Zhao Jinglan

The next day, before dawn had fully broken, Chen Lie got up. After washing up, he left home carrying one hundred thousand Star Dollars in cash.

Arriving at the bus stop, Chen Lie inserted two one-Star Dollar coins and boarded the Flying Bus.

The Flying Bus rose a hundred meters into the air. In just forty minutes, Chen Lie arrived at the designated location.

After getting off the Flying Bus, a towering skyscraper that rose into the clouds, a full thousand meters high, came into Chen Lie's view.

This was Sunlight Tower, the headquarters of the Sunlight Group.

"Chen Lie, over here!"

Chen Lie turned his head and saw Wang Hui waving at him from afar.

"Why did you get here so early?" Chen Lie walked over to Wang Hui.

Wang Hui said, "My dad gave me two hundred thousand Star Dollars to buy some supplements suitable for me. My cousin happens to have an internal channel that can save me nearly half the cost, so I headed out early."

"Alright, then let's go in and find your cousin."

"Don't. The Sunlight Group's security is stricter than the military district's. Didn't you see that even the guards at the entrance are second-rank Martial Artists?"

"Then we wait outside?" Chen Lie asked.

"My cousin got us two foreign guest cards. There's a reception hall on the first floor of Sunlight Tower. We can wait there for a while, but we can't wander around."

Chen Lie nodded and followed Wang Hui toward the reception hall in front of Sunlight Tower.

When the two reached the entrance, two security guards immediately stepped forward to stop them. Wang Hui promptly showed them the foreign guest cards, and only then did the guards let them through.

Once inside the reception hall, Wang Hui and Chen Lie found a place to sit.

"I'll let my cousin know."

As he spoke, Wang Hui took out his Communicator and dialed a number. After saying a few words, he put the Communicator away again.

"My cousin said he'll be here soon."

Chen Lie nodded at that.

Before long, a man in his thirties entered the reception room.

The moment Wang Hui saw the man enter, he immediately stood up. "Cousin, how is it?"

"Raw Exotic Beast Meat is always available. But the supplements you need will take a little longer."

Wang Hui asked, "Roughly how long?"

The man said, "Three or four hours. I need to coordinate with staff from several departments. The supplements you need aren't many, but they're all best-selling items in high demand. Even at the Sunlight Group's internal employee price, they'll still cost eighty or ninety thousand Star Dollars."

"Fine, three or four hours it is."

"Mm. I'll bring ten jin of Raw Exotic Beast Meat along with them. Don't wander around while you're here."

"Alright." After Wang Hui nodded, he immediately introduced Chen Lie to the man. "Cousin, this is my best friend, Chen Lie."

Then he turned to Chen Lie. "This is my cousin, Meng Jing."

Wang Hui's cousin, Meng Jing, looked at Chen Lie and said, "You're the one buying Raw Exotic Beast Meat?"

Chen Lie nodded. "Yes."

Meng Jing said, "Let me remind you, Raw Exotic Beast Meat isn't something ordinary people can use. Even Martial Artists or people with exceptionally high Blood Qi Values are mostly unwilling to use it, because the energy in the meat is too violent and difficult to fully digest and absorb."

"I know. I have another use for it," Chen Lie said.

"Alright, then. Wait here for now."

With that, Meng Jing turned and left the reception room, leaving only Chen Lie and Wang Hui waiting in the empty hall.

Because of Wang Hui's cousin's instructions, neither Chen Lie nor Wang Hui moved around. They practically sat motionless in the reception room.

"Do we have to wait here every time we buy Raw Exotic Beast Meat?" Chen Lie asked.

"Not for that. Raw Exotic Beast Meat is always available. It can be taken out when the warehouse clears out waste materials. My cousin even has quite a bit of stock at home.

"The supplements I'm buying go through strict screening and can't be taken out of Sunlight Tower at all. They can only be purchased using an employee's internal eligibility.

"Every official employee of the Sunlight Group gets one chance a year to buy medicinal fluids at the internal price. It's nearly one hundred thousand Star Dollars cheaper than market price, so it counts as an employee benefit.

"After buying them, you can either use them yourself or resell them to someone else.

"Employees usually use their internal purchase eligibility at the beginning of the year. It's almost year-end now, so it's even less likely that anyone would still have theirs unused.

"But my cousin is middle management, after all. With a little maneuvering, he can get hold of the internal purchase eligibility of employees who've already left."

Chen Lie said, "Isn't your family pretty rich? A few tens of thousands of Star Dollars is practically nothing to your dad. Is this really necessary?"

