“Alright! You don’t need to feel embarrassed anymore! Don’t lower your head either—what’s there to be shy about? After all, a person who admits mistakes and corrects them is still a good comrade, right?” Mu Lin noticed how Xiao Laipi had lowered his head after being scolded, so he softened his tone slightly. He didn’t want to make Xiao Laipi lose face, especially since they hadn’t known each other for very long.
“No, Master! Your spittle nearly made it rain! If I hadn’t lowered my head, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes open!” Upon hearing this, Mu Lin almost collapsed onto the ground in shock. So it turned out he had misunderstood again—he hadn’t considered that Xiao Laipi had been around for centuries and had seen countless situations like this.
Mu Lin straightened his expression and said, “Alright then! Anyway, you’ve vented enough, and you didn’t suffer any real harm. It was just a minor loss, after all!”
Changing the subject, he continued, “By the way, are all the main powerholders of the McGuire family present here? Does their family have any other distant relatives who are close to you?”
“Master! All the main power figures of the McGuire family are here. But I don’t understand what you mean?” Xiao Laipi looked at Mu Lin with confusion.
“Hehe! I don’t mean anything in particular. I just want to replace their family leader. This way, we eliminate a family that’s currently hostile toward us. Besides, my funds aren’t that abundant. Saving a few hundred million dollars would be great!” Mu Lin explained with a smile.
“But Master, what about these people? Are we just going to let them off like this?” Xiao Laipi asked, somewhat unwillingly.
“Hehe! You might not know yet that I’m actually an excellent doctor. A doctor can heal people, but can also make them suffer from endless illnesses—rendering them blind, deaf, unable to write, paralyzed, living like living corpses for the rest of their lives. Wouldn’t that be even better?” Mu Lin continued smiling as he explained to Xiao Laipi.
However, Xiao Laipi involuntarily shivered. At this moment, he finally realized that his newly acknowledged young master was no kind-hearted person either. His master’s approach to dealing with problems was even more ruthless and experienced. It seemed he would have to be extra cautious from now on.
After thinking carefully for a while, Xiao Laipi said to Mu Lin, “Master, I have a few names in mind. Let me tell them to you so you can decide.”
Mu Lin waved his hand and said, “You can choose the best candidate yourself. Let me give you some general criteria. The person should be a distant relative of the McGuire family, someone who was never valued by the family since childhood, lacked formal education, and currently doesn’t work for any of the McGuire family’s businesses. Most importantly, this person must be greedy!”
“Master! I understand your first few conditions, but why do you specifically want someone greedy? My original candidates were relatively kind-hearted people. Wouldn’t they be easier for us to deal with in the future?” Xiao Laipi was puzzled by Mu Lin’s intention.
“A greedy person has far greater desires than ordinary people. Just think about it: a destitute person, barely surviving day to day, upon learning that they could suddenly acquire a fortune, would naturally try to please the one who could grant them that wealth. To obtain this fortune, they wouldn’t care about small matters and would be entirely dependent on you—the one who grants them the wealth. Then we could achieve the greatest benefit at the smallest cost.
Once this person acquires the wealth, they will feel insecure about their new status and will eliminate anyone who might threaten their fortune. At that point, we won’t even need to worry about the current members of the McGuire family—they will be even more fearful of these people than we are and will certainly get rid of them completely.
As for those kind-hearted people you mentioned, once they acquire the wealth, they will feel more responsibility. Their first priority will be to heal the injured people here, second to take care of the remaining family members, and third to investigate the truth behind this incident.
Just think, how many clues have we left for them to investigate? We can’t erase all the evidence. Perhaps they won’t uncover the truth, but once they get close to it, they will become our potential enemies.
Hehe, I think I don’t need to explain anything else. Now you should know which kind of person you should choose, right?” Mu Lin asked with a rhetorical question, leaving Xiao Laipi speechless.
At this moment, Xiao Laipi was deeply impressed by Mu Lin’s thorough and detailed analysis. He also felt a chill from Mu Lin’s ruthless way of dealing with enemies. He couldn’t help but think that he must be extra careful in the future—offending the young master even slightly could lead to serious consequences. Mu Lin’s gentle smile now looked like a devil’s grin in his eyes.
“Master, now that you’ve explained it this way, I do have someone like that in mind. His name is Darc McGuire. He’s the illegitimate son of the McGuire patriarch. His mother was a prostitute who had an affair with the elder McGuire and gave birth to him.
At six years old, after his mother’s death, he was brought into the McGuire family. However, due to his lowly origins, he was bullied from childhood by the McGuire patriarch, his brothers, and cousins.
At fourteen, he ran away from home and started hanging out with street thugs. At eighteen, he became addicted to drugs. After the media exposed his drug use, the McGuire family took him back and forced him into rehab. At twenty-two, he left the McGuire family and started making his own way. Now he works as a truck driver.
However, he’s always had sticky fingers, often stealing things from the family members and selling them, so everyone in the family dislikes him. I used to feel sorry for him and often gave him help. But later he even tried to steal from me. If I hadn’t given him a harsh lesson, he might have stolen everything I had.” Xiao Laipi quickly told Mu Lin about his chosen candidate after a brief moment of thought.
“Oh? Can you contact him now? Do you know his current situation?” Mu Lin showed slight interest after listening and casually asked Xiao Laipi.
“Alright! There’s no need to be embarrassed! Don’t lower your head—what’s there to be shy about? Recognizing a mistake and correcting it still makes you a good comrade, doesn’t it?” Seeing that his words had made Little Rascal lower his head, Mu Lin softened his tone slightly, speaking earnestly. He didn’t want to embarrass Little Rascal too much, after all, they hadn’t known each other for long!
