Chapter 2686
Chapter 2686
It must be a deliberate arrangement that Sasha was throwing herself at him.
From his arrival at the airport, to Martin's banquet, and finally her appearance in his room, it was just one scheme after another.
Fade was certain that she would not have fallen for him suddenly, to the point where she decided to give herself up to him like that.
It was most likely due to the recent events.
He had won both battles in Makallu Peak and East Coast. Due to this, his fame had once again climbed to a whole new level. He had become known as one of the top martial artists in the world.
Considering his status, Sasha and Martin must have wanted to jump in on the bandwagon, to the extent that they were willing to do such a thing.
After all, they were a business family. There was nothing sweet or innocent about them.
He could understand their intentions, but he could not agree with them.
Not to mention the fact that he and Lily had just slept together before he came to Jade City. The situation between them was still complicated. The last thing he wanted was another romantic mess in Jade City, or else, he would become entangled in so many different relationships. After a night's rest, Fade returned to the hotel the next day.
His negotiation team had already set to work as they prepared all sorts of information required for the negotiation.
He merely oversaw the preparation; he left the details to the experts.
He was scanning through the information when an expert came to him in a hurry. "Mr. Chen, please have a look at this."
"What is it?" Fade took the tablet and read it.
Soon after, his eyes turned cold. "What's
going on?"
The expert said, "It's an article published by one of the local newspaper offices."
"Your attendance at the banquet last night has been exposed. Lichee Daily is making a big deal out of it. They claim that all the businessmen present are greedy and covetous, and you are like them."
"Evidently, it's beginning to work. There have been some comments online criticizing you. Some are even speaking against our negotiation team." As he spoke, the expert showed him some of the comments.
Fade quickly skimmed through it.
"So, I heard it's a negotiation, yet Fade was meeting all these wealthy tycoons in secret. What is that supposed to mean?"
"Haha. It was all just a facade after all. He only came here for the money and power."
"I've heard of this guy, Fade. He came to Jade City two years ago and hurt many local businessmen and entrepreneurs. It seems like he's coming back for another round." "Reject the negotiation team, oppose this negotiation!"
"They claim that it's a peaceful negotiation. In reality, they're just here to suppress us. What kind of sportsmanship is that?"
"The other parties have already admitted their defeat, yet he just can't let them go. Such a shame!"
"He's too arrogant. This is not going to end well for him."
"This is what happens when someone gets rich all of a sudden! Just a bunch of nouveau riche!"
After reading these, Fade scowled and asked, "Who wrote this article? Is there more to it?"
"Uh, we're not sure," the expert replied honestly.
It was only then that Fade realized that the people he brought along were mainly experts at negotiating, but not investigating.
Furthermore, they weren't in Capital City. There weren't as many resources available to them.
Therefore, Fade waved his hand and said, "You guys should just focus on the negotiation. I'll get to the bottom of the news article!" Then, he went out with his mobile phone in hand.
With a single phone call, he summoned both Martin and Sasha over. He looked at them with a sullen face.
The two of them gazed at him uneasily.
"Mr. Chen, if you're upset about what happened last night, we are very sorry. I really didn't mean to do you any harm," Sasha apologized. Martin hastily explained, "My daughter was just acting on impulse. Mr. Chen, we really don't have any other intentions."
"It's not about that!" Fade snapped coldly.
"What is it then?" The father-daughter duo were stunned.
Fade showed them the news article from earlier and said, "Read it yourselves!"
After reading it, their faces suddenly turned pale.
"What's going on? You are the one who hosted the banquet. Then, this news article was released the next day."
Sasha and Martin were instantly frightened out of their wits.
"Mr. Chen, we don't have anything to do with this."
"I swear, we really don't know about this at all."
Fade added coldly, "If it wasn't you, then look into this as soon as possible. Otherwise..."
It was always more effective to leave threats hanging in the air.
They hurriedly nodded and excused themselves to investigate the matter.
Two hours later, they came back with a pile of information.
Fade glanced at the documents and ordered coldly, "Just tell me what you found out."
Martin quickly responded, "The
media that released that article is called Lichee Daily. It's run by a man named Faunus Huang. As for how he got that information, a paper manufacturer at the banquet gave him the intel."
"I have agreed with the other companies to cut off ties with that manufacturer. I promise that such a thing will never happen again."
"As for this news article, I have ordered men to control the comments online."
Fade said, "Don't be in a hurry to block it. It might have the opposite effect."
"Tell me more about Lichee Daily and Faunus."
Martin looked to the side and Sasha answered, "They are a family owned business that hasn't been around long, roughly fifteen years only."
"Since the establishment of Lichee
Daily, they have relied on opposing
officials, entrepreneurs, and tycoons to make a name for themselves. They claim to be standing on the side of the citizens. Because of their
aggressive and controversial
réporting style, they have quite a
strong fan base."
"This time, they took advantage of your photo and insisted that you are the same as the other tycoons and plutocrats. It's likely that they're using this to turn the public against you."
Fade continued, "But why would they do that? Is there someone behind all this?"
"Well, we haven't found any evidence of that so far," Sasha said honestly.
"Then investigate more!" Fade shouted harshly.
"Understood!" She nodded quickly.
After Martin and Sasha left, Fade sat behind the desk with a solemn expression on his face.
Initially, he had assumed there
wouldn't be much difficulties with
the negotiation. After all, the martial arts organizations had all already admitted defeat. There was notCcontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
much left for them to argue.
Unfortunately, it seemed that things were not as smooth as he had expected.
The representatives from the other organizations hadn't even arrived yet, nor had the negotiations actually begun. However, problems were already
emerging.
The news article was only the beginning.
To be honest, Fade didn't care much about being linked to those rich businessmen and getting hate forthat.
Despite this, in the latter part of the article, the focus was turned to his entire negotiation team. This was causing the public to oppose his team, as
well as the negotiation itself.
Fade found this to be very unusual.
Therefore, he asked Sasha to investigate whether there was anyone else behind this.