348: Petting the fox in progress

He paused, then explained, "Because the core singularity furnace of this sword requires some extremely rare spirit ores, such as Ethereal Stones, Moon Soul Crystals, and Green Mist Stones..."

Shang Wan Ning's fingers gently caressed the lingering warmth on the hilt, seemingly deep in thought.

After a while, she said slowly, "Let's equip Niu Mengmeng's personal guard unit first. Start with one hundred swords."

The Institute Director's soul body shuddered, nearly jumping up from where he stood. He hurriedly shouted, "Your Majesty, the current inventory of spirit ore is only enough to forge fifty such light swords!"

Shang Wan Ning pressed her palm against her chest.

[Thirty-five billion incense offerings to build a pagoda, 1.2 billion incense offerings to forge one light sword...]

These numbers felt like the spikes of a Bone-Corroding Vine, pricking at her heart with sharp, throbbing pain.

Shang Maomao's miserly instincts were fully triggered.

"The Demon tribes only just paid their tributes a few days ago." She squeezed these words through her teeth, every syllable reeking of the stench of money from incense offerings. "The warehouse is piled high with top-grade spirit ores. Institute Director, take your people and go get them!"

The Institute Director's shriveled soul body stiffened, and the ghostly fire in his eye sockets flared up several inches.

Her Majesty's private treasury???

This notoriously "skin-flaying" miser had actually relented?

He forgot even to bow. With a wave of his withered claws, several ghosts, who had been top material scientists in their previous lives, crowded around him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Subordinate will take his leave." The Institute Director's ghostly voice cracked from the shout.

Leading a group of researchers in white lab coats, they rushed out of the core area gates, carried by a gust of cold, ghostly wind. The way they moved, it looked as if they feared Shang Wan Ning would change her mind and lock the private treasury if they were even a second too slow.

In the corridor, the cold wind and the silhouettes of the white lab coats gradually faded away. Shang Wan Ning stared at the empty doorway, then tilted her head and asked Ling Qi, "Am I stingy?"

Ling Qi adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, the lenses blocking A Ning's probing gaze. "Your Majesty is far-sighted; resources should always be used where they are most needed."

"Exactly!"

Shang Wan Ning straightened her back, and the dark phoenix patterns on her phoenix robe seemed to perk up a bit.

"In all the world, what other emperor would be willing to open their private treasury to subsidize military equipment? I am the only one. This is what I call a strategic investment."

The more she talked, the more reasonable it sounded. She raised her hand and tore open the space in front of her.

Shang Wan Ning stepped inside, with Ling Qi following closely behind.

The rift closed quickly, and the core area of the Research Institute returned to silence. Only the pulsating light of the nine nether annihilation pagoda remained, reflecting off the ice shards of black steel scattered on the ground.

In the inner hall of the Jiaotai Palace, the spatial ripples gently swayed. Shang Wan Ning stepped out from the rift, and the imperial aura she had maintained at the Research Institute instantly collapsed.

She reached back and grabbed Ling Qi's wrist with such force that the Secretary-General's gold-rimmed glasses slid down to the bridge of her nose.

"AQi!"

Shang Wan Ning dragged her onto the wide phoenix couch, her black phoenix robe spreading out across the cushions. "I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding so much."

She pressed her entire body into Ling Qi's embrace, resting her forehead against the Secretary-General's delicate collarbone, her voice muffled as she spoke. "The Institute Director, that old ghostly fox, must have swiped all of my bottom-of-the-box Moon Soul Crystals and Green Mist Stones!!!"

Ling Qi's back sank into the soft brocade bedding, and against the side of her neck was the warm, rapid breathing of her beloved, carrying the lingering scent of aloeswood.

She tried to pull her arm away, but it wouldn't budge. A Ning's peak eighth-tier cultivation was currently being used entirely to clamp down on her, a sixth-tier Six-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Your Majesty, the spirit ores offered by the Demon tribes are rightfully the assets of the Underworld..."

