Chapter 1151: Going Back to the Yin Residence
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Going home?" Fatty was stunned and hesitated. "Didn't you say that I was dead for two years? How do I explain myself if I go home?"
"Just say that you were hiding from your enemy and faked your death." Lin Huang thought about it and gave an answer.
"Then, how do I explain my body that hasn't changed at all throughout the two years?" Fatty asked again, feeling helpless.
A young man should go through a growth spurt when he was 16 to 17 years old. Just like Lin Huang, he grew over ten centimeters taller throughout the two years and was 1.83 meters tall now. He no longer looked like a teenager. He was clearly a grown man now.
However, Fatty looked exactly the same as he was two years back when he was resurrected with the Revival Card. Nothing about him changed at all. His family would definitely be skeptical about that.
Lin Huang thought about it for a while and explained, "Tell them that your body has stopped growing temporarily throughout the two years. It's the side effect of the elixir you took to fake your death, but the side effect has a time limit. It should only last for two to three years."
Fatty nodded when he heard that since he could not think of any explanation better than that.
"To outsiders, stop using your identity as Yin Hangyi. The news will spread quickly if anyone knows that you were resurrected. Then, trouble will never stop coming to you. There'll be many organizations watching you, so we can't rule out the possibility that underground organizations might carry violence out on you. By then, not only you but your family will be at risk too."
"I'll get you another identity. You'll live your life as Yin Hangyi's brother. Think of a name for yourself."
"Okay!" Yin Hangyi nodded immediately. He would not want to be the target of many organizations.
Lin Huang took a good look at Yin Hangyi again and thought what he wore would definitely attract attention.
He then summoned Grimace that had elevated to mythical-level and looked like a gentleman.
He had a black top hat on his head and there was a circle of diamonds mounted on the band of the hat. He wore half a golden mask on his face while his lips curled in a terrifying grin.
His black robe with golden patterns was elegant and exquisite. One could tell that it was expensive by the look of it. He held a black walking stick, the top of which was adorned with gold and silver. His white leather shoes were as pure as pearl.
He no longer looked like a ridiculous clown. Even his charisma he emanated made him seem like a noble gentleman who came from a well-known family that had descended for hundreds of years.
"Who is this?" Yin Hangyi was surprised to see Grimace appeared out of nowhere.
"He's my imperial beast."
Yin Hangyi took a careful look at Grimace after hearing Lin Huang's answer. He was even more surprised now. "Is he really not human?"
"No, he only looks like one." Lin Huang gave a perfunctory response and turned his head to look at Grimace. He changed the subject. "Grimace, give him a disguise. The main goal is to not let anyone recognize his face. Don't change his body size. Just tweak his clothing slightly so that it won't be as terribly fitting as it is now."
Grimace walked to Fatty and looked down at him for a moment. He then snapped his fingers. Instantly, Fatty looked like he had undergone plastic surgery. His face that looked immature was transformed into an uncle's face with rough skin.
He wore a blue robe and looked like a stand-up comedian.
Lin Huang almost laughed out loud when he saw him.
Meanwhile, Fatty looked lost. He thought Grimace made him ugly, so he touched his face immediately. "What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with the disguise?"
"His face is fine. Change his clothes," Lin Huang said to Grimace.
Grimace rolled his eyes at Lin Huang and snapped his fingers again unwillingly.
Fatty's attire finally looked normal now, but he looked like he was in a boy band with Lin Huang. Clearly, Grimace had done that on purpose.
Lin Huang was thinking of getting Grimace to change his attire again, but he thought about it carefully and got rid off the thought since he had no idea what kind of prank Grimace would pull again.
"Make yourself invisible and stay by my side. Don't pull any tricks."
Just when Lin Huang was done saying that, Grimace disappeared after snapping his fingers. Only Lin Huang could see that he was on his right. He was making silly faces at Fatty who was less than ten centimeters away from him.
"Where did he go? Is he really invisible now?" Fatty looked around, feeling that a transcendent's world was rather bizarre.
"You might obtain a similar ability when you become a transcendent in the future." Lin Huang pressed his hand on Fatty's shoulder and flew while grabbing him.
A moment later, the duo appeared at the only business district in Nanmu Town.
Fatty looked around and stared at Lin Huang in puzzlement. "Why are we here?"
"Take a shower and put on new clothes. Can you smell the stench on you? Also, you'll have to remove your disguise when you get home. I don't think you should appear before your grandmother wearing something that doesn't fit."
Fatty lifted his arm and sniffed his armpit. To his absolute disgust, he felt nauseous and almost vomited.
He just realized that apart from the time they were flying, Lin Huang had been keeping a distance of two meters away from him.
After taking a thorough shower at a bathhouse with individual showers, the duo went shopping and bought a few sets of clothes for Fatty.
Lin Huang got Grimace to remove Fatty's clothes after Fatty put the new ones on. They then headed to the Yin residence.
Since the family transferred Ke Lai Hotel to Lin Huang, he did nothing to it apart from setting the direction of the development in the beginning. However, under the operation of a professional management team, Ke Lai Hotel's profits surpassed ten times more than two years ago. Lin Huang held the Yin family's 50% of shares with the family recipe. The annual profit the family had been receiving was much higher than before, so they were amassing their wealth.
Tears welled up in Yin Hangyi's eyes when he saw the old house that he was familiar with.
Initially, he was worried about how the family had been holding up before going there. After all, his father and he had passed away while nobody could manage Ke Lai Hotel.
However, Fatty was relieved when he saw that the courtyard was as neat as two years ago through the fences.
He peeped at Lin Huang who was next to him secretly, figuring that this old friend must have helped his family.
The old security guard at the entrance began observing them with narrowed eyes when he noticed their appearance. He soon recognized Lin Huang.
Lin Huang experienced a major growth in his height, but in reality, he did not have much changes in his appearance. Many people had been visiting the family for the past two years, but there was nobody else who was as young as Lin Huang.
"Are you Mr. Lin? Please come in. Come in! I'll tell the butler and the old lady that you're here!"
"Very much appreciated, sir." Lin Huang nodded while smiling. He did not expect the man to remember him.
Chapter 1152: When Was the Last Time You Wet Your Bed?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang and Yin Hangyi waited at the pavilion in the courtyard for the guard to inform the family about their arrival.
Soon, the guard brought the butler over.
The butler wore a black tuxedo as usual. He did not seem to have changed at all compared to two years ago.
Fatty was slightly emotional when he saw the butler. He almost wanted to greet him, but Lin Huang, who was next to him, stopped him through voice transmission.
"Mr. Lin, it's been a while!" The butler clearly did not recognize Yin Hangyi. He was very friendly when he saw Lin Huang.
After all, he might have been dismissed by the family if Lin Huang had not taken over Ke Lai Hotel two years ago. If the family's financial situation were already unstable, feeding another person would be a burden, let alone a butler like him who required a high pay.
"It's been over two years. I can't believe you still recognize me!" Lin Huang exclaimed with a smile.
"You're the family's savior. How can we forget you?" the butler replied politely.
"Don't say that." Lin Huang waved his hand immediately. "Is the old lady home?"
"She's waiting in the living room on the second floor." The butler abruptly noticed Yin Hangyi's existence. "May I know who this is?"
"He's a friend." Lin Huang only gave a brief response and explained no more.
Seeing that Lin Huang was unwilling to say more, the butler did not ask further. "I'll bring you guys over."
Both of them followed behind the butler and headed to the house after passing the courtyard.
After entering the house, the butler led both of them to the second floor.
An old lady with silver hair was sitting on a couch in the living room of the second floor. There was a woman sitting on her left.
Lin Huang recognized the woman who was sitting next to the old lady. She was Yin Hangyi's aunt.
"Xiao Lin, it's been so long since you last visited me!" greeted the old lady delightedly as soon as she saw Lin Huang.
Lin Huang felt nothing, but Yin Hangyi almost burst in tears when he saw the old lady.
"It's my fault. I should've visited you more," Lin Huang said with a smile.
The old lady saw Yin Hangyi who was next to him after speaking to Lin Huang. She seemed to be afraid to isolate the new guest, so she asked immediately, "This is…"
"This guy next to me…" Lin Huang did not reveal the answer immediately. He was afraid that the old lady was not mentally prepared, so he simply said while smiling, "This is a surprise that I brought you today."
"A surprise? Are you guys performing a show for me?" the old lady asked bemusedly.
However, the old lady was actually skeptical. She peeped at the calendar secretly. It was the 26th of November. She thought about this date in her head quickly, but she did not recall anything special about the day. It was not a festival or anyone's birthday.
Though doubtful, the old lady did not ask why Lin Huang picked such a day to surprise her.
"It's a special performance," Lin Huang responded, "I think you'll like it."
