particularly emotional about it. He was more concerned with what had actually happened to his own family.

"Wait, so the dissolution of Bureau 749 has something to do with my family? Were my parents once members?" Zhang Wenda pressed on.

'History is starting to diverge. This is all different from what I remember.'

"A long time ago, before you were born," Big Circle Leopard said in a low voice. "Back then, although the Third Line was divided into several bureaus, each territory was like its own city. It was all our own people inside, so most marriages were handled internally."

"It used to be that sons would follow in their fathers' footsteps. If it weren't for that incident, by all rights, all of you would still be in the Bureau."

Finishing his sentence, the arm-crossed Big Circle Leopard turned around and looked Zhang Wenda up and down. "When I first founded Big Circle, I went to find your parents, but they refused to join."

Just then, Tan Yougen chimed in. "So don't hate your parents so much. They had it hard back then, too."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda's anger flared up instantly. "Bullshit! This has nothing to do with being rich or poor! They struck it rich in business later on! And the first thing they did after getting rich was send me away! That place costs 6,000 a month! Not just anyone can afford to send their kid there!"

Seeing another argument about to break out, Ouyang Shuangdian immediately changed the subject. "Did you all come here just to trade old stories? How about I get you each a stool, set you up under a tree, and find a few village gossips to keep the commentary coming?"

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda struggled to extinguish the anger in his heart and regain control of his emotions. "Let's skip this topic. I won't ask about your past, and you don't ask about mine. Old Tan, what did you actually call me here for?"

Tan Yougen took a deep breath, calmed himself, and said, "Before we get to business, I have something to inform you about. You were previously at a Sub-6th Level pay grade. You've now been promoted to Level 5. Your salary will be increased from 120,000 to 200,000 per month."

"Additionally, when you get back, you can get the inverted tattoo. You no longer have to live upside down in this city. Also, your housing allowance will be upgraded from a 40-square-meter place to an 80-square-meter one."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenda didn't feel happy at all. Instead, he grew wary. 'Tan Yougen isn't that generous. A sudden raise in pay grade like this probably isn't a good sign.'

After considering it for a few seconds, he asked, "Is the next assignment very dangerous?"

Tan Yougen didn't say whether it was dangerous or not. Instead, he countered with a question: "If the target is Qianxi, you'll go regardless of the danger, won't you?"