Chapter 131: My Warpath, the Star Ocean
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After Huang Rui had left, Butler Zheng who stood beside was hesitating to speak.
Fang asked for his body control back and asked, “What is it Butler Zheng, did you feel like what the old man said was right?”
Butler Zheng said, “For what it’s worth, sir, the old man was a little over exaggerating, and his behavior was a little outlandish, but he did have a point.”
Fang Ning gave a little laugh. He stood up and glanced out the window, saying calmly, “He’s not wrong, but it came from a place of mediocrity. He could only see what was in front of him, but I was looking at the whole star ocean…”
Butler Zheng heard him and was at first confused, then followed by an uncontrollable trembling. He nodded admiringly and said, “Venerable One, you were looking at the far bigger picture, I could only follow behind your lead.”
Fang Ning waved his hand to let Zheng Dao return to his work and let the System take over once more.
The System was confused, “Host, you were acting badass again, aren’t you?”
Fang Ning replied, “That was not it, didn’t you see even ol’ Zheng was stunned by my proclamation? My vision is much further than a tiny system like you could comprehend.”
The System said, “I keep feeling you were pulling stuff out of your behind… Never mind that, I shall continue my cultivation. Remember, the next time someone wants to give me money, take it.”
Fang Ning had no comeback to that, “Yes sir! Vigilante A only wants money, not face 1 . Fortunately, I’m not using my identity as Fang Ning to ask for money…”
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As usual, Vigilante A was farming monsters and revealing the maps, controlled by the System, so Fang Ning was left with some free time. He planned to play the Battle of the Beasts 2 , as it had been a while since he last logged in.
After beating a boss, he replayed the ending animation for a few times and recalled the appearance of those beasts inside the Truth Department’s Land of Heritage, they looked identical to these bosses, ‘What does the Truth Department want to do?’
Combined with Anderson’s response, he already had a faint idea what the answer was, the only thing left to do now was to see when this instinct would manifest.
Fang Ning was deep in his thoughts as his a QQ notification rang.
This time, it was President Zhao trying to contact Fang Ning.
President Zhao wrote, “Dear Fang Ning, Fatso Liu and I had narrowed our choices down to three hills, and we wanted to choose one of it to turn into a Vitality Crop farm. However, this is our first time doing this, we have no confidence in our choice, even your Aunt Zhao could only rule one out. We’re very unsure of the other two.”
Fang Ning replied, “Oh, did you want me to ask Vigilante A to look at it?”
President Zhao’s response came soon after, “Hey, Xiao Fang, after being your own boss for half a year, you have grown wise. That’s right, I am asking for help. If there’s anyone who is qualified to determine the Vitality concentration of a place, it would be none other than a true dragon. Of course, we wouldn’t just ask for help, we are prepared to gift him some performance shares.”
Fang Ning replied, “Alright, I will ask him what he thinks.”
President Zhao wrote, “Thank you for the help, Xiao Fang.”
All Fang Ning had to do was to yell at Sir System.
“The Vitality business is opening up, do you wanna look at the location? They say they’ll give you some performance shares, this won’t take up your time to cultivate, would it?”
The System said, “No, it won’t, definitely won’t. Where is it? When are we going?”
Fang Ning was going to send a text to President Zhao, but he caught himself as he thought, ‘That’s too quick, it would feel fake…’
Half an hour later, he replied President Zhao, “Vigilante A said yes, can you send me the address and the time and date to meet with you?”
President Zhao was surprised, he had not had much hope in succeeding. If Vigilante A declined, he would have asked someone to contact Mount Indigo Monastery’s Master Ma.
According to hearsay, Master Ma was really good at detecting the Feng Shui of a place. He would soon be helping House Qi in Qi City with the issues they faced in their farms, so it would be easier to ask him for a favor.
However, he was also considering that being a true dragon, Vigilante A would be stronger at this. By asking for help and giving compensations, they might even solidify their relationships, this was to avoid Vigilante A forgetting them after a long period of lack of contact.
He did not know, of course, that Sir System had always remembered every single person who could give it money, so his worry about being forgotten was completely baseless.
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Three days later, it was a bright and sunny day, with minimal clouds in the sky and a gentle breeze.
President Zhao, Fatso Liu, Madam Zhao, Vigilante A, Fang Ning’s mechanical puppets, and a group of men-in-black all stood at the foot of the mountain looking up.
This was the third place they had seen.
This mountain was a range of hills in the far south of Qi City. It was completely undeveloped, void of any villages nearby, even the closest tar-laid road was at least a dozen of kilometers away. It was as natural as nature can be.
Everyone else had surrounded Vigilante A in respect.
Not even Madam Zhao was exempted from the treatment. Her power cannot be compared with a normal person’s, but she was even more respectful than them. With her snake demon ancestry, she could feel even more of the natural suppression from Vigilante A.
President Zhao was introducing the place, “This mountain is about twenty-thousand mus 3 . Local government is willing to contract this land to us with an extremely low price. As long as we guarantee it was used to develop Vitality Crop farms, not only can we rent it for fifty years, they are even willing to support with a sum for us to develop the place as well as approving a low-interest loan for building the roads and setting up water and electrical systems as the foundation of the project.”
Fang Ning immediately realized the conversation had started to tilt toward capitals. This was one of the good things being in China, if a higher-up held the majority of a resource, it would be much easier to tilt the luck to their favor in a relatively new industry.
