by <unknown>
“I was going to escape, but it looks like that would be suicide,” Emerald Grass said honestly.
Han Xiao pulled off his masked and smiled. “You’re very wise.”
Han Xiao had disguised himself for this meet-up and taken a chopper over himself. He knew full well that Emerald Grass was not ordinary, and sending anyone else would have been a risk. Thus, it was best for him to go himself.
As expected, Emerald Grass had hidden something. If he did not go, she would most likely have escaped. Emerald Grass had a very calm temperament; she was not surprised at all when something unexpected happened. She was very obviously suitable for scientific research as she would never be afraid of accidents happening during experiments.
“What do you need me to do?” Emerald Grass asked.
“I will tell you when we are there.” Han Xiao casually took out a device and scanned to see if there was any other wiretap on Emerald Grass’s body, at the same time contemplating about how to have Emerald Grass work and stay in the sanctuary willingly. Although he had Emerald Grass under his control temporarily, he did not think that Emerald Grass would give up on escaping in the future if there was to be a chance, and he could not monitor her at all times.
Chapter 230. Pharmacist Emerald Grass |
The helicopter carried the two toward Sanctuary Three.
During the journey, Emerald Grass was very quiet, like she had accepted her fate. The imprisonment on Bell of Death Island had made her familiar with the feeling of not having freedom; it was just going from one cell to another for her, and at least her treatment would be better here with this man called Black Phantom than when she was on Bell of Death Island.
Black Phantom, never heard of such person, Emerald Grass thought. She had been imprisoned for many years and had very limited knowledge of the changes happening in the world outside. She looked through the events that had happened in the recent years in her laptop and realized that the name Black Phantom had first appeared half a year ago.
Unbelievable.
In only half a year, this name had risen to fame like a shooting star. His strength was more terrifying than the highly dangerous serial criminals on Bell of Death Island, and those were all renowned serial criminals.
There was one piece of information that gave Emerald Grass a huge shock; the Germinal Organization that had been extremely strong before she was imprisoned had been forced onto the path of destruction!
And the reason for that was just an ordinary traitor!
When she saw this piece of intelligence, Emerald Grass could barely believe her own eyes, and she only digested this information after a very long silence.
Her emotions were mixed, and it all turned into a sigh in the end.
The world was changing constantly. After a few years of imprisonment, the outside world had become completely different.
Also, what the hell was this ‘Inhuman’ described in the intelligence?
Sanctuary Three was coming into sight, so Emerald Grass put down the laptop and looked out the window. Surprise flashed on her face. “So that construction area is the place we’re going to. Black Phantom Sanctuary Three… What is a sanctuary?”
Han Xiao gave a faint smile and said, “You still have much more to catch up on.”
“I know.” Emerald Grass nodded. She flicked her messy hair and said softly, “It’s safe here, right?”
Han Xiao did not reply. He pointed at his eyes then at Sanctuary Three, implying that she should look for herself. Emerald Grass searched the keyword ‘sanctuary’ on the internet for intelligence, and after some time, she got a rough idea. “Turns out it’s the Dark Net’s plan. I didn’t expect this hidden huge organization to surface and even received funding from the Six Nations. The purpose is very pure, isn’t it? Indeed, there is no place safer.”
Looking down from the plane, the Graymetal Ruins had experienced a complete makeover. A new area was marked out from the ruins, players and engineering teams dashed across like ants, and various types of engineering machines made buzzing sounds. The abandoned buildings, bridges, roads, and such had all been demolished in order to construct new buildings. The atmosphere was completely fresh. A small half of the tall concrete wall had already been completed, and countless players climbed up and down for construction.
The helicopter lowered itself onto the parking spot.
Having received notice long ago, Huang Yu came up to Han Xiao, talking rapidly about the things that had happened when Han Xiao was not around. Most of it was cumbersome matters, but Huang Yu had taken care of all of them very neatly. He was indeed suitable as an assistant and secretary.
