Chapter 72: The Harm in Never Turning Off Your Network Notifications

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: The Harm in Never Turning Off Your Network Notifications

Liam was leaning against the door drinking warm water, hearing this line he went "pfft", spraying all the water in his mouth out.

Isabella turned blankly to look at Daniel, then turned to look at her own older brother, asking an utterly innocent question: "Since when have you two been friends?"

Daniel’s whole body had gone rigid by now, from his face to the rims of his ears everything was flushed scarlet. He did not dare turn his head back to look at Benjamin, inwardly regretting his own habit of never turning off his social network notifications.

Benjamin pressed his lips together staring at the Omega who had his back turned towards him, somehow his finger slipped, sending over a string of jumbled characters. Daniel’s smart watch obligingly let out one more notification alert.

Daniel moved his body slowly like a Robot with a seized joint, placing the chick into Isabella’s lap. Just as everyone supposed he would turn round to face Benjamin, Daniel instead took to his heels. He leapt up into his family’s utility vehicle, drove off with a whoosh, leaving a whole crowd of people blank behind him.

Only then did the several restaurant staff come back to their senses, hurriedly running after him, calling out loudly as they ran: "Boss, wait for us! We are still here!"

The Mason household’s people swiftly vanished out of everyone’s sight. The Martinez household’s people all turned to look at Benjamin with teasing eyes. Isabella had not yet given up on what she wanted to know. She immediately threw an arm round her brother’s neck to pull it down, speaking in a mocking tone:

"Brother, come on, confess! Since when have you been secretly network friends with somebody else’s Omega, hmm? And you kept it from me?"

From the beginning until now the two of them had never hidden anything from each other, not in their thoughts nor in the relationships around them. Who would have thought the day would come when her honest, simple-hearted brother could go making friends with an Omega on the sly right behind her back!

This manoeuvre really was... bloody brilliant! Hahaha!

Benjamin’s face flushed hot, at a loss as to how he should answer his sister. He could hardly say that all this time he and Daniel had become each other’s bedtime companions, could he? The gravity of this matter was not something a few words could gloss over.

He could only say: "He is the one who gave me ten Starry Sky Battleships. I only added him as a friend to send my thanks... I had no idea he was Daniel either."

Isabella narrowed her eyes: "Brother, every time you lie, your thumb unconsciously rubs against your index finger."

Benjamin: "..."

He immediately tore himself out of his sister’s grip, swiftly driving the excavator away: "I am off to dig the compost pit!"

Liam could not help snorting a laugh. His brother and Daniel seemed very well matched, any problem that could not be explained, run first. The Sunflower watch on Liam’s wrist buzzed without stopping, inside it was nothing but messages brimming with Daniel’s panic:

[A-a-a-ah! I have been exposed! What am I to do now?!!]

[Boo hoo, this habit of never turning off network notifications has ruined me!!!]

[Your brother will not think I am two-faced, will he?]

[A-a-ah! Why are you not answering! What on earth does he think of me!!!]

Liam raised an eyebrow, messaging back: "It seems you care a great deal about how my brother sees you? Yesterday when you got out of the vehicle, that sweep of your eyes all the way round, was it my family’s fields you were looking at or my brother you were looking for?"

Daniel: [...]

Daniel outright played dead. Liam narrowed his eyes, a guess forming quietly inside him. These two had certainly not stopped at exchanging a few words between a vlog channel owner and the number one top gifter! 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Just then Nirvana appeared on Liam’s shoulder, grinning odiously: [Heh heh, host, do you wanna know? If you do then ask me...]

Liam gave a cold snort: [I do not. When the time comes for them to speak they will speak of their own accord, asking you now would be no different from invading someone else’s privacy.] He went into the house, setting the cup of water down on the table, saying: [In the time ahead I need a great many seeds to plant a large area, this new month pay more attention to the kinds of vegetables for me, above all the temperate-zone vegetable varieties.]

Nirvana said excitedly: [Yes, host!] It then asked: [Does the host not intend to upgrade to a level 2 stall? The money taken in this last round plus the 20 per cent share of profit from last month is enough to upgrade straight to level 2 with some left over.]

Inside Light of Time at present there were 120 billion 372 million silver stars, inside Sunflower there were around 14 billion silver stars, among which was the 10 billion left over from the assets of the Martinez main line. Altogether 134 billion 440 million silver stars.

The 20 per cent of revenue received from the home food delivery business model came to more than 60 billion silver stars. True enough, after laying out 150 billion to raise the Trading Hall to level 2 there really would still be a surplus left to invest in the planet Sirius.

However Liam shook his head: [First, that money is not all mine. Second, I want to gather up a really large sum in one go, to upgrade several levels in one stroke. The first upgrade to level 1 came with a Random Newbie Gift, so you tell me, with my luck, if I upgrade two or three levels at once what surprise will there be?]

Nirvana: [...]

Nirvana’s database was somewhat in disorder, it seemed to be trying to analyse every case that could possibly occur. But from the beginning until now no host had ever upgraded several levels in a single stroke, so in the system’s database there was not a single piece of related information.