"Let's begin then." The old lady could not figure out what Lin Huang was trying to do at all, but she chose to believe him.
Lin Huang signaled Grimace, who was invisible next to him, and they snapped their fingers together.
At the same time the fingers snapped, the disguise on Yin Hangyi's head was removed completely, revealing his original face.
As soon as Yin Hangyi's face was unveiled, the entire room fell into a dead silence.
The expression of the old lady, who was smiling, turned stiff before she subsequently became emotional.
The aunt sitting next to her was smiling along with her at the beginning. She had shock written all over her face when she saw Yin Hangyi's face.
Standing not far away, the butler was stunned. His mouth was opened for quite a while.
"Hangyi?!" The old lady's voice was shaking a little. "Is that really you?" She turned her head and looked at Lin Huang. She asked him, "Is this real?"
Lin Huang nodded lightly. "In reality, Yin Hangyi isn't dead. He had to fake his death back then to hide from his enemy, a Royal. He got me to put on a show with him."
"The Royal I offended came from a major organization in the core zone. I had to fake my death to prevent him from taking revenge on me. Fortunately, the clan the person came from offended someone they shouldn't and the whole clan was killed. Since then, I can finally stop disguising myself." Both of them came up with that story when they were buying clothes earlier.
"How about your appearance? Why do you look exactly the same as two years ago?" The aunt raised her doubt. She noticed that because the difference was terribly stark when Lin Huang stood next to Yin Hangyi. She still remembered clearly how Lin Huang looked like two years ago.
"The elixir that I injected had a special side effect whereby my body would remain how I was when I was injected. This side effect isn't permanent. It'll only last two to three years at the most," Yin Hangyi told her the lie that Lin Huang had come up with earlier.
The old lady finally calmed down and turned her head to look at Lin Huang. She stared at him seriously for a while before asking, "Xiao Lin, is he really Hangyi? Are you lying?"
"Grandma, I might joke about other stuff, but I'd definitely never joke about this," Lin Huang replied grimly.
The old lady nodded and turned her head to look at Yin Hangyi. She gave him a stern look before speaking, "If you really are Hangyi, I hope don't mind me asking something personal."
"Go ahead, Grandma." Yin Hangyi nodded, feeling a little helpless.
"Hangyi always wet his bed when he was younger. When was the last time he wet his bed? What were the time and date? I believe you'd remember this crystal-clear if you really are Hangyi. Moreover, it's pretty impossible for Hangyi to tell someone else this."
Yin Hangyi looked bothered as he said helplessly after peeping at Lin Huang, "It last happened when I was 11. It was summer, and the exact date should've been 18th June. I remember I drank too much water the day before, and I had a dream of me looking for the toilet the entire night. I found it eventually…"
"That's rather detailed." Lin Huang made fun of him.
"Another question." The old lady nodded. "Which of my dishes did you hate the most?"
"There are actually two answers to this question. One is onion rings and another is cold noodles because I really hate onion and coriander." Fatty shared the answer.
The old lady could not stop the tears from flowing when she heard the answer. "You really are Hangyi!"
"Grandma…" Yin Hangyi was holding back, but he could not help it when he saw the old lady crying. He could not stop weeping too.
He rushed to his grandma and hugged her. The grandmother and grandson sobbed while hugging, finally calming down a while later.
Lin Huang said nothing. Instead, he waited for the people to calm down before telling them to allow Yin Hangyi to disguise himself.
The old lady and the rest agreed to that immediately and they promised to keep Yin Hangyi's return a secret.
After handling Fatty and the family's matter, Lin Huang transferred Ke Lai Hotel's shares back to the family. He then bade farewell to the family and returned to Emperor City in Division 1.
Chapter 1153: One Day, We'll Definitely Meet
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sky was turning dark when Lin Huang returned to the Emperor Palace after he settled the matter with Mr. Fu and Yin Hangyi.
He glanced at Dynasty's headquarters that was still well-lit. He hesitated before going in.
As the Emperor of Dynasty, he had actually entered the building merely a few times.
The security guards and front desk receptionist who worked overtime as well as the people in the lobby were stunned to see him walking into the building. They gawked at him.
Lin Huang remained smiling as he nodded at the people.
He walked straight to the front desk and spoke to the lady who was dressed rather fashionably, "Is Tianfu here?"
"Yes, Master Tianfu is here." The lady at the front desk nodded immediately.
"Thank you. Keep it up," Lin Huang replied and turned around, heading to Huang Tianfu's office.
The lady at the front desk watched Lin Huang left looking like she was charmed while mumbling softly, "Master Emperor thanked me…"
Lin Huang knocked on the door when he arrived at Huang Tianfu's office.
Huang Tianfu's voice soon boomed from the room. "Come in!"
Lin Huang then opened the door and entered. Huang Tianfu was stunned for a moment when he saw that it was Lin Huang who strolled in. Clearly, he did not expect him.
"Still busy working?" Lin Huang glanced at the numerous documents that were projected from his Emperor's Heart Ring. He suddenly felt that it was not easy being in Huang Tianfu's position.
"There's something that I need to handle," Huang Tianfu said and paused all of a sudden. He asked in surprise, "Master Emperor, have you already broken through to imperial-level?!"
"Yes, I just did," Lin Huang confirmed with a wide grin.
"I thought you'd need at least a week to half a month when you went hunting for Life Base monsters. I never expected you to be so quick!" Clearly, Huang Tianfu knew that Lin Huang had left Dynasty early in the morning.
"The elevation this time was considered pretty smooth." Lin Huang did not plan to explain his cultivation system that was different from the usual since Huang Tianfu did not have to know about that. "How much more time do you need to finish this? Shall we have supper together?"
"I won't finish them just yet. I'll do it tomorrow."
"I heard there's a new barbecue place that's pretty amazing."
"Are you talking about Biggie Barbecue? They're pretty amazing indeed," Huang Tianfu replied cheerfully, "They usually let the customers do the grilling themselves, but the owner has a special sauce. There are four flavors which are non-spicy, slightly spicy, medium spicy and extra spicy. They only open after 6 p.m. but people queue until 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. Their business is booming!"
"Is it really that good?" Lin Huang was even more excited hearing that.
"You'll see after you've tried it. Their sauces are amazing," said Huang Tianfu and he turned off the projection. He then projected his contact book. "Let me call the owner and get ourselves a reservation. Otherwise, we'll have to queue one to two hours when we get there."
Both of them departed as soon as Huang Tianfu completed the reservation. Soon, they arrived at the Biggie Barbecue restaurant.
It was almost 7 p.m. There was a long queue outside the restaurant. At least 40 to 50 people were waiting to be seated.
The owner came out and welcomed Lin Huang and Huang Tianfu as soon as they arrived. He led the duo to a VIP room that had just been cleared on the third floor.
The owner was a bald middle-aged man who looked plump and kind.
However, Lin Huang clearly sensed that the guy was a transcendent. Although he was only on holy fire-level, he was still a transcendent nevertheless.
"It's our pleasure that will last for a lifetime for the Master Emperor to come to our humble restaurant!" Clearly, the owner recognized Lin Huang as soon as they met.
"Give us your best today. Show Master Emperor your skill," challenged Huang Tianfu while grinning.
Lin Huang thought he could finally do the carving himself, but the owner ended up doing it. He merely smiled as they watched the owner's messy knife skills.
Although the owner was pretty good at it, he was not considered an eligible sword cultivator. Judging from his fancy way of cutting meat, Lin Huang could tell that he was the type who went for elegance. This kind of person would most probably fail in Martial Dao due to his lack of effort to grasp the true Martial Dao.
Lin Huang did not comment on his skills from the beginning until the end. He might have pointed out his mistakes if the owner were a cultivator. However, the owner before him had obviously excused himself from the cultivator circle and was living a normal life now. He might not want to hear what Lin Huang had to say even if he were to discuss Sword Dao with him out of kindness.
Naturally, the owner was perfect apart from his overly fancy knife skills.
He began preparing the second batch of meat to be grilled after the first batch was done and served it to both of them.
Lin Huang shoved the first piece of grilled meat into his mouth in anticipation. Just when he chewed twice after putting it into his mouth, the expression on his face turned odd.
After he ate the first one, Lin Huang shoved the second piece of meat into his mouth solemnly. He put the cutlery in his hands down after eating the second one. He looked at the owner who was preparing the second batch of grilled meat.
"Sir, where did you get the sauces from?"
Huang Tianfu was surprised to see Lin Huang asking that question so seriously. "What's wrong?"
"Answer me!" Lin Huang raised his hand to stop Huang Tianfu from asking further. His eyes remained staring on the owner. "Who gave you the recipe for this sauce?"
The owner put what he was doing down and explained while panicking, "A guy gave it to me when I was running my restaurant back in Division 7."
