Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Flower Scorpion wasn’t surprised and gestured for the other party to continue speaking.

Although Jilt doesn’t often stay at the headquarters, they have a clear grasp of the situation.

He roughly recounted the story and then cautiously remarked, "Our related fees... have almost been paid, right?"

In addition to the one billion rescue fee, Ping’an also provides an annual guardian fee of fifty million, which was a subtle reminder.

"We’ve given one point two billion, still short of thirty million," Flower Scorpion answered casually, "Go ahead, what do you want?"

Going straight to the point? Jilt was slightly taken aback.

Then he reacted, indeed, truly powerful people don’t need to beat around the bush in speech or action.

As for himself, although he is A-level, having led Ping’an Trading Group for so many years, he’s accustomed to various considerations.

But since the other party seemed approachable, he couldn’t really make direct requests.

So he cautiously replied, "The other party has been excessively unreasonable, we’re considering... can we retaliate appropriately?"

"We support this request," Flower Scorpion didn’t even need to ask for their Supreme’s permission to make this decision.

"Since we’ve taken the guardian fee, we won’t sit idly by; how do you hope us to act?"

Jilt pondered for a moment; the other party killed a Supreme while confronting the Star Thieves.

On his way here, he was considering what request to make, until he heard the other’s show of support, he made a decision.

"I hope we can retaliate severely; they’ve bullied us more than once or twice... the harsher the revenge, the better."

This problem wasn’t something Flower Scorpion could answer.

Qu Jianlei spoke up, "Apart from this Kopache, how many more should we kill... make a list!"

"Killing the Supreme?" Jilt was suddenly shocked, going so harsh so quickly?

He knew they’d killed a Supreme, but that was in the space’s wasteland, and now it’s a prosperous and orderly society.

For a moment, he had mixed feelings about it, killing Kopache would certainly have a great effect, but... is the hatred that deep?

—Actually, it’s not much about hatred; he’s had plenty of ruthless moments while presiding over the trading group for years.

To put it simply, killing a Supreme and the situation easily gets out of control— am I ready for a full-scale conflict?

Seeing his hesitation, Qu Jianlei felt a bit impatient.

"You haven’t mentioned, what’s up with Auspicious Supreme, shouldn’t it not be time for natural death?"

The person should be around two hundred eighty years old; Supremes can basically live to the benchmark of three hundred, living a dozen more years wouldn’t be surprising.

But as for combat power... that’s uncertain, unless they burn their lifespan for a desperate strike.

So, for the upcoming decade, Ping’an won’t quickly collapse.

Jilt paused and then chuckled bitterly, "The other party dared to call Auspicious Supreme by name..."

"He has been frozen and will strike desperately when the trading group needs it most!"

This answer wasn’t surprising; among the frozen people of the Empire, apart from those with mental damage, there are quite a few nearing the end.

Auspicious Supreme has people backing him, naturally lacking neither freezing fees nor full support when needed.

But Qu Jianlei’s smile indicated that this news... might not be totally true.

No matter what, the other party’s response meant Auspicious wouldn’t casually appear before people.

Since that’s the case, our few Supremes’ reputation is intact, no need to probe further.

But Jilt, hearing this, had a sudden insight, "The other party mentioned they haven’t seen Auspicious Supreme for a long time, missing his Earth Attribute."

"Among your group, I wonder if anyone has Earth Attribute? Perhaps a little scare could help."

Qu Jianlei looked at him with a strange expression, "Just a scare... do you know the consequences of being too soft-hearted?"

These people’s killing intent... is indeed heavy, Jilt secretly sighed.

He replied bashfully, "Ping’an isn’t prepared for a full-scale war yet."

"This little matter..." Qu Jianlei was somewhat speechless too, "Then provide a list of a few A-level, or it won’t be worth it."

"Okay," hearing this, Jilt truly dared not say anything more; the other party genuinely felt the matter trivial.

"Here’s the list, and the fee for action..."

"These few rabble, does it even require mentioning fees?" Flower Scorpion shook her head, "Our guardian fee isn’t taken for nothing."

She didn’t even ask the boss’s opinions when making this decision.

Jilt truly hated a few A-level and B-level individuals... when the curtain rises, it’s usually those below causing trouble initially.

After submitting the list, he made sure to explain, "Some aren’t from Ducas... it’s a hassle."

"It doesn’t matter," Flower Scorpion glanced at the list and replied casually, "Not an issue... what about the aftermath?"

For them, killing wasn’t an issue, but if they couldn’t handle the aftermath properly and had to hide everywhere, then it’s no fun.

