Chapter 212: A Dismal Outcome

Chapter 212: A Dismal Outcome

As soon as Lu Wu's live stream ended, chaos erupted in Northern Jiang.

Those who had purchased the Boneless Wild Pig Broth breeding program in recent days did so with the expectation of achieving Bronze quality.

For Lu Wu and the geniuses capable of reaching the provincial stage of the High School League, a Bronze-quality Summoned Beast might not be a big deal.

However, for ordinary Summoners, a Bronze-quality Summoned Beast is a stepping stone to entering the profession.

But now, upon hearing that the Boneless Pig can indeed evolve into a Bronze quality but cannot further evolve into an Ironbone Boar, it became a matter of life and death.

Currently, the known evolutionary path of the Boneless Pig is the Ironbone Boar. If it cannot evolve into an Ironbone Boar, it would be stuck at the Elite 0-Star level. Who in their right mind would spend 800 points on a Summoned Beast that remains at the Elite 0-Star level?

Within just ten minutes after the live stream, Northern Jiang received hundreds of refund requests.

This was still the easiest issue to handle.

Northern Jiang first tried to appease the customers, but for those who couldn't be calmed down, they had no choice but to process the refunds.

What gave Northern Jiang a bigger headache were the various phone calls regarding complaints and compensation claims.

After all, five days had already passed, and most of the over 8000 breeding programs and more than 4000 materials they sold had already been used.

There was no way to issue refunds at this point, so the customers could only turn to Northern Jiang for redress.

After all, this breeding program had been approved by Northern Jiang.

Now that the program had issues, Northern Jiang had to take full responsibility.

Many of these customers had staked their entire lives and savings on pursuing a profession, and now that their efforts had been in vain, they were furious. Some even led their pigs directly to the Northern Jiang Breeding Center to demand answers.

These clients alone were enough to give the Northern Jiang Breeding Center a headache.

What made them even more desperate was the military. Fortunately, the Northern Jiang military was more understanding and only requested a cancellation.

Many military units outside of Northern Jiang not only demanded a cancellation but also sought compensation for their losses from Northern Jiang.

If these were just customer-level disputes, the final issue was a problem from the organization itself.

Less than half an hour after Lu Wu's live stream, the Cultivation Center's headquarters in the Capital City called.

They directly informed Lin Huai that a team responsible for investigations would arrive in Northern Jiang that very night, and Northern Jiang should prepare to cooperate with the team's investigation.

Upon hearing this news, Lin Huai's mind nearly exploded.

Although the Cultivation Centers have a high degree of autonomy, the headquarters' authority is still significant. If any problems were found, Lin Huai's decades of effort could be wasted overnight.

Did Lin Huai have any problems? Well, the 'any' part could be removed, as he certainly had issues.

Unlike Zhang Wentao, Lin Huai was an old bureaucrat who valued personal gain above all else.

Naturally, he had many problems, not just in the distant past but also recently. He had just misappropriated funds from Northern Jiang University and the Northern Jiang Breeding Center to purchase the Ironclad Ox Herd under his own name.

He was aiming to seize a gold mine.

But now, due to Lu Wu's live stream, that potential gold mine had turned into a volcano, ready to erupt and burn him.

Lin Huai could only hope that Lu Wu's claims were all false.

Could the optimized breeding program be perfect, without any of those flaws? Was that even possible? It was like daydreaming!

Verifying Lu Wu's claims wouldn't be difficult.

At least the first two would be relatively easy.

In less than an hour, the verification results were sent to Lin Huai.

"The experiment confirms that after using the Boneless Pig Broth, the bone connections of the Boneless Pig do indeed have issues, and the vibrations can cause the pig to fall apart.

Additionally, after using the Boneless Pig Broth, the pig does exhibit a weak exclusive reaction to the Necromantic Attribute.

Lastly, regarding evolution, although the final data is not yet available to confirm that the Boneless Pig cannot evolve into an Ironbone Boar after using the Boneless Pig Broth, based on the current situation, the success rate of evolution for Boneless Pigs that have used the optimized Boneless Pig Broth has indeed decreased.

The possibility of being unable to evolve cannot be ruled out!"

As the project leader spoke, Lin Huai's face turned ashen, his expression becoming ferocious.

"Are you all blind? How could you not discover such obvious flaws and side effects?

How is that even possible?"

At this moment, Lin Huai resembled a beast ready to devour anyone in its path, his rage preventing him from calming down.

He was well aware of what this outcome meant—his decades of effort might be for naught. How could he possibly remain calm?

After interrogating the project director, Lin Huai turned his gaze towards North Jiang Wind. In his eyes, North Jiang Wind was no longer the clever and quick-witted Little Jiang who had brought him great benefits; instead, he saw a harbinger of doom.

"North Jiang Wind, you claim to be so smart and boast that everything is under your control.

So, tell me, how exactly did you control it? Tell me, how did we end up in this situation? And tell me, what should we do next?"

North Jiang Wind was also in a bad state, but he managed to remain calmer than Lin Huai.

Moreover, he had already analyzed the situation and understood what had happened.

"We've been outsmarted by Lu Wu. From the beginning, he was well aware of the side effects of the Ironclad Cow Milk breeding program.

He deliberately kept quiet about it and even guided us to discover it ourselves."

