Dawn came and bathed Bailu in an ethereal glow.

“Go back inside. Your body is pretty weak.” Fan Fan held Xia Lei closer to kiss him farewell at the door. “Remember to have your kitchen get you some supplements.”

Xia Lei’s hair looked even more messed up than usual.

After breakfast, Xia Lei went to the Thunder Horse Military Factory. His first task today was to gather all Thunder Horse Organization’s higher-level personnel in his multifunctional meeting room. Not only were his own people present, but the higher-level personnel from the Haizhu and Shudi branch had also joined the meeting.

Through that, Xia Lei showed all the documents Fan Fan had brought over and explained the gigantic Sweeper infantry fighting vehicle order.

The support from the country was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

In the multifunctional meeting room, Xia Lei scanned through all the familiar faces before him. His expression was stern and his gaze unwavering. “Now that we have the country’s support, we must utilize this chance. This isn’t a matter of profit anymore. This has got to do with the important rise of our military industry. I’m sure everyone here is clear about the responsibility and burden that we have to shoulder. I hope that once we’ve become old, we could still look back to today and feel proud over our contributions. Your future generations will take pride in your sacrifices today.”

“Director Xia, there’s no need to cheer for us. We’re willing to work with you on this!”

“Yeah, we’ll do anything you request!”

“Director Xia, we’re willing to reach greater heights under your lead. We must show the Americans and Japanese our true capabilities!”

“Yeah! We’ve been excluded from western technology for tens of years. They even had the heart to mock us that we’re only capable of making blouses and socks! I’ve had enough, this time I must prove them wrong!”

“Director Xia, we are with you!”

The atmosphere in the meeting room was upbeat and filled with excitement, everyone gave each other a pat on the back. Their morale was at an all-time high.

The ease Xia Lei enjoyed to bring his people together was not an overnight effort. The man had placed in a lot of effort to get to this point. Xia Lei had never once mistreated them and his prestige in the field was unmatched. The man practised grace and appropriate sternness to govern his staff like the ancient emperors. Xia Lei was the emperor of the Thunder Horse Organization, not once plastering his entitlement all over but earning it in the process.

After the necessary explanations, Xia Lei began to make relevant arrangements.

“Huang Xuewen, you’re in charge of the AI portion. If the funds are insufficient, I’ll channel more. If there’s not enough manpower, I’ll recruit more for you. Do you do all you can to incorporate AI technology into our production lines and weapon systems.”

“No problem, Director Xia.” Huang Xuewen’s reply was direct and confident.

Truthfully, the AI technology provided by Xia Lei had given Huang Xuewen a good foundation to work on. Xia Lei had already given him enough bricks and concrete, all he needed to do was to use the materials given to continue building the house. Coincidentally, this was what Huang Xuewen was best at.

Then, Xia Lei turned to look at Sylvia and Annina. “Sylvia, Annina, you two are our chief engineers. The tank research project will fall under your responsibility. Do you think you can create the best tank?”

Annina smiled. “I fixed tanks back in Germany. I can completely disassemble a Leopard 2 tank and put it back together perfectly.”

Sylvia stared at Xia Lei intently. “I was professionally trained to process precise parts. All precision materials Rheinmetall are from my workshop. Here, I have the world’s best Thunder Dragon intelligent lathe and Annina’s assistance. I’m sure we’ll be able to create a tank beyond Leopard 2’s advancement.”

Actually, not only did Annina have the complex construct of the Leopard 2 tank fresh in her mind, but Xia Lei had also stolen the techniques from Rheinmetall. The combination of knowledge from the three of them was bound to birth the world’s most advanced tank design. The only issue was how to incorporate different ideas to give way to Thunder Horse’s very own tank that was the hardest part. Though so, it was just a mere matter of time.

Xia Lei smiled at them both. “The garage is already yours. If there’s anything else that you need, I can give it to you under one condition. Get our tank ready as fast as you can.”

Annina and Sylvia looked at each other with a crooked smile. There was something weird in their eyes.

It was only then Xia Lei realized that he may have given the wrong hint. He quickly averted his eyes to the screen at the front of the room. “Lingshan, Xiaohong, your bases are in charge of spare part production. Start devising a plan to increase your production. If you lack people, seek help from the local ministry. If you’re lacking funds, I’ll inject more.”

On the screen, Guan Lingshan and Zhou Xiaohong who had joined the meeting through the internet replied in unison. “No problem, Director Xia.”

As soon as all arrangements were settled, every higher-level personnel of Thunder Horse Organization had a job to fulfil. Soon, they’d make the necessary adjustments to their current processes. In the face of a historical opportunity, every Thunder Horse personnel were protagonists that would shape the new era!

This meeting finally ended after two hours.

Xia Lei returned to his office and enjoyed some rest. After a few minutes, he went into the duty lounge. The lounge was prepared specifically for Qing Caiyue. It was currently used for Qing Caiyue to teach Zhu Xuanyue etiquette.

It was weird to see Qing Caiyue absent from the meeting earlier. The meeting was very important to the organization, which was why Xia Lei felt the urge to go check on her. He remembered clearly that he had invited Qing Caiyue to the meeting.

Before he even got to its entrance, he could already hear voices coming from within.

