Cooperation

The place for discussing the cooperation was a VIP reception room specially set up at Proxima Star. Xi Ye had come alone, and he looked around curiously.

This VIP Room was not as luxurious as he had imagined. Its standards were quite ordinary. However, he knew that in a place where every inch of land was worth a fortune, any room that could be called VIP would surely have a very expensive rent. At the very least, it proved the other party's sincerity in negotiations.

"Excuse me, which room did Wine Immortal Lord reserve for the business meeting?" Xi Ye politely asked the attendant at the navigation desk.

The attendant waved toward the side. "Over there. Turn left and go all the way to the end. The cheapest room!"

Xi Ye frowned slightly and thought, Are all the people from Piltover this rude?

He then followed the other party's directions to his destination. When he looked up, he realized that he had misunderstood. The attendant had not meant any malice—he had merely been telling the truth.

The reason was that six large characters were clearly written on the door: The Cheapest Room!

Xi Ye suddenly felt a splitting headache. Piltover's style was as blunt as ever. Couldn't they have called it the Most Low-Key Room or something?

After entering the room, Xi Ye finally met the legendary senior. It was said that Panda Man had the worst ability to assimilate genetic powers. Today, he had seen it for himself. At school, he had encountered all kinds of races, yet in the end, all of them could be assimilated by the Celestial Race's genes and become as handsome as himself... Well, fine, maybe just a tiny bit less handsome than him.

But this effect seemed not to work on Panda Man. Apart from those supreme purple Starry Sky Eyes unique to the Celestial Race, this senior was no different from an ordinary Panda Man in every other aspect...

Well... it was not as if there were absolutely no differences. Judging by the way Panda Man distinguished individuals by weight, this senior was a whole ton heavier than Er Pang. Sitting in the chair, half his flesh seemed about to spill out from beneath him.

"Damn it, they don't even have a larger sofa!" Panda Lord seemed to be troubled by this as well.

Xi Ye was stunned, then asked curiously, "Can't you ask them to change it for a larger chair?" The Cosmic Federation had no shortage of races with massive builds. Surely a VIP reception room should be equipped to accommodate them?

Wine Immortal Lord shook his head. "They have them, but they cost extra."

Xi Ye immediately formed his first impression: this was a stingy lord.

"Forget it. This will do." Wine Immortal sighed helplessly. Then he looked at Xi Ye, who was wearing a helmet, and said in astonishment, "Oh, junior, isn't that outfit a little too serious for a discussion?"

Xi Ye fell silent for a moment before saying in a low voice, "I'm very sorry. Because of some personal reasons, it isn't convenient for me to show my face anywhere with crowds or surveillance."

"Did something go wrong with your face during evolution?" Wine Immortal was slightly taken aback. "That's not very scientific. Problems like that rarely occur with the Celestial Bloodline. If you need it, I can introduce you to a very skilled Wood Spirit Doctor. Her cosmetic surgery is absolutely universe-class, without the slightest trace of incongruity. Look at me—I had this whole body done by her... Aside from my eyes, can you even tell that I'm from the Celestial Race?"

No wonder...

Xi Ye shook his head. "Thank you for your kindness, Senior, but this face of mine is already too perfect to improve."

Wine Immortal: "..."

"Let's get to the serious matter, Senior..." Xi Ye found a seat and sat down before getting straight to the point. "Since you invited me here, I assume you've considered my proposal?"

"Yes. I saw the sample Er Pang brought over. The quality is quite good—above average even among D-rank ores. Are you certain that everything produced at your place is of this quality?"

"I've had it tested." Xi Ye hurriedly replied, "The data analyzer's results don't lie. The fact that I was able to obtain a ten-billion loan based on the data is proof enough. If you need it, I can retrieve the certification from the financial institution for you to see."

"Financial institution?" Wine Immortal was startled. "Didn't you get the loan from a bank?"

"Uh..." Did I just reveal something? Xi Ye said awkwardly, "Actually, I could have borrowed that much from a bank as well. It's just that when I came here, my teacher conned me once, so I took out the loan through a private institution..."

"Jialuode?" Wine Immortal's fat face took on a strange expression.

"Huh?" Xi Ye was stunned, then stammered, "How did you know, Senior?"

Wine Immortal immediately covered his face. "Was that institution called Zuan Ken Sha Bi Financial Club?"

"Senior Brother, could it be that you..."

