Father

"Meng, Brother Meng, can you heal my grandfather's injuries?" Ning Xueshi could not believe it, yet she could not help wanting to.

Ever since her grandfather had been poisoned, they had sought doctors and medicine everywhere, exhausting every possible method.

But the Purple Crown Viper King was a newly mutated species. Most doctors, harvesters, and alchemists had never even seen one before. How could they prescribe the right treatment?

The mighty White-Haired Ghost Hand had had his nerves corroded by snake venom. His proud "ghost hand" was ruined, and his Divine Pupil, capable of piercing through super-beast organs, was destroyed. Ninety percent of his abilities were gone; his former glory was no more. He was even bullied by petty scoundrels in the circle, who said he ought to retire and live out his old age.

And now, this intern who had popped up by the roadside...

A notification flashed before Meng Chao's eyes:

Would you like to activate your first treatment-type mission?

Mission prompt: Resources are the fuel that drives civilization forward, and resource gatherers are civilization's most important class. Healing Ning Shewo will make a certain contribution to Dragon City's rise.

Mission deadline and reward: One month later, Contribution Points ranging from 200 to 2,000 will be awarded based on Ning Shewo's recovery.

"Activate!"

Meng Chao liked Elite Monsters more than anything. He readily said, "I can give it a try, but treating this kind of unknown snake venom is troublesome. There's no ready-made antidote formula at all. At best, I might only be able to come up with a few messy leads."

"That would already be quite good. This old man knows a little about most antidote formulas, but doctors nowadays do not even have a line of thought." Ning Shewo gave a bitter smile.

With his connections, he could obtain most rare medicinal ingredients, and he was acquainted with many veteran alchemists. The key was the underlying idea behind the formula.

The old senior had originally wanted to discuss the treatment fee, but first, there was not much cash in his account, and second, with this young man's unfathomable background, offering three or five million would be an insult.

After pondering for a moment, Ning Shewo's eyes lit up. "Little Friend Meng said just now that you were planning to open a resource recycling company?"

"That's right. Does Old Ning have some advice for me?" Meng Chao asked, half seriously and half casually.

Ning Shewo smiled. "Advice would be too much, but would Little Friend Meng be interested in signing a monster-harvesting contract with the Thunder Battle Team?"

"Thunder?" Meng Chao seemed to have heard the name before.

"The Thunder Battle Team was founded by the Five-Star Extraordinary 'Wind Thunder Saber' Lei Qianjun. Besides him, it has two Four-Star Extraordinary members, five Three-Star Extraordinary members, and dozens of One-Star Two-Star members. Their strength is quite formidable, and their reputation is universally praised."

Ning Shewo stroked his white beard. "Last year alone, they killed one hundred and twenty-five super-beasts, not to mention countless ordinary monsters. There is absolutely no problem with their supply of corpses, and the profit-sharing ratio is negotiable. Thunder hired me as their Resource Planning Director, so I can negotiate ordinary contracts."

Meng Chao thought seriously. "My company is still in the planning stages, and our technical strength is limited for now. Let's not talk about super-beasts yet. We can handle ordinary monsters, though—not too many. For a major team like Thunder, even a few small jobs that slip through their fingers would be enough for us to make a living.

"How about this? Dragon Wolf Spider Poison Sacs cannot be stored for long, so you should find someone to process it first. I'm working over on Wufu Road and will probably be there for a while. Once you have someone collect the material, you can come over and we'll talk."

After rounding it up to a full eight hundred thousand and transferring the money by phone, Meng Chao returned fully loaded.

The grandfather and granddaughter watched his retreating back, both filled with emotion.

"Xue Shi, this Little Friend Meng is no ordinary person. When you have the chance, get to know him properly," Ning Shewo said.

Ning Xueshi did not know what she thought of, but her face reddened. She said softly, "Grandpa, even if he really is impressive, I don't necessarily have to befriend him!"

"Of course not. Dragon City has as many young people with deep backgrounds and extraordinary skills as hairs on an ox. Would I ask my own granddaughter to flatter every one of them?"

Ning Shewo glared. "His skills and background are secondary. The main reason I want you to befriend Little Friend Meng is because of one sentence he said."

"Which one?"

"He has no interest in money. He only wants to contribute to society."

"Grandpa, no way. You actually believed that kind of nonsense?"

"Heh heh. In my youth, your grandfather was known as the 'Divine Pupil Ghost Hand.' My Jade Testing Method could not only see through a monster's heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, but could also tell from the faintest changes in a person's facial muscles whether he was lying. Though my eyes are more than half ruined now, I've lived for several decades. Could I still fail to see through a green youngster?"

Ning Shewo stroked his beard. "I don't know whether the first half, 'I have no interest in money,' was true or false. But when Little Friend Meng said he was determined to contribute to society, light blazed in his eyes. That was absolutely sincere."

"Huh?" Ning Xueshi was dumbfounded for who knew how many times.

In this age when monsters roamed and material desires ran rampant, was there really such a strange man who did not love money and only loved making contributions?

