Still unaware of what was happening in Luanwei Street at the moment, Chen Xiao was looking at Old Man Xu with a strange look in the study of the Xu family mansion.
The two people's eyes touched in the air for a long time, and for a moment, the atmosphere seemed to freeze.
Finally, Chen Xiao seemed to smile: "Uncle Xu, who are you talking about? Shi Gaofei? That weirdo in a wheelchair? Why does he want to contact me?"
Seeing Chen Xiao's calm smile, Old Man Xu seemed to be relieved. He felt relieved, and the fingers holding the cigar relaxed. He flicked the ashes casually: "Well, that's fine if you don't. I'm just concerned, Just ask.”
Chen Xiao looked at Old Man Xu thoughtfully. Although he didn't speak, the dissatisfaction in his eyes was already revealed.
Old Man Xu was stared at by him for a while, and then he finally laughed and said: "Okay, okay, I know I can't hide it from you all the time, and you don't have to look at me like this anymore. I'll just tell you." After a pause, he looked at Chen Xiao with a smile: "What do you want to know?"
Chen Xiao looked calm: "Uncle Xu, if you don't want to say it, I won't force you. I don't dare, and I have no position to force you to tell me anything. It's just that this matter is getting weirder and weirder, and it has already implicated me. If you come in, I'm willing to help you, but you have to make sure I understand in my heart."
Old Man Xu gave a bitter smile: "Well, I did something wrong before. Since I want you to help, I can't hide everything from you."
"Yes." Chen Xiao nodded slightly: "No matter what, you are still my Uncle Xu, the second young master is my best brother, and you are also my respected elder."
When he said this, his tone was very sincere, his eyes were clear, and he continued slowly: "From the earliest time, Lu Bancheng ran to the coffee shop to seek a commission. What happened that time, I later discovered that the black knight launched an attack. The main target is actually you, not Lu Bancheng. At first, I might think that it was a business dispute between you and some large consortium in Europe, which led to a vendetta. Someone paid to hire the Black Knights, a mercenary group with special powers. To deal with you. But soon, I discovered that things are not that simple."
"Yeah." Old Man Xu twitched his lips.
"You seem to be more than just an ordinary businessman. You were the one who introduced Lu Bancheng to the coffee shop to entrust him. I was thinking, since you know the existence of Lao Tian and others in the coffee shop, why don't you go and ask for help yourself? Later, I suddenly I have a guess, maybe you know Lao Tian and the others, but for some reason it was inconvenient for you to come out to meet them in person, so you lured Lu Bancheng there."
"That's a good guess." Old Man Xu smiled slightly: "But I didn't deliberately hide this from you. These days, I asked Er Shaoduo to go to the coffee shop to interact with a few old guys, and you saw it, and I I didn’t hide it from you on purpose.”
"Well, that's why I'm even more surprised...Uncle Xu, who are you?" Chen Xiao frowned: "And last time, the little red robe brother's territory was occupied by the Black Knight's Tyrannosaurus Rex, which also attracted a famous figure in the supernatural world. The master 'Yaksha'. The little red-robed eldest brother almost doesn't care about the Xu family's affairs. If it's just a gangster vendetta, huh, how can the gangster organization in K City have the ability to contact that mysterious supernatural organization! It's even more impossible Pay money to hire people with superpowers to participate in this kind of underworld vendetta! Ordinary underworld organizations don’t have such great abilities. I understood it at that time.”
Old Man Xu chuckled: "Well, you are right."
Chen Xiao sighed, looked at Old Man Xu with some worry, and said slowly: "Uncle Xu, when you celebrated your birthday last time, you told me that there are many things that are not convenient for you to tell me. Therefore, I have never asked you anything. .Today you..."
"Well." Old Man Xu seemed to be in a trance, and then he waved his hand, with a slightly bitter smile: "This is now and then. I didn't say it at the time, but I always had some illusions about you. Alas, You are young, and you are the junior I like. I admire you very much, and I have never wanted you to come into this circle. But it seems that you have already entered. Now, it’s okay not to talk about things. Yes. It's a pity that I originally wanted to send you and the Second Young Master to study abroad, and then you can finish your studies peacefully and become an ordinary businessman in the future. Now it seems that this is not possible. "
Chen Xiao's eyes flashed: "Uncle Xu, who...are you?"
