"Does the chairman already know about the beast tide outbreak?"
Seeing Hua Jun slowly put down his phone, Xie Ming asked in surprise.
"Yes."
Hua Jun gave a bitter smile.
"Just now, you should have heard it as well. I just mentioned that something big had happened, and the chairman guessed it was the beast tide outbreak. It’s understandable; after all, the chairman is an A-level Awakener with connections beyond what we can imagine."
"That’s true."
Xie Ming and the others exchanged glances, feeling a bit disappointed.
But not too disappointed, as they still had Plan B.
"So what does the chairman plan to do?"
Xie Ming pressed on.
"Yes, when does the chairman plan to leave? Now? Or later?"
"I’m not sure about that."
Hua Jun said helplessly, "The chairman didn’t mention anything about leaving over the phone."
"No?"
Xie Ming and the others exchanged glances.
"So what is the chairman’s plan?"
"The chairman said to immediately summon everyone in the association and wait for his return," Hua Jun replied.
"Summon everyone? Could it be that the chairman wants to inform the entire association about the impending beast tide outbreak?"
"It seems so."
"This is..."
Xie Ming and the others looked at each other in disbelief.
From the chairman’s perspective, it made sense; after all, he was responsible for the people in the association.
But doing so would inevitably lead to the news spreading, eventually reaching Awakeners in smaller cities, which might not be favorable for them.
After all, medium and large cities could only accommodate a limited population.
The more people knew, the more people would rush over, making it harder for them to enter.
"Let’s wait for the chairman to return."
Seeing the doubt in their eyes, Hua Jun patted Xie Ming’s shoulder, "The chairman is already on his way back, it shouldn’t take long. We’ll know his arrangements then."
"Right, that’s all we can do."
Xie Ming smiled bitterly and nodded, praying in his heart for Chairman Li’s swift return.
After all, every minute of delay could lead to unforeseen changes.
Hua Jun got up and sat in front of the computer, notifying everyone about the emergency meeting.
Within minutes, the entire association was in an uproar.
"Emergency meeting? Everyone must be in the main conference room within ten minutes?"
"The situation is urgent. Whatever you’re doing, drop it and head to the main conference room immediately?"
"What’s going on?"
"Not sure, but since it’s the chairman’s order, we should go over first."
"Indeed, even when relocating the villagers before, the chairman didn’t call a meeting. This time, he’s so serious; it must be something important. Let’s go, and call those who are out hunting back as well."
Soon, everyone was calling friends, and within five minutes, most had arrived.
Every now and then, someone hurried in, relieved to see the meeting hadn’t started yet. They took a seat and whispered to those beside them, "What’s going on? Why were we called so urgently?"
"I don’t know either," the person beside them said with a pained smile. "Let’s wait. The chairman should be here any moment."
"Alright."
The person nodded and looked to the right.
A young man, surrounded by many, caught his eye.
"Gu Ze, you’re close to the chairman. Do you know what’s happening?"
"Yes, why did he suddenly call all of us here? To be honest, I’ve been with the association for years, and this is the first time something like this has happened."
"Could it be something bad?"
Gu Ze was nearly overwhelmed by their questions.
He waved his hands constantly, "I heard the news and was just as confused."
"You don’t know either?"
"Really?"
Everyone around him wore expressions of disbelief.
Everyone knew that Gu Ze was personally brought back from the Stone City Awakened Association by Chairman Li.
No one else received such treatment.
"Brother Gu Ze, you must know something but can’t tell us for some reason, right? It’s okay, we understand," a man said with a smile.
"Really, I don’t."
Gu Ze was about to cry.
He genuinely had no idea what was happening.
Moreover, he wanted to say that his relationship with Chairman Li wasn’t as close as everyone thought.
In fact, they hadn’t contacted each other since their last meeting.
But everyone just looked at him with understanding expressions.
At that moment, a group of people entered, and the noise in the conference room instantly subsided.
"It’s Chairman Hua!"
"Chairman Hua is here!"
"And Brother Xie and the others."
"Did you notice? Chairman Hua and the others look very serious."
Someone commented.
In fact, without the reminder, many had already noticed something was amiss.
Chairman Hua was usually always smiling and very polite.
But this time, his smile was gone.
This indicated that what the chairman was about to say was likely bad news.
"Chairman, what happened?"
Someone tentatively asked.
Instantly, everyone perked up their ears, fully attentive.