章 24: A Delightful Surprise
編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gu Ming was the business executive of Prosperous Resource Recovery Company and the direct superior of all the harvesters in there.
In Meng Chao's memory fragments, he was in cahoots with Shen Rongfa and did plenty of immoral things as well.
The huge man in the bloody cloak behind him was the big boss of the company, a superhuman who was known as Tiger down the Mountain. He was Qin Hu, and he had killed countless monsters!
"Who beat up Manager Shen?" Gu Ming stomped and screeched.
"Urgh—!"
When Shen Rongfa saw his brother-in-law, he looked like a dog with broken legs would when it just found its owner. He could care less about his pain and crawled to Qin Hu.
The two bodyguards also calmed down. They ran over in a panic and exaggerated what had happened when they retold the story.
"You broke a rare material, destroyed the company tablet, and even beat up a person?!" Gu Ming glared at Meng Yishan. "Your son did this?"
Meng Yishan did not even look at this snake of a man. He just stared at Tiger down the Mountain.
The unyielding attitude the middle-aged man gained from all the hardships in the military spread out from his body.
Meng Yishan could endure plenty of things for his son's future, but once someone overstepped his limits, he would not back down, even if he faced a superhuman!
Meng Yishan took a step forward and said loudly, "Chairman Qin, I was the one who was in a conflict with Manager Shen. I'll pay for whatever losses were suffered. This has nothing to do with my son!"
His friends could not stand by and watch anymore.
Prosperous was usually very harsh to them, and now, they even twisted the truth. There was absolutely no meaning for them to continue with this job!
"Manager Shen and his bodyguards were the ones who attacked first. Besides, Big Brother Meng might not have been the one who dropped the thing!"
"That's right! I refuse to believe that there's no law in Dragon City! Are the Supernatural Tower and Survival Committee blind and deaf? Do we have no place to seek justice now?!"
The harvesters stood out to protect Meng Yishan and Meng Chao. All of them spoke at once to reveal the truth.
"You…" Gu Ming's face turned dark.
Half of the harvesters in the company were causing a ruckus, so the matter turned a little troublesome.
He snuck a look at Qin Hu. When he saw that Tiger down the Mountain was still silent, he cursed Shen Rongfa a few times before he braced himself and said, "Stop with the ruckus. Of course the company is reasonable. Let's not talk about anything else. At the very least, Manager Shen was beaten up by this boy, no?"
He looked at Meng Chao and smiled coldly as he said, "Young man, I heard that you're still in high school and are about to sit for your national college examination, right? But now, you beat him up really badly, and if you're captured, you'll definitely be sentenced to jail. If you're imprisoned for a few years, your entire life will be ruined."
"You can't capture him!" Meng Yishan cried out anxiously.
"Old Meng, this isn't a normal fight. Look at Manager Shen's injuries. Your son committed a crime. Tell me, should I capture him or not?" Gu Ming said.
Meng Yishan and the harvesters looked at each other at a loss.
"Young man, you were too rash. You shouldn't have done this." Gu Ming smirked coldly and shook his head as he criticized Meng Chao.
Meng Chao did care about his words. "If you want to call the police, you should hurry up and send Shen Rongfa to the hospital. You need to determine the severity of his injuries, after all."
Gu Ming was lost. 'Why is the boy still being so stubborn?'
Qin Hu let out a huff under the bloody cloak and extended two fingers to pick up his brother-in-law.
"It's a perfectly executed Ripple Force."
Tiger down the Mountain lifted Shen Rongfa like a piece of foul-smelling meat, even though the man weighed more than one hundred kilograms. The fierce light in his eyes was quite bright.
"It might seem as if he's beaten up miserably and is in a state worse than death, and hidden force from the hits will probably stay in his body for a few days so he'll be rolling around in pain when he drinks water, but not a single bone or important organ was damaged. He did not even lose a single tooth. If he's sent to test his injuries, he would not even be considered to be injured lightly."
After saying that, he tossed his brother-in-law on the ground.
Shen Rongfa wailed in pain and rolled around.
"High school students nowadays are becoming more and more remarkable." Qin Hu stared at Meng Chao.
His killing intent swept out at Meng Chao like a saber.
If Meng Chao were a normal high school student, no matter how outstanding he was, he would be scared witless by Qin Hu's killing intent.
But Meng Chao remained calm. "So? Qin Hu, are you interested in beating up a high school student to take revenge for your brother-in-law?"
Qin Hu let out a bark of laughter. "Who do you think I am?"
Naturally, he would not hit Meng Chao.
All Dragon Citizens knew how to fight, and Dragon City was made of a fearless and determined society. When the citizens had a conflict, they did not like to report to the authorities. They were much more used to using their fists to settle the matter.
