Chapter 251: Intense Preparation

What kind of person was Xiao Ran? Tie Long didn’t even need to recall—scenes of his crushing defeats kept appearing in his mind. To this day, he still didn’t understand why Mo Huaien lost, and lost so miserably.
An indelible hatred—that was Tie Long’s feeling toward Xiao Ran. If not for Xiao Ran ruining Hongguo, he would have long had the chance to build his own empire and create an even greater film empire like Xiao Ran had.
Emotionally, he hated Xiao Ran deeply. But rationally, he had to admire Xiao Ran’s effortless control over everything, his calm composure as he manipulated everything beneath the surface. He simply hadn’t realized that his feelings toward Xiao Ran were a mix of hatred and admiration.
After recounting how Fang Ruohai and Mo Huaien were completely defeated, Tie Long fell deep into his own thoughts and spoke in a near-monotone voice, “He’s like a blade with all its edges hidden, taking away everything from you at the moment you’re most relaxed. When he gets angry, he’s like the most furious tyrant, capable of destroying his enemies by any means!”
Suddenly, as if seeing Xiao Ran smiling at him ferociously, he broke into cold sweat. Noticing that the other two were listening attentively, he hurriedly continued, “Xiao Ran loves to use strategies, and his greatest skill is leveraging others to do his work. By using Hailue Group, Shadow seized the most favorable opportunity for growth before destroying it. By using Jiahe, Xiao Ran took control of Japan’s largest distribution company and then destroyed that too. By using Hongguo, he obtained South Korea’s largest distribution rights before destroying Hongguo itself!”
“He won’t do anything without profit. I think he might even spare his enemies if there’s no gain.” Since his defeat, Tie Long had studied Xiao Ran for a long time. He dared bet that he knew Xiao Ran best in the whole world. “So, every time Xiao Ran’s enemies challenge him, it only adds strength to his expansion and rule!”
“He likes to plan from afar to secure victory. Usually, he shows no signs, but he sets up the most comprehensive traps. When the time comes, he launches all his attacks, plunging others into utter despair, leaving them unable to fight back!” Tie Long suddenly felt terrified. He even thought that the Xiao Ran he described sounded so frightening.
Turner and Michael grew more and more surprised as they listened. They had indeed investigated Xiao Ran before, but what they found was never as in-depth as what the person himself knew. According to Tie Long’s description, Xiao Ran was an extremely terrifying enemy. They exchanged glances, thinking this might indeed not be an easy opponent to deal with.
In fact, they could swear to God that they had never thought they could drive Shadow into bankruptcy, just as Xiao Ran had never considered bringing these major companies down. Corporate bankruptcy was by no means easy, especially for large groups with market values exceeding tens of billions of dollars.

Just kidding. If these conglomerates didn’t expand at such a rapid pace like Xiao Ran’s, or if they didn’t incur huge losses and serious operational problems, or if they didn’t shoulder massive debts, it would be highly unlikely for them to go bankrupt. It’s no exaggeration to say that there are countless people eager to get into Hollywood. As long as these companies are willing to seek financing, a large influx of capital is entirely conceivable.

It seems Xiao Ran had already prepared for this—should Phantom really face financial difficulties due to those $10 billion, Tianxia Fund could step in to provide financing at any time. With liquid capital, everything would be fine.

So, this is clearly not a life-or-death battle, but rather a fight to drive out competitors or establish a firm foothold. Still, this battle is extremely important, and both Turner and Michael are well aware of that.

Warner is the company that has collaborated with Phantom the most times, renting out (mistakenly written as buying out earlier; corrected now) film distribution rights to Phantom on multiple occasions. Although there are only a few films each year, one or two of them always achieve outstanding results. Imagine the impact Phantom could have on the other six major studios if it managed to establish a strong position in the film market.

Disney also faces such a crisis. The animated films distributed by Warner for Phantom have achieved great success in North America. One of the reasons Disney dominates the world is that it is the sole ruler of the animation market. If challenged by Phantom, its entire animation business would be damaged, causing severe harm to Disney as well.

For these reasons, they certainly won’t let Xiao Ran establish a foothold here easily. But what can they do? Hollywood is so vast, and controlling actors is by no means easy—unless they can control unions of actors or directors. But that’s clearly not easy; unions exist precisely to oppose monopolies by giants.

They all think it’s worth trying. There’s no need for full control; a certain level of promotion should suffice. Turner burst into laughter: “I think we can still create some obstacles for Xiao Ran in terms of distribution!”

Michael’s eyes lit up. That’s right—Warner and Disney each hold shares in some theaters. If they unite, they can surely overwhelm Phantom. Moreover, they both know those theaters won’t refuse their requests, at least not until Universal shows them sufficient profits. Both of them laughed, and Tie Long couldn’t help but show a vicious smile too—anything that could cause Xiao Ran pain made him happy.

