068. You See, He Even Thanks Me After Paying Me!

  Li Aozi had tless thoughts running through his mind, but to the three soldier pyers, it seemed to pass in an instant. The excessively handsome man in front of them touched his , hesitated briefly, and said:

  "Hmm... I uand your desire to protect your homend a the Frost-Pted invaders, but in principle, I dare not grant you this power. It’s dangerous, and I don’t want you to get hurt."

  With the opening of the path system, Li Aozi decided to optimize his iments in the pyers to increase the number of those walking the 【Starfall Master】 path. The more followers, the higher his ces of asding to godhood.

  As an NPC, he could gain experiend financial resources from pyers by imparting knowledge and skills. However, Li Aozi had no i in ordinary individuals—the real gaio be had from corporate forces.

  Reaping the top-tier harvest was the smartest strategy.

  Material gains alone weren’t enough; he hem to love him, depend on him, and have him on their minds stantly.

  Rather than merely exploiting them, Li Aozi felt more like he was maniputing the pyers, turning them into his "followers."

  The three soldier pyers had inally been quite suspicious, but after seeing Li Aozi’s dedication to the fight and witnessing his immerength, along with his exceptional charisma, they soo go of their reservations.

  Li Aozi used the persuasive teiques taught by the Abyss Professor, first expining how dangerous his power was—geic disruption, shortened lifespan, deformed offspring, and irreversible harm if misused.

  His words didn’t ht reject their request; instead, he expressed for their well-being—"I’m worried about your safety." This left the three soldier pyers feeling a bit touched.

  "He’s n to refuse us; he’s just worried we might get hurt."

  Though there were no visible ges on the surface, hearing this warmed their hearts.

  "He’s really a kind person."

  The three pyers quickly said:

  "It’s okay! For the sake of our homend, we’re willing to risk our lives. As long as we drive out the Frost-Pted invaders, what does it matter what happens to us?"

  "I see, I feel your determination."

  Li Aozi appeared moved and used the path system to give the three a task:

  【Career Task Triggered—"Path: Authority of Domination"】

  【Type】: Legacy

  【Time Limit】: None

  【Difficulty】: D

  【Description】:

  "Wele to the Star Abyss, where every mortal embark on different paths to ge their fate and achieve self-transdence."

  You are a passerby in a mediocre life, one of the many mortals in this Star Abyss, but your heart is filled with dissatisfa and ambition. You long to ge your ordinary and short-lived fate through your own efforts.

  On this Azure Star, a new path has opened for you. Your ambitions ’t be suppressed by the sky, and you’ve decided to follow the powerful 【Mutant】, Li Aozi.

  Now, step onto this path filled with domination and authority!

  【pletion ditions】:

  a. "Geential"—Purchase the 【dm-101 Mutation Inducer】 from Li Aozi (Price: 13,888 Derbies) to undergo your first Omega Energy mutation awakening and officially embark on the 【Mutant】 path.

  Reward: Unlock the main css—【Mutant】;

  b. "High pensation"—Your financial strength is far from enough to afford the Omega Energy awakening serum. Fortunately, Li Aozi is willing to accept bor as payment.

  Now, you plete various daily tasks assigned by Li Aozi to pay off your debt for the awakening serum.

  Reward: Li Aozi Favorability +50

  ————————

  Since Li Aozi had cracked the Omega Energy awakening serum formu from the Abyss Humanitarian anization and didn’t care about paying Frost-Pted's patent royalties, the cost of produg the mutation inducer was signifitly reduced.

  However, even so, 13,888 Derbies was a huge sum for the newbie soldier pyers. As soldiers, they had their own training and bat tasks and didn’t have the time to earn money on the side.

  The three soldiers thought it over. If they didn’t want to pawn their ons, the most practical option was to work for Li Aozi as borers.

  Moreover, the task's reward was an increase in Li Aozi’s favorability, and the soldiers uood the importance of favorability.

  Without suffit favorability, NPCs wouldn’t give you quests, wouldn’t bother talking to you, and wouldn’t even trade with you.

  "Judging by the task description, it seems like there’s plenty of that Omega Energy awakening serum avaible."

  "If we raise our favorability enough, could we buy it wholesale?"

  "Not only that, but we might even be able to hire Li Aozi to help us take down our targets."

  As the first high-level NPC they’d entered, Li Aozi’s power was unanimously aowledged by them—no one doubted the authenticity of that mountain of downed pnes.

  A superhuman capable of flying at Mach 5 or 6 had already relieved them of the greatest aerial threat, preventing airships, bomb drones, and bombers from providing air support.

  The soldier pyers could see Li Aozi’s strength and reized the potential of the 【Mutant】 css.

  Now, the entire 【Mutant】 css traiood before them, and the key item, the 【dm-101 Mutation Inducer】, was only avaible through Li Aozi.

  Appeasing Li Aozi was clearly a worthwhile endeavor.

  Li Aozi had priced the serum carefully—not so low that he’d lose money, but not so high that people would be scared off.

  He didn’t io rip off the newbies too harshly, driving them away as ers. A gradual approad long-term operation with a good reputation and image would yield steady returns.

