Read Novel Full Chapter 1401: Chapter 734: Breakdown in Negotiations
Chapter 1401: Chapter 734: Breakdown in Negotiations
About an hour later, Zhang Yujiang sent someone to invite Liang Yuan and Feng Jiangong over.
Liang Yuan immediately went to the conference room together with Feng Jiangong.
In the military’s conference room, dozens of people were seated.
All of them were in uniform, each with an expression that was either grief and rage, blank indifference, or outright disgust.
They all turned to look at the entering Liang Yuan.
Liang Yuan only swept his gaze over them once, then stopped paying attention.
This group should be the military’s high-level personnel, but judging from the looks of it, aside from a few who possessed powerful Superpowers, the others all seemed to be just Ordinary Superpower Users.
Liang Yuan was somewhat surprised. Among the high-level personnel, there actually weren’t many powerful Superpower Users, yet there were a lot of Ordinary Superpower Users?
What was going on?
Zhang Yujiang stood up and said, “Everyone, this is Mr. Liang. Welcome.”
He took the lead in clapping, while the officers below followed with sparse, perfunctory applause.
Zhang Yujiang looked a bit embarrassed. His face darkened as he barked, “Did you all take what I just said as wind in your ears?”
Among those present, a young man who looked to be in his early thirties couldn’t help saying, “Commander, he’s an outsider. Just because he awakened a Superpower, he can directly snatch away our military authority? Based on what?”
With him speaking up, the others seemed to have found a vent as well and all started complaining.
“You with the surname Liang, you were just an ordinary person back then. Did you ever bleed or sweat for the country? Now you got lucky and awakened a Superpower, and you dare treat us soldiers like this? Where’s your conscience?”
“You with the surname Liang, when Yangshan was besieged by the Three Great Sects, have you forgotten who helped you settle that? And now you actually want to forcibly seize Commander Zhang’s military power, and still expect us to agree to your leadership? You really dare to think big!”
In the crowd, Zhang Wenjing had a trace of a cold smile on her lips. She wanted to see how this Liang fellow was going to tame this bunch of unruly military representatives.
If it was just about brute force, there wasn’t a single soldier here who was afraid of death.
Liang Yuan’s expression was utterly cold as he looked at Zhang Yujiang and asked, “This is the result of your meeting?”
Zhang Yujiang hurriedly berated the others: “Shut up! You bunch of bastards, all of you shut your mouths!”
He turned his head to Liang Yuan and said, “Time has been too short, they can’t accept it for the moment. Mr. Liang, please be understanding.”
Liang Yuan narrowed his eyes at Zhang Yujiang, then shook his head. “I originally thought you were someone with real character, willing to put down your authority and find a way out for your people.”
“Now it seems I overestimated you.”
Zhang Yujiang’s face changed slightly. He hadn’t expected Liang Yuan to give him no face at all.
Liang Yuan pointed at these officers and said, “Just this kind of crap, and they can be the military’s high-level leadership?”
“These few, and those ones who were just cursing me, they haven’t even condensed a Genetic Species. What qualifications do they have to be military high-level leaders?”
Zhang Yujiang opened his mouth and explained, “Mr. Liang, before the Great Flood they were already part of our military leadership.”
“They had rendered outstanding services before the flood came. In our military we don’t assign positions purely based on strength.”
Liang Yuan let out a derisive snort. “And what time do you think it is now? It’s already the Flood Apocalypse. Outside, Mutant Beasts are constantly evolving, obeying the law of the jungle.”
“Generation after generation of powerful Mutant Beasts claw their way to the top of their groups, and you people are still playing seniority games? Running this kind of bullshit system—no wonder you’ve developed to this point and are still such trash, you haven’t even unified Linjiang City.”
Liang Yuan unleashed his firepower completely, giving them no face at all and cursing them out right to their faces.
For a time, many of the high-ranking officers present had their faces turn ashen.
Bang!
A middle-aged officer snapped, slamming the table and cursing furiously, “You little bastard, when I was dedicating myself to the country, you were still a little shit playing in the mud, and you think you have the right to criticize us?”
