Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 997 - 863: Financial Crisis

Bentley didn’t know much about the Imperial society, but this scene was not unfamiliar to him.He had spent most of his life at the Zhou Six Settlement, and even on Garbage Star, Zhou Six was a highly commercialized place.

He had seen too many of these monsters and demons and understood the possible tricks they might use. Nothing was new under the sun.

It was just that Zhou Six’s survival of the fittest was more naked and the methods more straightforward and brutal.

The social clubs on Paradise Star might do things more secretly, but in terms of bloodthirstiness, it might not be any worse here.

Look at the fate of Celestial Sound; cruelty has nothing to do with the level of civilization, it’s just a matter of whether one leaves the bones behind after consuming.

So towards these two people, Bentley didn’t have a hint of cordiality.

Hearing their threats, he slightly frowned; in this matter, he and Qu Jianlei acted differently.

People on Garbage Star never backed down—weakness meant being bullied.

He spoke coldly, "What did you just say? I didn’t hear clearly... could you say it again?"

The two B-levels stared at him calmly, and he also looked back with indifference, showing no emotion.

Seven or eight seconds later, one of the B-levels slightly smiled, "Looks like you don’t intend to give us face?"

A trace of pity flashed across Bentley’s eyes, "No more words? Hurry back, it’s already mealtime, buy whatever you want to eat."

This is a slang on Garbage Star; after all, food there isn’t abundant, so advising someone to enjoy their last meal is normal.

However, these two didn’t quite understand; they instinctively felt it wasn’t something good.

One of them caught the implication, suspiciously glancing at the other, "Do you mean... a last meal?"

The concept of a last meal exists in the Empire as well; after all, you can’t feed prison inmates too well, or they might cause trouble, right?

Old Ben didn’t admit nor deny, he just slowly asked, "You all want to cut our business, right?"

You cut my business, I cut your head—there’s no fault in this saying.

"It’s not like that!" another B-level quickly shook his head in denial.

With a smile, he spoke, "What he means is, since we’re all doing business nearby, we should help each other, we can help with introductions."

That’s the way in society, they can act like the boss and like the underdog.

They wanted not to give in, but they couldn’t help it; the recent chaos in the clubs left them with no power for reprisals.

Ultimately, this trip was their attempt to make a name, personally made in secret.

Such a big client, letting it slip away was truly a pity.

If they could use both hard and soft tactics, bringing it under their own name not only demonstrated capability but also deterred others from contending.

Their concession meant they wouldn’t come back in the future, whether others would, wasn’t their concern.

Hearing this, Bentley sneered disdainfully, "That’s all you amount to..."

Then he straightened his face, "I’ve made myself clear, next time your people don’t behave, there will be no warning!"

The two B-levels dared not speak further, turned around, and slunk away.

Qu Jianlei nodded, saying no more.

Old Ben’s style was a bit too forceful, not quite fitting the rule of law’s way.

Strictly speaking, under normal circumstances, probing and blending are necessary.

The Divine Land’s Du Wuzhi once said that a vibrant social organization is fundamentally like an overnight pot.

From another perspective, some things are useful at times, bringing some convenience.

Nevertheless, Old Ben being a bit forceful isn’t bad; it directly informs the other side that we’re not easily provoked.

Everyone intentionally sees this place as a base to develop, but "being feared by all" isn’t necessarily worse than "being loved by all."

Ultimately, it’s unnecessary to waste effort on such matters as long as the goal is achieved, the means don’t matter.

As for potential resentments from the other, some troublemaking? It doesn’t matter; if a few chickens are killed, the monkeys will naturally fear.

In fact, after those two B-levels left, they were still discussing today’s action.

"These guys are too arrogant, are we really just letting it go?"

"Whether or not, let’s wait and see, don’t bother with them for now. It’s our turf after all, maybe we can try again later."

Qu Jianlei received the information, shook his head indifferently.

So greedy, yet so cautious, no wonder they can only run in social circles; their vision is far too limited...

In a blink, it’s been over a month again.

On the farm at Homeland Star, Qu Jianlei finally successfully set up a standard Spirit Gathering Array.

The deduction of Light Attribute Cultivation Technique also progressed smoothly, he had already deduced the B-level cultivation method.

This was despite never having touched Light Attribute techniques before; otherwise, the deduction would have been faster.

Anyway, he had nothing pressing at hand, having set up eighty million computational units, he planned to further perfect the A-level cultivation technique.

It was at this time that Fourth Master came back with Youyou.

They had completed the residence permit process, played in Paradise for quite a while, and decided to come back to watch over the farm.

The main reason was that both of them felt Paradise was too bustling, and home was more comfortable; they meant they wanted to live there permanently in the future.

Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei and his group also went to Paradise to get their permits.

Remarkably, Granny Jia even found a place to make fake permits and got fake ones for everyone.

