As the sun rose from the horizon in the east, Gussy dragged the drowsy Ma Youcai and Rengatsu out of the hotel.

"Boss... let me sleep a little longer..." Ma Youcai rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned.

"It's time to act, the gears of destiny won't wait for you," Gussy pointed at Ma Youcai's forehead, "And also, call me Lord Gussy!"

"Yes, Lord Gussy... wait, you didn't ask me to call you that before."

Rengatsu patted her cheek, took out her phone to check her face, relieved to see no obvious dark circles under her eyes. She then looked at Gussy and asked, "Are we going to the city today? How are we getting there? By bus or subway?"

"Of course, we'll drive ourselves."

"But... we don't have a car."

"Then let's steal one," Gussy said resolutely.

Gussy wasn't joking. Ma Youcai and Rengatsu witnessed how Gussy "stole a car."

It used a strand of hair as a lock-picking tool. With a snap, the car door opened. Then it used the hair to ignite the engine. With another snap, the engine started.

Any complex mechanical lock was like an illusion in front of Gussy. It could easily see through the internal structure of the tumblers and turn a part of its body into a "key." In this way, a white luxury car was disarmed in front of everyone.

"Miss Rengatsu, can you drive?" Gussy asked.

Rengatsu shook her head, "No, I rarely have experience in that area."

"So, there are things you don't know how to do," Ma Youcai, as if discovering something new, said, "I thought you knew everything."

"Do you, Hayacai-kun, know how to drive?"

"Hehe, when I was young, I drove a tractor in the countryside. If it wasn't for my mom's disapproval, I could've driven the mud truck at the entrance of the village," Ma Youcai proudly said.

"Ma Youcai, you drive," Gussy immediately made a decision.

"Huh? But I haven't passed the driving test, and I'm not familiar with traffic rules. How about you drive instead?"

"I'm your boss, and bosses don't drive for their subordinates," Gussy said without hesitation, throwing the task of driving to Ma Youcai, who had no choice but to comply.

Fortunately, cars in the US, just like in China, had left-hand drive. Although this car was more high-end than any car he had driven before, the configuration was similar, and Ma Youcai quickly got used to it.

The only thing that made him uncomfortable was that the car was stolen. Every time they drove a distance, they would pass by road surveillance cameras. At this rate, they would be taken in by the FBI for tea in the afternoon... but he wasn't worried. He believed in the boss, no, the almighty Gussy, to solve this.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sympathize with the owner of the car.

"Gussy, can we consider publicity now? Do you have any strategies?" Rengatsu asked softly from the backseat.

"The more people who know us, the better. We should start with countries with large populations like China, India, and the US. But the US controls most of the world's public opinion, so our main battlefield is here. As for our publicity channels, let's start with the self-media of each country. Based on user numbers, collect the major popular video websites and self-media platforms worldwide, and let the video creators or management of these websites advertise for us."

Rengatsu widened her eyes slightly and then smiled, "That's no small funding."

"We will make do. Besides, what we're doing is not just limited to this," Gussy looked at Rengatsu and suddenly changed the tone of the conversation, "Miss Rengatsu, it seems like your mental state is not very good. Did you not sleep well last night?"

It's all because of you scaring me...

Rengatsu thought in her heart, but said, "I was thinking about the Association last night."

"Any thoughts?"

The girl nodded, "There's an information divide within the Association, and I don't think the members are united."

"Oh? Tell me your reasons." Gussy's voice became serious, with a touch of coldness, clearly trying to create an atmosphere.

"Josiah and Xu Fang, both members of the Association, have interacted with each other. He knows Xu Fang can easily identify authors and ordinary people, but the Association still made a wrong move - sending an ordinary person disguised as Kana to get close to us. What does this mean? It means the chairman doesn't understand Xu Fang, which also means Josiah has hidden a lot of information from the chairman. I can't understand why Josiah would do this unless he doesn't trust the chairman, or, he lacks a sense of belonging to the Association... So I suggest sending a message to the Association to divide the chairman and Josiah.""My partner is really amazing. He easily discovered the key to the situation!"

"Then let's find someone to write a letter..."

"No need, the letter has already been sent. Besides, I have created a 'third force' to deceive the President. They must be very busy now."

"Third force?"

"It's an organization called 'All-Seeing Eye'. If they also get involved, even the President will have concerns."

Rengatsu smiled, "You have thought this through so carefully, but I wasn't of much help... So, Josiah will be killed by the President?"

"The probability is very low. If the President is a smart person, he should realize that I am dividing them. But I never intended to use the President to get rid of Josiah from the beginning," Gussy said. "The most fatal things are often hidden in the shadows."

...

The car entered the city, and the traffic and people around gradually became more congested. However, with Gussy's guidance, Ma Youcai had a smooth journey and encountered no traffic jams.

After arriving at a commercial area, the group of people got out of the car and went on a shopping frenzy under Gussy's lead.