While they were discussing this, Xiao Ran was receiving a guest—a very different kind of guest: Murdoch. Xiao Ran met this future media magnate in his own room. Of course, Murdoch’s influence is currently far less significant than Phantom’s overall.

Murdoch had a somewhat iron-fisted demeanor and appeared very resolute. After shaking hands with Xiao Ran, he sat down on his own. Murdoch glanced at Xiao Ran and suddenly burst into laughter: “I’ve always admired those who can steal money from me. It’s a great pleasure to finally meet you today!”
Xiao Ran smiled gently. That was from a couple of years ago, when Murdoch was trying to acquire and merge his television network in the UK. Unexpectedly, Phantom Group stepped in and completed the acquisition at a higher price. Aside from this incident, in Hong Kong, Phantom Group had done its utmost to prevent Murdoch’s News Corp from making inroads, thwarting their acquisition plans several times.
Seeing Xiao Ran smiling calmly, Murdoch gradually stopped laughing and instead gave a mysterious smile: “President Xiao, I know you prefer this title, so that’s how I’ll address you. This time, I bring you a very valuable gift. How will you thank me?”
Xiao Ran smiled indifferently. Since Murdoch had come to the United States quietly and came to see him right away, it would be foolish of him not to know what Murdoch intended. Indeed, Murdoch clearly didn’t care about Xiao Ran’s calmness and quickly revealed his answer: “I’ll bring you an ally—a powerful ally!”
“No, Mr. Murdoch, you’re wrong,” Xiao Ran said with a strange smile. Murdoch was merely anxious about Fox’s losses and, seeing the chaos in Hollywood, decided to take matters into his own hands, which wouldn’t bring much benefit to Universal at all.
Xiao Ran could easily imagine the tactics Warner and other companies would use against Universal. In fact, in the film industry, the most effective methods were those that dealt the heaviest blows. Distribution? Xiao Ran wasn’t afraid at all. “Jurassic Park” would surely open the doors to American theaters. Once those doors were opened, there would be no more problems.
As for dealing with actors and crew members, Xiao Ran was well prepared. Otherwise, why had he spent the previous years recruiting Western actors and filmmakers? Although there weren’t many yet, with actors plus Phantom Group’s top talent, they could accomplish a lot.
Phantom Group wasn’t some company without capital in the film industry. Its base in Hong Kong could continuously supply various talents. But until the most critical moment, Xiao Ran didn’t plan to integrate Hong Kong filmmakers into Hollywood. What he really wanted was to attract Hollywood filmmakers to Hong Kong. Without any special reason, just through Phantom Group’s director-centered system, they could attract many talented directors.
So, the current situation wasn’t as tense as imagined; everyone was just preparing to strike. Murdoch had clearly miscalculated, thinking Phantom Group needed an ally desperately. But Xiao Ran didn’t mind having one more ally: “Phantom Group and Universal are fully capable of handling any difficulties. Of course, I’ve never refused an extra ally.”
Murdoch was slightly surprised, wondering if Xiao Ran had planned this all along. On the surface, he laughed heartily and extended his hand to Xiao Ran: “Then from now on, we’re allies. What do you think we should do to deal with attacks from other companies?”

“At least until we defeat the conspiracies of other companies, we’re allies!” Xiao Ran stretched out his hand for a shake and gave Murdoch a meaningful look. Murdoch’s News Group and Phantom had quite overlapping development paths, and a confrontation was inevitable in the future—Murdoch knew that, and so did Xiao Ran!
“Obviously, there’s not much they can do. I guess they’ll just try to create trouble for us in distribution and production!” Xiao Ran’s fingers lightly brushed over his beard, carrying an implied meaning.
In the film industry, some things are complex, while others are simple. Fox had been losing money not only due to external attacks but also because of poor management. With a structure as efficient and well-organized as Phantom’s, they wouldn’t have fallen into such crisis.
Things were often that simple. The theater chains also pursued profits, just as Phantom had broken into Japan and South Korea with “Spy Change.” When there was enough profit at stake, anyone standing in Phantom’s way would become an ally. It was similar to how Murdoch had abandoned past grudges to cooperate with Xiao Ran in order to stabilize Fox and revive it.
Murdoch hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should tell Xiao Ran something—some news he had heard in Britain. But thinking that Phantom was the strongest rival to News Group, he quickly dismissed the idea. If Phantom was heading toward destruction, he certainly wouldn’t push them further.
Yet Xiao Ran noticed that fleeting hesitation in Murdoch’s eyes and quickly shifted his thoughts, trying to figure out what it meant. After Murdoch left, Xiao Ran fell into deep thought again. He felt he must have missed something, especially after seeing Murdoch’s hesitation.
But he couldn’t figure out what it was. Damn it! He cursed under his breath and turned his focus back to Murdoch and News Group. Murdoch envisioned four key bases for News Group’s future: Australia, his homeland; Britain, to face Europe directly; the United States; and Hong Kong last.
In Australia, Xiao Ran was certain he couldn’t compete with Old Murdoch, who hardly paid any attention to that region at all. In Britain, Phantom had already entered the media and television industries years ago, using its financial strength and extensive entertainment resources to gain an advantage over News Group. In the United States, Phantom was definitely no match for Old Murdoch.
Phantom currently controlled only a few local television networks, which would soon be integrated under Universal. Moreover, it would be extremely difficult for Phantom to take control of the three major television networks. Even with sufficient funds, the U.S. government would likely refuse to allow Phantom to gain absolute control (though specifics were unclear; after all, the U.S. claimed not to interfere in economics, so it probably wouldn’t get too involved).
Hong Kong was a crucial base. Old Murdoch hadn’t developed it much there yet and couldn’t afford to focus on it for now. Phantom had used these years to successfully integrate various television networks, using Hong Kong as a base to reach across Asia.

