76: Chapter 76 Su Mei

"A ranch is a good idea, but these creatures have to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, so someone needs to look after them full-time."

Zhou An touched his chin and pondered for a while, then turned and went to the plantation to find Li Muzi.

"Muzi, if we set aside a section of this 5,000 square meter area for a small ranch to raise some cattle, sheep, chickens, and ducks, could you handle looking after them?"

Zhou An pointed to the large area of empty Spirit Soil in the distance.

Li Muzi was loosening the soil. Upon hearing this, she looked up, patted her chest, and promised, "No problem, Boss! The plant area is basically taken care of by automatic harvesting drones, so I'm usually quite free. As long as we set up some isolation fences, along with automatic feeding and cleaning equipment, simple care is totally manageable. Plus, animal manure can be processed to increase the fertility of the Spirit Soil; it's a perfect ecological cycle!"

"Alright, with your word, I'm reassured. Leave the live livestock to me."

Zhou An acted decisively and immediately opened the regional Trading House.

After entering keywords like "fresh meat" and "live" into the search bar, the prices that popped up made even billionaire Zhou An's eyelids twitch.

"Good grief, green-quality raw beef, selling for 50 units of Tier 3 materials per jin?!"

Zhou An exclaimed that he was an expert. One had to know that Old Zhang's [Epic-grade Special Combat Canned Food] with strong buffs only sold for 10 units of Tier 3 materials per serving!

During this long thunderstorm season, when one couldn't go out hunting, fresh meat had become a hard currency even more luxurious than materials.

Zhou An scanned the sales rankings and found that the store that monopolized the fresh meat market and had the highest sales bore the sign of one of the six major guilds—[Hongyan Pavilion].

He clicked on the store and initiated a private chat.

[Hongyan Pavilion Fresh Meat Specialty Customer Service 047]: "Dear~ Welcome to the Hongyan Pavilion official store. All meat is guaranteed to be slaughtered within two hours, absolutely fresh. What kind of fresh meat do you need? There are discounts for bulk orders~"

"..."

Zhou An looked at this standard customer service response and couldn't help but complain.

"This game has only been open for a few months, and they've already got dedicated customer service and scripts. The commercial development of these big guilds is just absurd."

[Zhou An]: "I'm not buying dead meat. Just asking, do you sell live ones? The kind with reproductive capabilities. I want to buy a few cows and bulls, and some live chickens and ducks if possible."

The other side was silent for about a minute, then replied, still polite, but with a firm, non-negotiable tone.

[Hongyan Pavilion Fresh Meat Specialty Customer Service 047]: "Sorry dear~ We have strict guild regulations. Any live livestock or poultry with reproductive capabilities are core strategic assets and are never sold privately. We only guarantee that every piece of meat sold is freshly slaughtered~"

Zhou An frowned and, unwilling to give up, asked several other top-selling merchant guilds. The result was the same without exception: they only sold meat, not breeding stock!

"Monopolizing the means of production, these capitalists really know how to play."

Zhou An helplessly closed the customer service chat box. These big guilds clearly treated live livestock as a cash cow; no one was stupid enough to sell the goose that lays the golden eggs to others, otherwise how would they continue to monopolize the market?

Just as Zhou An was at his wit's end, wondering whether to wait until the rainy season ended to go catch some in the wild himself, his private communication channel suddenly "dinged."

[Hongyan Pavilion Vice President Su Mei requests to add you as a friend.]

[Note]: "Mr. Zhou, interested in live cattle? We can talk."

Zhou An raised an eyebrow and clicked accept.

[Zhou An]: "Vice President of Hongyan Pavilion? Aren't you a female-only guild that claims to only recruit women? Why are you chatting with a guy like me?"

[Su Mei]: "Rules are dead, but people are alive. For a true genius, Hongyan Pavilion can make an exception. Team Leader Zhou, any interest in joining us?"

...

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ten-thousand-meter high altitude.

Inside the giant pink-painted warship of [Hongyan Pavilion], in a luxurious aromatherapy bathroom, steam curled.

Vice President Su Mei was lazily soaking in a constant-temperature bath filled with high-grade flower petals.

She possessed an extremely proud figure, with a pair of fair, slender legs resting wantonly on the edge of the white jade-carved bathtub, water droplets sliding down her perfect skin.

A precision waterproof medical robot was extending soft mechanical tentacles, kneading her shoulders with moderate force.

Su Mei looked at the chat interface on the holographic projection, her fiery red lips curving into a charming arc.

"I didn't believe it when customer service reported the news; Zhou An actually needs live cattle."

Su Mei chuckled and picked up the red wine next to her, swirling it.

This also gave her an opportunity to communicate.

She understood men too well.

No man could refuse the word "special exception."

Especially a guild like Hongyan Pavilion, which had tens of thousands of carefully selected female players and publicly claimed to never recruit men.

Now, she, a dignified Vice President, had personally stepped down to grant him the privilege of being the "only green among the flowers." This immense psychological satisfaction and vanity were enough to break down most men's psychological defenses.

She valued Zhou An's potential; he could now be considered the strongest solo player, and in terms of pure strength, he was even stronger than some guild leaders.

[Su Mei]: "Team Leader Zhou, I know you have plenty of good things. If you join Hongyan Pavilion, you can be named an 'Invited Honorary Elder.' You'd be the only male among tens of thousands of sisters. As for the live livestock you want, our ranch will be fully open to you; you can take as many cows as you want. No mandatory tasks, resources fully tilted towards you, how about it?"

After sending this message, Su Mei closed her eyes comfortably, enjoying the robot's massage, waiting for the other party's flattered reply.

However, ten seconds later, Zhou An's reply popped up.

[Zhou An]: "Sounds tempting. The only male, tens of thousands of sisters... Tsk, but never mind, thanks for the kind offer, Vice President Su."

Su Mei opened her eyes abruptly. Because the movement was too sudden, the robot next to her almost pressed off-center.

She looked at the words "never mind" on the screen, her face filled with disbelief.

[Su Mei]: "You're refusing? Team Leader Zhou, you might not have understood what I meant. In this dangerous sky, you should know how hard it is to drift alone. Join us, and wealth, status, and even... any companionship you want, Hongyan Pavilion can satisfy you. Why refuse?"

[Zhou An]: "The reason is simple. First, I have a bad back and can't handle the affection of tens of thousands of sisters; second, as the saying goes, three women make a drama, and with your tens of thousands... I'm afraid I wouldn't even know how I died if I went there."

[Zhou An]: "Special status sounds nice, but it's actually just being roasted on a fire. I prefer the peace of my own little patch of land. Even if we don't do business, we can still be on good terms. If you ever change your mind and decide to sell cows, just ping me, the price is negotiable. See you."

"Beep—"

Watching the other party decisively cut off the communication and the avatar gray out, Su Mei froze in the bathtub, her chest rising and falling slightly.

"This man... is he completely immune to everything?"

Su Mei bit her red lips, a flash of unwillingness in her eyes, but also a deeper interest in this man named Zhou An.

"Interesting, no wonder even that arrogant City Lord Zhao Tianyu couldn't pull him into Sky Engine... Let's see."

Zhou An closed the chat box and stretched lazily, not caring at all.

"Trying to trick me with a few cows? Do you think I'm a three-year-old?"