Chapter 528: Bring the Money

Chapter 528: Bring the Money

Annie and Irene knew about the matter of looking for Loris, so Zheng Yichen couldn’t agree with them saying he was being mysterious.

“I’m not talking about that,” Annie glanced at the Magic Weapon Summoning Book in Zheng Yichen’s hand. “Aside from that? You’ve been opening passages to your Personal Space here quite often recently.”

“Well, if other things count as mysterious, then there are plenty,” Zheng Yichen rubbed his chin. “Making bodies for the Ghost Maids is one. The buildup for my various projects is another. Also, recently discovering someone special in the Church counts as one. The series of transactions with the Church is another too. There are just too many.”

As for making bodies for the Ghost Maids, how should he put it? Zheng Yichen had always worked on it like a thief, after all, those molds from the Ghost Maids were really… something. Displaying them openly felt like… getting caught by a live-in girlfriend while looking at explicit pictures online. Even if he could joke about it freely, deep down he still felt a bit awkward, huh.

The follow-up work for the projects was currently underway. The person in the Church naturally was Ti Xiya. Dan Marina had already tipped off Zheng Yichen through the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. As for the transactions, that was a major reason Zheng Yichen frequently opened cracks to his Personal Space.

Stuffing things in and shipping goods.

“Tell us about the person in the Church.”

“Oh, that. The details need to be kept secret,” Zheng Yichen filed his nails. “Especially from the two of you.”

Dan Marina had stressed this point to Zheng Yichen. Only the two of them needed to know the details. As for deeper information, not only should Annie and Irene not know, but even Loris shouldn’t be told for now. If he wanted to talk about it, it would have to wait until after the Containment Zone disappeared.

“That woman Dan Marina instructed you.”

“Yep.”

“…Seems you’ve been getting along well with her lately,” Irene gave Zheng Yichen an extra glance, waved her hand to pull over a chair, sat down, and said while holding a drink. Irene didn’t really like drinks like these. Compared to flavored things, Irene preferred water.

“Not too bad. Her body is just lying around here anyway,” Zheng Yichen shrugged. The fact that Dan Marina was sleeping in the Underground Base here was known to all the Witches present. “Let’s not talk about this. Let’s discuss some serious business later.”

After replying to the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association’s message, Zheng Yichen put away the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. “Before that, how about you two get some sleep?”

“Sleep? Sleep is just to recover mental and physical fatigue. That level of effect doesn’t exist for us anymore…”

“I mean mental drive, mental drive! As thinking beings, you used to be human, right? Doesn’t it feel weird not sleeping?” Seeing Annie still not caring about the sleep issue, Zheng Yichen really wanted to emphasize Loris. Her sleep schedule was quite punctual. Unlike these two, each of them was super immortal cultivators… no, god cultivators!

“We had it in the past, but now it’s just like this. Sleep really isn’t necessary. When there’s nothing to do, it’s a habitual behavior. When there’s work, it’s just behavior that wastes efficiency… But we haven’t slept for over ten days either. A few hours of sleep would be fine.”

Zheng Yichen waved the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and tossed out a soft, comfortable large bed. Constantly making these two Witches sleep wasn’t because Zheng Yichen had any additional improper thoughts. It was just that knowing they hadn’t rested or slept for over ten days, he was genuinely a bit worried. It made him feel like some black-hearted Boss, forcing employees to work non-stop without rest, which weighed on his conscience just thinking about it.

He could think this in his heart, but saying it out loud risked getting hit.

Also, two pretty, petite Witches sharing a bed… Zheng Yichen had just pulled out a camera when he got hit squarely by an air hammer, flying straight out of the Laboratory. The person who cast the Magic controlled it masterfully.

Just like a martial arts master knocking someone away without injuring them, Zheng Yichen flew out quickly but didn’t feel like he’d been hit head-on by a train. Tch, if they didn’t want him to watch, then fine. Putting away the camera, Zheng Yichen took out the Magic Weapon Summoning Book again and started chatting with the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association.

It was mainly about matters concerning the Border Great Wall. The benefits were given to the Potion Masters Association for them to use as a stepping stone for deeper cooperation with the Potion Department. What Zheng Yichen was doing now was handing over all his previously abandoned plans—ideas he’d shelved because of new thoughts—to the other party.

After Zheng Yichen’s modifications, these plans wouldn’t reveal anything. Of course, whatever results came from the research would include a share for Zheng Yichen. According to his calculations, the effects of these plans were quite good, at least much better than those of the Magic Potions on the market. Although, the Magic Potions Zheng Yichen created often had some deviation in effects, but he expressed that once he accumulated enough knowledge of Potionology, he would be able to conduct research more accurately.

