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Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Ren Mo: aka Master Ren. A mecha master making full manually-piloted mecha.
Fan Xiangnan: ML’s second-in-command.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC, currently attending intermediate college.
Xiang Kun: Chu Yan’s mortal enemy. Xiang Hui’s younger brother. Mecha manufacturing student.
Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Long Baorou: the President’s daughter.
Princess An Leen: Imperial Princess. Infatuated with Chu Rong.
Prince An Tyn: Imperial Prince, An Lin’s twin brother. (fourth in line) Advertisement
In Room 011, Xiang Hui, who had watched the whole show, couldn’t sit still. Staring at the secondary-mutated red tin ore on the stage, his expression became equal part gloomy and equal part frantic. With hitched breath, he said, “The Chu family discovered a new mineral treatment method.”
Xiang Kun, who followed him, opened his eyes with surprise, and suddenly thought of something, saying, “It’s Fan Qi! I heard that Fan Qi finally bought a custom-made weapon for his custom mecha some time ago. It was a sword and its blade was this shade of purple! Last time, Famous Brand also auctioned something similar too!”
“I know,” Xiang Hui’s expression grew heavier as he said, “That mecha model weapon was apparently made by Master Ren’s unknown young apprentice. This kind of design and manufacturing requires a long time, so this means the Fan family has long colluded with the Chu family!”
This was definitely not good news! The Fan family was one of the best-developed emerging families in recent years. Their business was very extensive, and their connection even more so. To make matters worse, the Fan family was engaged in the auction business. They could find rare materials everyday. What the Chu family needed was exactly those rare materials for repairing their war flagship. With the help of the Fan family, the searching speed would be much faster!
Once the Chu family ’s flagship was successfully repaired…
To put it simply: even now, when Chu Rong was in a desperate situation, the Chu family’s army was still the strongest. With their flagship repaired, the Xiang-Wei family would basically be left in the dust!
Xiang Kun’s thoughts still lingered on the “unknown apprentice of Master Ren”. A bold guess popped out in his mind. “Ge, could it be… it’s that Exoplanet Native? His learning speed in mecha manufacturing is… very fast.”
–Actually, it’s not just fast. His products were all top-quality, and it made other people boil in envy!
“No,” Xiang Hui glanced at him and touched the bidder, saying, “The President arranged for all participants to get a medical examination before that festival. I have seen the physical examination data of that Exoplanet Native. His spiritual power was basically non-existent back then. Not only that, his body has stopped developing. He truly had a third-level disability.”
“Stop developing?” Xiang Kun mumbled out loud. Thinking of Qiao Zhiya’s short stature and his inability to grow taller, it made sense. He asked in surprise, “Ge, you mean he’s only this tall in this life? Even if he has awakened his spiritual strength, with an S-level physique?”
Xiang Hui nodded. His will firmed. He began to bid directly – no matter what, this batch of secondary-mutated red tin ore must be bought! They must dig up the new mineral processing methods!
There were many people who shared the same idea with him. The Wei family in room 055, the You family in room 044, Long Baorou who secretly attended the auction in room 077, and many other families scattered in all rooms. All of them picked up the bidding buttons to participate in this bidding war.
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“500 million, 600 million… 3 billion… is that 5 billion? Is room 011 crazy? Fuck, it even reached 5.5 billion!” Chu Yan was stunned. Then, he squinted his eyes in happiness and rubbed his hands like a fly about to enjoy its meal. “Hey Qiao, let’s make a guess on how much money you’ll get from the dividends this time!”
Qiao Zhiya was also confused by the madness of these people. Shaking his head silly, he felt the increasingly absurd number became meaningless.
Room No. 022, An Tyn, who had been silent, suddenly picked up the bidder.
“Ge?” An Leen turned to look at him.
“That new mutated material, all the super-class attributes… the Federal has something that our Empire doesn’t know at all. We must get it back home for research. Maybe we can reverse-engineer it.” and we must shoot it back for research.” An Tyn said as he inputted a higher number in the bidder. He also instructed the servants behind him, saying, “Go relay this news – that is, a new weapon material has emerged in the Federation, resulting in all super-class attributes. We need more money, we must win this.”
