Chapter Eighty-Two: The Ghost Returns

The Ghost had appeared. Was it really him?

Though he had been branded the Arch-Enemy of the Xiao family, he was still one of them in the end—the only blood relative Xiao Tianci had in this world.

Chief Steward Lin said calmly, "The Ghost has not appeared in person, but he has begun to act. Three of our subsidiary company managers were just murdered. The methods were exactly the same as back then. At the same time, the jewelry under the company and several other cargo warehouses were raided as well. The losses exceed one hundred million."

Xiao Tianci frowned at that. He despised such methods. To kill even ordinary hired executives—no wonder they had once been classified as terrorists. Clearly, that description had not been excessive at all. But why, after so many years, were they still using the same old methods? Was it to flaunt their power? Yes, that was quite possible. But it was also possible that someone was deliberately muddling the waters and making a show of it on purpose.

As soon as he thought of all these scheming maneuvers, he felt the matter could go on endlessly. This was struggle. Struggle for power, struggle for politics. The most dangerous struggle of all. Because in this world, no one could ever truly say they understood everything, for everything was always changing.

"Bring Fang Meng in. Let's look at this together."

After Fang Meng came in and heard Chief Steward Lin explain everything, he thought for a long while, then finally shook his head. "Boss, I was never good at this to begin with, and after all this time with the Ghost, I can't think of anything either."

Xiao Tianci smiled. "It's fine. Same as before. I handle the thinking and the planning; you just carry out the orders when the time comes."

Hearing that, Fang Meng answered readily, "That I can do. Absolutely no problem."

"Good. Then let's first examine the Ghost. Why has he appeared at this time, and why did he even go so far as to use the same methods as before? What exactly is his purpose? Did he do it deliberately, or is someone else trying to confuse the issue and intentionally manufacturing this?"

Chief Steward Lin said, "We still can't be one hundred percent certain, but this matter is very troublesome. Meihua's industries are spread across the world. If things erupt, I'm afraid..."

"Don't worry. Someone is more anxious than we are. Besides, being anxious won't give us a better solution."

Chief Steward Lin understood what the boss meant and nodded. "Still, for now, we should do as before. Assign bodyguards to the executives. That would be better, and it would also steady people's hearts."

To steady hearts—Xiao Tianci, in truth, did not want that. The less stable things were, the better. But he did not want to exchange these lives for his own objectives. Assigning bodyguards was no problem. Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up and he sprang to his feet. "Immediately have them raise the price, fast..."

Half an hour later, in the temporary command room, Xiao Tianci finally let out a long breath.

Few people knew who the Ghost was, but if one mentioned the terrorist strikes against Meihua in those years, countless people would remember, and the impact had been enormous.

Just as Xiao Tianci had expected, the other side could not possibly let this sensational material slip away. Terrorists striking Meihua again—this was only the beginning. Fear had returned. Terrorism was rising from the ashes... and so on. Reports like these appeared all over the world, saturating every media channel. There were also reports claiming that the protective dome was nothing but fabricated nonsense, and that building villas in the desert was the greatest scam of all.

The later claims were still manageable; anyone with a sharp eye could tell they had been deliberately manufactured. But the earlier reports were indeed backed by real evidence. Although the news had a very bad impact, there were people propping up the price, so it did not fall. In fact, the number of sellers increased considerably. It seemed that some people had wavered.

And once people wavered, the rest would be easy.

Xiao Tianci was already beginning to plan the final steps.

By now, everyone at the hospital knew how formidable Little Mei Ge was. That psychiatrist had barely kept his eyes. Still, he had received ample compensation, so even though Little Mei Ge remained terrifying, there were still people willing to care for her and give her injections. Some even thought, If one jab pays that much, how nice would it be if she were to get up and give me one.

When Little Mei Ge woke again, however, she became extremely obedient, lying there quietly. She still did not speak, but whenever Xiao Tianci came to see her and sat by her bedside to keep her company and talk with her, her eyes would brighten considerably, and there would be expression on her face.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and Little Mei Ge's injuries recovered very well. At the time, she had seemed extremely serious, but fortunately, her brain had not been injured.

The Fire Phoenix and Azure Dragon teams had already begun to move. Compared with the stocks Xiao Tianci was playing with now, those matters could only be called small money. Fire Phoenix had come once, in great haste, and saw that Little Mei Ge was healing so quickly. Apart from becoming silent, the rest of her condition was recovering. According to the doctor, she had suffered excessive shock, but there was nothing physically wrong with her. This could only be handled slowly, letting her recover bit by bit.

