Xie Sen scrolled through the comments, seeing that they were all unfavorable to the Kex family, and scoffed, "Serves them right. The masses have sharp eyes. If you don't want people to know, don't do it in the first place."
He then added, somewhat puzzled, "It's strange that the Kex family didn't prevent the leaks, allowing these unfavorable comments to circulate."
Seeing his puzzled look, Maine chuckled, "I'm the one who leaked the information," a cold glint in his eyes, "Trying to hide it? Impossible!"
Xie Sen looked at him in surprise, giving him a thumbs up, "Brilliant! Won't the Kex family trace it back to you?"
"No, I used anonymity, and I obfuscated my IP address with IT. They can't find me."
Xie Sen praised, "You're really clever!"
Maine said, "Not really clever, just very familiar with their methods of handling things, and I don't want them to get their way."
Xie Sen scrolled down the comments, finding them uninteresting, and returned to the main news page, asking curiously, "What punishment will the military court give Soria?"
Maine said, "The Kex family is currently in the eye of the storm. To minimize the impact of Soria, they definitely won't protect him." "They want to distance themselves." "
As long as they have this thought, even if they don't think of a solution, he'll make them think of one.
" Maine's lips curled into a smile, his tone certain: "Soria will be exiled, to where he belongs."
Xie Sen suddenly realized, his gaze flickering to the accompanying image in the news article below, his eyes immediately freezing: "Hey, isn't that the Flying Eagle Beast?"
The headline was: "Flying Eagle Beast Saves a Life!"
Xie Sen's lips twitched. He clicked on it; the top of the article was a description of the event: "Today, a citizen was held hostage by two thugs. The Flying Eagle Beast, seeing injustice, intervened and successfully rescued the victim."
Below was a nine-grid image. The images were very clear. The first few showed the flying shuttle traveling on the road, with the Flying Eagle Beast flying overhead following. The middle images showed the Flying Eagle Beast flapping its wings to tilt the shuttle, and photos of a man with short hair and light gray hair coming out to investigate. The last two images showed the two thugs being knocked to the ground by the Flying Eagle Beast's flapping.
Xie Sen had been unconscious on the shuttle for some time, only vaguely feeling the shaking. He only realized what the Flying Eagle Beast had done when he saw the photos.
"The Flying Eagle Beast is really smart," he exclaimed.
Those reading the news shared his thoughts: "That's so clever! They deliberately shook the shuttle to lure people out before rescuing them!"
"So cool! If that wing flapped at me, would I be able to take off on the spot?"
"So even contracted beasts have good and evil!"
"I'm curious who the person who was captured is. Did the Flying Eagle Beast know him or not?"
"Since the criminals captured him, his identity must be extraordinary!"
"I'm more curious about how these photos came about. The position in each of the previous photos has changed, and the photos are so clear. No matter whether the photographer was in front or behind, it's impossible to take such successful photos unless it was taken from multiple angles."
"Since it was a sudden incident, only the transportation department could have taken photos like this."
"Right! The transportation department has aerial cameras everywhere. By pulling up traffic monitoring screenshots, they can achieve this effect."
"So, the person who was captured even alarmed the transportation department. He must be someone important!"
Xie Sen looked at the comments and sighed again. The netizens are amazing!
"Whoever it was, it's all over now. I'm curious where the Flying Eagle Beast went?"
"I wish I had a Flying Eagle Beast too. With it protecting me, I'd feel so safe. One wing could send someone flying. Who would dare touch me? They wouldn't even be able to touch the hem of my clothes!"
"Wake up! Bird-type contract beasts are the hardest to form contracts with, let alone S-rank contract beasts. Stop dreaming!"
"By the way, I remember the Flying Eagle Beast and the contract beasts in the 'Contract Beast' livestream were brought out of the Wilderness Forest by Xie Sen together, right? Why hasn't the Flying Eagle Beast participated in the livestream?"
"Yeah! If you want to see the Flying Eagle Beast, find Xie Sen! I'm going to spam his livestream and ask to see the Flying Eagle Beast!"
Looking at the bunch of agreeing comments below, Xie Sen shook his head with amusement. He stopped reading the news, opened his bracelet, and entered the livestream.
