Not that things would be totally helpless without the Files. Xingyu and Zhang Weiran had planned from the beginning to take them down with their own efforts, so that was still a possibility, but having the Files versus doing it the way they originally intended was the same difference between calling an exterminator and squashing each bug beneath your foot one by one. The former would ensure total annihilation; the latter gave the chance to flee.

Here was some more of his reasoning.

The most ideal pathway—the one that would get the List taken down, the one that would let them end this all successfully—was if Liu Xingyu and Xiao-Xiao both inherited the roles they were supposed to inherit all along. Xingyu would gain access to all of the power and money he would ever need and Xiao-Xiao would have the access to the Files. In one fell swoop, they could bring everyone crashing down—Xiao-Xiao would have the proof to send to the authorities, and Xingyu would have the money power to keep them down.

The most ideal pathway, but not the more likely one.

Most likely was that either Xingyu or Xiao-Xiao would inherit his role before his brother. Xingyu taking his rightful place first wouldn’t be so bad—with Ba’s authority, he could perhaps order Sun Yue to hand her power—and the Files—over to Xiao-Xiao. Then that would effectively get them on that same ideal pathway, even if it was a more unconventional way to get there. Or the other option: Xiao-Xiao got his position first. Less ideal. If he had access to the Files, they might still be able to accomplish what they needed to accomplish—but who’s to say the authorities wouldn’t have quite enough information on one of the members of the List? If someone that powerful came after Xingyu and Xiao-Xiao and Weiran…well, without the power of Liu Incorporated, what could they possibly do about it?