70: Chapter 70 My Days as a Local Tyrant in America

The tires of the gulfstream g650 screeched against the scorching runway, emitting a piercing yet reassuring "screech."

The cabin door opened.

A wave of heat, mixed with the scent of dry dust, cacti, and... the smell of money, rushed to meet him.

"The air back home smells much better."

Chen Yuan took off his sunglasses and took a deep breath.

Compared to the cold, damp, and perpetually musty castle in Scotland, the wild, untamed sunlight of San Verde was clearly more to his liking.

"Welcome home, Boss."

Victor, who had been waiting on the tarmac, trotted over.

The guy had put on a bit of weight recently, and his floral shirt had been swapped for a bespoke Armani suit. However, in this hellish weather, the expensive fabric was clearly making him suffer; his underarms were already soaked with sweat.

Yet, the smile on his face was even brighter than the sun overhead.

"The motorcade is ready. Also..."

Victor pointed to the long line of black cars behind him, lowered his voice, and said with a fawning expression:

"To celebrate your triumphant return, Miss Sophia has prepared a... small, private briefing for you in the 'Sky Garden'."

"Sky Garden?"

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"It's the private leisure area on the top floor of the Pan-American Pyramid that you asked for before you left." Victor winked. "It was just completed yesterday. You're definitely going to like it."

Half an hour later.

The top floor of the Pan-American Pyramid.

The moment the elevator doors opened, Chen Yuan thought he had walked into the wrong place.

The cold, sterile tarmac and equipment level had vanished.

In their place was a "tropical rainforest" suspended hundreds of meters in the air.

A massive bulletproof glass dome kept the scorching sun at bay, while the climate control system maintained the air at a comfortable 24 degrees. Lush palm trees and ferns, flown in from the Amazon, were vibrant and green, and an artificial stream trickled beneath the glass walkway at his feet.

In the very center was an infinity pool.

The pool water was a deep blue, merging seamlessly with the sky in the distance.

"Boss, you're back."

A charming, flirtatious voice called out.

Sophia emerged from the pool.

She wasn't wearing her usual stiff professional attire, but rather a black bikini held together by mere thin strings. Water droplets slid down her honey-wheat skin, gathering in her breathtaking cleavage.

She held a waterproof tablet in her hand, her long legs moving as she walked barefoot across the teak floor, stepping toward Chen Yuan.

"This is the latest construction progress for 'Elysium Manor'."

Sophia walked over to the lounge chair beside Chen Yuan. Instead of reporting immediately, she picked up a bath towel and gently wiped away the non-existent sweat on his forehead.

"The foundation is laid, and the cooling pool for the nuclear reactor is complete."

She handed the tablet to Chen Yuan, leaning forward slightly. Water droplets from the tips of her hair fell onto the back of Chen Yuan's hand—cool, yet making his heart burn with heat.

"According to your request, I've also applied special acoustic treatment to the 'Harem Area'... oh, no, I mean the 'VIP Rest Area' on the fourth underground level."

Sophia bit her lip, her eyes brimming with allure:

"Even if someone screams their throat out inside, not a single sound will be heard from the outside."

Chen Yuan leaned back on the lounge chair, took the iced coconut juice handed to him by Alice, and took a sip, feeling refreshed.

"Well done."

He reached out and patted Sophia's resilient... back. "It seems putting you in this position was a waste of your talents."

"It is my honor to serve you."

Sophia took the opportunity to sit on the carpet at Chen Yuan's feet, resting her head on his knee like a lazy cat.

"Boss, here is last month's financial report."

Victor intruded at the wrong moment, holding a thick stack of documents, his expression looking as if he'd won the lottery.

"The market share for 'Dali' in North America has exceeded 80%, completely crushing Red Bull and Monster Energy. Just the net profit from last month..."

Victor held up three fingers, his voice trembling:

"Three hundred million! Dollars!"

"And that's not even counting the 'herbicide' procured by the military and the commission from underground arms deals!"

"Got it."

