"Mr. Liu, we've arrived."
The vehicle slowly came to a stop, and as the driver opened the door, Liu Yuqiang stepped out.
He found himself in an underground parking garage with many similar vehicles parked around.
"Please follow me."
The driver led the way ahead, with Liu Yuqiang following to the elevator. After entering, the driver pressed the button for the third floor, then stepped out before the elevator doors closed.
Liu Yuqiang rode the elevator up alone. When the doors opened, he found himself in what appeared to be a conference room.
"Old Liu!"
"Yuqiang is here."
Several people had already arrived in the room, sitting on comfortable leather sofas. When they saw Liu Yuqiang arrive, they waved to greet him.
Liu Yuqiang looked over - these were all Qingmei Society members, including quite a few familiar faces.
He walked over and sat down on an empty sofa, asking, "Has Big Sister arrived yet?"
"Haven't seen her yet, probably waiting for all of us to gather before she comes," said an elderly man with a shiny bald head and round-framed glasses.
After speaking, the bald man's eyes showed barely contained anticipation: "I hope Big Sister can show us a clear path forward."
"..."
Liu Yuqiang glanced at the bald man. This man was Yu Feiwei, chairman of Firebird Financial.
Liu Yuqiang didn't have much interaction with him, but clearly remembered when the first Doomsday Rule was announced and Zhao Jiping revealed the Hidden Rule in the group chat, this Yu Feiwei quickly obtained thirty Alertness Mints, which had greatly shocked him at the time.
Now, seeing Yu Feiwei's expectant eyes and somewhat anxious expression, he thought to himself: "If this Chairman Yu relied entirely on eating mints to pass, his Mind Power Upper Limit is probably very low... Is that why he's so anxious?"
Before long, the Qingmei Society members arrived one after another. After everyone had taken their seats, Big Sister finally appeared.
The main conference room door opened from outside, and two young women with short hair and sharp business suits entered first. Then the two women stood on either side, welcoming the main figure into the room.
An elderly woman with white hair, wearing handmade cloth clothing, walked in.
Although the elderly woman was quite old, she was well-maintained with rosy complexion. She walked quickly with straight posture, without the hunched back and listless appearance common among many elderly people.
When the members saw this elderly woman enter, they immediately stood up.
The elderly woman stood in front of the large screen at the front of the room and said with a smile, "Please, everyone sit."
Everyone looked at each other and sat back on the sofas, their eyes showing some shock.
Most of them had never seen Big Sister's true appearance, originally thinking "Big Sister" was just an honorific and her actual age wouldn't be too advanced.
But they never expected to see with their own eyes today that, even with good maintenance, everyone could tell Big Sister's age was at least over seventy.
"Today is the Qingmei Society's first gathering of all members, and many members are seeing me for the first time. You might be quite surprised, and I understand that."
Although Big Sister was elderly, her voice was very powerful, able to be clearly heard by everyone present without amplification.
"I've invited everyone here today for only one purpose - to explain to you where our Qingmei Society is heading in the future."
Big Sister glanced at the young woman beside her, who immediately understood and used a remote to turn on the large screen, displaying various data.
Everyone was shocked when they saw it. This data related to populations killed by the rules, including some previously undisclosed confidential data like age distribution and occupational distribution of the deceased.
Big Sister said, "This is data compiled by the Countermeasures Research Office. No need to ask how I obtained it, just look."
While marveling at Big Sister's remarkable abilities, everyone carefully examined the data. As business leaders accustomed to reviewing financial reports and data, they quickly recognized the horror in the numbers on screen.
One particular statistic caught their attention most.
"The mortality rate for people over fifty is actually as high as niy-three percent?!"
The vast majority of those present were over fifty years old. Seeing this "highly relevant" data sent chills down their spines.
"Correct," Big Sister said. "After entering the Doomsday Rules era, young adults have the highest survival rates. People in our age group have reached the point where fewer than one in ten survive."
