An Unexpected Windfall

Gu Ming, the business manager of Nine Xin Resource Recycling Company, was the immediate superior of all harvesters.

In Meng Chao's memory fragments, this guy had colluded with Shen Rongfa in his previous life and done quite a few unscrupulous things.

And the burly man behind him in a blood-red cloak was the company's big boss, the Transcendent known as the "Descending Mountain Tiger," Qin Hu, who had slain countless monsters!

"Who beat Manager Shen into this state?" Gu Ming shrieked, hopping in rage.

"Wuwu!"

At the sight of his brother-in-law, Shen Rongfa was like a dog with broken legs finding its master. Ignoring the searing pain, he rolled and crawled to Qin Hu's feet.

The two bodyguards had caught their breath as well. They hurried over in panic and gave a heavily embellished account of what had happened.

"Damaging rare materials, smashing the company computer, and even daring to assault someone!" Gu Ming glared viciously at Meng Yishan. "Was this your son's doing?"

Meng Yishan did not spare that cauliflower snake so much as a glance. His eyes remained fixed on the Descending Mountain Tiger.

The blood-forged ferocity he had honed in the army once more radiated from the middle-aged man.

For his son's future, there were many things he could endure.

But once someone touched his bottom line, even before a Transcendent, he would never take half a step back!

Meng Yishan stepped forward and declared loudly, "General Manager Qin, Manager Shen and I had a conflict. Whatever losses were caused, I'll take responsibility for them. This has nothing to do with my son!"

The many old brothers could not stand by and watch any longer.

Nine Xin was usually harsh enough on them, and now it was even turning black into white. What fucking point was there in continuing this job!

"Manager Shen's bodyguards attacked first, and it might not even have been Meng Ge who broke that thing!"

"Exactly! I refuse to believe Dragon City has no law left, that the Superhuman Tower and the Survival Committee have gone deaf and blind, and there's nowhere to seek justice!"

The harvesters stepped forward to shield the Meng father and son, talking over one another as they revealed the truth.

"You..." Gu Ming's expression darkened.

Half the company's harvesters were making a racket. This was becoming rather troublesome.

He secretly glanced at Qin Hu. Seeing that the Descending Mountain Tiger still had not spoken, he cursed Shen Rongfa several times in his heart before forcing himself to say, "What are you all shouting about? Of course the company is reasonable. Forget everything else for now—at the very least, this kid really did beat Manager Shen, didn't he?"

He stared at Meng Chao and sneered. "Young man, I heard you're still in high school and about to take the college entrance exams? But you beat someone this badly. If you're arrested, you'll be sentenced. After sitting in prison for several years, your whole life will be ruined."

"You can't arrest him!" Meng Yishan said anxiously.

"Old Meng, this isn't an ordinary brawl. Look at Manager Shen's injuries yourself. Your son committed a crime. You think he won't be arrested just because you say so?" Gu Ming rebuked.

Meng Yishan and the harvesters looked at one another.

"Young people are too impulsive. This isn't how you handle things." Gu Ming sneered and shook his head, pointing at Meng Chao as he spoke.

Meng Chao, however, said nonchalantly, "If you want to call the police, hurry up and send the Shen guy to the hospital. Let's see what level of serious injury they can determine."

Gu Ming was dumbfounded. Was there really a kid this stubborn?

From within the blood-red cloak, Qin Hu snorted. He reached out two fingers and lifted his brother-in-law.

"What beautiful Ripple Force."

The Descending Mountain Tiger dangled the more than two-hundred-pound Shen Rongfa as though he were holding a chunk of rotten meat, but the fierce light in his eyes brightened slightly. "The surface injuries look utterly miserable, making the victim wish he were dead. The hidden force can linger for days; even drinking a mouthful of cold water will make him roll all over the floor in pain. Yet not a single bone or vital organ was harmed. Not even half a tooth was knocked out. Send him for an injury assessment, and it won't even count as a minor injury."

As he spoke, he tossed his brother-in-law back onto the ground.

Shen Rongfa screamed and rolled around.

"High school students these days are getting more and more impressive." Qin Hu stared at Meng Chao.

His killing intent descended like a blade, crushing down upon him.

An ordinary high school student, no matter how outstanding, would have pissed himself in terror beneath Qin Hu's killing intent.

Meng Chao remained composed. "So what? Tiger Lord has taken an interest and wants to beat up a high school student like me to avenge his brother-in-law?"

Qin Hu laughed despite himself. "What do you take Tiger Lord for?"

Naturally, he could not possibly attack Meng Chao.

Although Dragon City was an iron-blooded society where everyone revered martial strength, citizens who had disputes did not like reporting them to the authorities. They were more accustomed to settling things with their fists.

