Why are you so bad!

An epic victory naturally called for rewarding the army.

Even if the Seven Cities Allied Defense had done little more than cheer from the sidelines and lend a hand as atmosphere-makers from top to bottom, after Ji Jue took down Renut, they had still launched a full-scale assault, thoroughly crushing the Venom Fleet's remaining forces and finishing the cleanup.

Even so, the casualties had been severe.

After all, Chosen Ones were few and far between, and those who existed were mostly bottom-feeders. Anyone with even a little future ahead of them—who would come to the Seven Cities Allied Defense to waste their days? But today, the future had arrived. Hope had arrived. Money had arrived too!

From precious metals to weapons, equipment, and even Alchemical Creations, Minkler took not a penny from the spoils. With a grand wave of his hand, he distributed everything. Officers ate meat, cannon fodder drank soup; the entire fleet, from top to bottom, was more festive than during the holidays. Even the pensions were paid in full, with Minkler personally covering double the amount.

After nightfall, they drank and sang wildly. Shipload after shipload of prostitutes was hauled into the base, and the debauchery was truly eye-opening. It was enough to make one suspect that these people were determined to eat themselves to death, drink themselves to death, and fuck themselves to death—living for today without a thought for tomorrow.

Ji Jue watched it all coldly. In the Workshop he had chosen, he calmly carried out the final tasks, sorting and processing the materials into storage before turning back to restore Juque.

And amid this sea of celebration, furious shouting and reprimands came through the Workshop speakers from the meeting room.

No one knew how much anger the Chopra Family's elders and clan heads had