Lin Huang looked through the photo album in his Emperor's Heart Ring immediately. He finally projected a photo after searching for a long time. "Was it him?"
"Looks similar, but that's a kid in this photo. The young man that I met looks the same age as you," said the owner nervously while looking at the photo.
"Which foothold did you meet him in Division 7?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Winter City!"
"When was that?"
"Over three months ago."
"Can you tell me what happened when you guys met in detail? Tell me everything you remember. Try not to miss anything out," Lin Huang requested.
The owner did not decline his request. Instead, he nodded and began telling the story.
"I had a restaurant in Winter City of Division 7 before this. Business was alright. Three months ago, that handsome young man came to my restaurant and ate almost everything I stocked that day on his own. When he called for the bill, he told me that my food was okay but not my sauces. He told me that he happened to have barbecue sauces that he could give me for free. However, I must promise him one thing, which was to open a barbecue restaurant in Emperor City of Division 1, next to Dynasty's headquarters.
"The first reaction I had was to think that that guy was insane or that he was just a con man. However, he took out the sauces and made a batch of grilled meat for me and got me to try them. I agreed to his condition after eating only a piece of grilled meat. He gave me the recipe for the sauce and left.
"The rental agreement for the restaurant that I rented back then had come to an end, so I cleared my stuff and came straight to Emperor City after I made the first batch of sauces."
"Do you know the guy that he's talking about?" Huang Tianfu could not help but finally ask.
"If I'm not mistaken, he should be my brother." Lin Huang figured the person was most likely Lin Xuan because the grilled meat tasted very familiar to him. Although the sauces had improved a lot, Lin Huang recognized it was Lin Xuan's recipe after tasting them.
"What else did he tell you? Think carefully. Did you miss anything out?" Lin Huang lifted his head again and looked pointedly at the restaurant owner.
"Oh yeah, he said something else after giving me the recipe. He told me if the Emperor of Dynasty came to my restaurant one day and asked about him, tell the Emperor this —'Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet.'"
"Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet…" Lin Huang repeated while frowning slightly.
Chapter 1154: Picking A Good Date
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Initially, all Lin Huang wanted was to discuss things with Huang Tianfu and buy him supper. He did not expect to be surprised at the barbecue restaurant.
He was shocked when he heard about Lin Xuan out of nowhere.
It had been three years since he found Lin Xuan. Although the little guy had only stayed for half a year with him and Lin Xin, Lin Huang treated him like family. In reality, Lin Huang had been trying to look for him for more than two years but to no avail. He knew nothing else apart from the fact that Lin Xuan had gone to the Land of Origin.
Lin Huang was finally relieved when he heard that Lin Xuan had now appeared in Winter City where the three of them had lived before. At least, he was still alive, and he still remembered Lin Huang and Lin Xin.
As for what Lin Xuan got the restaurant owner to say, he clearly knew about Lin Huang's current position and situation. To prevent Lin Huang from wasting his efforts of searching for him, he requested the restaurant owner to pass the message: 'Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet'.
He wanted to tell Lin Huang that there was no need to waste his efforts and time to look for him. He would naturally show up when they should meet, and it would not take long for their next encounter.
Lin Huang nodded while smiling at the owner after hearing Lin Xuan's message. "I get it now. Thanks for the message."
Lin Xuan might not know that his message arrived just in time. Lin Huang was planning to use Dynasty to search for him before he left this gravel world. However, now it seemed like it was unnecessary at all.
He was sure that Lin Xuan was safe now. Moreover, his freedom should not be restricted to judging his whereabouts. Lin Huang decided to respect his decision, so he dismissed the thought of looking for him and just waited for him to show up one day.
Lin Huang got the owner to excuse himself when they were almost done with the barbecue. He then began talking business with Huang Tianfu.
"Now that I've already elevated to imperial-level, I might leave this gravel world in a few months," Lin Huang told him his plan without hiding anything.
"You're leaving the gravel world when you're only on imperial-level? Isn't it too risky? Why don't you leave when you've elevated to virtual god-level? With your talent as the Emperor of Dynasty, it's just a matter of time when you elevate to virtual god-level." Huang Tianfu tried to stop him. As a Dynasty member, it was only natural that he hoped Lin Huang would stay longer. After all, Dynasty's destiny lay completely in Lin Huang's hands. He was concerned that Dynasty would be disqualified by Royal if Lin Huang died after getting to the great world.
"The reason I'm heading to the great world so soon is that this gravel world is coming to an end. I must find a solution before the disaster arrives."
"Don't worry about me. Although I'm only on imperial-level, even a Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse can do nothing to me when it comes to the ability to keep myself alive," Lin Huang said while smiling, "Otherwise, how is it possible for me to have managed to obtain rank-A authorization if I'm not capable?
"I'll relegate most of my power at Dynasty to you, Wunan, and Tufu before I leave. As usual, the three of you will manage Dynasty. I hope to see a better Dynasty when I get back from the great world."
"It definitely will be better!" Huang Tianfu nodded immediately. He knew that Lin Huang had made up his mind, and stopping him was futile.
"I need you guys to help me with a few things before I leave."
"Shoot."
"Firstly, help me collect as many sword skills as you can. I need sword skills of all ranks, so collect as many as you can. Second, collect Godheads and broken Godheads for me. The more, the better! Thirdly, collect god-level soul crystals or god items containing a sea of spiritual energy for me."
Lin Huang took a temporary storage ring out from his storage space after he was done with the three requests. He passed it to Huang Tianfu. "Naturally, I'll pay for the things that I've personally asked for. This is the prepaid cash for you. Just let me know when you've run out."
Huang Tianfu peered at the ring as he accepted it. He was secretly shocked.
Such a ring contained almost all of the treasures that Lin Huang had obtained from ending God Bless. There were over 40 god relics alone and more than 500 demigod relics. There were also up to millions of Divine Stones as well as tens of thousands of miscellaneous items such as ancient relics.
"Handle the miscellaneous items such as the ancient relics in the ring for me."
"Sure, I'll sort it out tomorrow morning." Huang Tianfu merely looked through the contents and put the ring away into his storage space.
"I heard Tufu went to Division 3 two days ago. Was he discussing a collaboration with the Union Government of the Division 3 branch?" Lin Huang asked rather casually.
"Yes, our organization is doing great in Division 3. With your fame in the past few months, our branch in Division 3 is almost on the same par with the Union Government. They looked for Tufu this time mainly to discuss the collaboration to maintain the order in Division 3 and the follow-up work."
"Since their branch in Division 3 is collaborating with us, I think we can collaborate with their headquarters too," Lin Huang continued with a smile.
Huang Tianfu frowned slightly after hearing that. "But it would mean that we're turning our backs on other underground organizations if we do that. The other underground organizations can turn a blind eye if the branches are collaborating. After all, some of their branches have businesses with the Union Government.
"Although we're a neutral organization now, we're still on the underground organization's side after all. If we do that, we're definitely making a statement. The heretics have always said that they're a neutral organization, but they've never dared to cross the line. It's fine no matter how the underground organizations' branches want to collaborate with the Union Government and the Hunter Association, but the headquarters have to remain in opposition. Furthermore, they would sometimes stir things up on purpose just to show their status of opposition."
"Are there no neutral organizations that are officially collaborating with the Union Government at the moment?" Lin Huang asked immediately after hearing that.
"There were some few hundred years ago, but they basically joined the union and became union organizations throughout the centuries. There are not many major neutral organizations now. They're all like us and the heretics, the underground organizations that want to go neutral.
"What are the major neutral organizations like?" Lin Huang inquired.
"The Shadow Killer, the heretics, the Mystic Butterfly, and us."
Naturally, the heretics were no strangers to Lin Huang since they had met. He heard of the Shadow Killer and the Mystic Butterfly too. The Shadow Killer was the No. 1 assassin organization in this gravel world. Never had Lin Huang thought they were actually a neutral organization. Lin Huang had also heard of the other organization called the Mystic Butterfly. It was the biggest intel organization in the underground world. Above 70% of the intel from the entire underground world came from them.
"I can understand that the Mystic Butterfly is a neutral organization, but how is the Shadow Killer a neutral organization too?" Lin Huang could not understand it.
Theoretically, the No. 1 assassination organization in the world, the Shadow Killer, should be the boss among all of the underground organizations.
"The Shadow Killer founded themselves as a neutral organization back then. Throughout the centuries, they took up almost every task as long as they made money. They also took up many jobs from the Union Government too. They're pretty much one of the earliest batches of neutral organizations that have collaborated with the Union Government and the Hunter Association."
"If they took jobs from the union organizations, many underground organizations should know about that, shouldn't they?" Lin Huang raised his brow.
