Chapter 1664 - 855: Loyalty and Glory

Dead silence, increasingly dead silence, only a sharp sound of tables and chairs grinding against each other kept spreading, everyone at the table seemed electrified as they recoiled, trying to distance themselves.

And in the silence, everyone's gaze was fixated on him, a mix of horror and admiration.

As if looking at a dead man.

He's as good as dead!

"Lu Ciwang, are you drunk?"

Ling Shuo's smile showed a chilling hint: "If you've had too much, take a good rest. Someone, take him to sober up."

"What's wrong? Scared?! Afraid to let people speak?"

Lu Ciwang sneered, flipping the table in front of him, laughing wildly at Ling Shuo: "Either kill me, or damn well roll off the stage.

I'm telling you, defiance is defiance, resentment is resentment, kill one of me, there are thousands more, you're a lackey for the family named Ji, can you possibly annihilate Seven Cities?!"

Ling Shuo did not respond, coldly staring at him.

A wave of the hand.

Naturally, someone approached, grabbing the screaming Lu Ciwang, intending to drag him away.

But then, a sudden pause in movement.

A crisp clapping was heard.

The sharp sound stabbed the eardrums, turning everything black before their eyes, disrupting movements, halting them in place.

"No need to be in such a hurry, Ah Shuo."

Ling Liu smiled faintly, looking at him: "Desert Market also follows rules, with so many uncles here, fairness needs to be explained clearly,

No matter how grave the injustice, people should be given a chance to speak, right?"

He turned his head, looking at the other attendees.

Ao Gao's expression stiffened slightly, silent. This wasn't his arrangement, but upon seeing Abadesa's serene look, he felt a slight stirring.

"Speaking objectively, it indeed is."

Himawan nodded slightly: "Though it's tough to comment as an outsider, it's truly bewildering that I wasn't aware of such misunderstandings against Mr. Ling Shuo; it's beyond peculiar.

We're all Desert Market people, fighting and killing hurts relationships, why not talk things through?"

Damn, two damn dogs.

Noticing everyone else's gazes falling on him, Ao Gao's face darkened. Clearly they're viewed as a whole, but William empowered him for full autonomy, grasping the situation first!

There's no way William knew of this matter; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't keep it from himself. There are surface brothers, and truly life-risking friendships in this world. As William's assistant over the years, Ao Gao knew more secrets than William's wife did, and he knew: if his dumb brother who only thinks of screwing around really disliked him, he would have already punched him dead long ago, why cause so much trouble?

That means, when did Hidden Mist Reef and Iron Hook District align with the Lings?

Damn your ancestors to the eighteenth generation.

Another small clique, huh?!

Ao Gao gritted his teeth, downed his drink without saying a word, his other foot firmly pressed on Meng Sang's instep: you damn well better not have a smart idea, you living ancestor!

Fortunately, his foolish child finally grasped his point, studying the two pieces of cold dish on his chopsticks with drool, as if in a daze.

Good, very good, continue playing dumb and maintain the act.

After downing two more drinks, he fell onto the table with a thud, overwhelmed by alcohol.

Sorry, I'm drunk!

"...Then, speak."

Ling Shuo coldly looked at the happenings in the venue, squeezing the words from between his teeth: "Everyone here is elders and uncles, no matter how great the grievance, shouldn't it be explained clearly? Also let everyone understand, I'm not some 'old dog' who can't tolerate others making a living!"

"Did you hear that, Lu Ciwang."

Abadesa smiled at the man pinned to the ground: "If there are grievances, speak up, the uncles and grandpas present will surely stand up for you."

Lu Ciwang climbed up from the ground, face flushed with excitement, then suddenly knelt down, sobbing and wailing, deeply pained as if suffering the greatest injustice.

"Everyone must stand up for me; today, I'm risking my life to clarify..."

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

As he spoke, a loud bell unexpectedly rang from his person, vibrating non-stop, a phone call. He paused momentarily, ignored it, continued to bow, wanted to express his grievance, but his expression froze for a moment.

On the table before him, amidst the many turned-back guests, one person quietly looked at him, holding his own flip phone, slowly unfolding the screen.

The live video on the screen showed a room unmistakably familiar, filled with bruised women and children bound to the sofa, a gun held to their heads.

The woman with dark circles around her eyes choked, holding a phone, hopelessly dialing.

Looking at the camera.

As if, through the screen, falling upon him, making Lu Ciwang involuntarily shudder for a moment... that was the family he just sent out from Seven Cities this morning, yet among them, there was one missing, his mother!

He froze in place, speechless.

The only sound was the phone's ringtone, ringing repeatedly, seemingly endless.

"Why aren't you answering the phone?"

On the stage, Ling Shuo lowered his eyes and looked over, curiously asking, "Calling in such haste, there must be something quite urgent, right? Actually, we're not in that much of a rush, you didn't have to cut in without waiting a single moment."

