Miraculous Forger of the Collapse Chapter 36

"But the lab has no budget left, so there's nothing to deduct."

"Hm? Your lab is that huge—where did all the budget go?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. In any case, we may have to wait until next quarter before we can give you the Soul Steel," Dr. Mobius said.

"How long is this 'next quarter' you people keep talking about?"

"Two months from now."

"Two months is enough for me to save the world!"

"Or you could invest in the lab. With sufficient funding, we can deduct the budget in exchange for Soul Steel. Soul Steel isn't for sale—money can't buy allocation slots," Dr. Mobius said, turning to Chen Li.

"Good grief, so you were trying to scam me into investing?" Chen Li stared at Dr. Mobius in shock.

"I'll owe you one," Dr. Mobius said as she looked at the demon flesh that had already been placed inside the cultivation chamber.

Dr. Mobius had no choice, because Chen Li's demon flesh had not been part of her original plans. In other words, researching it was another additional expense.

Although Moth Chasing Flame had symbolically increased the lab's budget after hearing about the project, it was not enough.

Dr. Mobius could understand that.

The higher-ups of Moth Chasing Flame had found through their research on the Longevity Pill that powers from two different worlds were difficult to reconcile, so they held no expectations for Dr. Mobius's research.

"...Fine. But I have a condition as well." Chen Li clenched his fist before speaking.

"What condition?"

"I want your..."

"You're even interested in me? What kind of taste do you have?" Dr. Mobius looked at Chen Li in surprise.

"Your patents for the next two quarters!"

"Deal. Pleasure doing business with you."

"Not pleasurable at all." Chen Li reluctantly shook hands with Dr. Mobius.

"And you once promised to forge a scalpel for me. The payment was also one portion of Soul Steel, and the budget for that..." Dr. Mobius trailed off.

"You want me to pay for that too?"

"Yes. Ask for whatever you need, and I'll do my best to satisfy you," Dr. Mobius nodded.

"Come, swear to it." Chen Li took out a Contract Coin and held it toward Dr. Mobius. "I can provide you with sufficient funding, including but not limited to the budget for these two portions of Soul Steel. As for what you can offer in return, think it through before you answer. All your future patents, as well as every item you create whose ownership you can decide, will belong to me! Think carefully before replying. I'm serious."

"As long as you can provide me with sufficient funding whenever I need it, all my future patents and all experimental products whose ownership I can decide independently will belong to you," Dr. Mobius said casually.

Dr. Mobius did not care how much money her experiments could make. She only cared whether they would allow her to pursue infinity.

"Deal." Chen Li nodded.

The coin instantly emitted a golden radiance, shining upon Dr. Mobius's face as she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

"What is this?"

"A Contract Coin. Once an agreement is reached, it will be subject to Force Execution. Dear Dr. Mobius, you'd better not break the contract." Chen Li immediately returned the Contract Coin to the Omniscient Archive.

This Contract Coin recognized agreements, not people. If he accidentally made some strange agreement, even Chen Li would suffer for it. That was why it had to be put away immediately after use.

"..."

"What's with that expression? Don't tell me you were planning to trick me and never intended to honor the agreement?" Chen Li eyed Dr. Mobius suspiciously.

"Of course not. I, Mobius, keep my word."

"Good." Chen Li nodded, then turned and left.

"What are you going to do?"

"Go make money for you. What a sin..."

"Dr. Mobius, why do you look so unhappy?" Only after Chen Li left did Elysia move closer to Dr. Mobius.

"It's not that I'm unhappy. With such a wealthy benefactor, the lab's budget problems will be solved from now on. I was just thinking..." Dr. Mobius frowned slightly.

"Thinking about what?" Elysia asked curiously.

"No, it's nothing." Dr. Mobius had indeed never intended to break the agreement, but she had only just realized something.

What if—Dr. Mobius meant, what if... what if she experimented on herself?

Would that make her an experimental product she had created herself?

As it happened, Dr. Mobius had always been accustomed to testing experiments on herself first before carrying them out on others.

"Probably... not?"

Thoughts on Going Premium + Unlimited Reward Bounty

The premium announcement is here~~

It goes premium tomorrow. This newbie who has written over ten million words is here to ask for everyone's support.

Don't worry about whether I'm really a newbie—just tell me, is the New Year new or not?

After writing over ten million words in fewer than a thousand days for my previous book, I took five months off, so I've more or less recovered.

Writing books really was baffling.

Writing stories was a very enjoyable thing, and having comments made it even better. But writing itself was exhausting.

Especially in winter, when I didn't want to crawl out of bed. I really did prefer spring and autumn.

So... give me a monthly pass and help me defeat the Blanket Demon!

Ahem, from the moment this chapter goes live, the unlimited bounty will begin.

An extra chapter for every 200 monthly passes.

An extra chapter for every 200 blades.

An extra chapter for every 20,000 Cat Biscuit tips.

A Gold Chest (Everyone Rejoices) adds 10 chapters.

A Silver Chest (Everyone Rejoices) adds 3 chapters.

One chapter is 2,000 words. Sometimes I'll post larger chapters of three or four thousand words, so you can just calculate the extra chapters based on the total word count.

One vote from you, one vote from me, and the author debuts tomorrow!

One blade from you, one blade from me, and the author definitely won't write tragedy.

