144: Chapter 144 The Iceberg CEO's Night in Uniform (Part 1)

When Yi Chang was placed into the B-rank medical pod, the shattered light armor was automatically stripped away by mechanical arms.

Metal fragments fell off piece by piece, revealing the body beneath.

From the collarbone to the ribs, fine silver-gray scales and almost transparent fair skin alternated; the scale patterns gradually thickened below the waistline, eventually transitioning into a complete snake tail form.

Three deep lacerations, reaching the bone, spanned from her chest to her lower ribs, with green blood still slowly seeping out.

The transparent glass of the medical pod had no shielding treatment applied.

Blood Rose leaned against the pod door, sized Yi Chang up for a full three seconds, and let out a whistle.

"This snake's waist is even thinner than mine."

Jiang Yanxue glanced over, snorted, and walked away.

Su Xiaoqi leaned against the glass to watch: "Such pretty scales... are they edible?"

"No," Chen Chen said, lifting Su Xiaoqi away from the glass.

After the healing fluid was injected into the medical pod, Yi Chang's wounds began to heal slowly.

The green blood stopped, and the tender flesh beneath the silver-gray scales was recovered by scale patterns.

She leaned against the pod wall, her vertical pupils scanning the first floor of the Ghost Fortress—constant temperature system, holographic command console, leather sofa, automatic cooking module.

Then she saw the bar area.

The Proprietress was wiping a glass next to the tavern's core crystal ball, her fiery red hair tied in a high ponytail, her fox ears stretching in the warm airflow.

Yi Chang's vertical pupils constricted slightly.

She then looked behind the partition wall in the North District.

The Pig-Faced Butcher was placing the spinal skeleton of a Tier 3 Aberration on a chopping block, bone shards flying as the cleaver rose and fell.

Yi Chang's snake tail tightened involuntarily.

Two top-tier NPCs.

A Red Fox Tribe wandering merchant and a Pig-Faced Butcher.

Working in this man's fortress.

The medical pod door slid open.

Chen Chen walked in, carrying something in his hand.

The silver-gray inheritance pebble was tossed in front of Yi Chang, rolling twice on the metal floor of the pod.

Yi Chang's vertical pupils instantly lit up. She reached out to grab it, and as her fingertips touched the pebble's surface, the golden light of bloodline resonance emerged once again.

"This is... you really brought it out..."

"The conditions."

Chen Chen stepped one foot onto a protrusion on the pod wall, looking down from above.

"Everything in your head regarding the distribution of alien forces on the second map, the Snake Scale Tribe's thousand-year tactical experience against the Lord of Flesh, and the secret communication frequencies of the Alien Alliance—hand it all over."

Yi Chang looked up.

"In exchange for what?"

"You and your remaining clansmen enter my fortress and live."

Yi Chang's vertical pupils lingered on Chen Chen's face for two seconds.

Last time in the Abandoned City, she had used her nails to trace across this man's chest to measure his heart rate—forty-three beats per minute.

His heart rate was likely even lower now.

But the pressure radiating from him was more than ten times greater than it had been in the Abandoned City.

"My clansmen... only six remain."

"They are all outside the medical pod."

"I can't do anything for the dead, but I'll take care of the living."

Yi Chang gripped the inheritance pebble tightly, the fine silver-gray scales on the back of her hand standing up slightly due to her emotional fluctuation.

"I—"

The sound of military boots stepping on the metal floor interrupted her.

Jiang Jiuyou walked into the first floor from the connecting passage.

Her silver-white low ponytail whipped in a sharp arc, and the hem of her dark red military overcoat rustled. She glanced at Yi Chang inside the medical pod—the lacerations on her chest hadn't fully healed, leaving large patches of silver-gray scales and snow-white skin exposed under the cold light.

"The fortress does not support useless people."

Jiang Jiuyou's ice-blue pupils locked onto Yi Chang's vertical ones.

"Sign the agreement, or be thrown off the ship."

Yi Chang's snake tail suddenly lashed out inside the pod, thumping against the metal walls.

"You—"

"Vice Commander Jiang," Chen Chen's voice drifted over, neither loud nor soft.

Jiang Jiuyou turned her head.

Chen Chen had already walked to her side, less than twenty centimeters away.

He lowered his head slightly, his lips leaning close to Jiang Jiuyou's ear.

"Quite the display of authority."

His warm breath hit her ear directly.

Jiang Jiuyou's entire body tensed up.

Silver-white strands of hair hung from her temples, swaying slightly from the heat of Chen Chen's breath.

The slender neck above her black high collar visibly flushed with a thin layer of red.

"I am executing—"

Chen Chen's arm reached around her waist, his fingers hooking onto her left side as he pulled her toward him.

Jiang Jiuyou's back pressed directly against Chen Chen's chest.

The body heat of someone with 147 constitution points burned through the military overcoat and high-collared lining; Jiang Jiuyou's breathing instantly hitched.

"Chen—"

"Stand still. Don't move."