“Sit! I’m telling you to sit! Bark like a dog!”

“Woof woof! Woof woof!”

“Roll around!”

“Whimper…”

What the hell was going on in there?!

Xia Lei was stunned.

The rationale behind the etiquette classes was to have Zhu Xuanyue behave like a normal person to the best of her ability. It was to avoid them all of any unnecessary scrutiny and suspicion. But from what Xia Lei could make out, it didn’t sound like an etiquette class, it sounded more like beast taming!

To make it worse, the beast tamer was not Qing Caiyue but Zhu Xuanyue.

Xia Lei could hear Zhu Xuanyue’s scolding while Qing Caiyue was barking like a dog!

“Wow, you’re so smart! Open up, you may have a biscuit.”

“Woof woof!”

“Hehe, you’re such a smart dog. Come raise your butt, I want to hit your butt!”

“Whimper… Woof!”

Slap! Slap!

It was the sound of ass-slapping.

Xia Lei decided he could no longer take this. He quickly rushed in to intervene.

The sight that welcomed him was like a gush of winter wind. Everything was bizarre to the point he froze on spot.

Zhu Xuanyue was sitting cross-legged on the couch while holding a feather duster. On the other hand, Qing Caiyue had her ass raised in the air, exposing her blue silk underwear.

Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been a sight to behold but Xia Lei was not in a headspace to take another look at the display. All he could focus on was the surprise and curiosity in his heart. “What’s going on?”

“Uncle Xia.” Zhu Xuanyue quickly stood up from the couch. She seemed to have noticed something, quickly hiding the feather duster behind her back.

Oddly, with Xia Lei's announced presence, Qing Caiyue was still kneeling on the ground. She seemed to have no intentions to greet Xia Lei nor fix her position.

Xia Lei was about to question her but before he could, he changed his mind. Instead, he flashed a smile and asked, “What game are you two playing? Can I join?”

“Uncle Xia, you want to play too?” Zhu Xuanyue was very excited.

Xia Lei circled around to the front of Qing Caiyue. “Yeah, I’d like to play too.” As he spoke, he sneaked a glance to observe Qing Caiyue. Shockingly, the woman’s eyes were blank. It felt like she was a soulless puppet. Xia Lei felt chills down his spine. Abruptly, he was reminded of Ning Jing.

This was similar to when Ning Jing was living in the sanatorium!

Zhu Xuanyue extended a hand to slap Qing Caiyue’s behind. She instructed, “Good doggy, bark for my Uncle Xia!”

Following that, Qing Caiyue lifted her head and barked at Xia Lei. “Woof woof!”

“Isn’t she a good doggy?” Zhu Xuanyue beamed.

Xia Lei’s expression tensed. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing, I didn’t do anything to her. I was just playing a game with her.” Zhu Xuanyue was starting to feel nervous.

“You told her to act like a dog so she became like this? What exactly did you do to her?” Xia Lei feigned anger. “Tell me how you did it or I’ll ignore you forever.”

“I…”

“Spit it out!”

“There’s no need to be so mean!” Zhu Xuanyue hesitated for a bit before admitting it. “I could talk to her inside her body and make her obey me.”

Her answer rendered Xia Lei speechless.

Hypnotism was the first thing that came to mind, but it was too extreme. No hypnotist in the world was able to completely hold control over one’s soul. At most, they would only be able to manipulate their thoughts. Aside from that, they would also require lots of aid, medicines, props to assist them.

“I can even turn her into a cat. Would you like to see it?” Zhu Xuanyue interrupted his thoughts.

Xia Lei thought for a bit. “Can you turn me into a dog?”

That was undoubtedly a risky choice but it was necessary to understand how she achieved that.

However, Zhu Xuanyue shook her head. “No, I can’t do it to you.”

Surprised, Xia Lei questioned, “Why?”

Zhu Xuanyue pointed to her brain. “Your body is too strong. I cannot convince you.”

“It’s alright, give it a try.” Xia Lei’s curiosity overcame his rationale.

“Okay, I’ll try.” Zhu Xuanyue came to stand in front of Xia Lei and proceeded to stare straight into his soul without a word. Weirdly, her eyes turned eerie. The colour of her iris darkened, turning it into complete darkness as if it was ink-soaked. Her iris even seemed to be swirling ever so slightly.

Fixated by this pair of eerie orbs, Xia Lei felt as if he was dragged into the dark pit by some kind of invisible force. Faintly, he heard a muffled voice. Sadly, its utterance was very incoherent, essentially impossible to understand. Xia Lei wanted to learn more about the voice but his consciousness was starting to feel heavier.

At this moment, his brain immediately unleashed a wash of latent mysterious energy. Before he knew it, he was already awake.

Zhu Xuanyue’s eyes returned to normal. She pouted, “See, I told you it won’t work but you didn’t believe me.”

“Return her to normal,” warned Xia Lei.

He had expected Zhu Xuanyue to defy him but the kneeling Qing Caiyue abruptly regained her consciousness.

“Why… Why am I on the ground?” Qing Caiyue’s shock was all over her face.

Xia Lei sighed. “I think you slipped, the floor is kind of slippery today. From tomorrow onwards, there’s no need to give her lessons anymore.”

If this went on, Qing Caiyue might end up as the next Ning Jing.