Chen Dong

The was a resounding silence in the room when Jiang Hao got there.

It was as if his being there was sacrilegious and there was a feeling of awkwardness wanting to sprout in his heart.

Kill it without hesitation.

Who were these people trying to scare? Using aura to suppress him the moment he came in.

That momentum was really something. If it were him before the system, he might have been so frightened by this gathering.

"Is it fun to play with a young'un like me?"

"What? Play? Mr. Jiang must be joking. My name is Chen Dong. I am the first executive of Magic City Defense Base."

Jiang Hao did not answer.

He would not be polite to these self-important guys just because. Turning around, he decided to leave first.

Since they wanted to scare him away, let him get scared away then.

"Mr. Jiang, it was my mistake just now, don't lower yourself to my level hahaha."

Chen Dong said one thing but he also signaled to the guard at the door who came forward to block Jiang Hao's way.

Rude, shameless, uncivilized, crude, eh… just straight-up disrespectful.

Jiang Hao thought a lot of things in a very short time.

Logically speaking, such things should not be happening. The government should be in a lower position in their dealings and at his mercy.

He had the power and the backing of Ouroboros.

What gave a small first executive the courage to do such things? Did these people not care about the consequences?

But thinking about it again also made him realize that he might have thought too simply.

The government was not like Ouroboros which was completely controlled by AIs.

The government is a very big organization run by people.

It was inevitable to have some disagreements here and there. Worse, there'd be some bad eggs like Chen Dong.

This guy's background is impressive.

His great-grandfather and his grandfather before him were all great contributors to the previous two wars.

The military merits they had immersed from simple organization and command of logistics were insane.

Simply building roads to take medicine and food to the battlefield was enough to make Chen's giants in pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

One would think that business and military would contradict, but no, this family was quite clever.

They looked for brilliant girls and trained them since young.

These girls would be responsible for the farming and their daughters would be in charge of the business.

The sons, just join the military for a time first and get a good position thanks to the compounded merits and status.

It was not too late to go back home and inherit some money after serving for a while.

Being born into such a family, it was no wonder Chen Dong did not take him seriously.

It might be even more correct to assume that he would not give Jiang Hao a good face.

The amount of money they could make from pharmacology should have taken a considerable hit after Study Aide made everything public.

Just the R&D would cost billions of yuan.

Then there was the whole business of secrecy. Now that their formulae were out there, there was intense competition.

Other companies were taking advantage of the slow response of the government to changes in the intellectual property regulations adjustment to make money. This is not a good thing.

Well, the Chens were also taking advantage of it, but who remembers the positives?

There was also the issue of price. They could no longer make supernormal profits.

In this era of information and AI, it was easy to calculate the production cost and see who was doing what.

Add Future News to that, and we have a very bad economic system for monopolistic strategies that the giants would employ.

Jiang Hao thought about many other things, but his face was always neutral.

Since it was blocked, he went back and sat down obediently.

He could kick the door and show his presence, but what then?

He could release Jindou and show his means, but then what?

Just sit down quietly. I stare at you, you stare at me. Whoever speaks first is the loser.

That, however, did not mean that Jiang Hao did not retaliate.

He was not some soft persimmon.

Even if Chen Dong acted alone, there was a clear hierarchy of responsibility and authority.

Mia was busy working on all levels to vent his anger for him.

Headline after headline appeared on all news platforms all over the country.

All negative.

Jiang Hao looked at the other people in the room.

One of them was the Mayor of Magic City who was silent from the beginning, Zhang Renhao.

The other was the director of strategic security. Simply, one of An Ning's bosses in Magic City.

He was also the one responsible for the security of the building. His name is Cao Lintao.

Jiang Hao went through their information in his head as he gave Mia one or two commands.

There should be more people more anxious than him.

…

Zhang Renhao looked at Cao Lintao and found that the latter was also looking at him.

There was a worry in their eyes, but they did not say much.

First, they were also helpless.

Zhang Renhao was just a mayor. No matter how big and powerful Magic City was, there were things that he could not do.

Chen Dong alone could make his seat more uncomfortable than it already is. If his behavior was the Chen family's response, then it would be more uncomfortable.

The only thing that made things difficult was that Chen Dong was arrogant and willful from the start. It was difficult to judge whether this was his whimsical behavior, or it was guided by the family behind.

So he remained silent. But that does not seem to be a good move either. He could only pray that Jiang Hao was more accommodating.

Cao Lintao on the other hand was having completely different thoughts.

The Cao family was not afraid of the Chen family, but it was not a fight he could want. It was a war against 1000 with 800 casualties. Not worth it.

There was also his work. The agents under him and the superiors above him were in one way or another linked to the military. Cao Lintao did not want to deal with the mess.

Even if the were no internal conflicts, it was easy for the military to make their operations very difficult.

There was also Jiang Hao as a person. Cao Lintao wanted to see how he'd deal with this.

This guy was too active when it came to cooperating with the government. It made people feel uneasy.

It would be good to get a glimpse of his methods.

Jiang Hao did not know what they were thinking.

Even if he knew, chances are that his response would be more thunderous, but whatever.

He studied the three of them with an expressionless face, waiting to see what they wanted with him.

He was initially quite excited to talk to someone in a higher position, but the disappointment was quite great.

The position was quite high, but it seems like the brains were not there yet.

What made him feel even more was that he had previously thought that such 'powerful' people would get to their positions through qualification and ability. But it seems like the military worked quite differently.

Mayor Zhang was also someone who got to his place by trading favors here and there.

It was still okay to do this, but why on earth would such a big person behave like a grandson to someone else?

His position was too important to behave like this.

What if he was asked to do something against the interests of the populace, wouldn't he suffer?

Jiang Hao did not have a good impression.

As for Cao Lintao… let him just watch a show.

"Mr. Jiang, we at the Magic City Military Base would like to thank you for opening this base. It will contribute heavily to the development of military technology and warfare.

The military is ready to take over the security and confidentiality measures pertaining to this institute for the foreseeable future. Does Mr. Jiang have an opinion?"

Silence.

The room fell into another long silence.

Jiang Hao just stared at the fellows before standing to leave.

"You can do whatever you want."