Endless Throne - Chapter 35

Immediately, everyone looked at Lin Fugui with strange eyes, carrying some indescribable meaning.

Lin Fugui hesitated to speak, feeling uncomfortable despite his thick skin. What was wrong with these people? Were they toxic?

“I really don’t…” Lin Fugui tried to explain.

“Don’t worry, those who understand, understand,” Coach Wang interrupted his spellcasting.

“……” Lin Fugui fell silent. After all, they were all grown men, just joking around – it didn’t matter.

“Two dear brothers, the car has arrived. Let’s go now,” said the little bat, having lost its wings but remaining calm and composed as it stood on the windowsill.

“Let’s go.” Lin Yebai was the first to go downstairs. The golden-eyed crow perched on his shoulder, eyes closed in rest, looking lazy. Ergou jumped down from the balcony, followed by Zhou Yuan, Xiahou Yun, and Coach Wang. The old hen and the little friend stayed behind to watch the house.

“Dear brothers, take me along!” Little Bat Lin Fugui hurriedly called out.

Those few people quickened their pace, acting as if they hadn’t heard anything at all.

Lin Fugui’s eyes widened like saucers. He wanted to curse a few words but held back, really lacking confidence.

The number of bats he had split off wasn’t many, and even though his innate abilities were decent, his essence was damaged and recovery was extremely slow. He was strong on the outside but weak within. If he really fell out with Lin Yebai’s group, the World’s Number One Leather Factory’s strength would be greatly weakened, and if they were swallowed by aberrants from other cities, he would lose everything.

Better to first numb Lin Yebai and the others, recover his strength first, cultivate his own trusted subordinates, and then seek revenge later.

Lin Fugui’s eyes grew deep, and he suddenly felt he was a genius – scheming and calculating, not much inferior to Emperor Wu of Wei.

The old hen quietly showed a disdainful look. Little bat, not knowing what daydreams it was having – how dare it compare itself to Lord Ergou?

Little friend Wang Zherongyao appeared obedient and honest on the surface, but had already conceived thoughts of slipping away.

Whether Lin Fugui or Lin Yebai, taken individually, they were both excellent thick thighs to cling to. Even Xiahou Yun was quite formidable. The problem was that the two sides had conflicts, appearing harmonious but harboring discord, and would eventually fight to the death. He was very afraid and wanted to find a remote place to be self-reliant and escape this whirlpool.

As long as the old hen fell asleep or he could send it away, he could escape from this demon’s lair.

“Sister Hen, are you hungry? Want some spicy strips?” the little friend asked attentively.

“Cluck.” The old hen lazily responded, its posture languid, having learned three parts of Lin Yebai’s bearing.

When others were home, the old hen never dared to assume such postures, being proper and honest like a little wife, working diligently. Who would have thought that once the family members left, it would show its true colors.

The little friend’s eyes were subtle as he quickly found a large pack of Tornado spicy strips and fed them to the old hen’s mouth.

Eat more – that should cause diarrhea, right?

If these weren’t enough, he’d coax it into eating something else, hehe…

The old hen glanced at the little friend. The little brother was serving quite well – now that she had earned some face in front of Lord Ergou, it would also promote the little brother a bit.

Each harboring different thoughts, they got along quite harmoniously.

On the other side, the car stopped at the entrance of the World’s Number One Leather Factory.

The driver was the six-armed strongman Old Liu, who was also one of the aberrants who had initially besieged Lin Yebai. He appeared to have struck Lin Yebai with a stick, but it was actually light as a feather, scaring himself half to death first. Later when Lin Fugui ordered the siege, he didn’t participate, muddying the waters by finding a place to lie down and play dead, surviving with all limbs intact.

Lin Fugui had suffered considerable losses and didn’t mind such minor details. Instead, he began learning to win people’s hearts, his expression much more amiable than before. He assigned Old Liu to drive and even gave him two packs of cigarettes.

Old Liu happily opened the car door, inviting Lin Yebai and the others to get out, bowing at a ninety-degree angle, extremely humble. The entrance was different from when they left – red carpet was laid out, and the aberrants from the factory stood respectfully on both sides. When they saw Lin Yebai and the others emerge, they stretched their voices and shouted:

“Welcome Second Boss and Third Boss—honored to have you here to guide our work!!”

