Chapter 201: Compromise
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The longer Charlie worked for Zhang Lisheng, the more he felt that this young man that looked ordinary at first sight actually had an inscrutable aura.
Recalling the scene of how the aborigines fantastically bowing at Zhang Lisheng, which he accidentally saw on the supernatural realm’s island, Charlie pondered for a long while before choosing his words carefully. “Boss, your plan is feasible, but the time to proceed with the plan may have to be postponed to a later date. With the situation of how we have absolutely gained the full advantage, I estimate that most of the slaughterhouse proprietors in the eight metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago will agree to meet LS halfway. In this case, it would only take seven to eight months at most for our group to complete a new round of expansions. By then, you could raise funds again and once you have enough funds, you can start any business you want to do. ”
As night started to arrive, the cruise whistled loudly. After that, under the escort of the destroyers, the cruise sailed forward in between the waves. Staring at the island that was gradually getting farther away, he asked, “Wouldn’t that be too late?”
“It won’t, boss!” Charlie pointed at the two destroyers beside the cruise and said confidently. “Even though I have no idea what kind of danger this sea area has, judging from the situation so far, each of the sailing cruise s.h.i.+ps from the supernatural realm to the new New York Harbor would need the escort of a destroyer. A powerful destroyer costs several hundred million USD. The initial investment is extremely huge, so within these three years at the very least, it’s unlikely for the government to withdraw from being part of the shareholder easily. In other words, this means we’ll have the opportunity to intervene at any time in the next few years.”
After listening to these words, Zhang Lisheng nodded silently and looked up at the stars in the sky of the supernatural realm. He then faintly muttered unknown words that have no meaning.
He no longer said anything, even until he returned to his office by riding on the factory’s company car after the s.h.i.+p had docked in the new New York harbor.
After Charlie and Edward returned to the factory, they bid their goodbyes while Maddie stayed with the young man until eight to nine o’clock in the evening. After that, she had no choice but to rush back to New York City under the urge of her parents’ call.
By the time Zhang Lisheng was left alone in the office, he searched the Internet for the comments posted by those pa.s.sengers who had returned from the supernatural realm’s cruise journey. After roughly going through it, he muttered to himself, “There are many people who noticed the ferocity of the supernatural realm’s aborigines, but their blind confidence still prevails. These Americans are indeed arrogant…”
Curling his lips unwittingly, Zhang Lisheng stood up from the office chair and walked to the gla.s.s wall to look at the dim night outside. Then, he turned around and inwardly commanded Kyuuko to turn invisible before flying out from the factory’s underground trenches.
Based on the precedent cases of Mountoad, Island Dragon, and Crocodragon, Kyuuko, that had already been refined by the ‘transform’ spell five times and had devoured over a million tons of blood food, should be at the edge of transformation now. However, when it appeared in front of its owner, other than being obviously larger than it was a few months before, there were not many changes to its appearance.
“Just like how only a small number of insects could be refined to wizard gu, it looks like there’s also only a small number of wizard gus that possesses omniscient power. On top of that, not all wizard gus that possess the omniscient power could be transformed as well.” With his premonition turning real, Zhang Lisheng disappointedly caressed the 80-centimeter long ugly wasp hovering in front of his own eyes with a curved body. “It’s indeed the three-strikes law. Zhang Lisheng, oh, Zhang Lisheng! You’re already lucky enough to have three wizard gus succeeding in transformation. What else do you want? Please recall those wrecks commanded by those other young wizards who also practiced the same Witchcraft’s Gate of Death you saw in South Africa! Please imagine how happy they would be if they obtained such a wizard gu like Kyuuko…”
Despite the young man’s own muttering of reasons to console himself, he was still in low spirits.
A Mountoad could easily be obtained by sacrificing a young mule while the Island Dragon was inadvertently bought directly. These two wizard gus could be said as easily obtained without any effort.
However, the third wizard gu, Crocodragon, was obtained out of luck when he accidentally encountered the bizarre fight between the python and crocodile. This was all possible after he had wandered in the middle of the Amazon jungle, casting several hundreds of times of the “a.s.semble” spell with futile effort. The hards.h.i.+ps he endured during this was completely impossible to describe.
If he had run out of luck, one could easily imagine it would be absolutely normal for him to be unable to succeed even after seven to eight years of trying to refine a wizard gu and nurturing it till it reached transformation by relying on just probability itself.
“Sigh…” No matter how Zhang Lisheng pondered over it, he still could not come up with any solution. He, who could only resign himself to his fate, sighed and commanded Kyuuko to sneak back to the factory’s trenches, before walking to the refrigerator to open a door to take out a can of iced c.o.ke. He then finished it in one gulp.
Heaving a long breath outward, he felt that he was much calmer now, so he no longer let his mind run loose. Instead, he strode out of the office building and drove out of the factory.
Tonight, the usually quiet and dark wasteland outside of the new LS Slaughterhouse was as bustling as a grand party.
Countless of demonstrators and US citizens who wanted to be new cowboys gathered together with no distinction of ‘you’ and ‘me’, flas.h.i.+ng their car lights and playing ear-jarring music as they enjoyed their barbecue and beers.