  The three soldier pyers didn’t hesitate for long.

  Tactical fshlights, aiming bases, under-barrel grenade unchers, or 5-milliwatt sers, tactical grips, side-mounted holographic sights, an ACOG (Advanced bat Optical Gunsight), lightweight triggers, carbon folding stocks, textured grips.

  —In parison, 14,000 Derbies was nowhere near enough to fully upgrade an assault rifle’s accessories, so why not try Omega Energy instead?

  In their estimation, a full set of equipment for a regur Frost-Pted soldier—plete with ons, accessories, a uniform with a positioning system, life indicators, survival gear, IFF signals, super Kevr fiber helmets, bulletproof vests, and alloy ptes—without even ting cyberic impnts, was worth up to 170,000 Derbies.

  By parison, 13,888 Derbies for Omega Energy, which didn’t require maintenance, was nothing.

  When Li Aozi saw how readily the three pyers agreed, he knew he had set the right price.

  There was er business strategy than l prices—except giving something for free, and whatever was free was always the most expensive.

  The three soldiers didn’t have enough money bio buy even a bottle cap of the serum, so Li Aozi quickly assighem a task to help the vilgers transport the wreckage of the pnes.

  Iy, this was also a hint that they could take some eleipos or optical equipment and trade them with the Bermudes military to pay off their debt while also improving the army’s equipment.

  After all, the future would require soldiers to protect the eleic immigrants, and earning their favor would ensure long-term business.

  After issuing a series of daily tasks, Li Aozi flew directly into the sky, s over the airspace between Granat and Frost-Pted, heading fle Town.

  He o relocate his biopool, which had already produced and stored thousands of bottles of the dm-101 Mutation Inducer. During the war, he had also used the biopool to produce bioons, easing the burden on the Granat people.

  Now that he had dealt with Frost-Pted’s air force, they wouldn’t dare deploy any more precious aircraft here for months.

  With soldier pyers ering the battlefield for testing, Li Aozi po use the task system to guide them in training and building Granat's own bat forces.

  Teach a man to fish rather than giving him fish.

  Whehree soldiers saw the subsequent series of bor-for-debt tasks, including "teag Granat people how to use ons," they reported bad then eagerly got to work.

  With their own is on the lihey were highly motivated, quickly helping the Granat farmers transport the wreckage. In the process, they also withe simple and pitiable nature of the Granat people, increasing their animosity toward the Frost-Pted.

  But that wasn’t something Li Aozi was ed about.

  When Li Aozi returle Town, pressed the biopool, and prepared to leave, Lord Aud suddenly approached him with a serious expression and said:

  "Someone's here to see you. It's a woman from Frost-Pted."

  "Who?" Li Aozi was a bit puzzled. He didn’t know many Frost-Pted women, probably only Yavanna and Nimotin.

  "Judging by the equipment her ente is using, they seem to be from Abyss Heavy Industries."

  Lord Aud said seriously:

  "The woman leading them calls herself N4, but her subordinates refer to her as..."

  "—The Pioneer."

  Li Aozi said, his expression darkening slightly.

  Pioneer N4, a far more dangerous woman than the Abyss Professor.

  Abyss Heavy Industries had been a giant corporation in Frost-Pted sihe old era. After several bankruptcies, restructurings, and mergers, it now preseself as a low-profile "pharmaceutical and medical equipment pany."

  Iy, acc to Li Aozi’s knowledge, Abyss Heavy Industries secretly funded numerous boratories, dug inhumane human experiments under various guises.

  Abyss Humanitarian, Abyss Elementary School, Abyss Eleics Factory, Abyss Town, Abyss Film pany—these seemingly simir projects were actually eighty pert trolled by Abyss Heavy Industries.

  Outsiders might wonder why no one had noticed su obvious spiracy.

  In truth, the name Mingji (Abyss) was extremely on in Frost-Pted—equivalent to names like "Jack," "Zhang Wei," "Hans," or "Yin Wan."

  And the most on name for women in Frost-Pted was Sijia.

  Li Aozi remembered his great-great-grandfather was named Mingji Just, an ion pnner. Duzesin’s grandfather was named Du Mingji. In his past life, after David Lin was assassinated, his successor was named Chu Mingji.

  If you threw a brick down a Frost-Pted street, ces were you’d hit a man named Mingji—and more likely be chased down by a woman named Sijia.

  pared to the bioteis of other nations, Abyss Heavy Industries had oerrifying advahey preserved knowledge from ic civilizations.

  The Professor came from this system, and Pioneer N4 was one of the actual trollers of Abyss Heavy Industries, as well as the most powerful 【Biotei】 in the world.

  Li Aozi’s vigince heightened.

  In his previous life, N4 was no good. Not to mention the horrifying biobs and the deliberate release of various deformed mutas, which were allowed to breed with outer-world creatures.

  This left the people of the outer world suffering from the harsh natural enviro while fag hybrid mohat had evolved eions.

  Leaving all that aside, Li Aozi’s stro impression of N4 was this:

  She was the only css trainer who betrayed both the pyers and the people of Azure Star.

  FAL