"Your great-grandfather turned into a salted fish?"
Ansheng leaned against the off-road vehicle's door, showing a strange expression as he looked at Lin Ying with his hands extended: "When I just left, wasn't he still arrogantly wandering the base with his hands in his pockets, leading his underlings?"
Lin Ying was dressed in black combat gear with a parachute harness strapped to her back, which she hadn't taken off yet. She must have arrived urgently via parachuting.
Yet when I left, wasn't Old Lin there pointing at the country?
I'm on the front line without issues, how could Old Deng sitting at the base have any problems?
"I'm not quite sure of the situation, I just arrived to find the great-grandfather dispirited, lying on the sofa patting his belly."
Lin Ying joyfully stepped forward, extended her arms, picked up Master Fuli from the car, spun around, and cuddled him, rubbing her cheek against Huhu's cheek.
"Shall I take you over to see? Perhaps you might notice something."
Lin Ying placed Huhu on her shoulder, using the secret tricks taught by Ah Qing, fiercely attacking Master Fuli's chin for comfort.
"Eee... Eee..." As Ansheng's cheeks gradually showed a dazed expression, he said, "Alright... Let's go see what Old Lin is up to, if worse comes to worst, we can turn him into a salted fish for resale."
"Just as well, I have something to ask him..."
Ansheng hadn't forgotten the missile incident just because he found something valuable.
Even if the main target wasn't him, Ansheng had thoroughly remembered the grudge.
Lin Ying picked up Master Fuli and walked towards the banquet hall used exclusively by the Landlord within the base.
When Lin Ying pushed open the door, the entire banquet hall was shrouded in thick smoke, giving off a fragrant nutty and chocolate aroma throughout the room.
What Lin Ying referred to as Lin Qi, who turned into a salted fish, was sitting on a curved leather sofa, reclining with a cigar in his mouth, puffing smoke peacefully.
Beside Lin Qi, several other Landlords of Longevity wore salted fish expressions too. Even Little Angel, who had grudges with Lin Clan International, sat on the leather sofa with crossed legs, revealing a bit of her pink cat safety shorts beneath her skirt.
"Oh, life—"
Little Angel took a puff of her lady's cigarette without noticing Master Fuli at the door and sighed:
"Old Lin, didn't you say before that you're strong enough to live for hundreds of years? Now it's your turn. Go and slaughter the Olympus Divine Race, and I'll directly worship you as my godfather."
"Why don't you go? If you do, I'll bring our Lin Clan's century-old accumulation to be your lover." Lin Qi sneered at Little Angel's delusions as he exhaled smoke.
The reason the Landlords of Longevity were wistful inside the banquet hall had a direct connection with Master Fuli excavating the Second Epoch's lifeforms.
The rise of the Longevity Club can simply be understood as uncovering relics, smashing, looting, burning, and excavating the documents inside them, then converting them through scientists' hands.
But the trip to Gold-digging Town made some Landlords of Longevity aware of one thing.
In touching the research of the Telekinesis domain, they seem to have no profits left to gain.
Previously, they could use force output and nukes to bring home the creatures from the relics for direct research, whatever desired results could be calculated even by brute force methods.
But now, it seems the times have changed.
A strike with an intercontinental missile, where the subheads inside the missile haven't been deployed yet, gets completely dismantled.
In other words.
The most cost-effective and impactful weapon against the relic monsters within the Longevity Club has turned into an iron lump.
Currently, facing the Longevity Club, they essentially have only two paths to choose.
One is to maintain the status quo, utilizing the biological technology advantage to occupy the market, by merging, acquiring, threatening, and oppressing similar researchers, increasing investment in biological technology research to try to sustain the current tech advantage.
Two is to raise the excavation cost like a gambler for high risk and high reward, fighting to the death with the monsters of the relic.
Whether choosing one or two, it all requires directly drawing money from the Landlord's vault.
The most dismal part is that regarding Spiritual Particles, currently the whole world maintains a confidential understanding.
This means the Landlords of Longevity can't look to investors for money by listing their company, so they'll have to fund everything privately themselves, maybe at best arranging some private fundraising.
Besides, the plots the Longevity Club is scheming can never see the light.
Otherwise... they'll be hung on street lights, or turned into boxes of top-notch handmade soap.
"What's... up with you all?"
Perched on Lin Ying's shoulder, Ansheng curiously surveyed the group of Old Dengs: "Stock prices dropped?"
"No, we're just sighing about how, even though all the exploiters worldwide are colluding, it's still so hard to wring out some profits..."
Lin Qi, patting his belly, seemed like someone resigned to fate in face of the unfair world.
While saying this, Lin Qi subtly winked at Master Fuli, as if saying: Hey, I'm acting.
Now it's time to bring out the money, no matter their actual situation, acting miserable and claiming poverty is the most practical.
Ansheng: "......"
Though I don't know what your wink means, I roughly know you, Old Deng, have no issues.
"Master Fuli!"
As Master Fuli appeared in the banquet hall, the Landlord who didn't worship the Olympus Divine Race quickly got up, revealing a fawning smile, promptly opening windows for air or serving tea and snacks to welcome Master Fuli to sit.
"Godfather, I have the latest news..." Little Angel slid straight onto the carpet, raised her arms, and began to rub Master Fuli's small feet.
"The kid you asked me to watch, according to the latest battle reports, has avenged himself and is now in a silent state..."
"Hmm... He's taken his group's core members and fled to the Xia Country to lay low."
"His luck is pretty good, with just a hint from me he understood my suggestion."
Little Angel, seeking credit, offered a cigarette. Master Fuli wasn't big enough for a cigar, but the lady's cigarette filter was just the right size.
"The flower-waving one is alright? If he's fine that's good." Ansheng gently nodded but asked with some curiosity: "However, I'm puzzled; as far as I know, Chen Nian usually just dabbles in zero-cost buying and smuggling."
"At best he might dilute the alcohol at bars with water."
"How did he provoke the Longevity Club? Aren't you usually the big villains, even fighting kids over such trifles?"
Faced with Master Fuli's puzzled inquiry, Little Angel hastily explained:
"We don't care about those profits. Actually, this matter has nothing to do with us."
"Killing and arson back home isn't a big deal unless you're caught on the spot; it's not like he shot a capitalist's head..."
"Chen Nian became targeted because there was a Federal Agent in the gang who overheard Chen Nian considering the armed route like the Black Panther, and decisively reported it."
"The Federation's siege didn't kill him, hence, the Federation requested the club's suppliers to finish him off."