Chapter 156: From “Black Wind Stronghold” to “Black Wind Security”

President Long, One-Eyed Dragon—no, Long Batian.

That was the new name he had given himself. Although President Chu had said it sounded a bit rustic, it was still better than One-Eyed Dragon.

At this moment, he stood at the docking port of Ascension No. 1, holding two items in his hands, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

In his left hand was the appointment jade slip engraved with “Ascension Group · Black Wind Domain Security and Logistics Co., Ltd. CEO”. It felt warm to the touch, yet weighed as heavily as a mountain.

In his right hand was a palm-sized black compass with a peculiar design.

President Chu called this thing a “Remote Authorization Terminal”. Supposedly, with just a light press, it could make that world-destroying “Annihilation Soul Crystal Cannon”…… set off some fireworks.

He took a deep breath and tried hard to recall the contents of the “One-Hour CEO Crash Course” that President Chu had personally given him in the conference room earlier.

What “sunk cost” meant, what “opportunity cost” meant, what “building industry barriers” meant—he had listened in a haze. But there were a few sentences he had understood.

“President Long, you must remember, violence is the lowest-level management method.”

“Our goal is not to eliminate them, but to transform them.”

“You must make them understand that if they follow you, there will be meat to eat.”

“If they don’t follow you, they won’t even get soup.”

“For those who really can’t understand human language, help them achieve physical enlightenment. That’s also a kind of efficient ‘market education’.”

Carrying this half-understood realization, Long Batian returned to his skull-head flying vessel.

The moment he appeared, the trusted aides who had stayed behind immediately surrounded him, each wearing a nervous expression.

“Big Boss! Are you alright?”

“Big Boss, those bastards didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

Long Batian cleared his throat and tried his best to imitate Chu Feng’s calm and indifferent demeanor. He waved his hand and said:

“What are you panicking about? What kind of behavior is this! Not a shred of ‘professional quality’!”

Everyone froze, looking at each other. Had the Big Boss… been possessed?

At that very moment, in the distant starry sky, more than a dozen equally powerful star pirate groups had already driven their flying vessels over and completely surrounded the area.

“Hahaha, One-Eyed Dragon! I heard you kicked an iron plate today? How was it—were that fat sheep’s bones hard or not?”

A scar-faced man stood on the bow of a massive battleship and laughed arrogantly.

He was the leader of another major force in the Black Wind Domain, the “Mad Shark Gang”, whose cultivation was on par with One-Eyed Dragon.

“One-Eyed Dragon, if you know what’s good for you, hand over that ship. We’ll split it among ourselves!”

“Otherwise, today we’ll take you down as well!”

“That’s right! The rules of the Black Wind Domain—those who see it get a share!”

For a moment, emotions ran high, and it looked like a fight would break out at the slightest disagreement.

If this had been half an hour earlier, Long Batian would have already grabbed his blade and charged up to fight them to the death.

But now, he was President Long.

He took a deep breath, activated the amplification formation, and said loudly in a tone that even he himself found awkward:

“All ‘同行’, all ‘potential partners’! Please calm—please calm yourselves!”

“I, Black Wind Stronghold… oh no, ‘Black Wind Security’s CEO, Long Batian, have gathered everyone here today not to fight and kill, but to discuss a ‘new trend’ of ‘industrial upgrading’ with you all!”

As soon as these words fell, the entire scene went deathly silent.

The Mad Shark Gang leader dug at his ear and asked his subordinate beside him with a baffled expression:

“What did he just say? Industrial upgrading? New trend? What the hell is that? Some newly released divine ability?”

Long Batian ignored their reactions and stiffly recited the rhetoric Chu Feng had taught him:

“Everyone, let us ask ourselves honestly! How long can this kind of ‘one-time plundering economy’ of robbery and looting last?”

“High risk, unstable returns, and it offends people everywhere! This is a ‘red ocean’ with no future!”

“But!”

He abruptly changed his tone, imitating Chu Feng as he raised two fingers.

“Now, there is a ‘blue ocean market’ placed right in front of us!”

“That is, transforming ourselves from ‘robbers’ into ‘service providers’!”

“Charging all passing merchant caravans ‘route management and security service fees’!”

