Chapter 226 - Going on Camping!
"Be quick and pay me the rest, I am expecting other bottles to reach next week." Felix said calmly to the Looby.
"Please boss Felix! I beg you, don't bring me other bottles so soon! They don't get sold in time!" Looby immediately hugged Felix's thigh while in tears.
"Do I look like I care about how you manage your business?" Felix clasped Looby's head with one hand and threw him away while threatening, "You better hasten your sales numbers if you wanna catch to my speed. Don't make me regret entering a partnership with your shop."
"I don't care about you hiding in this corner of the market like a rat, but you better start advertising your shop to more high leveled bloodliners to sell my stuff." Felix turned around, leaving one last warning, "Next time, you will be given two weeks delay at max. If you can't pay in time, I will either change partners or enter a none-exclusive contract with other shops in the kingdom."
If Felix wasn't bothered before about wasting his limited free shipments, he would have signed with three bloodline shops in the kingdom, and start shipping them each different amount of bottles, so it would be easier for him to get paid upfront without delay.
However, now that he worked things out with Bodidi and he was going to be paying for shipments either way, he didn't mind the idea of contracting other shops.
But, before doing so, he preferred giving Looby one last chance to start fulfilling his end of the bargain by paying him upfront the full amount.
Felix had no reason to act too soft and merciful to Looby. They were not close friends or anything.
There was simply a business relationship between them, and Felix was already doing him a favor by giving him delays continuously.
Felix knew that Looby's items and products were actually the best in the entire kingdom. He just needed to get himself out of this forsaken corner and start advertising his products to the public.
If he did so, Felix believed that he wouldn't be struggling to have liquid assets each time he met him.
He didn't know the reason exactly why he was hiding his shop, and he honestly wasn't interested in knowing. He simply gave him one last chance and dragged Olivia outside of the shop.
It was up to Looby on what he should be doing now. Honestly, Looby was clearly going to keep having difficulty paying Felix such large sums upfront two times in a month or so.
Thus, it would be better for him and for Felix to just make the contract none-exclusive, so instead of getting four bottles to five, he would be getting only two.
This might lower the profit that he was making, but unless he stepped up his game as Felix mentioned, he could only accept the method as there was no way for Felix to hold himself back from increasing his integration to lower the bottles incoming to Looby.
...
"He seemed nice, why are you being a jerk to him?" Olivia asked while eying the brick wall piteously.
"I am trying to motivate him into bettering himself." Felix said with an honest smile.
"Shameless, who would want to be motivated like that?" Olivia grumbled under her breath.
Felix patted her head while chuckling, "He is as stubborn as you. For people like you, the soft approach never works."
Embarrassed, Olivia hung her head low as she knew that if he didn't trick her into buying a bloodline, she would have fought tooth and nail to reject.
"Ah, it feels nice to pat you again." Felix sighed in contentment as he looked at her green l.u.s.trous hair that wasn't blocked by that damned Lily flower.
Since they were in the UVR, Olivia obviously had to pick a disguise.,
"Don't get used to it." Olivia slapped his hand away in annoyance while putting a hat on top of her head.
Disheartened, Felix sighed as he kept walking through the maze-like alleys.
After a while, they reached its exit and the sight of the noisy crowded market greeted their eyes.
"Alright, Go hang with the girls or something, I will keep hold of your bloodline in the spatial card until you feel ready to replace yours." Felix shooed her away.
Not planning to overstay her welcome, Olivia said her goodbyes and submerged herself within the crowded market.
Just as Felix planned on heading to Mr. Piggy's shop to purchase the integrations materials, he heard Olivia's loud voice within the crowd, "Thank you, Felix!!"
'What a shy little thing, I want to hug her to death.' Asna hugged herself tightly with her eyes closed, imagining Olivia in her embrace.
'Keep your sadistic thoughts to yourself.' Disturbed, Felix chided her as continued on his path with his hands in his pockets.
...
Tomorrow Morning, 07:00...
In front of the camp's metallic gate, Felix and the rest of the team were standing in a straight line while wearing a thick black uniform.