As for complete accuracy? That was impossible. After all, his abilities were what they were. Some cases that would fail for others would succeed in his hands, and upon succeeding, extra effects might appear without him even knowing.

Recently, with more tasks at hand and even more to do in the future, finding subcontractors was necessary. Zheng Yichen needed to fill up his Library…

“My goodness, what kind of freak is this dragon?” Looking at the plans Zheng Yichen sent over, the research progress varied; all were incomplete. But the starting point was there; they just needed to continue the follow-up research from there, since the complete plans existed. The goals were very clear, making subsequent research easier.

Tasks with goals were simpler than those without. But the problem was… Zheng Yichen had sent over a dozen plans at once, and each plan was for a new type of Magic Potion. That was just too impressive… After the initial surprise, the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association felt a bit conflicted. So it wasn’t just among humans that particularly freakish geniuses appeared… other races had them too.

In the past, there weren’t any because the numbers were too small, so the probability was low. Now that one had appeared, it just made people feel all kinds of “wow.” Such Talent made him uncertain whether Emily, after growing for a few more decades, could reach Zheng Yichen’s level.

Could she? If Zheng Yichen were an ordinary person, perhaps she could catch up. However, if both had the same Talent and put in the same effort, then whether she could catch up wouldn’t depend on capability but on luck. Perhaps the breakthrough lay in the unorthodox Magic Potion research methods Zheng Yichen used.

But Emily’s Talent didn’t need to take such an unconventional path. Besides, why would she compete with a dragon? So… better not compare.

He recorded these plans. Barring any surprises, these plans would be the first in-depth collaborative work between the Potion Masters Association and the Potion Department. Once results were achieved from researching these plans, Zheng Yichen would take them, but they would also have a share and the right to use the research results.

That was sufficient. As for Zheng Yichen taking these results and collaborating with the Purple Vine Guild or whatever, the sale of Magic Potions wasn’t limited to just the Purple Vine Guild. Since they had the right to use them, they could also find cooperating guilds to sell them. Zheng Yichen wouldn’t say much about that.

At the same time, the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association vaguely felt that these were some groundwork Zheng Yichen was laying. This was just what he brought out as an introduction, something to further demonstrate his capabilities. Later, he might want to do other things.

Shifting perspective to the Town, Zheng Yichen still hadn’t waited for Loris to arrive. It wasn’t that Zheng Yichen particularly wanted to come here, but Oro had come and disturbed Zheng Yichen, triggering the Magic Zheng Yichen left on this Alchemical Avatar, forcing him to shift his attention here.

Looking at Oro who had found him at high noon, when Oro arrived, he was holding two eggs in his hand, something like tea eggs, but each was the size of an adult fist—they could be eaten like steamed buns. Outside the door, the man who always followed Oro was waiting.

He was responsible for Oro’s safety. He never stayed more than ten meters away from Oro. Within this distance, he was confident he could block most fatal attacks aimed at Oro… that even included Curse-style assault strikes.

The reason Oro actively sought out Zheng Yichen definitely had a unique cause. They had discovered some issues that needed serious attention. With Zheng Yichen’s hint and Oro’s analysis, the man had paid attention to the Church members living nearby and successfully noticed some subtle problems.

At first, he thought it was a misperception. After telling Oro about it, Oro set several traps and successfully discovered new traces. They had a traitor among them…

Oh, that phrasing might be a bit harsh. Actually, it was that a very special case had appeared among them. It wasn’t that the case itself had any issues, but rather that this case had become two. Currently, aside from them, the other Church members hadn’t noticed anything wrong.

Since Zheng Yichen had warned them in advance, now that there really was a problem, it was clearly time to come and ask properly what exactly was going on.

“Well, this, how should I put it… You can consider it an ability possessed by the Derivative Witch in the town,” Zheng Yichen wrote on a piece of paper. Oro lightly tapped the table with a finger.

“What kind of ability specifically?”

“Give me money,” Zheng Yichen replied straightforwardly. The previous hint was out of goodwill. Afterwards, wanting to ask questions wasn’t something he could just say freely out of simple goodwill. After all, the intelligence he held had value. Why give it away for nothing, especially to someone from the Church? Even though the person before him was a weakling—the kind Zheng Yichen could slap dead a hundred of—he had a bodyguard’s protection. The protected person was weak, but the bodyguard was exceptionally powerful.

