40: Chapter 40: The arms dealer came to cause trouble, but I turned the tables and bought it out.

"Oil?"

Chen Yuan chewed on the word, as if savoring a fine steak.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The terrifying Licker above immediately retracted its long tongue, vanishing back into the shadows above the crystal chandelier. Only the occasional drop of viscous fluid dripping down reminded everyone of its presence.

Bob slumped on the floor, gasping for air as if he had just been pulled from the deep sea. His right hand was gone, the severed wrist tightly bound with a belt, but he couldn't care about the pain right now.

Alive.

As long as he could live, he would be willing to have not just one hand, but all four limbs chopped off.

"Very interesting news."

Chen Yuan crouched down, fished a crushed pack of cigarettes from Bob's pocket, pulled one out, and lit it. "However, Mr. Bob, do you know the rules of business negotiation?"

"W-what?" Bob asked, trembling.

"Empty words are baseless."

Chen Yuan exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes playful. "You say there's oil, so there's oil? What if you're just making up a story to save your own skin? My pet has a rather bad temper, and it hates liars the most."

"It's true! It's absolutely true!"

Bob panicked, frantically fumbling over his body with his remaining left hand, finally pulling a crumpled map and several geological survey reports from an inner pocket.

They were stained with blood and sweat.

"We hired experts to survey this! It's right there in the 'Dead Silence Wasteland' north of the city!"

Bob held the reports up to Chen Yuan, his voice choked with tears. "That place used to be an abandoned chemical plant, nobody wanted it. We bought it to use as an arms depot, but when we were digging the underground bunker, the drill brought up black oil!"

"The experts said the reserves down there are enough to turn a pauper into a Saudi prince!"

Chen Yuan took the reports and flipped through them casually.

Red Queen's scan completed instantly.

[Data authenticity: 98%.]

[Geological structure analysis: There is an abnormally high energy reaction in the area, not limited to oil.]

Chen Yuan closed the report, the smile on his face becoming brilliant.

"Very good, I believe in your sincerity."

He stood up and looked down at Bob. "So, now let's talk about this business deal."

"B-business?" Bob was stunned.

"Of course."

Chen Yuan straightened his collar, his tone strictly professional. "I am a respectable businessman; I never do anything as low-class as robbery. Since your land is so valuable, and you have a warehouse full of arms..."

"I'm buying it."

"Huh?"

Bob's mouth fell open, wondering if he was suffering from auditory hallucinations due to blood loss.

The devil who had just let his dog bite off his hand now wanted to do business with him?

"What? You don't want to sell?" Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Sell! Sell, sell, sell!"

Bob nodded frantically, his head banging against the floor. "Name your price! As long as I can leave this hellhole alive, I'll sell it for any price!"

He just wanted to take the money and get as far away as possible. What was oil? What were arms? Nothing was more important than his life.

"Straightforward."

Chen Yuan snapped his fingers. "Victor, draft a contract."

Victor, who had been waiting on the side, immediately pulled out a tablet and typed away rapidly. Within two minutes, an electronic contract was placed in front of Bob.

"Full acquisition agreement."

Chen Yuan pointed to the signature bar at the bottom of the screen. "Including the wasteland, the abandoned factory above ground, the underground arms depot, and all the smuggling channels under your name. The package price..."

He held up one finger.

"Ten million?" A glimmer of hope flashed in Bob's eyes.

Although this price was practically giving it away compared to the value of oil and arms, it would at least allow him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

"No."

Chen Yuan shook his head and smiled, spitting out a single number:

"One dollar."

Bob's expression froze.

The surrounding arms dealers who were watching the spectacle were also dumbfounded.

One dollar?

This is called an acquisition? This is clearly blatant robbery! And he even wants to act like he's doing a favor!

"What? Think it's too little?"

Chen Yuan sighed and looked up with some regret. "It seems Mr. Bob prefers to communicate with my pet..."

"Sign! I'll sign!"

Bob let out a desperate scream.

With his remaining trembling left hand, he pressed his fingerprint crookedly onto the screen.

