Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The people from the National Superpower Research Department soon arrived. They were a group of four, led by a tall, slender woman.
“Team leader Duan!”
The woman was driving an SUV. She braked so suddenly on the gravel that the vehicle almost performed a drift. Still, she quickly got off and beelined for Duan Tianhe, shaking his hand before turning her eyes to Jiang He with a smile.
“So, is this the Mister Jiang whom you’ve mentioned?”
Duan Tianhe made the necessary introductions. “Jiang He, this is Mu Wanqiu. She will be in charge of purchasing Feral materials across the Western Xia Province from now on.
“Greetings, Mister Jiang.”
“Greetings.”
Jiang He shook Mu Wanqiu’s hand, his heart skipping a beat even though he looked unaffected.
‘There’s a blazing heat on her body which is almost the same as my Nine Yang True Qi… but there’s no whiff of true qi on her at all. Could she be a fire-type Awakened?’
Even as the idea crossed his mind, a voice rang beside Jiang He’s ear, ‘Mu Wanqiu has a strong background. Her grandfather is one of the founders of the National Superpower Research Department and a powerful martial arts grandmaster. Her father is a major-general, and she herself is a class-C fire-type Awakened.’
Jiang He promptly looked up at Duan Tianhe. However, he was smiling and discussing the situation at Mount Dadong with Mu Wanqiu, and was not actually talking to Jiang He.
‘Secret Acoustics!’
Jiang He couldn’t help feeling moved. ‘It’s basically using true qi to conduct sound, but that’s highly demanding towards one’s control of true qi. Only grandmasters can do that… Does that mean Duan Tianhe is already rank-seven?’
‘Don’t say it out loud. It’s only been a few days since I’ve reached rank-seven—not a lot of people know this,’ said Duan Tianhe, using Secret Acoustics once again.
Jiang He’s impression of Duan Tianhe immediately shifted a hundred and eighty degrees.
‘This dude looks serious and even a little cold, but he didn’t say a word even after reaching the rank of grandmaster. Who knows what goes on in that mind of his… he feels no different than a sly fox.’
***
Meanwhile, the other personnel of the National Superpower Research Department brought an inventory list to them. Mu Wanqiu swept her eyes over it once and passed it to Jiang He, who read through it carefully.
The price put on all the rank-one Ferals was eighty thousand dollars, and while the National Superpower Research Department priced the rank-two dog monster at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, it was also labeled as ‘broken’.
‘Looks like the rank-two Feral corpse should have been worth more than just a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The beast was at the center of the blast and was blown into a bloody pulp, which is why it was priced lower,’ thought Jiang He.
“Eh?” Spotting something odd, Jiang He pointed at the inventory and asked, “Miss Mu, could there have been a mistake? The snake’s corpse… is worth two hundred thousand dollars?”
Mu Wanqiu smiled. “Is that price too low for you, Mister Jiang? Or perhaps too high?”
Though her smile was mild, it hardly concealed the air of wildness about her, which might have something to do with her Awakening fire-type superpowers. Of course, with her grandfather being a martial artist and her father a military man, a child from such a family usually had a firm wildness about them.
‘Perhaps serpent Ferals have a higher price on their corpses?’
From how Mu Wanqiu reacted, Jiang He knew that he had made a fool of himself. He quickly smiled. “To tell the truth, Miss Mu, I’ve just recently learned about Ferals, and have only killed around twenty of them. That’s why I’m not too sure about the pricing on Ferals… maybe snakes are worth more?”
Mu Wanqiu’s smile stiffened. She turned to Duan Tianhe by reflex, only to find his lips twitching with a rigid look on his face.
Well…
The conversation was just getting good. How did it suddenly get to bragging? And what do you mean, killed ‘only’ twenty of them? Are Ferals just cabbages or something?
Nonetheless, Mu Wanqiu was used to serious situations and so she quickly recovered. “Dog and cat Ferals are too common,” she explained, “which is why they are priced very cheap at the same rank. Snakes on the other hand are rare, which prices them higher than other Ferals of the same rank.”
“I see.”
As Jiang He nodded, Mu Wanqiu added, “Mister Jiang, if I’m not mistaken, you must be a rank-four martial artist, correct? Our department has actually recently come up with a medicinal pellet that improves true qi cultivation. It’s called the qi pellet, and I wonder if you would need it.”
“Oh?” Jiang He’s eyes twinkled as he asked, “I heard that the Special Case Bureau has a medicinal pellet that improves true qi cultivation as well. I wonder how that compares to the qi pellet?”
Mu Wanqiu hid a grin beneath her fingers. “The National Superpower Research Department is the supplier of all medicinal pellets for the bureau.”
“Alright!” exclaimed Jiang He. “How much for one qi pellet? I’ve only improved today, and I really need the qi pellet to strengthen my cultivation.”
Mu Wanqiu held up five fingers. “Five hundred thousand per bottle of three pellets.”
What the…
Rather impolite words almost escaped Jiang He’s lips just then, but he gulped them down and smiled bitterly. “You really know how to make deals, Miss Mu.”
2
Inside, his heart was torn into pieces.
‘And here I was thinking that being a martial artist is a really high-paying job, but the robbery came even quicker… to think that cultivation is even more expensive!’ he thought.
1
In total, Jiang He had killed thirteen rank-one Ferals and one rank-two Feral. The eleven rank-one Feral cats and dogs were worth eighty thousand dollars apiece. The rank-one Feral wolf and rank-one snake were worth a hundred thousand dollars and two hundred dollars respectively. And lastly, the rank-two Feral dog was priced at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
“In total, the Feral materials are worth one million, three hundred and thirty thousand dollars. I’ll round it up for you to one million, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” said Mu Wanqiu said as she took out two porcelain bottles and passed them to Jiang He.
“Here, two bottles of qi pellets. I’ll transfer the remaining three hundred and thirty thousand dollars to you, Mister Jiang.”
“Thanks,” replied Jiang He, accpeting the qi pellets.
Mu Wanqiu instructed her subordinates to start moving the Feral corpses. With her SUV, along with one pick-up truck and two large trucks driven there by her subordinates, they had enough means to transport them all.
After loading the corpses, Mu Wanqiu took out a name card and smiled. “Good work, Mister Jiang. Remember to contact me if you have more Feral corpses that need processing. My pricing is definitely fair in this business.”
“By the way, aside from Feral materials, the National Superpower Research Department also accepts qi medicine, alloy weapons, new ores, and any other items that have mutated with the revival of spirit qi,” she added.
“Oh?”
Jiang He couldn’t help feeling excited. His eyes darted all over Mu Wanqiu as he looked up, down, left, and right… before finally stopping in front of her chest. The woman was outstanding in both looks and manners. She wore a leather suit that presented her perfect rear and long legs, but the only thing lacking was…
She’s too flat!
Mu Wanqiu scowled. Having a fiery temper as a fire-type Awakened, she was just about to blow up when Jiang He chuckled and said, “Miss Mu, I incidentally have a deal I hope to offer you.”
3
Inside, he was laughing coldly.
‘This woman is too black-hearted, taking a huge million dollar bite out of me for just two bottles of qi pellets! I’ll have her pay me back in full, and with interest at that!’
