Chapter 677 Layout

Chapter 677 Layout

A few of them sat together, taking a hard look at the current state of the Eastern Trade Guild.

Paisley went through the member list she had compiled in detail. The Eastern Trade Guild was dominated by the four ancient financial dynasties of the supernatural martial world, but these families had been running their own operations for years with almost no overlap. The Guild had essentially become an empty shell in name only, kept alive purely by the tangled web of shared interests at its foundation.

"I still think the priority should be building a brand new trade alliance," Paisley said, laying out her analysis and turning to Larry. "Use it to pull in major outside players on a large scale and push back against the Eastern Trade Guild across the board."

"That takes too long," Abigail shot back immediately. "There's barely over half a year until the federal election. A new alliance can't build up enough weight in that timeframe. Larry's goal is to cut out this cancer before the election results are in."

"Then we have no choice but to strong-arm the four ancient dynasties," Chloe cut in. "If they all swing behind Larry and give him their full backing, the cleanup that follows becomes straightforward."

Paisley gave a slight shake of her head, unconvinced. "That probably won't work. A hundred years ago, the four dynasties signed a foundational agreement with the King. The core terms were simple: no interference in secular politics, and never take sides."

"The situation has already spiraled completely out of control," Chloe said, her eyes sharp. "The moment Larry crossed the line and killed the Supreme Envoy, the old balance shattered. And this chaos wasn't just the result of someone pulling strings behind the scenes — it was something the major power players all quietly allowed. Nobody wanted this twisted deadlock to drag on, so they went with the flow and pushed Larry to the front as the blade to break it open. On top of that, after the Heavenly Mountain Summit, everything has gone into full collapse. Who's going to tie their own hands following some old agreement now? Who even cares which way the four dynasties lean?"

Larry found himself glancing at Chloe. In his experience, she had never been one for political maneuvering, so her clear-eyed grasp of how the geopolitical power structure was falling apart caught him off guard.

Paisley fell into thought as well. Chloe had cut straight to the heart of it. It was precisely because the four dynasties had chosen neutrality that outside powerhouses were now pushing hard to force their hand — using that to crack the door of power wide open.

She turned to Larry. "Larry, say something."

Larry rubbed his nose, his expression a mix of self-deprecation and resignation. "It's a tangled mess, no question about it. My original intention was just to help the King clear out the obstacles and set things up for a smooth transition to a new administration. But looking at it now, the current King is running the exact same monopoly playbook as the first King, Watson, a hundred years ago. What I'm genuinely worried about is this: once we tear down the Eastern Trade Guild, something new will grow out of the rubble — a different shell, same stranglehold on the federation."

"If that's what you're afraid of, why not just run yourself?" Paisley looked straight at him and threw out a bold suggestion. "If you take the King's seat, every obstacle and threat disappears."

Larry waved it off with a self-mocking laugh. "Not a chance. I have zero interest in fighting over the seat of power. Once I've dealt with this mess in Aurora Citadel, I'm taking Chloe and disappearing — out of Aurora Citadel, out of Sunset City, somewhere quiet and far from all of this."

As he said it, Larry reached over and took Chloe's hand. He genuinely was tired of this endless political bloodsport, but he also knew that if he walked away now and everything collapsed, the current King would have no chance of surviving a showdown against Marc's Gu raisers.

"Alright, it's way too early to be talking about any of that." Chloe noticed the slightly awkward atmosphere in the room and let go of his hand naturally, steering the conversation away. "We can talk about stepping back later. Right now we need to deal with the crises that are right in front of us."

"Agreed." Paisley nodded, pulling her thoughts together. "Then we need to run two tracks at once. I'll keep working behind the scenes as the head of the Bennett family, reaching out to the other three dynasties and trying to get them to form a united front behind Larry. It's a long shot — especially with the Nine Clans, given how deep the bad blood runs between them and the Bennetts, that's practically a dead knot — but we have to try. As for Abigail..."

Paisley turned to her. "You keep moving forward with the original plan — quietly building the new trade alliance, pulling in multinationals and rising capital that sit outside the Eastern Trade Guild, building up mass as fast as possible, laying the groundwork to absorb control of the federation's economic arteries when the time comes. And Chloe..."