"..."

Lu Ciwang trembled, trying to take out his phone, dropped it on the ground, hurriedly picked it up, kept flipping it, and finally, with shaking hands, dialed the call button, bringing it to his ear.

From the receiver came a suppressed sound of sobbing.

"Lu Ci, it's bad, they rushed in, took us back here, Joe was taken away by them, and mom also..."

"I, I know, I know."

With difficulty, Lu Ciwang raised his head, looking at Ling Shuo on the stage, met his overlooking gaze, and the voice on the other end was abruptly interrupted.

A hand stretched from the screen, snatching the phone away.

"You know the rules, betrayal and treachery bring doom to the family." The voice on the other end told him, "Lu Ciwang, one's done deeds are one's own to bear, the misfortune need not extend to the family, but you better not err."

"I, I... I understand."

The call ended, and amidst the dead silence, on the gradually pale face, tears could no longer be restrained. In front of everyone, he cried out, wailing and crawling on the ground.

"It's not me who is wronged!"

He hoarsely, desperately shouted, "It's Chairman Ling who is wronged!"

In an instant, amidst the dead silence, a clamor started again, everyone's expressions froze, staring at the dramatic turnaround within a brief minute, dumbfounded.

Others, keenly hearing earlier, had already caught the voice from the receiver, now remained silent, feeling like thorns on their back, breathless.

Lu Ciwang turned traitor swiftly, and his whole family damn got it, including his mother!

And myself, what about myself!

"Chairman Ling is wronged!"

He bowed continuously towards the table representing Desert Market, "Uncles and elders must stand for Chairman Ling, last night, someone came to me, asking me to betray Chairman Ling and offered me money, promising wealth and prosperity in Empire if I agreed.

If, if I didn't do it, they'd use my previous treacherous deeds to threaten me... I, I... I'm not human, I'm a beast ah ah!!!"

Speaking to a passionate point, he kept slapping his own face, crying out ruefully, overwhelmed by despair, "I'd rather face doom than let such a good person as Chairman Ling be humiliated. I'm guilty, I deserve death a thousand times!"

"Oh?" Ling Shuo was shocked, "Is there really such a thing?"

"Yes! There is!"

Lu Ciwang wiped away the tears, raising his head, perceiving the implicit meaning in those eyes, resolutely stated, "Moreover, the supporter behind that person is right here, right here!"

He straightened up, shouted hoarsely, raised his hand, pointing towards the table of Desert Market representatives.

"That person is... is... is..."

In the midst of speaking, his throat suddenly choked, his face swiftly turned black, clutching his throat, frantically scratching, difficult to breathe.

Betraying the decree, incurring the backlash, the fierce poison hidden within the soul spread instantly.

He died.

Yet, before dying, he still squirmed on the ground, crawling, eyes wide open, gazing at the slowly unfolding phone screen.

The gun muzzle on the screen gradually receded, cords loosened.

Thus, that face covered in black and purple twitched one last time, seemed to cry, seemed to smile.

Then silence.

"Outrageous!"

Ling Shuo jumped down from the stage, rushed to the deceased to check, extraordinarily furious, "On such a great day, someone dared to instigate my subordinate to disrupt at my birthday banquet, truly heartless, unforgivable by heaven and earth!"

He paused for a moment, suddenly turned around, looking at the front row of the birthday banquet, "Elder Ling, you just said it was a wrongful accusation, aren't such monstrous deeds too heinous to overlook?"

"Is there actually such a thing?"

Ling Liu seemed to react, surprisingly bewildered, "Yet, just before dying, he seemed to be pointing at this table of ours... Terrible, could it be me?"

"Don't dwell, Elder Ling, after all, it's a traitor trying to backstab for position, deranged, speaking nonsense." Himawan gently shook his head, "Maliciously slandering, falsely incriminating, how can it be true?"

"I have no idea either." Abadesa sighed calmly, "As a guest, how could one commit such shameless acts?"

"Really?"

Ling Shuo was slightly taken aback, sighed helplessly, "Seems I've misunderstood, alas, such incidents are unwanted by all, yet didn't expect, knowing a person's face does not know their heart, Lu Ciwang actually did such deceitful deeds... Even if part of us, we can't tolerate it!"

Since he's dead, forget about the doom, and for his final return to righteousness, the family can be expelled from Seven Cities, no need to implicate the relatives."

He paused for a moment, sighed solemnly as though talking to himself:

"No next time."

For a moment, everyone was silent as cicadas in cold, even the table of Ling Liu seemed to grow vaguely quiet under the seemingly cheerful banter.

"Come, don't let such a few vile disruptors spoil everyone's enjoyment."

Ling Shuo raised his cup once more, "With loyalty and honor, wealth and prosperity—cheers to everyone!"

In an instant, countless people rose, the shouting voices rose and fell, gradually becoming uniform:

"Cheers to Chairman Ling!!!"