"The aftermath is up to Ping’an!" Jilt replied without hesitation, "Just don’t leave too obvious traces."

As a local enterprise with tens of thousands of employees, he had the confidence to say this.

"Alright then," Flower Scorpion nodded, "After things are done, let’s sell that starship we captured."

Jilt was startled again upon hearing that: Sell the Star Thief’s armed merchant ship?

Ping’an isn’t incapable of selling starships, but involving "Star Thief"... it’s not easy to manage.

Whether it’s pressure from the government or the hatred of the starship’s original owner, it’s challenging to bear.

However, he thought again, if the matter really gets "done," this... would be a minor issue.

At worst, lose some money, keep it for their own use, since they lost two armed merchant ships this time anyway.

As long as this crisis can be resolved, problems solvable by money aren’t really problems.

"Alright," he finally nodded.

After talking business, on their way back, Hail asked, "That starship won’t be easy to sell... and it’s had a major overhaul."

"Think long-term," Jilt casually replied, then paused and added, "Let’s see how they handle it."

Just as they left, Mu Yu announced, "Earth Attribute Supreme... Leave this to me, senior just needs to support."

"I’ll go too," Qinghu spoke up voluntarily, "Two Earth Attribute Supremes, at least that’ll startle that guy!"

Although she is Sand Attribute, when impersonating Earth Attribute, usually even Supremes can’t tell.

"Then let’s make it three," Paranoid said he could also impersonate — he could even pose as Electromagnetic Attribute.

Then he looked at Qu Jianlei, thoughtfully speaking, "How about... four?"

Granny Jia responded serenely, "Alright, I’ll handle those small fry."

"I can handle it too," Flower Scorpion spoke up voluntarily. "And there’s B-level, I can definitely deal with them, saving you some energy."

"I can handle it," Xiao Moshan spoke up, "Two B-levels, each of us takes one, isn’t that reasonable?"

"After we’re done, let’s team up with senior to take down the A-level; this plan works, right?"

"Fine," Granny wasn’t concerned, "There’s an A-level quite far away, I’ll go ahead, and I’ll find you two later."

The three of them swiftly divided the small fry, while the other four glanced at each other.

Finally, Paranoid snorted ruefully, "This time, we’re really giving that guy too much face!"

"Just making some noise," Qu Jianlei didn’t mind, "Better to fight with one punch, than invite a hundred punches."

Kopache hadn’t anticipated he might encounter such a situation.

He truly wanted to lure out Auspicious Supreme, even if just to brush against each other, he didn’t think he would lose.

An elderly Supreme, how much combat power can they exert? Not to mention he is Wood Attribute, naturally countering Fire Attribute.

Although there is now poison targeting Wood Attribute, treatment and defense methods already exist.

Kopache didn’t think Ping’an could get such poison — even if they did, would they dare use it?

Ultimately, many forces covet Ping’an; this fact is clear.

If they really dare to defy the world and use that poison against him, they’ll be in for bad luck.

Still, even so, he made matching defensive preparations.

Besides, to lure Auspicious Supreme, he deliberately moved high-profile to a manor in the suburbs.

And he only had a B-level female Awakened and two Modified Warriors by his side.

This was blatant provocation: I’m right here, do you dare come?

That night, he didn’t sleep either, but sat quietly in his room, awaiting a possible ambush.

He thought the likelihood was minimal, but tonight, Dukes had actions against Ping’an too.

So there’s a possibility they might act out of anger and take risks.

Even if Auspicious doesn’t come, Ping’an might invite another Supreme for revenge.

Of course, the latter is less likely, as anyone can see how unfavorable the situation is for Ping’an now.

However, there are always those lacking insight, and many Supremes trying to beat the odds or are full of themselves.

Anyway, erring on the side of caution is never wrong, he thought even waiting a night pointlessly is better than losses due to arrogance.

In the dead of night, while Kopache was meditating, he suddenly had a gut feeling something was off."

He slowly opened his eyes and picked up the Baofeng Intelligent Terminal nearby.

This manor seemed devoid of other High Tier Awakened, but in reality... security was tight.

Like Jilt’s manor, it was controlled by intelligent systems — modern tech products are never lacking in Prosperous Star Realm.

These strict surveillance devices and alarm systems weren’t inferior to the perception of several High Tier Awakened.

And Dukes, being a security company, naturally wasn’t lacking in various weapons, with highly graded weapon usage licenses.

Kopache swiped the Baofeng Terminal twice, finding nothing unusual.

He frowned and softly called, "Tess, are you awake?"

Tess was the B-level female Awakened with him, responsible for night watch duties.