428: No one is willing to admit it

The key is how much equipment you've accumulated.

Why has the company remained silent and unresponsive when this matter could clearly be explained?

The employees were completely baffled.

They only knew that the more the rumors spread online, the more distressed they felt.

Many even gathered after work to discuss whether they should use their own accounts to post explanations.

However, after asking around, the colleague with the most followers only had a paltry few thousand.

If the influence wasn't enough, speaking up would be pointless.

Without sufficient appeal or a compelling angle, merely having an account post a few words of praise would only make people think the company temporarily hired shills!

No one was willing to accept that.

"So, what do we do next?" an employee from the publicity department asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

Since the meeting ended that morning, the department head had told everyone to wait for news.

But it was already past closing time, and the relevant discussion's popularity hadn't decreased; instead, it had intensified.

The current topic's views had already exceeded thirty million!

In just one day, all because of the heated discussion sparked by this game, thirty million people had paid attention to this matter.

They couldn't imagine what would happen tomorrow if this problem wasn't resolved today.

"Hey, what are you all doing gathered here?"

A familiar voice rang out, and everyone's nerves immediately tensed.

Someone even subtly adjusted their clothes and tie, not realizing it was already after work.

"President Gao, we were just discussing where to eat..."

"Oh? You plan to eat at V-Bo's place?"

Qin Feixu smiled faintly.

As soon as she spoke, the air fell silent.

It was clear she had overheard their conversation at some point.

Realizing this, everyone could only honestly tell the truth.

After hearing the employees' concerns, the usually decisive Qin Feixu began to ponder seriously.

Although she didn't know what Xu Lian was thinking, the only thing she needed to do was trust him.

That was enough!

"President Xu has his own judgment on this matter; you don't need to interfere too much. Hurry home now."

Qin Feixu waved her hand, dismissing the gathered crowd.

Aoyou Tianxia Company had always maintained regular working hours to cultivate high-performing talent.

Unless there was an extremely urgent matter, the company would not require employees to stay on extended standby.

If they constantly worked long hours without any free rest, work efficiency would actually decrease.

This was also why many people tried so hard to get into Aoyou Tianxia Company.

Where could one find such a considerate boss?

Miss this company and there really wouldn't be a second one!

At this moment, Xu Lian was just about to open the system to check for new content and map updates.

But just as he was about to act, his phone suddenly rang—"Practice Love."

This was the ringtone for his private number, and he had just changed it recently.

One listen to the song and you knew it was JJ's classic style.

Xu Lian immediately understood: the fish had taken the bait.

"Proceed according to plan!"

Xu Lian hung up the phone and quietly gave the command.

Whoosh—

The fish were in the net, but he didn't know if it would be a clean sweep or caught in batches.

With the matter settled, Xu Lian stood up to stretch his shoulders and neck, and twisted his legs to relax his body.

It had been a long time since he had spent an entire day at home like this, completely emptying his mind.

And Qin Feixu also understood boundaries; after that morning's phone call, she hadn't disturbed him again.

8 PM.

In an old building on the outskirts of the Third Ring Road.

A middle-aged man sat inside, anxiously waiting for his subordinates to return.

Everyone else had already gone out to gather information, only he remained in place.

He was the boss, so he naturally had the responsibility to keep a close eye on Xu Lian and the game company's movements.

But the more he looked at the time, the more puzzled he became: it was already past eight o'clock, why hadn't any of these guys returned?

Another half an hour passed, and the time reached 8:40 PM.

It was almost an hour past their agreed meeting time!

That shouldn't be. Even if they were late, they wouldn't all delay for so long.

Did something happen on the way?

By nine o'clock, the boss finally couldn't help but stand up.

From the beginning, the financier had emphasized that, apart from that old computer, no communication devices were allowed.

He understood the meaning behind this, which was simply to prevent their location from being exposed.

So even though he was extremely anxious, he could only leave the building, find another building, and then dare to turn on his phone and make a call!

As soon as his phone started up, there were over a dozen missed calls.

Some were from family and friends, but the most recent few were all from his subordinates, made one or two hours earlier!

The boss didn't have time to think much and randomly picked the most recent number to call back.

The call connected almost as soon as it rang.

"You dog, where did you run off to?!"

The boss, suppressing his anger, roared.

The other end was silent for a few seconds before a voice came through.

"Uh... Boss, we're fine now."

It was Ze Xi's voice.

Beep beep beep—

The call suddenly disconnected before he finished speaking.

Meanwhile, the situation on the other side was completely different.

Ze Xi was bound hand and foot, kneeling before Xu Lian, his eyes covered with a black cloth.

Not eating or drinking for a long time had left him almost dehydrated and weak.

Slam, the phone hung up.

The man in the black suit standing beside him kicked him in the stomach.

The intense pain made him fall backward violently, struggling to get up, but he pulled at his wounds, turning his face pale with agony.

"President Xu, we have the location!" A girl with colorful twin ponytails said excitedly.

"Start the operation!"

Xu Lian spoke coldly.

Hearing this, Ze Xi completely lost all hope.

To maintain secrecy, Ze Xi had walked two kilometers on foot as instructed before daring to turn on his phone to call his boss.

Who knew that as soon as he entered the room and sat down, several strangers burst in the next second and took him away without a word.

He tried to escape several times along the way but failed, and most of his injuries were from being restrained during his struggles.

Even when he was tortured and pressed for the whereabouts of the mastermind, Ze Xi remained loyal to his boss and didn't utter a single word.

It wasn't that he wasn't afraid, but because his boss had helped his family through a difficult time back then.

Even if it meant death, he didn't want to be a traitor.

But what he hadn't expected was that Xu Lian wasn't in a hurry at all.

He even wanted to warn his boss during their recent call.

But the opponent's subordinates acted too quickly.

Without any real combat experience, he was subdued before he could even react.

Now his boss's phone couldn't be reached, which could only mean one thing:

Their location had been exposed.

The boss, unwilling to give up, called again, but it was still off.

"What the hell is going on here...?" he muttered under his breath.

The situation changed too quickly, and he could only dial the number he had memorized in his head beforehand.

Because the rule in their line of work was this: no matter how many phones were lost, the financier's number had to be firmly remembered.

But what the boss hadn't considered was that this very call accelerated his downfall.

Days earlier, Xu Lian had already traced the IP addresses of the publishers of those popular articles.