Many young men and women had even managed to get wood and iron barrels from only G.o.d-knows-where. After setting up a bonfire and sitting around together, a couple could be seen walking deep into the dark wilderness, holding hands together from time to time.
After driving along the road for a while, Zhang Lisheng finally saw that the crowds had become spa.r.s.e, so he muttered to himself, “This is just perfect…” He then proceeded to put on the signal and turned his Explorer into the wild.
“Honk, honk, honk…” Pressing on his horn, he carefully drove his car all the way towards the vacant seaside.
Now that it was close to September, New York’s weather was very hot during the day but cool at night, particularly the seaside that had a very low temperature. However, to Zhang Lisheng who had already undergone a transformation, such a low temperature was no trouble to him.
He stripped off all of his clothing in the SUV and let the wyrm dragon and lizard that had shrunk to the size of a toy grab onto his body. Then, he opened the car door and walked on the fine moist sand in quick steps before rus.h.i.+ng into the sea.
Not long after, the sea surface reflecting the moonlight began to show a gush of faint fog. After that fog appeared, it gradually became thick and ethereal, before showing a milky white color in the end as it rose up to the sky.
In the fog, Zhang Lisheng transformed to become a three-meter tall giant, with his entire body covered with yellow and blue scales. Riding on the wyrm dragon that was more than ten meters long, he stared at the stars that had become bright and huge in the sky as he flew towards the supernatural realm’s island.
Those Tudenan exiles staying in Shrimp World No. 2’s human gathering place who could recognize his real look and knew his real name was like a thorn in his flesh, making him feel extremely uncomfortable as he was desperate to solve this problem as soon as possible.
Relying on the ability to find his route through stars he had managed to polish when he was lost in the supernatural realm last time, Zhang Lisheng muttered his spell “pst szhh…” and maintained a calm mind. Following the difference in the angle between the stars he remembered during the evening, he slowed down his flight in a controlled manner.
In the end, he managed to copy the direct route the cruise s.h.i.+p had taken earlier and saw the outline of the big island once more in the supernatural realm in the middle of the night.
“I’ve succeeded!” Riding on the neck of the wyrm dragon, the young man exclaimed in pleasant surprise before commanding the wizard gu to make a detour on the clouds in the sky. Dodging away from the port, he landed on the edge of the jungle, facing the entrance of the gathering place.
Right at that instant when he hovered over the top of the jungle’s canopy, a yellow-colored alarm signaling the emergence of potential enemies had quietly flashed in the gathering place, causing the garrison army on duty to mobilize quickly.
In just several seconds, the artillery officers on the wall who served as the first line of defense first arrived in the place.
Standing on the wall under the cold wind while staring at the wizard gu hovering in the air, they panted heavily while whispering to themselves, trying to seek joy amidst sorrow, “It’s not that big, but it seems to be able to fly and run! Not only that, the radar observation shows its speed is very fast. Looks like our luck is not so good.”
“Maybe it’s just a false alarm, don’t be so pessimistic, Panoch! Maybe the two fellows will go away very soon…”
“Don’t dream about it, Scott! I think the commander on duty will soon upgrade the alarm to become orange already! Don’t underestimate these fellows who fly to the gathering place but don’t do anything either. They are much harder to deal with compared to those big monsters that randomly roar and smash at the gunfire missiles…”
Without warning, an unknown loud sound suddenly interrupted these US soldiers’ speculations. Not long after, they heard the aborigines, who came either too late or had bad trading but who could not leave the gathering place in time when the gate was closed. They then had no choice but to sleep directly on the hard and cold cement floor outdoors with just animal fur covering the ground beneath them, shouting behind them.
Four to five of them crept up and ran to the gathering place’s metal gate that had been closed and began to slam the door wildly in desperation.
According to the gathering place’s overnight rule, the actions of these aborigines were enough for the patrolling night guards to kill them immediately. After all, just a small commotion in this piece of dangerous supernatural realm’s island might lead to a horrifying catastrophe.
However, today was coincidentally the first day the Shrimp B1 Island was opened to navigation to the human world. Because of this, there were too many civilians who gushed into the gathering place.
On top of that, these aborigines, who were slamming on the door, were obviously echoing their commotion with the arrival of the powerful creature of the supernatural realm outside of the gathering place. If they killed these aborigines without careful consideration, they might rouse revenge leading to extremely tragic consequences.
In a reticulated bunker connected to the gathering place by a s.p.a.cious ramp, Rowling, the supreme commander of the US soldier in Shrimp World No. 2, roared loudly in front of his adjutant, “Was.h.i.+ngton’s politicians are idiots! How can they just hand over so many civilians to us…”
“They’re indeed a heavy burden, General! However, it’s not the time to discuss this matter now…” Looking at the tall and thin old man with grey hair, the adjutant, who was another old man with a huge aquiline nose, reminded him with a whisper.
“I know, Race! I know! It doesn’t matter if one or two of them die, but if hundreds of them die on the first day, I’d have no choice but to retire early! It seems like our best solution now is to compromise and let those few crazy aborigines leave. However, this is a bad precedent! A very bad one indeed!”