“Talking about ‘growing on its own’…” Sister Siwei said with a heavy expression. “Haven’t all these people reached this point today because you guided them here?”
“Not entirely.” Uncle Wan picked up the paper cup and took a sip, then said, “Remember what I told you from the very beginning? Everyone has ‘pain points’ in their hearts. I simply grasped all these ‘pain points’ together, and then the crowd started moving on their own. After all, seeking benefit and avoiding harm is human nature—no one wants to be in ‘pain.’ As I said, I’m just a ‘guide.'”
After hearing this, Sister Siwei let out a heavy sigh, then said: “Brother Wan, if I heard correctly, you’re shirking responsibility, aren’t you? Are you saying that these people becoming the way they are now has absolutely nothing to do with you? That they brought this upon themselves?”
“That’s not quite an appropriate way to put it either.” Uncle Wan shook his head again. “Little Li, you might not know this, but now hundreds of new members join our ‘family’ every single day. I don’t even need to do anything anymore—the various ‘team leaders’ help me organize everyone for all kinds of activities. Everything proceeds in an orderly fashion. In the coming days, the speed at which people gather will continue to accelerate.”
“What are you trying to say…?”
“You might find this hard to understand, but when a ‘pyramid scheme’ organization grows large enough, it’s no longer just a ‘pyramid scheme’—it becomes increasingly formalized.” Uncle Wan took another sip of alcohol, and his expression began to turn strange. “That’s what we are now. We’re a massive organization that covers the sky with one hand in this city, commanding over a thousand people, half of them ‘Qingxiangzhe.’ These people are extremely loyal and all follow my commands. Now almost every interview room has our family members in it. As soon as people land here, they use professional persuasion techniques to bring their teammates here. So all I need to do is close my eyes and collect their ‘jade.’ The ‘people’ are endless, the ‘wealth’ is endless. Do you think there’s anyone in this land who can be stronger than me?”
His foul smell grew stronger and stronger, and I couldn’t help but raise my hand to cover my nose and mouth.
“I admit your conversational techniques always move people’s hearts, but this time I can’t agree with you.” Sister Siwei answered with a grave expression. “First, it’s true that this team is ‘loyal and devoted,’ but most people have lost their own opinions. That is to say, the ‘leader’s’ upper limit determines these people’s upper limit. They only listen to your orders and can’t do things you haven’t thought of.”
After hearing this, Uncle Wan nodded, raised his paper cup, his eyes showing slight contemplation: “That makes sense, Little Li. You truly are very clever.”
“Second, you should know better than me that this organization is about to ‘lose control.'” The scent emanating from Sister Siwei began to turn worried. “Brother Wan, you clearly know you’re not a real ‘god.’ What these people need to rely on is only little brother Hero’s power. Now more and more people are discovering this point. Your ruling position is precarious.”
“Yes…” Uncle Wan nodded. “But so what?”
“So what?” Sister Siwei seemed not to understand. “Brother Wan, am I not being clear? This place has no laws. Although you’ve established some order, aren’t you afraid that one day the organization you built yourself will fall into great chaos, that they’ll rise up in rebellion and ultimately ‘judge’ you?”
“That day won’t come.” Uncle Wan said. “Little Li, do you know why I suddenly came to have a heart-to-heart with you today?”
“You…?”
“I’m leaving.” Uncle Wan smiled, then drained the alcohol in his paper cup in one gulp. “I’ve calculated that tomorrow I’ll be able to obtain enough ‘jade’ to completely leave this place.”
“What did you say…?”
“There’s no such thing as ‘public jade’—it belonged to me in the first place. I just wanted to give you some advice before I leave. Once I disappear from here, you should leave as soon as possible too.”
“What?”
“You said it yourself—what they need is Zheng Yingxiong, not you.” Uncle Wan crushed the paper cup in his hand into a ball. “Although I’ve been keeping you under house arrest all this time, I think I’ve treated you fairly well. I’ve never done anything disadvantageous to you. After all, this organization needs Zheng Yingxiong, and Zheng Yingxiong can’t be separated from you. I had no choice but to resort to this strategy.”
What Uncle Wan said plunged both Sister Siwei and me into silence. Ever since learning that Sister Siwei could “heal,” he had started hitting people—either me or Sister Siwei.
He was a bad person.
His smell was truly too unpleasant.
“I’m not a good person, but I’m not exactly an evil person either, right?” Uncle Wan gave a bitter laugh. “I’m just trying to achieve my own goals.”
“You’re really making it sound too trivial…” Sister Siwei’s voice trembled. “Even setting aside the situation for me and little brother Hero, you also used ‘Earth-Ox’ as an ‘executioner’ and executed many people! We never saw those people again… including Sister Fang from our room…”
“Those were all necessary means.” Uncle Wan interrupted Sister Siwei. “If I hadn’t executed those people, we wouldn’t have today’s achievements. I needed to use the most direct method to tell everyone that the ‘family rules’ are absolute.”
“You…” Sister Siwei still looked very angry. “Wan Cai, do you really think what you’re doing is perfectly justified? You did plenty of this kind of thing outside too, didn’t you? Ruining other people’s families and depleting their fortunes. And it’s the same here—you can kill people according to your own needs. Doesn’t that count as being an ‘evil person’? You could have clearly expelled those people from your ‘family,’ but instead you insisted on making them disappear completely, just to consolidate your own ‘power.’ Doesn’t that count as being an ‘evil person’?”
Uncle Wan pondered for a long time, then gave a cold laugh: “Ha… I didn’t expect I still couldn’t break through your defenses.”
“Break through my defenses…?” Sister Siwei furrowed her brow.
“People who have both brains and psychological defenses are truly too rare. Little Li, in light of the fact that you’re still this clear-headed, listen to me: Zheng Yingxiong is a ‘He Shi Bi.'” Uncle Wan said clearly and plainly right in front of me. “Now no one in the entire city doesn’t know about his abilities. You continuing to bring him along won’t lead to any good outcome. If I get out, you must leave.”
Both Sister Siwei and I felt somewhat strange.
This big family was built single-handedly by Uncle Wan, yet he was advising Sister Siwei to leave.
“All organizations are like this.” Uncle Wan said. “When they grow to a certain scale, they begin to collapse. I’ve already sensed the future of this city.”
Sister Siwei asked with doubt: “What future?”
Uncle Wan reached out and drew a horizontal line on the ground, then drew three dots, dividing the horizontal line into three segments.
“Right now we belong to the first phase, which I call the ‘Era of Power.’ I’ve obtained supreme power in this city, but just as you said, this power is built on countless uncertainties and lies, and can collapse at any time. Either I’ll be assassinated, or I’ll leave on my own initiative.”
He moved his hand to the second segment of the line and said again: “Next comes the ‘Era of Chaos.'”
“‘Era of Chaos’…?”
“Yes. Based on my many years of experience building teams, when an organization or power figure collapses, the entire organization will fall into unprecedented chaos. What awaits you is precisely the ‘Era of Chaos.'”