After a long while, Guo Jiuxiao finally threw the piece of paper onto the table and looked up at Jiang Hao, "President Jiang, how did you come up with and begin carrying out research with absolutely no moral bottom line?"
Jiang Hao said calmly, "Professor Guo, sometimes there's no need to know too much. I only need to know that the eggs laid by the hens at this chicken farm taste good. Is there any need to find out what the hens that laid the eggs look like?"
Guo Jiuxiao leaned back on the sofa, "If this hen is a pervert among hens, then I'd still like to learn more about it. To be honest, I'm very curious what kind of person could come up with this kind of research. I even wonder whether he can still be considered a person."
"Professor Guo, curiosity killed the cat."
Guo Jiuxiao still had a solemn expression, "I used to think I could be considered ruthless. Compared to President Jiang, I feel like I'm practically a saint worthy of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple after death."
The corners of Jiang Hao's mouth lifted slightly, showing a hint of disdain, "Worthy of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple? The Imperial Ancestral Temple collapsed a hundred years ago! Who knows which ruins it's in now! As for saints, a saint is what rank? How many levels of items can he develop? Can he keep you and me alive? Professor Guo's words have a bit of childlike innocence to them."
Guo Jiuxiao adjusted his glasses and asked in return, "President Jiang, haven't you heard that even a tiger won't eat its cubs? Jiang Changqing is your son, the heir you chose. If you treat even him like this, how can I, an ally with no blood relation to you, feel at ease?"
"First, I did indeed arrange for an heir. But my heir isn't Jiang Changqing. To tell Professor Guo the truth, Jiang Changqing was merely a front I put forward to stabilize the Jiang family. In essence, he was an experimental subject for my experiments. Even without Lu Daoxing, sooner or later he would have 'disappeared' inside the Safe Zone."
At this point, the corners of Jiang Hao's mouth lifted, "And the heir I truly value has always been quietly trained. I'm afraid even he himself doesn't know that I've already chosen him."
"So, Professor Guo needn't think of me as someone completely heartless and without loyalty."
"Second, so what if he's my son? There have been countless ancient emperors who personally killed their own sons. Has anyone become infamous for thousands of years because of it? Professor Guo believes that 'even a tiger won't eat its cubs.' I believe in 'protecting oneself wisely, benefiting oneself at the expense of others.'"
Jiang Hao crossed his hands over his knees, still wearing a calm expression.
"After the apocalypse, the situation in the Safe Zone changes every day. If you don't use every possible means to make yourself stronger, how will you deal with the storms that come without warning?"
"Precisely because I put interests first, my cooperation with Professor Guo is unbreakable, isn't it?"
Guo Jiuxiao kept staring at Jiang Hao, seemingly trying to determine whether Jiang Hao was telling the truth.
After remaining silent for more than ten seconds, Guo Jiuxiao finally let out a long sigh, "Every time I talk with President Jiang, you always manage to open up a perspective I've never known before."
"I'm merely twenty years older than you, and hardly deserving of such praise from Professor Guo. But the research I've given you is a huge piece of good news for you. Li Tianming has no chance anymore. Right?"
A flicker passed through Guo Jiuxiao's eyes. He sneered and nodded, "That's indeed the case."
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Jiang Hao's phone suddenly rang.
He answered, "Hello, Secretary Zhou. What is it?"
Anger suddenly filled Jiang Hao's previously calm eyes, "What? Everyone in the Jiang family already knows that Yuanrui and the other two are dead? Even you haven't received the news yet. Who spread this?!"
"The Zhao family?!"
Apart from Jiang Yuanrui's home in Zone 2, where Jiang Hao and Guo Jiuxiao were chatting and were relatively at ease, the entire Jiang family was thrown into an uproar across the other zones.
Jiang Yuanrui, Jiang Yuanfeng, and Jiang Changqing, three pivotal figures of the Jiang family, had all been killed by Lu Daoxing in Zone 7, dying in a single night.
The same news reached different people's ears, but the echoes it produced were different.
The direct descendants of Jiang Yuanrui were all shocked and completely plunged into panic.
Jiang Yuanrui was Jiang Hao's eldest biological brother. He had gone through all kinds of hardships alongside Jiang Hao and was the second most important figure in the Jiang family.
Although Jiang Yuanrui himself was merely an official of the United Government and did not participate in the operation of the Haori Chamber of Commerce, his children were deeply involved in it and even held considerable power.
In the entire Jiang family, apart from Jiang Hao's branch, Jiang Yuanrui's descendants had enjoyed the most benefits and received the most advantages.
The sons and grandsons who had originally relied on Jiang Yuanrui suddenly lost their support. Before long, loud wailing could be heard from the residences of Jiang Yuanrui's children and grandchildren.
"Father! How could you die?"
"Grandfather, you died such a terrible death!"
"Grandfather, how am I supposed to live without you?"
The other members of the Jiang family all understood that although they appeared to be mourning Jiang Yuanrui, in reality they were mourning themselves.
Interestingly, no matter how heartbroken Jiang Yuanrui's children and grandchildren were, no matter how much they cried until they were almost out of breath, and no matter how their wailing rose and fell, not a single person dared to say, "I'll definitely kill Lu Daoxing and avenge you."
Because they did not know whether Lu Daoxing might be watching their grief coldly from some unknown corner.
The dead could not be brought back to life. There was no need to throw away their own lives for a relative whose body had been destroyed.
But apart from Jiang Yuanrui's direct descendants, everyone else felt relieved, and some even secretly set off several strings of firecrackers in celebration.
Even though Jiang Hao had repeatedly ordered the Jiang family members not to discuss the grudge between Jiang Yuanrui and Lu Daoxing, everyone knew it perfectly well.
Now, Jiang Yuanrui, the culprit, was finally dead.
Jiang Yuanrui was dead, so Lu Daoxing's anger had been vented.
Jiang Yuanrui was dead, so the Jiang family could have peace.
Now they all had only one thought, once the person was dead, the debt was gone.
Three members of the Jiang family's Yuan generation had died, more than a dozen from the Chang generation had died, and countless other younger descendants had died as well.
They only hoped that Lu Daoxing would not involve any more members of the Jiang family.
This dark and seemingly endless terror of death had come to an end.
The people with the most complicated feelings were the descendants of Jiang Hao's branch.
Jiang Yuanrui and Jiang Yuanfeng were dead, which meant that these direct blood relatives of Jiang Hao could obtain more power and benefits.
Jiang Changqing was dead, which meant that all of them now had a chance to compete to become Jiang Hao's heir. Moreover, after Lu Daoxing killed several of Jiang Hao's sons, everyone's chances of being chosen as the heir had increased by a few points.
They had thought the Jiang family had already become stable.
There would be no more major changes in the division of interests, let alone any change to Jiang Changqing's rock-solid position as heir.
Who could have expected this?
People always say that good fortune never comes twice.
But for them, it was two pieces of good news at once.
The Jiang family had been mourning every day, and they were now about to hold an especially grand funeral for Jiang Yuanrui and the other two.
But when it came to them, it directly became a joyous funeral.
Jiang Hao's surviving sons could not help sighing, "Life really is unpredictable!"
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