Chapter 976: The Situation in Nagoya |
While Zhang Jingxu was on a call with the China Dao Sect, Yin En took over the phone to chat with Liu Xing.
The conversation was straightforward—Yin En was venting about the group of so-called teammates they encountered in Nagoya.
Currently, members from other factions hadn't arrived in Nagoya yet, so only Yin En and the others attended the meeting held this afternoon—the Nagoya Strategy Conference 1.0.
According to Yin En, the members of Nagoya's Warrior Faction had already split into two factions—the Local Faction, initially dispatched to Nagoya, and the Airborne Faction, which includes Yin En and others.
Clearly, there would be conflicts between the Local Faction and the Airborne Faction because the Local Faction wouldn't want the Airborne Faction to take a share of their gains. Moreover, at this point, although the Local Faction hadn't gained a significant advantage, they also hadn't encountered any disadvantages.
In simple terms, the Local Faction believed they could win, while the Airborne Faction arrived in Nagoya at this time to claim credit... Although the leaders of the Local Faction also largely came from the top ten powers of the Warrior Faction, they were also vying for power internally, making the situation even more tense.
However, the most troublesome thing was that Yin En and the others arrived a bit "early."
Because the Nagoya metropolitan area was quite large, the Local Factions had opted for a household responsibility system, with each person responsible for an area. Therefore, gathering everyone for a meeting was quite troublesome. But to prepare for the incoming Airborne Faction, the Local Factions still took the time this afternoon to hold the Nagoya Strategy Conference 1.0... In reality, the main purpose of this conference was to form alliances, ensuring that the Airborne Faction wouldn't take away too much benefit.
But things didn't go as planned. They had heard that the Airborne Faction might not arrive until tomorrow, so they organized this meeting. However, they didn't expect Yin En and the others to break the rules and arrive in Nagoya ahead of schedule.
Thus, this Nagoya Strategy Conference 1.0 had to end hastily, with essentially nothing being discussed.
"Just as expected, the Warrior Faction is still not united... No, it's impossible to be united; after all, everyone is gathered together for their own利益 (benefits)," Liu Xing said with a smile. "But you should have a clear understanding of the current situation in Nagoya, right?"
Yin En also smiled and said, "Currently, the situation in Nagoya is actually quite bizarre. It's not the polar opposition we initially thought, but more like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
Liu Xing raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised, and said, "What? How can it be the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? What forces can stand on equal footing with the Public Faction and the Warrior Faction in the Island Nation? The United States of America shouldn't be able to reach deep into the Island Nation, right?"
Liu Xing thought carefully, unable to figure out who the third-party force in Nagoya would be because all the notable families in the Island Nation had already joined either the Warrior Faction or the Public Faction.
"You guessed wrong, Liu Xing. This third-party faction is indeed related to the United States of America, more specifically, related to Mutou Masayoshi," Yin En said seriously. "Mutou Masayoshi joined the Ryuzaki family through marriage, and the Ryuzaki family is actually a branch of the Toki Family."
Toki Family?
Regarding the Toki Family, Liu Xing only remembered that this family was descendants of the Minamoto Clan, among the most noble families in the Island Nation. They were once prominent... Unfortunately, during the Warring States period, their fortunes declined suddenly, their territories were seized, and they were driven to the current Nagoya area, with the Oda Family avoiding the storm.
Fortunately, the Island Nation has always valued bloodlines highly; otherwise, the Toki Family might have faded into obscurity.
"Although the Toki Family has declined a bit, they are not weak because they have many branches. The Toki Family has over a hundred branch families. After the Warring States period ended, the Toki Family still stabilized the situation because those hundred branches kept supporting the Toki Family, as they share the same fate. Therefore, by modern times, the Toki Family has resurged, as their branches are spread across the entire Island Nation, and their combined strength is considerable."
"Of course, this is also why Mutou Masayoshi chose to marry into the Ryuzaki family, because the Ryuzaki family is one of the most important branches of the Toki Family, and within the Toki clan, they have some influence... Additionally, the Toki Family was among the first Island Nation families to serve the United States of America after the war. Therefore, many important companies in the Nagoya metropolitan area are Toki Family's enterprises, and many of these enterprises also have shares owned by the United States of America," Yin En explained to Liu Xing in detail.
Hearing this, Liu Xing suddenly understood, "I see. It seems the United States of America inadvertently left behind the Toki Family as a pawn. But I still want to ask, does the Toki Family really like being a pawn for the United States of America? Logically, the Toki Family could now take the opportunity to break free from American control."
Yin En sneered, somewhat contemptuous, and said, "The answer to this question is actually simple: the Toki Family wants to bet on two fronts—no, it should be three fronts—because the Toki Family knows that, given the current situation, Nagoya has become a contested area between the Public Faction and the Warrior Faction. So, the Toki Family wants to control Nagoya and use it as their trump card. Then, they can sit back and watch which faction, the Warrior Faction or the Public Faction, offers a higher price... Of course, if the United States of America can offer a good price, the Toki Family might consider selling Nagoya to the USA."
So, the Toki Family is a fence-sitter, and an unafraid one at that.
Liu Xing shook his head, feeling that the Toki Family had narrowed their own path.
Although the Toki Family is large and powerful, compared to their neighbor, the Oda family, they are still far behind because the times have changed...
