Xinran smiled despite a blue vein popping on top of Xu Ning’s forehead. She held my hand and said, “Calm down, Uncle Ning. I don’t covet anything from this world except one thing, and that is time spent with big brother. I believe in him, and I’m certain he won’t neglect me even after I’ve given him my riches. Plus, I really don’t understand this, so I would rather have big brother make this decision for me…”
I frowned and made sure to clarify. “President Xu, I swear, I did not ask her to say this…”
Xu Ning said helplessly, “I know, but…”
……
Beside us, a young man carrying some documents of his own said smilingly, “President Xu, I am lawyer, Zhang Wei. I would like to remind you that this contract only has legal effect if it is made with the consent of the involved party. Since Miss Xinran wishes to transfer the assets to that sir, I believe that it is necessary to respect her wishes. Otherwise, it will be a breach of law.”
Xu Ning clenched his fists together. “But Xinran still doesn’t understand the full severity of the situation. We should postpone this until she does…”
Zhang Wei shook his head. “If we wait for too long, Miss Xinran will be 18 years old. Do you want your assets to be turned into common shares? The people from the International Bar Association[1] have arrived as well. The authority of this contract supersedes everything, and I hope you fully understand the interests that are involved here. I believe that transferring the assets to this sir is a better option than giving away 250 billion for nothing. He is Chinese, isn’t he? Excuse me, sir, are you Chinese?”
Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. “He’s Lu Chen!”
“Oh my god, you’re Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? I’ve long looked forward to meeting you, man! I’m your fan…” Zhang Wei suddenly broke character when he realized who I was.
The spotlight was on me once more. It didn’t look like Xinran was going to change her mind, and even He Yi was hiding a snicker and whispering, “Looks like a true tall-rich-handsome is about to be born…”
I rose to my feet and looked at everyone. “Can everyone settle down and give me a moment to speak?”
Xu Ning nodded. “Of course!”
I said seriously, “As you can all see, I am the only one whom Xinran trusts. However, it is a fact that Xinran doesn’t understand the full scope of the interests that are involved in this matter. Moreover, we don’t have the time to bring her up to speed. Therefore, I suggest that we transfer the shares to me as per Xinran’s wish, but with some additional conditions. To put it simply, if anything happens to me, or if Xinran wishes to retake them for any reason, they will be returned to her unconditionally. How does that sound?”
……
Xu Ning sucked in a deep breath and kept his silence.
Tang Feng and Zhang Chun whispered something I couldn’t hear with each other before nodding as well.
Finally, Xu Ning said, “Very well, we shall respect the big miss’s wishes and transfer all 25% of the shares to your name. We will begin drafting a second contract immediately. Once the IBA has confirmed its legality[2], we will have Lu Chen sign it right away. It so happens that everyone of concern is present right now, so let’s try and finish this before the day is over. If nothing else, my second long-cherished wish will finally be realized!”
Xu Ning then walked up to me and said solemnly, “I trust your character, Lu Chen. I leave the big miss in your hands. Do not betray that trust!”
I nodded back just as firmly. “I will never betray Xinran!”
“Thank you!”
“Thank you too for taking care of Xinran all these years!”
“Haha, it was my responsibility!”
He then walked even closer and whispered to me, “So, do you think I can continue being the CEO of Eternal Moon’s China branch, Lu Chen?”
I nodded. “But of course!”
“Thank you!”
……
I rolled my eyes when Xu Ning wasn’t looking. Now I realized what he was worried about. He was afraid that I would boot him from his position now that I held a considerable amount of power over the entire company.
I had no reason to do so though, not to mention that the true boss of the company was still Xinran. I was just the proxy…
On the opposite side of the table, Shusheng held up his glass again and said, “Let’s go for another round, shall we, Boss Lu Chen?”
I replied, “Me? You’re the boss, dude. I’m just a player, and you are the vice president of the southern branch…”
Shusheng replied seriously, “You’re not just a player, dude. China possesses 9% of the total assets of Eternal Moon Corporation, and 3% of that is in the southern branch. However, even if Little Xue and Yue’er gave me some of their shares, my owned shares still don’t exceed 0.7%. Now though, 25% of those shares are in your hands. To give a comparison, if you are the boss of a 5-star hotel, then I am a noodle hawker by the roadside. Therefore, you are the one who’s giving me face, not the other way around.”
I shook my head. “Nah, I’m just the agent and not the true owner of this money. To borrow the same analogy, I’m the hall manager of the 5-star hotel. If one day the boss finds me irksome and fires me, I may be worse off than even you, the so-called hawker…”
Shusheng said, “Nah, we won’t end up like that. But if we do, I will walk with you, brother!”
I answered, “So will I, brother!”
Zhang Chun shook his head. “I just bore witness to the shameless dialogue between two Heavenly Kings of Eternal Moon, and I’m not sure if I’m proud of it…”
He Yi: “…”
Lin Yixin: “…”
Ling Xue: “…”
……
When afternoon came, I held a precious Diamond-grade gaming helmet in my hand. It was the gaming helmet the company had specifically made for Xinran. Now that she had woken up, she would be using it to enter the game just like the rest of us normal players.
According to Professor Wang, it wasn’t a good idea to keep Xinran in the real world for too long. She needed to enter Heavenblessed from time to time to maintain a healthy psyche, especially since her very consciousness had begun in Heavenblessed. I was worried though. Would Xinran lose her identity as the Wind Singer and be forced to restart from zero if she entered the game?
Thankfully, my worry was quickly proven to be unfounded.
