74: Chapter 74 Zhao Tianyu

The perspective shifts to the other side, ten thousand meters above the ground.

This is the interior of the super battleship belonging to the number one guild in District 997, Sky Engine—the Shenguo Ship.

Unlike the raging storm outside, this spacious and luxurious president's office was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop; the air was even filled with the faint scent of high-grade calming incense.

City Lord Zhao Tianyu leaned back in a wide, handcrafted exotic beast leather chair, his legs crossed.

He possessed a physique that could be called perfect.

His features were deep and three-dimensional like a marble sculpture, and every muscle ripple was just right, without a single flaw.

Moreover, he exuded an aura of a superior that made one want to worship him at all times.

At this moment, his slender, fair fingers were toying with a square object.

It was a cube crystal no more than ten centimeters on each side, inside which seemed to be encapsulated a small patch of the vast universe; the five primordial colors of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth circulated and intertwined within it in an extremely profound trajectory, emitting a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation.

This was the priceless treasure that would make any top survivor go crazy at this stage—the five-source power core.

"President."

A tall female assistant standing behind the desk finally couldn't help but break the silence.

She was wearing a well-tailored dark black slim-fit uniform, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and her eyes were sharp and capable.

She was not only City Lord Zhao Tianyu's personal assistant but also the intelligence chief of Sky Engine—Shadow.

"Is it really worth paying such a huge price to recruit a lone wolf team of only five people?"

Shadow pushed up her glasses, looking at the core with five-colored light in City Lord Zhao Tianyu's hand, her tone filled with a hint of confusion.

"That is the five-source power core... How many elites did our guild lose to barely obtain these two? Now, more than a dozen department heads below are green with envy, and even the two vice presidents are competing in private, wanting to fight for the ownership of this core. Are you just going to give it away to an outsider so lightly?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu stopped toying with the core and threw the five-source power core casually onto the desktop, making a crisp clanging sound.

"Shadow, your vision is still too limited."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu picked up the goblet on the table, took a sip of the scarlet wine, and a flash of brilliance flickered in his deep eyes: "More than a dozen department heads? Two vice presidents? Even if they add up, they don't compare to one Zhou An."

"Zhou An's foundation is too terrifying, and his value is immeasurable. A person who can pull out epic-grade assembly line food at this stage and swallow 1.2 billion low-level supplies in one bite—how many trump cards do you think he still has hidden in his hands?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu shook his head, his tone rarely tinged with a hint of regret.

"Being able to tie him to Sky Engine's chariot with one core is definitely a profitable deal. It's a pity; this kid is slipperier than a loach, and his guard is too high."

Shadow nodded thoughtfully. Since the president had said so, she stopped dwelling on the matter and changed the subject, starting to report on work.

"President, the recent movements of the other Five Great Guilds have been verified."

Shadow pulled up a holographic projection panel, which listed the logos of the other five hegemon-level forces:

[Shenyu] has been shrinking its defensive line internally; President Shenzi claims to be in seclusion researching some ancient relic, and all guild members are in silence.

[Blood Blade] Scarface took the main force to the airspace below ten thousand meters; it is said that they encountered some great terror, suffered extremely heavy losses, and after the remnants escaped back, they completely sealed the news and closed the base gates tightly.

The women of [Hongyan Pavilion] have been very obedient recently, all using the rainy season to crazily plant low-grade medicinal herbs of water and yin attributes, busy doing domestic demand business.

[Four Seas Chamber of Commerce] is the same as usual, profit-seeking, taking advantage of the rainy season to raise prices on various supplies, and is crazily reselling waterproofing and heating equipment on the channel.

[Lone Wolves Alliance] is a loose sand; because of the thunderstorm weather, they cannot go out to scavenge in large numbers, and now they are arguing endlessly internally over the issue of material distribution.

"In summary,"

"After this rainy season arrived, The Five Great Guilds have all acted very 'normal', each sweeping the snow in front of their own doors, without any unusual moves to unite or target our Sky Engine."

"Normal?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu sneered, the arc of his mouth carrying undisguised mockery. He stood up, walked to the panoramic porthole, and looked at the rolling thunderclouds outside.

"In this man-eating firmament, the more normal it seems, the more it means there is a ghost underneath. Do you really think everyone is honestly hiding from the rain?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu turned around and casually pulled a thin electronic list from the desk drawer, throwing it into Shadow's arms.

City Lord Zhao Tianyu's voice turned cold: "These forty-seven people on the list are all people mixed into our Sky Engine's middle management by other guilds."

Shadow looked down at the list, and her pupils shrank slightly. These people were distributed in Sky Engine's logistics, armed, and even research departments, and some had even sat in the position of squad leader.

"Go, clean up all these people. Do it cleanly; don't leave a whole corpse."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu sat back in his chair, his eyes cold.

"Understood!"

Shadow immediately stood up straight, accepted the order, and prepared to leave the office.

"Wait." City Lord Zhao Tianyu stopped her, tapping his fingers on the table, and said word by word.

"After cleaning up, send a private message to the other presidents for me, one by one."

"Tell them —"

"If you stuff so many people into my Sky Engine again, next time, it won't be as simple as just cleaning up these few mice. If they think the rainy season is too idle, I don't mind driving the Shenguo Ship to their front doors and helping them 'listen to the sound of rain'."

