Chapter 55
“Ohayo!” The little miss from Fusang who rode around on her electric scooter was exceptionally happy today.
1
Ling PingAn could see the smile on her face and feel her happy aura even from a great distance away.
Today, she looked like a flower that was blooming in the summer sun.
“Ling-san, here’s your pork cutlet with rice.” She placed a plastic lunchbox on the counter in front of Ling PingAn and then bowed and said, “Ling-san, did you know?”
“I’ve obtained the status of permanent resident in the Federal Empire today!”
“Congratulations, Michiko-chan!” Ling PingAn was happy for her.
It was rather difficult to obtain permanent residence in the Federal Empire.
After all, the population of the Federal Empire had grown to more than 2 billion.
There were just too many people in the world.
With a population on such a scale, the Federal Empire ranked first in the world in areas like energy consumption, as well as in the consumption of meat and grains.
Ling PingAn was worried about whether prices of items would rise on the mainland now, even though the hoof-and-mouth disease was centered in the Beizhou Kingdom.
“Oh!” Ling PingAn opened the lunchbox and was immediately surprised. “Michiko-chan, I only ordered the pork cutlet with rice…”
“Why…why is there so much food?” He couldn’t believe his eyes.
This was because there was not just one serving of food in the lunchbox.
Aside from the pork cutlet with rice that he had ordered, there were also a few smaller compartments in the lunchbox containing pieces of sushi.
There was also a bowl of kabayaki, which made him hungry just looking at it.
This lunch looked way too lavish!
“Did you bring me the wrong order, Michiko-chan?” he asked.
“No!” Chiba Michiko said happily. “This is because our shop has received funding and support from the Fusang Delicacy Promotion Research Association.”
“It is for citizens of the Federal Empire like you, Ling-san, so that you can gain a clearer understanding of how delicious and varied Fusang delicacies are!”
“From today onward, our shop will be throwing in a few free food samples with every order!”
“This is because we want to foster friendly relations between the Federal Empire and the Fusang Kingdom.”
2
“Please do not turn down our goodwill, Ling-san!”
The little girl took a deep bow after she’d finished speaking.
“So, if that’s the case…” Ling PingAn scratched his head. He had never heard of the Fusang Delicacy Promotion Research Association, but he could guess the deplorable business methods that the so-called Fusang Delicacy Promotion Research Association were using.
Undoubtedly, they were first dragging people into a trap by using free stuff, then attempting to profit from it later.
This was a business practice that arose during the mobile Internet era.
Investors loved stories and pie charts.
As long as the story they were told was good, they didn’t care how much they had to spend a year to nurture the market.
Thinking about this, Ling PingAn expressed his congratulations to Chiba Michiko happily, “Congratulations, Michiko-chan!”
Who doesn’t like free stuff from investors?
Ling PingAn especially wanted to say this on behalf of all consumers: The more of these kinds of investors, the better!
Ling PingAn sent off the joyful Fusang lady, then immediately opened up the box of food.
He rubbed his hands together. “What should I eat first?”
All of the food looked delicious!
……
At the far end of the street, in a security booth, a camera had been aimed at the young girl from Fusang who had just walked out of the bookstore.
“The target has walked out of the bookstore.” An army officer whose job was to constantly keep track of the images in the surveillance hall spoke into a radio device, “Repeat, the target has walked out of the bookstore!”
“On the surface, there is nothing strange about the target!”
“Repeat, there is nothing strange about the target!”
“Roger!” Situ He’s calm voice came from within the radio device. “Tell the men on the ground to not give the game away…”
“Everything has to be done with the utmost secrecy!”
To the Federal Empire, spending a little money and wasting a restaurant selling Fusang food was trivial!
Thus, Situ He had used his authority and gotten an organization under the Blackguards to establish contact with the restaurant managed by the aliens from Fusang.
Then, through the injection of funds and the reputation of the Datong Party, he could easily make these kind, law-abiding Fusang refugee families believe that this was a plan to promote Fusang delicacies that the Datong Party had come up with.
Naturally, he easily obtained their full support.
That was extremely important!
This way, he would be able to obtain even more extra samples when he collected the trash the next time around.
The only problem was…
What would he do with the clothes?
The major-general of the Blackguards of the Federal Empire could not help but slip into deep thought.
This was not only because he was angry that he was unable to determine if his target would discover his trickery or not.
More important, even if the target did not discover his actions, what excuse could he give to the target so he would believe why his old clothing had been destroyed every time he sent it to the laundry?
Situ He could not help but slip into deep thought.
……
A heavy-load helicopter circled in the air as it slowly descended onto the Guangling Volcano, the largest volcano in Xinyang State.
This was a super-volcano.
According to geologists, this volcano had once had an intense eruption roughly 70,000 years ago.
The substances it released had covered the greater half of the Beizhou Kingdom’s sky.
However, it had been dormant for 70,000 years.
There was not even smoke visible now above the crater of the volcano.
Chu Weiwei looked at the calm lake of magma after the helicopter had descended.
“You guys can leave now!” She jumped out of the helicopter as she instructed the people inside, “Come and fetch me when you receive my call!”
“All right!” The driver of the helicopter agreed.
He lifted the massive object and gradually took to the skies.
Chu Weiwei looked at the helicopter as it flew away.
She looked toward the horizon.
A hint of crimson had appeared.
“It’s about to be daybreak…” She walked toward the volcano. “It’s about time the nightmare of Beizhou woke up!”
She took out the jade box from the Mark of Nightmare.
She stood at the mouth of the volcano and raised the jade box.
She had established a connection with the Realm of Nightmare through the Mark of Nightmare. “Realm, I’m applying to destroy the Corpse Remnant of the Plague Embryo in the real world.”
The power of the volcano was not enough to destroy the Plague Embryo completely.
Even if it were just the remnants of the corpse.
This was something that she’d found out after she’d obtained the Corpse Remnant of the Plague Embryo.
More accurately, the item was merely a catalyst.
The volcano was also just a medium.
The realm had to take action for her to achieve her aims.
“Code name PrettyWeiWei, are you sure that you want to destroy the Corpse Remnant of the Plague Embryo completely?”
A magnificent voice rang out.
“Yes!” Chu Weiwei said with determination.
“Your application has been approved!”
“Participant PrettyWeiWei of the Nightmare Game, you can now toss the Corpse Remnant of the Plague Embryo into the magma to destroy it completely.”
Chu Weiwei exhaled deeply.
She released the jade box in her hand and dropped it into the lake of magma that was several hundred feet deep.
Patter!
There was only a slight splash.
However, the entire lake of magma quickly started to boil.
A horde of spore-like objects started to grow from the lake of magma.
Countless wisps of contorted black smoke struggled and howled within the boiling magma.
Finally, they gathered and formed a weird humanoid shape. It seemed to be about to crawl out of the magma.
At this moment, Chu Weiwei saw a giant hand made of magma reach out from within the lake of magma.
The hand grabbed onto all of the black wisps of smoke and then clenched its fist tightly.
Everything shattered.
Chu Weiwei heard something that sounded like the strings of a stringed instrument breaking.
Crack!
Green smoke arose from the lake of magma before rapidly scattering into the surrounding air.
At this moment, the sun rose in the east. It gave the world light and heat.
The large hand made of magma shattered into balls of scorching magma before falling back into the lake. Countless splashes could be heard as the balls fell into the lake.
Chu Weiwei knew that everything was over now.