“Stay… stay back.” 

Two minutes later, Zhao Youlong had stumbled and fallen on his back on his balcony, sitting up and staring at Xiang Ning, who had just leaped from the ground floor up to him. His face was filled with terror, and at this point, Xiang Ning started to doubt if the man before him was really a tier five, seven-star martial artist. 

“You’re an embarrassment to tier five martial artists,” he couldn’t help but complain. 

Zhao Youlong, still on the floor, didn’t fight him on it but was internally screaming, Are you even fucking human? What human beats an entire team of fighters in ten seconds from within a formation that usually traps tier six masters? And then spends the next minute and fifty seconds robbing… no, taking stuff from the injured? 

When Zhao Youlong had planned to trap Xiang Ning, he’d already sent his men to investigate Xiang Ning. Who the hell was this guy? 

He was a Broken Blade Knight, a participant in research for the dimensional ring, dimensional technology, and dimensional travel, a pioneer researcher for the dimensional engine, a disciple of two of the Twelve Great Prodigies, and a participant of the Saint Smith Project. And those were only his academic achievements. In terms of the martial world, he was an unprecedented genius that achieved Peak Mastery in skills as effortlessly as drinking water. Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, this teenager, who hadn’t come of age, was already watched by important figures in every industry. The Federation placed high hopes on him for the next generation. 

In Marsh City, one didn’t even need to dig deep for information on Xiang Ning, but in Kunlun City thousands of kilometers away, he had to find out via investigation, and usually, one could only get surface-level information. Thus, no one could blame Zhao Youlong for being stupid. 

“Don’t do this! You’re going to offend Jerry Constructions! Do you know who… ah!” 

“Jerry Constructions?” Xiang Ning swung his fist at Zhao Youlong’s right eye. 

“You fool!” 

Slap! 

“You—”

Slap! 

“Wait—” 

Slap! 

“Stop—”

Slap! 

“Fuck!” 

Slap! 

“Don’t force me to—” 

Slap! 

“I—” 

Slap! 

“Wait, wait, I’ll pay up. How much money do you want?!” Zhao Youlong was already crying. He had never met anyone this ruthless that would repeatedly throw punches at his face. At this point, even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him if she were there. In fact, she would be so frightened she would punch him again. 

“Alright, I’m too lazy to do anything else. Just compensate them with some money. You did give that family a scare, after all, now didn’t you?” Xiang Ning patted Zhao Youlong’s shoulder, speaking in a friendly tone. He thought he was already being very kind, since if this was a TV show, Zhao Youlong’s limbs would have long been broken or he would have already been killed in some bloody manner. 

To Zhao Youlong, Xiang Ning's smile looked like the sneer of the devil, and when he heard that he could spend money in exchange for his life, he immediately shouted, “I’ll pay, I’ll pay! A hundred million dollars!” 

Xiang Ning immediately raised his brows, giving a satisfied look. A hundred million dollars was a gigantic sum, far higher than he had expected. He felt like he was too kind and had been underestimating how rich this guy was. 

But to Zhao Youlong, that was the look of death. Previously, Xiang Ning had asked him whether his life was worth a sweetsop, and one sweetsop’s market value was a hundred million dollars. That was just the market value in the legal market. How could such a precious fruit be worth just a hundred million? It was rarer than tier seven beasts! 

“No, no, no, I’ll pay three hundred million.” 

“Huh? Three hundred million?” Xiang Ning was stunned. How rich was this guy? Three hundred million? How many beasts would a person have to kill for this sum? How many beast cores could he buy with that much money? And that was only compensating for intimidation! 

“I… I really don’t have any more money. I can only fork out three hundred million now without liquidating any assets, which will take time.” Zhao Youlong was crying. He realized that he wasn’t just buying his own life with cash, he had to pay this boss man a fee for his troubles! 

“No, no, no. That’s not necessary. Three hundred million it is. How will you pay? Will you scan my code?” Xiang Ning lifted his watch and displayed his QR code. 

Zhao Youlong immediately scanned it and the three hundred million dollar transaction was done. Looking at the number, Xiang Ning was very impressed by Zhao Youlong’s generosity. 

Before leaving, he patted Zhao Youlong’s shoulder and said, “I admire you very much. I consider you a friend now. If you need anything, you can look for me.” 

After the payment, Zhao Youlong lay sprawled on the ground, feeling like he had just died. Both his soul and body had suffered great trauma and he didn’t hear what Xiang Ning said at all. Even if he did, he would have foamed at the mouth. 

“You… wait!” Zhao Youlong struggled to speak, sounding as whiny as a bullied child cursing at his bully. 

Xiang Ning got on his Permafrost and went directly towards the direction Ye Lingling left, only to see her at the gates of the courtyard. 

“Why’d you come back?” 

“How’d you get out?” 

Both of them asked at the same time. 

“I finished, so I left.” 

“I came back to help you.” 

Both of them answered in unison. 

“Wait.”

“Wait.” 

Both of them paused. 

“I’ll speak first.”

“You speak first.” 

Xiang Ning nodded. “Mm, I’ll speak first.” 

“You speak first.” 

“Nevermind, you speak first.” 

Ye Lingling was speechless. 

“Are… are you alright?” Ye Lingling wasn’t sure what to say, and had long forgotten what she was about to ask. So that was all she managed. 

“Sigh, why wouldn’t I be? Oh, right, give me your wrist. Show me your code.” 

“Huh? Oh!” Ye Lingling awkwardly lifted her arm, then her cheeks burned when Xiang Ning gripped her wrist. She swore he was the first guy who had touched her like that other than her brothers and father. 

But Xiang Ning didn’t notice at all, scanning her QR code and keying in a string of numbers. He grinned and said, “If I’d known you were coming back, I would’ve let you scan the code instead. Now we’ve got to pay the transaction fees.” Three hundred million. Zero point five percent transaction fees. That was already a huge sum. 

Ye Lingling, who was still blushing, didn’t hear what he said at all, so she nodded. “Mm-hmm.” 

After the transaction was complete, he gently nudged her shoulder. “Don’t just stand there in a daze. Although it’s quite a lot of money, it’s what you guys deserve. Let’s go, I’ll go visit your mother and brothers with you.” 

“No… no way.” Ye Lingling immediately declined when she heard that he wanted to meet her mother, though she suddenly snapped back to her senses. “No, wait, I meant.…” 

“Huh? Right, I smell like blood. I definitely shouldn’t meet her like this. You go home first, I’ll be there in a while.” Xiang Ning nudged her off with a smile.

Subarashi