NOVEL NEXT Chapter 283: 281, discussing important matters?
In the hotel suite.
"Brother Feng, come on, tell us how we're going to deal with the Wu Family."
"Yeah, hurry up and spill it."
Seeing their anxious expressions, Luofeng said, "Let me first look at the information you've gathered on the Wu Family."
Upon hearing this, several of them quickly took out brown paper documents from their bags.
"Everything is here," Li Bo Kai said, "including information on the Wu Family members, their compromising information, and records of the Wu Family's assets."
Chen Dali also produced a file bag. "My investigation focused on the Wu Family's network: competitors, enemies, potential allies, and so on."
Lin Xiaoyun said, "As I mentioned before, my family isn't that incredible over at West Mountain, so I can't help much."
Luofeng quickly skimmed through the materials the two had gathered. In less than five minutes, he found the information he needed. The Wu Family held exploration and mining rights in a mountainous area of the West Mountain Rainbow Region, but this project hadn't officially started yet; instead, it had been shelved.
Luofeng circled this piece of information with a pen. "Take a look at this first, while I continue to review what Brother Dali found out."
Li Bo Kai lowered his voice. "I recall this piece of information. The investigator reported to me that the mining rights in the Rainbow Region might not actually belong to the Wu Family; they might just be acting as agents."
"Is there a problem?" Lin Xiaoyun asked.
"There has to be a problem," Chen Dali replied.
"Indeed!" Luofeng nodded, pointing to the information Chen Dali had provided. "Look, this involves the Wu Family, Chen Ergou's Family, the Rich Source Mining Group, and the Rainbow Region. You should be able to guess the answer, right?"
Rich Source Mining Group was a mining services company. Though not large in scale, it was very professional, primarily offering mining services to small and medium-sized mining businesses.
"From Chen Dali's information," Luofeng said, "we can see that Chen Ergou's Family initiated contact with the Wu Family. Chen Ergou going to study in West Mountain was likely a move to connect with the Wu Family."
The information Luofeng presented was confidential data from his System. However, through some clever maneuvering, he made it seem as though he had analyzed this confidential information himself.
"Now, looking at Chen Ergou's Family's situation," Luofeng pointed at the documents, "can't you see what's going on?"
Chen Dali's expression turned serious. "Did the Wu Family discover a gold mine in the West Mountain Rainbow Region?"
In fact, Luo Feng's System had already acquired this news.
Li Bo Kai had a sudden realization. "So, Chen Ergou's Family is targeting the Wu Family this time not to show weakness to Brother Feng, but because they want to kick the Wu Family out and monopolize the venture?"
Lin Xiaoyun inquired, "If the gold mine is under the Wu Family's control, we probably won't be able to snatch it away, right?"
Given the situation in Daxia, if the gold mine was under the Wu Family's control and they had official documents, even if their three families joined forces, they couldn't seize it.
"That's a very good question," Luofeng smiled. "Under normal circumstances, we definitely couldn't pull this off. Even if your three families controlled extraordinary resources, it would be impossible to take it by force."
Luofeng continued, "When I first investigated the Wu Family, I found out about the Rainbow Region. Then I speculated that there might be a gold mine there. After further investigation, the possibility turned out to be very high. Initially, this merely seemed to explain why the Chen Family and the Wu Family were working together. After all, the Chen Family is in the gold business, and with the Wu Family discovering a gold mine, they were natural partners."
Luofeng smiled. "However, here's the problem: Chen Ergou's attitude towards Wu Fanyu was definitely not that of a partner. On the contrary, Chen Ergou was clearly trying to push Wu Fanyu into a fiery pit."
At this, Chen Dali and the other two nodded in agreement. If it hadn't been for Chen Ergou, Wu Fanyu probably wouldn't have been sent to his doom, right?
"If things had stopped there, I wouldn't be overthinking it!" Luofeng stated. "Then, with the Chen Family taking action against the Wu Family, I finally understood the problem. Chen Bolin's Hengda Gold Group is worth over 20 billion. The Chen Family is quite prominent in Capital City, aren't they? At the very least, they're on equal footing with your three families."
At this point, Luofeng paused. Chen Dali nodded.
Li Bo Kai also nodded. "If that weren't the case, we would have dealt with him the last time he crossed us."
"Given the Chen Family's situation," Luofeng went on, "why would they target the Wu Family and then try to appear subservient to me? Impossible. When it comes to certain things, if others abide by the rules, you must too. You can only respond by breaking the rules when they are broken first. Wu Yufan broke the rules, so I broke the rules. What if I had been the one to break the rules first? Then these bosses from Capital City would have done the same. Adherence to the rules is mutual. If someone breaks them first, they can't blame anyone else for the consequences."
"The affairs of the world aren't that difficult to analyze," Luofeng said with a smile. "You just have to remember that nothing happens without a reason; it's all about interests. With that in mind, many things become much clearer. If Chen Ergou's Family secures the gold mine in the Rainbow Region, it would perfectly complement their Hengda Gold Group."
"But Chen Ergou's Family couldn't just seize it by force, could they?" Chen Dali asked.
"What if the mining rights were never the Wu Family's to begin with?" Luofeng hypothesized. After all, agency isn't ownership. If it weren't for the System, Luofeng wouldn't have believed the situation could be so complicated.
"After I identified the problem, I arranged an investigation and uncovered something shocking," Luofeng explained. "The owner of this gold mine is the Zhou Family from the Rainbow Region. The Zhou Family themselves run a small-scale energy extraction business and hold the mining rights in the Rainbow Region. Then, through Wu Fanyu's family's efforts, the Zhou Family entrusted the mining rights to the Wu Family, with the Zhou Family only receiving a share of the profits. My guess is that Chen Ergou's Family also discovered this. So, they want to bypass the Wu Family and collaborate directly with the Zhou Family, or even find a way to swallow the Zhou Family whole." Luofeng chuckled. "To put it simply, it's a classic case of 'an innocent man invites trouble by possessing a treasure.'"
"Brother Feng, are you suggesting we compete with the Chen Family, contact the Zhou Family ourselves, and then kick the Chen Family out?" Li Bo Kai asked.
Chen Dali was thinking further ahead. "How much gold is in that mine? What's the quality, and what are the potential profits?"
Luofeng replied, "I'm not clear on the specifics. But given that the Zhou Family has committed, the Wu Family has committed, and Chen Ergou himself has personally entered the fray, I believe there are huge interests at stake. Do you want to take a gamble with me?"
Chen Dali nodded. "I'm in. But if the stakes are this high, should we consider bringing in allies?"
Li Bo Kai suggested, "I think we can handle it."
Lin Xiaoyun said, "If it's about a gold mine, the elders of our families will go all out. We won't be fighting alone."
Chen Dali mused, "If it's truly a gold mine and involves massive interests, this time we indeed won't be fighting alone. All three families will commit their full resources."
Li Bo Kai said, "If our families get involved, many things won't be up to just us anymore. How will the profits be distributed? After all, it's a matter for the elders, and they have more resources. To protect Brother Luo Feng's interests, we'd better establish the terms first."