I Can Control Resources

In the end, things had to be dealt with.

By the time Gao Neng returned to his residence, Yi Qinglian, Wei Ya, Shaximo, and the others had already arrived.

It didn’t take much guesswork to figure out what they wanted.

Besides, in a way, Wei Ya, Shaximo, and the others had already made their stance clear back in the exhibition hall.

"You all want to join the Experimental Research Institute?" Gao Neng looked at Shaximo first.

"Yes!" Shaximo gritted his teeth, then glanced at Yi Qinglian beside him. "We’ll accept the same terms as Qinglian. Whatever she does, we’ll do!"

"Are you sure you can accept the same terms as Yi Qinglian?" Gao Neng hadn’t actually planned on exploiting Shaximo, Wei Ya, and the others.

In fact, he hadn’t even intended to exploit Yi Qinglian.

Yi Qinglian had proposed all the terms herself. It really had nothing to do with him; he had simply nodded in agreement.

"We are willing!" Wei Ya immediately declared.

"Yes, we’re willing too!"

"We are!"

The other Dragon List Geniuses all nodded in agreement.

Gao Neng shrugged. This was rather awkward. They refused to sign a perfectly fair contract, insisting on an unfair one instead. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"Alright then, I agree to your request. Assistant Yi, please help them with the paperwork. As for the terms of the contract, just draft it as they’ve requested," Gao Neng agreed with a sigh of resignation.

"Understood!" Yi Qinglian saw nothing wrong with this. After all, Gao Neng’s actions had already proven to everyone that he possessed a one-hundred-percent successful Alchemy technique.

Given that, joining the Experimental Research Institute was an immense blessing. Salary and time off? Those things were completely unimportant!

Shaximo, Wei Ya, and the others happily followed Yi Qinglian out of the room.

However, fifteen minutes later, the happy smiles froze on their faces. They stared at the contracts laid out before them, completely dumbfounded.

"Yi Qinglian, are you sure this is the kind of contract you signed?"

"I’m sure."

"Did Gao Neng force you?"

"No, I did it willingly. I proposed all the terms myself. What’s wrong, you don’t want to sign?" Yi Qinglian finished speaking and made a move to collect the contracts.

"Don’t take the contracts! I... we... we’ll sign!"

"..."

After signing the contracts, the group of Dragon List Geniuses departed for the time being.

Meanwhile, in Gao Neng’s room, Li Tiannan, Sword Elder, Qin Lei, Fairy Liu, and another of the Strongest had gathered. Shen Ning’Er and Fang Tangtang were also there.

"If you have something to say, just say it," Gao Neng said. He knew exactly why Qin Lei and the others were there.

"Alright, I’ll be direct then," Qin Lei nodded and began. "First question: How much evolutionary energy do you have stored in your body? Roughly how many high-grade materials can you evolve?"

"Twenty thousand shouldn’t be a problem," Gao Neng replied, equally direct.

"Twenty thousand?! Are you... certain you can evolve that many?" Qin Lei was clearly surprised by the answer.

"I’m certain," Gao Neng nodded.

"Hmm..." Qin Lei glanced at Fairy Liu and the other Strongest, then continued, "Second question: What is your ultimate goal in all of this? Gao Neng, I want you to answer this seriously. Don’t give us any lines about having no selfish motives, about doing this purely for the Federation. We don’t want to hear that. Everyone has selfish desires."

"Oh, I would never say that, because I do, in fact, have a goal," Gao Neng said with a smile.

"What goal?" Qin Lei immediately asked.

"To run for Speaker of the Supreme Council in the next election, of course," Gao Neng said with a shrug.

"What?! You want to run for Speaker? But you’re only eighteen years old! You..." Qin Lei’s expression changed. The answer was utterly astonishing to him.

He had never imagined that Gao Neng’s target was the position of Speaker of the Supreme Council.

In the entire history of the Federation...

When had there ever been an eighteen-year-old Speaker?!

It was unprecedented!

Just as he was thinking this, he noticed that Li Tiannan and Sword Elder seemed completely unfazed by Gao Neng’s answer. Neither of them had so much as frowned.

"You two knew?" Qin Lei looked at Li Tiannan.

"We knew," Li Tiannan nodded.

"Yes, he told us three or four days ago," Sword Elder added with a nod.

"..." For a moment, Qin Lei was speechless.

’So, Gao Neng is actually serious about running for the next Speaker?’

’How absurd!’

’A student who hasn’t even graduated from the military academy wants to run for Speaker of the Federation Government’s Supreme Council and become the highest-ranking official?’

’Who would believe it?’

"W-Why? Why are you so set on running for Speaker?" Qin Lei’s brow furrowed as he struggled to keep his emotions in check.

"You were at the scene of the battle at the South District City Gate, weren’t you, Elder Qin?" Gao Neng looked at Qin Lei, then picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

"Is this about that Cat King?" Qin Lei had heard the results of Gao Neng’s interrogation, so while he was a little surprised, he wasn’t completely shocked.

"You could say that. Her name is Gao Xiaomeng. We used to live together, and we fought side-by-side. She was a close friend. But simply because she was an alien, I couldn’t protect her. Not only could I not protect her, I was even considered a suspect for a while. In the end, all I could do was watch helplessly as she went to war with humanity. If it weren’t for the value I’ve demonstrated, I’d probably be in solitary confinement right now, don’t you think?" Gao Neng smiled again.

"..." Qin Lei was suddenly at a loss for words.