Chapter 172 : Chapter 172
Chapter 172: The Meritorious Contributor Returned to Pearl Military District?
Linyuan City, the Lu Family Villa.
A meeting of part of the Lu Family’s core members was underway.
BANG!
Lu Dinghan, the Lu Family’s current second-generation successor, slammed his hand down on the table.
Then he threw the phone in his hand, which had been replaying the video over and over, onto the tabletop!
Every member of the Lu Family shuddered.
Especially Lu Xiao, who was standing in the middle of the room!
“Kneel!”
The Man with Glasses barked coldly and kicked the back of his son’s knee.
Lu Xiao let out a miserable cry and dropped to his knees in the center of the room.
The Man with Glasses hurriedly pleaded with Lu Dinghan.
“Elder Brother! I failed to discipline Lu Xiao properly. This matter is entirely my fault!”
Lu Dinghan snorted coldly.
“So you do know it is your fault!?”
“Then tell me, how should we handle this now?”
This time, the Lu Family had originally planned to use the Spiritual Liquid to squeeze the Wanren Military District.
They had publicized the matter with great fanfare, but they had never expected to end up making the wedding dress for Zhang Group for free!
If not for the announcement that had pushed the Lu Family onto the trending searches and drawn the attention of every Martial Artist to High-Grade Spiritual Liquid, Zhang Group’s High-Grade Spiritual Liquid would still have needed time to spread.
However, with the favorable wind created by the Lu Family’s publicity, it had simply become a prairie fire!
The phone he had just thrown down was showing news reports from various media outlets, covering the scene at Fortress Pharmacy City from every angle.
It could be called an unprecedented spectacle!
In just over three hours, Zhang Group’s High-Grade Spiritual Liquid had already exploded in popularity throughout the Martial Artist circles of Linyuan City!
And its reputation had soared beyond measure.
If it were merely good, then so be it.
The Lu Family would not have necessarily lost the market.
Unfortunately, what had fermented alongside this incident was precisely the scene outside the Lu Pharmacy!
Lu Xiao had personally gone there to supervise the start of sales. That was the task the Man with Glasses had entrusted to his son.
No one had expected Lu Xiao to lust after women and amuse himself to his heart’s content before the sale began.
As a result, the sale had still not started twenty minutes after the announced time!
On top of that, those two female clerks had angrily snapped at the customers to “wait!”
Even the scene of every person outside the entrance running off, followed by Lu Xiao walking out of the room with a cheerful smile, had been clearly recorded and uploaded online!
Titles such as 【Lu Spiritual Liquid Acts High and Mighty: Are Customers Kings or Suckers?】
And 【Without Comparison, There Is No Harm! Zhang Spiritual Liquid Shows Value for Money, While Lu’s Quality and Character Are Utterly Defeated!】
quickly developed into organic trending topics.
The number of discussions surged rapidly.
Under such a comparison, spending six hundred and fifty thousand to abase oneself by buying the Lu Family’s Spiritual Liquid seemed to make someone a complete idiot.
After all, Zhang Spiritual Liquid had sold ten thousand bottles in one noon.
Zhang Group had urgently replenished another two thousand bottles.
They had also told everyone not to be anxious, and that there would be a second batch in a few days!
So as long as people had money on hand, they were all waiting for the second batch.
There was no way they would buy from the Lu Family again.
Even this quantity had only been released because Zhang Zhiwei had not dared to take everything out at once.
If he brought out too much in one go, it would inevitably be far too shocking, and it would also easily reduce the sense of scarcity surrounding High-Grade Spiritual Liquid.
He needed to give the market a process of acceptance.
According to incomplete statistics, Zhang Spiritual Liquid had distributed over forty-three thousand one-milliliter sample packs!
Their total value exceeded one hundred million!
A single promotional campaign was equivalent to spending one hundred million in advertising fees!
With such a huge move, along with an extremely high value-for-money ratio, it was not strange at all that Zhang Spiritual Liquid had exploded in popularity.
“I have already used every method to handle the public relations on this matter...”
Before the Man with Glasses could finish speaking, Lu Dinghan interrupted him again.
“Can it still be suppressed!?”
The Man with Glasses was so frightened that he did not dare speak.