"..."
"Everyone here has managed to survive until now through various means and resources. But let me ask you this - can this last? Your Mind Power Upper Limits probably aren't very optimistic."
"Big Sister!" At this point, Yu Feiwei stood up. "My Mind Power Upper Limit is already in single digits. If it decays once more, it will definitely hit zero. You have remarkable abilities - please think of a solution for us!"
"Keep calm," Big Sister gestured for Yu Feiwei to sit down.
Then she scanned the room and said solemnly, "As the saying goes, business is like battlefield. You're all veterans - are you willing to die so inexplicably? We must use every means possible to save ourselves and create our own glory."
With that, the large screen began playing a video showing some disturbing scenes.
The setting appeared to be some kind of prison facility with large numbers of people detained inside. But it definitely wasn't an official prison, evident from the guards wearing green uniforms.
"You may have heard recently about numerous kidnapping cases targeting high Mind Power Ascendants nationwide," Big Sister stated frankly. "To be perfectly honest, this matter is spearheaded by me, with participation from several members."
Many members were immediately stunned. They had heard about the kidnapping cases but never imagined the mastermind behind them was Big Sister herself.
"Why do this? Simple - I refuse to accept fate." Though Big Sister's tone was calm, everyone could sense a chilling murderous intent in her words.
"Why should people our age deserve to die? If the Fire Thief won't give us fairness, we have to find it ourselves. I can tell you all that starting today, the Qingmei Society will completely transform from a business mutual assistance alliance into a survival mutual assistance alliance, focusing primarily on plundering Mind Power-related items and strengthening ourselves."
While everyone was shocked, Yu Feiwei stood up again, loudly cheering: "I support Big Sister! This is exactly what should be done - who told the authorities to abandon us?!"
He looked at the other members: "You all tell me - after the authorities announced massive free provisions, didn't they take business from each of our companies? Old Sun, wasn't your logistics business directly confiscated to transport survival supplies? And Yuqiang, wasn't your company's online gaming business required to meet player demands with all paid items given away for free?"
"The authorities waved their hands and took away many of our core businesses, claiming it was to ensure public survival. And what compensation did they give us? Mere gold! If they really wanted to compensate us, they should have given us survival guarantees!"
"That makes sense."
"Yes, we don't need gold to buy anything - what we lack most is survival guarantees."
Yu Feiwei's words resonated with many. But Liu Yuqiang stood up and asked, "Big Sister, if you've kidnapped so many people, what will happen when the authorities investigate?"
Big Sister smiled slightly: "Have you ever heard of anyone investigating themselves?"
Liu Yuqiang froze, and the other members were equally shocked: Could Big Sister's identity be...?
"Let me say this again. Survival is living beings' primary imperative - anything done for that purpose is justified. To ensure our survival, we need to spare no cost or means."
"And this is also an opportunity for our rise," Big Sister said slowly.
"Before the Doomsday Rules, no matter how hard you worked, you were merely merchants. But in this era, with proper planning, you might well take the stage and perform your own grand drama."
"I've said all I need to say. What follows will only be shared with like-minded individuals. If anyone has objections now, you may stand up and take the elevator to leave. I won't stop you."
After Big Sister finished speaking, most members looked excited and fanatical, showing no intention of moving.
Liu Yuqiang hesitated. He felt Big Sister's ideas were too crazy and wanted to leave. But he doubted whether Big Sister would really let people leave after revealing all this.
At that moment, two members couldn't help but stand up. One of them said, "Big Sister, although we respect you greatly, what you're doing is too dangerous! We don't want to oppose the authorities, sorry..."
"No problem," Big Sister said. "Those who differ in spirit cannot share the same path. Please leave."
The two nodded and took the elevator down.
When the elevator reached the parking level and opened, they were greeted by the driver - but it was a driver holding a gun.
Bang! Bang!
Two muffled sounds later, the dissenters vanished.
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