Chen Yuan couldn't even be bothered to glance at the report, tossing it casually onto the coffee table beside him. "This amount of money is just enough to buy some nutrient solution for the Tyrants."

Three hundred million.

If it were half a year ago, this sum of money would have been enough to keep him up at night with excitement.

But now?

In his eyes, it was truly just a string of numbers.

"Clap."

An exquisite cigar box was tossed into Chen Yuan's lap.

Rosa was wearing camouflage combat fatigues and army boots, sitting in the chair opposite him with a bold, imposing posture. She had just returned from South America, and she still carried the scent of gunpowder and blood.

"A gift for you."

Rosa picked up the whiskey on the table, skipped the glass, and took a swig straight from the bottle. "Just snatched it from a warlord's private cellar in Colombia. It was a tribute he had prepared for the president."

"Try it. They say the ones who rolled the leaves were all virgins."

Chen Yuan picked up the cigar and sniffed it.

Mellow, spicy, with a hint of earthy fragrance.

Alice stepped forward, pulled out a gold cigar cutter to trim it for him, and then lit it with a torch lighter.

Chen Yuan took a deep drag, and the pale blue smoke rose slowly in the "Sky Garden."

He squinted slightly, looking at everything before him through the smoke.

On the left was Sophia, the smoking-hot woman who controlled the city's entertainment industry;

On the right was Rosa, the untamable woman who managed his underground arms business;

Behind him was Alice, his bio-engineered bodyguard with maxed-out loyalty and off-the-charts combat power;

In front of him was Victor, his butler who was obsequious yet could calculate every penny to the extreme.

At his feet lay San Verde, crouching in his shadow, along with the vast empire that was continuously funneling money and power to him.

"This is what you call life..."

Chen Yuan sighed, his tone carrying an incredibly punchable air of humble-bragging:

"Being a local tyrant in America, life is just this simple, unadorned, and boring."

No scheming, no backstabbing.

Only endless money, endless... *ahem*, and countless flatteries.

If it were the old Chen Yuan, he might have drowned in this haven of comfort until he died of old age.

But now...

His hand unconsciously stroked the ring that controlled the Tyrant legion.

Such a life was too comfortable.

It was so comfortable that his heart, accustomed to dancing on the edge of a blade, began to feel an inexplicable sense of emptiness.

"Beep—beep—beep—!!!"

Just then.

A rapid, sharp, and somewhat hysterical alarm sound suddenly shattered the peace of the afternoon.

It wasn't a standard alarm from the Red Queen.

It came from that top-secret facility, located deep in the Nevada desert...

The S-Class laboratory.

Chen Yuan's eyes changed instantly.

That laziness and languor vanished without a trace in a tenth of a second, replaced by the sharpness of a falcon.

He pushed away Sophia, who was lying on his lap, and sat up straight.

"Connect it."

"Static—"

A holographic projection unfolded above the pool, the image shaking violently; clearly, the signal was suffering from severe interference.

Dr. Zola's pale, gaunt face, twisted with extreme excitement, appeared on the screen.

His lab coat was covered in green slime, and one lens of his glasses was shattered. In the background was a chaotic laboratory, where one could vaguely hear the screeching sound of metal being torn apart and the low growl of some beast.

"Bo... Boss!"

Dr. Zola's voice was as sharp as fingernails scraping a chalkboard, filled with a hair-raising fanaticism:

"It's awake! It's awake!"

"My God! This is simply a miracle of biology! No... this is a miracle of God!"

Chen Yuan frowned and asked in a deep voice:

"Speak plainly. What's awake?"

Dr. Zola suddenly pointed the camera at the massive incubation chamber behind him, which was built from special alloys.

The half-meter-thick explosion-proof glass was now covered in shocking cracks.

And in the murky nutrient solution, a massive shadow was frantically slamming against the chamber wall.

"That... that genetic sequence extracted from the ancient fossil!"

Dr. Zola roared:

"That's no ordinary creature! Boss! We... we seem to have hatched a monster!"