At the side, the Lu Family’s second brother stepped forward.
“Elder Brother, scolding him now is already useless. The most important thing right now is to figure out what exactly is going on with Zhang Spiritual Liquid!”
Someone chimed in.
“Exactly! Its quality is actually higher than our Spiritual Liquid. How can they have such a large quantity?”
“And the price is even lower than ours. This is obviously aimed straight at us!”
As they spoke, a young man hurriedly jogged in.
He spoke directly to the eldest and second brothers of the Lu Family. “Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, we have found out!”
“Speak!”
Lu Dinghan immediately waved his hand.
The young man reported, “It is Zhang Group, the Military-Industrial Enterprise from Ironhand City. They just registered a pharmaceutical company here two days ago.”
“The young master of Zhang Group is a close friend of that Li Mu.”
Lu Dinghan suddenly stood up.
“Zhang Group from Ironhand City? They can suddenly produce such a terrifying quantity of High-Grade Spiritual Liquid?”
Everyone in the Lu Family was also thinking about this question.
As a spiritual medicine family, the Lu Family’s annual production could now barely reach six thousand bottles!
Zhang Group had sold twelve thousand bottles in a single day! That was twice their annual output!
High-Grade Spiritual Liquid was about to become as common as cabbage!
If Zhang Group could truly produce another batch in a few days, just as they had said, then the Lu Family really might as well stop working altogether.
How exactly had they done it? Could Zhang Group be a terrifying family whose foundation was hundreds or even thousands of times deeper than theirs?
Were they kidding?
“They only moved in two days ago, yet they could pass layer after layer of approval and enter Fortress Pharmacy City in such a short time?”
“Li Mu is absolutely involved in this, along with that damned Wanren Military District!”
The second brother of the Lu Family said in a low voice.
“Second Brother, you will be responsible for finding out exactly how Zhang Group’s medicine was produced!”
“With such an enormous quantity, they absolutely must have some extremely special method.”
“It might be some kind of special Secret Art, Mystic Realm, or something of that nature!”
When Lu Dinghan said this, his eyes turned sinister.
“If they truly have such a method, then we can only try courtesy before force!”
“Linyuan City is our territory, after all. We should first find them and discuss cooperation.”
“If cooperation is impossible, then they cannot blame us for being impolite...”
The Lu Family’s second brother nodded.
Going to the other side to discuss cooperation sounded rather unreasonable.
The other party possessed such resources, and as soon as they made their move, they had directly confronted the Lu Family. Their hostile attitude was already obvious.
How could they possibly accept any cooperation negotiations?
However, the Lu Family could not skip this step, because they did not know whether Zhang Group had some other idea.
What if Zhang Group was also barely holding on, and was doing this precisely to gain the upper hand in negotiations with the Lu Family?
No matter how low the probability was, the Lu Family had to give it a try.
And if Zhang Group was unwilling to cooperate, then the Lu Family had to obtain this rapid pharmaceutical production method at all costs!
Even if they could not obtain it, they had to find a way to destroy it!
Otherwise, the Lu Family would soon be eliminated.
With High-Grade Spiritual Liquid causing such a sensation, news of it naturally reached the Wanren Military District very quickly as well.
The Quartermaster Department was likewise extremely lively for quite a while.
The five thousand portions of High-Grade Spiritual Liquid were almost immediately snapped up, and the soldiers’ satisfaction reached an unprecedented high.
“Hey! Did you manage to get any?”
“Do not even mention it! I came back late from a mission. I missed it by just a few dozen people!”
“Hahaha, I got one! The quality really is high. One bottle pushed me straight to the peak of the Fifth Grade!”
“Unlucky bastard. Stay away from me!”
“Look at how little ambition you have. There is still more coming! Zhang Group has already said that another batch will be available outside in a few days.”
“If there is stock outside, could the Military District possibly not have any? Do you know that before the sale opened outside, Zhang Group sent a batch to the Military District first?”
“I heard the next batch will be even larger.”
“Really? Where did Zhang Group come from? Are they very familiar with the Military District?”
“Use that pig brain of yours. Who is the most impressive new officer who recently arrived at the Military District?”
“Tiger Marquis Li?”
