<h4>Chapter 980: Chapter 987: Expanding the Faction (1)</h4>


    After receiving Ling Chen’s notification, it didn’t take long for Hu Fei and Beison to arrive with their team at the base.


    Before capturing this base, Ling Chen hadn’t told Hu Fei. Once this guy reached the base, he jumped up in excitement.


    In every aspect, this base is several times better than the previous research base.


    "Ling Chen, you finally did something good," Hu Fei chuckled. "Now Lin Guodong will probably be heartbroken."


    "More than just heartbroken, the God Organization spent so much effort and resources to build this base, but it ended up being taken over by us. He’s probably furious by now."


    After a few jokes, Ling Chen changed his tone and said seriously, "Hey, fatty, speaking seriously, do you have any contacts who can bring in some decent manpower?"


    "You want to recruit people?" Hu Fei said, "Don’t you still have Jiang Hao and his people? Jiang Hao has hundreds under him, isn’t that enough?"


    "Jiang Hao’s group are all street thugs. What use are they? Besides, his underlings have families, I can’t just send them to their deaths. I need professionals. Look!" Ling Chen pointed to Beison not far away and said, "See that? That’s what I call professional."


    "You’re looking for mercenaries?" Hu Fei immediately waved his hand and said, "It’s best not to hire too many mercenaries. Even though they’re professionals, they only care about money and never talk about loyalty. So, it’s hard to gain their loyalty, and they can’t bepletely trusted. I think one mercenary team is enough."


    "So what do you suggest? Right now, Beison’s people are guarding the perimeter, so that’s not a big worry. But inside the base, there isn’t a decent security team. If the God Organizationunches a massive attack, what do you expect me to fight back with?"


    "Well..." Hu Fei rubbed his head, hesitant about what to say.


    At this moment, the porridge girl interjected, "If you’re looking for manpower, maybe I can help you."


    "Really?" Ling Chen’s eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "What do you have in mind?"


    "Recently, I’ve been busy cleaning up after the Secret Society, integrating its remaining forces. You’ve all had dealings with the Secret Society before, so you should know how extensive their power is. Globally, the Secret Society’s reach is second only to the God Organization. Wherever the God Organization is, you can bet we have Secret Society people there, just not in the same numbers. This time, I’ve gathered all the remaining members of the Secret Society. Although their power has been greatly reduced under the God Organization’s suppression, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse, and we still have quite a few avable hands. If you need, I can call them all here to follow your orders."


    Hearing the porridge girl’s words, Ling Chen’s brows unfurled, and he smiled, saying, "If the Secret Society joins us, that’s wonderful. But... I’m afraid they won’t follow my arrangements."


    "You can rest assured about that. I’ve talked to Master before, and ording to him, he is also prepared to entrust all the Secret Society’s existing forces to you. After all, the Secret Society isn’t what it used to be, and going it alone won’t aplish much. Instead, it’s better to cooperate with you andbine our forces. Only then will we have enough strength to contend with the God Organization."


    "Alright," Ling Chen nodded, "If that’s the case, then bring them all here. After all, I’m short on hands here, and this base isrge enough to amodate two or three hundred people."


    "Okay, I’ll contact themter and have theme to East Sea City as soon as possible."


    "By the way!" At this moment, Hu Fei seemed to remember something and curiously asked, "Porridge girl, how did Ling Chen’s dad be the leader of the Secret Society? As far as I know, the Secret Society has been around for over fifty years. Given his dad’s age, he couldn’t have founded it."


    As soon as Hu Fei finished speaking, Ling Chen also looked towards the porridge girl. He, like Hu Fei, was puzzled about how Ling Kun became the leader of the Secret Society. Back then, Ling Kun was always by Ling Chen’s side until he was a teenager. All things considered, Ling Chen and his dad have only been apart for about ten years. It seems strange that in such a short time, his dad suddenly became the leader of the world’s secondrgest power.


    Facing their gaze, the porridge girl replied casually, "I’m not very clear about this matter. You can ask Master directly when hees back."


    ...


    In half a day, with Ling Chen and his group’s efforts, the base gradually got into gear. Zhou Qi and Zhou Jun were brought to the base and began stepping into their roles. Zhou Qi’s position remained unchanged; he continued to be the head steward of the base.


    Zhou Qi previously served at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, overseeing all major affairs there, so he has a wealth of experience in this area. Moreover, Zhou Qi is also an Earthly List expert. Because of these two factors, Ling Chen, together with Zhou Jun, went to great lengths to recruit Zhou Qi.


    Currently, there are very few experts avable in the base: Kaelina, Jiang Yunkai, Qin Genglong, Zhou Qi, plus Zhou Jun. Among them, only Qin Genglong and Zhou Qi are truly outstanding, while the others are rather ordinary. In a real sense, Kaelina and Jiang Yunkai are not considered top experts.


    Of course, these people are nominally members of the base. Besides them, there’s also the Eight Oddities, which is the real strength Ling Chen can wield. However, Qiu Yong and the others help out of brotherhood, and they are not Ling Chen’s subordinates.


    For this reason, Ling Chen is reluctant to rely too much on their strength. Every time, due to his own issues, he made Qiu Yong and the others run back and forth, risking themselves. Especially this time, Qiu Yong almost lost his life from a snakebite while rescuing him.


    Although Qiu Yong and the others emphasize brotherhood, Ling Chen feels he owes them too much, and he feels ufortable asking for their help each time. Therefore, he hopes to quickly strengthen his own forces so that others don’t have to take risks for him.


    A day passed.


    The base experienced a rare day of calm. Ever since Ling Chen destroyed all the drilling equipment that day, the God Organization hasn’t sent anyone over again. They probably realized that as long as that armored titan remains, they can’t use drilling machines to breach the base’s defenses.


    Meanwhile, Secret Society members also arrived one after another, gathering at the base.


    This time, Ling Chen truly witnessed the vast power of the Secret Society and deeply understood the saying that a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.


    Even though they were only the remnants of the Secret Society, there were still over four hundred people. Even this newly built base couldn’t amodate so many people.