"Ding."

Transaction complete.

Chen Yuan fished a coin from his pocket and flicked it with a 'ding' in front of Bob.

"Take it, that's your pension."

"Also, I've prepared a one-way ticket to Hawaii for you. First class, don't mention it."

Chen Yuan waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "Take your people and disappear immediately. If you are still in San Verde when the sun rises tomorrow, don't blame me for being untrustworthy."

Bob grabbed the coin and scrambled out of the nightclub, followed by his henchmen who had long since been scared out of their wits.

They ran faster than rabbits, fearing the devil might change his mind.

"Boss, this..."

Sophia looked at the fleeing figures in disarray, then back at Chen Yuan, her eyes full of admiration and disbelief. "One dollar? You are really too..."

"Too ruthless?"

Chen Yuan smiled and turned to look out the window. "This is business warfare. Since they lost, they have to pay the price."

"Besides, I don't just want his land; I also want his connections, his channels, and..."

His gaze became incredibly deep:

"That secret buried underground."

The next morning.

North of the city, the Dead Silence Wasteland.

This place used to be a landfill for industrial waste, barren of any vegetation, with the air permeated by a pungent sulfur smell.

Several black off-road vehicles were parked in the center of the wasteland.

Chen Yuan was wearing a protective suit, standing next to a huge drilling well. Beside him stood a thin, middle-aged man wearing thick-rimmed glasses.

That was the special talent just refreshed by the system—[Geological Exploration Expert (Master Level)].

"How is it?" Chen Yuan asked.

The expert was staring at the precision instrument in his hand, his brows locked in a frown, his expression as fanatical as a madman who had seen an oasis in the desert.

"Boss, incredible... simply incredible!"

The expert raised his head, his voice trembling with excitement. "That stupid arms dealer only saw the oil on the surface, but he had no idea what was buried beneath it!"

"The oil is just a byproduct! Like the dirt wrapped around a gemstone!"

"Five hundred meters below this layer of oil, there is an extremely intense energy fluctuation! The frequency of this fluctuation is not on any known periodic table of elements on Earth!"

Chen Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

As expected.

Red Queen's prediction was correct.

"Dig."

Chen Yuan commanded, his voice low and decisive. "Get the T-103 Mass-Produced Tyrant over here to dig. Seal off the news; no one is allowed within five kilometers of this area. Anyone who violates this, kill without mercy."

"Yes!" Victor immediately picked up the walkie-talkie to mobilize personnel.

As the roar of the drilling machine rang out again, black oil gushed out like a fountain, but this was not what Chen Yuan wanted.

Half an hour later.

The drill suddenly emitted a piercing screech, as if it had hit something extremely hard.

The values on the instrument instantly went off the charts.

"It's out!"

The expert shouted and lunged at the sampling port.

A fist-sized piece of ore was sent up.

It was not black, nor was it gold.

It exhibited an eerie, translucent, ghostly blue color, with what seemed to be living liquid flowing inside, emitting a mesmerizing halo.

Even through the thick protective suit, Chen Yuan could feel the violent and pure energy rushing towards him.

[High-purity bio-energy ore (type-z) detected.]

[Purity: 99.9%.]

[Usage: It is the core heart that drives giant bio-mechas, the key to giving life to dead objects.]

Chen Yuan held the ore in his hands, his ambition no longer able to be suppressed.

Oil?

In the eyes of those bumpkins, this is wealth.

But in Chen Yuan's eyes, this is just a smokescreen to cover up the truth.

What he held in his hands was a ticket to the future, the soul that would allow that "Bio-Gundam" currently stuck on the blueprints to truly stand up!

"Boss..."

The expert's voice interrupted Chen Yuan's contemplation. "According to initial estimates, the ore reserves down here... are enough for us to build an army."

"An army made of mechas."

Chen Yuan took a deep breath and clenched the ore tightly in his hand.

"Seal off the news."

He turned around and looked at the desolate land behind him, as if looking at a volcano about to erupt.

"From today on, this place is a restricted zone."

"I am going to create a god here."