Chapter 240: The Gathering of the Twelve Powers

"Killing the chicken to warn the monkey" didn’t mean holding the Chicken Medal and frightening the monkey. It meant using the chicken’s death to expose the Perfect Man’s cruelty and force the monkey to agree to resist him.

"Today, he demands an entire chicken. What about tomorrow? And the day after that? What happens if he demands two chickens next time? Won’t Mr. Fu’s entire family of chickens eventually be wiped out? Do you think you can survive much longer?

"Today, he wants a bowl of monkey eyes. What about next time? How many monkey hands will he demand? What if he wants an entire monkey—or even dozens of them?

"You still have plenty of monkeys, so you think you can resist him, right? But when every last monkey has been sacrificed, what will you use to fight back?

"Tell me, do you really want to watch your entire tribe slowly perish?"

Rustling sounds filled the air as the dove’s body continued expanding, proving that Ho Yunying’s fear was still growing.

"You... you won’t trick me!" Ho Yunying stubbornly refused to give in.

But Shen Yu’s next words finally shook his resolve.

"How about this? You support me with a Monkey Medal and a signed order. If we succeed, you’ll share in the benefits. If we fail and the Perfect Man holds us accountable, you can simply claim that Lin Wan and I took them from you.

"Either way, you have nothing to lose, right?

"Just look at Mr. Fu. His example is right in front of you. What do you say?"

Clang! Clang!

The snow-white Chicken Medal gleamed dazzlingly in the air.

Ho Yunying stared at the giant bird for a long time before slowly removing the medal from his chest.

"Damn it! Take it! You’d better succeed. Otherwise, I won’t hesitate to eat your flesh and blood and present the Perfect Man with a smiling face!"

Clang!

The medal engraved with a monkey pattern, together with a signed order, was slowly tossed into the air.

Shen Yu drew in the feathers covering his body and caught both items midair.

The instance announcement sounded again.

Ding! You have obtained the Landing Monkey Totem!

Landing Monkey: Once a target within your sight touches the ground, its transformation into an animal will accelerate.

Playing with the Landing Monkey Medal, Shen Yu gave Ho Yunying a meaningful look.

Ho Yunying looked back at him before silently diving into the sea of trees.

"Holy shit! Vice Captain, you’re incredible! You actually got it just like that!"

"Vice Captain, I suspect you used your bare hands to trap a white wolf, but I have no evidence!"

Chu Chanan and Ning Su approached him.

Shen Yu glanced at Chu Chanan before handing him the Landing Monkey Medal.

"Here. Keep it safe. We’ll need this power later."

"Understood."

"Let’s get out of here first."

"Right!"

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The group moved toward the canopy above their heads. A moment later, they emerged from the sea of trees and returned to the seventh-floor elevator entrance.

Long John seemed to have expected their return. He looked at Shen Yu with a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Got it?"

"Of course."

"Then when do you plan to reopen the celebration banquet?"

"You already know the answer, don’t you? We want to see the Perfect Man. At present, this is the only way we can meet him. If nothing unexpected happens, it’ll be tonight."

Shen Yu pressed the elevator button.

After hesitating for a moment, Long John spoke.

"You don’t need to worry about the Pig Faction. I’ve always been in contact with them. As the largest group of breeding pigs under the Perfect Man, they’re constantly being slaughtered and eaten. Their dissatisfaction has been building for a long time.

"Zhu Xian is one of my people. However, whether he’ll actually make a move in the end depends on how the battle unfolds."

"Oh? So the Rat, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Goat, Monkey, Chicken, and Pig factions all have someone willing to cooperate. That leaves only the Tiger and Dog factions."

Shen Yu calculated the number of upper-level figures they had accounted for.

Long John blinked.

"You don’t need to worry about the Tiger and Dog factions either. If the Wolf Faction is smart enough, they’ll definitely step down and cooperate with us. Besides, every banquet takes place at night. The Tiger will be obedient then."

"What are you talking about?"

Shen Yu looked at Long John in confusion. He didn’t understand the saying about a tiger falling onto flat ground and being bullied by dogs.

Long John smiled and directly pressed the button for the third floor.