The servant nodded, stepping back to the corner and contacting the Empire.
The number on the price tag changed again and again. The auctioneer saw the hustle and bustle, so he decided to call a mecha demonstrator to show the power of the twin knives. Then, he put the promotional video on repeat. With a large smile, he said, “This is a model weapon made of secondary-mutated red tin ore. You can look at this power. If you don’t snatch it now, the next available batch might be next year! After all, the processing method is very tedious and difficult, and the stock is severely limited.”
So the bids of the guests were even crazier.
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Chu Yan froze as he tried to eat melon seeds. With a smug face, he sighed dramatically. “Aiyah, so sly, so sly indeed. This weapon and ore can be done in 3 days at home. That geezer Master Ren actually took out the twin knives for advertisement. An old fox indeed.”
“You eat less seeds. We still have dinner, don’t be too full,” Qiao Zhiya chided as he took away Chu Yan’s snacks. He glanced at the stage, and saw that there’s only room 011 and room 022 who were still keen on fighting. Feeling numb, he whispered, “How can things escalate this high…”
–After all, those secondary-mutated red tin ores weren’t that expensive…
Chu Yan obediently put down the seeds. He picked up a fruit, but didn’t eat it; he just tossed it around from hand to hand. “The people in room 022 is the Imperial Princess, probably also her twin brother. As for room 011, I can probably guess. There’s only one faction who is hell-bent on getting those ores. Who else if not for the Xiang family?”
‘The Xiang Family?’
Qiao Zhiya thought of Xiang Kun. Looking at the constantly-escalating number, his ears twitched.
“Damn!” Xiang Hui bid again, his eyes flushed slightly with ire. “This group of ignorant Empire Baboons!”
As his brother cursed, the internal connector in the room suddenly rang. Xiang Kun took a look and frowned, and said, “Ge, it’s a communication request from room 022.”
“Reject it!” Xiang Hui answered without thinking. He outbid the current offer again. “Secondary-mutated red tin ores must not fall into the hands of the Empire. They sent a communication request to make an agreement with us. There is only one set of mecha weapons here. Without those and the ores, we can’t tell the difference!”
In fact, Xiang Kun also felt that those Empire people were very annoying, especially the haughty and arrogant princess. So he didn’t hesitate to hang up the request from room 022.
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“The other side refused.” The servant looked at An Tyn, who was still bidding.
An Tyn frowned, hesitated, and put down the bidder.
“Ge?” An Leen didn’t expect that he would give up directly. Based on her understanding of her brother, this seemed unusual.
“We can’t win this,” An Tyn’s hand on the table slowly curled up in a fist. “This is the Federation’s territory. We absolutely can’t beat them. Since we know that the ores come from the Chu family, then we can just target them. An Leen, we need you to win Chu Rong over.”
An Leen frowned. But then, her brows quickly relaxed and nodded. “Ge, I will. I promise I will help you to take the throne.”
An Tyn heard her firm promise and calmed down. Raising his hand, he gently patted his sister’s head. Instantly, the cold prince was gone, replaced by a caring and gentle brother. “Good girl.”
The last batch of secondary-mutated red tin ores were won by the Xiang family at an extraordinarily high price of more than 10 billion yuan. This price made a dent in the Xiang family’s liquidated assets. After winning the bid, Xiang Hui didn’t even attend the evening banquet, and left Xiang Kun in a hurry.
Knowing this, Chu Rong tapped his finger on the table as he said, “An Leen and An Tyn will definitely stay at the banquet to network with the Federation’s dignitaries. Let’s go home, we will not join them.”
Fan Xiangnan nodded and opened the door for him.
Because they didn’t want to meet anyone on the way home, they took a long, detouring path. When they approached room 033 near the corridor, the door of room 033 suddenly opened, and two familiar figures came out of it.
“Ah, the Xiang family actually left. Bo~ring!” Chu Yan stretched his back and looked content after watching shit hits the fan.
Qiao Zhiya followed him, and felt his stomach was a little empty. He asked, “Are you going to the banquet? The staff just said that there will be a lot of delicious food at the banquet.”
“Of course, there’s no reason not to go. I’ll take you to see the night view too. Let me tell you, the view of the starry sky from here is just magical, and that pictu–”
“And what picture?”
