49: Chapter 49 Liu Biao

Li Muzi brought Zhang Ming and his wife to the guest room in the first-floor living area.

"This will be your bedroom from now on."

Li Muzi pushed open the door and pointed to the fully furnished interior.

"There are clean clothes in the wardrobe, they should fit well enough. The private bathroom has 24-hour hot water, and all the toiletries are brand new. You should go take a shower and change into some comfortable clothes."

Looking at the soft bed and bright lights, Lin Qing's tightly wound nerves finally relaxed. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore and sobbed, covering her mouth.

Zhang Ming's eyes also turned red, his voice trembling: "Supervisor Li, thank you... thank you all so much. If it weren't for you..."

"Don't call me Supervisor, just call me Muzi." Li Muzi smiled gently, stepped forward, and patted Lin Qing on the shoulder. "Rest easy here. Although the boss seems cold and acts with lightning speed, he is actually a very good person. You two get some rest; I'll go prepare the ingredients for dinner and hand them over to you."

Meanwhile, in the master bedroom lounge on the second floor.

Zhou An called Luo Ning over privately. As soon as the door closed, he got straight to the point.

"I've been carefully calculating things lately."

A look of crazy ruthlessness shone in Zhou An's eyes. "The returns from [Last Stand] are too high. I plan to use your unknown biological tentacle storage device to keep my SAN value stuck at around 20 points long-term. This way, I can maintain my sanity without completely collapsing, while gaining a full 80% bonus to all attributes and the Hextech boost!"

Hearing this suicidal plan, Luo Ning wasn't afraid at all; instead, she excitedly snapped her fingers. "As expected of the boss, when it comes to courting death, you're even more of an expert than I am!"

She pulled three syringes emitting a ghostly blue glow from the pocket of her lab coat and slapped them into Zhou An's hand.

"These are purified [High-Potency Anti-Mutation Inhibitors]. Stuck at 20 SAN points, your mind will be very fragile, and you could sprout tentacles on the spot from the slightest external stimulus. Keep these three injections with you, and if you feel like you can't suppress it, give yourself a shot."

At this point, Luo Ning's large eyes rolled cunningly, and she suddenly said with complete justification: "However, to prevent you from suddenly mutating in some blind spot of this massive fortress and eating all of us, I've decided that starting today—I will monitor you 24/7."

Zhou An was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean?"

"It means this beautiful girl is moving into your master bedroom!" Luo Ning spread her hands naturally, her train of thought jumping around so quickly that it was impossible to pin down. "Your captain's lounge is huge anyway, hurry up and add a bed for me. I'm warning you, I'm going there to monitor a monster, so don't get any inappropriate ideas!"

Watching Luo Ning's tsundere yet matter-of-fact demeanor, Zhou An rubbed his temples, speechless. Although this girl's thought process was not like ordinary people, being stuck at 20 SAN points was indeed dangerous, and having Luo Ning keep an eye on him could be considered a safeguard.

"Fine." Zhou An pulled up the internal construction module of the EVA and forcefully partitioned off a small single bed in the corner of the spacious master bedroom by the window for her.

A few hours later, an incredible, strange fragrance wafted from the first-floor living area.

When the three of them arrived at the dining room, the long dining table was already filled with a lavish dinner. Although it only consisted of staple food made from [blood crystal spirit wheat], some low-tier mutant beast meat, and ordinary vegetables, under the masterful skills of Zhang Ming and his talent, every dish emitted an alluring glow!

[Consumption Effect: Stamina recovery speed increased by 130%! Strength and neural reaction speed temporarily increased by 15%! Lasts for 12 hours!]

"My god, this... Boss, we really struck gold!" Li Muzi took a deep breath, feeling the exhaustion of the past few days swept away.

"Everyone sit down and eat together!" Zhou An pulled out a chair generously.

Zhang Ming and Lin Qing had changed into clean clothes and were in much better spirits, but they still felt a bit awkward standing by the table. With repeated invitations from Luo Ning and Muzi, the two finally sat down at the table, moved.

