The Right Way to Spend Money

Zhao Meng took a full three minutes to recover from his petrified state.

He looked at the soldiers rolling all over the ground, then at the calm and composed Li Zhengyang, feeling as if his entire worldview had been pinned down and rubbed into the dirt.

One man, one hand, ten minutes—and he had taken down the entire Thornhead Battalion that Zhao Meng had been so proud of.

Was that something a human could even do?

This was no longer a matter of a gap in strength. This was species-level separation.

"What are you still standing around for?! Get the hell up!" Zhao Meng came back to his senses and roared at the people on the ground.

Wang Hu was the first to struggle to his feet. Clutching the numb back of his neck, he walked up to Li Zhengyang, snapped his legs together, and sharply lowered his head.

"Deputy Battalion Commander! I, Wang Hu, am convinced! From now on, if you tell me to go east, I'll never go west!"

There was no trace of defiance left in his voice, only pure awe.

"We're convinced too!"

"Deputy Battalion Commander is awesome!"

The others gradually climbed to their feet as well, and the way they looked at Li Zhengyang had completely changed.

In the military camp, the biggest fist was the hardest truth.

Li Zhengyang had earned the respect of these proud, battle-hardened soldiers in the most direct way possible.

"You all heard that?" Li Zhengyang looked at them.

"We heard!" Hundreds of people roared in unison, their voices shaking the sky.

"From now on, whenever we go on missions, you get forty percent of the spoils!" Wang Hu shouted first.

"No, you can take all of it if you want!"

"That's right! We'll work for you!"

Li Zhengyang waved a hand, signaling for them to quiet down.

"Rules are rules. Forty percent—not a penny more, not a penny less."

He paused, then added, "Of course, if any of you find something particularly valuable for yourselves, you can sell it to me separately. I'll pay a fair price."

Everyone: "..."

Was this Deputy Battalion Commander a little too obsessed with money?

"Battalion Commander Zhao." Li Zhengyang turned to Zhao Meng.

"Here! What are your orders, Deputy Battalion Commander?" Zhao Meng jerked to attention and stood straight.

"Arrange a place for me to stay. Somewhere quiet, and the biggest one available."

"Understood! I'll clear out my battalion commander's quarters for you right away!" Zhao Meng promised, thumping his chest.

"No." Li Zhengyang shook his head. "The one next door to yours will do. Also, send me the latest list of the fortress's A-Rank and S-Rank missions."

"S-Rank?" Zhao Meng sucked in a cold breath.

A-Rank missions were already high-risk jobs that required an entire squad to risk their lives to complete.

S-Rank missions were practically suicide missions.

Fortress No. 7 might not even issue one in an entire year. Every S-Rank mission represented a massive crisis capable of threatening the fortress's safety.

This man had arrived on his first day and already wanted to challenge an S-Rank mission?

"Is there a problem?"

"No problem! I'll handle it immediately!" Zhao Meng turned and ran, afraid of being even one second too slow.

That night.

Li Zhengyang moved into the largest standalone dormitory in the camp.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, with his personal communication Terminal resting on the table in front of him.

On the screen was the mission list Zhao Meng had just sent over.

There were more than a dozen A-Rank missions, most of them involving hunting groups of Fifth-Rank Demonic Beasts or venturing deep into dangerous regions of the Northern Wasteland for reconnaissance.

As for S-Rank missions, there was only one.

[S001: Investigate the Abnormal Energy Fluctuations at Blackwind Pass]

[Mission Description: Recently, high-intensity and unstable spatial energy fluctuations have appeared in the Blackwind Pass area, 120 kilometers from the fortress. According to the Military Region Academy of Sciences' preliminary assessment, a new Spatial Rift may be forming, or a high-level Demonic Beast may be conducting some unknown ritual.]

[Mission Requirements: Enter the central region of Blackwind Pass, determine the source of the energy fluctuations, and bring back relevant data or samples.]

[Mission Rating: Extremely Dangerous. The area may contain entities at Sixth-Rank or above.]

[Mission Reward: Base reward of 3,000,000. No upper limit, depending on the value of the intelligence brought back. Additional reward: 100,000 military merit points.]

A base reward of three million.

Li Zhengyang's eyes lit up.

As for danger?

He was now a First-Rank Martial King. As long as he did not run into a Demonic Beast above Seventh-Rank, he had more than enough ability to protect himself.

Besides, he had the system.

As long as he had money, he could grow infinitely stronger.

He glanced at his account balance.

[Account Balance: 0 yuan]

He was out of money.

He hesitated for a moment.

Before setting off, he had to raise his strength to its peak.

But where would the money come from?

Li Zhengyang's gaze fell on the three items he had picked from the military region's resource vault.

He had already learned the Indestructible Golden Body Cultivation Technique.

A piece of Fifth-Rank Earth Dragon Essence.

A bottle of Martial Sect-level Origin-Consolidating Pills.

Together, those two items were worth around 1.6 million on the market.

Sell them?

To whom? Publicly selling such high-end goods inside the fortress would attract too much attention.

Li Zhengyang tapped his fingers on the table, his mind racing.

Then he suddenly thought of someone.

Xiao Ding.

The commander-in-chief of the Northern Frontier Military Region.

That old fox who had given him a five-million bonus and allowed him to pick whatever he wanted from the resource vault.

Li Zhengyang picked up the encrypted communicator and directly dialed Chief of Staff Zhang Yuan's number.

"Hello? Li Zhengyang? What is it at this hour?" Zhang Yuan's voice sounded somewhat weary.

"Chief of Staff Zhang, I want to make a deal with Commander Xiao."

Zhang Yuan froze. "What deal?"

"I have two items: Earth Dragon Essence and Origin-Consolidating Pills. I want to sell them to the military region," Li Zhengyang said directly.

Zhang Yuan fell silent on the other end.

The Earth Dragon Essence and Origin-Consolidating Pills—weren't those the things the military region had just "rewarded" him with?

This kid was turning around and selling them right back to the military region?

What kind of move was that?

"Those two items were rewarded to you by the military region, so they belong to you personally. If you want to sell them, we have no right to interfere. But... are you sure? They're rare treasures with no real market price, and they're very useful for stabilizing your cultivation."

"I need money." Li Zhengyang's reason was simple and blunt.

Zhang Yuan choked on his words. He felt like he could not quite keep up with this young man's thought process.

"How much do you want for them?"

"Market price. 1.6 million."

"Wait a moment. I need to report this to the commander." Zhang Yuan hung up.

Less than five minutes later, the communicator rang again.

"The commander agreed." Zhang Yuan's voice sounded strange. "The money will be transferred to your account immediately. As for the items... the commander said you should keep them for now. Consider them temporarily stored with you by the military region."

Li Zhengyang froze for a moment.

He would get the money, but would not have to hand over the items?

What did that mean?

"Commander Xiao's exact words were..." Zhang Yuan cleared his throat and imitated Xiao Ding's tone. "'Tell that kid the military region won't take advantage of a junior. This money is considered a loan from the military region. When he gets rich someday, he can return the items. And tell him Blackwind Pass is a damned strange place—tell him not to leave his life there.'"

Li Zhengyang held the communicator and fell silent.

He suddenly understood.

Xiao Ding, this four-star general, had known from the very beginning that he lacked money.

From the prize money in the selection competition, to the treasures from the resource vault, and now this "loan."

This big shot was investing in him in a way he could not refuse.

[Transfer Received: 1,600,000 yuan]

His phone screen lit up.

Li Zhengyang looked at the 1.6 million balance in his account and took a deep breath.

"System, recharge."