As soon as he entered, the entire screen was covered by the barrage of comments. He quickly set up the smart mode to block repeated words and finally saw what the contract beasts were doing. He also finally understood why the comments were so excited.
The Flying Eagle Beast, which had made the news, happened to be in the live broadcast room.
The Giant Tiger Beasts lay in a circle around the Flying Eagle Beast, which moved around while calling out, occasionally flapping its wings, its neck twisting nimbly, and its eyes darting around cleverly, as if it were acting, exceptionally vivid.
Watching it flap its wings and then fold them up and fall to the ground, Xie Sen's lips twitched, and he roughly understood.
He saw it stand up again, repeat the flapping and falling posture, then stand up, tilting its head back, looking very proud.
"Why do I feel like... the Flying Eagle Beast is telling its contracted beasts about saving people?"
Xie Sen thought to himself, what a coincidence, he felt the same way, no, he was almost certain.
He usually had very little contact with the Flying Eagle Beast, and the last two times they had met were when the Flying Eagle Beast suddenly appeared to help.
He had never realized that the Flying Eagle Beast was such a performer!
The chat was flooded with responses: "Hahaha...this is so funny! Is it reenacting the scene? It just mimicked the way the thug fell, it's so accurate!"
"So hilarious, this acting talent is off the charts!"
"'Autumn Wind' showered the streamer with watermelon rain, Eagle Beast is awesome! You're so cool, I love you!"
Eagle Beast's raised neck suddenly turned towards the voice broadcast, its eyes wide and round: "Chirp~"
"Wow, so cunning, this must be Eagle Beast's first time hearing a gift broadcast!"
"Hmph, I want to boost my impression points too!"
Xie Sen's mouth gaped open as he stared in surprise at the colorful comments on the screen. The gift broadcasts kept coming, making his ears ring.
Eagle Beast stared blankly at the speaker, and Giant Tiger Beast called out to it, explaining something. Eagle Beast's eyes darted around, its expression calming down, and it continued chatting.
"The audience is really rich," Xie Sen sighed, turning off the live stream.
Maine said, "Speaking of money, I remembered something. I asked some people, and the land price on the edge of Anguang District is very cheap, only 3,000 yuan per square meter. The contracted beasts are large, so I calculated that their housing will need to be at least 2,000 square meters. We only need one room for the two of us, not too big, 100 square meters will be enough."
Xie Sen was taken aback when he heard about the area, but after thinking about it carefully, 2,000 square meters would only cost 6 million yuan, which was nothing compared to the money the contracted beasts would earn. Moreover, the larger area would make them more comfortable.
He checked his account balance, and after the split, he had more than 160 million yuan. He immediately nodded, "Okay, we can buy it as you said. Is this enough to build the house and equip it with equipment?"
Maine glanced at it, "Almost. Security equipment and soundproofing equipment will be more expensive. I plan to develop and design a feeding robot to avoid any accidents if we ask someone for help. The contracted beasts are very smart, and the robot only needs a simple operating procedure. The design is very simple. Just have Huo Feng help us and get it done as soon as possible."
Xie Sen nodded hurriedly. He knew nothing about high technology, but it sounded incredibly sophisticated to him: "That's amazing!"
A smile appeared in Maine's eyes: "You can handle the design plans for our rooms and the contracted beast's dwelling. I'll get the land purchase paperwork done as soon as possible. Once your designs are finished, we can start construction."
Xie Sen glanced at the time, stood up, and said, "Let's go to the Botanical Research Institute first. I'll continue to work on it after we get back. I already have a general idea."
The two went to the Botanical Research Institute. Ma Qun was quite surprised to see Xie Sen. When Xie Sen gave him the plants he had brought back from Planet A, he was both surprised and moved: "Good boy, thank you. You are as great as your parents."
Xie Sen smiled awkwardly. He had no recollection of the parents Ma Qun mentioned.
He took out the potatoes he had exchanged earlier and handed them to Ma Qun: "Dean Ma, these are potatoes, different from the ones you're cultivating now. Try planting them."
Ma Qun took them, admiring the plump potatoes: "I tried planting them before, but failed."