Looking at Meng Chao's back, already long vanished from sight, Miss Ning was in utter disarray.

With a huge sum of money in his pocket, Meng Chao's steps were light, every pore radiating exhilaration.

He imagined opening his account in front of his father later, scaring him until his eyes went wide, perhaps even making him ask whether Meng Chao had done something bad. Then Meng Chao would calmly reveal the answer. His father's expression—ha!

When he returned to Wufu Road, huh? Why was there not a soul in sight?

Instead, faint sounds of argument came from the materials refrigerated truck.

Shen Rongfa's shriek was especially piercing. "Two hundred and eighty thousand, Old Meng! I've already given you a discount!"

Meng Chao's pupils contracted, and he sprinted over.

He saw the harvesters clustered behind his father, all drooping their heads like eggplants struck by frost.

Shen Rongfa, meanwhile, looked like a victorious fighting cock, gesticulating wildly as spittle flew everywhere.

Two broad-shouldered, burly bodyguards stood behind him, waving electric batons that crackled with arcs of electricity.

"Brother Zhou, what happened?"

Suppressing his rage, Meng Chao grabbed a harvester.

Zhou Qiankun's wrist was extremely thick, yet even he cried out in pain when Meng Chao pulled him.

"A Chao, you're here." He said bitterly, "Your dad came to Shen Rongfa wanting to buy the Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball. It seemed Shen Rongfa named a sky-high price and still refused to sell. The two of them tugged at it, and unexpectedly, the thing fell and broke."

"What!"

Startled, Meng Chao looked through the gaps between people. Sure enough, he saw a crack in the storage container. Stabilizing fluid had spilled all over the ground, immediately frothing after coming into contact with the air.

With the monster material directly exposed to the air, its originally crystal-clear shell, like a yellow gemstone, had begun to darken faintly.

The Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball was an extremely sensitive material. Even when stored in stabilizing fluid, it could not withstand violent jolting and shocks.

Nor could the storage container be completely sealed. Otherwise, the raging Spiritual Energy would have nowhere to vent and could turn it into a biochemical bomb at any time.

It was common during harvesting for improperly stored materials to lose quality.

A Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball in perfect condition could sell for around three hundred thousand. Now that its quality had dropped two or three grades, it would be lucky to fetch seventy or eighty thousand.

"Wait, why did my dad want to buy a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball? Could he even afford it?" Meng Chao was confused.

Zhou Qiankun gave him an awkward look.

Meng Chao understood instantly. "My dad wanted to treat my injuries so I could take the college entrance exam!"

Zhou Qiankun sighed. "What a mess this has become."

Meng Yishan's eyes were as red as coal briquettes in a furnace. He stared blankly at the foam on the ground, not noticing his son forcing his way over.

"Old Meng, give me a straight answer." Shen Rongfa said impatiently. "A Xiong and A Bao both saw you drop the material and break it."

"This..."

Meng Yishan's mind was in chaos. The scene from moments ago spun like a kaleidoscope. He clearly remembered that the item had already been in Shen Rongfa's hands when it accidentally fell to the ground.

But there were no cameras here, and Shen Rongfa had two bodyguards testifying for him. Besides, Meng Yishan still made his living under Shen Rongfa.

There was simply no way to explain this clearly.

"Dad!"

At that moment, Meng Yishan heard his son's voice.

The middle-aged man's mind buzzed. Forcing out an awkward smile, he said, "Why did you come? Go back. This has nothing to do with you. Go rest at the camp for a while longer. Go, go!"

"What exactly happened? Did we really break it?" Meng Chao stepped forward and supported his father.

Over his father's shoulder, he stared coldly at the aggressive Shen Rongfa.

Fragments of memories from his previous life surged up, sharp things stabbing at his cells and nerves.

They made him want to knock every tooth out of Shen Rongfa's mouth with one punch.

Shen Rongfa snorted, disdaining even to acknowledge a youth who had not graduated high school.

"A Chao, you can't handle this." Seeing the wolfish, tiger-like look in his son's eyes, Meng Yishan feared he would act rashly and hurriedly tugged at him. "This is just a muddled account."

Meng Chao knew his father well. When it came to work, he was the most conscientious and responsible person.

If he had truly broken it, he would never have hemmed and hawed.

Since it was a "muddled account," there was an eighty or ninety percent chance it was not his father's fault.

Meng Chao's gaze fell on a folding table beside the refrigerated truck. Several trays of exquisitely packaged self-heating dishes and alcohol were laid out on it.

When his father had delivered the material, Shen Rongfa and the two bodyguards had probably been eating a late-night meal.

Frontline harvesters worked hard all night and could only eat paste-like High-Energy Nutrient Solution, while these bastards ate lavishly, their hands greasy with oil.

Meng Chao dropped to one knee and studied the traces left on the storage container's shell.

Then he suddenly looked up and fixed his gaze on Shen Rongfa's eyes.

Shen Rongfa's conscience pricked him. He shuddered, the fat on his face trembling wildly.