The Long Family Head and the other branch family heads turned their gazes toward the Meng Family Head, equally curious about his so-called brilliant idea.

The Meng Family Head smiled and said, "The Meng Corporation developed a forum app. It was originally intended to provide a platform for the global business elite to share resources, information, and networks."

"We could turn it into a global Martial Artist Forum, mandating that all martial artists worldwide must register within a set time frame and pay a registration fee. Ordinary people could also register, but they would have to pay double the fee..."

Before he could finish, Wang Chaoyang challenged him, "What gives you the right to make every martial artist in the world register on your forum?"

The Meng Family Head, having anticipated this question, replied, "You could issue a false Imperial Edict from the three great Arbiter Families. Just claim the order to download and register on the forum comes from them. If the Arbiter Families ask about it later, you can simply say it was to create a more convenient way to notify all martial artists of the time and place for the Mist Chant Martial Meeting..."

Wang Chaoyang’s eyes lit up. "A brilliant idea. The number of martial artists worldwide is staggering. If we charge every single one a registration fee, we could truly make a fortune."

"Once all the world’s martial artists have registered, they won’t be able to live without the forum. It will be the only place where all of them can gather. They can share resources, information, and so much more..."

The Meng Family Head grew more animated as he spoke, continuing enthusiastically, "We could add social networking functions, an e-commerce platform, gaming platforms, and so on..."

As they listened, the eyes of Wang Chaoyang and the other branch family heads began to glitter. They all saw the massive business opportunity in the Martial Artist Forum.

Ye Xiu, eavesdropping from outside the private room, felt nothing but utter contempt for the Meng Family Head.

It was a good idea, but there was a huge problem. Most of the Totem Inheritors around the world were undocumented with hidden addresses. Even if they had phones, they had no signal. How could they possibly download and register for a forum?

However, Ye Xiu had a solution. He sent a text to You Ming: "Create a Martial Artist Forum. Issue a Huang Quan Order making it mandatory for all martial artists worldwide to download and register. Also, notify all the families affiliated with me across the globe to give every Totem Inheritor a satellite phone, free of charge. Finally, there’s a forum run by the Meng Corporation in Yancheng—destroy it."

"Understood!" You Ming replied.

Just like that, the business opportunity conceived by the Meng Family Head was hijacked by Ye Xiu.

...

「Early the next morning.」

The Long Family Head and Wang Chaoyang were having breakfast together when the Meng Family Head rushed in. "We have a problem!" he exclaimed. "I just got a call from the company. The Martial Artist Forum has crashed!"

The Long Family Head and Wang Chaoyang were stunned for a moment. "What happened?" the Long Family Head asked.

"The head of the technical department said the forum’s server was infected with a virus," the Meng Family Head replied.

"A virus?" Wang Chaoyang scoffed. "Don’t tell me the Meng Corporation doesn’t even have antivirus software."

"The antivirus software is infected too!" the Meng Family Head said with a grim expression.

What? The Long Family Head and Wang Chaoyang were thrown for a loop. This was the first time they had ever heard of antivirus software getting a virus.

"It must have been Ye Xiu," the Long Family Head said vehemently. "When I was on a video call with Shen Songshan, Ye Xiu hacked our connection. He stole data from both my computer and Shen Songshan’s and infected them. He’s a formidable hacker."

"Ye Xiu dares to cut off my path to riches? He’s looking for death!" Wang Chaoyang raged.

Just then, the phones belonging to Wang Chaoyang, the Long Family Head, and the Meng Family Head all sounded with a notification tone simultaneously. The three of them pulled out their phones, only to see an ad pop up on their screens: ’Download the Martial Artist Forum?’

The Long Family Head’s teeth clenched in fury. "It seems Ye Xiu also knows about the Mist Chant Martial Meeting and thought of profiting from a forum. That’s why he poisoned ours, made his own, and sent it directly to our phones."

"How does Ye Xiu know my phone number?" Wang Chaoyang asked.

"He’s a hacker. He can steal the databases of the major telecom providers and get everyone’s phone number," the Long Family Head explained.

"What ambition. He’s trying to force everyone in the world to download his Martial Artist Forum," Wang Chaoyang sneered. "Well, we simply won’t download it."

With that, he tried to tap ’No,’ but it was useless; the screen was completely unresponsive, as if it had frozen. He then tentatively tapped ’Yes,’ and the phone immediately began to automatically download the Martial Artist Forum.

Wang Chaoyang was speechless.

The Long Family Head and the Meng Family Head encountered the exact same situation. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Ye Xiu is a complete thug! He’s forcing everyone to download it!" the Long Family Head raged.

"At worst, we’ll just uninstall it after it’s downloaded," Wang Chaoyang said, taking a deep breath.

The Long Family Head and the Meng Family Head nodded in agreement.

Soon, the Martial Artist Forum had finished downloading on all three phones. Almost simultaneously, they all tried to uninstall the app, only to find that it had been installed as system software and could not be removed.

Then, the Martial Artist Forum app launched on its own, displaying the registration page.

Of course, Wang Chaoyang, the Long Family Head, and the Meng Family Head had no intention of registering, but they quickly discovered that they couldn’t close the registration page.

"I give up. I completely give up. That thug Ye Xiu has taken remote control of our phones, leaving us no choice but to register," Wang Chaoyang fumed, about to go mad with rage.

Mandatory download! Impossible to uninstall! The registration page opens automatically! And you can’t close it without registering! What a complete thug!

"Then let’s just register and see what happens," the Long Family Head relented.

The three of them had no choice but to register. After they finished filling out their information, a notification suddenly popped up on their screens: ’Please pay the registration fee of 1,000,000 yuan!’

Before Wang Chaoyang could even react, the fee was automatically deducted from his account.

Meanwhile, the screens of the Long Family Head and the Meng Family Head were frozen on the payment page. They didn’t have enough money in their accounts for the automatic deduction to go through.

"Ye Xiu is a straight-up robber! Who forces users to pay a fee like this? And he just took the money from my account automatically!" Wang Chaoyang roared.

"Chaoyang, our phones are crippled," the Long Family Head said with a grim face. "We can only use them after we pay the fee. How about you lend us some money?"

"So what if our phones are crippled? We’ll just get new ones!" Determined to thwart Ye Xiu’s thuggish methods, Wang Chaoyang stood up. "Come on, let’s go buy new phones."

"Let’s kill Ye Xiu first instead," the Long Family Head suggested. "Once he’s dead, our phones will be free again."

After a moment’s thought, Wang Chaoyang agreed. "Let’s go. Time to kill Ye Xiu!"

So, the three of them drove to the Long Family Manor and immediately spotted Ye Xiu and Qin Qing practicing their martial arts. Qin Qing and Chloe had stayed at the manor the previous night, as it was spacious and, more importantly, safer.

The Long Family Head looked around the empty grounds and asked, "Ye Xiu, where are the people from the Thirteen External Families?"

"They’ve moved out." Ye Xiu sheathed the Slaughter City Blade and inquired, "Are you three here this early in the morning looking for the Thirteen External Families again?"

Moved out?

The Long Family Head and the Meng Family Head couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into laughter that sounded like squealing pigs.

HAHAHAHA...