Xie Sen smiled: "Didn't you fail with chili peppers too? This time you succeeded."
Ma Qun looked at him thoughtfully: "Is there any difference between the last one and this one?"
Xie Sen nodded: "There's a slight difference." Actually, they're the same, except that the soil energy has been recycled, and the yellow plants in the system can now be planted.
Ma Qun suddenly understood: "I'll arrange it right away."
Xie Sen: "Please wait," Ma Qun looked at him questioningly, and he said, "Could you sell me some rice every month? Consider it payment for the plants brought back from Planet A. I'll pay the rice price as usual, but I can't get any from the Rich Supermarket!" Ma Qun pondered for a moment: "
Rice production is limited, and the Rich Supermarket has to supply a fixed amount every day. If you want some, I can only sell you a maximum of five jin a month."
"Then five jin it is," Xie Sen said quickly, as long as he had some, he would be satisfied.
Ma Qun said, "It's mid-month now. Besides the rice supplied to Fuyou Supermarket, there's not much left. I can only sell you two jin this month."
Xie Sen happily bought two jin of rice and went home, immediately deciding, "We'll have rice for dinner."
The rice from the research institute wasn't as fragrant as the rice exchanged through the system, but for someone who ate meat every day, it was incredibly tempting. Dinner was rice plus stewed pork with potatoes, and the two of them ate until they were full and satisfied.
Xie Sen comfortably slumped on the sofa, letting out a long sigh of relief at how happy he was!
Thinking about the balance in his account, he couldn't help but sigh again. What was the use of having so much money? He couldn't even afford good food; his life was worse than that of an ordinary family in modern times!
He leaned back on the sofa, opened his bracelet, and entered the Star Network, casually browsing the news. His attention was quickly drawn to the real-time trending topics: "Latest verdict for Soria: exiled to Tianfeng Star."
He clicked on it, and it explained the outcome of Soria's case, along with a photo of Meyer seeing Soria off, his face resolute but his eyes red.
He scanned the comments; almost all of them supported the Kex family. The Kex family's reputation had completely reversed compared to the afternoon.
"My God, they actually convicted him completely according to the law! The Kex family is truly selfless." "
Lieutenant General Meyer's photo is heartbreaking. Losing his son and then his partner, the blow is too heavy."
"Sigh, Lieutenant General Meyer also wrote a long self-reflection, full of self-blame. After reading it, I realized how tough it is for military personnel. They're often away from home during training and combat, inevitably neglecting their families."
"Thinking about it now, the Kex family's current status is all thanks to the hard work of their ancestors. The Kex family has produced so many heroes!"
"I hope they can pull themselves together, and that other families can learn from this. The more powerful a family is, the less likely it is to raise bad people, otherwise the potential tragedies could be too severe."
"Soria is quite pitiful too. He used to be the dream lover of countless men. His mental problems must be due to the trauma of Rilo's murder."
"He's not pitiful at all. When the lieutenant general wasn't home, he was disciplining Rilo. Didn't he see what kind of person Rilo became? It's all his fault for spoiling him. Now he's reaping what he sowed."
"The most pitiful one is probably the lieutenant general, but I believe he'll get through this!"
Maine finished washing the dishes and put his arm around Shesen's shoulder from behind the sofa. Shesen turned around and asked, "Where is Tianfeng Star? Soria was exiled there. There are a lot of people online sympathizing with Lieutenant General Meyer."
"A sanatorium for mental patients," Maine said simply, his eyes filled with heavy mockery and glee.
He knew that as long as he could easily steer public opinion in the direction of mental instability, even if the Kess family hadn't thought of this approach, they would be inspired by the discussions.
After all, this would be the least damaging thing for the Kess family.
The result would be to explain to the public that Soria's actions were entirely due to his mental problems, a personal act, and had nothing to do with the Kess family.
They would appear selfless and heartbroken, and still gain public favor.
As for Soria, all his pride would be shattered by this incident. He would realize that he was no more noble than anyone else, that he wasn't valued by the Kess family, and that he was just someone who could be discarded at any time.
Xie Sen asked curiously, "A sanatorium? Sounds like a place to escape responsibility and enjoy life."
