44: Chapter 44: Military quotas arouse envy, provincial capital tycoon publicly challenges!

Virtual Star Net, Affordable District.

Lin Yuan walked into a teleportation array, preparing to disconnect his mental link and return to reality.

The personal terminal on his wrist vibrated.

An encrypted invitation link popped up, sent by his homeroom teacher, Teacher Lei Yan.

A text message followed immediately: "Commander Xiao Lie from the Military Region personally put in a word. This is a specially approved quota. This virtual communication group is called [Star Ring Truth Salon]."

"Inside are the top handful of monsters from this year's cohort. Go in to broaden your horizons, don't speak, just watch."

Lin Yuan looked at the message on the light screen.

Specially approved by the Military Region Commander.

It seems this is one of the hidden perks of signing the strategic specialist contract with the Spark Legion.

Resources aren't just faith points and materials; they also include information networks and an entry ticket to the top-tier circle.

Lin Yuan clicked agree.

His vision reorganized.

The cheap neon lights of the Affordable District vanished, replaced by a highly futuristic, advanced virtual conference hall.

A slowly rotating galaxy map floated above the hall.

There was a circular black stone conference table, surrounded by dozens of floating virtual thrones.

There is no anonymity function here; all group members are required to use their real names.

In front of every name, there is a striking prefix indicating their family or faction background.

Lin Yuan sat on a throne at the edge and scanned the list.

There weren't many acquaintances.

[Jiangcheng Su Family - Su Yueying], [Jiangcheng Chu Family - Chu Yunxuan].

These two top-tier prodigies from the wealthy families who hold sway in Jiangcheng couldn't even make it into the top ten in this salon.

Those ranked ahead of them were all major factions from the provincial capital that Lin Yuan had never heard of.

[Tianhai Provincial Capital Murong Clan - Murong Bai].

[Thunder Military Industry - Zhan Kuang].

[Tianhai Provincial Capital Xiao Family - Xiao Ting].

Just as Lin Yuan entered the group, the system automatically broadcast a notification of a new member joining.

[Jiangcheng - Commoner Sequence - Lin Yuan] has joined the salon.

This prefix was particularly eye-catching amidst the full screen of noble families and wealthy conglomerates.

The voice channel that had been discussing something paused for a second.

"A newcomer? That commoner who placed twelfth in Jiangcheng's recent practical exam?" A lazy male voice rang out, with a prefix indicating he was a young master from some provincial capital chamber of commerce.

"I have a vague impression. I heard he uses an F-grade Wasteland Divine Domain and relied on low-tier Mutant Goblins to stack up his battle record. To be pulled into the Star Ring Salon, it seems Jiangcheng really has no talent left."

They made a few casual, critical remarks.

The people in the group quickly lost interest and continued their previous topic.

Lin Yuan leaned back in his chair, turned on mute mode, and listened silently.

He quickly understood what Teacher Lei Yan meant by having him enter the group to "broaden his horizons."

The things the people here discussed were on a completely different dimension from Chu Yunxuan's salon.

"In the Sirius sector, coordinate zone 774, a micro-source crystal vein has been discovered."

"I'll take 30,000 heavy-armored Behemoths to lead the vanguard and take 40% of the mining rights. Who will take over the logistics and supplies?" [Murong Clan - Murong Bai] sent out a holographic star map.

"I'll take it. My high-tier mechanical legion just finished its iteration."

"But I want 30% of the highest purity source crystals, plus the exclusive route control rights for that area." Another person responded quickly.

Listening to these terms that frequently involved interstellar coordinates and mining, Lin Yuan sighed inwardly.

Ordinary geniuses were still worrying about rations for their believers, while these provincial capital monsters had already started teaming up to pioneer outer star sectors.

A few minutes later, an auction list popped up in the channel.

"Next week at the provincial capital underground black market, a complete Tier 5 dragon skeleton will be up for auction. The starting price is 30 million faith points. Does anyone want to pool funds to take it down and study the Dragon Might Law?"

"30 million is too expensive. I went to see that skeleton; the dragon marrow has leaked significantly, it's worth 20 million at most. I'll put in 5 million, I only want the dragon crystal shards."

After watching for a while, Lin Yuan prepared to close the voice channel and go offline.