“Exactly! As for what exactly happened, I do not know, but according to the brothers at the Quartermaster Department, Tiger Marquis Li said one sentence, and Zhang Group immediately sent a batch to the Military District first!”
“And with how cheap it is, Lu Spiritual Liquid used to cost one thousand eight hundred Contribution Points per bottle. Now it is only one thousand points! Do you understand what that means?”
“Tsk. This is bad. I am a little afraid that Tiger Marquis Li might run off to another Military District now...”
Li Mu’s name once again spread through the mouths of the Quartermaster Department and throughout the grassroots ranks of the Wanren Military District.
In the high-level conference room of the Wanren Military District, the leaders of every department had gathered together. Commander-in-Chief Hong Liangpeng sat in the seat of honor with a ruddy, beaming face, while Deputy Commander-in-Chief An Xing sat in the second seat.
As soon as the meeting began, Hong Liangpeng chuckled and started joking.
“Just now, Old Chu from next door came to me and asked whether we could spare a little High-Grade Spiritual Liquid for them.”
“Hahaha, I told him we do not even have enough to divide among ourselves.”
Whenever Hong Liangpeng held a meeting, the atmosphere was always relaxed, and everyone smiled knowingly.
Old Chu was Chu Ying, the Commander-in-Chief of the neighboring Red Horse Military District.
Their Military District controlled quite a few very decent resource points, and their days were far better than those of the Wanren Military District.
The fact that they were envious of the Wanren Military District’s Spiritual Liquid was truly because it had become far too popular.
An Xing sighed softly.
This Hong Liangpeng was not actually some utterly evil leader.
On the contrary, Hong Liangpeng lacked authority but had more than enough approachability. He was usually very warm toward his subordinates.
Occasionally, he even liked to joke around.
To put it nicely, this was called “uniting his subordinates and being skilled at maintaining a good situation.”
To put it less nicely, it meant he could not leave his comfort zone.
His mistake lay precisely in the fact that he had also tried to maintain a good situation with those families. That was why the Wanren Military District had gradually been squeezed into its current state.
They had mentioned it to Hong Liangpeng many times as well, but the results had been limited.
Because with the current situation, without evidence to hold over someone, they could not casually deal with some family as they pleased.
The Abyss-Suppressing Army also could not simply attack whomever it wanted without reason!
Nor could it seize anyone’s resources just because it wished to.
This was an extremely subtle game of strategy, and it was difficult for anyone without great boldness to break the deadlock.
Everyone laughed along for a few moments.
Military Supply Minister Tu Jian was the first to echo him. “That is right. Zhang Group’s Spiritual Liquid has solved our urgent need.”
“This is still thanks to Tiger Marquis Li.”
These Military District leaders basically all knew about the relationship between Li Mu and Zhang Group.
It was not difficult for Tu Jian to guess that Li Mu was merely using Zhang Group as an outer shell, while Li Mu himself was the one actually in control.
However, they could not dig too deeply into it, nor was there any need to dig too deeply. Everyone had to play dumb about this kind of matter.
Hong Liangpeng then smiled and asked An Xing, “Where is our great contributor, Tiger Marquis Li, now?”
An Xing replied casually, “Oh, Tiger Marquis Li returned to Pearl Military District.”
A single sentence instantly plunged the entire conference room into absolute silence.
Hong Liangpeng froze. “Returned to Pearl Military District? What do you mean?”
An Xing gave a dry laugh. “Well, I am not too clear about that either. In any case, Tiger Marquis Li did ask me about arranging a position.”
“He said he wanted to try the post of Head Instructor.”
“I said that would have to be decided by you, Commander-in-Chief, and that he might need to compete for the position.”
“Who would have thought that as soon as Tiger Marquis Li heard he needed to compete for it, he felt it was too troublesome and left?”
“After that, he called me and said he had gone back to Pearl Military District for now. I am very anxious right now too. If Tiger Marquis Li does not come back, that would be troublesome...”
At the end, An Xing shook his head with a sorrowful expression.
If Li Mu had been there, he probably would have given An Xing a thumbs-up.
Li Mu had indeed called him, but what he had said was that he was returning to Ironhand City to visit his mother, and would stop by Pearl Military District to deliver some things along the way.
He would be back in a day or two...