"They basically know about it, but nobody can do anything to them as long as they do it well and leave no flaws behind."
"I don't think it's because they do it well and leave no flaws behind." Lin Huang shook his head as he smirked. "It's because the Shadow Killer is so powerful that the other underground organizations daren't confront them even if they have sufficient evidence."
"Plan it out for me during these few days. Pick a good date. We'll visit the Union Government headquarters to discuss a collaboration!"
Chapter 1155: You'll Only Be Powerful If You Go Bald!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In reality, Lin Huang wanted to collaborate with the Union Government for many reasons.
One of the main reasons was to prevent Huang Tianfu and the rest from falling back into an underground organization after he left the gravel world. It would mean that his efforts were wasted if that happened.
Collaborating with the Union Government publicly would tie Dynasty and the union organization together. By the time he left, Dynasty would only have two options. One was to merge with the union organization while the other was to remain as a neutral organization. Meanwhile, the option of rejoining the underground organization would be out of the picture completely.
Naturally, there would be clear disadvantages to doing that.
Within a short period of time, Dynasty would be a traitor to all the underground organizations. Some of them might even go after Dynasty for revenge.
Nonetheless, Lin Huang was prepared to handle that.
If there were any underground organizations that dared to go after Dynasty, he did not mind killing them to warn others.
All of the neutral organizations knew that collaborating with the Union Government had more benefits than disadvantages in the long run. Nobody dared to take the first step because they were afraid of being killed by a bunch of underground organizations before they could even enjoy the benefits.
One must know that there were many ruthless individuals among the top underground organizations.
However, Lin Huang did not care about that. He was invincible in this gravel world with his God Figurine's Combat Souls. He had the absolute ability to suppress them no matter how ruthless they were.
He would kill those who dared to come at Dynasty, he was violent like that!
On the next morning, Huang Tianfu passed down Lin Huang's requests to the underlings. Dynasty's purchasing department began searching for the Godheads, sword skills and soul crystals that Lin Huang asked for in all safety zones.
After that, Huang Tianfu spent the morning communicating with the Union Government and set the official time to visit.
Even Lin Huang was a little surprised when Huang Tianfu informed him about it.
"It's settled so soon?"
"They contacted the Union Government committee immediately after hearing that it was Master Emperor who suggested that. In less than two hours, the deputy chief of the Union Government, Dongfang Bai, responded himself. We'll meet at the Union Government headquarters in First City, Division 1 on 10th December, at 9 a.m.."
"I've arranged for Senior Baiyu and myself to go with you. Wunan will stay to guard the headquarters."
"Bring Lin Xin along. You may sort out the rest." Lin Huang was worried about leaving Lin Xin alone at Dynasty's headquarters.
In reality, Huang Tianfu expected Lin Xin to join the trip, so he did not object to it. They were not going to attack the Union Government anyway, thus there was no need for people with high combat strength to go on the trip.
"Also, this morning, I've informed the purchasing department about the items that you requested last night. They're sorting it out," Huang Tianfu remembered to inform Lin Huang before he hung up the phone.
"Alright, thanks!"
Lin Huang closed his eyes slowly and began cultivating Seamless after hanging up the call with Huang Tianfu.
Although he was already invincible in this gravel world, Lin Huang did not want to depend on his God Figurine's Combat Souls. In fact, he knew very well that his personal ability had leaps and bounds to improve in. Even though he would not be able to elevate his combat strength within a short period of time, his Sword Dao, telekinesis, and Twisted Fate Scripture had yet to reach his peak. Therefore, he did not plan to waste time and indulge during the last few months in the gravel world. Instead, he was planning to improve himself as much as he could in the last few months before heading to the great world.
Cultivating Seamless was the fastest way for the results to show because he could see the increment of each telekinetic threads clearly. Compared to his Sword Dao for which he had no idea when he might break through, Seamless gave him a sense of achievement whenever he cultivated it. Therefore, Lin Huang put cultivating Seamless in his first round of self-improvement.
Ever since elevating to imperial-level, Lin Huang noticed that his speed of cultivating Seamless was much faster than before. He could split 2,000 telekinetic threads almost everyday.
He only spent six days boosting the telekinetic threads from 18,000 to 30,000 threads. He also broke through to level-5 on Seamless.
Lin Huang had gone into closed-door cultivation for merely three days when he was interrupted by a commotion.
He glanced at the source of the commotion, and saw that it was the Evil Dominator who had elevated.
Killer had also elevated less than two hours after the Evil Dominator did. Over three hours later, Lancelot finally emerged from his cocoon.
After looking at the three brand new Monster Cards thoroughly, Lin Huang put the three cards away into his body one after another. He waited for a whole day, but Bloody had yet to complete its elevation.
To his relief, the next evening, Bloody finally elevated.
However, Bloody looked completely different from before its elevation.
Lin Huang was stunned for a moment upon seeing the silhouette that came out of the cocoon.
A lady with a drop-dead gorgeous body strolled out of the cocoon. There were circles of red mist lingering around her body. She had purple hair that reached her waist, and each strand of her hair looked like they were mumbling softly as if they were alive.
"Bloody?" Lin Huang questioned, feeling unsure although he saw the panel information that was projected from far away.
"Master." Bloody appeared before Lin Huang in the blink of an eye. She was so quick that Lin Huang did not even see her trajectory clearly.
"Is there… anything wrong with your elevation?" Lin Huang could not help but ask. He thought that it was absolutely strange that Bloody had elevated to such a form.
"I think it's great! This human form allows me to showcase my battle ability to the max!" Bloody was satisfied with her brand new form.
She had learned endless human knowledge and read countless Martial Dao books as well as obtained the inheritance of countless human powerhouses. Her human form was the best form that could allow her to showcase what she had learned.
Lin Huang realized what Bloody's purpose of changing form was after hearing her talk about her battle ability.
He had no doubt that Bloody's progress in cultivating the human Martial Dao might be terrifying given the intelligence and knowledge that she had in store. He even faintly felt that she might be able to master the true meaning of Martial Dao faster than he could.
"Won't this form affect your computing ability?" Lin Huang enquired.
"No, this elevation boosted my computing ability to become tens of times more powerful. Moreover, each of my hair is an extension of my brain. Each of them gives me an approximate 1% boost in computing skills. I have over 100,000 strands of hair which will give me thousands of times of boost in my computing skills. In other words, the most computing skills I'll have would be tens of thousands of times more than before," Bloody explained, "The only disadvantage is that such overloaded computing with that much of a boost will make my hair shed as soon as it lasts for a long time. They'll only grow back in 48 hours."
'So, it's true that you'll only be powerful if you go bald. This makes sense.' While Lin Huang teased secretly, he could not help but check Bloody's card details.
"Monster Card: Bloody
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Wise Queen
"Type of Monster: Wisdom-type / Unknown Tribe
"Nickname: The Wise
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Intelligence, Parasitism
"Major Skills: Divine Parasitism (includes hundreds of parasitism skills), Absolute Administration, Heart of Knowledge, Inheritance Plunder…
"Minor Skills: Supreme Intelligence, Divine Telekinesis, Immortal Tinder, Consciousness Transfer…
"Summon Authority: Activated
"Card Remarks: Recommended to train with maximum effort!"
Bloody had similar skills as Divine Parasitism, Absolute Administration and Supreme Intelligence before. Lin Huang knew the rough effect of the few skills after only taking a glance.
However, there were some new skills that he could not understand what exactly their effect was. He tapped them open to read carefully right away.
"Heart of Knowledge: Extreme eagerness to learn, a 100-time boost in the learning ability for all knowledge."
"Inheritance Plunder: Allows one to plunder a host's memory inheritance by force even if the inheritance is sealed (the success rate of plundering isn't 100%; it depends on how much the inheritance is sealed.
"Immortal Tinder: The main body can create nine Immortal Tinders that contain his complete memory and inheritance. When the main body is dead, the tinder will be activated automatically and transform the host rapidly to be replaced by the main body.
"Remarks: This skill is best combined with Consciousness Transfer.
"Consciousness Transfer: The main body can preserve his complete consciousness and transfer it to a specific host.
"Remarks: This skill is best combined with Immortal Tinder."
Lin Huang thought Bloody's overall ability was countless times more powerful than it had been before after roughly reading her card.
Not only did she have the talent to be a military advisor, but the three abilities including Inheritance Plunder, Heart of Knowledge, and Supreme Intelligence were also sufficient to make her the ultimate genius that no human could compare to.
If given enough time, she could absorb all the knowledge in the entire world and become an invincible existence who knew everything and was capable of everything.
"I've been sleeping for more than ten days. Is there anything that you need my help with?" Bloody asked Lin Huang just when he was done reading the card details.