But they had a principle: Soldiers could only fight against soldiers, generals could only fight against generals, normal people could only fight against normal people, and superhumans could only fight against superhumans. Within their ranks, they could fight to their hearts' content and shed blood, but those who were willing to fight had to be willing to admit defeat.
However, if superhumans used their strength to bully the weak and beat up normal people, they would be considered to have broken the laws of heaven.
Shen Rongfa and his bodyguards were normal people. If they fought against Meng Chao and were beaten up badly, at most, the police would come forth to settle the matter.
But if Qin Hu attacked Meng Chao, the nature of the fight would change. The Supernatural Tower would naturally send out elites and subjugate him as they would a monster.
"Boy, the Ripple Force you practiced isn't the normal Ripple Force we know," Qin Hu said faintly. "You gained guidance from a master and learned a secret version of Ripple Force. I have a general understanding of what happened now. For the sake of your Ripple Force, tell me, how do you want this matter settled?"
"Urgh, Ah!"
Shen Rongfa was so anxious that he started making incoherent sounds, but it affected his damaged teeth nerves, and it hurt him so much that he started peeing himself again.
Many of the harvesters did not expect that Mr. Hu, who was usually tyrannical and domineering, would be so cordial today.
Meng Chao knew that Qin Hu had managed to tell that the future version of the Ripple Force was extraordinary. This person could not decipher the exact details of his strength, which was why he pretended to be generous.
He did not hold back. "We can't tell who ruined the rare material, so both sides should cover half of the loss. Estimate a price, and I'll immediately pay you.
"Also, since this happened, we definitely can't work in Prosperous anymore. Remember to have Shen Rongfa pay the performance bonus he owes my dad and his harvester team. We might as well use the chance to settle accounts now."
Qin Hu frowned.
"What are you saying? You beat him up really badly. Even if we can't determine the severity of his injuries, don't you think you should still compensate for medical fees?" Gu Ming immediately said.
"Shen Rongfa is injured, but my dad is also injured," Meng Chao said. "Shen Rongfa's bodyguards used an ancient martial art that has been lost in time but deals heavy blows. They shoved my dad away, and he fell on the ground like a kite with its strings snapped. Who knows whether my dad's organs have shifted place or whether his bones have cracked?"
'An ancient martial art that deals heavy blows?'
Everyone, including Meng Yishan had dumbfounded expressions that mirrored Ning Shewo and Ning Xueshi's shock.
"Even if my dad is fine, they were still the ones who dealt this wound to me."
Meng Chao yanked his collar open to reveal the wound left behind by the stun baton.
In truth, the bodyguards had brought out the stun batons to intimidate him. They did not have the courage to turn the settings to the highest voltage. When they hit someone, the victim would just feel slight pain.
But an electrical burn left marks, and with the testimonies from the harvesters, if Meng Chao insisted on saying that the electrical shock had been so bad that he could not even take care of himself, the situation would become troublesome.
"Boy, you're good." Qin Hu chuckled strangely. "High school students nowadays are really interesting!"
"Chairman Qin, if you think what I said is not appropriate, then tell me, how do you want this matter solved?"
Meng Chao ignored Qin Hu's increasingly aggressive murderous intent. If he demanded an exorbitant price, Meng Chao would cut down on the price he had to pay.
Qin Hu cast a glance at Gu Ming.
Gu Ming made some calculations and said softly, "Mr. Hu, lately, the Golden Spirits' etherealized neurospheres are worth around three hundred thousand in the market if their condition is perfect."
"Then, it's three hundred thousand. Boy, bring out three hundred thousand, and we'll consider this matter to have ended. You can leave, and I will not cause you any further trouble. If anyone from Prosperous dares touch you, I will cut them up."
Meng Chao refused to take up his kind offer. "Half of three hundred thousand is one hundred and fifty thousand."
"I don't care who destroyed that etherealized neurosphere, and I'm not lacking that other one hundred and fifty thousand, but even if Shen Rongfa is a bastard, he's still my family," Qin Hu said darkly. "Am I, Tiger down the Mountain, not worth that other half of the one hundred and fifty thousand?"
Meng Chao fell silent.
"If you can't bring it out for the time being, it's fine. You can write an IOU. As I said, I'm not lacking money." Qin Hu's eyes flashed fiercely, and his voice turned cold. "But if you don't treat me with respect, even if I don't move a finger, I will still crush you like an ant!"
His last sentence turned the atmosphere in the area grim.
The people's visions became blurry. It was as if they were really watching a tiger staring at the teenager.
Meng Chao sighed. "Chairman Qin, do we really have no room for discussion? Are you seriously going to sell this rare material to me at full price?"
Qin Hu was impatient. "I'll say this one last time. Three hundred thousand, and then scram with that item."