"I won't answer this question for now. Please be patient. Anyway, I will explain everything clearly to you today." Old Man Xu stared at Chen Xiaoduo twice, then couldn't help but shook his head, as if he was very sorry. His expression: "What a pity, what a pity... The look on your face now is the same as mine back then, full of curiosity and yearning for this magical circle. Alas... "
After stopping Chen Xiao's questions, Old Man Xu slowly began to speak.
"Chen Xiao, since you have had contact with service societies and clubs, you can be considered a member of the supernatural world. So, do you know which is the largest supernatural organization in the world?"
"... This is of course a service club." Chen Xiao thought for a while and replied.
But after hearing this answer, Old Man Xu calmly shook his head: "In fact, your answer cannot be regarded as wrong. In terms of comprehensive strength, the Service Society is the strongest and has the longest history among all independent organizations in the supernatural world. One. But if in some sense, it’s not the biggest.”
Chen Xiao was a little confused. Don't the biggest and the strongest mean different things
"Around the 19th century, 'service societies' emerged in Europe. The purpose of the earliest service societies was to unite all people with special abilities so that they could help each other. The founding of this organization was to It was founded to provide services to the majority of people with special abilities. It can be said that it is one of the oldest organizations of people with special abilities in the world, and it is also one of the most influential organizations. In the world of superpowers, the reputation of the service club is very high , even in recent years, the club has gradually prospered, posing a strong challenge to the service club, but in the supernatural world, in everyone's heart, the service club is still the well-deserved largest supernatural organization in the world. Such The evaluation is not simply due to the comparison in strength, but more importantly, in the history of the supernatural world, the service club also occupies a very important position. It can even be said that this position cannot be replaced by any organization! "
"The purpose of the early service society was somewhat different from the current one. It was more idealistic, and its organizational program was more selfless and noble. It was committed to uniting all people with special abilities in the world and providing help and services to all people with special abilities. . It can be said that the service club in that period had the highest status. It could even be said to be the leader of the entire supernatural world. Of course... At that time, there were not so many supernatural organizations in the world and they were not as complex as they are now. .
About a hundred years ago, the Service Society at that time contacted all other famous supernatural organizations in the world, um, mainly in Europe and North America, and jointly created a new organization. This organization was a loose alliance. , the name of this new organization is called 'International Superpower Alliance'. At that time, this alliance was established, led by the Service Society, with the purpose of uniting all the supernatural organizations in the world. The most direct role played by this alliance after its establishment is: first, to unite these loose organizations of different sizes in the world, so that everyone can have a platform to communicate and help each other. The second is to establish a new order and establish an effective order in the international supernatural world, so that the chaos in the supernatural world that has begun to appear some signs of chaos can be clarified. Third, and most importantly, the establishment of this organization can bring the development of supernatural organizations around the world into an orderly era, and at the same time make some overall planning... In short, under the many noble ideas at the beginning, The 'International Alliance of Supernatural Powers' was established. At that time, the Service Society, as the largest supernatural group in the world, became the initiator and one of the founders of this alliance, and it was also the most important early member of the alliance.
When the International Superpower Alliance was first established, another important responsibility was to register all superpower groups around the world, and then establish an order to constrain all superpower groups that joined the alliance to develop under this order. At the beginning of the founding, according to the earliest statistics - although this statistics may not be completely accurate, it is basically not too different. At the earliest time, there were a total of twenty-six supernatural organizations in the world registered by the alliance statistics. indivual. Then, based on the service club's initiative and contacts, there were twenty-one supernatural groups that finally agreed to join this alliance. Only five groups refused to join the alliance.
However, the original twenty-one groups formed the first members of the Alliance. The alliance formulated the earliest set of rules, the most important of which is the spirit of sharing! Scientific and technological achievements, as well as resources in various other fields, can be conditionally shared among alliance members. Although it is not free, the benefits of such exchanges and mutual assistance are obvious after all.
Obviously, as the most powerful organization with special abilities in the world, the service club seems to be "suffering" under this spirit of sharing, because according to this spirit of sharing and mutual assistance, the service club itself is not as strong as it needs others. Organizations help, but at the same time, they have to use their own things to help other weak organizations. It can be said that the Service Society of that period was a noble organization full of idealism. They took the initiative to come up with a lot of things, and with their help, many weak supernatural organizations quickly became stronger.
At that time, the International Ability Alliance was originally supposed to be run under the leadership of the service agency. However, the service club voluntarily gave up its leadership and chose a joint discussion method. This approach is enough to show the nobility and selflessness of the early service society. I can assert that the leaders of the Service Society had no selfish motives at all when they first initiated the establishment of this alliance.