“No, it’s not that, Young Master! Your spit was practically raining down on me. If I hadn’t lowered my head, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my eyes open!” Hearing this, Mu Lin nearly fell over. So, once again, he had misread the situation. He should have remembered—this guy was a centuries-old monster who had seen it all!
Mu Lin straightened his expression. “Fine! Anyway, you’ve vented enough, and you haven’t suffered any real losses—just a scratch on the surface!”
Then, shifting the topic, he said, “Here’s the thing—I’d like to ask if the main power figures of the Maguire family are all here right now? Are there any distant relatives in their family who are particularly close to you?”
“Young Master, all the key figures of the Maguire family are here. But I don’t understand what you’re getting at?” Little Rascal looked at Mu Lin in confusion.
Mu Lin chuckled. “Oh, nothing much. I just want to replace the head of this family. That way, we eliminate one family that’s temporarily hostile toward us. Besides, my funds aren’t exactly overflowing—saving a few hundred million dollars wouldn’t hurt!”
“But what about these people? Are we just going to let them off?” Little Rascal asked, somewhat unwilling to let it go.
Mu Lin grinned. “Well, you might not know this yet, but I’m a highly skilled doctor. A doctor can heal, but they can also ensure someone is plagued by endless ailments—blind, deaf, unable to write, paralyzed, living like a walking corpse for the rest of their lives. Wouldn’t that be better?”
Little Rascal couldn’t help but shiver. Now he truly understood that the young master he had just pledged himself to was no pushover. His methods were even more ruthless than his own. From now on, he’d have to be extra careful.
After thinking carefully for a moment, Little Rascal said, “Young Master, I have a few names in mind. Let me tell you, and we can decide.”
Mu Lin waved his hand. “You weigh the options and pick the best candidate. I’ll give you some general criteria: this person should be a collateral relative of the Maguire family, someone who was neglected from childhood, received no formal education, and isn’t currently working in any of the family’s businesses. Most importantly—they should be greedy!”
“Young Master, I understand the first few conditions, but why do you want someone greedy? The people I had in mind were all decent. Wouldn’t that make it easier for us to deal with them later?” Little Rascal was puzzled.
“Greedy people have desires far beyond the ordinary. Think about it—a destitute man, barely scraping by, suddenly learns he can get a windfall. His first instinct will be to please the one who can give him that wealth. To secure it, he won’t care about immediate consequences. And the one who can give him that wealth? That’s you. That’s how we get the biggest return for the smallest cost.”
“Once he gets the money, he’ll feel his position is unstable and will eliminate anyone who threatens his newfound fortune. We won’t even need to worry about the current Maguire family members—he’ll fear them more than we do and will wipe them out completely.”
“As for the decent people you mentioned—once they get the wealth, they’ll only take on more responsibilities. First, they’d try to heal these people. Second, they’d care for the remaining family members. Third, they’d investigate how this all happened.”
“Think about it—how many clues have we left behind? We can’t erase everything. Even if they don’t uncover the truth, if they get close, they become our enemies.”
Mu Lin smirked. “I don’t think I need to explain further. You should know by now which kind of person to pick, right?”
Little Rascal was utterly awed by Mu Lin’s meticulous analysis and chilled by his ruthless approach to enemies. He silently vowed to be careful not to offend the young master—otherwise, he’d be in deep trouble. That faint smile on Mu Lin’s face now seemed like the grin of a demon.
“Young Master, now that you mention it, there is someone like that. He’s Old Man Maguire’s illegitimate son—Dake Maguire. His mother was a prostitute who got involved with the old man and had him.”
“At six, after his mother died, he was taken into the Maguire family. But because of his background, he was bullied by Maguire and his brothers, as well as his cousins.”
“He ran away at fourteen, hanging out with street thugs. By eighteen, he was into drugs, but when the media exposed it, the family took him back to force him into rehab. At twenty-two, he left the family to make his own way. Now, he’s a truck driver.”
“But he’s got sticky fingers—he’d often steal things from the family to sell. That’s why everyone hates him. I used to pity him and gave him handouts. But then he started eyeing my things too. If I hadn’t taught him a lesson, he’d have stolen me blind.”
After a brief pause, Little Rascal quickly relayed his chosen candidate.
Mu Lin raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Can you contact him now? Do you know his current situation?”
“Yes, I can reach him. He’s 38 now, married at 30 to a stripper from a nightclub. She was after the Maguire name, but after having two daughters and seeing the family never helped him, she left him last year, abandoning the kids. No one knows where she is now.”
“He’s raising the two girls alone. If not for the country’s welfare system, they’d have starved long ago. In March, he even brought them to the Maguire family for help, but no one cared. I took pity on the kids and gave him a piece of jewelry to sell. He left me his home number, so I can still reach him.”
Mu Lin pondered for a moment, then nodded. “Good. It’s him. Contact him now.”
Now he raises the two children alone. Without U country’s comprehensive welfare system, perhaps his family would have starved to death already! In March this year, he even brought his two children to the McGuire family seeking help, but no one paid any attention to him. I felt sorry for the children, so I gave him a piece of jewelry to sell. He also left me his home phone number. So I can still contact him.” Xiao Laipi hurriedly explained everything clearly to Mu Lin.
Mu Lin thought for a moment, then said to Xiao Laipi, “Alright! This is the one. Contact him now!”
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