Chapter 429: Marrow of Red Radiance Jade
After Lu Fanghui left, Meng Chao sat on the bed cross-legged and thought for a long time, but he still did not understand what he meant.
“Wait. Did President Lu understand what I was trying to say? Why do I feel like he spoke at great length and sounded really excited and sincere, but when I think about it carefully, his words did not seem to carry any weight. Big Sis Ya, was your dad just lying to me?”
“It’s already good if he was willing to spend so much time lying to you!” Lu Siya sat cross-legged on the couch across from the bed, just like Meng Chao. She wore a patient’s gown and did not have any makeup on. In this getup, she did not look like the strong woman that she was.
But she said with a grin, “Ever since I graduated from university, my father has never encouraged me this way. I can tell that he really admires you. I’m serious.”
“Does he?” Meng Chao scratched his head.
“Of course. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes,” Lu Siya whispered secretively. “Sky Pillar Corporation invested in Kun-peng Dynamics, and one of my uncles who is my father’s greatest compet.i.tor in the family was in charge of it. He’s an ambitious person, and he really wanted Kun-peng Dynamics to become powerful so that it could fight against my father’s Sky Pillar Minerals on equal grounds.
“If the project to switch out all advanced armored airships really came to fruition, Kun-peng Dynamics would have obtained the major deal to produce new crystal engines, and there’s a high chance that Sky Pillar Corporation would gain another industry where it could develop aside from Sky Pillar Minerals.
“No matter how hard my father worked in this regard, it was useless. After all, Sky Pillar Minerals has always been the core industry of the corporation. No matter how well my father does with it, it’s all to be expected. n.o.body will say that he worked hard.
“But that side failed to live up to expectations and was dragged into Zhou Tianshui and the abnormal beasts’ case. Once one criminal is discovered, the rest are discovered as well. Not only are many people in Kun-peng Dynamics under investigation, even that uncle of mine who is in charge of the investment and all the branch members who support him in the family are under suspicion.
“So, tell me, shouldn’t my father thank you properly?”
Meng Chao was stunned. “I was originally a little embarra.s.sed for using so much of your resources over the past few days, but now that you said that, suddenly, I feel like it’s only right for him to use those resources on me. Say, could you get me three to five tons of that gene medicine as supper?”
“We can talk about the gene medicine later. My father is really sincere about working with you.” As Lu Siya spoke, she brought out a sealed metal tube from behind her. It was even thicker than her arm. “There is nothing else like this. He didn’t give this even to me on my birthday. You managed to take advantage of it instead.”
As she spoke, she opened the lid gently.
Faint sizzling sounds rose. White fog swirled in the air, and Lu Siya brought out a transparent, strengthened gla.s.s tube.
A faint blue but really thick liquid filled it.
Within it was a crystalline object with clear lines. If crystals had a nervous system, it would look like that.
Even if there was strengthened gla.s.s isolating it, its spirit energy magnetic field still surged out and crashed into Meng Chao’s vitality magnetic field, causing his heart to thump loudly.
Normal superhumans might never be able to see such a treasure.
Meng Chao’s eyes lit up, and he blurted out the name. “Crystal marrow?”
Lu Siya c.o.c.ked her eyebrows and said, “As expected of the harvester chosen by Master Ning Shewo. You even know about crystal marrows. Yes, this is a crystal marrow Sky Pillar Minerals was able to mine deep in the Red Radiance Jade mine. That mine area is more than ten kilometers in a circular area, and there are more than ten ley lines of various sizes. If you add them together, they’re longer than one hundred kilometers, but we’ve only discovered this one crystal marrow for the time being, so you can imagine its value.”
Meng Chao stared at the crystal marrow, admiring it with a greedy expression.
Crystal marrows were a substance between a crystal and a monster material. It had both the properties of an organic object and inorganic object. They could only be occasionally discovered deep within large mineral mines. There were only a few of them, so they were worth cities.
The world of academia had all sorts of theories as to how crystal marrows formed.
The mainstream guess was that when crystal mines formed in ancient times, some ancient beast entered by accident, and when it died, the st.u.r.dier parts of its body mixed with the crystals. After billions of years of refinement through high temperature, high pressure, and spirit energy radiation, they slowly crystallized and turned into the crystal marrows of today.
In other words, crystal marrows were the fossils of ancient beasts embedded into crystals. As they were nourished by spirit energy, they retained part of their activity. The effects that they provided to a superhuman when he or she cultivated or trained was something that normal crystals and monster materials could never hope to provide.
Lu Siya had mentioned outside that Meng Chao’s two chain sabers broke during the battle and he needed to create brand new weapons.
The crystal marrow contained the incredibly violent power from Red Radiance Jades and a fierce soul from an ancient beast. Taking it directly would be too dangerous, and it would be a waste of a treasure, so it would be better to hire a craftsman to turn the crystal marrow into the core of a new weapon.
Meng Chao had already absorbed a lot of energy from the Red Radiance Jade tsunami, so his limbs and meridians were all like mini Red Radiance Jade ley lines.
His tutoress, Griffin Li Yingzi, was a top-cla.s.s martial artist of the Beast Soul Style. Her research regarding beast souls in Agricultural University’s martial arts course was definitely the best in Dragon City as well.
