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“Commander Liam, take a look at this, how is it? The quality is good, right? It was brought back today by our privately sponsored explorer team, very fresh. And don’t just look at this small plant; the team lost seven or eight people just to bring it back!”
In a large mansion within the Ashen Base, in a study, a smiling merchant was admiring a plant with another elegantly dressed leader.
Its appearance was similar to a rose, but the petals were a deeper blood red, and the stem and buds were twisted in an eerie manner. Despite there being no wind in the room, the blood flower still gently swayed.
Blood Lysi, a creation of the Miasma, but unlike other vegetation corrupted by the Miasma, although highly contaminating, mostly affects the mental state. After consumption, one’s body does not mutate into a Miasma corpse; instead, the mind becomes erratic and mad.
The middle-aged man, referred to as “Commander Liam” by the merchant, first brought his nose close to the Blood Lysi and took a deep breath, showing satisfaction with a nod. Then, skillfully putting on gloves, he plucked a petal from the Blood Lysi and placed it in his tea cup. After shaking it slightly, he eagerly took a sip of the tea, which was dyed blood red by the petal.
After one sip, a look of intoxication immediately appeared on Commander Liam’s face. He closed his eyes, as if in a trance. It took several seconds before the feeling passed. Although he looked a bit more haggard, his spirit was extremely excited.
“Mmm, Stan, I can see you’ve put effort into this. This Blood Lysi is indeed excellent.”
“Right? Even you can approve, I believe the other commanders of the Ashen Base will definitely like it too. If we cultivate this species, it’s definitely going to be a big deal!” .𝒎
“Alright, Stan, just say it. How much purification resource do you want?”
“Heh, Commander Liam, you know, the rarer the species, the higher the quality of soil required. To cultivate Blood Lysi, we need to provide at least seven units each month.”
The merchant rubbed his hands together, named his price, and looked over with an expectant gaze.
“Seven units per month,” Commander Liam frowned slightly, seemingly hesitant because of the high number.
Purification resources are the most precious resources in the old era, as implied by the name, capable of purifying the Miasma. They are essential for survival, used in everything from food production and water resources to weapon forging and equipment maintenance.
Seven units of purification resources is not a small number. If Converted, it could change the drinking water for tens of thousands of people from heavily polluted to lightly polluted, and maintain over a hundred machines corroded by Miasma.
Seeing Commander Liam’s reaction, the merchant immediately said, “Who doesn’t know that Commander Liam was one of the earliest veterans to follow Lord Ashen! Others might not be able to afford it, but for you.”
“Just a mere seven units, isn’t it just a word from Commander Liam?”
“You’re good at talking, but when it comes to following Lord Ashen, hmm, indeed no one can compare to me. I am one of the first survivors of the Ashen gathering place. Back then, many looked down on Lord Ashen, thinking the gathering place had no hope, only I have always been consistent, closely following Lord Ashen’s pace.”
The merchant’s words seemed to evoke Commander Liam’s memories, and when speaking of this experience, Commander Liam’s face was filled with pride and satisfaction.
Seeing this, the merchant quickly added a few more flattering remarks:
“That’s right! Who can compare to Commander Liam’s vision? As a veteran like you, Lord Ashen must trust you very much. Even if there really is something, it’s impossible to blame you, at most just saying a word or two.”
“Haha, look at how you talk! As if I’m doing something to betray Lord Ashen! Allocating purification resources to cultivate these Blood Lings is to better serve the core members of our base, to improve our work efficiency. Only then can we serve Lord Ashen better, to…cough, better take back the world from the Miasma!”
Commander Liam glared at the merchant, although, especially when mentioning “taking back the world,” even he felt a bit embarrassed, but there was no help, this was Lord Ashen’s original words, they had to memorize it.
As for believing it.
No, it should be said that no one would really believe it, right?
“Oh right, right, right! Look at my mouth, you’re right, all of these are to fight against the Miasma, to save the world!”
