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Chapter 576: Siege

However, the number of times Ling Mo was brought up had noticeably decreased.

But now, his name came up again.

And as soon as this person spoke, all eyes immediately turned to Lucy, who was sitting at the other end of the long table.

The seat next to her, Ling Mo’s usual spot, had been empty during the meetings these past few days, as he hadn’t attended even once.

Everyone knew what that meant; in fact, they’d rather Ling Mo stayed away and not interfere with any of Team F’s affairs.

But while his absence from the meetings was welcome, his active involvement with the Miracle Team and his blatant attempts to poach their members were causing quite the discontent.

“There are now four people, and three new members, who follow him around all the time. From what I hear, others speak highly of Ling Mo and some have even openly expressed their desire to join that team,” a core member reported. “You all must be aware of this situation, right? It’s completely different from what we initially thought!”

“Yeah, he certainly has made a name for himself…” the speaker had also heard in detail about the incidents during the selection of members.

“This will divide our strength. If their hearts are not with us, can they still be considered our people?” a member boldly stated.

Another nodded in agreement: “This is our country, after all. It was supposed to be just a figurehead position… He’s not really going to leave us for good, is he?”

“That can’t be… If he were to stay, it should be at Falcon Second Camp…” someone questioned.

Yet another shook his head: “Maybe he’s planning to take us over?”

“Oh right, that could be a strategy…” the questioning member suddenly felt as if he had sensed a conspiracy.

Finally, someone pointed the finger at the silent Lucy: “President, if I remember correctly, you were the one who agreed to his request, right?”

Lucy, with her arms on the table and her chin propped on her hands, appeared lost in thought.

After being called out, it took her a few seconds to respond: “Huh?”

The member repeated the question somewhat helplessly, as everyone waited to see how Lucy would react.

“This…,” Lucy still seemed distracted as she rubbed her temples and then narrowed her eyes slightly, “I did agree, but weren’t you all there at the time? If anyone had objections, who stopped you from speaking up? As for the figurehead regimental commander… it was us who begged him to accept. Are you unsatisfied now?”

“But…” the member was at a loss for words, unable to find a rebuttal.

Were they stopped? Those present exchanged stealthy glances and couldn’t help but show a hint of a bitter smile.

The reason was an unspoken understanding… Who among them didn’t fear Ling Mo?

“As for a takeover… that won’t happen. He’s not the type to be bound by us,” Lucy refuted.

“This can’t be just based on your speculation as president, right?” someone said.

“I’m not speculating. It’s based on his actions. Besides, if he really wanted to take us over, why go through such a roundabout way? Don’t forget, we didn’t have a management before. If Ling Mo had suggested that we stay at Falcon Second Camp, how many people would have been willing to stay?” Lucy added.

With those words, many fell silent again.

A lot of them felt somewhat tempted themselves, let alone others.

It was just that at that time, Falcon didn’t mention it, and none of them took the initiative to stay, so the idea only crossed the minds of a few.

Being actively recruited and being invited are after all two different things.

“Even so, what about him poaching our people?” another person asked. “That’s seven people! How many do we have in total?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Exactly, who knows if he’ll keep poaching in the future!”

“Who can guarantee that!”

…

The entire meeting room erupted into a noisy clamor, and Lucy tried to speak several times, but her voice was drowned out.

In the blink of an eye, the meeting seemed to have turned into a denunciation of Lucy and Ling Mo. Lucy sat there alone, looking rather helpless.

“Enough!”

Lucy’s expression changed again and again until she suddenly slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

The noise immediately subsided a great deal, and those arguing turned their focus back to Lucy.

Lucy locked eyes with them for a while, and the distrust she saw made her blood boil.

“You… you people aren’t familiar with Ling Mo, so when you need his help, you ask me to step in. Now, when you feel threatened by Ling Mo and want to offend him, you turn to me again…” Lucy said, and then suddenly let out a cold laugh, articulating each word, “Are you treating me as your president, or are you all conspiring to use me?”

As she spoke, her gaze slowly swept across everyone’s faces.

It was then that these people noticed that Lucy’s eyes looked different than before.

The Lucy who was always serious, a bit stubborn, was not in this office right now.

The Lucy standing here seemed somewhat unfamiliar…

Her eyes were slightly red, as if she hadn’t rested well, but when she stared at them, they felt as if their skin was pricked by needles.

Such a murderous look had rarely been seen in Lucy’s eyes before.

Some people think that by bulging their eyes and trying to look fierce, they can appear intimidating, but in reality, even if they pop their eyeballs out, it’s useless.

The real aura of menace is like a fierce beast ready to pounce on its prey at any moment, searching for their weak spot, making one feel that any sign of weakness could lead to being torn apart instantly.

And this kind of look was now present in Lucy’s eyes.

The words she spoke were sharp, directly poking at the little schemes in the minds of those present.

“A bunch of grown men using me, a woman, like this? You should be ashamed!” Lucy scoffed with a bitter laugh.

Lucy’s words seemed to bring a sense of shame to most people in the room, and they averted their eyes, pretending not to hear. However, there was still someone who, thick-skinned, remarked, “How can you call this using you? You’re a member of Team F, utilizing your resources for the good of everyone. What’s wrong with that? Besides, if it weren’t for your relationship with Ling Mo…”

He stopped abruptly there, but Lucy immediately demanded, “What do you mean by that?”

The man was startled at first, then looked around at the others with a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

Being scared off by a woman and in front of so many people at that… he felt humiliated and angry: “Fine, let’s lay it all out then. Why do you think you became the president? Sure, you’re good with people, very good indeed. Who doesn’t know about you and Ling Mo…”

Lucy’s expression turned very ugly as she heard this.

She was not one to hide her emotions. Under normal circumstances, she would have exploded with rage at such an insult.

But at that moment, she felt a mortifying sense of being seen through, particularly when she thought about all she had done for Ling Mo, which made her even less able to lift her head.

Everyone was watching her, and seeing her expression, they all felt they understood what was going on.

The man who had spoken felt a rush of vindication, as if he had regained the face he lost when Lucy had shouted at him: “Heh, there’s really nothing wrong with you being president. But regarding Ling Mo, can you honestly say you have no personal feelings? Now that things have turned out this way, you need to step up and deal with it, to at least clarify what Ling Mo is really after…”

He began to gesture and pontificate, and watching Lucy remain silent, biting her lip, he felt a surge of pleasure.

This was power, status, the ability to direct affairs! Indeed, it was exhilarating!

The more he spoke, the more he convinced himself he was right. Lucy was never fit to be president; he should be in charge instead!

If it weren’t for relying on Ling Mo…

Unsatisfied in his heart, his words towards Lucy became increasingly unpleasant: “If he won’t say it, you could ask, couldn’t you? Others he might not care for, might not bother with, but you… right? Everyone understands.”

“Heh heh…” A few chuckles emerged from the crowd, but most people were still too ashamed to join in on this kind of mobbing.

“You could ask me directly.” At that moment, an unexpected voice suddenly joined the conversation.