Suddenly, a text barrage flashed across the light screen in the center of the circular table.

"The Spark Legion is really going downhill. With so many orthodox military families in the provincial capital to choose from, they insist on taking a commoner Wasteland trash to fill this year's S-grade strategic quota."

Speaker prefix: [Provincial Capital Xiao Family - Xiao Ting].

The voice channel went quiet; everyone was ready to watch the drama.

Xiao Ting's barrage didn't stop; a second one followed immediately.

"200 million faith points in investment, plus three high-tier items of choice from the Military Region's Contamination Vault."

"Has Commander Xiao Lie gone senile? To dump such strategic-level resources into a Wasteland Divine Domain destined to never break through the True God barrier—is he really not afraid of dirtying the military's vault?"

Lin Yuan sat in the corner, his fingers tapping on the armrest coming to a halt.

He roughly sorted out the logic.

200 million in military funds, plus three unrestricted selection rights from the Abyss Sealed Vault.

This S-grade resource was extremely hot to handle.

The military's cake was only so big.

Commander Xiao Lie gave this special approval to Lin Yuan, so the descendants of the provincial capital military faction naturally couldn't get a share.

This Xiao Ting, with the Provincial Capital Xiao Family prefix, evidently had some sort of clan or factional connection to Commander Xiao Lie.

Jealous that the resources were snatched away, it was perfectly normal for him to jump out and make trouble.

Xiao Ting didn't have the guts to question Commander Xiao Lie to his face, so he could only vent his anger on him, a commoner.

Just then.

A female voice rang out in the voice channel.

"Young Master Xiao, you're really overstepping. Since when is a high school senior allowed to question a decision by the Military Region's Supreme Command?"

The speaker was [Jiangcheng Su Family - Su Yueying].

"We saw Lin Yuan's strength very clearly during the practical exam on the Shattered Continent."

"To be able to lead a group of Mutant Goblins, retreat safely, and secure 12 million points—with this kind of war instinct, he is more than qualified for the S-grade quota."

Su Yueying's words made the atmosphere in the group subtle.

Lin Yuan sat in the corner, his heart completely calm.

This school beauty, who was so high and mighty at school, was definitely not acting out of a sudden kind heart to stand up for him.

The Su Family primarily deals in medical and biotechnology and is a sworn enemy of the Star Sea Conglomerate.

Lin Yuan had rejected Star Sea; Su Yueying standing up to help him out at this moment was nothing more than wanting to build goodwill with Lin Yuan.

The friendship of wealthy conglomerates is all clearly priced.

"Su Yueying, if your Su Family wants to recruit a watchdog, don't use me to do a favor." Xiao Ting's voice finally appeared in the voice channel.

His tone was filled with aloof arrogance and disdain.

"A practical exam? Killing a few low-level Silver-tier monsters, and that's considered strength?"

Xiao Ting sneered and pointed directly at Lin Yuan: "Lin Yuan, right? Don't think that just because you exploited a loophole in the assessment mechanism using cheap cannon fodder, you actually amount to something."

"The mid-term province-wide streaming exam."

"I will let you know that those mutant monsters you piled up using waste and corpses are not even as good as crawling bugs in front of real top-tier troops."

"Daring to take 200 million in military investment—I will make your Divine Domain completely collapse during the streaming exam."

Blunt and arrogant.

Everyone's attention fell on the ID [Jiangcheng - Commoner Sequence - Lin Yuan].

Waiting for him to strike back.

Or waiting for him to chicken out.

Lin Yuan looked at Xiao Ting's ID on the light screen.

He raised his hand and tapped a few times on the operation interface.

There was no long-winded rebuttal, nor any frantic, angry insults.

Lin Yuan only sent three words.

"You said it."

Sending complete.

Lin Yuan clicked to exit the salon and cut the neural connection.

Inside the virtual hall, Lin Yuan's virtual projection dissipated.

Leaving a group of provincial capital scions looking at each other in dismay.

"This kid... just left like that?" Murong Bai looked at the empty throne, his tone strange.

Xiao Ting sat in the main seat, his expression as gloomy as water.

Ignored.

A piece of trash from the Slums actually dared not to take his bait.

"A bit interesting." Su Yueying looked at the spot where Lin Yuan had disappeared, a flash of something different in her eyes.