The five of them sat around in the warm fortress, eating this unique, luxurious feast. Zhang Ming's culinary skills were truly impressive; even the tough mutant beast meat was processed by him until it melted in the mouth. Combined with the spiritual energy of the blood crystal spirit wheat, Luo Ning ate until her mouth was oily, exclaiming, "This is so satisfying!"

Just as everyone was happily tucking in, Li Muzi, sitting opposite Zhou An, pushed up her glasses and keenly sensed something was wrong.

Although Zhou An was eating and picking up food normally, his movements appeared aggressive; the force with which his chopsticks poked the plate was terrifying, as if he wanted to shatter it. Even more unsettling was that his eyes were covered with a layer of obscure bloodshot veins, a flash of neurotic violence occasionally crossing the bottom of his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

"Boss..." Li Muzi put down her chopsticks with some concern and asked in a low voice. "Are you okay? You look... like you're very agitated, and your eyes are very red."

Zhou An picked up a piece of meat, stuffed it fiercely into his mouth, and chewed vigorously, then pulled a smile that revealed a touch of madness at Li Muzi. "I'm fine, I'm doing great." Zhou An waved his hand. "Maybe it's because I've been overtraining lately, my muscles are a bit agitated. The food is really good, don't mind me, everyone eat more!"

The lavish dinner ended, and just as Zhang Ming was about to get up to clear the bowls and chopsticks, his system panel suddenly flashed wildly, emitting a harsh warning sound.

Zhang Ming opened it to take a look, his face instantly turning pale, and the bowls and chopsticks in his hand dropped onto the table with a "clatter."

"What's wrong?" Seeing this, Lin Qing hurriedly leaned over to take a look, immediately covering her mouth in fright. "This... what are we going to do..."

[Black Iron Guild Personnel Supervisor]: "Zhang Ming! You son of a bitch, you really dared to run! I'm giving you one day to crawl back, or pay up 5000 units of tier-3 materials immediately as a resignation fee! Otherwise, I'll stuff your piece-of-shit plane into the assembly line and grind it into scrap metal right now! I'll make sure you never level up in this lifetime!"

"Boss..." Zhang Ming looked up in a panic, his face full of confusion. "That initial vehicle is my only hope for upgrading my talent. If it's destroyed, my life is over. But 5000 units of tier-3 materials, I can't produce that at all..."

Zhou An sat in his chair, his eyes gleaming with dangerous bloodshot veins. Stuck at 20 SAN points, he was currently in a volatile and aggressive state.

He didn't speak, just reached out and pulled over Zhang Ming's virtual panel, his fingers pounding heavily on the keyboard.

[Zhang Ming (Sent on behalf)]: "I am Zhou An. Tell your manager that they had better clean that plane inside and out for me. Within two days, I will come to collect it myself. If even one screw is missing, you can wash your necks and wait for me."

Less than ten seconds after this message was sent, a glaring red warning popped up in the reply box, clearly having alerted the top brass of the Black Iron Guild.

[Black Iron Guild Leader]: "Zhou An? The solo player who is sixth in the whole region? Heh, I've heard of you. But don't think that just because you have the title of sixth, you can scare people! We, Black Iron, are at least a guild of hundreds of people. You, alone, really think you're a god? Cut the crap, if you're smart, pay the ransom, otherwise, I'm tearing this piece-of-shit plane apart today!"

Looking at the Guild Leader's reply on the screen, the veins on his neck bulged slightly, and his fingers struck the keys again.

[Zhou An]: "Either obediently keep the ship well-maintained and wait for me to collect it. Or, I will blow up your main ship along with your head. That is all."

After forcibly cutting off communication, Zhou An turned to look at Zhang Ming. Those bloodshot eyes were chilling: "Zhang Ming, your initial vehicle has a system bond with you. Can you pinpoint its location now?"

Zhang Ming shuddered at Zhou An's gaze and hurriedly nodded: "Yes! I'll try!"

He closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, then marked a clear red dot on the regional map.

"Boss, I've located it! Their current course has deviated, and due to the influence of the polar night storm, their speed has dropped to around 200 kilometers per hour. They are about 1,100 li away from us!"

"1,100 li..." Zhou An twisted his neck. "Telling him two days just now was just notifying him to prepare his coffin. I'm very angry right now, and I don't want to wait even a minute longer!"

"Luo Ning! Get ready to depart!"

"Alright!"

"Boss, should we bring some heavy weapons?" Luo Ning turned and asked.

"No need, one A70 is enough." Zhou An said.

The two didn't waste any more words and turned to stride towards the hangar on the top floor. The engines of the A70 Ghost Fighter roared again in the polar night, turning into a pitch-black bolt of lightning that tore through the night sky and headed towards the coordinates of the Black Iron Guild.

Meanwhile, 1,100 li away, on the Black Iron Guild's main ship.

In the captain's room, which reeked of heavy machine oil, there was a dull "thud" as the Guild Leader angrily smashed an empty wine bottle onto the head of the personnel supervisor, leaving shards of glass scattered all over the floor.

"Useless! What's the use of me keeping you all? You couldn't even watch a cook who holds a spoon! What the hell are you good for?!"

The Guild Leader pointed at the blood-covered supervisor and cursed, "In this heavy snow, the two of them didn't even have a ship, how the hell did they run away?!"

The supervisor covered his bleeding head and said tremblingly: "Gu... Guild Leader, it's really not the brothers' fault! Those two lunatics, they... they jumped directly from the ten-thousand-meter-high garbage disposal chute! It's full of gale winds down there, who could have imagined they'd rather fall to their deaths than keep working!"

"Damn it!" The Guild Leader kicked over the chair in front of him irritably.

"Lately, these people at the bottom have become increasingly stubborn, always acting like they want to die!"

The supervisor swallowed, leaned in cautiously, and reported: "Guild Leader, there is another trouble now. Recently, because of the polar night, we stopped all the fuel for the lower cabins, and we still make them work at high intensity every day. The people below are getting hard to suppress; in several cabins, people are secretly colluding, complaining that this is sending them to their deaths. If this continues, I'm afraid they're going to rebel..."

"Rebel?" The Guild Leader sneered and walked to the window.

"Just with that bunch of trash whose weapons have all been confiscated?"

"But there's strength in numbers, what if they start a riot..."

"Go, call up all our heavily armed confidants, and keep a close watch on the important cabins!" The Guild Leader interrupted him and said viciously. "Make it clear to the brothers, don't hold back. Anyone who dares to cause trouble, execute them on the spot!"

"Turn the machine power to the maximum these few days. As long as we squeeze out the last batch of supplies and gather enough to exchange for the LV4 advanced materials, we can directly wipe out this dead weight!"

The Guild Leader thought about it and became more and more excited. He turned to the supervisor and said: "As long as my ship is upgraded to LV4 Apocalypse-class, then I will take our core team and go directly to join Sky Engine or God's Domain! With the foundation of an LV4 warship, we can at least get a position as an executive with real power in The Five Great Guilds! We will finally have made it!"

"Guild Leader is wise! Following the Guild Leader really pays off!"

The supervisor hurriedly flattered him, but then rubbed his hands with some concern.

"Then... Guild Leader, how should we handle the harsh words sent by that Zhou An? The brothers just checked the rankings; that kid is, after all, sixth in the whole region, not someone to be trifled with."

"To hell with that!" The Guild Leader spat and slammed the table hard.

"No matter how good one person is at fighting, are they made of iron? Can they withstand the artillery on our main ship? Go, take that piece-of-shit plane of Zhang Ming's and chain it to the most conspicuous place on the deck!"

"You mean..."

"I'm going to use this piece-of-shit plane as bait! Get all the anti-aircraft guns preheated and aimed at it! I want to see if this so-called Zhou An really has three heads and six arms, daring to charge my fleet!"