Lin Chuan paced about and asked a little anxiously, “Do you lack money? I can get you some other missions. They’ll offer quite a lot of money as well.”
“I don’t lack money.” Meng Chao shook his head.
He had gotten capital stock in Yan Organization with the future version of Ripple Force as technology investment. He was working on Surging Lightning with Luo Hai, and the profit was starting to pick up. He might be promoting the Ultimate Style for free, but he already had ways to earn profit from additional services. Through the connections he created, he had also managed to make his father’s resource recovery company flourish.
Besides, he had been fighting madly, and the feat of killing the Will o’ the Wisp Dragon and harvesting the Blood Flower sclerotia had earned him a lot of monster coins, which were even more valuable compared to gold.
If he were to say that he lacked money, then he would only be lacking money to make risky investments, expand the scale of promoting the future versions of the martial arts, and reach a higher cultivation realm.
But he no longer faced any financial difficulty in providing for his family’s daily lives as normal people, money to treat his mother, to buy a car for his father, or for his little sister to get the best education.
“I didn’t join this mission for the high fees,” Meng Chao said seriously. “I just want to fight together with my idol.”
Lin Chuan was stunned, and his face turned red. “You’ll regret it.” His voice was a little hoarse.
“Why?” Meng Chao quirked his eyebrows.
Lin Chuan sucked in a deep breath, and with a rather tormented expression, he said, “Haven’t you heard that my luck is really bad? Every time I form a team with someone, they run into some sort of accident. There have been a few times when our entire squad was eliminated, and I was the only one who escaped.
“Many people have said that I’m a person destined for loneliness. In fact, they said that I’m… cursed. Whoever forms a group with me will not end up well.”
“No way, Big Brother Lin, do you believe in that sort of thing?” Meng Chao laughed in spite of himself. “It’s because you stay in the depths of the wild all the time and volunteer for the most dangerous missions. That’s why you have run into accidents more often. If you were like the other superhumans who look for a good job in the city after they become famous, you’d definitely be safe, because you’d only fight when monsters attack our city!
“The mortality rate of superhumans is higher than of normal humans. Then, are all superhumans destined for loneliness?
“Besides, there have been a few times when you managed to save a few of your comrades from the claws of high-grade monsters. I remember that there was once a time when you ran three hundred kilometers in the wild while carrying an unconscious comrade and fought your way out of a few monsters’ territories.
“You were so tired that you nearly collapsed from fatigue, but in the end, you saved your comrade’s life. Many of those in the field gasped at this after they learned of it and claimed that it was a miracle, while you’re a real hero.
“Big Brother Lin, I want to fight beside you and witness a legendary Hell Beast. I have a lot of fighting experience, and I will definitely not drag you down. Let me have the chance, please!”
“You…” Lin Chuan sighed and smiled bitterly. “You still don’t understand. Do you think that you have a lot of fighting experience just because you have been killing Nightmarish Beasts for three months in Shattered Starlake? I’m telling you, you’re far from being experienced!
“The ‘real fights’ we’re going through here have support from the military in terms of firepower, and we stay with numerous comrades. We can even return to the base every night to reorganize and rest. This is just a game in the ivory tower, and it has no relation whatsoever with real fights.
“A real fight means that you’ll be going into the wild and staying away from society. Every night, you’ll be sleeping in the cracks between rocks or a swamp. You’ll be staying among squirming plants and the roars of monsters. Gradually, you’ll forget everything about Dragon City. In fact, you’ll even have the misconception that Dragon City doesn’t exist, and you’re just a monster wearing human skin.
“I’m telling you, the depths of the wild are a world ruled by the law of the jungle, and no other law exists there. Your enemies aren’t just monsters, either. They’re also… other humans.
“After all, the veteran hunters who hunt in the wild all year long have some sort of mental disorders. And dense spirit energy as well as crystal mines can affect human brainwaves. They amplify our emotions and desires. When you’re in a place with no CCTVs and witnesses, death is common.
“When two superhumans meet each other because they’re hunting the same superbeast that is worth cities, do you think that they work together? Even if they force themselves to work together while facing the superbeast baring their fangs at them, what will happen when the superbeast is at its last breath?”
Meng Chao was stunned by Lin Chuan’s hints. “What?”
Lin Chuan spoke softly. “The schools naturally don’t tell you everything. They only mention things like human civilization, how we’re comrades from Earth, how we’re supposed to stand together against a common enemy, and make it sound as if we’re all family who are really close to each other. But in truth, just like how monsters are never a single unit, humans are never a single unit too.
“Our goal is Red Radiance Jades. Their value is much higher than that of superbeasts. All the mining companies have sent their own mine exploration squads. The ones who discover the Red Radiance Jade mine first will have the right to mine it first. The profit from this will amount to an extraordinary figure, and it’s enough to make anyone cast aside the fake mask they call civilization.
“I’m not afraid of not obtaining anything. I’m worried about discovering the Red Radiance Jade mine with some other mine exploration squad. Trust me. At that time, the situation will become very ugly.”
Meng Chao became pensive.