Swhoosh!
I logged into the game and appeared in Xinran’s room inside the Violet Empire.
Beside me, Xinran slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she had returned to Heavenblessed. She immediately lifted herself up into the air with divine energy before pushing me down on the bed, smiling from ear to ear. “Big brother, big brother! The you I saw in the real world is really you, right? Right?”
I nodded with a bright smile of my own. “Yes, that was the real me. Anyway, it looks like you’re recovering pretty well. Your strength is much greater than before!”
“Mn mn!”
“Do you want me to take you out for a spin?”
“Sure!”
Beside us, the Winged Silver Dragon said while shaking its tail, “I will be your most loyal guard, my dear master!”
Xinran’s voice immediately turned cool and indifferent. “No, you will stay inside the castle. Like I need a guard to protect me with my strength…”
The Winged Silver Dragon didn’t hesitate to change its tune. “Yes, my powerful master!”
……
I checked out my bag and saw that the Soul Scourge Whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments was still there. It was about time I dealt with it!
I brought up the level ranking and filtered the list, the Tamer class being my only criterion. The current top three players were Floating Dream, Chance Meeting and Sky Rock. Floating Dream was Candle Dragon’s number one tamer, Chance Meeting was Twelve Musician’s vice leader, and Sky Rock belonged to Soul Battle Robes. I then looked for my guild’s best tamer and found that he was languishing at 19th place. Yeah, no, there is no way I’m giving someone this weak the Soul Scourge Whip[3]…
In the end, I decided that I would put the Soul Scourge Whip for auction, earn more money and fill up my debit card. Although I would be owning 25% of Eternal Moon’s shares in the very near future, I was really just the proxy. Moreover, a man’s income was his spine, and the higher the income, the straighter their spine would become. That was why I must sell the equipment!
And so, Xinran and I left the Violet Empire and flew straight to Sky City.
Thud!
After we landed outside the gate, I held Xinran’s small hand and entered Sky City with her. A lot of players were shooting me looks of astonishment because Xinran appeared to be an NPC with an orange ID, which signified her status as a Divine Rank NPC. For obvious reasons, they found it unbelievable that a player could date a mighty god.
When I arrived at the auction house, selected the “Sale” option, and brought out the Soul Scourge Whip, the manager’s eyes nearly popped out of his out sockets. He exclaimed in disbelief, “Heavens, this is a weapon of legends! I cannot believe that I would be holding a weapon like this one day, it’s unbelievable! What will be your base price for this equipment, young man?”
I thought for a moment before answering, “Make it 10 million gold, please!”
“Understood. Your request shall be processed right away!”
A while later, the system bell dinged three times in a row before releasing the announcement—
Ding! Ding! Ding!
System Announcement: Player XXXX has listed the weapon “Soul Scourge Whip” (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding★★★★★★★★★) for auction. The starting bid is 10 million gold. Due to the excellence of the item, the markup bid must not be lower than 1 million gold. The item will enter the bidding phase in 3 hours. If the item is of interest to you, make sure not to miss the auction!
……
The entire Sky City, no, the entire server, erupted like never before. Ghost Armaments and even Divine Armaments had been auctioned before, but this was the first time ever one of the Twelve Divine Armaments had appeared in the auction house. The Twelve Divine Armaments were the twelve greatest weapons in all the servers after all, and there might never be a thirteenth Divine Armament until Heavenblessed reached its end. With that in mind, who in their right mind would auction something so precious?!
Xinran and I enjoyed a leisurely time in the VIP room while we waited for the auction to begin. Players had been pouring into the auction house since the announcement, and it wasn’t even ten minutes before the entire place was packed like sardines. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and some of them didn’t even belong to our server. It looked like our Chinese players weren’t the only ones who coveted the whip. Some foreigners had entered our server after activating peace mode.
Beep!
Lin Yixin sent me a message: “Aren’t you afraid that a foreigner will get the Soul Scourge Whip, Little Cheat?”
I replied smilingly, “That would be perfect, actually. Not only will I be earning a foreigner’s money, I can steal it back with the Chains of Freedom and repeat the process until infinity…”
“I see. Well, I support your decision!”
……
A while later, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and more arrived at the auction house and were summoned into my VIP room. They were here to partake in the joy of my money-making, and while waiting, the girls spent the time chatting with Xinran. It didn’t take them long to familiarize themselves with her, and when they learned that she was the princess of Eternal Moon—there was no need to keep it a secret anymore—Beiming Xue and Lian Xin looked like their jaws were about to hit the floor.
A while later, the auction began, and the auctioneer was a beautiful woman in leather armor and skirt. She was none other than Fei’er herself. I wondered where she was before she was summoned over?
……
“Let’s begin the auction already, girl!” one man shouted loudly from beneath the stage, and he was none other than Warsky himself. The guy looked more handsome than the last time I saw him, probably because his Immortal Blade had evolved, and he was wearing a full set of Divine Armaments right now. If nothing else, he certainly looked to be in high spirits!
1. E/N: What? Do they oversee important contracts? Fairly sure their job is to judge if a lawyer is fit (or unfit) to be a lawyer. Why would they make a trip to China to see it? Do they expect THE LAWYER to do something illegal/unethical? What’s next, will the IRS arrive? xD ☜
2. E/N: They don’t check contracts, they check lawyers who check contracts. 😐 ☜
3. E/N:I’m fairly sure Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and You and Yun are way out of Top 20 of their class. Now a kid at 19th place that never got any freebies is too weak. Poor kid. ☜
