"Trust me, Cai Dong. Both of us came from the city village, and we are both members of the Zhang family. We share the same ancestor, so I don't want to hide anything from you now. Everything I've done is for you. You absolutely must not question me on this."
"Moreover, whatever happens, I will directly face Lord Shen Mu. His anger towards me has nothing to do with you; at most, you'll be considered negligent in supervision. But in this process, absolutely no one can shake your status as the highest Blue Star Human. So, leave all these matters to me. Tonight, you'll stay here and not go out again. I'll bear everything, alright? There's nothing else here; everything is my responsibility."
Zhang Bo directly reached out and placed his hand in front of Cai Dong, then pulled his hand into his own, gripping it tightly. At the same time, the false smile on his face faded, replaced by a sincere and serious gaze.
"Okay." Cai Dong could only choose to believe him at this moment.
He had no choice but to believe, because from the beginning until now, Zhang Bo, this fellow Zhang family member, had consistently provided him with a lot of help, even giving him various intelligence and resources that others could hardly obtain without him even asking.
If he couldn't choose to believe even this, then Cai Dong truly wouldn't know how many people he could trust.
In this chaotic world, or rather, this apocalypse, the goodwill Cai Dong had received could be said to be only the help Zhang Bo had given him. Other people were all smiling on the surface, but secretly, they were all backstabbing him.
Therefore, Cai Dong truly trusted Zhang Bo.
"Leave it to me, rest assured. Tonight, whether it's the senior managers or the middle-level managers, both should suffer heavy losses." Zhang Bo didn't hide his hostility towards those senior managers and middle-level managers at all, but he still said to Cai Dong very sincerely, "But after both sides are weakened, for you, you will still be at the highest position, controlling them as the General Manager. You will still be sitting pretty, so no matter what, your position will not be affected in any way."
"I understand that." Cai Dong naturally knew that if they followed Zhang Bo's suggestion, then the senior managers and middle-level managers would indeed suffer heavy losses. Although the loss would be some of the Blue Star Humans' power in Deherim, Cai Dong was also quite clear that as long as Blue Star Humans could continuously provide Lord Shen Mu with spiritual energy, Lord Shen Mu would not pursue too much.
As long as there was no need for too much pursuit, then no matter how much they fought amongst themselves, as long as there wasn't a huge drop in spiritual energy output, they could do as they pleased.
Cai Dong could see that Shen Mu's true combat power relied entirely on those Spiritual Realm soldiers, especially the legions formed by those powerful Spiritual Realm soldiers, which were Deherim's strongest fist.
This was a completely different situation from the Green Leaf Group and the Diesel Company.
Because the forces that the Green Leaf Group and the Diesel Company relied on might not be as powerful as the human empire that Deherim relied on, so whether it was arranging the descent of Spiritual Realm soldiers or the following of Spiritual Realm Followers, they were a bit stingy.
This also led to both the Green Leaf Group and the Diesel Company needing to use Spiritual Realm Commanders, formed by Blue Star Humans undergoing Spiritual Realm inheritance transformation, to lead those Spiritual Realm Followers in combat.
This was because their Spiritual Realm forces behind them were unable to provide them with enough Spiritual Realm Followers for combat.
Of course, both Cai Dong and Zhang Bo understood this very well, which is why Cai Dong agreed with Zhang Bo's suggestion that the senior managers and middle-level managers should suffer heavy losses.
After all, the management team was less than 100 people. Even if they really fought amongst themselves, it wouldn't have much impact on the Blue Star Humans, whose numbers had now reached around 38,000.
The fluctuations in the spiritual energy produced would also not be too great.
So it really didn't matter.
Even if Cai Dong allowed Zhang Bo's current actions, there wouldn't actually be any major upheaval or big situation in the end. After all, it's just the management. Even if the management was lost, couldn't a new batch of managers be replaced? Moreover, the senior management and middle management, who had both suffered heavy losses, would then have no choice but to rely on him due to their injuries.
And at that time, just as Zhang Bo said, Cai Dong would sit pretty. Whether it was the senior management or the middle management, they could only rely on his power to manage.
This would perfectly weaken all the factions that had formed previously, turning them into the strongest, or rather, the largest and most powerful faction, where only Cai Dong had the final say.
Because before, this group of senior managers, led by Cai Dong, had surrendered to Shen Mu and then together conquered the Diesel Company.
In fact, that group of senior managers were still a bit unconvinced about Cai Dong becoming the supervisor and general manager.
After all, everyone worked together to destroy the Diesel Company, but when it came to distributing credit, Cai Dong got the biggest share, eating the fattest meat and the largest cake. This naturally made them unhappy.
Even if Cai Dong indeed played a significant role in sowing discord within the Diesel Company, if one were to calculate, did they not also play a role?
Why was it that now, Cai Dong alone was high above, while they could only divide some smaller areas as senior managers?
Compared to him, who was equivalent to a general manager, their power and status were clearly much weaker.
One should know that at that time, Cai Dong was just a temporary worker, just like them. If they hadn't cooperated, could Cai Dong have obtained a high position in the Diesel Company?
It was their combined effort and hard work that elevated Cai Dong.
Therefore, those senior managers, in fact, still had a mixture of awe and displeasure towards Cai Dong. If they had the opportunity to climb up, they would not hesitate to pull Cai Dong down and replace him with themselves.
This is also human nature.
Although these senior managers didn't say it, Cai Dong understood it very well.
