After settling the long-haired, mature woman in, Qin Ze returned to the room across the hall.
He locked the door from the inside and took out his phone to call Qin Yu.
However, he made several calls, but no one answered.
Qin Ze frowned. "Where is he?"
" Qin Yu Qin Yu, it seems we need to have a proper talk face-to-face."
Sea Capital, the headquarters building of Black Mountain Biotechnology.
The middle-aged man sat in his top-floor office, listening to a report from his assistant.
"As you instructed, we deliberately leaked some information during the transfer of Test Subject X; the fish should have taken the bait."
The middle-aged man nodded. "Remember, we can't fire the first shot."
"In this incident, we must cultivate a strong victim persona in order to maintain our position in the subsequent public discourse."
The assistant said, "I have relayed your requirements to them word for word."
"Furthermore, our funds are running low. At the current scale of our exploration of the Otherworld No. Zero, we can only sustain ourselves for a month at most."
The middle-aged man waved his hand dismissively. "Do I have to teach you how to do it? It's the same old story."
The assistant hesitated for a moment. "But... we've already had our salaries reduced four times this month, and the employees are already very resentful. If this continues, I'm afraid..."
The assistant hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
The pay cuts are not limited to Black Mountain Biotechnology, but involve the entire Chamber of Commerce.
With its hundreds of member companies, the Chamber of Commerce impacts millions of families.
By offering lower salaries, the company not only achieved its goal of increasing revenue and reducing costs, but also benefited its upstream and downstream partners in the industry chain.
A world where only cattle and horses are injured has been achieved.
The middle-aged man leaned back in his chair and said calmly, "If they don't want to do it, let them get lost. There are plenty of other people who will."
"As long as we protect the interests of our partners, the company's business will continue to thrive."
"What waves can a bunch of peasants stir up?"
The assistant nodded. "I understand."
The middle-aged man tapped his index finger on the table lightly. "Any news from that old man in the Fairness Society lately?"
The assistant replied, "No."
"There's been no news since the Snow City incident ended."
"Because of the failure of that collaboration, he seems to have lost trust in us."
The middle-aged man scoffed, "You snobbish old fool, if you ever want to associate with us again, you're begging for our services."
After saying that, the man waved his hand.
The assistant bowed slightly and left the office.
"You went too far."
The moment the door closed, that aged voice rang out in the office.
The middle-aged man said calmly, "Faced with the offensive of Law Enforcement, we must strike first; passively taking hits will only lead to heavy losses."
The aged voice said, "I'm referring to the employees."
A glint of disdain flashed in the man's eyes. "The least valuable thing on the Pan-Continent is the life of an ordinary person."
"Of course, some Low-Level Martial Artist are included as well."
The aged voice sighed, "I hope you're right."
The middle-aged man chuckled, "Don't forget, your current achievements are all thanks to the development of Otherworld No. Zero."
The other person remained silent for a long time.
The man knew when to stop and didn't press the issue further.
"I negotiated with Law Enforcement and gained another week so that we could be fully prepared."
The deadline is fast approaching, and we'll have to rely on you then.
The aged voice hesitated for a moment, then said, "I will."
"Here, here."
Don't worry, it's on me!
Just as noon was approaching, the long-haired, mature woman insisted on dragging Qin Ze out to find food.
Looking at the small building in front of him without a sign, Qin Ze couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure this is a place to eat?"
The long-haired, mature woman nodded. "Absolutely, positively, and without a doubt!"
Immediately, her tone softened, and she whispered, "Anyway, it was like this ten years ago, it shouldn't change."
Qin Ze's eyes widened. "Ten years?"
"Relax, relax! Let's go in and take a look first!"
The long-haired, mature woman walked straight in through the door.
Qin Ze shook his head and followed helplessly.
"Welcome! Ten low-grade crystals per person."
As soon as the two entered, a waiter in a sharp suit greeted them with a smile.
The long-haired, mature woman placed twenty crystals in the other person's hand, muttering, "The price has gone up..."
The waiter accepted the crystal with a smile, "The restaurant is on the second floor, please follow me."
The second floor is a large buffet restaurant.
The meat served here is all kinds of seafood.
It's important to know that with the disappearance of the Blue Flame Realm entrance on Thousand Streams Island, the price of sea beast meat has been rising higher and higher.
The variety of marine mammal meat served in the restaurant is truly remarkable.
In addition, there is a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
Their surface is shiny and they look delicious.
The long-haired, mature woman explained, "These fruits and vegetables are nourished by crystals."
Qin Ze suddenly realized why the tickets were so expensive.
This restaurant caters exclusively to martial artists, and not just any martial artists, but those with considerable skill.
Ordinary Intermediate Martial Artist can't afford this amount of money.
This resulted in very few people eating in the restaurant even though it was mealtime.
The long-haired, mature woman laid out a table full of sea monster meat and sat down opposite Qin Ze.
Weren't you curious about why I can eat so much?
Now I'll demonstrate it to you.
Consider it payment for helping me at the restaurant.
Qin Ze remained silent.
What's so interesting about watching you eat?
I've seen it in noodle shops before.
Trying to get something for free, huh?
Before Qin Ze could answer, the long-haired, mature woman had already begun to devour her food.
Qin Ze was about to look away... Bean Sack!
This time was indeed a little different from the last time we went to the noodle shop.
At this moment, Qin Ze could clearly see the flow of qi and blood within the long-haired mature woman's body, as well as her breathing rhythm.
This is tantamount to indirectly transferring power to him.
Martial artists conceal these things during their training.
The long-haired, mature woman was clearly doing it on purpose for Qin Ze to see.
When she eats, she is not simply eating; she is cultivating herself.
Seeing this, Qin Ze immediately began to imitate the cat, and at the same time said to the clones in the Local Area Network:
"Everyone, concentrate! Now, everyone practice this."
Amidst the curses and swears of the clones, each group stopped what they were doing and began to imitate the cat's movements.
With the combined efforts of the cattle and horses, Qin Ze quickly grasped the basics of this "eating" technique.
Simply put, it involves converting food into qi and blood, but the efficiency is shockingly low.
Ordinary martial artists can also achieve this by eating, but the conversion rate is even lower than that of cultivating techniques.
However, Qin Ze discovered a bug.
In some ways, this technique is similar to the Brother Devour's ability.
If combined with Brother Devour's abilities, the conversion efficiency will experience a qualitative leap; it's practically tailor-made for Brother Devour.
However, Qin Ze couldn't understand why the other party would still cultivate if the conversion efficiency was so low.
Could it be that she also possesses a devouring ability similar to Brother Devour?
The long-haired, mature woman, who was enjoying her meal, glanced up at Qin Ze and was immediately taken aback.
In just a few minutes, Qin Ze had already mastered the basics.
Even with her innate "eating" cultivation technique, she didn't progress this quickly.
Is he really a genius?
Happy Chinese New Year!