"I choose you."
The next skill to learn: Blood Escape Technique.
The two continued talking for a while longer, mainly with Xie Litang having Yang Yiyi keep an eye out for the follow-up to the Blood River Divine Canon cultivation technique. As long as the price wasn't too outrageous, she would cover it.
A few hours later, news came back from the truck's side.
All eleven spatial rings had been completely cracked by that ability user of the Artifact Smith Sequence.
At the same time, Yang Yiyi personally inventoried the contents inside the spatial rings and handed a brand-new list to Xie Litang.
"Miss Xie, based on a preliminary inventory, the items inside the eleven spatial rings have a total value exceeding sixty-five million. As for the exact margin of error, it shouldn't exceed two percent of my estimate."
"After deducting the Blood Escape Technique you purchased, plus the eleven Yellow Immortals, there are still 50.24 million remaining."
"If you need to sell the eleven spatial rings, I also offer consignment services on my end."
Xie Litang waved her hand and said, "No need. Give those rings to my sister to store her drones."
Yang Yiyi was slightly surprised, chuckling softly as she said, "Your sister is so lucky."
Xie Litang smiled faintly and said, "Alright. I'll keep ten million for emergencies and allocate another five million for my sister. You can go talk business with her in a bit. As for the rest, put everything toward buying demon beasts of the Five Immortals: Fox, Weasel, Hedgehog, Snake, and Rat."
Yang Yiyi pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, reflecting for a moment before saying, "Miss Xie, I feel it necessary to remind you that although the Five Immortals are a product of the Old Era,"
"their legacy hasn't been broken. If you buy up and slaughter the Five Immortals on such a large scale..."
"What I mean is, it might arouse dissatisfaction from those ancient lineages."
Xie Litang's brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "We're in the era of demon beast invasions now. Can those ancient lineages really stand up for demon beasts?"
Yang Yiyi spread her hands with a slight wry laugh. "Who can say for sure?"
Seeing Xie Litang's firm attitude, Yang Yiyi refrained from saying anything more. After all, the person standing before her was no saint.
She had already offended nearly all the factions of the Human New Citadel. What was a few ancient lineages on top of that?
Yang Yiyi went to visit Chen Linling once more, coming out with a smile on her face.
Xie Litang could guess with her eyes closed that Yang Yiyi must have used her silver tongue to fleece every last cent of Chen Linling's five-million budget.
But it didn't matter.
Money only counted as money when it was spent.
Xie Litang walked over to several iron cages housing a dozen or so so-called Yellow Immortals.
The largest was as big as a calf, while the smallest was the size of an adult dog. Crimson light shone from every single pair of eyes, and their demonic aura was exceedingly dense.
"Human, let me go!"
"Otherwise, even in death, I will use my bloodline power to curse you, ensuring my clan hunts you down for generations, leaving you with no peace for eternity!"
Threatening voices echoed from inside the iron cages.
Did they think Xie Litang would be afraid?
On the contrary, Xie Litang grew excited, suppressing her voice as she murmured, "There's actually such a good deal?" She made sure to let every single one of them place a blood curse on her before putting them down.
A long while later, she finally took a shower.
When she returned to her quarters, she saw Chen Linling still holed up in front of her computer and workbench, so she didn't bother her.
Over the next few days, Yang Yiyi delivered supplies in batches.
This included the Blood Escape Technique that Xie Litang had spent tens of millions to buy. However, learning it wasn't easy. Given her comprehension talent, it would take her at least several months just to reach the Beginner level.
This made her crave gold coins even more. If she had gold coins, the system could instantly master it to the Beginner level in zero seconds, painless and effortless.
As for those delivered Five Immortals demon beasts, currently Xie Litang could only classify them into two categories:
The Five Immortals lineages under the Human New Citadel she named Household Immortals.
While those captured in the wild with dense demonic aura she named Demon Five Immortals.
Before killing each one, Xie Litang made sure to force them to cast a blood curse on her.
When Yang Yiyi brought a delivery and stood before the truck taking inventory, she looked over with a heavy heart at a certain someone currently getting blood-cursed by the Demon Five Immortals.
"Hss..."
The pen in Yang Yiyi's hand poked right through the order sheet.
"Miss Xie, you're going this far with blood curses that everyone else avoids like the plague?"
"I don't see anything wrong with it."
"Miss Xie, aren't you afraid of misfortunes in your later years?"
"What kind of misfortunes?"
"Growing red fur in your old age!"
"That's a matter for my old age. Once I become invincible, I'll just exterminate them all. Where would any red fur come from? You're overthinking it."
At that point, Yang Yiyi said no more.
Xie Litang wiped the bloodstains off her hands and asked, "By the way, any movement from the military lately?"
Yang Yiyi crossed her arms, thought for a moment, and said, "Word is that a general-grade military officer was temporarily suspended pending investigation, though it's likely just to lay low for a while."
Xie Litang mused for a moment, then asked, "Do you think they'll make a comeback?"
Yang Yiyi nodded, stating with absolute certainty, "With front-line combat heating up, that general-grade military officer's reinstatement is only a matter of time. What you really need to watch out for are those prodigy families whose members died in the operation to besiege you."
"Top Salesperson Yang, which of them do you think will move against me first?"
"Miss Xie, you're underestimating those families. Making a move doesn't mean they have to do it personally."
"You mean...?"
"They can find proxies."
"Who?"
"I think it'll be the Ye Family."
"What a coincidence. My old scores with them haven't been settled yet."
"Rest assured, Miss Xie. I'll keep a close eye on the Ye Family for you."
"Thanks."
"It's just a win-win partnership, no thanks needed."
"..."
The two chatted a bit more.
Only then did Yang Yiyi take her leave.
Just before stepping into the vehicle, Xie Litang suddenly called out, "I can't say for inside the city, but if you run into trouble outside the city, feel free to give me a call."
Yang Yiyi smiled and nodded. "Alright."
The truck slowly drove away.
Fumu City soon returned to tranquility.
Over the next stretch of time, aside from her daily routine, Xie Litang began her base-building routine with her younger sister, Chen Linling.
Centering around the office building where they lived, solar-powered security cameras were installed in hidden spots across streets and alleys.
By the time they installed the four-hundredth one,
Chen Linling, sitting inside the first-floor room packed full of servers, sent over a video clip, saying, "Sis, I found a little mouse in the south street area."
Xie Litang opened it on the second floor. A weasel as large as a goat flashed across the surveillance footage.
"Sis, you call this a little mouse?"
"Sis, you'll slay it in one strike anyway."
"Fine, fine, fine. I'll go meet it. Do you think it can kill me?"
"According to the big data model analysis, the probability of it seeking a title grant from you first is over 92%. Sis, do you want to try granting it the title of a frail, submissive, twin-tailed lolita?"
"Sis, watch less anime. I seriously suspect your Cyber Intellect has been contaminated by anime."
A twin-tailed lolita?
Could that compare to the sweet smell of system gold coins?
Rate on N.U.