The Ghost problem was the most vexing of all, because he was everywhere and destroyed everything, specifically targeting Meihua. As for Will, he had stepped forward as well, though only to make some statements. In a very famous turn of phrase, it was the unavoidable story between the Xiao family and Meihua, or the unavoidable story between himself and Meihua, or even the unavoidable story between himself and the Xiao family.

This was the world's biggest bombshell, and after saying a few inconsequential things, the most important part was that he disclosed everything about the Ghost's attacks on Meihua, the killings, and the constant robberies of Meihua's various assets. He did not need to directly accuse anyone of the Ghost's identity or explain why he was doing this; naturally, everyone would understand.

These matters had all been known to a few people before, but now the entire world knew them. So the terrorist who had appeared back then was actually a member of the Xiao family. Their internal family feud had turned into all kinds of sabotage, and the media covered and debated it furiously.

There were accusations, shouting, spectators, curses, and even quite a few people began organizing to bring lawsuits against Xiao Tianci on behalf of those who had been killed back then. Although they had already received substantial compensation years ago, with the flames fanned by interested parties, the whole affair still boiled over. Xiao Tianci even received a summons.

Looking over the recent reports in the media, Xiao Tianci merely skimmed them. They had no practical significance. Let them make all the noise they wanted—it had nothing to do with him.

What did make Xiao Tianci happy was that, after seeing these reports, Tian Ni called him in great haste to ask what had happened. The feeling of being cared for was different. One phone call might not provide any real help, but it gave Xiao Tianci tremendous comfort.

The Ghost's appearance made the situation even more chaotic, yet Xiao Tianci hid away in the hospital and directed everything without caring what happened outside. In particular, the progress with Tian Ni seemed to be beginning. Since they had skipped the "dating" stage and gone straight to marriage, it always felt a little odd, but the two of them seemed to be making up for it now.

Xiao Tianci had considered sending someone to bring Tian Ni over, or even finding a chance to return himself, but in the end he rejected both ideas. Given the current situation, he was quite satisfied. The entire world's attention was fixed on him; if he returned now, who knew how much trouble that would cause? Besides, it was better for him to stay here and wait, relaxed and prepared.

If he left, the danger would only increase—for himself, for Tian Ni, and even for her family.

As for Tian Ni's safety, Xiao Tianci asked about it almost every other day. At this point, unless someone dropped an atomic bomb on Tian Ni's location, killing her would not be easy. The state had already sent a group of experts to protect her, along with the Xiao family's guards, several of Jin Gang's men, and many others who, without Tian Ni's knowledge, had laid down countless layers of defense around her.

"Heh..." Xiao Tianci looked at the summons in his hand and could not help laughing. "They really do know how to make trouble. They actually sent me a summons. I think this summons would suit the Ghost far better."

Chief Steward Lin took the summons and looked it over. "We have now received the formal documents from the court in that country. Their speed is really impressive this time—even the summons arrived so quickly. According to the laws and procedures there, they will first notify the defendant that a lawsuit has been filed, then inform the defendant of the fixed response period, and finally explain the consequences of failing to respond on time."

Xiao Tianci rubbed his head. "Looks like Will wants to drag me out into the open, and at the same time use the Ghost's reappearance to embarrass me, so he can seize the final victory."

Chief Steward Lin nodded. "And he may also be driven by a kind of revenge. For him, being able to make the Xiao family suffer this way is itself a psychological victory. At a time like this, he will do everything possible to cause you trouble so you cannot focus on dealing with him."

Xiao Tianci took the summons back from the chief steward and looked at it again. "Hmm, no. I need to keep this summons. If there's a chance, I should give it to the Ghost. This ought to be his matter. But things in that country really are troublesome. Tell me, should we go or not?"

Chief Steward Lin did not know how to answer either, because the people in that country were like spoiled children, and even the president was the same when it came to being sued. In truth, there were countless dirty things hidden beneath the surface, but they could not be exposed. Once exposed, that would be the end of it.

Seeing that Chief Steward Lin remained silent, Xiao Tianci understood his thoughts. "All right. Hand this matter over to Xu Guowei. As for the lawsuit, we'll just keep fighting it slowly as long as we have money. Right now, there are more important things for us to do."

As he spoke, Xiao Tianci let out a cold snort. "Hmph. They're paying attention to these things because they're too idle. I'll give them something to do now and see if they still have the leisure to concern themselves with other people's affairs. Will has been performing a solo act for so long—it is time for us to take the stage."