Although he was already over 40 years old and in his prime, he understood that the main power of the Blue Star Humans in Deherim was not concentrated in his hands.
He was just an idle official.
If he were to have a falling out with them over this matter, he would definitely face even more severe ostracism.
After all, forty to fifty middle-level managers had died last night.
Those middle-level managers had tried to win him over before, but he had politely declined because he didn't want to get involved in their power struggles.
Now, thinking about it, perhaps it was precisely because of his polite refusal that he was able to survive until now.
He was, after all, a CEO of a listed company, over 40 years old.
He still had that much political acumen.
He now found that after these more than 40 middle-level managers died, the remaining senior managers were basically the most powerful group of people.
Whether these middle-level managers were remnants of the Diesel Company was still a question mark in his mind.
So, Sun Zhiru really planned to lie flat here.
After getting out, he would have a good talk with Mr. Zhang Bo, explaining that he had no intention of vying for power or profit.
Although he was only responsible for vetting, the real decision-making power and main negotiation power lay with Mr. Zhang Bo, and he would never interfere.
This was also why Sun Zhiru had just said he would cooperate well with Mr. Zhang Bo and Zhang Caidong's work to successfully complete the command given by Lord Shen Mu.
It already showed his intention of not wanting to vie for power or profit.
Of course, Lord Shen Mu didn't care what the three of them thought or how they acted, as he was just putting on a show and fooling Mr. Zhang Bo here.
Mr. Zhang Bo had put on a show for him before, and now he was putting on a show for Mr. Zhang Bo; it was a competition to see whose play-within-a-play was more entertaining.
This era itself was an apocalyptic world.
There was no entertainment at all.
Now that such an entertainment activity had appeared, Lord Shen Mu was too happy to even think of exposing it. Why would he take the initiative to expose it?
He was quite enjoying it.
"Oh, and one more thing, since it's a negotiation, there needs to be pressure. We need to give the Green Leaf Group some strong pressure from Deherim."
Lord Shen Mu stroked his chin, as if he had thought of something, and then spoke to Mr. Zhang Bo, Zhang Caidong, and Sun Zhiru: "I've heard of something called extreme pressure before. When negotiating with those who were disobedient, you have to push them to the limit. This is extreme pressure, and I also have this intention."
"Lord Shen Mu, we obey your command, but we don't know what you mean by extreme pressure?" Mr. Zhang Bo asked.
"It's very simple. I plan to send a part of Deherim's troops to New Uxhall, which I just established. Then, when you are negotiating, the troops will also be stationed behind you, not far from the Wood Elf Village where the Green Leaf Group is located. They will set up a temporary camp, making it look like they are waiting for the negotiation results."
Lord Shen Mu tapped the table twice with his finger, making a clanging sound: "Those guys from the Green Leaf Group are all Wood Elves. You also know that the Wood Elf race is relatively proud. They usually have their noses in the air, looking down on others. Even though we inflicted heavy losses on them with an ambush, I don't think they believe this is the true strength of Deherim. They will only think that they accidentally fell into an ambush and still look down on us in their hearts. So, I think even if they outwardly submit, they will definitely have some actions in secret, and we need to use force to deter them."
"Deter them with force?" Mr. Zhang Bo finally understood in his heart, but thinking about what Lord Shen Mu said, he also found it reasonable.
The pride of those Wood Elves was almost arrogance.
It was more than just looking down on others with their noses in the air; these Wood Elves looked down on any non-elf race.
It's understandable when you think about the history in the Spirit Realm: these Wood Elves were originally a branch that split off from the High Elves. Although their bloodline, magical power, and magical talent were not as strong as the High Elves, the High Elves were already quite rare.
Compared to the Wood Elves, their numbers were a mere 1/10,000.
And in the history of the Spirit Realm, the High Elves were also a race that once established the most powerful Elf Empire.
At that time, whether it was humans, dwarves, or even Abyssal Demons and Hell Devils, they were all minor players.