First, they bought high-end camera equipment, such as DSLR cameras. They chose the best and most expensive ones. Then each person bought several sets of high-spec laptops and desktop computers, as well as a pile of mobile phones and SIM cards. Since they bought too many things, Gussy and the others only took the cameras and laptops with them, and the other items were to be delivered to their place by the shops.

Compared to the expensive gold and silver jewelry, these high-end electronic devices were much cheaper. After the purchases, they still had 400,000 yuan left.

"Now we need to find a base, a base that is large enough to accommodate sufficient equipment and personnel. As for the location, just follow the map," Gussy said.

"Alright," Ma Youcai nodded.

Gussy crossed her arms, raised her legs, and leaned against the soft back seat. The newly bought camera was thrown at the back - by the way, because they found the previous white sedan too narrow, they "switched" to a relatively spacious luxury black car.

While Rengatsu was collecting information from self-media platforms and advertising channels, Gussy approached a tool named "Hu Ying."

Although X Station's user count ranked only in the middle on the popularity list of video websites in China, its user base is young and active, with relatively high dissemination power, so it's worth paying attention to.

A few days ago, Xu Fang became popular on X Station. At that time, Hu Ying's video titled "Let me show you what a real puppet is" briefly topped the rankings and gained significant popularity.

I wonder how it's doing now.

Gussy casually searched and raised an eyebrow after seeing the results.

As expected, the popularity has dropped. In this information-rich era, people pursue entertainment to death. A clown who had become a popular meme on the first day might be completely ignored the next day and forgotten by the third day.

Why did this Hu Ying delete the video?

Gussy strongly condemned Hu Ying's behavior.

Fortunately, there were bootleg versions of "puppet" that kept the popularity going for a while.

Gussy couldn't help but admire "Xi Jiang," a popular "uploader." She was willing to lower herself, generate controversies, and reignite the popularity. What a spirit of love!

Deserving of recognition!

Gussy immediately decided to let Xi Jiang become the spokesperson for X Station and advertise for their puppet. Soon, Gussy got Xi Jiang's phone number through special channels and called her directly.

"Hello? Who is this? Speak up." The phone was answered, and an impatient female voice came from the other end of the line.

It was Xi Jiang herself.

"Hello, I'm Gussy, the head of the puppet company. I was wondering if you would be interested in working with our company?" Gussy asked.

"Not interested, go away!" Xi Jiang hung up the phone.

Hearing the blind tone from the receiver, Gussy typed a question mark with a slow hesitation: ?

Calling again resulted in no answer. It was clear that Gussy had been added to Xi Jiang's blacklist.

Well, time was too precious. It couldn't waste more time calling the same person again. Reluctantly, Gussy contacted the backup, Hu Ying.Poor Hu Yingshu had no idea that he was almost abandoned.

Compared to Xijiang, Hu Ying had a much smoother experience. Gussy successfully had a friendly video call with him.

Just as they were about to delve deeper into their conversation, Gussy noticed five cylindrical metal objects with a diameter of 9 millimeters and a length of 25 millimeters approaching them at a speed of about 300 meters per second from outside the car window. Four of them flew past the car's shell, while the last one pierced through the front windshield at a 45-degree angle and hit the shoulder of the driver's seat, Ma Youcai.

Gussy casually brushed away the bullet that was about to hit Ma Youcai.

Startled by the gunshot and the shattered glass, Ma Youcai slammed on the brakes and huddled behind the steering wheel, too scared to move.

"Oh my god! Help! Someone is shooting at us! I almost died!" Ma Youcai didn't know that Gussy had just saved him from the bullet and thought he was lucky enough to avoid it.

"Ma Youcai, keep your voice down. Don't remind the enemy that you're still alive and kicking," Rengatsu stopped Ma Youcai.

"I'm sorry, Hu Ying. We have encountered a little problem. Please wait a few minutes, and I will call you back later."

Gussy quickly ended the video call with Hu Ying, picked up the camera, and stood up excitedly. "Stay here, you two. There's ready material for a video. I'm going to film!"

With that, Gussy rushed out.

Rengatsu and Ma Youcai looked at each other, took out the handguns Xu Fang had given them earlier, and waited in the car.

...

Five minutes later, Gussy came back, dragging four... men by their collars.

These foreigners were dragged back by Gussy from who knows where, covered in mud from head to toe, looking disheveled and in a sorry state. They were still unconscious, one of them with rolled-back eyes and foaming at the mouth, raising doubts about whether he was still alive.

"Take this." Gussy casually threw the camera to Rengatsu. "I already recorded one. I'll record a few more this afternoon."

"These people...?" Ma Youcai scratched his head and hesitated to ask.

"These are the people who attacked us just now, ordinary men." Gussy confiscated firearms, bullets, cash, and other spoils of war from them, and tied them up with ropes.

"Why did they attack us?" Ma Youcai still felt lingering fear.

Although they were still far from the city center and there weren't many people on the road, it was still daytime. Isn't America too dangerous?

"Ask them directly." Gussy handed Ma Youcai a bottle of water. "Wake them up and find out what happened. I'll continue with the business conversation."