"Your elevation came just in time. I'll be discussing a collaboration with the Union Government in two days. You can help me plan out how to maximize the benefits for Dynasty and me as well as create a win-win for the Union Government."
Chapter 1156: Visiting First City Again
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To Lin Huang, Bloody's elevation came at the perfect timing.
Lin Huang came up with the collaboration proposal for the Union Government after spending merely a night discussing with Bloody.
He sent the proposal he got Bloody to sort out to Huang Tianfu, asking the experienced man if there was anything that they should add or delete.
Huang Tianfu was a little surprised when he got the proposal from Lin Huang. Initially, he planned to get Lin Huang out of the Emperor Palace to discuss it with him properly. In the end, Lin Huang had sent him a complete proposal directly.
He was shocked after giving it a thorough read because the proposal Lin Huang had sent him was complete. It included almost everything that he thought of, even some of the matters that he did not think of.
It was past 3 a.m. in the middle of the night when Huang Tianfu finished reading the proposal.
He peeped at the time and read the proposal all over again to see if there was anything that he could add on.
He finally went through the proposal for the second time when it was past 6 a.m. In the end, he thought Lin Huang's proposal was flawless.
Lin Huang smiled when he received Huang Tianfu's message early in the morning. "It seems like I can focus on my cultivation for two days."
Huang Tianfu's message was that the proposal was alright and that there was nothing that needed amending, so they could go on with the proposal right away.
Time flew by and two days passed. It was 10th December when the meeting was supposed to take place.
Lin Huang was done washing up at past 6 a.m. It was not even 7 a.m. when he was done with breakfast.
After preparing himself, the four of them including Lin Huang, Lin Xin, Huang Tianfu, and Huang Baiyu stepped into the dimensional portal and arrived in First City where the Union Government headquarters were at 8 a.m. sharp.
Lin Huang brought the few of them to a cafe near the Union Government headquarters. In less than three minutes they ordered their coffee, the current chief of Agency EA, Guan Zhong, arrived with his people.
Lin Huang greeted with a wide grin after seeing the familiar person, "Chief, are you here for coffee too?"
"You're funny, Master Emperor." Guan Zhong walked over to Lin Huang. "I've met Master Emperor a couple of times after all, so they sent me to ease everyone to prevent the awkwardness."
"Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Zhao Lingming, the committee chairman of the Union Government headquarters. This is Ms. Ran Ning, the deputy chairman." Guan Zhong stepped to his left and introduced the duo next to him to Lin Huang.
The man who stood on the left was tall and tanned, and he looked serious. Lin Huang could tell by the looks of it that this man must be from the military. The way he stood was so ramrodded straight that it was hard to hide the fact that he came from the military.
The lady next to him wore a pair of glasses. She looked 27 or 28. Lin Huang could not tell her actual age. This lady should be beautiful, but she wore the black-framed glasses on purpose. She even had light make-up on which was intentional, making her appear inconspicuous and easily ignored.
However, Lin Huang looked at her again because Bloody's Leech Pod sent a message to him: This lady might have Supreme Intelligence.
Since he could not bring any summoning beasts with him to this discussion, Lin Huang asked Bloody to cast a Leech Pod in his body to observe the meeting from far away and give him real-time suggestions.
Meanwhile, Bloody cast her parasite on a handsome man in a hotel less than 300 meters from the cafe at the beginning. Bloody used him to check into the hotel. In the hotel room, the man who was parasitized had fallen into a deep sleep while Bloody observed everything from far through the Leech Pod.
Clearly, the Union Government delayed the collaboration meeting by 12 days to give them enough time to prepare. Judging from the current situation, they had done a great job preparing.
"Nice to meet you, both chairmen," Lin Huang said to both of them while smiling.
At the moment, Huang Tianfu took over the conversation and introduced him to the few people from the Union Government, "This is our Master Emperor, and this is our Dynasty's little princess, who is the Master Emperor's sister. This man next to me is Dynasty's Duke Yu, Huang Baiyu. Lastly, your humble one is Dynasty's Huang Tianfu."
Guan Zhong and the rest clearly had their eyes trained on Duke Yu for a moment when they heard his name.
The ordinary organization members might not know it, but Guan Zhong and the rest who were the upper echelon of the Union Government knew that there were currently only two Dukes who were given official titles. They were Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang, who were both virtual god-level powerhouses. Meanwhile, those who were called Dukes like Huang Tianqi just had honorable titles that the outsiders called them. The title was not officially given by Dynasty. They knew that Huang Baiyu who was assigned the title Duke Yu was a powerhouse on Virtual God rank-3. He was considered one of the people with top abilities in this gravel world.
Ran Ning spoke while smiling in the next second everyone fell into silence. Her eyes focused on Lin Xin who was next to Lin Huang. "So, this is Dynasty's little princess. I've heard that Master Emperor has a sister, but never had I thought she'd turn out to be a little beauty."
'It would be ridiculous if you guys don't know how Lin Xin looks like,' Lin Huang thought to himself.
However, that was not what Lin Xin was thinking about. She had her head in the clouds since Ran Ning, who was a girl, had complimented her.
"I heard that you used to teach in the firearms faculty when you were at the Martial Hunter College in Division 7. I happen to have a gun in my storage ring that I've just gotten a few days ago. I'll give it to you as a gift," Ran Ning spoke and took out an ancient gun relic. It was a black lady's pistol with many purple decorative patterns on it, holding a mysterious beauty.
Lin Xin's eyes lit up when she saw it. "Isn't this the Purple Mystic 001 that the Eagle Company has just released recently? I heard this is the first product from their Purple Mystic series? It's a limited edition with only 100 of them worldwide!"
Lin Xin had taken note of the pistol before. Although it was just an ancient gun relic, its price was nothing less than a demigod relic.
"Yeah, I know the owner of the Eagle Company and asked for one for myself knowing that demigod Gong Wei designed it. I thought it was a great collectible."
"You like Gong Wei's design too?" Lin Xin felt like she had found herself a best friend.
"Yeah, I think her design is beautiful. I collect almost every household product that she's designed. Sometimes, I get those off the market through my connection…"
The two ladies talked about Gong Wei and ignored Lin Huang and the rest completely.
Gong Wei was one of the countable demigods in this world. Although her battle ability was not considered powerful, she was very pretty. Her dressing was classy and she landed as the focus of the media in each meeting she attended. As time passed by, she became the No. 1 fashionable person in this gravel world. She was also an idol to many females.
No matter what she designed, the product would be a hot sell-out almost every time because she had hordes of female fans who would purchase it.
Lin Huang had heard of her name before, but he had no thoughts about this lady.
The reason he remembered the name Gong Wei was that she had designed a lady's backpack two years ago. In the end, some of them realized the backpack was too small after purchasing it and posted threads online to complain that it could not contain much.
Gong Wei posted online directly after hearing about the complaints: "A bag is for one to look good. Why would you want to put anything in it? If that's what you want, why don't you just use a plastic bag?"
What she said caused a heated discussion online. Many of them complained that the things she designed were impractical. Meanwhile, there were many fans who stood by her side, supporting what she said and agreeing that it made sense.
That was the only impression Lin Huang had of Gong Wei the demigod. He did not even know that Lin Xin was also Gong Wei's fan.
Ran Ning passed the pistol over to Lin Xin after the two ladies chatted for a while. "This pistol will be my meeting gift to you."
"This is too much!" Lin Xin waved her hands immediately. Although she liked it, she did not want to take away something that someone else loved. After all, Ran Ning had used some effort to obtain it.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not a firearms master anyway. This pistol will be treated as a collectible with me, but with you, it could live its life to its fullest."
"But…" Lin Huang interrupted her when Lin Xin was about to continue with something.
"We can't take it for free. Let's trade." Lin Huang glanced at Ran Ning while smiling. "I asked the chief earlier. He told me that Ms. Ran you're a sword cultivator. Let me trade a demigod sword relic with this pistol. Such a gift exchange of the same value is a kind of friendship too. Furthermore, the gifts that we exchange are very practical for both of us," Lin Huang spoke while taking a demigod sword relic out from his storage space.
He had picked the sword with Ran Ning in mind. It was completely purple with beautiful shape and intricate patterns.
Even Ran Ning could not help but feel stunned when she saw it.
"This Purple Phoenix will be the gift Xin Er exchanges with Ms. Ran," Lin Huang said and passed the sword to Lin Xin.
Lin Xin looked at Lin Huang in gratitude and took over the sword.
Ran Ning was speechless. She wanted to get Lin Xin a gift so that Lin Xin would remember the favor. Never had she thought that Lin Huang would interfere and that it would turn out to be a gift exchange instead.
Although he did not want the demigod sword relic, she could only accept it since events had unfolded this way.
The two ladies soon exchanged their gifts under the witness of many.
