When Meng Chao became a three-star superhuman, Superstar’s project of buying the core assets of Spirit Creation Creatures was nearing its end as well.
This act of them eating a dinosaur was miraculously successful. Meng Yishan, the boss-in-name of Superstar, was actually quite confused and worried about it all instead of being excited.
“A’chao, what’s going on?”
On the rare occasion that Meng Chao came home, Meng Yishan was finally unable to hold back. “Why is Spirit Creation Creatures contacting us so actively? Also, the bank, law firms, and accounting firms came to us on their own. Even the related departments have given us the green light as if they’re trying to make sure that this cooperation goes through. I-I just don’t feel at ease with this.”
He was a harvester who had worked hard for most of his life. Superstar and Prosperous’ merge was something that he could still understand, and he was also confident that he could help his son control that company.
But once Spirit Creation Creatures was involved, Meng Yishan felt faint and had no idea what was going on anymore, since it was a company dealing with high-tech and new technology.
“Little Cao mentioned that we’ve become middlemen to launder dirty money… Is that true?” Meng Yishan asked his son tentatively.
“What?” Meng Chao scratched his head. He cast a glance at his younger sister, who was sitting in front of a TV and giggling while holding half a slice of a pink watermelon. “Why does she know about the existence of such middlemen?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Bai Jiacao had her black and shiny eyes fixed on the exaggerated soap opera on the screen while she said casually, “Big Brother, your Broken Star Club has been expanding really quickly recently. I’ve heard a lot of stuff at school and on the internet.
“You also became a three-star superhuman within a short year. Even if many of the superhumans were showered by spirit energy because of that spirit energy tsunami at the northern frontlines and reached various degrees of breakthroughs, you’re still improving the fastest!
“Now, people are taking the initiative to help Superstar become stronger and bigger. But there’s no such thing as free lunch. It’s impossible for our family to reach such heights in a short year by relying solely on our own strength.
“The only answer is that you found incredibly powerful support, and that person wants you to go out and do things that they would find inconvenient. You’re also supposed to circulate some cash that the person has trouble circulating. That’s the gist of it, right?”
Meng Chao fell silent when he heard that. ‘The brat actually guessed right.’
Ye Xiaoxing did not hide things from him when it came to this matter.
The abnormal beast research department was indeed hoping to form a close working relationship with Superstar since they needed money to investigate cases.
The investigations were related to the abnormal beast organization, and when it came to major cases that could threaten the safety of Dragon City, they would need astronomical funds to conduct the investigations.
As a law enforcement organization which was similar to the adjudicator court, the abnormal beast research department was able to get funds from the Survival Committee.
But money was also required for Dragon City’s construction, the war, and many other things. There were organizations that had no money waiting for the Survival Committee to give them money, so it was difficult for the research department, adjudicator court, and even the Red Dragon Army to get any money from the Survival Committee’s pockets.
Besides, half of the seats in the Survival Committee belonged to the nine great mega corporations.
If one of the cases involved the nine great mega corporations, should they investigate the case to the end or stop before they came to an end?
Hence, the research department naturally had the desire to deal with some of its funding on its own.
Instead of letting the Survival Committee seize their throats by making every bit of funding for their investigations go through strict budget declarations and post audits, it was better for them to use their own strength to support some of the external corporations and grow stronger themselves. Then, through these external corporations, they could get secret funds that would be completely in their own control.
This was something normal. Even the adjudicator court did it.
They had to use a lot of money to bribe people and placate the gangs in lairs. They also had to hire unique superhuman squads to handle certain “problems”. Such things would definitely not get through audit, but if they had not done it, they would not have been able to conduct many of their investigations.
Besides, Spirit Creation Creatures had pretty decent skills in conducting biochemical experiments and tests.
The abnormal beast research department could use Spirit Creation Creatures to look into certain clues that could not be placed in the abnormal beast research department.
“Meng Chao, Spirit Creation Creatures must be controlled by the abnormal beast research department. Your performance over the past few months have made everyone look at you differently. We hope that Superstar can merge with Spirit Creation Creatures, and through it, form a close working relationship with the abnormal beast research department,” Ye Xiaoxing said.
“Xie Xiaolei is a talented man. It’ll be a pity if we don’t use it. Don’t worry. No matter what, he has a stain on his record. If he does something strange, his crime of working together with Gao Ye to create biochemical beasts illegally will be enough to make him suffer major consequences e. But he’s smart, so he won’t go looking for trouble on his own.”
Meng Chao had thought about it for a long time before he agreed to Ye Xiaoxing’s suggestion.
“I don’t think this is appropriate,” Meng Yishan said. “Son, don’t go laughing at me for not being ambitious. Last year, I hadn’t even considered that Superstar could develop this much. I just thought that it’d be good if we could have around fifty of my friends working together so that we can earn a living.
“Later, you became stronger, and you even facilitated the merging of Superstar and Prosperous. I was naturally happy, but I also thought that this was the limit of my abilities and I should stop.
