Chapter 176: Ten Million Temptation

In Huoshan’s view, Song Xu was a follower who was… too diligent for him.

Being diligent in learning, cultivating, and earning money was all very good. But being diligent in developing followers, managing them, and enhancing Huoshan’s power… that didn’t sit well with Huoshan.

Song Xu’s constant nagging once again echoed in his mind. This was one afternoon, not long after he had converted Song Xu into an evil god’s follower.

The man had earnestly told him: “Master, we cannot continue like this! Times are developing, orthodox gods are progressing, and Kunxu’s oversight and competition will only become fiercer. To avoid being eliminated by this world, internal reform is imperative! First, we must accelerate talent recruitment. We can no longer be so casual; we should actively gather talent information, visit campuses, vigorously compete for talent, conduct face-to-face evaluations, and speed up the entire recruitment process. I also suggest you participate as an observer in all aspects of follower recruitment, attending initial interviews for key followers…”

Diligently developing more followers required spending more time finding suitable candidates, from collecting information to covertly observing, and then actively recruiting. This process consumed far more time and effort than sitting in an office, sifting through resumes, and calling interviewees for quick questions. After all, evil god followers required extremely high secrecy; one could not easily recruit people. Each of Huoshan’s current eight followers had required hundreds of hours of his work to investigate and recruit.

From this alone, Huoshan felt that being a company boss was much better than being an evil god. One could simply offer a position and receive hundreds or thousands of resumes, and those hired would work diligently without any worry of leaks.

And while expanding the number of followers was troublesome, diligently managing them was, in Huoshan’s opinion, even more so.

At this very moment, Song Xu’s nagging once again echoed in Huoshan’s mind.

Song Xu: “This is my analysis of our current team after three months of observation. The main reason for decreased efficiency is information silos. For example, the delivery rider followers don’t submit work manifests or bank statements. The wear and tear on their running shoes don’t match their food delivery platform mileage, and there’s no financial personnel to audit; they simply report whatever they earn. Construction site followers especially lack supervision; we know nothing about their daily working hours, income, or expenses. I suggest that starting next week, every follower submit a 300-word structured daily report by 9 PM, focusing on today’s achievements, tomorrow’s plans, and bank statements. Secondly, there will be a half-hour weekly meeting at 1 AM every Sunday, no PPT, only discussing bottlenecks and resource allocation. We also need to establish an issue escalation channel; any unresolved issue for 12 hours goes directly to me…”

Each time Huoshan listened to the other party speak, he felt a headache coming on. Yet, Song Xu’s actions did indeed earn Huoshan more money, allowing him to move from a basement to his current shabby apartment, enabling online shopping, and even providing more funds for in-game purchases and gacha draws. Thus, with Song Xu pushing and Huoshan reluctantly moving, they had gradually reached this point…

But Huoshan still didn’t want to hunt evil gods. “Why must we always fight and kill? Isn’t it better to eat, drink, and play games every day?”

At this moment, Huoshan preferred to continue playing his unfinished game rather than participate in the work of hunting evil gods.

However, follower Li Quan on the other side exclaimed, “Master, there’s ten million!”

Upon hearing the words “ten million,” Huoshan immediately perked up, quickly jumping to the screen to look at the intelligence transmitted by the Shadow Gu. He scanned it quickly, and in an instant, understood the general situation of the target from the information sent by the Shadow Gu.

“So, it’s an evil god who escaped from Tiantai City.”

“Tomorrow, this guy’s followers in Tiantai City… will bring over the over ten million in cash he hid outside Tiantai City?”

“Let me see the transaction location…”

Huoshan’s eyes gleamed at the news of over ten million in cash. Although he didn’t want to be diligent, as a Kunxu evil god, saying he didn’t love money was impossible. He just didn’t want to earn money through his own hard work. If there was an opportunity to snatch over ten million in one go, he wouldn’t just be interested; he would diligently push his followers.

“Pass this intelligence to Song Xu. Have him take people to the transaction location tomorrow. If there’s a chance… snatch that ten million.”

Inside the apartment.

Zhang Yu returned to reality after two hours of cultivation in the spirit realm. However, after taking off the spirit realm mask, his expression looked a little odd. He recalled his cultivation in the spirit realm today.

In the illusion, he became a security guard at a high-end club, revolting against his boss’s exploitation. He constantly fought thugs while diligently searching for criminal evidence of the club, fighting, fighting, fighting in despair! The boss of that high-end club was Yu Xinghan, who exploited Zhang Yu and also the attractive employees day and night, fighting, fighting, fighting in the club!

After exiting the illusion, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but ask Yu Xinghan in the Q&A Hall, “Does this have any cultivation effects?”

