The smartwatch projected a phantom image.
In the dim room, the blue light projected onto Liya's face showed a simple greeting, but it left Liya unable to respond for a long time.
"What did he say to make you so slow to react?"
"He didn't say much, really." Liya frowned and slowly looked up. "He just asked if I was asleep and nothing else."
"Then why didn't you reply?"
"I... I don't know what his purpose is in contacting me so late at night."
Liya paced the room, his brow furrowed, and said softly, "I've known Chen Yu for so long, and he's assigned me many tasks, but he's never contacted me this late at night. We're not at the stage where we can have heart-to-heart talks late at night. If he messages me this late, there must be something else."
The Chief Financial Officer remained silent, and Liya was also silent for a long time.
"Should I go back?"
"If you need to ask me about such trivial matters, how will you take charge in the future?" The Chief Financial Officer raised an eyebrow slightly. "Is Chen Yu some kind of monster that you'd be so hesitant?"
"I can't understand him."
Liya shook his head, his eyes filled with deep apprehension.
From childhood, Liya had been groomed as the future leader of the family. Ten years of韬光养晦 (laying low and biding time) had settled his mind.
In the entire royal city, whether it was the high officials or the royalty,
He regarded them as playthings.
Yet, when he encountered Chen Yu, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness. He tried to interact more with Chen Yu, always feeling that he could perhaps decipher Chen Yu's thoughts and next moves. But just when he was full of confidence, Chen Yu would present him with completely different outcomes.
In his eyes, Chen Yu's mind was too difficult to fathom.
"Then you've decided to leave him hanging?" the Chief Financial Officer murmured. Liya exhaled deeply and shook his head. "I didn't think of it that way. I'm just considering what he wants to do or ask me."
"If you want to know, go ask."
Seeing Liya's long-unrelieved frown, the Chief Financial Officer smiled and picked up a book.
"Sometimes problems are not as complex or serious as you think. You are currently in a stage I also encountered before, being overly cautious and careful in your outlook, overthinking. Little do you know, doing so only brings you unnecessary trouble. If you can't figure it out, go ask for clarification. It's not too late to consider it when you truly find the problem to be serious."
Upon hearing this, Liya's frown deepened even further.
There was no further conversation in the room, only the steady and heavy breathing of two people.
"Not asleep."
"What are your orders, sir?"
After much consideration, Liya finally typed and sent his reply.
He truly couldn't think of a reason for Chen Yu to contact him so late, and he felt the Chief Financial Officer was right. Perhaps he was overthinking it.
About half a minute later, while Liya was feeling anxious, Chen Yu's message also came.
"It's nothing, I just wanted to ask you if those merchants you contacted about buying advanced blood pills have finished their preparations."
"How are the other cultivation resources coming along?"
???
Liya was stunned for a long time upon receiving the message.
For this matter?
He couldn't reply immediately because he thought Chen Yu's late-night contact might mean something had happened on his end. He had some understanding of the situation in Hurricane City.
Without the old King presiding, many in the royal family had designs on Hurricane City.
This was also unavoidable.
Hurricane City, spanning over seven thousand li, was the largest city in the entire Tartarus Kingdom, occupying one-tenth of the kingdom's territory.
Who wouldn't want a piece of this pie?
The internal strife in Hurricane City even had the shadow of the royal family fanning the flames, and many royal family members were frequently in contact with the lords of the sub-cities.
If not for the sudden illness of the King of Tartarus, which shifted the focus of the conflict to the inner city,
Hurricane City would have likely been divided and devoured by the royal family long ago.
Liya had even considered whether some members of the royal family, feeling that the competition in the inner city had lost its opportunity, wanted to seize Hurricane City's territory earlier. This possibility was real and had a high probability.
If he were to send troops to assist, he couldn't get involved rashly.
However—
"I'll urge them on this matter tomorrow. They should all be resting at this hour, so perhaps I'll give you a reply tomorrow?"
"Alright!"
Liya waited for several minutes after receiving Chen Yu's reply. Only when he was sure there was no follow-up content did he close the chat window on his smartwatch and let out a sigh, a smile appearing on his face.
"You're still the sharpest."
"You brat, talking nonsense." The Chief Financial Officer put down his book and pointed to the seat in front of him. "What was Chen Yu's business with you?"
"It was a simple resource procurement."
"What resources?"
"He previously asked me to help him contact merchants to buy a batch of advanced blood pills and cultivation resources, the more the better." Liya whispered, leaning back in his seat. "Now that he's suddenly mentioned it again, it seems he's in urgent need of these resources."
"Urgent?"
The Chief Financial Officer narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Could he have an inside contact in this royal city?"
"What inside contact?" Liya asked, confused. The Chief Financial Officer said in a deep voice, "Don't you want to know why I moved up the plan and had Old Man and Old Seven start a battle line earlier?"
"The National Preceptor meddling?"
The Seventh Prince, who was not highly regarded in the royal family before, owed his current status to the Chief Financial Officer's support, which instantly elevated his position within the royal family. The National Preceptor had significant grievances with the Chief Financial Officer, and the Seventh Prince also wanted to break free from the Chief Financial Officer's control. They reached an agreement.
The Chief Financial Officer smiled and shook his head, but he didn't blame Liya.
He was not in court and only had a partial understanding of internal affairs. It was natural for him to think of these things.
"Even if that old dog's bones were ground to dust, it wouldn't affect us in the slightest. It's meaningless for me to move up the plan out of spite for that old dog." The Chief Financial Officer's gaze was focused. "What truly changed my plan was Chen Yu, who just contacted you."
"What happened to him?" Liya asked, puzzled.
"Do you know why Old Seven is supporting me with 50 million funds?" the Chief Financial Officer whispered. Liya answered without thinking, "To raise troops."
The eventual outcome in the royal city was bound to be a fratricidal conflict.
To reach the end in this melee, the troops in hand were the most reliable source of confidence.
"Then do you know where his troops are headed?"
Almost instinctively, Liya was about to answer the Royal City Guard, but he quickly realized that his father's question definitely wasn't about simple guards, and he had mentioned Chen Yu earlier.
"Could it be Hurricane City?!"