Lin Huang could not help but smirk a little when he saw Lin Xin failing to take her eyes off the Purple Mystic 001 that she had just gotten while Ran Ning put the sword away into her storage space expressionlessly.
"Let's head to the meeting room at the headquarters. We'll talk over tea." Guan Zhong circled back to the topic after seeing that the two ladies had stopped their chatting. He then led Lin Huang and the rest to the office building where the Union Government headquarters were.
Chapter 1157: How's Mr. Fu Doing?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu were speechless when they saw the building as they stood outside the Union Government headquarters. Lin Xin looked away while blushing a little. Clearly, she recognized the shape of the building.
"It's huge! It's much bigger than the video projection!" Huang Baiyu, who had been silent, could not help but exclaim.
Guan Zhong and the rest turned away. None of them were looking straight at the building.
In reality, Lin Huang had gone searching for the reason why the Union Government headquarters were designed like that out of curiosity when he got back from his visit last time.
In the end, he found out that it was not a joke the architect was trying to pull.
The buildings were designed by a powerful demigod named Gao Lou during the new era. He was hot-tempered and possessed powerful abilities.
The Union Government requested him to build a main building and two subsidiary buildings with the main building being so tall that it soared into the sky like a giant sword. Meanwhile, the subsidiary buildings had to be beautiful and tasteful.
In reality, the two subsidiary buildings were three to four times bigger than what they were now compared to the draft. Apart from that, the main building looked more like a sword that pierced into the land. It should be taller and thinner than what it was at the moment.
However, the Union Government was unsatisfied with the draft. They thought the main building was not tasteful enough and that the subsidiary buildings were too attention-seeking. They got the architect to change the sizes again and again.
After amending the draft for more than 20 times, Gao Lou could no longer take the Union Government's warped sense of beauty and decided to drop the job entirely. The last version he drew was the current ratio of the trio.
The Union Government went looking for Gao Lou after he dropped the job, but he disappeared.
Unable to do anything else, the upper echelon looked for other architects. However, none of them wanted to take the job.
There were very few demigods in the entire world back then whereby there were only less than ten of them. As the only demigod-level architect, Gao Lou was the best architect in the field and was an idol to many architects.
The act of the Union Government offending Gao Lou would mean they offended everyone in the architectural industry.
Without having any idea what to do, the Union Government built the headquarters using the last draft version that Gao Lou designed since the previous ones were all gotten rid of.
Ultimately, it turned out to look like this, a Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon.
The current the Union Government would have definitely chosen a dimensional demigod relic or god relic as their headquarters instead of constructing a building from scratch.
However, the discovery of ruins had yet to take place when the Union Government was founded 800 years ago during the new era. Not many people had demigod relics, let alone dimensional demigod relic and god relic.
"It's windy outside. Let's get in." Eventually, the committee chairman, Zhao Lingming, broke the awkwardness and gestured for Lin Huang to go in.
They followed Lin Huang into the main building and arrived at the 198th floor, which was the highest floor of the Union Government office building by elevator.
Both sides sat at the table after entering the meeting room, and they fell into silence again.
After the staff served everyone tea, Guan Zhong finally broke the silence, "The chief found the tree of these tea leaves in a grade-5 ruin over 100 years ago. It's considered an ancient tea. They brought 12 trees back, but only one survived. I think this should be the only ancient tea tree in the world."
Lin Huang took a sip. All he tasted was a light sweetness and fragrance that lingered on his palate. There was no bitterness at all.
"How's the annual production of these tea leaves like?" Lin Huang carried on with the topic.
"The annual production is extremely low with only approximately a pound a year. The chief usually serves 50% of them to our guests, sets 30% aside as a reward, and keeps 20% for himself."
"One pound is indeed a little low," Lin Huang responded.
As the few of them chatted about tea leaves, they soon moved on to something else. The atmosphere in the meeting room that was initially silent was now livelier.
Not long later, a few new people soon came into the meeting room one after another.
There were faces that Lin Huang was familiar with, such as the deputy chief of the Union Government, Dongfang Bai, and the press representative, Han Yao.
Both of them always appeared in the Union Government official news site, so it was hard for people not to recognize them.
Apart from the two familiar faces, there was another old man with silver hair who was the committee deputy chairman of the Union Government just like Ran Ning.
There was also a middle-aged man who was clearly a security guard or some sort who came with Dongfang Bai. He had the same combat strength as Huang Baiyu, which was Virtual God rank-3. He sat next to Dongfang Bai and almost never took his eyes off Huang Baiyu as soon as he came in.
Huang Baiyu merely peeped at him and ignored him completely.
Everyone introduced themselves courteously after entering. They then found themselves a seat after chatting out of politeness.
When it was almost 8.55 a.m., the Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, finally walked into the meeting room. He was the last to arrive.
As soon as he showed up, everyone in the meeting room including Lin Huang and the rest stood up to welcome him as a sign of respect.
It was Lin Huang's first time seeing Jiang Shan in real life. This man looked 35 or 36 years old and was almost 1.9 meters tall with a strong body. He wore a neat, light gray suit. Among everyone present, he was the most formally dressed.
Lin Huang could not help but hold his head down to look at himself after seeing how Jiang Shan was dressed. He thought he might have dressed too casually.
Jiang Shan looked through the room while standing at the door. His eyes soon landed on Lin Huang, and he walked toward him while smiling and gripping Lin Huang's hand.
"Mr. Emperor, it's such a pleasure! I've heard of the name Lin Xie around half a year ago. I told myself I must meet you if I had the chance for you're such a talented young man. I never thought the No. 1 genius would become the Emperor of Dynasty in the blink of an eye! I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. And now, you're here as an organization leader. We should never underestimate the younger generation!"
"Well, I can only say that life is unexpected. I didn't expect myself to be the Emperor of Dynasty as well." Lin Huang smiled while nodding.
"It's fate now that I think about it. You're Mr. Fu's disciple. He's taught me before as well, so I'm considered his half-disciple. We're pretty much senior and junior brothers of the same sect." Jiang Shan soon found common ground.
"It's nice to meet you, Senior Brother!" Slyness flashed through Lin Huang's eyes. He did not think that calling Jiang Shan Senior Brother was a loss to him. After all, Jiang Shan was older and held a high position. Now that he was his junior, it would benefit him in the discussion later.
"How's Mr. Fu doing?" Jiang Shan asked out of politeness.
"Pretty great. His injury has recovered." Lin Huang's answer surprised everyone.
The reason he revealed that at such a time was that Mr. Fu had informed him last night that he had elevated to Virtual God rank-9. Moreover, he told Lin Huang that he could use his name when he needed to.
Even Jiang Shan was stunned to hear the news. He asked immediately, "Are you serious?"
"Of course, I'm serious! I never joke about things like that," Lin Huang replied grimly.
Chapter 1158: The Union Government's Weakness
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Apart from Lin Huang and Lin Xin, everyone was shocked by the news of Mr. Fu being healed.
Most of the people had no idea about Mr. Fu's exact combat strength. However, Jiang Shan and the rest of the Union Government upper echelons knew about it.
To many, Mr. Fu, who had been severely injured over 800 years ago, was like a tiger who had lost its teeth. He was nobody to be feared of. He was nothing no matter how powerful his combat strength was because the more Divine Power he used, the closer he was to his impending death. Therefore, they were sure that Mr. Fu would not retaliate.
However, the situation was totally different if Lin Huang was telling the truth.
Virtual God rank-8 was close to the limit that this gravel world could contain. Meanwhile, the most powerful seniors in all the top organizations only had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-3. At least, that was what was known to the public.
To a Virtual God rank-8 powerhouse, comparing a Virtual God rank-3 person was like comparing a baby less than a month old to an adult hunk that could carry 300 kilograms of weight. Their abilities were on entirely different levels.
Having had his ability recovered, Mr. Fu was considered a person who should be feared in this gravel world.
Naturally, the Union Government was doubtful of what Lin Huang told them.
After all, it had been over 800 years since Mr. Fu had been injured, and he had yet to heal throughout the years. Moreover, it was such a coincidence for Lin Huang to come with the news. They could not rule out the possibility that he had come up with a lie to win more benefits in the discussion.
Lin Huang knew that Jiang Shan and the rest would most probably doubt him if he were to tell them the news. The purpose of him revealing the news was not for them to believe in him, but to make them worry.
Jiang Shen took the main seat after chatting with Lin Huang for merely a moment.
Everyone in the meeting room also returned to their seats.
There were not many people in the entire meeting room. There were a total of eight people from the Union Government's side, including their chief Jiang Shan, deputy chief Dongfang Bai, committee chairman Zhao Lingming, the deputy chairmen Ran Ning and Qiu Xu, press representative Han Yao, and the two Virtual God rank-3 powerhouses who were responsible for their safety.
