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 yuan in cash.

At the bus stop, Chen Lie inserted a two-star-yuan coin and boarded a flying bus.

The flying bus rose a hundred meters into the air. In just forty minutes, Chen Lie arrived at his designated destination.

After getting off the bus, Chen Lie saw a towering skyscraper that reached into the clouds, standing a thousand meters tall.

This was Sunflare Tower, headquarters of the Sunflare Group.

"Chen Lie, over here!"

Chen Lie turned and saw Wang Hui waving to him from afar.

"Why are you here so early?" Chen Lie asked as he walked over.

Wang Hui said, "My dad gave me two hundred thousand star yuan to buy some supplements suited for me. My cousin happens to have internal channels that can save me nearly half the cost, so I left early."

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

"Don't. Sunflare Group's security is even tighter than the military district's. Didn't you see that the guards at the entrance are all second-rank martial artists?"

"Then we wait outside?" Chen Lie asked.

"My cousin got the two of us a foreign guest card. There's a reception hall on the first floor of Sunflare Tower. Let's wait there, but don't wander around."

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

When they reached the entrance, two guards immediately came over to stop them. Wang Hui promptly showed them the foreign guest card, and only then did the guards let them pass.

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 it away again.

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

Chen Lie nodded at that.

Before long, a man around thirty years old entered the reception room.

The moment Wang Hui saw him, he stood up. "Cousin, how's it going?"

"There's always native exotic beast meat available, but the supplements you need will take a while longer."

Wang Hui asked, "About how long?"

The man said, "Three or four hours. I need to coordinate with employees from several departments. You don't need much, but the supplements you want are all best-selling, high-demand products. Even at Sunflare Group's internal employee prices, they'll still cost eighty to ninety thousand star yuan."

"Fine, three or four hours it is."

"Mm. I'll bring ten jin of native exotic beast meat along with them when the time comes. Don't wander around here."

"All right." After nodding, Wang Hui immediately introduced him. "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. "You're the one buying native exotic beast meat?"

Chen Lie nodded. "Yes."

Meng Jing said, "Let me warn you, ordinary people can't use native exotic beast meat. Even martial artists, or people with exceptionally high vitality and blood values, are mostly unwilling to use it. The energy in the meat is too violent, making it difficult to fully digest and absorb."

"I know. I'm buying it for another purpose," Chen Lie said.

"All right. You two 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 native exotic beast meat?" Chen Lie asked.

"Not for that. Native 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 stocked at home.

"The supplements I'm buying go through strict inspections, so there's no way to take them out of Sunflare Tower. They can only be purchased through internal employee privileges.

"Every official Sunflare Group employee gets one chance a year to purchase medicinal liquid at internal prices, nearly one hundred thousand star yuan cheaper than market prices. It's an employee benefit.

"Once bought, they can use it themselves or resell it to someone else.

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

"But my cousin is middle management, after all. With a little maneuvering, he can get the purchase eligibility of employees who have already resigned."

"Isn't your family quite wealthy?" Chen Lie said. "A few tens of thousands of star yuan is less than pocket change to your dad, isn't it? Is this really necessary?"

Wang Hui could not help saying, "A few tens of thousands of star yuan might be less than pocket change to my dad, but for me, it's enough to splurge at the virtual experience center for three months!

"Don't worry. If your buddy ever gets rich, how could I forget you? Once I'm done using the vitality-blood primal liquid, we'll go have a blast at the virtual experience center. I'll cover all your expenses for half a month!"

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

Unfortunately...

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 that universe of the strong devouring the weak 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 beautiful woman suddenly walk past outside the reception room.

"President Zhao."

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

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

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

"Well... for some reason, we've contacted two members of the East River Province Youth Genius Group over the past few days, but both refused."

"Then continue contacting the other members. Can't you even handle such a trivial matter? Is the group paying you people to sit around and eat for free? If you delay the launch of the medicinal liquid, resign and leave!"

"Yes... yes!"

The people beside the cold beauty answered repeatedly, but none dared raise their heads.

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

"Probably... probably not?"

"Probably?"

The cold beauty swept them with an icy gaze. The person who had answered shuddered and hurriedly changed his words. "No, there are absolutely no foreign guests visiting today!"

"Then what are those two doing in there?"

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

The sharply dressed man immediately summoned the guards from the entrance.

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

Though the sharply dressed men were meek and deferential before the tall woman, they were imposing 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?"

"Well... I don't know, but the foreign guest card they showed when entering came from the rear warehouse."

The tall, cold beauty said, "Call the rear warehouse manager over!"

"Yes!"

The sharply dressed man immediately took out his communicator and made a call.

Chen Lie and Wang Hui saw everything happening outside.

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

"We're done for!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Lie asked, confused.

"That woman is Zhao Jinglan, the executive president of Sunflare Group. She's a frequent guest on East River Province TV. Her cold, stunning looks and exceptional management abilities have made her famous throughout the eight provinces of Chuan and Shaan. She's known as the Pearl of the Eight Provinces. You don't know her?" Wang Hui asked.

Chen Lie shook his head. "So what?"

It had already been more than seventy years. Other than the people he had known well, he had forgotten almost everyone else, much less people he had only seen on television in his previous life.

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

"My uncle spent a fortune and called in who knows how many favors and connections just to get my cousin this lucrative middle-management position at Sunflare Group.

"If my dad finds out I cost my cousin his job because I wanted to pocket a few tens of thousands of star yuan, won't he skin me alive?"

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

"I'm starting to wonder whether you're making fun of my dad or overestimating him. This is Sunflare Group, man. It's a behemoth in East River Province. The nutritional medicinal liquids it produces are best-sellers in more than ten provinces across Blue Star.

"When it comes to Sunflare Group's internal affairs, forget my dad, who's merely a minor deputy municipal official. Even a high-ranking deputy provincial official might not get Sunflare Group to do him that favor."

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