Cat Biscuits... I can't come up with anything for that.

(Titi promises to write content everyone will enjoy and create a story with the happiest ending possible. That was my original intention in writing novels.)

Tomorrow is the much-anticipated premium release burst update!

The updates definitely won't disappoint everyone!

See you tomorrow, mua~~

Moth Chasing Flame Paradise Plan, Activate!

"Don't look so miserable. You gained longevity, I gained you—everyone has a bright future." Chen Li patted the shoulder of a Moth Chasing Flame executive.

"Yes, yes, Lord Chen Li. I'm just so grateful to you." The middle-aged man gritted his teeth as he looked at Chen Li.

"Don't look at me like that. Didn't you agree to it yourself? I provide you with ten Longevity Pills, and from now on, you have to listen to everything I say." Chen Li sounded rather innocent.

"..." The Moth Chasing Flame executive felt like crying, but no tears came.

Yes, the executive admitted that when faced with the temptation of ten Longevity Pills and Chen Li's childish demand, he had thought he had this in the bag!

Once he got the Longevity Pills, so what if he turned on him afterward?

You're some outsider. What could you possibly do to me? I'd eat the table right in front of me if you could!

Did he not understand the weight of being a local powerhouse?

And then it backfired.

When Chen Li pulled out over a hundred clauses of precautions and orders afterward, the executive was dumbfounded.

Forced Transaction Coin was absurdly powerful!

It was especially suited for dealing with high-ranking executives who were weak themselves.

Since the artifact stated that the more relatively equal the transaction was, the more effectively it could force the other party to carry it out, that also meant it didn't need to be quite so equal when dealing with weaklings. Like the executives in front of him.

As long as the coin emitted its golden glow, it meant it would work.

Chen Li was testing the coin's limits, but so far, he had yet to see it reach them.

However, when facing unconventional lifeforms like Star Gods or Gensokyo's Dragon God, Chen Li would choose to be more cautious.

The Forced Transaction Coin, constructed from more than a dozen Miracle Crystals, had its limits.

Miracles were not free. To achieve greater miracles, more crystals had to be invested.

Only after his profession level rose to Level 2 did Chen Li learn that artifacts actually had star ratings.

An artifact could only be considered a One-star Artifact if its traits were properly combined, it consumed over 100 Miracle Crystals, or it had a chance of directly opposing the entire world.

Beginner artifacts made use of the world's rules. Star-rated artifacts opposed the world's rules.

In other words, aside from Pale Justice, every artifact Chen Li currently possessed counted as a beginner's work.

Pale Justice could be considered a One-star Artifact in terms of effect, but because it had been enhanced during his first artifact forging, it did not count as a true One-star Artifact.

Thinking about it carefully, Pale Justice could summon knights from different worlds, as well as drop Knight's Training and obtain Inherent Skills from it. There really was a qualitative gap between it and the artifacts Chen Li had forged later.

Chen Li had originally thought he simply hadn't done well enough afterward. Now he understood—it was because he was poor.

Still, there was no need to worry about beginner artifacts being too fragile... Even if a beginner artifact couldn't oppose the world, couldn't it oppose you?

The world did not refer to a single planet or civilization, but to all things.

Even gods appeared incredibly insignificant before the world.

"Alright, your next job is to trick the other Moth Chasing Flame executives into coming to make fair trades with me as well," Chen Li said to Executive No. 1.

"Your trades really are fair," Executive No. 1 remarked, using an honorific even as he sighed.

"Without me, where else would you find a way to extend your life by a hundred years? It may be fake medicine, but its effects are no worse," Chen Li said irritably.

"What? They're still fake pills?"

"Didn't I find that the genuine Longevity Pills cost a fortune and didn't work very well? So I cut a few corners on the material costs. But don't worry, the effect is the same." Chen Li spread his hands.

"..." What could Senior Executive No. 1 do? He could only resign himself to it.

"Oh, right. Go get eight Longevity Pills for operational purposes. Let Moth Chasing Flame obtain more resources and raise Moth Chasing Flame's standing," Chen Li added casually.

"Huh?" The senior executive froze for a moment, then lowered his head to look at the ten Longevity Pills he had just received.

Including these ten Longevity Pills, there were currently only thirteen Longevity Pills in circulation in this world.

So Chen Li's meaning was obvious.

Not only were they fake, but he could only keep two of them. That hurt too much!

"Alright, stop complaining. You should be grateful that I'm thinking about saving the world now. Otherwise, I'd have killed you long ago." Seeing that the senior executive was still thoroughly unconvinced, Chen Li spoke pleasantly.

To avoid accidentally hurting good people, Chen Li had specifically summoned the Peaceful Longbow back to check the sin values of Moth Chasing Flame's upper management.

Then Chen Li realized that not exterminating their entire clans already counted as kindness on his part.

Especially after Chen Li took control of the man and actually received Approval of Noble Morality, Chen Li knew there had been no need to summon the Peaceful Longbow at all.

It was only because Chen Li currently had too few utility-type artifacts. If he had more artifacts, why would he need them? He would have started slaughtering everyone already, and even slapped the Finality in the sky while he was at it.

"Yes, Boss. I will carry out your orders without fail." Senior Executive No. 1 instantly stood up straight.