Chapter 581 – If There’s No Precedent, Create One

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became very tense, and the two men stared at each other in silence for a while.

Mu Chen’s mind was in turmoil. If he had known from the start that this man was Ling Mo, he might have taken some extreme actions, such as… starting a fight.

Ling Mo’s position in Mu Chen’s mind was quite dangerous. Killing an insignificant Level 9 member like Jianqi didn’t mean much to Mu Chen.

But being able to injure No.0 was a different story altogether.

The existence of No.0 was crucial for the normal operation of the Niepan branch. If something happened to No.0, the entire branch could face paralysis.

Although they had prepared some contingency plans, those were only for emergencies.

No.0 was extremely special. The amount of effort and resources dedicated to nurturing it was almost incalculable.

Ling Mo was the first mental ability superhuman capable of threatening No.0. Mu Chen hoped to extinguish this threat before it fully ignited.

But now, Mu Chen’s thoughts conflicted with his initial plans…

Although he found Ling Mo very annoying, Mu Chen had to admit that after spending some time together, he realized it wasn’t necessary to fight to the death.

Interest—the key element was still interest.

Where exactly was the balance point of their interests?

Mu Chen was completely at a loss; he didn’t know what Ling Mo wanted.

“Damn it! It’s all because the enemy is too cunning!” Mu Chen roared in his mind.

Before departure, Ai Feng had instructed him to act according to the situation, but now…

Mu Chen glanced at Ye Lian and the three girls who were staring at him and smiled bitterly to himself, “This isn’t seizing an opportunity; it’s being forced into a corner…”

“Was it you who killed Jianqi?” Mu Chen organized his thoughts and broke the silence, asking.

“It was me.” Ling Mo nodded.

“And it was you who injured our people?” Mu Chen asked again.

This time, he was clearly referring to No.0, and as soon as he mentioned it, Ling Mo couldn’t help but think of the baby crying he had once heard.

“It turns out it can be considered ‘human’…” Ling Mo mused.

“No kidding! Of course, it’s human!” Mu Chen retorted angrily, but after a two-second pause, he uncertainly added another word, “Mostly…”

“Oh…” Ling Mo dragged out the syllable, then curiously asked, “Which part is not?”

“Of course…” Mu Chen started to answer but suddenly closed his mouth, glaring angrily at Ling Mo, “Stop trying to trick me into talking!”

“Tsk…”

“Tsk what! You really think I’m stupid?”

Mu Chen stared at Ling Mo with a complex expression for quite a while, then suddenly let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples with both hands.

He was genuinely troubled now, especially considering how Ling Mo seemed to lead him by the nose in every way possible: “How much do you know about Niepan?”

“Not much, but enough,” Ling Mo said with a calm demeanor.

“Damn it…” Mu Chen felt a bit powerless. This man’s straightforwardness was so brutal, even his threats…

At least Mu Chen could be sure of one thing—Ling Mo hadn’t taken them down immediately, which indicated that they, or rather the Niepan behind them, had some sort of value to Ling Mo.

But what exactly was the value, and to what extent could it sway Ling Mo?

Resources? Information?

No… He had the F Team and the Falcon Second Camp. As a survivor, that was already sufficient for his survival.

So, what exactly did he see in Niepan?

Mu Chen glanced at Ling Mo twice, suddenly revealing a look of realization and quickly moved his seat further back.

“What are you doing?” Ling Mo sharply noticed the detail.

“You’re not thinking… of forcing me to stay by your side to work for you, are you? Let me be clear, even though I’m from Niepan, I’m not chained to it. I won’t sacrifice myself,” Mu Chen warned seriously, “You better forget about it…”

“Who’s interested in you…” This time, it was Ling Mo who was speechless. Mu Chen’s imagination was indeed wild!

Having Mu Chen work for him was only a temporary measure. Now that the Miracle Squad was taking shape, Mu Chen wasn’t of much use anymore. Otherwise, Ling Mo wouldn’t have chosen this moment to lay his cards on the table.

