Chapter 124: Murong Xue’s Questioning, and the “Emotional Debt”

“Chu Feng! That’s enough!”

A clear and cold feminine shout, like a bolt of thunder, exploded across the deathly silent plaza.

Everyone followed the sound and looked over, only to see Murong Xue’s pretty face covered in frost, phoenix eyes wide open, staring fixedly at Chu Feng on the high platform. Her slender body trembled slightly from anger.

This was the first time she had ever, in such a public setting, directly called Chu Feng by name, and interrupted his “performance” with such a severe tone.

The smile on Chu Feng’s face stiffened slightly. He turned his head and looked at this woman who never learned how to “go with the flow,” his brows knitting almost imperceptibly.

“Risk Control Officer Murong, what do you mean by this?”

He asked calmly,

“I am conducting the Group’s ‘post-war asset integration.’ This seems to fall outside your ‘risk control’ scope, doesn’t it?”

“Assets?!”

That word stimulated Murong Xue, causing two flames to ignite in her beautiful eyes. She stepped onto the high platform step by step, staring him down, her voice growing hoarse with agitation.

“In your eyes, is everything nothing more than something that can be appraised, traded, and squeezed for its last drop of value—‘assets’?!”

“Junior Sister Leng is your ‘core technical asset’! These prisoners of war are your ‘non-performing assets’! Even True Lord Xuantian is merely a ‘strategic asset’ you use to intimidate others!”

“And what about you? Chu Feng! Tell me, what are you? A Chief Executive Officer obsessed with calculations, devoid of emotion, who treats the entire world as his financial report?!”

Her voice grew louder and louder, every word like an awl, stabbing fiercely into Chu Feng’s seemingly indestructible heart.

On the plaza, tens of thousands of disciples were utterly silent, all stunned by this sudden scene.

Inside the cage, True Lord Lingxiao and the others also stared in shock at this woman who dared to publicly rebuke the demon, complex expressions flashing through their eyes.

Chu Feng fell silent.

He looked at Murong Xue before him, at her clear yet stubborn eyes filled with disappointment and heartache, and for the first time discovered that those “rhetorical tactics” and “logic” he took pride in were actually hard to speak aloud.

Because she was right.

He had always done things this way, and had always been proud of it.

But why did it feel so… grating when these words came out of her mouth?

“Yanran… she did it for you, for this Group—she burned away her own life and future!”

“She is lying on that icy jade bed right now, her life and death unknown, her jet-black hair turned completely white!”

Murong Xue’s eyes reddened, her voice carrying a sob.

“But what about you? You don’t comfort the disciples who are worried for her, you don’t think of every possible way to save her. Instead, you’re here, enthusiastically ‘interviewing’ your new employees, calculating how to maximize the value of these prisoners of war!”

“Chu Feng, is your heart even made of flesh?!”

That final question landed like a sledgehammer, smashing fiercely into Chu Feng’s chest.

He wanted to retort.

He wanted to say that it was precisely to save her that he had to integrate every exploitable force to exchange for more resources.

That this was the most efficient, most rational approach.

But when he looked at Murong Xue’s tear-filled eyes, at her trembling shoulders as she felt indignant on Leng Yanran’s behalf, those cold yet “correct” words simply would not come out.

He suddenly realized that in this world, there truly were some things that could not be measured by “efficiency” and “rationality.”

For example, a woman’s tears.

For example, another woman’s head full of white hair.

“Well said!”

Inside the cage, True Lord Lingxiao, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke.

He looked at Murong Xue, and a trace of admiration and respect appeared in his eyes.

“Saintess, though you are in a demon’s lair, you still carry the Righteous Path in your heart. Your integrity yields to no hero under heaven. This old man admires you!”

“Shut up!”

Chu Feng and Murong Xue almost shouted in unison at True Lord Lingxiao.

They exchanged a glance, then both awkwardly turned their heads away.

The atmosphere fell into a strange stagnation.

After a long while, Chu Feng took a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision.

He waved his hand, signaling Zhao Wuji and the others to first take the prisoners away for custody.

Then he walked up to Murong Xue, his gaze more serious than ever before.

“What you said may have merit.”

This was the first time he had acknowledged Murong Xue’s “reasoning.”

“A Group that only talks about KPIs and wolf-like competitiveness, but not human sentiment and care, may run very fast—but it will never go far.”

“It will be like an out-of-control war chariot, eventually collapsing under its own internal pressure.”

He looked at Murong Xue and spoke slowly, word by word:

“My ‘business model’ indeed lacks the piece of the ‘puzzle’ you mentioned.”

“So, I have decided to authorize you.”

“Authorize me?”

Murong Xue was stunned.

“Yes.”

Chu Feng nodded,

“From today onward, the Ascension Group will officially establish a new independent department—‘Employee Care and Ideological Development Department.’”

“You, Murong Xue, will serve as its first Director.”

“This department will have independent financial and personnel authority, and will not be subject to any other department.”

“Its sole KPI is to ensure the ‘sense of happiness’ and ‘sense of belonging’ of all Group members.”

“You may establish compensation systems, organize psychological counseling, provide the best support for the families of disciples who fell in battle, and you may even… exercise a one-vote veto over any decision you deem ‘inhumane.’”

“I give you power, I give you resources, and I give you my greatest trust.”

Chu Feng stared into her eyes, his voice low and sincere,

“Go. Go and install the ‘brake pads’ and ‘moral baseline’ you want onto this cold war machine of mine.”

“Go and tell me, and tell everyone, what a Group with warmth should look like.”

Murong Xue was completely stunned.

She had never imagined that her furious questioning would not be met with Chu Feng’s embarrassed rage, nor with a rebuttal full of sophistry—but rather… such thorough delegation of power and trust.

He was actually willing to hand over that crucial “brake pad” to someone like her, an “opposition figure.”

This man… what exactly was he thinking?

She looked into Chu Feng’s deep eyes and suddenly felt that she had never truly understood him.

Late at night.

Chu Feng sat alone beside the cold jade bed, quietly looking at the white-haired woman lying upon it.

He reached out, wanting to touch her cheek, but stopped midway. In the end, he only gently pinched a strand of her white hair between his fingers.

It was icy, smooth, yet seemed to weigh a thousand jin.

He tried to analyze the situation before him using his unfailingly effective “business logic.”

【Target: Cure Leng Yanran.】

【Plan A: Invest resources for treatment. Estimated success rate: unknown. Cost: extremely high. Return: obtain a core employee with high loyalty and high value.】

【Plan B: Abandon treatment and seek a replacement. Cost: low. Risk: may lead to the alienation of the Group’s core team and trigger a crisis of trust.】

The rational calculation results appeared clearly in his mind.

But this time, he found that he simply could not make that “optimal” choice as he always had.

Because beyond all costs, risks, and returns, there was still one more thing—like a specter—entwined around his heart, impossible to quantify, impossible to strip away.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep