Chapter 428: Falling Apart

At this moment, Mu Chunsheng seemed to forget how to breathe.

Pale lightning flashed wildly in the clouds, reflecting Mu Chunsheng's already mottled face with no blood color. He looked at the cold golden mask and was instantly covered in cold sweat!

After a brief stupor, he suddenly came to his senses and shook his head frantically:

"No... this is impossible!! We prepared a Sandalwood Peace Buddha for you, this is not..."

Before he could finish his words, he seemed to have thought of something and turned his head sharply to look at the audience, locking his gaze on the other four consortium directors!

Mu Chunsheng knew very well in his heart that what he had sent over was a genuine treasure Buddha statue, while this dead wood in front of him had a smooth and flat bottom, which looked like it had been deliberately sawed off and trimmed into a shape very similar to the outline of the Peace Buddha!

This could never be a misunderstanding. Someone must have secretly swapped his Sandalwood Peace Buddha with the intention of angering the Special Envoy and making him completely break with the Big Dipper Consortium!!

What a vicious scheme! What a poisonous heart!!

Mu Chunsheng felt like he was going to explode with anger. He looked at the four consortium directors, wishing he could tear them to pieces on the spot... There was no doubt that the one who did this must be one of the other four opponents. They knew that they had no treasures to compare with the Sandalwood Peace Buddha, and wanted to prevent him from befriending the Special Envoy, so they used such a despicable method!

It's just that Mu Chunsheng didn't know which one of them was scheming against him... or if all four were involved??

As for the other four consortium directors, their expressions were also very strange at this moment. Their thoughts were similar to Mu Chunsheng's... Someone must have been playing tricks behind the scenes... But seeing the Big Dipper Consortium suffer, they were also secretly happy in their hearts, all looking like they were waiting to watch a good show.

At this very moment, the invisible giant python coiled around Zong Wen’s shoulders opened its bloody maw, and the joy and exhilaration that had been pent up just a moment ago flooded into his mind!

"Hahahahahaha!!" Zong Wen couldn't help but laugh and clap his hands. "I thought you were going to pull out something impressive, talking about how it 'symbolizes the friendship between us and the Special Envoy, lasting forever through all storms'... Hahaha! Old Mu, so your friendship with the Special Envoy is just a piece of rotten wood?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the other consortium directors present could barely contain their smiles. Only Mu Chunsheng stared at him fixedly, his gaze as if he wanted to swallow him whole!

After Zong Wen finished laughing, he suddenly realized something was wrong and immediately shut his mouth... By jumping out to mock Mu Chunsheng at such a critical moment, even if he hadn't been the one to do it, it would now be pinned on him.

On the auction desk, a page filled with script gently flipped to the next one:

【△ Amidst the dense thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning strikes directly onto the roof of the Red Dust Hotel. The hotel's power system instantly overloads, and every lightbulb in the hall shatters in response.】

BOOM—!!

Thunder roared again outside the window.

The thunderclap was so close it felt as if it were right above everyone's heads. The next moment, the lights throughout the banquet hall flared with a fiery intensity, and then, amidst a chorus of gasps, they shattered with a deafening crash!

Shards of lightbulbs rained down onto the floor, and the entire banquet hall plunged into darkness, save for the floor-to-ceiling windows that flickered with a ghastly, pale light from the lightning-filled sky...

And at this moment, in front of the central window, a golden mask radiated a suffocating sense of oppression amidst the flashing lightning.

"Beidou Consortium." A low voice echoed in the darkness. "You had better give this Envoy an explanation..."

Sweat poured down Mu Chunsheng’s temples. Gone was the calm, confident demeanor he’d had upon entering, believing he could manipulate the Envoy. In its place was an unprecedented sense of life-or-death crisis.

According to the original script, by currying favor with the Envoy and stalling on the deal, they naturally wouldn't be in any danger... But toying with the Envoy in front of everyone was a completely different matter. This Envoy was already overbearing; if he were truly provoked, the entire Beidou Consortium might be washed in blood!

"Special Envoy!! Please, listen to me! This is absolutely not the sandalwood Buddha I intended to gift you! Someone must have swapped it in secret! Someone is trying to sow discord between us and the Envoy!!" Mu Chunsheng’s voice trembled, and he was so agitated he nearly stood up from his wheelchair on the spot.

Beneath the golden mask, those eyes reflecting the lightning narrowed slightly. "Oh? And who would want to harm you?"

Mu Chunsheng gritted his teeth, his gaze instantly locking onto the guilty-looking Zong Wen below the stage, a murderous intent spreading wildly in his heart!

"You old bastard... I may be sick, but I'm not dead yet! Daring to scheme against my Beidou Consortium like this, I won't let you leave this place alive today!!"

Mu Chunsheng had started out in the underworld, after all, and now, terminally ill and pushed to the brink, he had nothing to fear. Once his rage ignited, it was unstoppable. He immediately smashed the wine glass in his hand and roared:

"Men!! Kill this old bastard!"

The next moment, over a dozen Beidou Consortium bodyguards swarmed into the hall, all armed. Among them were several possessors of the Divine Path, radiating terrifying auras as they moved to surround Zong Wen!

The Huadu Consortium, naturally, would not sit idly by. Their men, who had been waiting in the hotel lobby, surged in immediately, standing in a standoff against the Beidou forces. A massive battle was on the verge of breaking out!

The banquet, which had been so harmonious, had completely fallen apart the moment Chen Ling pulled down the white cloth, and the air was thick with the scent of gunpowder.

"Old Mu! Have you lost your mind?! I didn't do this!" Zong Wen hadn't expected things to escalate to this point and immediately glared at Mu Chunsheng, roaring back.

"Who else?! If not you, then who?!!"

"Ask them! It wasn't me!!" Zong Wen was getting anxious. Although he had plenty of men, if a fight broke out, they certainly couldn't beat the desperate thugs of the Beidou Consortium. If things went wrong, he might really lose his life here... The current Mu Chunsheng was a madman pushed into a corner, capable of anything.

As if remembering something, his gaze instantly locked onto Lu Yuanzheng, the director of the Dinglu Consortium standing beside him, and he spoke coldly:

"I remember now, this hotel is controlled by this kid, Lu Yuanzheng... Besides him, who else could have swapped the sandalwood Buddha without anyone noticing?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Yuanzheng’s heart skipped a beat. The next moment, he felt Mu Chunsheng’s chilling gaze lock onto him—the look of a leopard ready to devour its prey.

"It wasn't me!! Damn it! Didn't we reach a consensus?! What good would this do me?!"

"You pretended to reach a consensus on the surface, then pulled strings behind our backs to provoke the Envoy into wiping out the Beidou Consortium... Isn't this the kind of insidious tactic your Dinglu Consortium loves most? The Liuzhen incident before—wasn't that you pushing from behind, trying to drive our Huadu to our deaths?"

"It wasn't me! It really wasn't... What good would destroying the Beidou Consortium do me?! If we're talking about motives, the Paradise Consortium is the biggest suspect, right?! As soon as Beidou falls, they can take over their business immediately. They are mortal enemies, after all!"

"What?! What does this have to do with me..."

“……”

In the pitch-black hall, thunder rumbled incessantly. In this suffocating, oppressive environment, the suspicions between the major consortiums were completely ignited. The "alliance," which hadn't been solid to begin with, crumbled to dust with Chen Ling’s light tap. They even began to turn their weapons against one another.

Angry accusations echoed in the darkness. In the chaotic hall, that golden mask, seemingly forgotten by everyone, appeared to narrow its playful eyes slightly amidst the flashing, pale lightning...

"The show... begins."