“I didn’t expect that in just half a year, you would move from being a one-star superhuman to a two-star superhuman. Meanwhile, you didn’t just create the Broken Star Club, you even made our business flourish. But I don’t understand what you’re trying to do now.
“I’m not worried that the right to lead the company will be taken over by someone else. In any case, the basis of Superstar is a normal harvesting team. At most, I’ll just go back to my roots and bring my friends with me to harvester once more. The money we earned this year is already enough for us to live comfortably for the rest of our lives. We were never ambitious people to begin with, anyway.
“But I’m worried about you. Everyone says that you need to prioritize taking your time when it comes to the road of cultivation. The faster you become stronger, the less solid your foundation becomes. The further you go, the easier it will be for you to go through spirit energy deviation.
“Besides, Little Cao is right. There is no such thing as free lunch in the world. Various people are working hard to help us become bigger and stronger, so they will definitely want us to repay them by having you do something difficult and dangerous, right?
“Son, we don’t actually have to work so hard. The company can remain at the same scale as last year, and you can remain a one-star or two-star superhuman. You can live a comfortable and carefree life.
“There are plenty of superhumans who live their lives being one-star superhumans, so why do you have to face the risk of spirit energy deviation or even dying on the battlefield? Why do you have to reach the top?”
While eating his mother’s fried spring rolls and listening to his father’s worries, Meng Chao sighed in his heart.
His father was right.
If he did not know the future, the company could just remain with thirty or fifty employees while he stayed a carefree one-star superhuman who had no worries. At most, he would just become a two-star superhuman to enjoy his life.
A stable life with little riches brought peace. Knowing how to be content brought everlasting happiness, and that was the greatest blessing in life.
Unfortunately, the apocalypse was like a burning, sharp blade that hung above his head. Even if the blade had not pierced the top of his head, its light still stung his eyes.
The peace around him was just a dream.
Very soon, Dragon City would go on a journey that was even grander in scale, and it would be even more terrifying.
He had to grit his teeth and tear apart his flesh and bones while staking everything he had to continue climbing upward. That was the only way to survive once he reached a dangerous cliff. Only after he survived that cliff would he find a brand new path.
“Dad, don’t worry. I have a plan,” Meng Chao said. “You don’t have to worry about not being able to control Superstar once it becomes too big, either. You just need two things to control businesses in this tumultuous era in Dragon City and the Other World. First, connections. Second, power.
“When it comes to connections, I have the Broken Star Club at the grassroots level, and when it comes to those of a higher social rank, I have the support of Agricultural University and powerful people from various fields.
“When it comes to power, I’ve reached Spirit Gathering Realm in just one year, and my fighting strength is far beyond that of a three-star superhuman.
“As long as I have these two things, Superstar will forever be in our grasp. If I lose them, I’m afraid we won’t just need to be worried about something as simple as Superstar.
“In any case, you don’t have to be worried about so many things. You just need to trust that I have the power to protect all of you!”
In time, he managed to set his parents’ minds at ease, so he cast his attention to his little sister.
Bai Jiacao had graduated from middle school.
Over the past year, Meng Chao had used every second that he had to cultivate, so he seldom went home. He could even count the number of times he saw Bai Jiacao.
Girls quickly changed when they grew up. Bai Jiacao was very different compared to the girl he met when he just returned to the past. She no longer had her round face and young voice.
Her baby fat had disappeared. Her oval face was beginning to change, and she was gaining a sharp chin. Her body seemed to be growing, and now, she was a lot taller than before. In terms of her body ratio, her legs might be longer than Lu Siya’s. There was an amusement in her eyes, as if she could see through everything. It was not something a normal graduate of middle school should have.
In other words, his little sister… was becoming more and more like the Dark Witch.
It was not just her looks. Her wit and fighting strength resembled those of the Dark Witch as well.
Bai Jiacao had gained extraordinarily good results during her high school entrance exams and managed to get into Construction High, one of the three powerful high schools in Dragon City. She was even slotted into the experimental class.
Meng Chao asked Luo Hai about it, since he graduated from Construction High.
Luo Hai told him that the experimental class was the best class in Construction High. It was similar to Ninth High School’s rocket class, but it was smaller. It only recruited thirty students at most each year, and the students were taught with a special syllabus.
They completed all three years of high school education in one year. Then, they worked together with various famous universities to nurture the students with tertiary education.
Usually, the students who could join the experimental class were either rich or from powerful families. They were at the very least people like Luo Hai, who were second generation cultivators with parents who were at the peak of Heaven Realm.
There had never been anyone like Bai Jiacao, whose parents were normal people with no money, that got into Construction High’s experimental class with her own powers.
“Your father should publish a book on how to educate children so that he can tell us all how he managed to make both of you so outstanding. I can guarantee that the book will sell like hot cakes in the city and everyone will want a copy,” Luo Hai said seriously.
Meng Chao scratched his head. He did not think that his parents had any secrets in teaching them.
Of course, this was not entirely his doing either.
Even though he had been providing Bai Jiacao with a lot of gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid over the past year and even racked his brains for basic martial arts that would be suitable for her, the main reason behind her improvement… was definitely because her Night Demon Blood was awakening.