Many magical and spell structures were even passed down from the empire era founded by the High Elves. It can even be said that magic and spells themselves were first researched by the High Elves, and now all professional spellcasters who understand this type of casting are enjoying the legacy of the High Elves.
So how could the Wood Elves, who considered themselves heirs of the High Elves, look down on other races?
Therefore, they were truly quite arrogant.
Mr. Zhang Bo, as a prophecy-type mage, was a professional with a broad and bright future, but even so, he, Mr. Zhang Bo, was still looked down upon by those native Wood Elves who had descended from the Spirit Realm.
Even those Blue Star Humans who had completed soul-level frequency resonance and were about to transform into Wood Elves, these Blue Star compatriots, were still regarded as outsiders and impure hybrids in Wood Elf society.
They were also given cold shoulders, with a very disdainful look.
And it was clearly revealed that if they didn't want the Blue Star World to be a new Spirit Realm and wanted to make various arrangements in the Blue Star World in advance, otherwise, they would look down on all these Blue Star Humans and would not allow them to transform into Wood Elves.
Therefore, Mr. Zhang Bo had no good feelings for those Wood Elves.
This is also why, although Mr. Zhang Bo had a very good impression of the Green Leaf Group and was very grateful to Yang Di, he did not choose to stay in the Wood Elf Village. Instead, he ran out to carve out his own future and world.
He wasn't a masochist; he didn't have to stay in the Wood Elf Village and face the Wood Elves' overt and covert eye-rolls and their scornful remarks all day long.
On the contrary, for Mr. Zhang Bo, if it weren't for their Blue Star World and Blue Star Humans,
These Wood Elves from the Spirit Realm would still be eternally frozen in time in their plane, like insects in amber. Even if they still had their own thoughts, their bodies couldn't move at all, and they would have to endure a life of eternal torment.
Their Blue Star World and Blue Star Humans were the saviors of these Spirit Realm races.
They were the benefactors.
Of course, for these Spirit Realm races, they were conquerors, and they were victims who were forced to cooperate with these disgusting Blue Star natives.
The two concepts were inherently different.
However, at this moment, Mr. Zhang Bo agreed with Lord Shen Mu's statement and nodded seriously, saying, "That is indeed the case, Respected Lord Shen Mu. We do need to use force to deter those Wood Elves and apply extreme pressure on them, letting them know who is the most powerful."
At the same time, Mr. Zhang Bo would also return to the Green Leaf Group and tell those Wood Elves that if it weren't for Yang Di and these Blue Star Humans, then this Wood Elf Village would have already been destroyed by Deherim.
These Wood Elves needed to be grateful.
"Very good, as long as you understand my arrangements, then you can pack up and prepare to go take a look in the afternoon. Let all negotiations begin as soon as possible. If there are any developments, have the mounted archers I sent to protect you come and relay the message to me," Lord Shen Mu added.
"Understood." Mr. Zhang Bo also nodded respectfully at this time.
However, the four of them did not continue to chat idly.
After Lord Shen Mu, Mr. Zhang Bo, Zhang Caidong, and Sun Zhiru briefly communicated some simple information about the upcoming negotiations, he dismissed the four of them.
After all, there were many things to do in Deherim now, whether it was repairing the city walls, recuperating the soldiers, or the ongoing intense town expansion plan, all required Lord Shen Mu's approval, deliberation, and decision-making.
There were many matters.
He didn't have time to continue acting with Mr. Zhang Bo here.
A simple chat was fine; anyway, this negotiation was just an excuse, and even more, a disguised smoke screen for war.
In the end, the result was that Lord Shen Mu would use the negotiation as an excuse to launch a surprise attack on the Green Leaf Group, ultimately completely destroying the Green Leaf Group and obliterating the Wood Elves into the dust of history.
Things like loving peace, or not wanting to kill each other for the Blue Star Humans,
Not wanting the Blue Star Civilization to be completely cut off.
These were all just excuses.
