Chapter 324
Chapter 324 Active Attack
How to cultivate a force of one’s own, a battle squad of one’s own, and how to enhance their loyalty and morale?
The fat guy’s pyramid scheme-style hype is undoubtedly a good method; as long as he can successfully brainwash his subordinates, then he is a successful boss.
But there’s also a more direct approach—use equipment, use benefits to hammer down the unwilling subordinates, and absolute loyalty can be harvested too.
It’s like mobilizing troops before they head into battle; it can weaken their cowardly mentality to some extent and boost morale. Or one could replace all the soldiers’ outdated guns with individual grenade launchers, swap their bulletproof vests for personal combat exoskeletons, equip them with high-tech battle gear, and provide all sorts of support—then even without mobilization, there would be eager volunteers racing to the battlefield, itching to show off their skills.
Because their strength would suddenly be elevated by more than one level. It’s akin to gaining superpowers overnight, raising their self-esteem, and naturally inciting some contempt for their enemies. Plus, after gaining such hard-won strength, most people would want to experience it as soon as possible.
Just like a person who strikes it rich overnight, they’d definitely go out and spend lavishly; it’s nearly the same mentality.
Moreover, after tasting that sweet deal once, as long as Ling Mo can keep providing such boosts in strength, he wouldn’t need any mobilization or persuasion to keep his subordinates loyal, since it equates to a dependency; no one would want to revert to being a weakling after experiencing greater power.
Unfortunately, this method only Ling Mo can pull off—his abilities are practically cheating, and cheating on top of cheating.
Watching the helicopter gradually recede into the sky, the fat guy’s thoughts became complex for a moment.
“What’s wrong? Worried about them?” Bai Yu’s voice suddenly came from behind, seemingly unaware of the previous situation.
The fat guy glanced back at him and shook his head, “No… I actually feel a bit sorry for the monsters about to get hammered.”
After a pause, he sighed, “I just feel a bit sentimental… Old Ling might be more suited to be the absolute leader of Chicks.”
A true leader of an organization often doesn’t need to interfere too much with the organization’s internal matters; rather, they serve as the strength and faith of the entire organization, guiding its future.
This is often the core of an organization; even during devastating setbacks, as long as the remaining people can see him, they’ll still feel secure and hopeful.
The fat guy had always been striving for this position.
But now, witnessing Ling Mo’s unreasonable pre-battle mobilization, he suddenly realized… Ling Mo might be more suited for the role than himself.
True cohesion can often be achieved purely through strength.
And Ling Mo has that strength.
“Let’s head back,” the fat guy sighed, stroking his chin, “I still have fish grilling.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the helicopter, Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan were in the cockpit, observing the situation below.
This world still resembled what they encountered at first; most factions had their strongholds established in desolate areas or rural regions, which was entirely opposite to the distribution in reality. Thus, the development in the abandoned cities was slow, barely getting started.
But it was undeniable that there were more resources within cities than in the wilderness.
Here would definitely become their primary exploration location in the future.
However, for now, they still needed to think about saving Tiger Hall.
Xia Xinyan tilted her head and stared at Ling Mo’s profile for a while.
She suddenly realized that at some unknown point, Ling Mo had shed the naivety he displayed during their first encounter, with more maturity and steadiness on his face.
He’s really handsome.
This was a fact she couldn’t even lie to herself about.
She could even feel his unique charm at this moment.
Realizing this, Xia Xinyan immediately turned her head away.
Something’s off.
She was really becoming increasingly odd during this time.
“Xinyan?”
Ling Mo’s soft inquiry suddenly startled Xia Xinyan.
“Hmm?!” Xia Xinyan instinctively turned her head toward him, “What’s up?”
“What’s Xinyan thinking about?” Ling Mo smiled slightly, appearing casually curious.
Xia Xinyan paused, shook her head, “Nothing.”
“But I just noticed you were sneaking a look at me,” Ling Mo’s smile deepened, “If Xinyan wants to see, you can just ask me anytime; no need to sneak a peek.”
Xia Xinyan: “…”
After a moment of silence, she directly shifted the topic, “I was just wondering, won’t the consumption be quite large when you manifest those equipments for so many people?”
However, Ling Mo didn’t answer immediately: “Is Xinyan worried about me?”
Xia Xinyan: “… yeah.”
Sort of.
Ling Mo laughed, “Don’t worry, maintaining those equipments doesn’t consume much of my strength. Given my current state, I can keep them around for a full month at least.”
Xia Xinyan: “… oh.”
Is this guy… a freak?
——This time, even she had this thought.
Because she had experienced Ling Mo’s abilities in her past life, she understood the ongoing consumption mechanism even more—after an item manifests for over an hour, it will consume his stamina to maintain existence, and the longer it lasts, the shorter the bursts of stamina consumption will be.
If it were based on the peak strength of Xia Xinyan’s past life, she roughly estimated that the combined technological level of these equipments, if she were to maintain them, would drain her completely dry in less than a week; as for a month, that was something she wouldn’t even dare to imagine.
So if Ling Mo wasn’t lying to her… maintaining them for a month… that guy must truly be inhuman.
The gap between having a system and not having one… Could it really be so vast?
Seeing Xia Xinyan appear a bit dazed, Ling Mo’s tone became somewhat suggestive: “And… even if I run out of strength, Xinyan can always come replenish my stamina, right?”
Xia Xinyan: “…”
She really couldn’t understand where this guy learned these bizarre tactics.
Honestly.
Is it that after getting a girlfriend, one can become a master in this area without any teaching?
Or is it that she seemed so unromantic that it compelled Ling Mo to turn out like this?
What bothered her the most was that by now, in this realm of confrontation, she seemed to have completely been dominated by Ling Mo.
This didn’t seem like a good thing.
Even now, she didn’t really want to throw herself into it; but continuing to be passive might lead to worse outcomes.
She felt that sometimes she should take the initiative.
So, after some mental preparation, she smiled slightly, “Hmm, then I’ll come give you a little boost every night from now on?”
Ling Mo paused.
He rarely saw Xinyan take the initiative.
But he had to admit, during these moments, Xinyan was radiating endless temptation.
If it were before, he might have been a bit reserved in such a situation.
However, now he had no intention of keeping up the gentlemanly act.
“Replenishing now works too,” he suddenly released the helicopter controls, leaned over and wrapped his arms around her.
Xia Xinyan gasped, “Hey! The helicopter…”
“Don’t worry, it has autopilot.”
“But… um… um…”