"No," Maine chuckled, "There are no normal people there, only criminals suffering from or diagnosed with mental illnesses. It's a long-established sanatorium."
Xie Sen's eyes widened in shock, a chill running down his spine. This was terrifying!
Maine lifted his chin and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Don't be afraid, it's a place for criminals."
Xie Sen bit his lip lightly. "I'm not afraid, I'm just too surprised." He pulled his head back and patted the empty seat next to him. "Come on, let's discuss the layout of the house together. See if there's anything unreasonable about my ideas."
Maine leaned on the back of the sofa, jumped over, and sat down.
The two found many design drawings on the StarNet for reference and discussed for more than two hours, finalizing the general layout, only needing to think about the details further.
The next day, when Xie Sen entered the Gold Medal, the security guards not only checked his ID but also conducted a security check to make sure he wasn't carrying any dangerous items before letting him in.
He glanced at the non-employee entrance; customers who came to have their contracted beasts cared for were all going through security checks before being allowed in. After
swiping his work card, he ran into Sun Mao on his way to the break room. Sun Mao waved and greeted him, "How are you?"
Xie Sen replied, "I'm fine. What happened at the entrance today?"
Sun Mao said, "After yesterday's incident, the boss got angry and ordered security measures to be strengthened at all the Gold Medal stores. A new set of surveillance equipment was installed, with two lines. Even the most skilled expert can't disable the surveillance simultaneously in a short time."
Xie Sen said, "That's really efficient."
Sun Mao shrugged, "Boss Long has a fiery temper. Who would dare to be careless when he personally gives the order? Besides, it's fortunate that yesterday's events were just a coincidence; no tragedy occurred, otherwise we would all have been affected. Strengthening security makes both customers and employees feel safe."
Xie Sen deeply agreed. The two chatted for a bit before going about their own business.
During the lunch break, Xie Sen went to check on the contracted beasts in sections four and five. The live stream had already been turned on by the Giant Leopard Beast. When he went in, the contracted beasts were dancing, and the audience included Giant Armor Beast and Flying Eagle Beast.
Xie Sen couldn't help but laugh. Had the Flying Eagle Beast fallen in love with this place?
He walked over, but before he got close, the Flying Eagle Beast saw him, raised its wings and stretched them out in front of him. He took them in his hand, and the Flying Eagle Beast's voice immediately appeared in his mind: "Ah Sen, are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Have you been staying here since yesterday?"
"Yes, it's quite fun here, but we can't fly freely. I'll go out in a bit," the Flying Eagle Beast said.
Xie Sen said, "Many people know you saved me. You're quite famous now. Be careful when you go out."
"Hmph, no one can catch me," the Flying Eagle Beast said confidently.
The Giant Armored Beast came over and nuzzled him, asking softly, "Ah Sen, the Flying Eagle Beast said you were captured and injured. Are you still feeling unwell?"
"I'm fine, thank you," he said, touching the Giant Armored Beast's scales.
At this moment, the music ended, and all the contracted beasts who had finished dancing gathered around, their noses, tails, and paw pads reaching out towards Xie Sen. His mind was instantly filled with the concerned questions from each of his contracted beasts.
He was deeply moved and reassuringly patted each of them back, saying, "I'm fine, don't worry."
"Hmph, how dare they touch you! Where are they? I'll bring them to avenge you!" the black giant leopard roared.
"Yes, let them see how powerful we are!" the giant tiger quickly flicked its tail and immediately agreed.
Xie Sen's lips twitched. "It's alright, it's alright, they've already been captured. They're no big deal, you don't need to lift a finger."
Little Spot said softly, "Ah Sen is too weak. Even if the other side was a small fry, they were still captured. This won't do. You need to find a way to improve your abilities!"
Xie Sen—his heart ached.
"This time I was careless. I'm actually very powerful!" he said, changing the subject, opening his bracelet, and enlarging the virtual screen. "This is the floor plan of your future residence. I'll explain it to you, and you can see if there's anything you need to change or add."
He explained what each place was for from left to right, and the contracted beasts' attention was immediately drawn to him, no longer questioning his abilities. Listening to his explanation, the contracted beasts occasionally let out an excited cry and discussed it with their companions.