"Ah..." Wine Immortal instantly wore an expression of unbearable memories. "Brother, take care of yourself..."

Seeing the look on the other party's face—as if Xi Ye were already dead—he asked in confusion, "Senior Brother, why are you making that expression? N-No, isn't it just three-point-five percent interest? Even though I got cheated once, it shouldn't be enough to leave me unable to recover, right? Besides, Senior Brother, haven't you developed quite well?"

"That was because I had a special opportunity!" Wine Immortal rolled his eyes at him. "Do you think all you got cheated on was that three-point-five percent interest?"

"What else is there?" A trace of unease flashed through Xi Ye's heart.

Wine Immortal said solemnly, "Private institutions like that have absolutely no scruples when it comes to protecting customer information. As long as the price is right, they'll reveal anything at any time. Once your planet's data falls into the hands of someone with malicious intentions, it'll be extremely dangerous!"

"What danger?" Xi Ye asked in confusion. "I didn't reveal the coordinates."

Wine Immortal said, "They can use big-data analysis. If a high-level lord has a Dragon Rank Arcane Master or analyst under him, they can use this data to locate you within a hundred years at most!"

"Dragon Rank?" Xi Ye laughed. "A lord of that level wouldn't specifically target a rookie like me, would he?"

"Normally, that would be unlikely..." Wine Immortal suddenly said ominously, "But you're different. I just looked over your information. Your surname is Eldia? Is that the Eldia Family known for producing Thunder Warriors?"

"Senior Brother, you've heard of our family?"

"Mm... The Thunder Warriors produced by your family have an excellent reputation in the industry, both in quality and professionalism. But recently..."

"What about recently?" Xi Ye's heart sank. He had not returned home for ten thousand years, so naturally he had no idea what the family's current situation was.

"The leader among your current generation of juniors is someone named Raine, right? That fellow pledged allegiance to an ambitious lord. Now, your family's Thunder Warriors have practically been monopolized by that lord. The younger generation is joining the military and heading there almost exclusively, leaving me unable to recruit anyone."

Xi Ye listened in silence, his expression turning slightly grim. In the Federation, Great Clans had always followed the strategy of keeping multiple options open and casting a wide net. Very few families would bind themselves entirely to a single lord, because the risks were enormous.

Although Grandpa was a stellar marshal under a Great Lord, he had still adhered to this strategy. He did not encourage all the younger members of the family to serve under the lord he worked for. For example, Raine had initially pledged allegiance to a different lord.

But why was Grandpa tolerating Raine's reckless actions now?

"I've met that fellow Raine a few times..." Wine Immortal leisurely picked up a cup of green tea. "In my opinion, he doesn't seem like someone who could tolerate a Celestial appearing in his family!"

Xi Ye's heart jolted, but he said, "Senior Brother, you're overthinking it. The Eldia Family has been passed down for so long because one of its ironclad rules is that siblings must never kill one another. Although Grandpa has refined his genes, he's a life-form with half a foot in Dragon Rank and still has at least tens of thousands of years left to live. I don't believe Raine would dare do anything under Grandpa's watch..."

"Tens of thousands of years?" Wine Immortal chuckled. "That may seem like a long time to low-level life-forms, but to people like us, it passes in the blink of an eye. You're relying on your old man's protection now, but what happens after he's gone?"

"After Grandpa is gone?" Purple light shimmered in Xi Ye's eyes as he said quietly, "That will be when Raine should start worrying about whether I'll come looking for him!"

"Oh?" Wine Immortal was startled. He had a very deep impression of that youngster named Raine. At such a young age, he had already crossed the threshold of level twelve. Advancing to Dragon Rank in the future was practically certain, and he might even be able to strive toward the Stellar Rank. By then, he would at least be a stellar marshal under that Great Lord—far beyond the reach of an ordinary Little Lord to offend.

As the saying went, starting a business was difficult. Although a Celestial God Lord had a long lifespan, his growth was extremely slow. Let alone tens of thousands of years—even after several million years, without sufficient faith from his subjects, he could at most linger around the tenth level of life.

Yet judging by this fellow's tone, he seemed fully capable of surpassing Raine in tens of thousands of years. What was this kid relying on?

If he was not simply boasting mindlessly, then this kid must still have some other trump cards.

At this thought, a shrewd glint unlike that of an ordinary Panda Man flashed through Wine Immortal's eyes. He then put on his standard honest grin and said, "Since that's the case, let's discuss the details of our cooperation."