It seems that while we were in the midst of our large-scale acquisition of Ironclad Cow Milk, he must have already known we were being played. That's why he declared that he would reveal the secret of Boneless Wild Pig Broth the next day. It appeared as if he was trying to prove his innocence, but in reality, he was forcing us to rush our product to market before him, leaving us no time to verify the program.

Then he delayed for five more days, just to ensure we mass-marketed the flawed cultivation program.

By the time we had sold most of it, he came forward and exposed the flaws in the program, putting us in a dangerous situation.

Upon careful consideration, North Jiang Wind felt that Lu Wu's move wasn't particularly ingenious; it was just that the Northern Jiang side fell victim to their own greed.

If they hadn't been so eager for the massive profits from Boneless Wild Pig Broth, they wouldn't have been led by Lu Wu, and things wouldn't have turned out this way.

But it was too late for him to say these things; no one wanted to listen, including Lin Huai!

"I'm not asking you to be an armchair strategist; I want to know how we can solve the problem now!"

True to his name, North Jiang Wind quickly came up with a solution.

"There's only one thing we can do now!"

"Quick, tell me!"

"Push Shi Ying out."

North Jiang Wind clenched his teeth and continued, "Reveal the truth, expose Shi Ying, and pin all the blame on him.

Tell the public that Shi Ying plagiarized Lu Wu's cultivation program."

"What's the point of pushing Shi Ying out now?"

"There is. By pushing him out, we can turn the tables on Lu Wu. We can tell the public that Lu Wu knew about the flaws in Ironclad Cow Milk from the start but deliberately kept quiet, intending to scam us in Northern Jiang and those Summoners."

North Jiang Wind was desperate, "At this point, no matter what we do, we can't escape blame. So, let's expose the truth, pin it on Lu Wu, and drag him down with us.

Even if we go down, we'll splash him with mud and complete the task given by that high-ranking person.

Only then might that high-ranking person step in to save us."

Upon hearing this, Lin Huai seemed to agree.

With their side already completely collapsed, there was no point in insisting they weren't plagiarists. So, he nodded in agreement.

And just like that, even before the team from the capital city arrived, the Northern Jiang side took action without hesitation and pushed Shi Ying out.

On the same day, Northern Jiang issued a statement claiming that they had thoroughly investigated the plagiarism.

They placed the blame on Shi Ying, the director of the Northern Jiang Cultivation Program Verification Department.

Shi Ying was accused of colluding with cultivators, plagiarizing, and occupying Lu Wu's Boneless Wild Pig Broth cultivation program. He was said to have committed a grave offense and was immediately dismissed from his position.

Those who do the dirty work for the leaders often end up bearing the blame; it's almost inevitable.

Shi Ying, who had been flying high with dreams of rising to fame through this dirty business, quickly found himself in hot water after being exposed. News of his suicide out of fear of punishment spread soon after he was pushed out to take the fall.

With Shi Ying taking the blame, the Northern Jiang side continued their operations.

They manipulated public opinion, directing all the blame and mudslinging toward Lu Wu.

They claimed that Lu Wu had deep intentions, that he had known about the flaws in Boneless Wild Pig Broth all along but chose to remain silent, resulting in thousands of Summoners losing their life's work and investments.

From a certain perspective, this was true.

However, the hatred toward Northern Jiang was deeply entrenched.

Whether it was calls for punishment or compensation, the Northern Jiang side had more evidence and justification.

So, although some people hated Lu Wu, the focus of the public's anger remained on Northern Jiang.

The Northern Jiang side was in deep trouble.

Lin Huai and North Jiang Wind were both in a difficult situation.

Rarely are organizations completely united, but Northern Jiang was an exception.

When the wall crumbles, everyone pushes; when the drum breaks, everyone beats it.

When Lin Huai was in a good position, he was the principal of Jiangbei University and the head of the Northern Jiang Vocational Cultivation Center, wielding immense power. But when problems arose, he became the target of criticism.

As soon as the investigation team from the capital city arrived, Lin Huai's misappropriation of public funds to purchase the Ironclad Cattle Herd was exposed.

To protect himself, Lin Huai had no choice but to sell the Ironclad Cattle Herd.

This herd was valuable when Boneless Wild Pig Broth was popular, but now that it had cooled down, the herd lost its worth.

For a while, no one wanted to buy these cattle.

So, Lin Huai couldn't fill the financial hole, and even if he could, someone else could easily dig another hole for him.

Before long, Lin Huai was investigated for corruption, embezzlement, and bribery and was directly removed from his position.

From start to finish, the high-ranking person Lin Huai had hoped for never intervened.

This made Lin Huai both angry and desperate, but even so, he didn't dare mention that person after he was removed.

With Lin Huai out of the picture, the people from the intranet immediately went after North Jiang Wind.

He still owed them 50,000 points.

With Lin Huai gone, there was no way Northern Jiang could repay that money.

So, the intranet directly initiated the asset liquidation process, forcing the sale of North Jiang Wind's properties.

North Jiang Wind had substantial assets, but not enough to cover the 50,000 points. After selling everything, he still owed 3,000 points, so the intranet signed him up for a Mystic Realm Exploration Agreement.

The day after Lu Wu's live stream ended, North Jiang Wind was sent into a highly dangerous Mystic Realm.

If he survived, his debt would be considered settled.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end