Lin Chuan thought that he did not believe in him, so he sneered and said, “Before you step into society, you’re all flowers in a greenhouse and elites in an ivory tower. You haven’t witnessed the truly ugly side of Dragon City just yet!”
Meng Chao instinctively touched his neck.
In his mind, the image of the instructor with the black skull and the bad breath cutting his throat appeared again.
He sucked in a deep breath and said calmly, “Big Brother Lin, after you said that, I only want to witness it more. I don’t want to live in a greenhouse and an illusion for the rest of my life. Regardless of whether it’s beautiful or ugly, I want to see the world in its truest form.”
Lin Chuan bit his lip and remained silent for a long time before he repeated, “You’ll regret it.”
“If I go, I might end up regretting it. But if I don’t go, I’ll definitely regret it,” Meng Chao said clearly and firmly.
He was not certain whether Lin Chuan and Lu Siya’s trip would be related to the success and failure of the northern offense.
But it was the only chance he could take.
If he missed this chance and the failure from his previous life reoccurred while Lin Chuan, a pseudo-hero citizen, died once more, he would definitely regret it his entire life!
Their gazes clashed in the air, and sparks could be seen.
Both of them were very firm in their stances, and neither of them was willing to back down.
“Lin Chuan?” Lu Siya sat comfortably in the distance in a chair fit for bosses and absolutely did not fit into the command center. Her long and straight legs were placed on the table, and she beckoned Lin Chuan over in a rather lazy fashion. “It’s been a long time since we met, and I don’t know how you’ve been. Come over and chat with me!”
Lin Chuan cast Meng Chao a deep glance before he looked away. Then, without a word, he walked to Lu Siya.
Meng Chao felt that Lin Chuan still had something to say, but in the end, he let his words die in his mouth. He seemed to have come to some sort of decision.
When he returned to the east lake base, Meng Chao looked for Li Yingzi and contacted Gu Jianbo. He told them that he had been hired by Sky Pillar Corporation to participate in a mine exploration mission.
As for the details about the Red Radiance Jade mine, it was a business secret, so he could not reveal them.
Mine explorations were one of the most common missions for superhumans in the wild.
After all, if humans wanted to develop their civilization, it was not enough for them to rely solely on monster materials. It was only when they mined crystal mines at a large scale could they help their civilization develop to conquer the Other World and explore the endless space so that they could search for a way to return to Earth.
Over the past two months, many of the wealthy mining companies and heavy industry companies had released a lot of mine exploration missions in the east and west lake bases.
Most of the mine exploration missions did not require the participants to venture deep underground. They only needed to escort professional explorers and mine engineers to places with exceptionally thick spirit energy and use unique exploration devices to drill into the ground and extract samples. This would be considered completing the mission. The difficulty and danger rate was not high.
Hence, even the outstanding freshmen such as the four specially recruited students for the fighting courses of the alliance of the five universities and the Four Great Kings from Agricultural University’s martial arts course had received such missions.
When they learned that Meng Chao had gained the favor of Sky Pillar Corporation, Gu Jianbo and Li Yingzi did not voice any disagreement.
University students in Dragon City were different from students on Earth. Their statuses as superhumans allowed them to stand above 95% of Dragon Citizens, and they could be independent in society. Forming connections with rich, mega corporations was extremely good for their future development.
Besides, they could not use normal education to restrain the development of monsters like Meng Chao. The best way for him to learn was to improve by leaps and bounds in real battle.
And when they learned that Lin Chuan would also be joining the mission, they became even more at ease.
When they looked for Lin Chuan to understand the situation, things went slightly against Meng Chao’s expectations. Lin Chuan’s atittude went through a full 180-degree turn. He slapped his chest and promised that he would definitely take care of the junior brother who went to the same school as he did.
Li Yingzi and Gu Jianbo knew that they were close with each other and came from the same neighborhood and were taught by the same homeroom teacher in elementary school.
Besides, Li Yingzi and Gu Jianbo were in a relationship, and they were already thinking about quickly getting married after the victory at the northern offense. Meng Chao and Lin Chuan were their students, and it would be accurate to say that they were a senior-junior pair who studied under the same tutors.
With Weeping Reaper leading the team, there would definitely be no problems, and both of them agreed with no worries.
When Chu Feixiong and Meng Chao’s other friends learned of this, they were happy for him as well.
Chu Feixiong said that he would be with Shao Jianqing over the next few days, and they would go to Graveyard Forest to fight. They might end up running into each other there, and if they had the chance, they should fight together.
Meng Chao looked forward to this.
After resting for an entire night, he went to the equipment center in the base and bought the best harvesting tools and outdoor survival equipment. He had to say, Lu Siya was really rich and generous. With just a swing of her hand, she told Meng Chao to choose whatever he wanted. She would bear all the expenses.
Meng Chao did not hold back with the lady of Sky Pillar Corporation either. He brought with him bags of various sizes and got himself all the tools, regardless of whether he was going to use them or not. He practically brought the entire equipment center into Lu Siya’s aerial fortress.
After lunch, the runic symbols floating around the aerial fortress shone brilliantly again. The magnetic field surged and negated gravity. It floated up while swaying and flew to Graveyard Forest.