“Others might fear you, but I, Old Qi, sure as hell don’t. You fucking evolved and mutated into some kind of freak and you think that gives you a bit of strength? The strongest thing about us humans is our intelligence, not individual combat power!”
“Someone like you wants to lead the military? I don’t agree!”
As he spoke, he turned his head toward a few others and asked, “Can you accept someone like this as a military leader?”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“We don’t agree either!”
“Commander Zhang, it’s not that we’re not giving you face, it’s that this brat is simply not worthy of leading soldiers!”
“Commander Zhang, our 24th Brigade would rather withdraw from Cloud Mist Island and leave Guangfu than accept being led by someone like him!”
“Right, Commander Zhang, we’d rather leave Cloud Mist Island!”
All at once, quite a few people started to stir things up.
At this moment, Zhang Wenjing stepped out and hurriedly said, “Uncles, elders, everyone calm down.”
“You are all the pillars of our military. Back when we built up Cloud Mist Island and resisted those people from the Hawk Faction, everyone bled for it.”
“How could we possibly force you to leave? Dad, say something.”
Zhang Wenjing turned to look at her father, Zhang Yujiang. Her expression was anxious, but her eyes glanced at Liang Yuan, intentionally or otherwise, and her lips curled in a faint cold smile.
She wanted to see how, in this situation, this Liang fellow was still going to take over Cloud Mist Island.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cooperate with Yangshan, she just didn’t want her father’s authority to be completely handed over to this Liang guy.
That was why this farce was happening now.
Zhang Yujiang’s expression was ugly as he spoke in a deep voice, “Everyone, you’re all my old brothers, my old buddies. Saying things like this is too hurtful.”
“But I already said it in the meeting just now, you all know the difficulties we’re facing now.”
“The people from Mengya Company won’t let this go. If we don’t cooperate with Mr. Liang, with our current strength, I’m afraid we really won’t be able to hold out.”
Zhang Wenjing immediately cut off Zhang Yujiang’s words and said, “Dad, we’re not refusing to cooperate with Yangshan, we just can’t accept being led by an outsider.”
“We can cooperate, but we will only accept you leading everyone. Uncles, elders, is that what you all mean?”
The other high-ranking military officers all nodded.
“That’s right, we only accept Commander Zhang’s leadership. No one else should even think about it!”
“Commander Zhang, I, Old Qi, only trust you alone. As for the others, heh, what kind of bullshit are they? Haven’t even grown all their hair yet, and they dare point fingers at us?”
“Commander Zhang, same goes for us. We only listen to you. As for anyone else, we don’t recognize them.”
A trace of delight flashed in Zhang Wenjing’s eyes. This was exactly the method she wanted to use to force that Liang guy to compromise.
Yangshan could cooperate with the military, but her father’s authority could not be touched, and their status within the military could not be moved!
When Liang Yuan got Cloud Mist Island, so what? Everyone on the island would still listen to them.
Hearing this, Liang Yuan had already understood.
A hint of mockery appeared on his face. He looked at Zhang Yujiang and asked, “This was your idea?”
Zhang Yujiang hurriedly said, “How could that be? Mr. Liang, I truly, sincerely want to cooperate with Yangshan.”
“It’s just, just that the situation… sigh, how about this, come with me, and we’ll discuss it again.”
Liang Yuan waved his hand directly and said, “No need. I don’t think there’s any point anymore.”
He looked at Zhang Yujiang and said, “The Heart Core is in your hands. I’ll ask you just one thing, Commander Zhang. If you really intend to cooperate, then hand these people over to me to deal with.”
Zhang Yujiang’s expression changed slightly as he said, “You promised me you wouldn’t make things hard for them.”
Liang Yuan said calmly, “Do you think it’s me making things hard for them now, or them making things hard for me?”
Zhang Yujiang’s brows furrowed tightly. “They’re wholly devoted to Cloud Mist Island. They don’t mean any harm. It just happened too suddenly, and they can’t accept it for the moment.”