Vigilante A did not say a work, instead focusing on the environment on the mountain.
After a while, Vigilante A said, “It was not bad here, but I know a place that’s ten times better than this one, it’s also more desolated, but there are ways to get in. I wonder if you would be willing to develop there instead?”
President Zhao thought, ‘If the true dragon recommended it, it must be a really good place,’ and said, “If Mr. Vigilante A said so, I am willing.”
Fatso Liu did not hesitate as well, “I, too, am willing to invest in that.”
Vigilante A said, “Then follow me.”
Fang Ning was reminded of a place that matched Sir System’s description perfectly.
After Vigilante A had walked a little way, Fang Ning confirmed his guess.
That’s right, the place they were heading to was the desolate valley in which the System had forced the Bai couple to suicide, as well as where Gui Qi was killed. It was a secret hideout of the Greater Rat demons, but it had been deserted.
The people first drove, then went on foot through hills and waters before they arrived at the valley. They looked at the steep climb before they finally started hiking.
Fang Ning’s puppet had no problem climbing, the bodyguards were at peak conditioning as a result of training Basic Cultivation of the Spirit daily after their boss bought it off the market in the game. They had good stamina, good reflexes, and generally no problem. There was no need to mention Madam Zhao here.
Only the two bosses had little to no daily cultivation. Even with their ample time for working out, they were not having a good time. Even with their bodyguards supporting them, they were already panting heavily before they have reached mid-way.
Madam Zhao was going to piggyback President Zhao to the top, but President Zhao was hesitant to be carried around by his wife in front of so many people, so he pushed himself to climb the mountain by himself.
Fortunately, as soon as they had reached the top and were able to look at the fog at the bottom of the mountain, both President Zhao and Fatso Liu felt the trip was worth it.
The fog rolled around in the valley, dressing it with a veil of freshness. There was no dust like there was in the city, and clean air filled the space with a shade of celestial mystery.
Even President Zhao and Fatso Liu who had not officially started cultivating could feel the relaxing air filling their breaths, let alone other people.
“It really does feel like a paradise here. It would definitely be more efficient to plant Vitality Crops here. I just feel like we were wasting the potential of the place by just planting crops,” sighed President Zhao.
Vigilante A replied, “It’s nothing, the Greater Rat demons had already used this place before, we are just reusing it for a better purpose. The amount of Vitality here is much richer than the previous three places. Hmm, I think we can even find some free manpower.”
As he said that, he shifted in his place and started to walk in the air toward a cliff with his hands on his back.
Everyone else looked at him in shock. Seeing how skillful he was, they all thought, ‘He must be some kind of a god on earth. If we could have him behind our backs, what are we even worried about?’
A gray rat hid in the cracks of the cliff and it stuck its head to look at the bunch at the peak, not knowing what they were there for.
‘There’s nothing here, and it’s hard to navigate, why do humans always come around?’
After Gui Qi had died here, it had brought its descendants away to avoid further trouble and had missed the time when Bai Shixin had plotted against Vigilante A at the place.
At the end of the day, it still found its old home to be the best. All other places had already been conquered by the Greater Rat demon. Some animals relatively less concerned by humans were typically caught for food. Hogs and hares could not stand a chance against the Greater Rat demons.
The gray rats’ tiny limbs definitely could not fight them. If it did not persuade the brainless Greater Rats that they should be let go because they were all rats and should face other enemies as one, they might have become food stock too.
Because of that, it brought its descendants and came all the way back. At least the Greater Rats would no longer step foot in this valley. However, the fire dragon found it and was coming at it.
When Vigilante A had appeared in front of it, it was not scared, but greeted him all the same, “Well met, Lord Fire Dragon.”
Vigilante A said, “I would like to plant some Vitality Crops here with other people. I have noticed that your kind have some skills in planting wild berries. You must have some experience in planting Vitality Crops. If you come and help us, they will reward you handsomely.”
The gray rat’s eyes flickered, “I do know how to plant Vitality Crops. However, I don’t need other rewards, I only need to be fed and that my family is guaranteed safety.”
The System heard it and thought, ‘They are a bunch of skilled workers, their values can be high. This area had already been revealed, so if there’s any threat, I would know immediately, I can just farm here immediately after.’
Vigilante A said, “No problem. But I can only protect your current family members. If you gave birth too frequently, I might not be able to protect all of them.”
The gray rat said, “I know, I will ask them to control their reproduction. If they had too many childbirth, I won’t be able to feed all of them anyway.”
No one felt weird when Vigilante A brought back the gray rat that speaks. No one in this bunch was laypeople, they knew many animals had started to gain human-like awareness. There were even many rich people who would pay good money to purchase sentient pets, but these animals would most likely be hesitant to become a pet anymore…
After finding out that it knew how to plant Vitality Crops, President Zhao was ecstatic and wanted to give it employee shares. As a boss, he knew the difference between veterans and newcomers.
The reason House Qi had so many issues was that they had to learn the ropes from the start without anyone guiding them. It was hard to hire professionals from the Truth Department, there was only basic planting information that was leaked.
The gray rat wanted to transfer its employee shares to Lord Fire Dragon to exchange for protection.
President Zhao would definitely not refuse the request. Now that he had a strong support and skilled workers, the market was there for him to grab, he could not see why this venture would fail.