Viewers in the live stream, seeing the floor plan, exclaimed in surprise, "Is this a relocation?"
"Definitely, it looks like a new building."
"Yeah, the contracted beasts have always stayed in the Gold Zone, where people are mixed up. It's quite dangerous if someone sneaks in."
"I wonder where it will be built? I want to buy a house nearby in advance!"
"Me too! Can the streamer give us a hint?"
Xie Sen glanced at the comments but didn't reply, mentally planning whether to buy up all the land nearby to avoid having a bunch of fanatics living next door.
He remembered the land pictures Maine had sent him that morning—large areas of flat land, completely empty.
He figured that if he bought more land now, he could plant trees, flowers, and even vegetables and fruits around the perimeter after the wood-elemental energy was recycled, creating a kind of backyard for the apartment. With plants, they and their contracted beasts would live more comfortably. After
explaining to the contracted beasts and listening to their additional requests, he noted them down and left Districts Four and Five. As soon as he left, he contacted Maine, asking him to buy up as much land as possible in the surrounding area.
Not counting his share of the livestream revenue, he earned 40 million just from forming contracts. At 3,000 yuan per square meter, that's enough to buy a lot of land!
"I have over 40 million here. I'll keep 10 million and use the rest to buy land," he said.
Although Maine didn't know why so much land was needed, he readily agreed: "Okay, I have money too. I got over 100 million from the livestream platform alone. Should we buy it all?"
Xie Sen calculated: "No, you and I will each buy 10,000 square meters. We'll keep the rest for our apartments and the contracted beasts' housing. We'll plan how to use the 20,000 square meters later. We'll need more money then."
"Okay, I'll pick you up tonight."
"Okay."
After work, Xie Sen asked Maine about the land as soon as he got on the shuttle. Maine sent him a message with an attachment.
He opened it; the attachment was a map with a plot of land marked in green and two smaller plots marked with red and yellow circles.
Maine said, "The green area is 22,200 square meters, the red circle is the site for our apartment, and the yellow circle is the residence for the contracted beasts."
Xie Sen looked at the land map and suddenly felt like a landlord. His gaze swept over the upper right corner, where the landowner was listed as Xie Sen.
He was taken aback: "You wrote my name?"
Maine smiled: "Of course, it all belongs to you."
Xie Sen glanced at him: "Aren't you afraid I'll swindle all your money?"
"You won't," Maine said.
Xie Sen laughed: "Let's discuss the design details again tonight, and we can start construction tomorrow."
The next day, Maine took Xie Sen to the Gold Medal construction site. When Xie Sen was nowhere to be seen, Maine went to the construction company and contracted out all the construction-related matters to them, confirming the brands and models of all the equipment needed.
He spent more than two hours negotiating with the construction company, calculating the required costs, agreeing to complete the project before June 20th, signing the contract, paying the fee, and leaving the construction company.
When Xie Sen received the contract from Maine and saw the payment of 130 million, he felt a pang of pain. However, upon seeing the finished product's mock-up, he silently comforted himself, "You get what you pay for; there's a reason why it's expensive."
At noon, as usual, he went to Districts Four and Five to check on the contracted beasts, making sure everything was normal. He chatted with them for a while before leaving.
After finishing his meal and returning to the lounge, he was about to take a nap when he noticed his right shoulder gradually warming up. Just as he was about to ask Adan, Adan's weak but excited voice rang in his mind: "Asen, I sensed wood energy!"
Xie Sen's drowsiness vanished instantly. He opened his bracelet, pulled up the interstellar map, and hurriedly asked, "Where are we?"
Adan: "We're currently southeast, about 200 million kilometers from Brant Star."
Xie Sen drew a line on the map, then paused, "No planet. There are three large planets nearby, but they're all within 180 million kilometers. Are you referring to approximate distances?"
"No, more than 180 million kilometers."
Xie Sen frowned. "The furthest is a planet 230 million kilometers away."
"No, it's somewhere in between, about 200 million kilometers away." Adan was confident. Xie
Sen zoomed in on the map, searching carefully, but still couldn't find the planet Adan mentioned.