Several decisions of great significance were made at the time of the establishment of the International Superpower Alliance. The first and final decision was to create a set of laws for superpowers! "
When Chen Xiao heard this, his heart skipped a beat!
For those with superpowers, a considerable number of superpowers with powerful abilities can survive in this world. They have much more strength than ordinary people. Under such circumstances, it is obviously impossible to deal with them using secular laws and rules. This group of people have been restrained. Strong people can often override the laws of society!
In this way, it would be okay if a powerful individual is kind, but if it is evil... then it will cause great harm to society.
Since ordinary social rules and laws cannot restrain these people, then... the emergence of a set of laws and regulations specifically designed to restrain people with special abilities is naturally a positive thing!
"This set of laws has been in use, but according to the development and progress of the times, the initially created legal provisions were too simple. Later, after more than a hundred years, they were improved and new regulations were added many times. Today's international differences The rules for superpowers formulated by the Ability Alliance already have more than 600 detailed regulations, and have even developed a very complete legal system. For example, there are specific restrictions on the commodities circulating in the superpower world. , the circulation of some overly lethal weapons has been restricted, and only organizations and individuals licensed by the League of Nations can conditionally hold or trade them, etc... Everything is becoming more and more perfect."
Chen Xiao nodded: "This is indeed a significant and significant initiative."
Old Man Xu's eyes were a little strange, as if there was a hint of regret. Then he cleared his throat and continued: "The second resolution passed by the International Superpower Alliance, in my opinion, is more significant than the establishment of a superpower world." Universal regulations are ten times more important!”
"Oh?" Chen Xiao was a little surprised: "What is the resolution?"
Old Man Xu sighed and said slowly: "You think, establishing such an international superpower alliance is like a 'United Nations' organization in the superpower world, responsible for the overall planning and communication of superpower organizations around the world. Wait, the details that need to be done in daily life must be extremely complicated! You may not understand when I say this, well, let’s put it this way, for such an international alliance organization, where do the daily office staff come from? The registration of so many organizations, Who will do the list compilation and file management work? Are these detailed copywriting tasks also done by those with superpowers? You can imagine how it is possible for those with C-level or B-level superpowers to spend all day To do basic chores like this in the office?”
Chen Xiao touched his chin and gradually understood.
Indeed, even a medium-sized company needs a large number of office staff, clerks, etc. to maintain the operation of the company, let alone a "United Nations" in the supernatural world
Moreover, that was more than a hundred years ago. At that time, there were no computers for online filing, and all work was done manually!
"Also, at that time, the superpower organizations in the world, including the service club itself, had a special situation, that is, within the organization, almost all members were all superpowers! Such a closed and conservative situation was serious. It restricted the development and growth of superpower organizations, because in such a situation, superpowers almost separated themselves from the society. This closed development made the development of many superpower organizations very difficult in that era. Difficulties. After all, people with superpowers are a very small minority in this world."
Chen Xiao thought for a moment and immediately figured out the reason.
Indeed, the superpower organization, as its name suggests, seems to be a group of pure superpowers. But if you think about it carefully, it’s not that simple!
Just like an army, although in a general sense, an army is used to fight wars. However, it is impossible for all members of the army to be combatants. It must also include auxiliary arms such as logistics, staff, medical, engineering, mechanical maintenance, cultural propaganda, etc.
"So, after the establishment of that alliance, the service club first stood up. With the strong insistence of the service club, the second resolution passed by the alliance was to allow superpower organizations to absorb non-superpower members, and at the same time, there were restrictions on joining the alliance. The member groups of the alliance have made some rigid regulations. In each alliance member group, non-superpowers must reach a certain percentage of the total number of members of the group." When Mr. Xu said this, his tone was full of admiration: "At that time, the service It’s really admirable that She has such a broad mind and vision!”
But then, his tone changed: "It's a pity that there were too few people with such vision and mind at that time. When this resolution was proposed, almost all members firmly opposed it. The view at the time was that organizations with supernatural powers must Maintain pure bloodline. However, later, the service club used its strong prestige and influence to force this resolution to be passed in the alliance. It was precisely because of this resolution that the supernatural world that was originally separated from this world was re-established. Integrated into this world. The service club at that time put forward a statement: People with superpowers cannot survive alone without leaving the world.