His voice came from right behind her head, so deep it vibrated against her scalp.

Jiang Jiuyou's inner thighs trembled uncontrollably.

One second.

Two seconds.

She suddenly broke free and stepped back twice.

"...Are you quite finished?"

Her voice was already unsteady.

The emotions churning in her ice-blue pupils were far too complex—there was the irritation of being offended, the humiliation of being suppressed, and a certain numbness rising from her lower abdomen that she absolutely refused to acknowledge.

Chen Chen watched her with his arms crossed.

Jiang Jiuyou turned around, her military boots tapping out a hurried rhythm on the metal floor.

Three steps.

At the stairwell, her back paused for half a second.

Then, without looking back, she rushed up to the fourth floor.

Inside the medical pod, Yi Chang had watched the entire scene.

Her vertical pupils constricted into a razor-thin line.

"...I'll sign."

Yi Chang gripped the inheritance pebble in her palm, the alien pride in her tone finally dropping completely.

"Your conditions—I accept them all."

Chen Chen looked back.

"Smart."

...

System Time: 23:30.

The Sky Fortress cruised slowly above Magnetic Storm Canyon.

The fleet aura of forty-four vehicles enveloped the entire fortress in a warm protective circle.

The first floor of the Ghost Fortress gradually grew quiet.

Su Xiaoqi lay on the sofa, gnawing on a mammoth bone until she fell asleep.

Jiang Yanxue leaned against another sofa with her blade, eyes closed in a light doze.

Blood Rose curled up in a corner booth to catch up on sleep.

Qin Hongye was wiping her gauss rifle on the fifth-floor dome, while Shen Wanxing was huddled in a pile of blankets, only a tuft of silver hair showing.

Shen Wanbing closed the last window on the holographic panel.

After the cold blue lights on the command console went out, only the low-frequency hum of the life support system remained on the first floor.

She sat in her chair, unmoving.

The blue light of the concentration ice heart necklace—extinguished.

She had actively deactivated the emotional suppression function of the ice heart necklace.

Shen Wanbing took a deep breath.

After absorbing twenty Ability Crystals, her Spirit attribute had broken through the ninety-point mark, reaching ninety-two.

Four points higher than Chen Chen's eighty-eight.

The feedback condition for Forbidden Domain Dual Cultivation: Qi and Blood Mutual Nourishment—a certain attribute must be higher than the host's.

She met it.

She had met it since yesterday.

She stood up.

Her professional suit jacket was folded neatly on the command console, the sleeves of her white shirt rolled up to her elbows, and the top three buttons were undone.

Below her collarbone, a deep, breathtaking shadow was faintly visible.

She pulled out a tightly packed flat box from the bottom of a storage bin and opened it.

Inside were the ultra-thin, micro-compression black stockings Chen Chen had specifically bought for her from the Proprietress, as well as a pair of black patent leather pointed-toe stilettos.

Sitting on the edge of the chair, she took off her old shoes and pulled the black stockings up from her toes bit by bit.

The ultra-thin material clung to the muscle lines of her calves, and the micro-compression shaping effect made her already slender legs appear even more fluid in line.

When she reached her upper thighs, her fingers trembled slightly.

She put on the patent leather pointed-toe stilettos; the heels were nine centimeters high.

She stood up, her legs feeling slightly weak, and reached out to steady herself against the edge of the command console.

Deep breath in.

Slow breath out.

The sound of high heels rang softly on the metal stairs.

Click—click—click—

On the first-floor sofa, Jiang Yanxue's dark red pupils opened a crack.

She caught a glimpse of Shen Wanbing's back as she walked up the stairs in her black heels—white shirt, three buttons undone at the collar, and the slender curves tightly wrapped in ultra-thin micro-compression black stockings.

Jiang Yanxue's pupils shifted slightly before she slowly closed them again.

Second-floor levitation pod.

Chen Chen was waiting for the midnight settlement, scrolling through the blueprint parameters of the faith deprivation tower on his panel.

The pod door knocked twice softly.

He looked up.

Shen Wanbing stood quietly at the door.

Black patent leather high heels stepped on the threshold, and the ultra-thin black stockings extended from her ankles all the way under the hem of her well-fitted hip-hugging skirt.

The white shirt had three buttons loosened, and her deep ink-colored long curly hair hung over her shoulders, half-concealing her.

The concentration ice heart necklace was dim—she had turned it off voluntarily.

On the iceberg face of the helmsman of a multi-billion conglomerate, a flush that even makeup couldn't hide bloomed on her cheekbones.

"My Mental Power is ninety-two."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"Higher than yours."

Chen Chen closed the panel and stood up to walk in front of her.

Shen Wanbing tilted her head up slightly.

In her ink-black pupils, the faint blue glow of the soothing force field inside the pod was reflected, along with Chen Chen's figure.

"...The feedback condition should be satisfied."

Chen Chen reached out, his fingertips gently hooking the fourth button of her shirt collar.

"Have you thought this through?"