"They are mine. If they are in my private treasury, they are mine." Shang Wan Ning suddenly looked up, her phoenix eyes wide, clearly spelling out the word "miser."

There was not a shred of the bearing of the supreme ruler of the Underworld left. She even unconsciously rubbed her nose against the delicate skin of Ling Qi's neck, like a proud cat seeking comfort after getting its fur ruffled. "I don't care, you have to compensate me."

Ling Qi was silent for two seconds, her spiritual sense passing over A Ning's slightly puffed-up cheeks.

The Secretary-General gave up struggling and concentrated a wisp of light on her index finger, tapping it on Shang Wan Ning's forehead. "Your Majesty, take a deep breath."

"The incense offering assembly line hasn't stopped, the Demon tribute channel is stable, and the Abyss Church on the Ativi Continent has also started to recover."

"That's different!" Shang Wan Ning interrupted her, her logic skewed but righteous.

"The incense on the assembly line is public funds; the spirit ores in my private treasury are my little nest egg."

"Do you understand what a nest egg is? It's for my wife." Her fingers began to fidget, tugging at the lapels of Ling Qi's impeccable uniform.

"I feel empty inside, AQi. Turn back into your original form and let me pet you."

Ling Qi's body instantly tensed.

Her original form?

In the Jiaotai Palace bedchamber, with all six tails out?

The Secretary-General's professional mask cracked slightly. "A Ning, stop messing around. I still need to organize the details of the tributes from the various Demon tribes."

"Look at the details tomorrow." Shang Wan Ning was firm, her fingers already sliding down the collar of the uniform. With an irresistible force, she pinched the sensitive, ticklish spot on the back of Ling Qi's neck. "Transform!"

A faint ripple of demonic energy dissipated. A flash of white light passed, and the cold, elegant Secretary-General pressed in Shang Wan Ning's arms vanished, replaced by a sleek-bodied Six-Tailed Demon Fox.

Six fluffy fox tails almost submerged half of the phoenix couch.

The gold-rimmed glasses eerily hovered where the fox's head used to be, and the narrow, upturned fox eyes behind the lenses were now filled with utter despair.

(( 유 ∀ 유 ||| )

[When will this cycle of vengeance end? It's not that retribution won't come, it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet.]

Ling Qi regretted it; when she used to suppress Her Majesty's spiritual energy, she should have been less harsh.

"Darling, this is much better!" The pain in Shang Wan Ning's eyes, caused by her miserliness, was replaced by wicked delight.

She grabbed the fox tail closest to her hand and buried her entire face into the thick, soft fur, taking a satisfied, deep breath.

"Wuwu, sniffing a fox, it smells so good."

"The fur on AQi is much more comfortable to touch than Moon Soul Crystals." She mumbled vaguely, her fingers sinking into the thick, fluffy roots of the fur, stroking all the way down the spine.

The white fox's body stiffened, and a very low whimper escaped its throat. Shang Wan Ning was stroking with great enthusiasm, her gaze landing on the paw pads the fox had tucked against its side.

The soft, pink pads were hidden among the snow-white fur, appearing and disappearing. The Empress, who had just been obsessed with money, had now completely transformed into a fox-stroking maniac, reaching out with her free left hand to pinch a front paw.

Her fingertips parted the fox's toes, revealing the even softer and pinker center of the pad.

"Hehe, right here!" Shang Wan Ning's eyes lit up, her thumb pressing down with a grinding motion.

She pressed heavily on the most sensitive, tender flesh, and with malicious intent, drew a circle.

"Wuwuwu..."

The fox's whole body shuddered violently. The front paw being pinched curled and twitched instinctively, while the other five tails "whooshed" and puffed up, every hair standing on end, looking like six instantly expanded dandelions.

The narrow fox eyes suddenly widened, the pupils shrinking into thin lines, clearly reflecting Shang Wan Ning's triumphant smiling face.

It was truly, utterly despairing.