Yu Xinghan smiled and shook his head: “Zhang Yu, castrated as you are, you cannot understand my current state.”

Clearly, while Zhang Yu had introduced Yu Xinghan to Xiong Haohan, he hadn’t informed Yu Xinghan of his physical condition. Yu Xinghan, after experiencing two days of growth, felt a great improvement in his spirit and will. In his current eyes, Zhang Yu, though powerful, was merely a ‘castrated child’ in spiritual attainment. Unlike himself, who had experienced trials and tribulations through puppets and illusions.

“As the saying goes, ‘pass through a field of flowers without a single petal clinging to oneself.’ Only when hobbies and preferences become work can desires be cut off and the true self return. This is my understanding… the essence of overcoming lust. Heh, remember my words; they will certainly benefit you greatly in the future.”

Just then, inside the apartment.

Bai Zhenzhen stopped exercising and asked the awakened Zhang Yu, “How was it, Yu-zi? Did it work?”

Zhang Yu nodded: “Let’s go outside to discuss.”

So Zhang Yu led Bai Zhenzhen to their familiar spot under the bridge, by the small river. Bai Zhenzhen immediately asked eagerly, “What’s the situation now?”

Fu Ji said: “The intelligence has been sent. It jumped through three puppet machines, and I’ve tracked my colleague’s location.”

Bai Zhenzhen said: “So we attack now, taking them by surprise?”

Fu Ji replied: “Although I’ve tracked their location, to avoid alerting them, I didn’t take the opportunity to investigate further. So, how many followers my colleague has, or their strength, is still unknown. But there’s no need to rush. I’ve sent false intelligence; it should lure away their main force tomorrow. Then we’ll proceed with our plan to gather intelligence…”

Zhang Yu nervously asked: “They won’t find out, will they?”

Fu Ji chuckled: “Your sister said something wise: information is very important in this world. Information asymmetry is sometimes even more crucial than a difference in power. Just like using the Shadow Gu to counter-track them this time—they are exposed while we are hidden. Utilizing this information asymmetry, we can stand in an invincible position.”

The next night.

A container truck was driving towards the suburbs. Inside the truck, besides Song Xu, were five other Qi Refining Peak evil god followers, all strong and energetic, exuding the robust aura of the delivery, construction, and courier industries.

A thin, agile-looking follower said, “When we see them, we’ll just ram them with the truck and see if we can run one over immediately.”

Another dark-skinned, heavily built man with a scarred face said, “Although the location is in the suburbs and there’s not much surveillance, don’t forget to set up a shielding ritual first to avoid being discovered by orthodox god’s lackeys.”

Yet another person said, “Although they are also evil god followers and probably won’t call the police, we still need to act fast to prevent them from acting out of desperation.”

Meanwhile, Song Xu sat in the passenger seat, eyes closed, resting, listening to the other followers chat without speaking. His mind was still replaying the evil god intelligence received yesterday.

“Ten million?”

When he first heard the number, Song Xu’s heart leaped, and strong greed arose within him. After all, in the Kunxu world, money equaled potential, future, and wings on the path to immortality, helping one advance diligently and break through social strata. For these ten million, Song Xu even had a fleeting thought: “Should I ask Mo Tianyi and his group for help?” But he eventually suppressed the urge. The Poor Man’s Alliance were not evil god followers; it was a force he built himself, truly his people, and the money they earned went to his personal coffers. He didn’t want to easily expose them to evil gods.

And that ten million…

“Even if we snatch this ten million, Huoshan will definitely take the lion’s share. With so much money, this lazy good-for-nothing will certainly be even less inclined to work hard.” Song Xu seemed to already see Huoshan completely lying flat and indulging in pleasure after saving the money and living off interest. Knowing Huoshan, he absolutely would do something like that.

“Then this guy will definitely be even less willing to help me hunt evil gods. Besides, we don’t even know where the other evil god is right now. Once we touch this ten million, it will certainly alert the other party, and hunting the evil god will probably become difficult.”

Although greed surged when he heard about the ten million, Song Xu quickly restrained himself after careful thought. After all, the ten million wouldn’t be his if he snatched it, and snatching it would instead hinder his plan to hunt evil gods and boost his potential. Just as he had endured pain and waited for the opportunity to finally sell his grandfather’s grave. Song Xu felt that this was not a good opportunity to snatch the ten million, especially since he wanted to hunt evil gods and unleash his potential more than he wanted the ten million.

He lightly tapped his fingers, stroking the palm-sized civilian-grade flying sword in his hand, thinking: “I’ll use the flying sword to scout the situation first. If there’s no opportunity, then forget it.”