At this moment, Kong Xiangdong leisurely stood up and walked over to Han San.
Seeing Kong Xiangdong approach, Han San bowed deeply, not daring to lift his head.
The blood on his forehead dripped steadily onto the ground.
Kong Xiangdong smiled slightly at the sight and then patted Han San on the back of the head.
"You do know how to recognize the situation."
After saying this, Kong Xiangdong strode away.
It wasn’t until his footsteps had completely disappeared that the atmosphere in the tent gradually began to recover.
"Phew, luckily I didn’t say anything offensive earlier, or the big leader would definitely not spare me."
"Yeah, even though the big leader was smiling just now, somehow he seemed more terrifying than when he goes crazy."
"I feel the same!"
Of course, when discussing, these people kept their voices very low and dared not approach Han San, whose face was covered in blood, fearing they might get into more trouble.
Unexpectedly, Han San merely wiped the blood off his face as usual, didn’t glance at any of the people present, and turned around to leave.
With his departure, the remaining people exchanged glances and then scattered like birds and beasts.
Meanwhile, in the large tent in the middle of the camp, the tavern owner Yang Zhan poured a glass of wine for Kong Xiangdong with a smile.
"To be honest, your reaction today really surprised me; it seems you have changed a lot over the past year or so."
"In your eyes, was I so bloodthirsty before?" Kong Xiangdong said lightly.
"Pretty much, at least that Zheng Yi definitely couldn’t leave the camp alive," Yang Zhan said.
Kong Xiangdong chuckled, downed the drink in his cup, and then exhaled a long breath, "Actually, Zheng Yi is just an insignificant minor role; I never cared about him. The real big fish is someone else."
Hearing this, Yang Zhan was initially stunned, then hesitated and said, "You mean Han San?"
Kong Xiangdong nodded.
"Why? From the situation just now, he seemed to respect you very much!"
"That’s precisely where the problem lies. Han San has been with me for three years, so he can be considered a veteran, but from what I know of him, while he is in awe of me, it’s never to the extent of not daring to say a word in plea for mercy, so there must be something fishy here. To put it plainly, he overacted."
Kong Xiangdong’s habit of addressing his subordinates is to distinguish them based on how long they have been with him, like that newly chased-out Zheng Yi, who just joined this year.
This Han San, on the other hand, has been with Kong Xiangdong for three years.
But his performance in the tent today was indeed a bit too much, so Kong Xiangdong immediately detected something suspicious.
"So what do you plan to do?" Yang Zhan asked.
"I suspect it’s not just him; there should be a group of people who are deeply dissatisfied with my decision, they just haven’t dared to express it yet."
"If you ask me, life and death are fated, and wealth is in the heavens. Since these people are so eager, just let them go; why bother playing the bad guy? It’s not even in your nature," Yang Zhan said, somewhat puzzled.
Kong Xiangdong shook his head, "You don’t understand. I certainly don’t care about these people’s lives. After all, my duty is merely to bring them to Wuyang Sea annually and then safely take them back. Now my duty is already accomplished, and logically, I shouldn’t care about the rest."
"But I want to conduct an experiment!"
"An experiment?" Yang Zhan was somewhat puzzled.
"Put simply, it’s purification!"
Kong Xiangdong paused, poured himself a glass of wine, and while drinking, said, "The more grievances they have against me now, the more they will obey me once something really happens."
"Moreover, I’ve always had a vague feeling that although I am their leader, among these people, there should be another presence who can secretly challenge me. I have some guesses, but never a substantial piece of evidence."
"This is a good chance to force them out, and it counts as a cleanup of the team."
Hearing Kong Xiangdong’s explanation, Yang Zhan suddenly realized, then looked at him with meaningful eyes.
Previously, the feeling that Kong Xiangdong gave Yang Zhan was fear-inducing but nothing more than sheer savagery and madness.
Now, his actions made Yang Zhan feel a deep unease.
Just like the sentence that grievances now would transform into submission later once something happened.
The scheming hinted within made Yang Zhan shudder.
It seemed... after interacting with Young Master Zhao Ya for a period last year, not only had Kong Xiangdong’s madness decreased, but his scheming also became increasingly deep.
And as Yang Zhan and Kong Xiangdong conversed, in a corner of the camp was also taking place a secret meeting.
"It’s really strange; not sure what happened to Kong Xiangdong this year, but his emotions have become much more stable. Just now, such provocations didn’t manage to anger him," someone remarked.
"Yes, I thought that this time, even if he didn’t go on a killing spree, he would still kill a few to serve as a warning. That way, we could successfully incite other Sea Gatherers to revolt against him, but now the plan has entirely fallen through," another person sighed.
Han San remained silent, just sitting quietly in the corner listening.
At this time, the wound on his head had already scabbed.
This kind of superficial wound was nothing for these Sea Gatherers, not even requiring special treatment.
"Han San, what do you think?" someone asked.
"I think if this path doesn’t work, we might as well try another method," Han San said in a deep voice.
"Oh? Another method? What method?" someone immediately inquired.
"Didn’t he announce in public that whoever goes to the seaside counts as automatically quitting? Then let’s send a few brothers to the seaside; that way, as long as the harvest is abundant every day, it won’t take long for others to succumb to the temptation and join in. Over time, he will end up all alone," Han San said.
"That’s not enough; the main point is how to get control of that Free-Loading Bird leader. With that, it would be like holding the key to wealth," came a voice from the shadows.
As soon as this voice appeared, the tent instantly turned silent.
Because the speaker wasn’t someone else, but the leader of these people.
If Kong Xiangdong were here, he would recognize this speaker at a glance.
Because the speaker was also one of the most "loyal" followers to Kong Xiangdong, Liu Shiyi.
That’s right.
This Liu Shiyi had followed Kong Xiangdong for exactly eleven years, making him the most experienced among all the Sea Gatherers.
From the moment Kong Xiangdong arrived at Wuyang Sea, attempting to form a team, he was by Kong Xiangdong’s side.
At that time, Kong Xiangdong was both poor and desperate, even having to fight for survival in the waves daily.
Due to this experience, the two had accumulated a deep bond.
If things continued to develop like this, Liu Shiyi would never betray Kong Xiangdong, and they might even leave behind a story of deep brotherhood.
But changes were inevitable.
Firstly, the appearance of Zhao Ya last year indirectly led to a significant reduction in Kong Xiangdong’s madness.
This also made Liu Shiyi feel a lot of pressure.
Previously, although Kong Xiangdong’s savagery and madness were terrifying, once his temper was figured out, he was very easy to manipulate.
Liu Shiyi relied on this point, secretly manipulating the dried fish the Sea Gatherers handed in, amassing a considerable fortune each year.
But now Kong Xiangdong’s clarity suddenly made these operations impossible.
That’s just one point; importantly, this year’s harvest has greatly increased thanks to the help of the Free-Loading Bird leader.
Watching such a fortune slip away right before his eyes, Liu Shiyi felt like his heart was being clawed at.
Additionally, this time Kong Xiangdong insisted on retreating to the Great Snow Mountain, causing dissatisfaction among his Sea Gatherers.
This also made Liu Shiyi see hope.
Combining various reasons, he decided to take a risk and test Kong Xiangdong, but he didn’t expect it to fail.