Ergou couldn’t get in the car and followed at a distance behind it.

Lin Yebai deliberately let Ergou walk in front, slowing his steps slightly.

Ergou didn’t decline and happily walked at the very front. Going out with red carpet – this was the life Lord Ergou should be living!

There weren’t many people in the conference room, and upon entering, several people were stunned.

The leading man had a lean figure and delicate features, with dark purple eye circles and extremely deep lip color. He slightly revealed a few fangs, with a pair of bat wings folded behind him. Black mist swirled around his body – he looked familiar, with a genial smile.

“Second Brother, Third Brother, my hospitality has been lacking. Please forgive me.” The voice was still sharp and sinister – it was definitely Lin Fugui.

[Little Bear Biscuits]: Weight loss successful, a blessing in disguise

[One Needle From Me]: Middle-aged with excessive weight, the cub’s skillful hands and benevolent heart – a few cuts eliminated the sworn brother’s possibility of developing diabetes and high blood pressure. So considerate!

[Super Rich Tangerine Seat]: I’ve been curious about something for a long time – is Lin Fugui a blood clan variant aberrant? How did he become so ugly?

[Duke Tigus]: The blood clan’s reputation has been harmed, we’re also helpless about this. We can only wait for the cub to eliminate harm for the people.

“Most of the aberrants in this city have been collected by me for use—”

As soon as Lin Fugui said this, everyone else in the conference room had twisted expressions.

“Have been collected for my use.” Lin Fugui expanded on the content.

“There are still a small portion wandering outside that need to be caught and brought back to the factory. If they have value, we’ll use them; if not, we’ll take their blood pearls.”

“Recently the humidity is heavy and it’s going to rain for a while. We need to race against time to get the entire city in our grasp.”

“Our World’s Number One Leather Factory doesn’t just produce leather – we also make various necessities.”

“For example, clothing. I believe everyone, even after becoming aberrants, doesn’t want to go around naked, right?”

“The entire industrial park is our territory. We need more workers and raw materials to get the factories running again.”

“As long as the leather factory has its own value, everyone won’t be expendable food…”

Lin Fugui spoke for a long time, roughly setting the future development tone.

First, capture aberrants to serve as workers and reopen the factories.

Second, scout outward and seek expansion opportunities.

Third, keep the research institute running normally, with Xiahou Yun researching potions that could improve aberrant levels.

Fourth, establish breeding farms to cultivate high-quality low-level animal aberrants.

…..

More than ten scattered items, plus various small details.

“Second Brother, Third Brother, what do you think? Is there anything that needs to be added?” Lin Fugui was quite pleased with his ideas. These weren’t ideas that ordinary people could come up with – he, Lin Fugui, truly was a genius!

Ergou had no objections, or rather, it completely didn’t care about these things and was too lazy to use its brain, so it looked toward Lin Yebai.

“Laws.” Lin Yebai raised an important point.

“Third Brother is right. A country has its laws, a family has its rules, and our factory should also establish new factory regulations.” Lin Fugui’s eyes narrowed as he smiled broadly.

Previously, the entire leather factory had been a one-man show where everyone listened to his commands. He had never thought about factory regulations at all. Those in favor were treated like masters and could do whatever they wanted. Subordinates, in order to live better, desperately competed for favor, making him happy every day. Thinking carefully, it was indeed somewhat chaotic.

“Factory employees shall not kill each other.” Lin Yebai deeply understood how terrifying the feeding instinct was. If there was internal chaos, even a behemoth would quickly fall apart.

“Agreed.” Lin Fugui consulted with Lin Yebai, others added their opinions, and they finally established the factory regulations.

In his prime state, Lin Fugui certainly wouldn’t have made such concessions. There were some factory regulations he really didn’t like. What era was this to still play by law and order? Who were they performing for? Those who survived were the masters – as for those worthless low-level aberrants, who cared about their lives or deaths?

He was focused only on recovery and didn’t care about factory regulations. Once Lin Yebai was dead, he could just establish new factory regulations.