Nirvana had no choice but to say: [Host, what if there happens to be no gift?]

Liam shrugged: [Then nothing happens. It is not as though I lose a piece of meat over it.]

[True enough... isn’t it?] Nirvana scratched its head with a claw.

Liam smiled without saying anything more. He dealt with breakfast by way of one tube of nutrient fluid and ten dried Grass Worms. After that he placed a voice call to Daniel:

"You brat, do not forget that today we have to get to the planet Sirius!"

Daniel: "..." He rubbed his nose in embarrassment: "How awkward, I very nearly did forget. I am coming back to pick you up."

"No need, my family has a private ship of our own now. You go on ahead, I will be over there shortly." Liam answered, after which he stressed: "My brother is not coming along, so set your mind at rest."

Daniel’s feathers puffed up: "Who asked you! I do not care in the slightest!" Having said that he swiftly cut the call.

Liam could not hold it in, bursting into giggles. [If you do not care then what are you jumping about for?]

"Sister, today you stay home to harvest the rest of the produce out in the fields." Liam stepped outside, calling to Isabella. He then said to Camila along with the group of retainers: "Auntie Camila, today you just stay home to rest. Once I have finished making arrangements on the planet Sirius we will move over there for good. Gabriel, assign five people to stay behind to help my brother dig the compost pit, three to help my sister harvest the produce, the rest come with me to Sirius."

"Yes, Master Liam." Gabriel nodded, after that he immediately went off to arrange the people.

Isabella herded the whole flock of chicks into a temporarily fenced-off corner, after that she asked Liam: "What are we to do with this flock of chicks? Food first of all, these minute beaks surely cannot eat star-fowl feed, can they? Then there is where they are to live, they have only been standing out in the open a short while yet I can see they are already hot enough to let their wings droop right down."

Liam rubbed his chin: "As for food, first grind the star-fowl feed up small, let them try eating a little to see how well they take to it. As for where they are to live, first put them in warehouse number seven. That warehouse runs at a temperature of thirty-three degrees, which suits this flock of chicks for the first week. Once they have grown a little bigger, we will move them over to the planet Sirius for good."

Having arranged a number of further tasks at home, only then did Liam go out with Gabriel’s four men to the open ground. Gabriel pressed the ship open.

The private ship taken from the paternal family was a ship newly released early this spring, however it only carried the manufacturer’s original emblem rather than the Martinez family crest. Liam recalled that the Martinez family crest had originally been the figure of a planet with a small meteorite belt around it, had it not?

But after the Martinez family dropped out of high society, this crest was withdrawn as well. Liam thought for a moment, asking Gabriel:

"Do you know what conditions have to be met before one can register a family crest? And in the form of registration, is the design usually submitted by oneself or issued at random by the Government?"

Gabriel shook his head saying he was not sure, on the contrary one of his subordinates spoke up:

"This I do know. Assets of fifty billion upwards may be registered, after which the registrant needs to pay the annual maintenance fee in full. The yearly maintenance fee is three billion silver stars. As for the crest design, that depends on what is wanted. If it is a randomly issued crest there is no fee, while a self-designed crest needs a registration fee on top, last year it was two hundred million silver stars, as for this year I have not got the update."

Liam was lost for words: "Meaning that lot of idiots would not even put up three billion silver stars to maintain the family crest? What sort of creatures are they!"

Gabriel offered his view: "I think they felt it was not necessary. Either way they have already dropped out of the ranks of the great families, what would be the point of keeping the crest. Leaving those three billion silver stars to spend would be better."

Liam shook his head, clicking his tongue: "That really is a move straight down into the earth. Keeping the family crest means more opportunities in business. At the very least people can be certain you still have money to trade with. Once the crest is gone, they will think your house has gone bankrupt, who would dare work with you then."

He shrugged, after that he stepped up onto the ship himself. The interior fittings were all brand new, it seemed it had not been used often. Liam marvelled once again at the stupidity of that lot on the paternal side. An enormous block of wealth that even they could manage to smash to pieces.

Gabriel piloted the ship himself, the other three in turn found seats near Liam.

Liam opened up his drawing tablet, starting to scribble away at a drawing.

The mention of family crests just now had suddenly given him a little inspiration. The Royal family’s crest was a tiger’s head, the Hall family’s crest was an eagle, the Cromwells’ was a cresting wave,...

His family farmed, so nothing would suit better than drawing a family crest connected with agriculture. Since the crests in the vegetable and fruit line had all been taken by someone already, Liam simply drew a cluster of three ears of rice with their heads drooping to the right, on the left a single leaf curving up to a point.

After making a few adjustments, Liam told Light of Time to transfer all the money over to Sunflower’s side, then let Sunflower print the asset verification papers.

Once that was done, he sent the registration application and the image of the family crest up to the Legal Affairs Division of the Lumina Galaxy. The application was approved very quickly, now all that was left was to wait for verification of the origin of the assets and the validity of the design, then it would be finished.

This process usually took around five to ten days not counting days off.