Even if you are an S-level warrior, you still have to eat, sleep, and get dressed. As long as you live, you will certainly not be able to leave this world! Even the most powerful superpower organization still needs to recruit non-superpower members—Chen Xiao, you have been to Home Island. Have you ever thought about how the houses in the town on Home Island and the headquarters of the service society could have been built without the existence of non-superpowers? You can't expect people with superpowers to work as construction workers to build houses, right? Also, after an organization grows, maintaining the operation of a large organization requires a lot of complex work support. For example, financial income... Yes, many people with superpowers can easily make a fortune by relying on their superpowers. Money does not seem to be a problem for many people with superpowers. However, the spirit of the regulations specified by the Service Society itself is to try not to allow people with supernatural powers to disrupt the normal order of the world. So, in this spirit, they do not encourage people with special abilities to use abnormal means to seize social wealth. So, where does the money come from to keep an organization running
It doesn't seem too difficult to ask a person with the ability to turn stone into gold to produce countless tons of gold, but... such an approach is not allowed. So more professional talents are needed. For example, some advanced technologies developed for people with superpowers, and then official cooperation and transactions with some countries in the secular world, in exchange for the resources they need, and so on. This requires more professional talents, such as scientific researchers, logistics, negotiation and public relations experts, financial talents, etc. There are so many needs, and you can't find so many people just by looking among people with superpowers.
Therefore, absorbing non-superpower members is the inevitable way!
It can be said that the impact of this second decision is far greater than the general laws and regulations in the supernatural world. It is this second resolution that puts the development of the supernatural world on the right path.
Even in the beginning, in order to promote this resolution, the service club set an example and first recruited some non-superpower members into the service club. At the same time, he promoted the alliance and added some non-superpowers to the alliance's affairs staff.
It's a pity that the Service Society made such a selfless series of actions in the past, and was dedicated to promoting the development of the supernatural world. It is obvious that this organization had a strong and noble sense of mission that was admirable in the beginning.
However, after the alliance was established and many beneficial decisions were implemented under the promotion of the Service Society, the Service Society actually planted the seeds of its own disaster! "
After hearing this, Chen Xiao frowned tightly. He seemed to have guessed something and couldn't help but sigh.
Old man Xu glanced at Chen Xiao: "You already understand?"
"Of course." Chen Xiao nodded: "It's not difficult to guess. According to what you said, the service societies of that period were very noble and selfless. But... obviously, this kind of nobleness and selflessness was actually the greatest Defects!"
This is a very simple truth.
You are selfless, but that doesn’t mean you will always be selfless! Regardless of any group or individual, there will always be selfish motives!
Taking a step back, even if the service club at that time was really purely idealistic and selfless... But just because you are selfless, it does not mean that others will be as selfless as you! !
"The first root cause is that based on the spirit of sharing and mutual aid, in the early days the service club helped other supernatural organizations develop almost at any cost. It can even be said that most of the earliest twenty-one member groups at that time were later It has grown and developed by absorbing nutrients from service clubs! However, if you are noble, others may not be as moral as you. When other groups grow, there are many selfish guys, and later they become They began to compete with service agencies in various fields. The second root cause was that the service agency made a wrong decision early on and voluntarily gave up the dominance of the International Superpower Alliance. Because originally when the alliance was established, the service agency was the most Strong, so other member groups consciously accepted the leadership position of the service club from the beginning, and some even took the initiative to propose a chairmanial responsibility system in the alliance. And if the chairmanial responsibility system is adopted, there is no doubt that , the position of chairman can only belong to the service society. However, the leaders of the service society at that time were too idealistic. Instead, they gave up this system and proposed a joint system. There was no chairman, only a committee of members to conduct a more democratic and harmonious system. A fair voting resolution system.”
Old Man Xu's tone was full of ridicule.
"The earliest general regulations for superpowers, as well as the resolution to absorb non-superpowers. Although there were some objections, because the alliance had just been established at that time, the prestige of the service club was huge. Through this prestige, other members were made to obey the service club. will passed these resolutions.
But over the years, other groups gained strength with the help of service clubs. Moreover, the Service Society has never been very strong in the alliance's joint parliament, but this approach has given people a feeling of weakness.
Finally, gradually, the people in the service club found that it was becoming more and more difficult to pass some resolutions in the alliance according to their plan. As the alliance develops, more and more member organizations join the alliance, and the influence of service societies in the alliance is rapidly weakening.
In the end, a series of setbacks led to a major change. "
"What happened?" Chen Xiao asked.