Next came division of labor and cooperation. Xiahou Yun was separated out on his own to do whatever he wanted, but had to submit some serum every month.

Lin Yebai succeeded as workshop manager, filling Zhang San’s vacancy, and would start capturing aberrants tomorrow.

Zhou Yuan was assigned to Lin Fugui’s side, responsible for scouting neighboring cities. Lin Yebai declined and had Zhou Yuan follow Ergou as the local defense force. Coach Wang remained under Lin Yebai’s command. Everyone was satisfied.

Lin Fugui wanted to divide Lin Yebai’s forces. This outcome wasn’t bad – one step at a time. A glint of darkness flashed in his eyes. Everyone had their own thoughts and couldn’t possibly remain united forever.

Concentrating, he discovered Ergou was staring at him.

Lin Fugui was feeling guilty when he noticed a glint of darkness flash in Ergou’s eyes. With an evil smile, every eye began flashing with dark light, as if finding this very amusing, flashing on and off, dazzling to the eyes.

Lin Fugui felt like having a heart attack. Were these people demons? Even the dog wasn’t normal.

“Handsome, dashing, wise and mighty Factory Director Big Brother, you’re truly the strongest, most majestic, most domineering person I’ve ever seen. Your arrangements are comprehensive and your actions magnanimous and generous – anyone can see you’ll achieve great things.” Zhou Yuan’s rainbow flattery came suddenly but appropriately.

“I think so too.” Lin Fugui felt like he’d met a kindred spirit.

Zhou Yuan was unreliable, but his words were still very pleasant to hear.

“Big Brother is so powerful, you must be incredibly wealthy – only that would match your noble status. We can’t compare – we’re quite poor and haven’t seen the world. Could you perhaps reward us poor brothers with a few thousand or tens of thousands of blood pearls so we can broaden our horizons…” Zhou Yuan’s eyes were sincere, filled with admiration and reverence.

“I think that’s reasona…” Lin Fugui said halfway before catching himself.

“I also think it’s reasonable.” Zhou Yuan nodded repeatedly.

“I actually don’t have a single blood pearl. Blood pearls have no meaning to me. I only take one blood pearl as salary each year – everything else stays in the public fund to pay everyone’s wages. As long as everyone is well and this world becomes better, everything is worthwhile.” Lin Fugui sighed deeply, changing the subject:

“I’ve prepared your living quarters. You can cook for yourselves or eat at the factory cafeteria. Our management has a separate kitchen with fresh beast meat every day.”

“Big Brother’s righteousness! Does the factory pay wages? How many blood pearls can we earn each month? Do you have five insurances and one fund? Will there be retirement benefits when we’re old?” Zhou Yuan wasn’t discouraged and kept pestering Lin Fugui with questions.

Lin Fugui was questioned until dizzy and wanted to end the topic, but Zhou Yuan held on tight. To settle this troublesome group, Lin Fugui decided to give Second Brother and Third Brother 300 blood pearls each as meeting gifts, Zhou Yuan and Coach Wang 100 each, and Xiahou Yun 200.

After everything was settled, six-armed Old Liu drove Lin Yebai’s group back.

There were also places to live at the factory district, but Lin Yebai still felt Ergou’s place was safer.

They went empty-handed but returned carrying and hauling loads, returning with full gains. Zhou Yuan was grinning from ear to ear, opening the door while saying:

“That Lin Fugui is really a sucker.”

“Indeed.” Xiahou Yun could tell that Lin Fugui was very pained to part with such a large sum of blood pearls.

Zhang San’s stockpile was almost equivalent to the blood pearls Lin Fugui had given out today. Who knew how much he had embezzled – Lin Fugui was completely unaware.

“Hahahaha, let’s ask him for more next time!” Zhou Yuan unloaded two sacks, wanting to boast a bit. Looking around, the old hen wasn’t in the living room, the little friend wasn’t there, and the spider cubs had gone to the meeting today too. Even if he bragged to them, they wouldn’t believe it. Life was truly lonely as snow.

“I heard everything.” On the windowsill, the wingless little bat’s eyes were dark, as if his body had been hollowed out.