Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 995 - 861: Suspect

For Qu Jianlei, light attribute Awakened aren’t that important; he values related cultivation techniques more.It’s just that Celestial Sound’s personality quite suits his taste, so he’s considering taking her in.

Although most of his team are fugitives, he doesn’t just accept anyone.

On the contrary, because almost everyone’s identity is sensitive, he sets a high threshold for recruiting members.

Yet even so, Celestial Sound is only under observation and must pay the price of related techniques.

Anyway, Qu Jianlei doesn’t think his demands are excessive; if the other person passes the test, he naturally won’t go back on his word.

Celestial Sound gets such a reply, and feels somewhat anxious inside, so she goes to consult her senior sister.

You’re asking me? Xiang Xue feels both amused and annoyed; this junior sister really doesn’t hold back.

But being straightforward is also good, at least she won’t scheming against others, and there’s no shortage of alertness in our team.

"The boss agreed, rest assured, if you achieve it and he doesn’t, then there’s only one possibility..."

Celestial Sound is stunned, "What possibility?"

"That he’s dead," Xiang Xue answers casually, "His enemies are more numerous than yours, are you scared?"

Do you all speak so openly? Celestial Sound is slightly surprised inside.

But immediately she is drawn to the question, and she shakes her head decisively, "Not scared... it’s already like this."

Her cousin died, doesn’t mean she’s safe. On the contrary, the black hand is likely not letting her go.

Xiang Xue’s lips slightly curled, "Then remember, the path is your own choice, no one forces you..."

In the following days, everyone inquires around and finally chooses Yunwu Mountain Tourism Area.

This tourism area spans over 400 square kilometers, with mountains and water, forest sea and flower valleys, and various local specialties.

The supporting facilities are very good, with enough entertainment venues and even hunting opportunities, making it crowded with tourists.

Frankly, Homeland Star also has similar scenic areas, maybe even better natural scenery.

However, its economic strength doesn’t reach, the facilities are outdated, and it lacks tourists, leading to a vicious cycle.

Homeland Star once wanted to revive the economy through tourism, but the grand forces can’t be reversed without great perseverance.

Yunwu Mountain is a popular tourist area, so acquiring land here for homestays is undoubtedly challenging.

But by coincidence, there is a piece of land for sale recently, not in a particularly lively place, but ideal for homestays.

Qu Jianlei doesn’t rush to buy land, instead letting Little Lake first search for related information.

Unfortunately, the information can’t be found online, so he sends Flower Scorpion and Xiang Xue to investigate.

These two are very skilled at gathering information and both are beauties; it takes them only two days to mostly understand the situation.

Sure enough, pies don’t fall from the sky; the landowner encounters trouble with someone trying to buy the land for a low price.

There’s especially evidence showing that the trouble comes from the purchasing party.

They are a powerful local social organization, generally not bothering ordinary people, only acting when the interests are large enough.

The old lady suggests switching places upon hearing this.

"No need for such trouble," Qu Jianlei states simply, "Just get rid of those forcing the sale."

That organization and its backing forces have two A-levels—in addition, there’s a shadow of Supreme power above.

But clearly, the Supreme doesn’t care about such trivial matters, so two A-levels are the top.

Besides, specifically handling matters is one B-level, plus two C-levels.

Then the Paranoid strikes and overnight kills these five people; their sleeping women don’t even notice.

Obviously, this turns into a significant case, and the land seller also gets investigated.

But this seller has an alibi and moreover doesn’t seem capable of such strong hired killings.

The officials conducted related communications investigations but found no suspicious points.

It’s upright—the seller was about to sell land, no need to kill, isn’t it reasoning illogical?

On the third day after the murder, Qu Jianlei, Bentley, Paranoid, and Claire found the seller, stating their intent to buy the land.

Yet the seller’s face shifts, stiffly stating: economic tension days ago, now loosened, no intention to sell land.

The Paranoid nearly laughs out loudly upon hearing: Look, let you kill ahead of time, see what good came of it now?

Actually, he feels acting in anticipation is necessary, lessening others’ suspicions.

But...you overlooked the fickleness of human nature.

Claire, however, maintains a stern face, glaring hatefully at the seller, contemplating showing this guy colors later.

Qu Jianlei doesn’t get angry; he merely asks, "Heard five people died a couple of days ago... do you know them?"

"Mind your own business," the seller impatiently says, "Patrol Guard hasn’t said anything, do you get a say?"

"I didn’t really intend to speak," Qu Jianlei spreads his hands, responds calmly.