Paisley glanced at Chloe. She had been about to suggest that Chloe activate Heaven's Gate's shadow network to forcibly consolidate the entire supernatural martial world in the shortest time possible. But she stopped herself.

"Chloe, you stay and support Larry. He's been running at full intensity lately — he needs the tightest possible security and someone looking after him properly."

She left it vague, but Paisley knew perfectly well that Chloe's political instincts and strategic mind were at least a match for her own, and that Heaven's Gate would not be sitting on the sidelines through this storm.

"Understood."

Everyone nodded in agreement, signing off on Paisley's plan.

Paisley moved into the details. "Once the framework for the new alliance is in place, at the critical final moment, I'll publicly announce the Bennett family's departure from the Eastern Trade Guild — making it as loud as possible — and set off a capital market shock in Aurora Citadel. That will trigger a systemic panic inside the old structure, and once their lines of interest crack, that's the window for Larry to move in with military force. It has to be clean and fast — overwhelming dominance in a very short window. No grinding wars of attrition. The longer it drags on, the more things can go wrong. So before we light the fuse, every layer of the Eastern Trade Guild's internal network needs to be fully mapped — every core member, every implicated official, their deep assets and criminal evidence all locked down. When we move, it's targeted elimination and coordinated arrests, all at once."

"This plan is solid," Larry said, nodding slowly.

It was the highest-probability path forward. But inside Aurora Citadel, if he used the Legion of Flame Surge's standard intelligence network for a deep investigation, the tangled web of interests embedded within would almost certainly tip someone off. The conventional military intelligence network had to stay dark.

The only assets he could fully trust and deploy right now were Matthew and the Grim Reaper's deep underground network rooted in Sunset City, his own elite Dragon Palace, Alden's dark web powerhouse Shadow Syndicate, and the ace think tank his grandfather had left him — the Cabinet Room.

Larry issued his core directive. "Chloe, contact every Cabinet Room operative and have them move to Aurora Citadel in secret immediately. Full infiltration — I need the Eastern Trade Guild's core network completely mapped from the inside."

"Got it." Chloe answered without hesitation.

Larry then switched to a private channel and connected to Alden's terminal, asking for the latest on tracking Melanie. Shadow Syndicate's global search had come back empty.

"Keep pushing the search, no time limit. And move your core Shadow Syndicate people into the federal capital now."

"Boss, Shadow Syndicate doesn't exactly operate in the open. Aurora Citadel is the heart of the federation — security there is insane. If we cross into that territory uninvited, we'll get torn apart before we even get through the outer perimeter." Alden's voice on the other end carried a note of genuine exasperation.

"I'll sign the clearance myself. But I'm warning you — once you're inside federation territory, keep your people in line. If anyone decides to cause trouble or cross a line at a moment like this, don't expect any mercy from me."

"With that, things get a lot simpler." A low, quiet laugh came from Alden.

After cutting the line, Larry immediately connected to Lyra — one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons' core commanders — on an encrypted channel, checking on the overseas search for Melanie. Dragon Palace's reach abroad was still thin, and cross-border information retrieval had hit walls. In such a short window, her exact location still hadn't been pinned down.

"Keep the search at maximum intensity. Also, order all Eight Heavenly Dragons members to pull back to Aurora Citadel headquarters as fast as possible. The cleanup operation is moving into its active phase."

"Yes, sir!"

With that handled, Larry connected to underground intelligence broker Grim Reaper.

"Grim Reaper, all green channels are open. Get your ground-level network fully embedded in Aurora Citadel within twenty-four hours and stand by for further tactical direction."

After a rapid series of remote deployments, Larry finally set down the terminal and lit a cigarette.

Chloe watched him and asked quietly, "Larry, what's your next move?"

With Paisley and Abigail in the room, Chloe kept her tone professional and didn't call him by the more intimate name.

Larry exhaled a slow breath of smoke, his gaze drifting out the window. After a long silence, he spoke in a low voice. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to Western Europe myself."