Old Man Xu sighed: "The service club is split!"
divide, divide...
Chen Xiao frowned.
"The initial too-mild external strategy had already caused dissatisfaction among some people within the Service Society. Especially at the beginning, the Service Society advocated the establishment of an alliance with selfless ideas and promoted it with various selfless actions. The development of the entire superpower world. But I didn’t expect that later on, I was taken advantage of by many superpower organizations because I was too selfless. As a result, they took the benefits and turned against you... As time went by, some differences appeared within the service club. Voices believe that the organization's external strategy is too weak, and there are also huge differences in ideas.
Some members of the service club believe that we should stick to the existing strategy and adopt a moderate attitude toward the outside world. We are opposed to using power to bully others, and we are opposed to using the power of the organization to interfere with secular rules. We are even more opposed to using the powerful power of the organization to seize the leadership of the alliance. This group of people believes that cooperation, mutual assistance and exchanges are necessary, but they object to being too forceful. The purpose of mutual assistance is to promote the development of the supernatural world, not to seize the opportunity to seize leadership.
Others believe that continuing to adopt this selfless strategy will only turn the service organization into a cow that can be exploited by others. I think a stronger approach should be taken. Since you have strong strength, you should use your power to seize leadership and lead the development of other supernatural organizations as a strong leader. When encountering fierce opposition, you can use force to eliminate the opposition! Even if it means using violent means, he will not hesitate. To be specific, it is what we Chinese say, 'Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters'!
The two sides quarreled endlessly and were divided into moderates and radicals. Moderates accuse the radicals of wanting to use the power of service societies to promote dictatorship and strongly oppose this approach. Their point of view is that what the supernatural world needs is just a guide, not a dictatorial leader. The service club only needs to act as a guide and should not do that kind of dictatorial thing. The radicals ridiculed the moderates as unprincipled pacifists. Since we are stronger than others, we should stand up and take responsibility. Those who oppose, our goals are lofty, since those despicable guys must stand in the way. On the road to progress, we can take drastic measures to clear these obstacles..."
Old Man Xu smiled bitterly and said: "Then, this kind of quarrel lasted for several years, and finally led to the internal split of the service club. Some people announced that they had left the service club, and then established a new supernatural organization, that is... Now, the club!”
Chen Xiao sighed.
I had heard Lao Tian talk about the split of the service club before, but Lao Tian didn't say it in as much detail as Mr. Xu. Only now do I know that this was the origin of the split between the two major organizations, the Service Society and the Club.
only…
"Uncle Xu, you told me so much, is your identity from the club?" Chen Xiao guessed.
"No."
Old Man Xu gave a bitter smile: "I am neither from the service club nor the club. Well, my identity is actually... a member of the Deacon Council of the 'International Superpower Alliance'. I am also a member of the International Superpower Alliance East Asia. Executive member of the Regional Commerce Department. Well, to put it simply, my identity is the financial person in charge of the East Asia region of the alliance. I am responsible for doing business in the East Asia region and earning activity funds for the alliance. Haha... "
Looking at Chen Xiao's surprised eyes, Old Man Xu smiled and said: "I am not a person with superpowers, and neither are the eldest young master or the second young master. But my ability to join this alliance was just a coincidence when I was young. However, fundamentally, To put it bluntly, the reason why a non-superpower person like me can enter the superpower world is because of the important resolution passed after the service club established the alliance."
After a pause, he smiled and said: "Don't listen to the fact that the title of 'Member of Parliament' seems scary. In fact, the organization of the alliance is already very complicated. As of this year, people all over the world who have registered with the alliance have obtained There are already hundreds of large and small supernatural organizations officially recognized by the alliance. With so many member groups, the affairs of the alliance have become more and more complicated. The alliance is now headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. The joint council system is still retained, but it has become more complicated. There are nearly two hundred members of the Deacon Council, and I am only one of two hundred. The current members of the council include representatives of some supernatural organizations. There are people with huge reputations in the unorganized superpower world, as well as some non-superpowers like me. Of course, there are still very few non-superpowers in the parliament. The reason why I can enter the parliament and become a member is completely It’s because I have earned sufficient funds for the alliance from business and business in East Asia over the years. At the same time, I am also Chinese. The upper levels of the parliament believe that in order to develop this ancient oriental country’s supernatural organization, a Chinese will appear in the parliament. People have positive meanings... so... hehe!"
Chen Xiao frowned and shook his head: "Why do you act like a political group?"