113: Chapter 113 High-Quality Products

The next morning, as the first ray of dazzling morning light pierced through the thick clouds of the Cangyun Airspace like a sword, the Cloud Top Fortress was already hovering steadily above the agreed-upon coordinates.

Zhou An stood before the floor-to-ceiling porthole of the main control room, holding a steaming cup of coffee and looking down at the view below.

Outside the porthole lay a massive Floating Island known as the "Wild Plains." Rather than calling it an island, it was more like an extremely vast, fragmented piece of land.

On the crimson earth grew hardy wasteland grass, taller than a person, rolling like waves in the wind.

He had firmly "parked" the fortress in the clouds about three thousand meters above the ground. At this altitude, he could perfectly avoid any potential anti-aircraft stray bullets or ambushes from the ground, while also keeping the entire ranch's movements in full view.

"Captain, a directional communication signal has been received from below. The opposing warship is ascending."

EVA's prompt sounded steadily inside the main control room.

Zhou An's gaze darkened slightly as he looked toward the distant horizon.

At the edge of the plains, he saw a Level 4 airship, painted with a massive, fierce red beast-head totem, slowly ascending.

That was a typical heavy industrial airship of the Orc Race.

These guys, who had "caliber is justice, tonnage is truth" engraved into their bones, always piled on armor and volume to the extreme when building warships. The materials were sufficient, but the load on the engines was catastrophic, so they could never achieve high speeds.

In this world, the spreading speed of the high-dimensional black fog that devoured everything was about 120 km/h. And this behemoth, fully loaded with living creatures, probably couldn't exceed 180 km/h even if it pushed its engines to the limit.

The two warships slowly approached each other at an altitude of three thousand meters.

Subsequently, a heavy mechanical folding bridge, dozens of meters wide, extended from the side of the Orc Race airship and firmly connected to the opened cargo door on the side of the Cloud Top Fortress.

"Luo Ning, keep the fire control system at level one lock. If there are any abnormal energy fluctuations, don't ask for instructions—just blast them to pieces."

Zhou An set down his coffee cup and gave the order casually.

"Don't worry."

Luo Ning, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, winked at him.

Zhou An turned to look at Li Muzi nearby: "Muzi, grab the testing equipment and come with me to the bridge to inspect the goods."

"You got it!"

Accompanied by the "hiss" of the airlock depressurizing, the fortress's alloy hatch slowly opened.

Zhou An took Muzi onto the wide bridge, observing the steel monster opposite them, which lacked any sense of streamlined design, at close range.

"Creak—"

The heavy door on the opposite side also opened, and a tall figure stepped out from the shadows first.

It was a spirited female cat-kin of the Orc Race.

She was about 1.75 meters tall, but not as rugged as Zhou An had imagined.

Her figure was extremely tall and filled with the explosive power of a female leopard; her exposed wheat-colored skin exuded a healthy texture in the morning light. Most striking were the pair of dark gray cat ears atop her head that twitched vigilantly, and the long tail behind her that occasionally swept an arc through the air.

To Zhou An's surprise, she wasn't wearing the "primitive animal skin clothing" from his stereotypes.

Instead, she wore a well-tailored dark multi-functional tactical vest and wear-resistant camouflage combat pants. Her tactical boots were equipped with anti-slip metal spikes, and two shimmering high-frequency daggers were crossed at her waist. She looked more like an extremely capable modern wasteland mercenary.

"What, are you stunned?"

Leader Alanya raised an eyebrow, her pale gold, slit-pupiled cat eyes sweeping over Zhou An, a hint of playfulness flashing in their depths.

"Do you humans think that we of the Orc Race are all a bunch of savages who eat raw meat, wear tattered grass skirts, and howl at the moon?"

Zhou An laughed without any embarrassment, saying frankly: "To be honest, I did think that the Orc Race would wear at least some fur to show their status."

"Pfft, that's such an outdated prejudice."

Leader Alanya waved her hand dismissively, her cat tail slapping her thigh with some irritation.

"In this hellish world that eats people, tactical gear and survival efficiency come first. High-grade animal skin? That stuff can't stop armor-piercing rounds, and it's baggy and unbreathable when running. Aside from trading it with those brain-dead nobles for supplies, only an idiot would wear it."

With that, she stepped aside, clearing a path and gesturing for Zhou An to look at the specially made, massive alloy cages inside the airship.

"Enough talk, let's hurry up and inspect the goods. Twenty Gale Horned Bulls, twenty Rock-Wool Spirit Sheep, and those two hundred egg-laying poultry are all here. I, Leader Alanya, never cut corners when doing business on the plains."

Zhou An nodded and took Muzi into the other party's cargo hold.

Muzi immediately went into work mode, quickly scanning the vital signs of the livestock in front of the rows of cages.

"Boss, no problem!"

A few minutes later, Muzi gave Zhou An an "OK" sign.

"These Gale Horned Bulls have massive lung capacity, and the wind-elemental fluctuations within them are extremely stable. They will definitely produce good milk! The wool quality of those spirit sheep also has no discoloration; they are indeed of pure Rare-grade quality."

As Muzi spoke, she efficiently directed the construction robots pouring out of the fortress to steadily transport these big guys, along with their cages, back to the ecological zone of the Cloud Top Fortress one by one.

"Good goods."

Zhou An didn't bother with pleasantries and swiped across the system panel in mid-air quite readily.

[System Prompt: You have paid 1,100,000 units of Level 4 basic materials to player 'Leader Alanya'!]