Liu Xing didn't think that the Toki Family had any mythical creature backing them because the Toki Family, which had already declined during the Warring States period, was already subordinate to the Oda family, so they couldn't possibly have access to the mythical creature forces behind the Oda family.
Therefore, although the Toki Family could split the world three ways with the Warrior Faction and the Public Faction, they are just the "Sun Wu" (third of the three kingdoms) in this tripartite division.
Seemingly powerful, but better at maintaining than in advancing.
Once the Warrior Faction and the Public Faction determine a victor, it would be easy for the winner to annex the Toki Family's territory.
However, the Toki Family is indeed a trouble, hindering both the Warrior Faction and the Public Faction. It's not a fight, nor is it small.
"So our current idea is to try persuading the Toki Family to join the Warrior Faction through Mutou Masayoshi. However, it doesn't look promising because Mutou Masayoshi has now distanced himself from the Toki Family by bringing the Ryuzaki family. After all, Mutou Masayoshi is quite unpopular in the Island Nation now. The Toki Family wouldn't want to be associated with Mutou Masayoshi being criticized... The main reason is they are reluctant to part with Nagoya as a trump card. If the Toki Family chooses to support Mutou Masayoshi, they can't protect their territory in Nagoya," Yin En sighed.
Liu Xing also sighed because the Toki Family's meddling made the current situation in Nagoya more complex. If it were a bipolar struggle, both sides wouldn't need to say much and could just attack each other directly. But in a Romance of the Three Kingdoms-like situation, both the Warrior Faction and the Public Faction have to pay attention to the Toki Family as well.
A triangle has stability.
It seems this dispute in Nagoya will require some time.
At this moment, Zhang Jingxu returned, "The China Dao Sect has sent someone to investigate what Chrisiano is researching. If he is indeed manufacturing Shoggoth, the China Dao Sect will definitely stop him. After all, the Shoggoth product has been proven to have serious design flaws and is not allowed to be launched."
This is the same as what Liu Xing thought.
After a bit more idle chatter with Zhang Jingxu, Liu Xing hung up the phone and headed towards Mai Yuqiang's home.
At this moment, Mai Yuqiang and the other two were playing "Dou Dizhu" (a Chinese card game) in the living room.
Seeing Liu Xing walk in, Mai Yuqiang couldn't help but ask, "Liu Xing, how do you know an Ancient One? I heard that the Ancient Ones Clan has all been hiding in the Deep Sea, and the Ancient Ones active on land might only be in the hundreds."
Liu Xing sat cross-legged and said, "Didn't I already tell you? Sirius had lost his body and was in a soul state, and I happened to find a small box containing Sirius's soul. We then formed a partnership to try to get him a new body, and I could get a good reward. Unfortunately, someone interfered halfway."
At this point, Liu Xing thought for a moment and continued, "By the way, now we have about a 70% chance to rule out Bai Liang's suspicion because Sirius and I just had a good discussion and found that Bai Liang might be a substitute prepared by some mythical creature."
Mai Yuqiang and the other two raised their eyebrows, looking at Liu Xing curiously.
"The situation is like this: Sirius came to settle in Morio Town because a mythical creature friend asked him to stay on standby. Although his mythical creature friend didn't explicitly say what he wanted him to do, he found something strange about Bai Liang. Simply put, Bai Liang is like a robot who follows regulations," Liu Xing explained seriously.
Li Hanxing patted his thigh and said, "Indeed, Bai Liang does seem like a robot, a robot that keeps executing predetermined commands. That's why he behaves like a severely obsessive-compulsive, self-disciplined person, executing his plans flawlessly."
Liu Xing nodded and continued, "As for Sirius's mythical creature friend, well, it's like dancing on three eggs; at any moment, the eggs could break and ruin everything. So he kept Bai Liang as a backup to ensure he still had a chance to make a comeback... Of course, Sirius and I now only think that Bai Liang is likely related to that mythical creature, but it's not 100% certain yet."
As players, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen quickly understood Liu Xing's meaning.
"I see. Then we can focus more on the leopard. As for Bai Liang, we can just keep him under daily surveillance," Sun Huiwen said with a smile. "But Mr. Dio just came by and told us the leopard is missing."
Liu Xing raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised, "What? The leopard is missing? Can you really still laugh?"
Mai Yuqiang shrugged and said, "Actually, the leopard can't be considered missing because he's been disappearing frequently over the years. But these days he's been missing because he found prey, so he went to secretly track those prey. This means the leopard is about to take action, and most importantly, his success rate is above 80%."
"So are we planning to intercept?" Liu Xing asked.
Mai Yuqiang nodded affirmatively, "Yes, Dio and I plan to intercept because the leopard has a good reputation in the Morio Town Protection Association, but he hasn't formed any cliques himself. So anyone can intercept his prey. If we have a chance, we plan to intercept this prey, which is much easier than going after the leopard himself."
Liu Xing felt that Mai Yuqiang's suggestion made sense. After all, going after the leopard would require more time and effort, and now it couldn't be entirely confirmed that the leopard was an undercover sent by Swollen Woman.
Therefore, intercepting halfway was easier and more pleasant.
"Alright, since you're back now, Liu Xing, let's play Mahjong," Mai Yuqiang took out a box of Mahjong from beside and said, "Mahjong is actually the most popular entertainment activity in Morio Town now."
Of course, Liu Xing didn't refuse.
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Chapter 977: Fire Breaks Out