Since Shuxiang Media is about to merge with ATV Group to form a super multinational media conglomerate, which will become the flagship of Shadow in controlling the media industry, Wei Dongling’s strategy for the merged group is to use Hong Kong, the UK, and the US as its three main bases to dominate the media sector. Of course, Hong Kong is of utmost importance.

Thinking about Shadow’s development in the UK, Xiao Ran suddenly had an epiphany, his expression changing drastically as if he might jump up in excitement. He realized what he had been ignoring all along—he had overlooked the UK, or rather, the Hong Kong-British government…

Stunned for a while, he gradually sorted out his chaotic thoughts. Then, the plan he and Wei Dongling had devised before came to mind—a plan targeting the Hong Kong-British government, initiated from the UK. He immediately called Guan Xin and instructed him to start executing the plan, aiming to bring shame upon the Hong Kong-British government to the greatest extent possible.

“Aran, there’s something I’m not sure if I should mention,” Guan Xin hesitated unusually before saying to Xiao Ran, “Liang Kun has been very active over the past two years and eager to get involved in controlling the underworld. Although it’s part of his duties, I think he’s become too close to the underworld. I had the higher-ups investigate him, but nothing was found. Still, be cautious.”

Xiao Ran wasn’t convinced. Someone who never wanted to get involved with the underworld would surely not regret it now. But Guan Xin was right—being cautious was good. He carefully asked, “Master, weren’t your previous arrangements fine?”

“None of problems. It can be launched at any time!” Guan Xin had left the National Security Bureau and now held a position related to Hong Kong affairs in the government. Yang Guang and Monkey had also been removed from the National Security Bureau and became Xiao Ran’s bodyguards. So, if Guan Xin and the others needed any information, they could only rely on their old connections. Still, the higher-ups were quite helpful in this regard.

After making another call to Wei Dongling and arranging everything, Xiao Ran went out to enjoy himself while waiting for everything to erupt. Opportunities always arise with crises; if you can seize them, you can achieve success, right?

At that time, several important figures from the Hong Kong Governor’s Office arrived and were holding a secret meeting. Governor Patten clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention before calmly saying, “As you all know, Xiao Ran, the chairman of Shadow’s board, has posed a significant threat to our British rule. Some even think Xiao Ran is the real ruler. That’s why I’ve called you all here to discuss this matter!”

Although Patten was a politician, he was well aware that no one present could afford to provoke Xiao Ran, and no one here would dare speak out against him. So, he decided to be straightforward and give everyone a “surprise.”

Indeed, it was quite a surprise. Those who were secretly invited basically already knew what was going on. But even so, hearing Patten’s words still made them shudder. Lee Cheung-ning, the Secretary for Security, who was British, asked with a serious expression, “Mr. Governor, what do you mean?”

“Have you all forgotten how he used gang forces to threaten us last time?” Peng Dingkang’s expression grew increasingly fervent as he waved his fists, employing typical politician tactics: “The British Empire will never yield to such a scoundrel. We must overthrow him and regain the power and wealth that belong to us!”
Bullshit politicians, stop talking nonsense here! Li Qingning cursed inwardly nonstop. Peng Dingkang didn’t live here, so of course he wasn’t afraid. But whose wives and children weren’t in Hong Kong among those present? If Xiao Ran found out about what was being discussed here, they definitely wouldn’t end up well.
Seeing no response, Peng Dingkang sat down without the slightest sense of embarrassment and continued, “From the perspective of the British Empire, you certainly have every reason to consider the country’s interests. You are British—have you forgotten?”