Wang Hui could not help saying, "A few tens of thousands of Star Dollars might be nothing to my dad, but it's enough for me to splurge at the Virtual Experience Pavilion for three months!

"Don't worry. How could I forget you if I strike it rich? Once I finish using my Blood Essence Fluid, we'll go have a blast at the Virtual Experience Pavilion. I'll cover all your spending for half a month!"

Chen Lie nodded and smiled. Looking at Wang Hui, he seemed to see again those carefree days when he had been seventeen or eighteen in his previous life.

"Only, what a pity..."

For him, those days would probably never return.

He was no longer the person he had been in his previous life. More than fifty years of drifting through the stars had cooled his heart, while the law of the jungle in the universe, where the weak were prey to the strong, constantly reminded him to give everything he had to become stronger.

At that moment, through a transparent glass wall, Chen Lie saw a tall, cold and stunning woman suddenly approaching from outside the reception room.

"Young Miss."

The moment the tall, cold beauty appeared, several people in suits came to her side and bowed slightly.

"The group's newly launched nutritional medicinal fluid is about to hit the market. A few days ago, I asked you to contact members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group to endorse the new formula. How is that going?"

The tall woman gave a slight nod and asked in an icy voice.

"This... For some reason, we contacted two members of the Dongchuan Province Youth Talent Group over the past few days, but both refused."

"Then keep contacting other members. You can't even handle such a trivial matter. Is the group paying you people to sit around doing nothing? If you delay the launch of the medicinal fluid, resign and leave on your own!"

"Yes... yes!"

The several people beside the cold beauty responded repeatedly, yet none dared raise their heads.

The woman walked over to the transparent glass outside the reception room. Seeing Chen Lie and Wang Hui seated inside, she stopped and asked, "Do we have foreign guests visiting today?"

"Probably... probably not?"

"Probably?"

The cold beauty's frigid gaze swept over them. The person who had answered shuddered and hurriedly changed his words. "No, there are definitely no foreign guests today!"

"Then what are those two people doing in there?"

The woman's cold eyes looked through the glass at Chen Lie and Wang Hui.

The suited man immediately summoned the security guards from the entrance.

"I'm asking you, how did the two people in the reception room get in?"

Though the several suited men had been meek and submissive before the tall woman, they were full of authority before the two guards.

"Reporting, sir, those two entered as foreign guests."

"Nonsense! There are no records of foreign guests scheduled to visit the group in the next three days! Where did these foreign guests come from?"

"This... I don't know, but when the two came in, their foreign guest cards were from the rear warehouse."

The tall, cold beauty said, "Bring the rear warehouse manager here!"

"Yes!"

The suited man immediately took out his Communicator and made a call.

Everything happening outside was seen by Chen Lie and Wang Hui.

The instant Wang Hui saw the cold beauty heading toward the reception room, cold sweat immediately poured down his back. He nervously grabbed Chen Lie's clothes.

"We're done for, we're done for!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Lie had no idea what was going on.

"That woman is called Zhao Jinglan. She's the executive president of the Sunlight Group and a frequent guest on East River Province TV Station. Her cold, stunning beauty and outstanding management ability made her famous throughout the eight provinces of Chuanshan. She's known as the Pearl of the Eight Provinces. You didn't know that?" Wang Hui asked.

Chen Lie shook his head. "So what?"

It had already been more than seventy years. Other than those he had personally known, he had forgotten nearly everyone else, let alone someone he had only seen on television in his previous life.

"My cousin is only middle management. If Zhao Jinglan so much as mentions this little matter of mine, he'll probably lose his job.

"My uncle spent a fortune, pulled countless strings, and called in who knew how many favors just to get my cousin this lucrative middle-management position at the Sunlight Group.

"If my dad finds out that my desire to pocket a few tens of thousands of Star Dollars in kickbacks got my cousin fired, won't he skin me alive?"

Chen Lie immediately said, "Isn't your dad a municipal political and business committee member? Can't he just put in a word?"

"I honestly can't tell whether you're making fun of my dad or thinking too highly of him. This is the Sunlight Group, man. It's a giant of Dongchuan Province. The nutritional products and medicinal fluids it produces sell like hotcakes in more than ten provinces across Blue Star.

"When it comes to the Sunlight Group's internal affairs, forget my dad, a mere deputy municipal official. Even a high-ranking deputy provincial official might not get the Sunlight Group to give him that kind of face."

Unlike Wang Hui, Chen Lie did not panic. He merely nodded thoughtfully.