Chapter 441: Feud of a Father's Murder
With the backing of the other Hidden Clans, no one dared to resist.
As each person's crimes were announced, they would receive punishments to match.
For those who had committed too many vile acts, Xiao Ye had them taken away and handed over to the police.
Upon seeing this, the others were all terrified.
They absolutely did not want to go to the police station, let alone prison!
"Patriarch Xiao, we were wrong! We promise we'll never do anything like this again!"
Xiao Ye went a little easier on those who weren't members of the Angel Association, but he still made them pay a price.
As for the members of the Angel Association, there was only one path for them: severe punishment.
'As a son, I must avenge my father!'
'A feud born from a father's murder is irreconcilable!'
Midnight.
The banquet finally ended.
Many had arrived in all their glitz and glamour, but they left completely dejected.
What Xiao Ye had done today was certain to send massive shockwaves through the Imperial City.
「Early the next morning.」
Xiao Ye immediately asked his subordinate, "What's the situation now?"
The subordinate was also surprised. "Everything is calm. Almost no news has gotten out. Patriarch, they must be truly terrified of you."
"Not necessarily. This might just be the calm before the storm."
The words had barely left his mouth when the phone rang.
Seeing the call was from Country A, he smirked. "What did I tell you? The storm is about to arrive."
'But it's not a storm brought by the Angel Association. It's the storm I'm about to unleash on them!'
"Hello."
"Xiao Ye, what the hell happened yesterday?"
Xiao Ye feigned surprise. "What do you mean, 'what happened'? I was handling my own affairs in the Dragon Country. What business is it of yours!"
"But many of those people are members of the Angel Association! Don't you investigate before you make a move?"
Xiao Ye chuckled. "Investigate? How am I supposed to do that? Are members of the Angel Association really that easy to look up?"
At this, the man on the other end of the line fell silent.
'That's right,' the man thought. 'The Angel Association members in the Dragon Country are different from those elsewhere. They have to stay hidden, and hidden very well.'
'Otherwise, if they're discovered, the consequences are far more severe than in other countries. They could even face prison time.'
Xiao Ye pressed on, "I'm right, aren't I? So don't come running to me every time there's trouble. I'm not so powerful that I can do anything and everything."
"It's not good for you to always be focused on me. You might just let the real culprit get away. Don't you agree?"
His words did indeed sound very reasonable.
Besides, no matter how capable Xiao Ye was, it was impossible for him to have conducted such a thorough investigation.
What he didn't know was that the entire Dragon Country was already Xiao Ye's greatest backer.
Investigating these members of the Angel Association wasn't a difficult task at all.
Not to mention, he also had the immense financial and human resources of the Xiao Family to support him.
With those two forces combined, no darkness could hope to remain hidden!
The person on the other end was silent for a moment. "Xiao Ye, this had better not be your doing. You've moved against the Angel Association time and time again. No matter how useful you are, we won't let you off the hook."
"Don't worry, I'm a loyal member of the Angel Association."
The call ended, and the smile on Xiao Ye's face vanished instantly.
He put down his phone. 'Just in case,' he thought, 'I need to find an enemy for the Angel Association.'
'The kind of enemy I can pin everything on.'
This was no child's play. He had to be absolutely certain about his choice of candidate.
Otherwise, there would be too many holes in the story, and the lie would fall apart at the first sign of investigation.
When doing this sort of thing, it was best to do it as little as possible.
Because the more you did it, the more clues you were bound to leave behind.
As the saying goes: the only way to keep something secret is to not have done it in the first place.
Xiao Ye racked his brain but couldn't think of a single suitable candidate.
He looked at the computer in front of him. The screen was cycling through wallpapers, and the current image was of a man in sunglasses.
It was from a very famous foreign film. The protagonist wasn't human but an android, his body constructed from machinery, possessing formidable strength.
Suddenly, Xiao Ye smiled. An idea had come to him.
'If I can't find an enemy, why not create one myself?'
Creating a real person out of thin air would be difficult, but creating a fake persona that never had to appear in public? Nothing could be simpler.
He quickly found his most trusted subordinates and laid out his plan.
"Starting today, there's a new person in this world. He has no name, only a codename: L."
"Your job is to use false identities to create several social media accounts, all under the name L."
"Your first task is to start publishing articles online under his name. The content is simple: expose the activities of the Angel Association."
"I recall a member of the Angel Association who killed several people. Let's say one of the victims was L's older brother."
"Don't let too many people see the articles at first. Start today, and post one every day. Set up accounts on other social media platforms as well. I need some of these accounts to look like they've been around for years, understand?"
The Xiao Family owned a tech company whose messaging app was famous throughout the country and boasted the largest user base.
Making an account look like it was a few years old was a trivially simple matter.
However, a newly faked old account might be spotted. It was better to just use a few genuine, existing ones.
Because Xiao Ye was planning something big, the preparations took the better part of a month.
By then, summer had arrived in the Imperial City.
With the arrival of summer, the streets grew much more lively.
The streets were filled with men and women, and people had already begun to dress for the summer heat.
Xiao Ye drove to the office.
As soon as he walked in the door, the new manager of the public relations department came to greet him. She was a woman in her thirties.
Don't let her age fool you. She was a journalism graduate from a prestigious university and had been managing PR accounts since her college days. She was incredibly skilled.
"President Xiao, here is the data you requested. I've already compiled it."
There were quite a few posts about the Angel Association online, but because they were all just generic rumors and very few people were interested in the topic, they never got much traffic.
"I want you to lead a small, dedicated team—all people I trust—to focus exclusively on news related to the Angel Association."
"However, you'll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. And for the foreseeable future, you won't be able to leave a designated location or have unauthorized contact with the outside world. Have you made up your mind?"
"I have." The woman smiled faintly. "This is my opportunity. If I do this well, it'll be like getting a golden ticket for my career. Of course I'll do it."
"Besides, I'm not married and have no children. My family all live out of town, so there's no one I need to take care of. President Xiao, you can leave it all to me."
Xiao Ye nodded and entrusted the matter to her.
By now, the preliminary work was more or less complete.
Since no one was reading the articles "L" wrote, he decided to take a different approach and chose another path.