By the time the fully equipped support team arrived at the warehouse, the battle was already over.
Chainsaw in hand, Zhou Chen had cut through the Fire Slaves like they were nothing, wiping them out completely. He pocketed every last one of their Crystal Cores.
Although the Fire Slaves' Crystal Cores looked like Black Crystals, they were actually incredibly light.
All the Crystal Core fragments combined weighed only about fifteen grams.
At thirty thousand per gram, fifteen grams of Fire Slave Crystals could sell for around four hundred fifty thousand, though the exact price would fluctuate with market demand.
Four hundred fifty thousand. That was a fortune. At least, Zhou Chen had never seen so much money in his life!
"Calm down. You'll soon find out just how expensive being an Ascender is."
Yang took a drag from his cigarette and sighed. "Back in the day, I was a naive kid just like you, thinking I'd finally make the big bucks after becoming an Ascender. Turns out, I was two hundred thousand in debt after my first month. A year later, I'd become a 'successful man' three million in debt."
"Seriously...?" Zhou Chen was skeptical. "It can't be that bad, can it?"
"Heh. You're still in your Extraordinary Development Stage, right? By my count, you've got about a month left. During that time, you'll need to drink at least one vial of nutrient solution a day. At the Star Association's internal employee price, one vial is eight thousand. That's two hundred forty thousand a month right there."
Yang continued, "And that's just the cost for your development. You're an Ascender now, so you've got to find ways to get stronger, don't you? And getting stronger means spending money, right?
"Right now, any piece of Alchemy Equipment on the market starts at half a million. A High-Frequency Vibration Blade alone will set you back six hundred thousand. What's your little bit of cash good for? At most, you could go to Night Rose and get yourself a few young models or college girls..."
"Enough with the models and college girls. If you two are alright, get out of here. We need to clear the warehouse," the support team's captain came over and hurried them along.
"Old Liu, we just fought eight Fire Slaves and an Eternal Fire Fanatic. You tell me if we're 'alright'?" Yang gave a weak-sounding cough. "Besides, at the last team-building event, you were the one who..."
Old Liu's expression hardened, and he bellowed, "Medics! Where are the medics? Get these two wounded men out of here on stretchers, now!"
Zhou Chen wanted to ask Yang for more details about the models and college girls, but before he could say a word, the medical team had him on a stretcher and was carrying him out of the warehouse.
At one in the morning, a light rain began to fall. Thick smoke billowed from the transit warehouse, the glow of the fire clearly visible for kilometers.
A commotion this big had surely been noticed by various parties. No doubt, quite a few people would be losing sleep tonight.
Before he was loaded into the ambulance, Zhou Chen saw his other teammates. No one had been killed, but all of them were injured. And the way they looked at him... it was a potent mix of envy, jealousy, and hate. They were practically dying of sour grapes.
Zhou Chen could guess what they were thinking: 'Why him? How does he get all the bullshit luck? He just stumbles into a Forbidden Object for free? Is there no justice in this world!'
He also saw Jiang Che.
She was standing under a black umbrella, watching the burning warehouse with a blank expression as one of her Operators reported the details of the situation.
Perhaps because of the cold rain, she had exchanged her suit jacket for a long, black overcoat. Everything else was the same: a crisp white shirt and tie beneath the coat, black trousers, and leather shoes.
She looked cold and stern.
"Pretty intimidating, huh?" Yang said suddenly, once they were on the ambulance.
They had taken off their comms headsets, so they didn't have to worry about Jiang Che overhearing them.
"What is?" Zhou Chen didn't follow.
"Jiang Che. Don't tell me you don't know. She has some kind of emotional deficiency syndrome. Her feelings are so muted they're practically nonexistent. She's as cold as a robot made of steel. Isn't it terrifying working for a boss like that?"
"To be honest, I've got a little over ten months to live. Can she really be scarier than death?" Zhou Chen sighed.
Yang thought for a moment. "I wouldn't be so sure... She can make you wish you were dead.
"Take tonight's incident, for example. None of the parties involved are getting away clean. If those guys think she's just some little girl they can push around, they're in for a rude awakening. They'll either lose a huge chunk of flesh or she'll make an example out of them."
"Bottom line is, don't get on her bad side. She's not even an Ascender, yet at her age, she's about to join the decision-making council at HQ. She's no pushover. I'd bet her methods are more decisive and ruthless than anyone's."
"I get it. Just do what a good little grunt is supposed to do."
Zhou Chen yawned. Now that he was safe, the exhaustion from the battle washed over him like a tidal wave. He was soon fast asleep, clutching the chainsaw.
...
...
When Zhou Chen woke from his deep sleep, his head was splitting and he felt mentally drained.
It was the aftereffect of overdrawing his Essence. During the battle, the chainsaw had squeezed every last drop of his meager Essence reserves. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he had only slowly recovered about a third of it.
On the bright side, he felt like both his Spiritual Power and his Essence Capacity had increased slightly.
Zhou Chen sat up in bed. He was in a familiar Star Association hospital room. The Bloodthirsty Chainsaw was propped up beside the bed. The thing was soul-bound to him now; no one else could use it. In fact, it would even lash out at anyone who tried.
He had just rolled over to grab a glass of water when he saw a young woman in a suit sitting in the chair by his bed, her expression impassive.
"You're awake." Jiang Che looked up from the tablet she was tapping on. "You've been asleep for eighteen hours."
"I still feel awful..." Zhou Chen rubbed his temples before asking the question that was weighing on his mind.
"What happened? Did you find the Star Mango?"
Jiang Che sighed softly. "That's the bad news."
'So they didn't find it...' Zhou Chen fell silent, his disappointment palpable.
Jiang Che tapped her tablet a few times and handed it to him. "Warehouse data shows that two days ago, several of Xi Feng's top executives at Jinzhu had people secretly move a large shipment of important goods, the Star Mango among them.
"But this wasn't ordered by Xi Feng's actual leadership. Another power intercepted the shipment. Thanks to a mole, they were able to openly transport the goods away."
Zhou Chen stared at the information on the screen, lost in thought for a moment. Recalling something Yang had said earlier, he blurted out a name:
"Eternal Fire?"
Jiang Che nodded. "Most likely. Those executives are probably undercover agents for the Eternal Fire.
"I can't imagine what else was in that shipment to attract the attention of the Eternal Fire."
"Could it be the Star Mango?" Zhou Chen couldn't help but frown.
"It's possible. But rest assured, even without the Star Mango, I guarantee I'll find another way to mend your Soul."
Zhou Chen understood. The black-and-white contract was one reason, but he had also proven his worth. That was why Jiang Che was willing to continue putting in the effort to help him.
After all, it was a transaction.
Each of them was getting what they wanted.