Meanwhile, the people Lin Huang brought from Dynasty only made up half of the number of people from the Union Government. They were Lin Huang and his sister, one of the three Grand Dukes, Huang Tianfu, and the Virtual God, Huang Baiyu.
Jiang Shan spoke directly seeing that it was close to 9 a.m. which was the scheduled time of the meeting, "Emperor Lin, you've been keeping the collaboration's agenda and direction a secret. Can you share it with us now?"
Lin Huang picked the cup up and took a sip of the tea before saying slowly, "I'm sure every one of you from the Union Government knows that the organization behind Dynasty is Royal from the great world. Am I right?"
He then proceeded to speak after seeing that everyone from the Union Government nod. "I passed the Royal Trial and became a Royalty officially before being chosen as the Emperor of Dynasty."
In reality, the Union Government upper echelons including Jiang Shan knew about this, but they listened patiently.
"The reason I have the confidence to collaborate with the Union Government is that I have Royal's support. This looks like a collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government on the surface, but in reality, I'm representing Royal to propose a business opportunity with the Union Government."
The people from the Union Government looked solemn as they listened. Although they figured the bargaining power Lin Huang might bring, they could not help but anticipate it when they heard Lin Huang mention it out loud.
"Although there are many ruins and sites in this gravel world, it's been over 800 years since the new era began. The resources available in those ruins and sites that were explored for many times are depleting. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer new ruins and sites throughout the centuries. Sometimes, we can't even find a single one throughout a year.
"I know you guys restricted the participants' combat strength and time to enter the newly opened ruins and sites throughout the centuries. You guys are also trying your best to control the number of old ruins and sites being explored as well as prolonging the interval in between explorations so that the ruins and site can grow more resources. However, the resources that everyone can get from the ruins and sites are still dropping every year.
"After all, the world that we're currently in is merely a gravel world, whereby the number of ruins and sites are limited. The resources will continue to decrease as more people explore those ruins and sites that are already limited. It's a fact that you can't change no matter how much you guys want to restrict and manage them. The number of ruins and sites make the resources limited.
"Meanwhile, the bargaining power I have to bring to the table today is the solution to increase the number of ruins and sites!"
"Let's hear it!" Jiang Shan and the rest were giving him all of their attention at this point.
"Royal has countless mini-worlds under them, and the number of ruins and sites continue to go up every day. Well, I have the authority to explore these ruins and sites."
The eight from the Union Government were a little restless as soon as Lin Huang said that.
Even Jiang Shan did not expect Lin Huang to hold onto the Union Government's weakness as soon as he showed up. However, he was accurate.
Naturally, it was not Lin Huang who came up with that idea. Instead, it was Bloody who was in the hotel hundreds of meters away that transferred the information into his head through her Leech Pod while he merely repeated the information he was fed with.
It was also the plan Lin Huang and Bloody came up with, which was to get Bloody to participate in the discussion.
Just like what Bloody got Lin Huang to say, the Union Government had indeed done everything they could to maintain all the ruins and sites. However, there were a limited number of ruins and sites after all which resulted in limited resources.
As the Union Government members and the military department had been growing throughout the 800 years, they had more and more requirements for all cultivation resources. Meanwhile, there were fewer and fewer new ruins and sites as well as resources throughout the past century. That was the biggest issue that put the Union Government's development to a halt as of late.
They had been looking for solutions but their attempts were to no avail. They had opened all the ruins and sites in this gravel world. Although there were new ruins and sites that appeared occasionally, it was just a drop in the ocean which did nothing much to help the issue.
Jiang Shan finally spoke again after they discussed among themselves through voice transmission for a while, "Emperor Lin, what do you guys want in return for the authorization to be extended to us?"
"An extensive and comprehensive collaboration, including sharing of information that's circulated in the union organizations. Basically, the sharing of resources and authorization that other union organizations can enjoy." Lin Huang went all out.
"Whatever you're requesting is exclusive to our union organizations. If Dynasty really wants to enjoy these benefits, you can actually join the union organization directly," Deputy Chief Dongfang Bai said to Lin Huang while smiling.
"We're a neutral organization and we won't pick any sides," Lin Huang rejected him directly.
"Emperor Lin, why don't you give us a day to discuss it? Let's end today's meeting right here." Jiang Shan called off the meeting immediately upon noticing that Dongfang Bai and Lin Huang were staring at each other and nobody was backing off.
Chapter 1159: It's None of Your Business!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Since the first round of discussion came to an end, Guan Zhong checked Lin Huang and the other three of them into a hotel near the Union Government headquarters.
Each of them were supposed to stay in a room individually, but Lin Huang got Guan Zhong to put Lin Xin in the same room with him because he was worried. The three rooms were connected. The room Lin Huang and Lin Xin were in was in the middle while Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu's rooms sandwiched theirs.
Guan Zhong soon excused himself and left after checking the four of them into the hotel.
Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu only knocked on Lin Huang's door after waiting for Guan Zhong to leave.
"Master Emperor, the collaboration…"
Lin Huang interrupted Huang Tianfu just when he began to speak, "Come in. We'll talk inside."
He recalled Bloody who was hundreds of meters away into her card form when the duo entered. Then, he summoned her again.
The three of them were surprised to see Bloody who had a knockout figure in her red dress.
Lin Xin was checking Bloody out rather closely since it was her first time seeing Bloody since her elevation.
"Brother, who is this chick?"
"She's Bloody."
"Bloody?!" Lin Xin was even more sceptical now. The Bloody she remembered did not look like this but was a clump of purple cloud who liked hiding in Lin Huang's sleeve. However, the person before them was clearly a human. Besides that, Lin Xin could not see any resemblance of a monster in her.
"She elevated and transformed into this," Lin Huang explained, feeling helpless.
Seeing that Lin Xin was still in disbelief, Bloody spoke using her voice from before, "Miss Xin Er, I'm really Bloody. I just underwent a significant change in form during the recent elevation."
Lin Xin only confirmed it was Bloody after hearing her familiar voice, but she remained curious. Never had she thought that a monster that was initially a cloud would transform into a human form after elevating.
Bloody turned her head and introduced herself to Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu when she noticed their surprise too, "I'm Master's summoning beast. My name is Bloody."
"This summoning beast looks terribly like a human, doesn't she?" Huang Baiyu stared at Bloody for a while and could not tell her apart from a regular human. "Even her aura is exactly the same as a human's."
Meanwhile, Huang Tianfu was much calmer. All he did was look at Lin Huang rather curiously. "Master Emperor, you summoned this summoning beast at this moment because…"
"Bloody has Supreme Intelligence. She's the one who came up with the proposal for the collaboration with me." Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu understood the reason why Lin Huang summoned Bloody as soon as he said that.
"Although she can't participate in the discussion, it's great to have a strategist who has Supreme Intelligence." Huang Tianfu grinned while nodding in approval.
"She just can't participate in the discussion publicly," Lin Huang said, "Bloody has a special technique which allows her to observe the meeting through my eyes in real life and communicate with me from far away without anyone noticing. It looks like there are only four people from our side in the discussion, but in reality, there are five of us."
Lin Huang did not go into Bloody's ability in detail on purpose when he explained. It was normal for Imperial Censors to hold back on revealing their summoning beasts' abilities to the public.
Fortunately, Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu did not focus on Bloody's abilities. Having a participant in hiding from their side was undoubtedly great news.
"Bloody, tell us what we should do next." Lin Huang threw such a question directly before everyone to prove that Bloody deserved to participate in the discussion.
"It's impossible for the Union Government to agree to our condition completely. After all, Dynasty is just a neutral organization. No matter how tempting the benefit that we're offering is, it's impossible for them to give Dynasty all the benefits that are exclusive to the union organizations. We'd be enjoying benefits exclusive to those union organizations without having to go along with their rules. Such a request is totally breaking their rules, so there's no way the Union Government will agree to that.
"However, judging from the response from the Union Government, they're eager to explore new ruins and sites. They'll only accept our request in addition to their own conditions to come to an agreement. Therefore, now we'll have to fight for what we want most as much as we can and let them reject our requests that aren't exactly important to us. After all, both sides will have to compromise to achieve a win-win situation."
Bloody's clever answer won Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu's trust completely.
Lin Xin, who was sitting on the other side, only believed that it was Bloody by then. "Now, I'm sure that you're really Bloody because none of Brother's summoning beasts are as smart as you."
Lin Huang had no idea whether to laugh or cry after hearing that. In reality, Bloody was not the only one who possessed Supreme Intelligence among the summoning beasts he had. Grimace, the Bug Tribe's Queen Mother, and the Superbrain Worm that he had just obtained earlier also possessed Supreme Intelligence. As for those monsters who did not possess Supreme Intelligence, many of them had elevated to quadruple mythical-level. Speaking of intelligence, they were actually smarter than ordinary humans. Their learning and comprehension abilities were on par with human supreme geniuses (monsters on pseudo-mythical-level only have abilities comparable with supreme geniuses).