...

The thunderstorm and torrential rain outside the window seemed endless, and under the gray sky, the concept of time was infinitely elongated.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed in the long rainy season.

There were only thirty days left until the next large-scale settlement notified by the system.

Zhou An sat in the captain's room, looking at the ink-like rolling thunderclouds outside the window, his brows slightly furrowed.

"No matter how much I hoard, in terms of foundation and number of people, I probably still can't compare to those presidents of The Five Great Guilds."

Zhou An muttered to himself. City Lord Zhao Tianyu's generosity in casually taking out two five-source power cores, as well as the "Divine Gift" that was the only one in the whole area on the other party, was like a thorn stuck in his heart, occasionally plucking at his nerves.

What kind of heaven-defying thing was that? How could it allow a person to establish such a terrifying absolute dominance in a cruel doomsday game?

However, Zhou An's harvest this month was also terrifying.

He had completely delivered the "processing order" for 1.2 billion low-level materials. In the boring synthesis process, Zhou An also took the opportunity to fuse his original stock of 180 million level-three materials in pairs, refining them into 90 million level-four materials.

Added with the processing fees earned wildly from that transaction with City Lord Zhao Tianyu, Zhou An's personal warehouse now contained 164 million level-four materials!

Even more perverted, in order to maximize the capitalist spirit of exploitation, Zhou An deliberately kept his SAN value on the edge of a slightly sub-healthy red line all year round, thereby triggering the passive bonus of [Last Stand]. In this state, the original 1% [Compound Interest] automatic interest generation per day was forcibly raised to 1.8%!

Without doing anything every day, when he woke up, there would be nearly 2.95 million units of level-four materials out of thin air in the warehouse.

Besides interest, the first-floor assembly line had also become a real money printer.

The [Blood Crystal Rampage Special Combat Canned Food] and [wind spirit spirit-stabilizing special drink] developed by Zhang Ming, once launched on the trading channel, instantly ignited the entire market of District 997.

Under the crazy sweeping of several large chambers of commerce like the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, the food Zhou An priced at 10 units of level-three materials per portion was being cleared of inventory rapidly every day.

Even after deducting packaging and transportation costs, there was a stable net profit of 500,000 level-three materials every day.

"Material things, the further you go, the more they are just a string of numbers."

Zhou An stretched, closed the asset panel full of zeros, and pushed the door toward the living area on the second floor.

In the public living room on the second floor, the constant temperature system kept the temperature at a comfortable 24 degrees.

Luo Ning was curled up on the soft leather sofa, her legs crossed, holding a virtual tablet in her hand.

She was dressed very coolly today; the upper body was a loose pure white ice silk camisole, revealing exquisite collarbones, and the lower body was a pair of black home hot pants that barely covered the roots of her thighs.

A pair of fair and straight long legs were casually resting on the edge of the coffee table, and her feet were swinging back and forth.

Zhou An walked down the stairs, his footsteps paused slightly, and his gaze fell on Luo Ning.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but he suddenly felt that Luo Ning seemed to have undergone some kind of change over the past month. The crazy girl who was chattering and jumping around all day, when she lowered her eyes quietly, actually had an unspeakable maturity and depth between her brows.

But besides that, there was also a "strange feeling" that made Zhou An instinctively feel a little uncomfortable.

Seeming to notice Zhou An's gaze, the skin on the back of Luo Ning's neck, covered by the collar, twitched slightly.

The next second, she raised her head.

The depth in her eyes disappeared instantly, replaced by her usual quirkiness and playfulness.

"Boss, you have been staring at me at the top of the stairs for a full minute."

Luo Ning put down the tablet, the corners of her mouth hooked into a mischievous smile.

She not only didn't avoid suspicion, but instead deliberately pulled down the loose neckline, raised her eyebrows, and teased: "What? The long rainy season is too lonely, and you've taken a fancy to me? Want to sexually harass your chief female employee?"

The muscles at the corner of Zhou An's eyes twitched violently, and the inexplicable strange feeling in his heart was instantly washed away by this girl's hooligan quotes.

"What kind of messy waste do you have in your head all day long."

Zhou An walked over speechlessly and sat down on the single sofa opposite.

"How can this be called waste?"

Luo Ning blinked her big eyes, deliberately making a pitiful appearance, and dragged her tone long.

"Your eyes just now, calling it perverted is an understatement. But... who let this be on the boss's ship? It's windy and rainy outside, and I have nowhere to run."

She spread her hands and sighed: "If you, Boss, really intend to force it, what can a weak woman like me do? I can only honestly submit~"

Looking at her pretentious expression of "hurry up and sexually harass me", Zhou An's head was full of black lines.

He backhanded and took out a purple wind spirit berry just picked from the plantation from the system space, and while Luo Ning was still chattering, he accurately stuffed it into her small mouth.

"Mmph—!"

Luo Ning was choked until she rolled her eyes, covering her mouth with both hands and mumbling.

"Eat your berry! This still can't block your mouth."

Zhou An glared at her angrily.

"If you talk nonsense with me again, I will deduct all your research funding!"