With the weapon created by the Red Radiance Jade’s crystal marrow, Meng Chao would definitely be like a tiger who gained wings, and his fighting power would increase by leaps and bounds.
Meng Chao became really happy.
He hugged the Red Radiance Jade crystal marrow and wanted to say a few polite words when Lu Siya said, “I know that you’re indifferent to fame and wealth and don’t want any rewards, but only want to contribute to Dragon City. Coincidentally, I’m a woman who indulges in pleasure and is blinded by profit. If you feel guilty for taking that Red Radiance Jade’s crystal marrow, you can let me handle it.”
Meng Chao quickly hid the Red Radiance Jade’s crystal marrow under his b.u.t.t.
Lu Siya smirked and said, “Now, you should believe in my father and my sincerity, right?”
“What are you saying? I’ve always believed in you and Uncle Lu’s sincerity!” Meng Chao cleared his throat. “But which side does Uncle Lu support? The Colonization Party or the Home Party?”
“Based on my observations, he should be the same as me. We don’t have a fixed stance. We just stand on the side that will earn us more money and power. If it helps us climb to a higher position, we will side with them!” Lu Siya said nonchalantly.
“But my father is someone who cares about public image a lot. You should be able to tell from the case when he took in Lin Chuan that even if it’s just for show, he will be sincere about it, because that’s the only way it’ll work.
“So, if you want to use the Broken Star Club’s name to work with Sky Pillar Minerals for some charity project or public welfare activity, I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Even if it’s for himself, my father should support it with full strength.
“You can also seize the chance to spread the Broken Star Club’s influence. Honestly, there are plenty of broken-star superhumans in Dragon City. If you can use them well, they’ll be treasures that can be found in abundance in the city.
“Given time, forget about being the youngest Heaven Realm superhuman in Dragon City, with the Broken Star Club, Agricultural University, abnormal beast research department, and Sky Pillar Corporation supporting you, it’s possible that you would end up as the youngest politician in Dragon City as well.”
Meng Chao laughed in spite of himself. “I’ve never thought about becoming a politician.”
“Think about it starting from now. It’s not too late. Speaking of which, politicians are different from each other. Many politicians are just puppets. There are superhumans who are really powerful but aren’t politicians, but they can still do whatever they want in the Survival Committee.” Lu Siya stared at Meng Chao intensely.
“We’ve been working together for a year, and we know each other through and through. It’s helped me realize that we’re the same type of people. We’re both ambitious, but your ambitions aren’t about personal power. You’re even more ridiculous than I am. You want your will to be implemented in Dragon City’s future.
“However, at the end of the day, your personal power will always be limited. No matter how much you want to mould Dragon City’s future, you must first have the power to do whatever you want without consequences.
“So, put away all those nonsensical thoughts in your heart and work with me. We have to use whatever we have to become stronger, that’s our first proper task.
“If there comes a day when my father has the chance to take over all of Sky Pillar Corporation and even become the leader of the Lu family, and your Superstar as well as Broken Star Club have also become the strongest forces of power in Dragon City, you can plan out Dragon City’s future however you want, no?”
Meng Chao nodded.
That was him agreeing verbally to their relationship as tactical partners.
They spoke a little longer, because Meng Chao really wanted to know the newest development of Group 9 and the newest clues about the Supernatural Ent.i.ties.
But Lu Siya had also been staying in the hospital over the past few days, so she did not know much about the outside world.
She said that the next day Captain Ye would bring the leaders of the department to visit her and Meng Chao. At that time, they would naturally learn everything.
Meng Chao nodded, then a thought popped up in his head. He asked about the origins of the hospital.
“I’ve never heard about Sky Pillar Corporation having a hospital of their own. The facilities here are really advanced, and the decorations are really luxurious. Did you just build it?”
Lu Siya shook her head and told Meng Chao that the hospital had been built for decades.
During the chaotic period before the Survival Committee was built, the nine great mega corporations had already taken over some of the functions of the local government. They built hospitals, schools, and armed their own fighting squads. They might have been small, but they had everything and were basically small, independent kingdoms.
Once the Survival Committee was set up, some of the medical facilities under the nine great mega corporations merged together and were upgraded to large public hospitals.
For example, the current Dragon City People’s Medical Center and Dragon City Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital were hospitals under the corporations before they were upgraded to their current status.
Sky Pillar Corporation’s corporate hospital mainly treated various diseases related to mining and radiation. Since they were a specialized hospital, they had retained their original scale and operation model. They did not treat patients who were not part of their own.
“Why are you suddenly so interested in hospitals?” Lu Siya asked.
Meng Chao naturally wanted to continue investigating the X-shaped eye.
He noticed that this hospital, Fengshui Medical Center, and the government hospitals his mother frequented in the past all had their own unique symbols.
But none of them had the X-shaped eye as their symbol.
Hence, he wanted to see whether there was any corporate hospital or a private medical center that was incredibly small and incredibly specialized that was related to the X-shaped eye.
But there was no need for him to tell Lu Siya about it.
It was not because he did not trust her.
Instead, it was because he did not know how strong and mysterious was the force of power hidden behind the X-shaped eye.
Before he figured out the truth, there was no need for him to make other people face unnecessary risks.