"If everything goes smoothly, I’ll see you tonight. By then, you’ll understand the secret I’ve prepared for you."

Ding-dong!

The elevator doors slowly closed.

As the elevator descended, Chu Chanan pushed up his glasses.

"Vice Captain, why do I get the feeling that Long John knows a great deal but is deliberately hiding something?"

"The Pig Faction should be the group he wants to seize from the Perfect Man," Shen Yu replied. "I don’t think he’s some great philanthropist who genuinely wants to liberate everyone."

"As for the secret he mentioned, I think I can probably figure it out."

"What is it?"

The moment Shen Yu finished speaking, Ning Xu and Chu Chanan widened their eyes and stared at him.

"Did you notice the elevator?" Shen Yu asked. "Its maximum capacity is twelve passengers. That probably corresponds to the twelve original senior executives of the food company.

"The twelve of them once managed the company together. And to reach the highest floor, the ninth floor, the Perfect Man can apparently go there directly. But what about everyone else?

"Could it be that other people can reach the ninth floor only by gathering twelve Totems—or by assembling all twelve original managers?"

"Holy shit!"

"Th-this... Vice Captain, you’re amazing!"

After Shen Yu calmly laid out his theory, the entire elevator fell into dead silence.

What the hell?!

The secret Long John had been so proud of was something Shen Yu had figured out all by himself!

Holy shit! Who said Shen Yu and the Heavenly Emperor only knew how to rely on others? Look at this analysis!

The ninth floor! No wonder it was completely blacked out. It probably requires all twelve original managers to open it!

Amazing! If we gather twelve Totems, could we also enter the ninth floor?

The Perfect Man may have ruled the company for a long time, but the company’s original mechanisms are probably still intact!

The barrage erupted with excitement, cheering Shen Yu for his deduction.

Ding-dong!

The elevator arrived on the third floor.

The doors opened, revealing the familiar surroundings.

Wen Lan had already led Long Lingxue back to the Wolf District office area. However, Mo Xian was nowhere to be seen. Only Yin Chang remained, following behind Wen Lan.

"You succeeded?"

Seeing Wen Lan, Shen Yu suddenly remembered that he still hadn’t had the chance to look at the favorability CG he had unlocked when his favorability score reached fifty points.

"Mm. Thanks to your hint, we managed to obtain two signed orders."

Wen Lan, looking rather proud of herself, took out the two orders.

Shen Yu silently held the Rabbit and Monkey orders in his arms without saying anything.

"Vice Captain, if Wen Lan can reopen the celebration banquet, why do we still need these orders?" Ning Xu asked. "Why not simply crush the Perfect Man and settle everything tonight? Aren’t the orders useless now?"

He seemed to have thought of something and leaned closer to whisper in Shen Yu’s ear.

Shen Yu didn’t bother explaining. Instead, he silently placed the Rabbit Order on the Fox Faction’s desk.

With that, the Fox Faction would no longer face punishment for failing to complete an order today.

Afterward, he looked at Lin Yao and Wen Lan, both of whom were eagerly waiting for his next move, and calculated the time.

"Once Yaning obtains the Rat Medal, we’ll begin the celebration banquet."

"Okay!"

Everyone gathered in the office and waited silently for nightfall.

During that time, Lin Yao touched Shen Yu’s thigh several times, trying to lure him into the office with her. However, Shen Yu firmly refused every time.

Ding-dong!

About ten minutes after the workday ended, Yaning took the elevator alone and headed to the first floor.

After she left, no one expected Yang Hua to suddenly take the elevator down from the upper floors.

"Shen Yu, let’s go eat!"

Yang Hua still wore her innocent expression as she bounced toward him, seemingly unaware of what was about to happen.

Shen Yu stared at her for a while, his expression conflicted. Then he led her into the office alone.

"Wow, Shen Yu! Your office is so big! Can I come here often to hang out?"

Apparently eager to establish her status as his girlfriend, Yang Hua wandered around the room, looking at everything with interest.

Shen Yu’s expression suddenly turned cold.

"Yang Hua, do me a favor."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Give me your medal. And your signed order, too."

"Huh?!"

Confusion spread across Yang Hua’s face.

"Y-you know I can issue orders too?"