But there was one principle: soldiers fought soldiers, generals fought generals; ordinary people fought ordinary people, and Transcendents fought Transcendents. They could fight until their heads bled and their tendons snapped, and everyone would accept the outcome of their own free will.

If a Transcendent relied on strength to bully the weak and beat up an ordinary person, that would be a violation of heavenly law.

Shen Rongfa and the bodyguards were all ordinary people. If they and Meng Chao beat one another half to death, at most the police would step in to resolve it.

If Qin Hu directly attacked Meng Chao, the nature of the matter would change. The Superhuman Tower would naturally send experts to suppress him as if he were a monster.

Thinking this, Qin Hu said flatly, "Kid, what you practice isn't ordinary Ripple Force, but a secret Ripple Force passed down by a renowned master. I more or less understand what happened. For the sake of your Ripple Force, tell me yourself—how do you want to settle this?"

"Wu, wuwu!"

Shen Rongfa cried out frantically. He tugged at his damaged dental nerves again, and the pain made him wet himself once more.

The many harvesters had not expected Tiger Lord, who was usually so overbearing and tyrannical, to be so reasonable today.

Meng Chao knew that Qin Hu had seen how extraordinary the future version of Ripple Force he used was. The man could not gauge his background, which was why he was putting on a show of generosity.

So he did not stand on ceremony. "It's impossible to say clearly who damaged the rare material. Both sides will bear half the losses. Name a price, and I'll transfer the money immediately.

"Also, after this, we definitely can't keep working at Nine Xin. I remember that the Shen guy still owes my dad's harvesting team quite a lot in performance bonuses. Let's settle those while we're at it."

Qin Hu frowned.

Gu Ming immediately said, "What kind of talk is that? You beat someone into this state. Even if no injury can be assessed, shouldn't you still compensate his medical expenses?"

"The Shen guy was injured, but my dad was injured too," Meng Chao said. "The Shen guy's bodyguard used an ancient martial arts heavy-handed technique, long thought lost, to shove my dad violently away. He crashed down like a kite with its string cut. Who knows whether his internal organs were displaced or his bones shattered?"

An ancient martial arts heavy-handed technique?

Including Meng Yishan, everyone wore the same classic bewildered expression as Ning Shewo and his grandson.

"Even if my dad is fine, this injury of mine was their doing, wasn't it?"

Meng Chao pulled open his collar, revealing the wound on his shoulder left by the stun baton.

In truth, the bodyguard's stun baton had merely been meant to frighten him. The man had not dared to turn it to maximum power. At most, it would hurt for a moment when pressed against someone.

But an electrical burn had left traces after all. Combined with the harvesters' testimony, it would be troublesome if Meng Chao insisted he had been shocked until he could no longer care for himself.

"Good kid." Qin Hu gave a strange laugh. "High school students these days are interesting. Truly interesting!"

"General Manager Qin, if you think that won't do, then tell me—how do you want to settle this?" Meng Chao ignored Qin Hu's increasingly sharp killing intent, asking for an exorbitant price and bargaining down to earth.

Qin Hu glanced at Gu Ming.

Gu Ming calculated for a moment, then said quietly, "Tiger Lord, a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball from a Golden Ghost, if its quality is perfect, is worth around three hundred thousand on the market lately."

"Then three hundred thousand."

Qin Hu said, "Kid, pay three hundred thousand, and this matter is settled. You can take the item and leave. Tiger Lord will never cause you trouble again. On Nine Xin's side, whoever dares lay a hand on you, Tiger Lord will chop him up."

Meng Chao showed no appreciation. "Half of three hundred thousand is one hundred and fifty thousand."

Qin Hu said darkly, "I don't care who damaged the Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball, and I'm not short of that one hundred and fifty thousand. But no matter how worthless Shen Rongfa is, he is still one of my people. Is the face of the Descending Mountain Tiger not worth one hundred and fifty thousand?"

Meng Chao fell silent.

"If you can't produce it for now, that's fine. You can write an IOU. Tiger Lord isn't short of this little bit of money from you."

Qin Hu's eyes flashed with fierce light, and his voice turned cold. "But if you refuse to take the Descending Mountain Tiger seriously, then even if I don't lift a single finger, I still have ways to crush you to death as easily as crushing an ant!"

With those words, the entire scene turned murderous.

Everyone's vision blurred, as though they truly saw a striped tiger staring relentlessly at the young man.

Meng Chao sighed. "General Manager Qin, there's really no room for negotiation? I can only buy this rare material outright?"

Qin Hu grew impatient. "I'll say it one last time. Three hundred thousand. Take the item and get lost."