This was also why he had always tacitly allowed Zhang Bo to manipulate these matters behind the scenes. After all, for him, Zhang Bo's feelings for him were the deepest, and Zhang Bo's trust in him was the strongest.
"Then that's all for now. Next, I still have to go to the senior managers' side." Zhang Bo then briefly spoke a few more words with Cai Dong before standing up, a peculiar smile on his face: "Zhou Mo seems to have decided to take the lead and handle the remnants of the Diesel Company with the senior managers."
"Zhou Mo? That's about right. He's always been quite restless. It seems he's also impatient this time." Cai Dong slowly closed his eyes, a hint of fatigue on his face: "However, this guy is just rushing to the front. Perhaps someone else is giving him ideas from behind, but my guess is that others have always wanted to push Zhou Mo to be a trailblazer."
"If he really starts blazing a trail, Zhou Mo could become a threat." Zhang Bo snorted coldly: "I knew him before; he's a very arrogant person and doesn't like to be subservient to others. His taking the lead now doesn't surprise me."
"It really didn't surprise me either. I just didn't expect that once they got this excuse of the Diesel Company remnants, they would be so impatient to climb up." Cai Dong's face showed a bitter smile. In the past, he had always been wary of these guys, and at the same time, he used his influence to win them over. But he never expected that with such an excuse, those guys would actually unite and subtly exclude him, which indeed made Cai Dong feel a bit awkward.
But it didn't matter. Cai Dong also understood that his tacit approval of Zhang Bo causing trouble behind the scenes, and thus dividing the middle-level managers, also made these senior managers uncomfortable.
Therefore, these senior managers were now united, intending to make him uncomfortable.
Cai Dong understood all of this.
"Then I won't go out tonight. No matter how big the matter, I'll just honestly sleep in my bed." Cai Dong sighed, looking at the malt liquor still on the table beside him, and rubbed his temples, saying helplessly: "That's how it is. Tonight, I'll drink all this malt liquor, then plug my ears. I won't get up for anything. I'll sleep until tomorrow morning, waiting for the sun to rise again."
"That's right, exactly." Zhang Bo also punched his chest and then nodded to Cai Dong, saying, "You just sleep well. Leave everything to me. I wish you sweet dreams."
"Of course, I hope I have sweet dreams." Cai Dong also nodded, watching Zhang Bo leave his town residence. He turned to look at the malt liquor on the table, said nothing more, and picked it up, drinking it in large gulps.
Soon, he was completely drunk, his face flushed. The power of the alcohol completely intoxicated him.
Although the alcohol content of malt liquor was only around 10 degrees, Cai Dong hadn't drunk alcohol for a long time, and the alcohol in it also contained the power of rules, so he was truly quite drunk.
Not long after, he felt his head spinning. He was then helped back to his room by a Swadian Militia and began to snore loudly.
He truly intended to ignore everything.
Even if he wanted to manage, there was nothing he could do. He knew very well that the conflicts between the senior managers and lower-level managers at that time had led to huge problems in the current power distribution. Everyone wanted power, and no one wanted to give up their power, so they could only engage in internal strife.
Moreover, with Zhang Bo here to handle these dirty and dark deeds for him, Cai Dong only needed to pretend he knew nothing.
And to have Zhang Bo here to help him resolve those long-standing issues in his heart, he was more than grateful.
Although there was some apprehension or unease in his heart, he had to understand that he had someone by his side who was willing to do the dirty and hard work for him. Someone who was willing to be his black hand, even his glove.
This was truly crucial.
For the supreme ruler, there could be no stains or black marks on their reputation; they had to be morally perfect.
Therefore, every ruler had some 'gloves' by their side who did the dirty and dark work for them, and these people had to be those they trusted implicitly. They also had to be constantly monitored to ensure they didn't escape their control or reveal their actions.
A glove could only be a glove, only a tool, and absolutely could not have its own thoughts, so this key person was extremely important.
And now, Zhang Bo was actually willing to serve as his glove.
This truly made Cai Dong very grateful and overjoyed.
After all, for him, Zhang Bo was someone he trusted greatly, was very sensible, and had a bright future. Moreover, in Cai Dong's eyes, Zhang Bo was not keen on power or power struggles at all, and didn't care what position he held.
This was simply a perfect glove, a tool-person.
Therefore, Cai Dong was truly grateful to Zhang Bo, and thus was willing to let Zhang Bo stir things up tonight.
Cai Dong also didn't consider himself a good person, and at this time, Zhang Bo was already willing to be the bad guy, so he would just honestly be an ignorant good guy. After all, he was the General Manager, the highest commander among the Blue Star Humans.
The one sitting pretty, just as Zhang Bo said.
Even if Zhang Bo faced some punishment, as the General Manager, he could always provide support. Even if Shen Mu knew about this matter and got angry, or even imposed punishment, after the incident was dealt with, he could still secretly continue to help Zhang Bo.
After all, power was still in his hands. Even if something happened, couldn't he still allow Zhang Bo to enjoy a better life again?
This was also what Zhang Bo told him: as long as he didn't fall, Zhang Bo wouldn't fall.
"But I always feel like something isn't quite right." As Cai Dong was getting heavily drunk and nearing sleep, he couldn't help but frown, subconsciously glancing at the darkening sky outside the window. He sighed again, choosing to quickly fall asleep, and at the same time, took out earplugs and put them in his ears, instructing the Swadian Militia not to disturb his sleep no matter what happened, and only allowing others to see him tomorrow morning. Then, he fell into a deep sleep. (End of this chapter)