Now he saw Li Baihu left neither alive nor dead, and Wang Renping betraying Tian Long to throw in his lot with Yan! Ma Qiang knew the character of everyone present well enough. Most of them were cowardly as mice, bending with the wind—otherwise Tian Long could never have succeeded so easily in buying them off.

So to unite these people in resisting Yang Ce and Wang Renping was all but impossible. Who among them would step forward first? Thus Ma Qiang had no choice but to lie low and bide his time. He knew the pills Wang Renping gave them were certainly nothing good—slow poison, perhaps. Once swallowed, any thought of resistance was basically finished! When the time came, if they wanted to live, would they not do whatever Yang Ce told them? So as Ma Qiang saw his turn approaching, his heart tensed! He could not let Yang Ce and Wang Renping succeed! He had to resist! At this thought, Ma Qiang's hand crept slowly toward his waist! He would finish Yang Ce with his gun, then finish Wang Renping! Li Baihu had failed earlier, but Ma Qiang did not consider that he would fail too! Before Li Baihu drew his gun, he had rambled on endlessly at Yan, which had alerted Yang Juehuan—that was why he failed! If he himself took advantage of Yang Yongjin's guard being down and drew silently, he could finish Yang Ce with one shot! Though Yang Ce was not staring fixedly in Ma Qiang's direction and seemed to stand there indifferent, Yang Juehuan's power was all-seeing; without staring, he knew the movements of these people.

But how could Ma Qiang know that? Seeing Yang Ce not looking his way, he thought this a golden opportunity that came but once in a thousand years! Suppressing his excitement and holding his breath, he whipped the gun from his waist with a "swoosh" and was about to fire at Yang Ce—but alas, before the hand gripping the pistol could even rise, his whole body went limp and slumped to the floor, the pistol still clutched in his hand...

Though most of these people had not seen Ma Qiang's earlier scheme, seeing him now on the ground with a pistol in his grip, they understood at once what had happened! Ma Qiang must have tried to shoot Yang Ce while Yang Yongjin's guard was down, but Yang Ce had sensed it and, by some means, finished Ma Qiang! "I'll say it once more: obediently take the pills, and I guarantee you'll be safe. Otherwise, that is what awaits you." Yang Ce did not so much as glance at Ma Qiang. Still with his head lowered in apparent indifference, he spoke coldly to those present.

With Li Baihu's earlier lesson and now Ma Qiang added to it, these people did not dare harbor the slightest dissent! And those who had shared Ma Qiang's restless thoughts abandoned their notions of resistance on the spot.

To resist was death; not to resist might still mean living. Though they did not know what the pills were, those who had swallowed them seemed fine for the moment, so presumably it was not something that killed at once.

It seemed Yang Ce meant to have them do certain things, and if they did them, they could keep living. So these people set their minds at ease. Since matters had come to this pass, whatever Yang Yanzhou said, they would simply do! President Zhang and the others who had already swallowed the pills secretly rejoiced that they and their fellows had obediently taken what Wang Renping gave them—otherwise, they might well be the ones lying on the floor! After Ma Qiang fell, those who followed even opened their mouths of their own accord when Wang Renping came before them, cooperating as the pills went down. But no wonder—who would want to be the next Ma Qiang, or the next Li Baihu?

Soon the pills were all distributed, with a few left in the box. Wang Renping returned the box to Yang Ce, who put it back into his pocket.

"It seems you're all quite obedient!" Yang Ce swept a satisfied gaze over everyone in the room. "I do like working with obedient people!"

Everyone present, Wang Renping included, smiled bitterly in their hearts. Was obedience optional? You quietly laid out two men with a lift of your hand—if we weren't obedient, wouldn't the next one be us?

As for working together... what kind of cooperation was this? It was plainly one-sided coercion, not cooperation at all... But such thoughts could only be entertained in silence—who would dare provoke Yang Juehuan and say such things aloud?

And so these people had no choice but to put on expressions of tearful gratitude and trembling deference. "Mr. Yang, whatever you need, just give the order. Whatever we can do, we will do our utmost!" At this moment their minds were as one, and they spoke this sentence almost in unison.

"Actually, there are some things I don't need to spell out for you to understand. Li Baihu has already said it: Tian Long regards me as a mortal enemy, and by the same token, he is my enemy as well!" Yang Yanzhou said.

Everyone nodded. Even if Yang Yongjin had been the one to say it, they had all grasped the point.

"I'm not asking you to do anything. All I need is for you to strip Tian Long of his power. I'll go and make trouble for Tian Long myself. You needn't ask questions, needn't act, needn't do a thing—just stand aside and enjoy the show." Yang Ce looked over the assembled company as he spoke.

"What?" Everyone present stared at Yang Ce in disbelief. As simple as that? They had still felt some fear at the prospect of moving against Tian Long, and though pressure had forced them into it regardless, here was Yang Jiyan telling them to ask nothing, do nothing, and simply stand by and watch the fun! They could scarcely believe such a stroke of luck! Did that not amount to siding with neither party?

"When I deal with someone, I don't need anyone's help. I only ask that you not make a mess at my side," Yang Linyue said flatly.

The crowd mulled it over, and it really did seem to be so. Yang Ce could bring down Ma Qiang and Li Baihu with a lift of his hand—what help could he possibly need against Tian Long? And the only reason Yang Ce had them under his thumb was that he did not want them making trouble.

At that thought, everyone's hearts settled. Whether Tian Long lived or died was no blasted concern of theirs; so long as the storm did not reach them, all was well.

"Where are the Sun family people being held under house arrest?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

At Yang Juehuan's question, Zhang Jinguo hurried forward. "Mr. Yang, the Sun family are all locked up at a garbage processing plant. I'm the one in charge of guarding them!"

"Very good. Then guard them well. If anyone loses so much as a single hair from a wolf's pelt, you'd best not count on living." Yang Ce glanced at Zhang Jinguo as he spoke.

"Rest easy, Mr. Yang. The Sun family are all safe and sound!" Zhang Jinguo said, quick on the heels of his words.

Yang Yuting nodded, then swept his gaze over the people present. "What I gave you to take is a kind of gu poison. If you don't understand what that means, you can also think of it as a slow-acting poison. You've heard of the Three Worms Brain-Spirit Pill from Jin Yong? Its effects are much the same. Within every twenty-four to thirty hours, you must take an antidote once, or else... you can imagine the consequences for yourselves."

Everyone had already guessed that what Yang Ce had given them was a poison, and that once they had helped Yang Ce accomplish his aim, he would give them the antidote. But none had expected the poison to take effect once every twenty-four hours! Was that not a bit too frequent?