The call connected, and Su Ruobingâs cool, clear voice soon came through. "I couldnât reach you for so long. Did you go through another reincarnation?"
Normally, after a Reincarnator completes a reincarnation, they need to rest for at least a month.
Yet, as far as Su Ruobing knew, Li Changâan had already undergone several reincarnations in just the past half-year, and his strength had skyrocketed.
This sort of thing was a Reincarnatorâs private matter.
It wasnât her place to interfere, but in the end, she couldnât help but remind him, "You canât enter the Rebirth World too frequently. You should know the consequences!"
Li Changâan nodded.
He quickly changed the subject to the matter at hand. "Chairman Su, weâve accepted a lot of orders, but the factory is still under construction and the products havenât even launched. How did we suddenly stir up such a massive discussion on the forums?"
Su Ruobing had clearly been worried sick about this as well. She sighed and said, "Weâre treading on the interests of the Reincarnator Families. Naturally, those guys arenât just going to stand by and watch."
"Especially the Gu Family. That beast, Gu Ruilong, was already hounding me in every arena. Now, because of the military weapons factory weâre building, the entire Gu Family has us in their sights..."
"This huge uproar right now... nine times out of ten, itâs the Gu Family teaming up with other Reincarnator Families. First, theyâll drag our name through the mud on the forums, then theyâll pull some other tricks to sabotage our business!"
Li Changâan realized the gravity of the situation.
But on second thought, it didnât seem to be a huge problem. âAs long as our product quality is top-notch, none of their dirty tricks will work. In fact, I think theyâre just giving us free advertising!â
It wasnât that Li Changâan was too good-natured to fight back.
It was because turning public opinion around on the Reincarnator forums would require hiring a massive paid-commenter army to control the narrative, and Li Changâanâs power and financial resources were far inferior to those of the Reincarnator Families.
The Reincarnator Families had money.
They could afford to hire other Reincarnators to act as an online mob, stirring up controversy and dogpiling their targets.
But Li Changâan had only managed to scrape together the Rebirth Points for the factory by running himself ragged; there was no way he could spend that precious money on a PR war.
With his limited funds, responding on the forums would almost certainly mean falling into the elaborate traps the major Reincarnator Families had prepared.
That was when he would truly be at a disadvantage.
At this thought, Li Changâan paused. After a long moment of contemplation, he continued, "We canât let these families lead us by the nose!"
"So, we should just ignore the slander on the forums. As long as we stick to the plan, get the factory built, and roll out the Super Electromagnetic Cannon and the Energy Particle Beam Cannon, all these rumors will fall apart on their own!"
Su Ruobing nodded.
She, of course, understood the priorities in a situation like this.
And yet, her expression remained grim. After a long silence, she spoke. "This is far from over. Three days ago, Gu Ruilong secretly sent people to Linjiang. They offered exorbitant prices and poached half of our factoryâs core team. Our projected start date will likely have to be pushed back..."
Hearing this, Li Changâan fell silent.
He could ignore the major families running their mouths on the forums, but for the Gu Family to maliciously poach his people and delay the factoryâs launchâthat crossed a line for Li Changâan.
âThat made sense. All those families were already running their smear campaigns on the forums.â
âHow could the Gu Family possibly not make a move on other fronts?â
After a long silence, he said, "Chairman Su, Iâll figure out how to handle this. You just worry about looking after the remaining workers and getting them safely to Cangxuan City."
He didnât blame Su Ruobing.
After all, this was his own project.
Su Ruobing was only assisting him.
What she had done already counted as immense support.
Afraid he might do something rash, Su Ruobing quickly tried to calm him down. "A delay is a delay. Letâs just endure it for now. As long as your weapon designs are sound, theyâll be forced to spit back out everything theyâve taken sooner or later!"
To be honest, given Su Ruobingâs status, she normally wouldnât have been afraid of the Gu Family.
But Su Ruobing was currently at odds with her family over a marriage matter, and they had cut off most contact with her. She couldnât rely on the Su Familyâs power.
Li Changâan didnât comment on that.
Su Ruobing sighed and said no more.
They exchanged a few more words, and then Su Ruobing seemed to remember something. "Oh, right," she said. "I managed to get the temporary reincarnation permit you asked me to buy. Iâll send it to you via your mark right now!"
At her words, the deep furrow in Li Changâanâs brow relaxed slightly. "Chairman Su, thank you!"
Li Changâan had asked Su Ruobing to look into buying this temporary reincarnation permit for his friend, the little fatty Li Jianfei, to give him another chance at becoming a Reincarnator.
So much time had passed without any news that Li Changâan had assumed Su Ruobing forgot. He was just about to wait until his Citizen Level increased by two more Levels and buy it himself.
âI didnât expect her to still remember. Sheâs really reliable.â
He hung up the phone.
Su Ruobing quickly transferred the temporary reincarnation permit to him.
Li Changâan transferred two hundred thousand Rebirth Points to her as a thank you, but Su Ruobing adamantly refused them. Li Changâan didnât press the issue. As long as he was around, heâd have plenty of opportunities to repay the favor.
Ever since Li Changâan had been kicked out of the orphanage and moved into a government-subsidized, low-rent apartment, he and the little fatty, Li Jianfei, had always been on great terms.