Each one was carrying a large backpack, that had all the necessities for camping.
Not a single ounce of excitement could be seen in Felix's face or the others. And the horrible weather wasn't making it even better, as the clouds were grey and stacked, blocking a single ray of sun from reaching them.
It was a no brainer that it was going to rain heavily in a few minutes to hours. The worst part, none of them were wearing raincoats or had them in their backpacks!
They were truly blindsided by the weather!
"Stop showing those gloomy faces!" George snapped at them, "If you can't handle some rain, how are you supposed to handle being in the snow?" He reminded them, "The leaks might have said a forest, but we never know if it's going to be only it or you will be left in a forest connected to a snowy mountain chain."
"We get it. Can we move already so we can set up the camps before it rains?" Irked, Walton said while pointing his finger at the gloomy sky.
"Be patient, your ride is about to arrive." George replied.
As he mentioned, a couple of seconds later, the metallic gate of the camp was opened, letting out three armored Jeeps, which had only the drivers on.
After stopping before them, George gestured with his hand for them to ride quickly.
Seeing that everyone was inside, he pointed at the sky and said, "Every action and decision you make is going to be monitored by flying drones. So make me proud before the director and other instructors. Show them that the national team is reliable and committed to bringing us as many representative spots as possible!"
Just as George was getting in the zone of his prep talk, he saw Felix narrowing his slits in direction with a polite smile.
He knew that he was being warned to wrap it up. And that exactly what he did, as he coughed while retreating back to the gate.
The drivers were confused about him stopping midway during his speech, but they soon shrugged their shoulders and pushed the acceleration pedal.
...
20 minutes later...
Deep within the woods, Felix was walking in front while being followed by the rest. The Jeeps went back to the camp after reaching the end of the uneven road that was in the forest.
They were given the freedom to do what they wanted and go where they wanted in this forest for the next 7 days.
Since Felix was the captain, he was currently leading them to find either a shelter or a good camping spot.
Honestly, Felix had absolutely no f*cking clue what he was doing as he?never camped in his life before.
But still, he wasn't a complete retard to not understand that finding a water source had utmost priority.
But knowing was one thing and actually finding it was another. The forest was immense, stretching to hundreds of miles. It had wildlife, small lakes, and trees of different species.
Thus, it might provide all the necessities for survival, it was still hard to find them without having experience.
"Let's stop here for a minute." After toggling deep enough, Felix removed his backpack and put it next to a tree. The rest complied and did the same.
"Walton check from above for any water source." Felix cracked his neck as he ordered, "If you don't see any, at least find us a good camping spot to spend the night. We still have a couple of water bottles for the day."
"Consider it done." Walton nodded his head eagerly. He then walked away from them and called under his breath, "Upsurge."
The same mini-tornado manifested under his feet, lifting him up in the air. After glancing below him, he noticed that he wasn't able to see them anymore due to the leaves blocking his eyesight.
"How am I supposed to find my way back?" He asked out loud.
"We will start a fire, just go already it's about to rain!" Felix yelled back in irritation.
After receiving his confirmation, Walton took off swiftly to the north, evading tree after tree. Seeing that he was gone, Felix ordered the boys in the team, "Go gather woods and come back in a jiffy."
There was no need for everyone to make a move as he was simply planning to start a fire to give away their position.
Without nuisance, The boys went each in a different direction and picked whatever came in their sight.
Felix might have ordered them to gather woods, but if they found edible mushrooms, wild fruits, and such, there was no reason to ignore them.
After a couple of minutes, everyone came back carrying a bunch of branches and mushrooms of all shapes and colors. Felix pointed at an empty spot before him and they stacked the woods on it.
As for the mushrooms? They were given to Felix for testing, as he was the only one with poison resistance.
"Someone, please start a fire." Felix requested while he was munching on gorgeous looking mushroom.
'Damn, this tastes like fried chicken.' His eyes brightened in delight after each bite, making Olivia and the rest to stare at him in bewilderment.
Were mushrooms really that tasty?