Ren Xiaosu got back into the driver’s seat and continued to look for the next gold shop. Of course, he was not entirely doing this for money. There was something more to his plan.
When Ren Xiaosu entered the gold shop this time, he bluntly asked to sell his gold for the inflated banknotes with a sense of familiarity. As these gold shops did not have that many bills on hand, Ren Xiaosu could only trade for an average of 500,000 yuan per shop with a mixture of Yang Consortium and Qing Consortium currency.
But since he could exchange for the currencies, receive gratitude tokens, and even help out the stronghold residents that were suffering because of the war, it was basically killing three birds with one stone. So why not?
When Ren Xiaosu finished visiting the tenth gold shop, the voice from the palace said, “Quest complete. Awarded Basic Skill Duplication Scroll.”
Ren Xiaosu was a little disappointed. He was hoping he could get a Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll to use on Chen Wudi. After all, his disciple’s superpower looked really strong.
Unfortunately, it would be pointless to use the Basic Skill Duplication Scroll on Chen Wudi. This disciple of his had no other outstanding abilities other than his superpower.
The moment the quest was completed, Ren Xiaosu counted that he was left with 5.41 million yuan. The piles of money he hoarded in the storage space dazzled him a little. The money seemed to glow.
In the past, he could never have imagined he would have so much money.
“C’mon, Wudi, let’s find a restaurant to eat at.” Ren Xiaosu said generously, “It’ll be my treat, so please eat whatever you want. Those of you who aren’t injured can come along as well, but those who are injured will have to bear with it. We’ll bring back some food for y’all after dining.”
However, they could not find a restaurant even after looking around for a while. When they came to a sit-down restaurant, Ren Xiaosu went in after looking at the menu and said, “I want everything on the menu except for this, this, and this!”
Chen Wudi said, sounding worried, “Has Master’s sickness gotten worse?”
But at this moment, the voice from the palace suddenly said, “It’s been detected that the host is carrying a large amount of money. Confirm unlock of higher tiers of storage rights?”
Ren Xiaosu felt the pinch. The palace was really seizing every opportunity to use up his money. But he still stuck by what he had said before, that money was meant for purchasing things to strengthen himself with. After all, there was nothing else that he could use the money on for now. In that case, how could money that couldn’t be used be worth more than having a portable storage space?
Currently, he only had 15 cubic meters of storage space, which wasn’t even enough to store his supplies sometimes.
Ren Xiaosu said, “Unlock! Wait…”
However, he saw more than half of the money he had in his storage space suddenly disappear. Meanwhile, the storage space expanded rapidly. Ren Xiaosu’s soul ached as he asked, “How many storage tiers did you unlock in one go?”
He had wanted to tell the palace not to unlock so many tiers of storage space, but it was too late! Ren Xiaosu even suspected that the palace was deliberately doing it quickly so that he would not have the chance to save any money!
The voice from the palace said, “240 cubic meters have been unlocked at a total cost of 4.8 million yuan. On top of the original storage space, the host now has access to a total of 255 cubic meters.”
Unlocking 16 cubic meters of storage space: 320,000 yuan.
Unlocking 32 cubic meters of storage space: 640,000 yuan.
Unlocking 64 cubic meters of storage space: 1,280,000 yuan.
Unlocking 128 cubic meters of storage space: 2,560,000 yuan.
After unlocking a total of four storage tiers, the cash Ren Xiaosu had left on hand was only 610,000 yuan.
C17
Then he heard the palace say, “Confirm unlock of the vacuum preservation function? A vacuum preservation area will be zoned out at a cost of 200,000 yuan.”
Ren Xiaosu’s expression darkened in response. “Hah, unlock.”
“Confirm unlock of the plant cultivation function? A—”
“Unlock, unlock, unlock!” Ren Xiaosu retorted, “Is money the only thing you fucking know? Don’t you think you’re charging for way too many items?!”
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu realized he only had 10,000 yuan left. The plant cultivation function actually cost him 400,000 yuan?!
What do you call being knocked back to square one? This was what you call being knocked back to square one!
Chen Wudi looked at Ren Xiaosu sitting quietly at the table with his face flushing and blanching. Then he asked, “Master, are you feeling unwell?”
Ren Xiaosu glanced at Chen Wudi before turning around and shouting to the shopkeep, “Boss, I was just joking when I ordered the dishes just now, please don’t mind. We’ll just have a bowl of white rice each.”
Chen Wudi was confused.
Of course, Ren Xiaosu could not be so stingy either. In the end, he still ordered some dishes.
But halfway through their meal, several people wearing the uniforms of the Public Order Division suddenly entered the restaurant. One of them said loudly, “Who does that military truck parked outside belong to? Someone has reported you for exchanging a large sum of other organizations’ currencies and are in unlawful possession of oxidized gold. Your gold must have been obtained illegally, right?”
Ren Xiaosu thought, ‘They’re finally here.’ He held up his Office of Special Investigations ID and said to the people from the Public Order Division, “Come here.”
The people from the Public Order Division were dumbfounded right then and there. How unlucky could they be to bump into the Office of Special Investigations here?!
The three of them walked over fearfully. “Please don’t take it wrong, it’s just a misunderstanding…”
Ren Xiaosu said as he ate, “You guys from the Public Order Division are really trying to blackmail me for my gold, huh?”
The people from the Public Order Division were shocked. They had indeed come here in an attempt to get the gold for themselves upon finding out about it. When one of the gold shop’s owners reported the matter to them, he mentioned the young man must still have a lot of gold in his possession.
But they had not expected to clash with a member of the Office of Special Investigations.
However, one of the Public Order Division’s people explained with an obsequious smile, “You’ve misunderstood, we’re only carrying out our duty.”
Ren Xiaosu said unhappily, “Y’all don’t have to worry yourselves over such matters in the future. Our Office of Special Investigations will be taking over from here on out.”
“Is the Office of Special Investigations in charge of that?” The people from the Public Order Division were dumbfounded.
“Yes, from now on, anything that your Public Order Division cannot handle will be handled by our Office of Special Investigations. Anything that your Public Order Division might be able to handle will also be handled by our Office of Special Investigations.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Go back and repeat word for word what I just said to your superior.”
The three members of the Public Order Division turned around and left. This was a big deal. The Office of Special Investigations was attempting to seize their authority!
Half an hour later, someone pushed open the restaurant’s door again. When Ren Xiaosu saw the person coming in, he was amused. It turned out to be Hu Shuo!
Hu Shuo sat down across from Ren Xiaosu with a dark expression. When he saw Ren Xiaosu’s relaxed look, he said angrily, “I’ve only just gotten back to the stronghold, so what’s this I hear about my Office of Special Investigations taking charge of the Public Order Division?”
Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “I’m just expanding our business!”
“You must be looking for me, right?” Hu Shuo snapped, “What do you want from me? You’re still in the mood to eat now? Do you know that the covert unit has already arrested Li Qingzheng and is on the way back to the stronghold?”
Ren Xiaosu stayed silent for a moment in response. “When will he reach the stronghold? Where will he be held? And what’s with those mysterious troops you’re talking about?”
“The Li Consortium has gone crazy.” Hu Shuo let out a sigh. “Those mysterious troops are very likely to be soldiers fully under the control of the nanomachines and have extremely strong combat capabilities. When the same group of mysterious troops were deployed to the battlefield at Mt. Qingsheng’s front line, the Yang Consortium’s troops there were immediately defeated. This group of soldiers is fearless and unafraid of death.”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “The nanomachines actually have an effect like that?”