“Turning this chaotic Black Wind Domain into the safest and most efficient golden route in the entire Mortal Realm!”

“This is the path of sustainable development!”

“This is how we make big money—safe money!”

After finishing this speech, Long Batian himself almost couldn’t recognize who he was anymore.

As for the star pirate leaders opposite him, they looked at him as if he were a fool.

“He’s gone mad! One-Eyed Dragon is definitely mad!”

“Collect protection fees? Sounds nice, but who would pay money to a bunch of star pirates like us?”

The Mad Shark Gang leader even burst into laughter, clutching his stomach:

“Long Batian, I think you didn’t just kick an iron plate—you kicked your brain bad! I’ll collect your ‘service fee’ first today!”

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and the main cannon of the Mad Shark Gang’s flying vessel began to flicker with dangerous spiritual light.

Seeing this, Long Batian sighed inwardly.

It seemed President Chu was right. Some people really did need “physical enlightenment”.

He stopped wasting words and silently raised the black compass in his right hand, pointing it toward the Mad Shark Gang’s direction, and gently pressed the red button.

“Weng—”

A gray beam of light that made even Nascent Soul cultivators’ souls tremble shot out soundlessly from the distant Ascension No. 1.

Under the Mad Shark Gang leader’s horrified gaze, the gray beam precisely landed on his prized giant shark battleship.

There was no explosion, no roar.

That three-hundred-meter-long massive battleship, along with the several hundred star pirates on it, vanished instantly from the starry sky like a drawing erased by a rubber, leaving behind only a chilling void.

“Gulp.”

No one knew who it was, but someone swallowed with difficulty.

The entire scene once again fell into an even more terrifying silence than before.

Every star pirate leader’s gaze toward Long Batian had completely changed.

A wave of exhilaration surged in Long Batian’s heart. He forcibly suppressed his excitement and continued speaking in that calm tone:

“Just now, we held a ‘forced delisting’ farewell ceremony for an ‘unharmonious’ competitor.”

“Now, are there any other ‘同行’ who have different opinions about our ‘Black Wind Security’s ‘franchise plan’?”

Before his words even finished, the remaining dozen or so star pirate leaders rushed toward Long Batian’s flying vessel like madmen.

“President Long! President Long, I was wrong! I want to join! I’ll be the first to join!”

“President Long, I’m your long-lost biological brother! Leave me a ‘regional manager’ position!”

Watching this chaotic yet comical scene, Long Batian felt for the first time that being a “President” seemed far more imposing than being a “Big Boss”.

Just as the “investment and franchise conference” of the Black Wind Domain was proceeding in full swing, a figure slowly descended onto the skull-head flying vessel, surrounded by a group of Ascension Group executives.

The newcomer was none other than Zhao Wuji!

Today, he wore a sharp black suit-style dharma robe. His hair was slicked back until it shone, and his face carried a fanatical yet sacred expression.

“President Long!”

Zhao Wuji grabbed Long Batian’s hand and shook it vigorously.

“Congratulations! Congratulations on leading the team to successfully complete the first step of ‘market integration’! The President is extremely satisfied with your ‘execution’!”

“Now, I will represent the group headquarters and officially conduct a three-day ‘corporate culture and core values’ pre-job training for all employees of your company!”

After speaking, he stepped onto the high platform and faced the group of star pirates below who had just put down their butcher’s knives and still looked completely dazed. He spread his arms wide and shouted loudly in a fervent voice comparable to a cult preacher:

“Family Members! Welcome to joining the warm big family of the Ascension Group!”

“From today onward! Your names will no longer be Zhang San or Li Xi. You will have only one shared name—Strivers!”

“KPI is our faith! 996 is our blessing! Devoting ourselves to the group is our supreme honor!”

“Now, shout with me! Ascension! Ascension! Ascension!”

A group of ferocious, murderous star pirates were beaten dizzy by Zhao Wuji’s combination of moves. They could only stand there dumbfounded, weakly shouting slogans along with him.

The scene was absurd to the extreme.

Just as Zhao Wuji’s “preaching” reached its climax, a piercing alarm suddenly echoed throughout the entire fleet.

“Alert! Alert! An unidentified flying vessel has been detected forcibly intruding into the route! Repeat, forcibly intruding into the route!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep