Upon hearing Wu Hao’s explanation, Li Xiaoyun nodded in a somewhat understanding manner. By now, she had begun to realize that Wu Hao’s various changes over the past year or so were likely related to the abilities he possessed.

As for Wu Hao’s family background, she had been well aware of it for a long time. In fact, it wasn’t just her—Wu Hao’s experiences and family situation over the past 20-plus years had already been laid out in front of many powerful factions.

For example, departments like the **** National Security Bureau, as well as the two century-old powerful family conglomerates that had once had conflicts with Wu Hao.

Although they had gathered information, they were unable to prove anything. On the contrary, Wu Hao’s identity, the forces behind him, and the power he possessed only grew more mysterious.

The simpler his background seemed, the more extraordinary his abilities appeared. For instance, during the incident in South America, not only did Wu Hao escape unharmed from the ambush of a well-trained special elite squad, but he also wiped out the entire team, though no one knew what method he used.

After the incident, the Rothschild family dispatched people to the scene shortly after. By the time they arrived, many of the bodies had been devoured by local insects and wildlife, but a thorough investigation revealed how the team had died.

What had killed them wasn’t firearms or explosive weapons, but their own daggers. All their wounds were similar. These people were elite special forces personnel—unless they didn’t resist, how could they have been so easily killed by their own daggers, with their throats or hearts pierced?

Thus, how Wu Hao managed to wipe out so many people in an instant became the key question they pondered.

This incident sent a clear message to Will and Med: if they wanted to deal with Wu Hao again and succeed, they would need to carefully assess the amount of force to use.

After all, if a 30-man elite squad could be wiped out so easily, would they have to send an entire army to deal with Wu Hao? That was obviously impossible, as Wu Hao was in the East, in ****.

In ****, foreign families and factions could not easily wield any significant power. Moreover, **** was a no-go zone for mercenaries worldwide, and this wasn’t just an empty threat; the **** military kept strict control over the borders. Any large number of foreign personnel carrying significant weapons would immediately be detected by the **** military.

The next morning, when Wu Hao and Li Xiaoyun walked out of the room together, they were scrutinized by Wu Hao’s parents and Wu Xiaoxiao. His mother was beaming with joy, while his sister, Wu Xiaoxiao, looked at Li Xiaoyun with a slight smile, causing Li Xiaoyun to hang her head and hide behind Wu Hao.

After breakfast with the family, Wu Hao bid farewell to his parents and left the mountain villa to head into the city for a meeting with people from the Security Bureau. It would be his first direct contact with his country’s official personnel.

Wu Hao didn’t bring many people with him on this trip into the city—just a driver and one bodyguard. “Shen Lin, have the items I brought back last night been distributed?” Wu Hao had specifically brought Shen Lin along because he wanted to have a private conversation with him. Shen Lin and the other dozen or so bodyguards had originally been hired by Wu Hao from a security company. However, Wu Hao later reached an agreement with the company and explained the situation to Shen Lin and the others, telling them that he intended to hire them directly as long-term security for his family.

Their compensation would also be increased by 30%. After hearing Wu Hao’s offer, all the bodyguards agreed to work directly for him. Naturally, Wu Hao compensated the security company generously, but to him, money was no longer a concern.

Since Wu Hao’s second power-up, and with the assistance of the AI Zero, he had no worries about money.

The reason Wu Hao wanted to speak privately with Shen Lin was that he intended to groom Shen Lin as his right-hand man for visible operations. His main responsibility would, of course, be the safety of Wu Hao’s family. Shen Lin and the security team guarding the family estate were already the best in the country.

However, they still fell short compared to the personnel in the elite special forces. After cultivating his covert force, the Black Owl Legion, in the Qinling base, Wu Hao intended to enhance his visible security force as well.

Of course, it wasn’t possible to upgrade all the security personnel at once. He could only select a portion of the core members, and through his investigations over the past few months, Wu Hao found that Shen Lin and the other early recruits already met his requirements.

Now, Wu Hao wanted to have a one-on-one conversation with Shen Lin for final confirmation.

“Boss, I’ve distributed all the equipment you brought back last night. Everyone is extremely satisfied and feels that with this gear, they can even stand a chance against armed attackers,” Shen Lin reported, having swiftly completed the task Wu Hao assigned to him.

The equipment Wu Hao brought back included not only new communication devices but also two types of defensive and offensive weapons. In ****, apart from certain government and military departments, security personnel were not legally allowed to carry firearms.

Although Wu Hao could easily acquire weaponry for his security team, he couldn’t do so legally. Therefore, he opted to equip them with two types of defense and attack gear developed by the AI.

One of these was a paralyzing stun gun. Unlike a typical gun, this device was designed to resemble a high-brightness flashlight. Once switched to attack mode, it could deliver a powerful electric shock within a 3-meter range, paralyzing the target.

Its endurance was also impressive—each charge allowed for ten high-intensity electric shocks. This weapon was far superior to existing stun batons, which only worked upon direct contact with the target. Wu Hao’s device, on the other hand, could emit an electric arc up to 3 meters away, like a bolt of lightning, making it fundamentally different.