"Fine. Let's not sign any contract. With so many people watching, I trust General Manager Qin's credibility." Meng Chao took out his phone. "Let's transfer the money."

"A Chao?" Meng Yishan was stunned.

"You have money?" Gu Ming asked in surprise. He knew a little about the Meng Family's circumstances and did not believe Meng Chao could casually produce three hundred thousand without changing expression.

"Wuwu!" Shen Rongfa ignored the pain and squealed like a pig being slaughtered. Fake—it had to be fake.

"Dad, I'll explain later. It's all clean money." Meng Chao looked utterly calm.

Qin Hu frowned slightly.

At the North City Battlefield, many Transcendents and harvesters were working, and eyes were everywhere. He would not go so far as to bully an ordinary youth in public.

"Manager Gu, take the money."

A sum of two or three hundred thousand was small change to Qin Hu. He did not take it to heart.

Gu Ming was half-convinced and half-suspicious. Even after the transfer went through, he stared at the five zeros after the number, still unable to make sense of the situation.

"General Manager Qin, the three hundred thousand has been transferred to you. This rare material belongs to me now, right?" Meng Chao confirmed.

Qin Hu glared. "It's only a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball. Would Tiger Lord go back on his word over something like that? Have your dad come to the company tomorrow to complete the procedures. Nine Xin no longer wants his harvesting team."

"A Chao, this is..." Three hundred thousand in full, spent on a material that might have been ruined. Meng Yishan was both confused and heartsick.

The many harvesters were also somewhat bewildered. For a moment, they fell even more silent.

"Dad, uncles, don't just stand there. Hurry and help me prepare a silver nitrate solution with anhydrous ethanol!" Meng Chao suppressed the tension in his heart as he held up the pitch-black material and examined it carefully.

Meng Yishan froze.

Silver nitrate solution was a common medicinal solution with slight corrosive and antibacterial properties. It was often used to clean rotten flesh around a monster's eyes and remove the eyeball intact.

This was not a monster eyeball. What did his son want silver nitrate solution for?

His son had brought everyone too many shocks tonight. Meng Yishan had faintly developed a sense of trust in him. Without asking further, he quickly prepared a silver nitrate solution with anhydrous ethanol.

Meng Chao held his breath and used tweezers to place the rare material into the silver nitrate solution.

"Ah!" someone cried out. How could a fragile Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball be placed in a corrosive liquid?

Before anyone could stop him, an unbelievable sight had already appeared.

The shell of the rare material was rapidly corroded, releasing tiny bubbles as it slowly spun in the silver nitrate solution.

With every rotation, the black oxidized traces on its surface peeled away a little more, and its radiance grew a little brighter.

In less than half a minute, the shell had completely fallen away. The rare material became a "diamond" like a cat's eye, a hundred times more dazzling than an ordinary Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball.

"This is—"

Everyone's eyes were dazzled by this unfathomably mysterious cat's-eye diamond.

Meng Chao finally let out a relieved breath. His protective suit was soaked in cold sweat.

"This is a Crystallized Nerve Ball, rarer and more valuable than a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball. Its market value is around... one million." He clasped his father's hand and spoke softly.

If it had been an ordinary Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball, Meng Chao would not have been so surprised. He would have explained it on the spot so his father would not worry.

But how to identify the variant of a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball—the Crystallized Nerve Ball, which appeared with a probability of less than one percent—was not something a high school student could possibly have learned from a biology teacher or online.

If his father dug to the root and asked every detail, it would truly be difficult to explain.

Once he found a suitable way, Meng Chao did not mind sharing some secrets with his family.

In fact, he had planned to sort out his thoughts after the day was over and talk with his family. He could not keep making them worry about his injuries.

But at the time, there had been so many harvesters watching.

Moreover, Meng Chao's memory fragments were mottled and fragmented, and many techniques were scattered in pieces. He could not be certain whether it was a Spirit Transformation Nerve Ball or a Crystallized Nerve Ball.

He had only a ten percent certainty about the latter.

So he had planned to rest first, then find an excuse, such as... saying he had been scared into wetting himself and needed diapers, to pull his father into a corner and have a private conversation between father and son before taking a closer look.

Who could have expected that, at that moment, he heard the dying howl of the Seven-Star Dragon Wolf Spider? Eager to dig up his first bucket of gold, he naturally had no time to worry about this rare material that did not belong to him.

After all, even the harvesting fee for a Crystallized Nerve Ball was only several tens of thousands.

Who would have thought that after all those twists and turns, this rare material really was a Crystallized Nerve Ball—and it had actually fallen into his hands!