Upon hearing that Ling Mo wasn’t interested in him, Mu Chen immediately let out a sigh of relief. His eyes darted around, and he suddenly spoke enthusiastically, “Actually, Xia Zhi is pretty good… Xu Shuhan is also decent. Don’t be fooled by their appearances; they’re really good at training people… How about it? Buy one, get one free, think about it?”

After rattling off a few lines, he saw Ling Mo remain silent, leaving him no choice but to sigh in resignation, “How about… you join Niepan?”

This was what Ai Feng meant by acting accordingly—either eliminate him or draw him in; both methods would remove the threat.

This approach was what set Niepan apart from other organizations: as long as the person killed wasn’t a core member, former enemies could become allies.

Of course, this was due to their unique operational style. In places like Falcon Camp or the F Team, such things would never happen.

The more concentrated the personnel, the more considerations were required. If someone killed a team member today and joined the team tomorrow, no one could accept that.

But Niepan could do it; their people were scattered everywhere. Aside from the senior executives, who even knew who Jianqi was?

However, proposing to draw him in under these circumstances left Mu Chen feeling quite helpless.

“Keep talking,” Ling Mo said, crossing his arms.

“Talk about what?” Mu Chen was momentarily puzzled.

“Recruitment needs an introduction, right? You’re inviting me; aren’t you going to introduce the company’s background?” Ling Mo looked at Mu Chen with an expression that implied he thought Mu Chen was an idiot.

“Damn it!”

Mu Chen was furious. So many people wanted to get into Niepan, and he didn’t even consider them. Yet now, as a senior executive personally extending an invitation, this guy still wanted a company background introduction!

It was likely the introduction was a pretext, and Ling Mo was really trying to fish for information!

What made Mu Chen even more conflicted was that, although he knew exactly what kind of trick Ling Mo was pulling, given the current situation, he had no choice but to go along with what Ling Mo demanded.

“Alright… I’ll give you an introduction…” Mu Chen was thoroughly defeated.

The next morning, when Xu Shuhan and Xia Zhi were brought to Ling Mo’s room by members of the Miracle Squad, Mu Chen’s gloomy mood finally lifted.

Seeing his companions’ shocked reactions twice in a row… even the usually stoic Xia Zhi twitched an eye.

Watching his companions get fazed made Mu Chen feel a lot more balanced…

Indeed, just like him, they never imagined that this greedy bastard would actually be Ling Mo!

But this shock was only the beginning…

When Mu Chen relayed Ling Mo’s conditions to his two companions, their facial expressions mirrored his reaction when he first heard them.

Speechless…

Draw him in? Ling Mo decisively rejected that.

Kill him? They were now sitting ducks, with no means to take him out.

So under these circumstances, Ling Mo proposed something completely outside their scope of consideration—Plan C…

Collaboration!

Niepan could refer to how Falcon Camp collaborated with superhumans and establish a mutually beneficial and equal relationship with Ling Mo.

“There’s no precedent for this…” Xu Shuhan frowned.

Mu Chen just chuckled bitterly, “Tell me about it…”

“…” Xia Zhi nodded silently.

“There can always be a first,” Ling Mo said calmly from the other end of the table. “We can create one, can’t we?”

Mu Chen glanced at Xu Shuhan and Xia Zhi, clenched his teeth, and asked, “Be more specific.”

…

The Miracle Squad was now an exceptionally unique existence within the F Team.

Among the four members, excluding Ye Kai, they were once seen as worthless by others.

But now, even Skinny Monkey dared to walk with his head held high. Sometimes, when he encountered F Team members during his stroll, they would politely greet him.

This made Skinny Monkey quickly fall in love with the activity of “strolling.” He even stopped resenting the grueling daily practices that once wore him out.

If he could always carry himself with such confidence, what was a bit of suffering?

Zhang Xincheng, on the other hand, remained as he always was, burying himself in the training room every day, and leaving just as quietly.

Ye Kai and Gu Shuangshuang, however, would seek out Ling Mo whenever they had free time…

Gu Shuangshuang sought Ling Mo to discuss matters related to mental abilities, while Ye Kai? After a period of training, he had become obsessed with constantly challenging Ling Mo…