How can one allow others to sleep soundly beside their bed?
That was the principle.
However, after Mr. Zhang Bo, Zhang Caidong, and Sun Zhiru left the Noble Residence,
They did not separate.
They soon arrived at Zhang Caidong's town residence, not far from the Noble Residence.
And as soon as he entered the door, Sun Zhiru immediately spoke, "Manager Zhang Caidong, and Mr. Zhang Bo, you know, I've always preferred to follow other people's arrangements to do things, after all, such things are quite simple to do, so I really like to be lazy."
But Mr. Zhang Bo and Zhang Caidong showed no expression at his words.
"Deputy Manager Sun Zhiru, let's sit down and talk." Zhang Caidong smiled and gestured for Sun Zhiru, who was clearly nearly 20 years older than him, to sit down, while expressing his satisfaction with his attitude: "There's no need to say that. We all know your character. After all, for some matters, we still need to work together to perfectly complete Lord Shen Mu's arrangements, don't we?"
"Hmm, Deputy Manager Sun Zhiru is a very good person." Even Mr. Zhang Bo nodded beside him.
This made Sun Zhiru's expression subtly change.
But he still sat down obediently.
"Going to the Green Leaf Group for negotiations next is inherently a rather difficult task. How to appease the Green Leaf Group and how to complete Lord Shen Mu's mission, that is the most important thing." Zhang Caidong smiled and comforted Sun Zhiru.
However, this comfort felt a bit off to Sun Zhiru.
Especially when he thought of what he had perceived earlier.
Although Sun Zhiru's face showed no expression at this moment, his heart slowly grew gloomy.
There was nothing he could do.
Ever since he heard the news that those middle-level managers, who called themselves the Liberal faction, were all killed by the senior managers working together that morning, he knew in his heart that the political struggle among the senior ranks in Deherim had directly reached the level of physical annihilation.
Although the external excuse was that they were remnants of the Diesel Company.
But Sun Zhiru was not foolish.
He was a shrewd person who had risen from being the CEO of a listed company.
In his youth, he had also experienced various struggles in large companies and emerged victorious as a standout.
Now, when they told him that the middle-level managers who were vying for power with the senior managers were killed because they were remnants of the Diesel Company, and that it was to purge a group of traitors from Deherim and such.
Do you think Sun Zhiru would believe it?
Of course.
He would definitely believe it.
But to believe it so easily, to believe it in his heart without any doubt.
That was impossible.
Moreover, Sun Zhiru could also tell that those middle-level managers were precisely the forces and subordinates directly loyal to Mr. Zhang Bo and Zhang Caidong, whom they had nurtured.
And those senior managers, as the core team that had emerged from Lord Shen Mu alongside Zhang Caidong and his group, had ruthlessly, without holding back, eliminated the direct subordinates of Zhang Caidong and Mr. Zhang Bo.
Weren't the underlying reasons perfectly clear?
Using the excuse of investigating internal spies to eliminate dissidents.
This was almost a seamless excuse for these Blue Star Humans, both in their past history and in their current life in this apocalyptic end.
After all, it was for the purpose of finding internal spies, to eliminate spies within their ranks.
If they killed the wrong person, so be it.
The intention was good.
Such matters were all considered for Deherim, all considered for Lord Shen Mu.
Even if there were punishments afterwards,
Could any real punishment actually be carried out?
If they were truly punished,
Then next time, if a spy's shadow appeared among the Blue Star Humans in Deherim, would the special commissioner sent to investigate such matters still dare to continue the investigation?
After all, forced confession was also a method, and now there were no surveillance cameras, videotapes, or camcorders.
To investigate spies,
One could only use the simplest and most violent methods.
Otherwise, how could a spy be rooted out?
But to get back to the point, why was Sun Zhiru's heart so gloomy now? It was because he realized that because of this matter, he seemed to be getting involved with Zhang Caidong and Mr. Zhang Bo, who were in front of him.
The situation was a bit grim. (End of chapter)