Hearing Chu Rong’s voice coming from behind them, Chu Yan and Qiao Zhiya froze. Both youth’s heads turned around mechanically.
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Chu Rong was standing two meters away from them. His expression was oppressive, with narrowed eyes and murderous glare. His posture screamed “danger”. There seemed to be a visible black aura coming from behind him.
Chu Yan was astonished, as if he saw the King of Hell. Purely on reflex, he reached out to close the room’s door.
But it was too late, and Chu Rong, who realized his intention, immediately walked over, and stretched his arms to block the door that was about to be closed. He peered inside, and glanced into the room’s trash can. It was full of snack packaging and melon shells. Seeing this, he only said, “Oh.”
Chu Yan’s body trembled, while Qiao Zhiya’s ears quivered.
Chu Rong’s sight fell on the room’s number again, and he said lightly, “033… 5 billion for a mecha? You are very good.”
Chu Yan & Qiao Zhiya: “…” They were found out. Their life was now finished.
“What did you eat at noon?”
Chu Rong suddenly changed the subject, holding Qiao Zhiya’s quivering ear with one hand, and pressing one hand on Chu Yan’s shoulder with a little force.
“W-we ate a steak! Qiao also eats a big lobster! We are so happy to eat!” Chu Yan somehow managed to answer smoothly despite his stiffness. He took out his invitation and said, “Erge, Qiao and I were sent by Master Ren. See, we have this invitation from him! He said that Qiao was bored at home every day, so I should take him out to have fun, so I brought him here. Qiao, you said the scenery here is good or not?”
“Yeah, good, very good,” Qiao Zhiya wanted to nod, but his ears were held, so he didn’t dare to move. He only looked up to Chu Rong, but because of the close distance, his chest-height head could only glance at the Marshal’s chin. It was a handsome-looking chin. “Chu Rong, I-I have helped you make money. N-no money was spent, really.”
He said in truth. That batch of secondary-mutated red tin ore was really sold for a lot of money.
He tried to move his ears that were held, so he tilted his head towards it. “Do you like using daggers? I’ll go back and make one for you! I’ll make t-two, okay?” After he said that, Qiao Zhiya suddenly was looking forward to actually making it.
Chu Rong’s cold expression could not be maintained. He frowned and looked down at him, rubbed his ears and released his hold. “I don’t need you to make a weapon. Take a rest when you have time. Don’t eat too many snacks like this.”
“Understand, this time it’s because the dim sum here is so delicious…” Qiao Zhiya replied, a little embarrassed, and raised his hand to touch his stomach. He usually didn’t eat snacks very much, but unknowingly today… he became so gluttonous.
“I’m sorry,” He whispered, then took out a box of packed snacks from the storage ring and handed it to the Marshal. “This is the best, you can have it.”
“Are you packing it for me?” Chu Rong frowned, rubbed his hair again, and took the snack. “If you like snacks here, buy more and bring them home for later.”
Qiao Zhiya shook his head, took a step back and looked up at his face. Seeing that Chu Rong was looking at himself gently, his face subconsciously relaxed also, eyes fluttering. “No, you don’t have to buy it specially… you are also coming to the auction, so are you going to the banquet now?”
Chu Rong nodded, shook his head, and said, “No, but I’ll stay with you.”
“Then, it’s better if we go home now. I want to go home,” Qiao Zhiya immediately thoughtfully said.
“How about we watch the night view before going back?”
“Mm, let’s go.”
The two walked forward as they talked, leaving Chu Yan standing still, stunned, afraid to do anything. He mumbled, “This, this is all right?”
–No tantrums, no punishment, not even harsh words. Just, just fine? It’s all rainbow and sunshine with a hint of pink bubbles??
Since when his Erge was so good at talking!
“Let’s go and see the night scene,” Fan Xiangnan patted his shoulder, jolting him awake. They followed Chu Rong along as he said, “I didn’t expect that the Marshal would actually be with Qiao… Don’t you think this is great?”
Chu Yan glanced at him with a loss on his face, and his heart was full of vicissitudes.
‘Awesome! My current family status is not as good as those fat rabbits raised by Qiao!’