In fact, if you live in Paradise for five years and meet the investment and other requirements, you can use the residence permit to apply for formal migration.

Their investment amount was fine; what was lacking was the time requirement. Granny Jia was worried about other variables, which is why she arranged for fake permits.

Handling it this way was indeed more secure, but... it came at a good cost.

After getting the permits, Qu Jianlei set up a standard Spirit Gathering Array.

Then he returned to Homeland Star with Paranoid, Flower Scorpion, and Bentley.

Old Ben would be stationed at the farm from now on, while Qu Jianlei took the two of them and headed to Lost Star aboard the Omen Ship.

A year later, Little Lake had already repaired three Armed Merchant Ships, including 8384, and six small ships.

As for the other starships, Qu Jianlei didn’t want to repair them anymore, but Little Lake suggested fixing the frigate and a space-air carrier as well.

A frigate was one thing, but a space-air carrier... Qu Jianlei was really scratching his head, "It’s a standard warship, and it’s very conspicuous!"

Big Head Butterfly confidently replied, "But according to my investigation, there are at least five space-air carriers in the hands of star thieves."

"That’s incomparable!" Qu Jianlei rolled his eyes, "What level of star thieves are those?"

Star thief influences with space-air carriers are ones that the Imperial forces aim to eliminate immediately.

No matter where, any unofficial space-air carrier that shows up would definitely attract a large fleet for encirclement.

Of course, saying that star thieves absolutely don’t dare use mother ships is nonsense; sometimes, they’re quite effective as live advertisements.

Little Lake didn’t dare argue with him further and mumbled lowly, "What if?"

Qu Jianlei originally wanted to say more but then thought: Never mind, Little Lake rarely has any opinions.

Besides, if this mother ship isn’t fixed, it can only be discarded, so it’s better to put it to use. Maybe it’ll come in handy someday.

Nonetheless, he still needed to clarify, "Fixing this mother ship will cost quite a bit again. Right now, we’re just sitting around consuming resources."

Over the past year, more than two billion in silver notes have been spent, and tens of millions of energy blocks have been used.

—Just repairing these starships consumed a large amount of energy blocks.

Big Head Butterfly sighed anthropomorphically, "Then let’s sell an Armed Merchant Ship as soon as possible."

Apart from 8384, there was an Armed Merchant Ship that Qu Jianlei planned to compensate the family that lost their merchant ship.

After all, they had bought a shelter card and suffered such a loss, compensating with a ship was reasonable.

If not for this reason, he wouldn’t have boldly seized the other’s merchant ship.

The remaining ship could be sold, however, "Selling for full price... is difficult."

The key is that this is the Warhammer Star Realm, and items of unknown origin are harder to sell!

Additionally, to repair those two warships, some materials needed to be sent over, truly only expenses with no income.

The economic pressure was mounting! Qu Jianlei even faintly hoped that someone clueless would come to him for trouble.

—Forget it, better not think about that, it’s rare to have a chance to rest long-term.

Afterwards, the Omen Ship arrived again at Paradise Star.

As expected, Paradise was extremely dismissive towards this starship from the Hope Star Realm, inspecting it very rigorously.

Even though Qu Jianlei and the others presented their residence permits, it didn’t make much difference.

Fortunately, the inspectors verified the identities of the three, possibly noticing their large investment amounts, and their attitude somewhat improved.

Qu Jianlei came to Paradise this time planning to send off Celestial Sound, whose identity needed to be cleansed at Homeland before obtaining a residence permit.

But before that, he needed to see how the homestay business was doing.

However, after checking the accounts, he was speechless. After almost a month of operation, the income barely broke even with the expenses.

Xiao Qin, who managed finances, was relatively optimistic, "It’s not peak season yet, and reputations haven’t spread. It’s already not bad."

"Whether it makes money or not... isn’t important," Qu Jianlei’s heart bled, but he had to express, "This business is just a cover."

Pausing for a moment, he couldn’t help asking, "Has anyone troubled us?"

There really was someone clueless, who, due to the high caliber of the homestay, attempted a night intrusion—two Modified Warriors.

However, they were quite unlucky, as it was raining that night and Granny Jia discovered them early.

Before they could enter the homestay, they were inexplicably knocked out, frozen overnight, and left in embarrassment the next day.

After this incident, no more clueless people appeared.

While Qu Jianlei was understanding the situation, Big Head Butterfly started to move again.

"In the Celestial Hook Star Realm, the Anomalous Management Division is still conducting a massive manhunt, and they’ve already captured three wanted Supremes..."

Qu Jianlei wasn’t too concerned about Celestial Hook’s actions. He had planned to lay low in the Warhammer Star System for a few years.

However, the next moment, his expression turned dark, "Darn, the supplies from the Abandoned Mine Star Body..."

(Update concludes here, summon monthly, continuous, and recommendation votes.)