“Mr. Liang, could you give them some time? How about this, I can hand the Heart Core over to you first, but for the time being, the military’s personnel transfers will still be jointly managed by me and Jiangong, how about that?”
“Rest assured, once the crisis with Mengya Company is resolved, I will keep my word and hand over military power to you.”
Liang Yuan stared fixedly at Zhang Yujiang, his expression gradually turning cold.
“So this is what you were aiming for?”
“Commander Zhang, does holding power feel that wonderful? Your eyebrows are already on fire, and you still can’t let go?”
Zhang Yujiang’s face changed, and he quickly said, “Mr. Liang, you must be misunderstanding…”
Liang Yuan raised his hand directly, stopping him from continuing, and said, “Forget it. It’s just a Cloud Mist Island; I don’t need this little bit of territory of yours.”
“When Mengya Company makes a comeback and most of you are dead, I can take over this island all the same.”
“Goodbye. You’d better fend for yourselves.”
Liang Yuan couldn’t be bothered to waste more words on this bunch of power-grabbing politicians. He turned around and left.
Seeing this, Zhang Yujiang grew anxious at once.
“Mr. Liang! Mr. Liang!”
He hurriedly chased after him, trying to keep Liang Yuan.
Unfortunately, Liang Yuan’s mind was made up; he didn’t care at all about Zhang Yujiang’s attempt to keep him.
Once outside the door, his figure blurred, the space around him twisted, and he directly used his Space Superpower to teleport away from this place.
Seeing this, Zhang Yujiang frowned, and the anxiety on his face faded quite a bit.
At this moment, Zhang Wenjing and the others also rushed out. When they saw that Liang Yuan had actually left just like that, they all showed looks of shock and anger.
“Dad, he really left?”
“Commander, is he really willing to walk away from our huge Cloud Mist Island?”
“This is a Floating Island. Can he really bear to leave it?”
“Commander, what do we do now?”
Everyone began asking in low voices.
Zhang Yujiang pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling it was a bit tricky as well.
He hadn’t expected Liang Yuan to be so resolute, actually able to treat Cloud Mist Island like it was nothing.
“All I wanted was military power. I’d even give him the Heart Core, and he’s still not satisfied!”
A trace of anger rose in Zhang Yujiang’s heart, but when he thought of Liang Yuan’s terrifying strength, a wave of helplessness surged up again.
Just then, Feng Jiangong walked over, looking at Zhang Yujiang with a somewhat complicated expression. “Commander, if it won’t work otherwise, then use my Brain Core to trade with him.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yujiang immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not. You’re the number one man in our military, our strongest combat force here. Only with you in control of Cloud Mist Island will the troops’ morale stay steady.”
Feng Jiangong sighed and said, “I want to speed up my gene recombination progress. If we drag this out any longer, I’m afraid Mengya Company really will come killing their way here.”
“Commander, I can give up my leadership position in the military high command.”
Zhang Yujiang was slightly taken aback at this and turned to look at Feng Jiangong. “You—Jiangong, don’t act on impulse.”
“Is it leadership we’re after? We just want to be responsible for the soldiers under us, that’s all.”
“Once we’re no longer in these positions, who knows how the people from Yangshan will treat them?”
“What if that Liang guy uses our soldiers as cannon fodder? Can he really keep things fair and treat the people from Yangshan and our soldiers the same?”
“I don’t think so.”
Zhang Yujiang shook his head as he spoke.
Feng Jiangong sighed and said, “Commander, once we hand over military command, these people are no longer our soldiers.”
“Hmph, anyone who’s served under me will always be my soldiers. I have to be responsible for them!” Zhang Yujiang snorted discontentedly.
Feng Jiangong said nothing more. He didn’t want to probe whether Zhang Yujiang really wanted to be responsible for them.
Power is tempting, but Feng Jiangong understood even more clearly that in the apocalypse, with the arrival of Superpower Users, the rules of this world had long since changed.
Power would no longer shift with public opinion. Only those who controlled top-tier Superpower Users could truly grasp power!
This was an era where individual might reigned supreme. The politicians should have left the stage long ago.