Bloody was a little speechless by Lin Xin's compliment. She pretended that she did not hear her and proceeded to speak, "We must put the things that the Union Government definitely won't let go off into consideration when we decide which condition to give up on. Even if there are authorizations that we're eager to obtain from them, if we know that it's impossible for them to allow that, we don't have to insist on it. Instead, it's better for us to be mentally prepared about what to give up on so that we can obtain benefits in other things."
Bloody's suggestion helped Lin Huang and the rest set the direction of their discussion again.
They looked at the list and began discussing which were the things that they must come to agreement on and which to give up.
Meanwhile, the Union Government was in full-swing discussion too. They were discussing what authorization they should give to Dynasty and which to prohibit no matter what.
Time flew by and a day soon went by. The Union Government and Dynasty had their preliminary discussions drafted internally.
The next morning, Lin Huang led his people into the Union Government building again after breakfast.
Bloody, who was in the hotel hundreds of meters away, spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission all of a sudden a moment after they had just taken their seats, "The news of the discussion between Dynasty and the Union Government has been exposed! Someone took a video of you guys entering the Union Government building earlier and posted it on the black market forum. The entire forum is in a heated discussion now."
Lin Huang went to the black market forum immediately after hearing that.
As told, the first thread on the main page of the forum was 'Emperor Of Dynasty Visited The Union Government Headquarters Secretly. Click Link for Video Proof!'
Soon, Lin Huang saw the video after clicking on the thread.
The video was taken outside the Union Government building. It only lasted for some ten seconds and was a clip of Lin Huang and the other three walking into the entrance of the Union Government in the morning.
Lin Huang and Lin Xin's faces were not in the video, but Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu, who walked behind them, had their faces captured.
Many people recognized Huang Tianfu as soon as they saw the video. Naturally, it was not too difficult to recognize Lin Huang from his side profile.
Heated discussions from countless underground organizations went on below the threads. Most of them condemned Lin Huang as a traitor to the underground organizations.
Lin Huang thought about it and decided to comment on the thread with his personal account.
"Firstly, thank you everyone for your concern about Dynasty and myself. As the Emperor of Dynasty, I would like to say something representing Dynasty here. Dynasty is a neutral organization now and forever. As a neutral organization, we won't pick sides. We have the right to choose who we want to work with, and that has nothing to do with a third person's will (in other words, it's none of your business!). It has nothing to do with whether it's a union organization or an underground organization as well as the size or the people involved. Dynasty is willing to work with anyone whose development philosophy is in line with ours as long as it's a win-win for both sides. We welcome all organizations to collaborate with Dynasty. Let's excel together!"
Chapter 1160: Lin Huang is Trending Again!
Lin Huang closed the forum after posting that comment on the thread. He no longer followed the topic after that.
He did not plan to hide his discussion with the Union Government from anyone anyway. It made no difference to him that it was exposed since everyone would find out sooner or later. He did not care whether people found out sooner or later. If he cared, he would have disguised himself with Huang Tianfu and the rest when they entered the First City yesterday.
However, Lin Huang had no idea that the comment he posted on the thread in the black market forum became a hit. The views on the thread that was initially tens of thousands skyrocketed to over 30 million views within less than ten minutes after he commented, and the number was rising. The comment threads grew from a few hundred to more than 100,000 now.
The black market forum almost crashed from the traffic that came out of nowhere.
The reason for the sudden spike in traffic was that some of them posted the thread on some other social media sites. In addition to that, some people screenshot Lin Huang's comment and forwarded it around.
The criticism about that Lin Huang and Dynasty being traitors that was consistent on the black market forum took a turn after a new bunch of people flooded the site. The threads were all supporting Lin Huang.
"Are you guys ashamed of taking this video sneakily? The Emperor wasn't even hiding it."
"Good job on the 'it's none of your business'! Because of that, I'm Lin Huang's fan from today onwards."
"Secret visit, my a*s! He visited the Union Government publicly and didn't disguise himself at all. Instead, he walked into the building from the entrance. The video you posted shows that loud and clear, so how is that a secret visit? Do you think we're all blind?"
"To those who called out Dynasty as a traitor, the Emperor officially announced that Dynasty was no longer an underground organization four months ago as soon as he was appointed. They're now a neutral organization. What does a neutral organization working with union organization has anything to do with you underground organization?!"
…
Lin Huang's name became the No. 1 topic on all the social media sites early in the morning. Dynasty also became the second topic on trending topics, and they were popular now.
The first thought that flashed through many people's minds when they saw Lin Huang's name on social media sites was, 'What did Lin Huang do again? Why is he always trending? Can he give a chance to the others?!'
Everyone who clicked on the trending thread and read it thoroughly came to the same conclusion — they supported Lin Huang!
The reason was simple. Many ordinary cultivators were on all social media sites while most of them loathed the underground organizations.
Lin Huang's action undoubtedly made a statement that Dynasty was a neutral organization. Moreover, him working with the Union Government was a plus to the ordinary cultivators. To them, the Union Government represented justice. It was impossible for them to be in the same boat with evil organizations. Therefore, Dynasty's image turned positive now.
In reality, Lin Huang and Bloody did not expect that to happen.
One of the reasons why Lin Huang decided to work with the Union Government was that the Union Government had the most power. Another reason was that compared to other organizations, the possibility of the Union Government backing out on their promise was slimmer.
Lin Huang and the rest had no idea that the Union Government was following this matter closely since early in the morning.
Jiang Shan and the rest were a little surprised to see that almost everyone on the Internet supported Lin Huang.
"Everyone on the Internet supports Dynasty and Lin Huang. I really have no idea what Lin Huang fed those people," Deputy Chief Dongfang Bai shook his head while saying, failing to understand how did that happen.
"It's not too hard to understand actually." Jiang Shan smiled hearing what Dongfang Bai said. "Lin Huang is only 19 and he's already the Emperor of Dynasty as well as the No. 1 genius of the era. His name doesn't represent himself alone. It's more like a symbol, a symbol that the younger generation believes in.
"Think about it. He's a formidable genius as bright as the sun above, masking all of the light the rest of the talents shine with his ability and he's the same age as you when you were 19. Would you worship him?"
Dongfang Bai fell into silence. The rest also experienced a slight change of expression.
"Lin Huang's existence isn't something bad. There's no need for us to be intimidated by him. Even if Lin Huang isn't the one conquering the world, it might be Zhang Huang, Liu Huang or Li Huang. It's just how reality is. A person will show up at the right time in the right position as the leader of the new era. He'll leave his mark in his time and people will remember him for years to come," Jiang Shan continued.
"You sure speak highly of him. Are you trying to boost his ego?" said the committee chairman Zhao Lingming while smiling.
"What I said is what I really feel. You must know that I was even less significant than his finger when I was 19," Jiang Shan ridiculed himself.
"Alright, let's stop talking about Lin Huang. We might as well call off the meeting with Dynasty and agree to all of their conditions directly if we continue to talk about him," Dongfang Bai scorned.
"It's almost time to go. I think the people from Dynasty are already waiting at the meeting room." Ran Ning changed the subject right away.
They then stopped chatting and headed to the meeting room.
Lin Huang and the other three had been waiting in the meeting room much earlier.
When it was almost 9 a.m., they began the meeting officially after a moment of chatting.
The Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, was the first to speak, "Emperor Lin, you were saying that the main bargaining power you guys have is the authority to the ruins and sites yesterday. We'd like to know how many are there going to be."
"Royal's grade-0 trial zone is the equivalent of grade-1 to grade-5 ruins and sites in our world. I can give you authorization to 300 of them. Meanwhile, a grade-1 trial zone is equivalent to grade-6 ruins and sites in our world. I can give you authorization to 30 of them. However, the condition is that we'll take a 30% commission from the items that you guys obtained from the trial zones," Lin Huang named his condition directly.
Apart from the restriction whereby only Royal's affiliate organizations were allowed to enter the trial zones, members with rank-A authorization actually had another privilege which was to invite a maximum of three people who were not from the affiliate organizations into the trial zones.
However, the guests would not obtain any points from the killings in the trial zones. Royal's internal market would not be opened to them either. The only thing they could bring back would be the monster carcasses and the treasures from the trial zones.
They probably gave such a privilege because Royal did not want their elite members to be too introverted. They hoped that the members could socialize like normal people and even work with other organizations instead of limiting themselves to being acquittances with others.
Meanwhile, the authorization to the ruins and sites Lin Huang was offering the Union Government was actually a privilege given to rank-A Royalties.