Afterwards, the merchant and Commander Liam hit it off immediately, beginning to discuss where to “squeeze out” these seven units of purification resources.
In addition to using Commander Liam’s own authority, they also planned to launch an educational campaign within the base.
Encouraging the survivors within the base to be more willing to endure hardships and have a spirit of sacrifice, hoping they would voluntarily give up drinking low-pollution water, to drink medium or even heavily polluted water, and the same for food.
With the high-ranking officials setting an example, the civilians will surely follow, thus under the guise of “saving,” they managed to squeeze out a batch of purification resources.
Of course, Commander Liam didn’t dare to pocket all these resources; he first had to return all the high-ranking officials’ purification resources in full, and then split the civilians’ into a thirty-seventy split, using thirty percent for some real work, and seventy percent for “serving” them.
Just as the two were getting into the swing of the conversation, suddenly a commotion came from outside the mansion, many guards seemed to be trying hard to stop someone from breaking in.
The two in the study were startled by such a disturbance, and when they heard the name “Vice Leader Nova” from outside, the merchant’s face changed several times, becoming somewhat panicked.
“This is bad, Commander Liam! It’s Vice Leader Nova! She has been interrogating and arresting several base officials lately, how could she even… She’s too bold!?”
“Don’t panic, what’s the rush? Let her come. Do you think she dares to touch me?” .
Commander Liam’s face darkened. Being barged into like this, no one would be in a good mood. He flicked his hand and directly opened the door, stepping outside ahead of the others.
Outside in the courtyard, Nova, followed by only two civilians instead of guards, was surrounded by a group of Commander Liam’s servants.
Even so, they didn’t dare to stop Nova from advancing. Fortunately, Commander Liam came out directly, and Nova stopped.
“What does Vice Leader mean by this? If there’s an issue, we could have scheduled a…”
Liam initially tried to smooth things over with some pleasantries, but Nova didn’t pay him any mind and directly cut to the chase:
“Commander Liam, you have severely violated numerous regulations set by Lord Ashen. Effective immediately, you are stripped of your position. Please come with me to the detention room for interrogation.”
“I violated regulations? Ha, Vice Leader, accusations require evidence. Slandering others isn’t good.”
No sooner had Commander Liam finished speaking than Nova took out a scanner from her booba.
Pointing it at Commander Liam, the device quickly emitted a familiar electronic synthesized voice.
[New garbage detected, classifying garbage. Parasitic garbage, initiating thorough cleanup mode, configuring cleaning tools]
This mechanical voice gave Commander Liam a bad feeling. The device in Nova’s hands then began projecting numerous violations committed by Liam, including but not limited to unauthorized use of purification resources, illegally assembling exploration teams, privatization of communal resources, etc., amounting to no less than twenty charges.
‘Damn robot!’
The only one capable of this was Zero, that maid. Liam cursed inwardly. Faced with the blatant evidence of corruption, he found it difficult to maintain his composure, angrily saying:
“So what? Ha, I called you Vice Leader out of respect, but what are you really? Don’t think I don’t know about your filthy background. Since you want to tear off the facade, then don’t blame me!”
“Listen up, everyone. I’ve already investigated our Vice Leader here. Guess what, this dragon woman is actually a slave! Just a gladiator slave bought by Lord Ashen from the arena on a whim!”
“You think just because of your looks, you were favored by Lord Ashen and given a vice commander position to play with. You wouldn’t really take it seriously, would you? Really think you can investigate me?”
“I’ll tell you, when we were fighting Miasma monsters in the wilderness with Lord Ashen, you didn’t even know where you were! Lord Ashen’s achievements today, isn’t it all thanks to the support of us veterans? Arrest me? Do you even qualify!”
“Not to mention you, even if Suthia herself came, she would still have to call me Uncle Liam. You? What are you worth! Get lost!”
Commander Liam unleashed a torrent of abuse, his tone and momentum reaching the peak. Under normal circumstances, indeed, no one would dare to move against such an elder close to Ashen. Unfortunately for him, he was dealing with Nova.
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