"Alright, then we don't need to sign any sort of contract. There are plenty of people watching here, and I believe in your reputation." Meng Chao brought out his phone. "I'll transfer the money now."
"A'chao?" Meng Yishan was shocked.
"You have the money?" Gu Ming was surprised. He knew about the Meng family's situation somewhat, and he refused to believe that Meng Chao could bring out three hundred thousand without blinking an eye.
"Urk!" Shen Rongfa could not care about his pain anymore. He started screeching like a pig being slaughtered. 'He's lying! He's definitely lying!'
"Dad, I'll explain things to you later. It's clean money." Meng Chao was calm.
Qin Hu frowned slightly.
There were plenty of superhumans and harvesters who were working at the battlefield in the north of the city. There were eyes everywhere, and he would not sink to the level of bullying a normal teenager in public.
"Superintendent Gu, take the money."
Qin Hu did not care about measly three hundred thousand.
Gu Ming looked a little doubtful. Even after the money was transferred and he saw the five zeros behind the number "3", he still could not wrap his head around what had happened.
"Chairman Qin, I gave you the three hundred thousand. Now, this rare item is mine, right?" Meng Chao asked for confirmation.
Qin Hu glared at him. "It's just an etherealized neurosphere, so why would I break my promise? Tomorrow, have your father come to the company to complete the procedures. Prosperous will not be taking in his harvesting team anymore."
"A'chao, this is…"
Meng Chao had had three hundred thousand, but he spent it on a material that might end up useless. Meng Yishan was puzzled, and his heart ached.
Many of the harvesters were also puzzled. They just stayed silent in a group around them.
"Dad, uncles, don't stand around daydreaming! Hurry up and help me use absolute ethanol to make silver nitrate!" Meng Chao pushed down the nervousness in his heart and picked up the black material as he observed it carefully.
Meng Yishan was stunned.
Silver nitrate was a common solution that was slightly corrosive and could kill bacteria. It was often used to clean the rotting flesh around a monster's eyes so that they could perfectly extract its eyeballs.
This was not a monster's eyeball, so why did his son want silver nitrate?
But his son brought about too much shock to everyone that night, and Meng Yishan had come to trust him somewhat. He did not ask further questions and used absolute ethanol to create a silver nitrate solution.
Meng Chao held his breath and used a pair of forceps to put the rare item into the silver nitrate solution.
"Ah!" someone cried out in surprise. How could Meng Chao place the fragile etherealized neurosphere into a corrosive solution?!
No one could not stop him in time, and something unexpected happened.
The outer shell of the rare material was swiftly corroded. Small bubbles emerged and started swirling slowly in the silver nitrate solution.
Every time they swirled around, a little more of the black oxidized marks on the neurosphere's surface fell off, and it started glowing even brighter than before.
In half a minute, the outer shell completely fell off. The rare item turned into a diamond that looked like a cat's eye. It was even more dazzling than the normal etherealized neurosphere.
"This is…"
Everyone's eyes sparkled because of the mysterious and unfathomable cat's eye stone.
Meng Chao released a sigh of relief, as if a huge burden had been removed from his shoulders. His protective clothing was drenched in cold sweat.
"This is a crystalized neurosphere, which is even rarer and more valuable than an etherealized neurosphere. Its market value… is about one million," he said softly while holding his father's hand.
If it were a normal etherealized neurosphere, Meng Chao would not have acted in such a strange manner. He would have told his father on the spot so that he would not keep thinking about it.
But the ability to identify a mutated etherealized neurosphere was definitely not something a high school student could have learned from a teacher or the Internet. After all, the probability of a crystalized neurosphere appearing was less than one percent.
If his father wanted to get to the bottom of things, it would be difficult for him to explain what had happened.
But if he found a suitable excuse, Meng Chao did not mind sharing some of his secrets with his family.
In truth, he had been thinking about chatting with his family after the day was over once he smoothed out his thoughts. He could not just keep making his family worried about him over his wounds.
But right then, there were plenty of harvesters watching them.
Besides, Meng Chao's memory shards were all over the place. Many of his techniques were in a disorderly mess. He could not be certain whether what he obtained was an etherealized neurosphere or a crystalized neurosphere.
He was only ten percent sure that what he had was a crystalized neurosphere.
Hence, he had wanted to rest for a while and search for an excuse, such as… he peed himself because he was scared, and when he wanted to wear a diaper, he could get his father to a corner, and they could talk about this in private before they looked at the item carefully.
But at that moment, he heard the screeches of a Seven-eyed Dragon Wolf Spider before it died. He decided to hurry and get his first bucket of gold, which was why he stopped caring about the rare material that did not belong to him.
After all, the harvesting fee for a crystalized neurosphere was only a few tens of thousands.
He did not expect that after many twists and turns, the rare material would end up being a crystalized neurosphere, and it even ended up in his hands!
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