"Ding!"

Watching the massive sum arrive instantly, the tense lines of guard on Leader Alanya's face finally softened completely, and even her ears twitched comfortably.

She turned her head to look at Zhou An's tech-filled Level 5 fortress, a hint of unconcealable envy flashing in her golden cat eyes.

"If I have more breeding needs in the future, or need other special materials, I might come to you again."

Zhou An said.

"We can keep in touch, and I'm happy to earn your money. However, the next trade probably won't be at these coordinates."

She looked into the distance.

"The black fog will catch up again in less than half a month. The rare resources in this Wild Plains are almost mined out. Once this batch of livestock is sold, I plan to take the remaining clansmen and head full speed deeper into the Cangyun Airspace."

"After all, in this world, those who run slow... won't even have their bones left."

Zhou An nodded without offering any pointless sympathy. On this continent, everyone was a wanderer driven by the abyss.

"Then until we meet again. I hope that when we do business next time, you haven't been swallowed by the black fog."

Zhou An waved his hand, turned around, and walked back to the fortress with Muzi, who was returning with a full load, without looking back.

"Creak—"

As the folding bridge slowly retracted, the heavy hatch closed completely.

The thrusters at the bottom of the Cloud Top Fortress erupted with a low roar once more, and the massive ship body made a nimble, climbing turn in mid-air, departing the area.

That batch of "new tenants," carrying the scent of the wasteland soil, was also steadily delivered to the underground ecological zone.

Muzi directed a dozen robots to place the heavy Gale Horned Bulls and Rock-Wool Spirit Sheep into the pre-set simulated environments one by one.

The once-empty grassland instantly echoed with the lowing and bleating of the animals, filled with the breath of life.

"Boss, data entry complete! These guys have excellent foundations!"

Muzi tapped a few times on the void panel, projecting the detailed attributes of this batch of exotic beasts in front of Zhou An.

[Rare-grade Gale Horned Bull]

Quantity: 20 heads, 18 female, 2 male

Status: Excellent

Output: [Wind Spirit Raw Milk] Contains trace amounts of wind elements; long-term consumption can slightly improve agility and neural reflex speed.

Description: Possesses basic reproductive capabilities, but the current 2 bulls are only standard Rare-grade and are unlikely to sire higher-tier offspring.

[Rare-grade Rock-Wool Spirit Sheep]

Quantity: 20 (18 female / 2 male)

Output: [High-Toughness Rock-Wool], [Spirit Sheep Meat]

Description: The ewes have moderate milk production; their main value lies in their wool and meat quality.

[Elite-grade Explosive Flame Chicken, Water Jade Duck]

Quantity: 100 each

Output: [High-Calorie Red Egg], [Gentle Water Spirit Egg]

Description: Extremely short breeding cycle; an excellent source of basic protein.

"There are only four males, and their bloodlines are all quite ordinary."

Zhou An glanced at the panel and rubbed his chin.

"That's what Xingyue and Ningning are for!"

"Their skills are enough to optimize the bloodlines of these animals."

"Alright, leave professional matters to the professionals."

Zhou An waved his hand, acting like a hands-off manager.

"Supplies are plentiful; you all discuss how to handle it. As long as everyone can eat meat at every meal, that's fine."

With that, Zhou An strolled leisurely back to the living area on the second floor.

...

Pushing open the bedroom door, Zhou An was just about to change clothes to go work out.

But immediately after, a figure flashed in.

With a "click," the bedroom door was lightly closed and even locked.

Zhou An turned back to look and saw Luo Ning leaning against the door panel with her hands behind her back.

She was wearing a form-fitting light purple silk camisole nightdress, her slightly curly short hair still a bit messy.

"Finished inspecting the goods?"

Luo Ning walked over with light steps, circled Zhou An, stopped in front of him, and gently traced her delicate fingers across his chest.

"Finished. The goods were good."

Zhou An answered honestly.

"Oh—the goods were good."

Luo Ning elongated her tone, suddenly stood on tiptoe, leaned into Zhou An's ear, and breathed like an orchid.

"Was the merchandise good-looking, or was that 'cat-girl' better looking? I heard that girls of the cat-kin tribe have very slim waists, and their tails can even wrap around a man's neck... Is that right, Captain Zhou?"

Zhou An couldn't help but laugh, taking the opportunity to wrap his arms around her slender waist: "Where did you hear all this nonsense? She is a legitimate leader of the Orc Race; I just went to buy some cattle."

"Did you buy cattle until your eyes changed?"

Luo Ning snorted softly, her slender hands restlessly slipping into Zhou An's shirt, drawing circles on his firm chest with a kind of spoiled, overbearing manner. "I don't care. You watched that cat-girl outside for an hour; you have to compensate me when you get back."

"Now?" Zhou An glanced at the bright morning light outside the window, hesitating slightly. "It's morning, and Old Zhang and the others are still busy down below..."

"So what if it's morning?"

Luo Ning raised an eyebrow, her eyes becoming hot and provocative. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Zhou An's neck, winding herself around him like a vine, her voice becoming husky and alluring. "This fortress is yours, and you make the rules, but you are mine. When I say now, I mean now."

Before she even finished speaking, she had already taken the initiative to kiss him.

The fire in Zhou An's eyes was instantly ignited by this dry wood and raging fire. He let out a low growl, picked the girl up in his arms, and strode toward the large, wide bed.

"You asked for this, Chief Luo."

"Less talk... mm..."