"I’m just curious; do you think... possible revenge might happen in the future?"

The seller hearing this, suddenly freezes there, actually considering this point which he is unwilling to face.

That organization’s two A-levels died, but they have many B-levels; if revenge occurs, he won’t bear it.

The property owner always harbors a bit of wishful thinking, believing the other side has suffered such a blow, they might restrain themselves at times.

In short, it’s just that people die for money and birds perish for food, so he pretends not to see this potential threat.

But now, having been directly pointed out by someone, he has to face it.

After a long while, he snorted, "I don’t have that ability."

Qu Jianlei scoffed, "Who told you that? There’s a saying... whoever benefits the most is the most suspect!"

Claire’s eyes lit up at this and added, "Once this gets around, everyone cares about their reputation, right?"

— Don’t believe it when I say you won’t sell; I’ll push you into the spotlight?

"Damn..." The owner glared ferociously at her, "So young, yet so vicious?"

"But at least I care about my face," Claire retorted without hesitation, "I don’t do things that backtrack."

Since the sale might not go through, she didn’t mind throwing out harsh words.

The owner froze for a moment, then reluctantly expressed, "Well, at least I’ll raise it a bit."

Claire asked without hesitation, "Shall we spread the news of your price increase?"

Enough already! The owner really hated this sharp-tongued girl.

He decided to ignore her, turning to Qu Jianlei and asking, "By that logic, you could also seek revenge, aren’t you worried?"

Qu Jianlei deflected the question, saying, "If I were you, I’d grab the money sooner and hide for a while."

The owner looked at his indifferent expression, and a suspicion arose within him: Could it be this group killed someone?

But the next moment, he dismissed the thought: To kill someone before contact... can one really operate like that?

If such an odd operation were really possible, then... if the other party could kill five people in one night, could they not kill me?

I’m not stooping to your level! The possibility was too terrifying; the owner was unwilling to continue pondering it.

So he nodded, "Let’s discuss specifics then."

Qu Jianlei stretched out a hand and patted Claire’s shoulder, "I’m not good at negotiating prices, you do it!"

The Paranoid’s mouth twitched upon hearing it; he was truly dazzled by Rhodiola rosea’s operation.

And this isn’t considered good at negotiating prices, then what is?

After a round of negotiation, Bentley happily paid in full—54 million, the land in the tourist destination isn’t cheap.

The price was enough to buy two small attack ships.

The owner looked at the stacks of unnamed silver notes in front of him, feeling increasingly relieved: Who among honest people carries so many silver notes?

Anyway, the transaction was agreed upon, and the subsequent procedures took only half a day.

That’s why Paradise Star has developed well; just for this efficiency, it makes sense to have developed.

In comparison, Homeland Star made too much fuss over obtaining land; with a bad business environment, it deserved to stagnate!

After buying the land, the routine is to alter and redecorate houses, just continue spending money.

There are all kinds of services available here; even Awakened using Techniques for construction exists.

But for that price, it’s sure to be much more expensive.

Qu Jianlei and his group aren’t in a hurry, just finding a construction crew with faster speeds is enough.

That definitely requires spending a good amount of money, with an initial budget of 80 million.

The priority for construction is the self-sustained area deep within the land; once completed, everyone can move in.

Claire and Bentley handled supervision; Qu Jianlei and others stayed at a hotel outside the tourism area.

All combined, the project had over a billion at stake, quite a considerable sum indeed.

Claire felt somewhat pressured, "Boss, those people won’t come and cause damage, right?"

The Paranoid teasingly responded, "Cannot say about causing damage; key is that the owner might play tricks... that guy has issues."

Upon hearing this, Claire grew tense, "How about... we take care of that guy too?"

This kind of thinking is indeed rare; first kill the competitor without showing up, now wanting to kill the seller.

Qu Jianlei shook his head with a wry smile; this is truly the Imperial version of ’buyer beware, seller beware.’

Ultimately, he stated, "Don’t listen to his nonsense; taking out the seller invites more trouble, this way is fine."

"Fine for what?" The Paranoid bickered again.

"The seller surely won’t be content; if I were him, I’d spread a little word before leaving, both to vent and divert attention from myself!"

"That doesn’t affect us much," Qu Jianlei answered confidently, "Relax."

In truth, the Paranoid’s understanding of human nature was fairly precise.

The owner received a huge sum, planning to hide out, but before leaving, he grew increasingly indignant.

Hence, he released the word through secret channels: The land buyers are likely linked to the murder case!

Whoever benefits the most is the most suspect!

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