When Zheng Yichen looked at him, it was like seeing a city wall. Even without fighting, Zheng Yichen had the definite feeling that he couldn’t break this guy. Not many existences gave him such a clear feeling. With Witches, his feeling was that he absolutely couldn’t win. With this guy, it was probably truly the “can’t-break-through” type. Being protected by such a city wall… ahem, bodyguard, even if the person’s strength was that of a weakling, their status probably wasn’t low, right?

In that case, if the other party wanted useful intelligence, they had to offer something in return, right? The higher the status, the higher the asking price naturally was.

Oro snapped his fingers. The burly man outside the door walked in. Oro showed him the writing board in his hand. After seeing the words on it, the burly man couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his eye, looking expressionlessly at Oro. This guy really didn’t treat himself as an outsider. The words on the writing board asked if the burly man had any valuable things and to quickly take them out for use here.

The burly man snatched the writing board from Oro’s hand and quickly wrote new words, asking if Oro himself didn’t have any?

Oro shrugged. “I have so many enemies; fighting wits daily is enough. How could I carry valuable things on me? Those things are the biggest inducements for creating variables. Even if I had them, I wouldn’t keep them.”

The burly man’s mouth twitched hard. If anyone else said this, he wouldn’t take it seriously. But since Oro said it, it was probably eighty percent true. Oro could remember every one of his enemies clearly, and he knew the sources of their hatred. That’s why he could easily engage in battles of wits and schemes.

But once there were inducements beyond normal hatred, it was too easy for accidents to happen or for some chain reaction to occur. And such inducements included factors like “treasure.” Human hearts were hard to predict. People with no hatred at all might develop new intentions and act against him upon learning he carried some treasure. If such actions coincidentally intersected with his enemies, then unpredictable factors would immediately increase.

He wasn’t an omniscient, omnipotent person, so he couldn’t fully grasp these added unpredictable factors. If he couldn’t avoid them, it would lead to miscalculations, accidentally messing up and getting himself killed or something.

Therefore, Oro never kept any treasures. He even always avoided contact with such things. He wasn’t an Adventurer; avoiding contact wouldn’t deprive him of life’s pleasures. He enjoyed a normal life’s pleasures; he wasn’t an explorer-type existence. As for people setting traps trying to use this method to trick him?

If that could succeed, it would have succeeded long ago, and he wouldn’t be living so freely and happily up to now.

“No!” The burly man rolled his eyes and wrote bluntly.

“I don’t believe you.”

Oro was even more blunt. The burly man slightly curled his lip. Nothing more to say. Good things? He had them, but those things were his exclusive equipment. How could he take them out to exchange for intelligence? As for money? He really didn’t have that. What he had was a Church card. With this card, he could spend in many places, and the Church would settle the bill later.

In the past, some procedures were needed. Now, with something like the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, even that step was eliminated. The Church had a dedicated thread to handle spending with these special cards. So he didn’t carry money on him!

…Oh, he did have some money—over a dozen gold coins, for normal spending. For someone like him, if he really spent, it wouldn’t be a matter of a few or tens of gold coins. Carrying thousands of gold coins around, wasn’t that heavy?

If he used an Expansion Pouch to carry them, it would be better to use it for more meaningful things. Speaking of which, the Purple Vine Guild was about to release a batch of Storage Artifacts recently… the number wasn’t large. The Church could currently confirm only four. It wasn’t completely confirmed yet, but many people had already gotten the news.

This might also be news the Purple Vine Guild deliberately spread in a wide-ranging manner, preparing for the subsequent hype. It was easy to imagine there would be another large-scale competition for these Storage Artifacts later. Oro had analyzed this matter for him during idle times. The news was probably eighty percent true, but don’t expect any substantial progress for the next few months.

Even if the news could be confirmed, actual sales would likely only start after the Containment Zone incident was resolved.

With the pressure of the Containment Zone and the Derivative Witch incidents now, would the Madam Proprietress of the Purple Vine Guild, who was adept at commercial calculations, conduct sales during this unsuitable period?

After all, the Sanctuary Church was a big buyer. Such sales absolutely couldn’t exclude the Church. And now the Church had many matters; resources wouldn’t be overly invested in this. During this period, the Madam Proprietress of the Purple Vine Guild wanting to use the Church as a shill wouldn’t have a chance…

Therefore, there was no need to pay too much attention to these matters for now. Care about them after the Containment Zone disappears.

“Then… I’ll contact the Church first and see what good things I can get for you,” After thinking for a while, Oro wrote to Zheng Yichen… giving a very favorable impression…