Emerald Grass looked left and right, then stopped at Han Xiao, and said with surprise, “Didn’t think you’re actually the leader of this sanctuary. No wonder you need me.”
Han Xiao did not agree or deny it; he gave Huang Yu a few words of encouragement and took Emerald Grass to the frozen warehouse.
After looking at a large amount of Shadow Stalker Viper materials, Han Xiao described the task then stared at Emerald Grass, waiting for her reply.
Emerald Grass pondered for two minutes before nodding.
“Shadow Stalker Vipers’ brains, kidneys, gall bladders, mitral valves, and tailbones are all drug materials suitable for creating steroids and hormone drugs. Their eggs have a substance that aids in bone growth and metabolism and can be extracted to create very effective healing potions.
“Since you have so many monster eggs, I can try to cultivate a Shadow Stalker Viper herd. You also mentioned that feeding them high energy waste can create radiation crystals. This is a renewable resource…”
Emerald Grass turned very professional when she talked about what she was good at, and she talked with more confidence, almost in a despising tone since she was so confident in her knowledge and skills of her field.
“What and what?” Han Xiao did not hear clearly and was very confused.
Emerald Grass rolled her eyes—her expression was like telling Han Xiao to leave these kinds of professional matters to the professionals, and Han Xiao should not interfere since he had no knowledge of the field.
Compared to the cold feeling that Emerald Grass gave off earlier, her expression was now livelier, like she had noticed that the situation she was in was not bad after all, which made her feel relieved and stop putting on a disguise that rejected everyone with her coldness.
“That substance you mentioned sounds very valuable. I’ll leave you to it.” Han Xiao nodded with his hands behind his back, looking like he totally knew what Emerald Grass was talking about. Emerald Grass laughed before hurriedly suppressing her laughter.
“Huang Yu, come!” Han Xiao yelled. Huang Yu, who was waiting to the side, ran over immediately. Han Xiao pointed at Emerald Grass and said, “This is a Pharmacist I’ve hired. Arrange a room for her.”
Huang Yu nodded. He brought Emerald Grass to an exquisite residence, then followed Han Xiao’s orders, and gave her some information about the sanctuary.
The room was new and rather large, or at least much larger than the cell she used to be in.
Emerald Grass lay on the bed and let out a moan of comfort.
After years of sleeping in that iron-framed bed, she finally could sleep on this soft mattress—it was like sleeping on a pile of cotton, and her entire body was sinking.
Huang Yu stood at the door awkwardly. Emerald Grass totally ignored him while doing this, and he did not know whether he should stay or leave. He knocked the door frame and coughed. “Rest well. I shall leave now.”
Emerald Grass took out the documents and started browsing after Huang Yu left, her eyes twinkling.
“Tens of thousands of undead Inhumans are gathered in the sanctuary. I will not have to worry about the number of test subjects. There will be no infections, and there will not be another plague. How perfect. The sanctuary is also free and safe. Maybe staying here for a while won’t be so bad. After all, I need time to digest the changes in the outside world.”
&nbs
p; …
Han Xiao leaned on the chair in the office and stared at the laptop on the table. It was the image of real-time surveillance of Emerald Grass’s room.
Emerald Grass had history and was not trustworthy, so Han Xiao had back up plans. He had placed a few hidden cameras in the walls of the room and monitored everything Emerald Grass did, including what Emerald Grass was doing then.
Han Xiao squinted and thought, Her actions were very different before. She was calm and cold when she boarded the plane, but she showed her side of being a woman just now. It might be to create an illusion of her feeling safe to clear my doubts.
He was doubtful for a reason. The Emerald Grass in his memories was a liberal who did not bow to any organization. She did things her own unique way and was unpredictable. Han Xiao was cautious because he knew how important Emerald Grass would be in version 2.0.
There were also other benefits to Emerald Grass joining in. The players could do missions for her in exchange for her guidance and advance their class into Pharmacist. With her joining in, it was another step forward for Han Xiao’s plan of making a ‘Players Main City’.
To create a main city for the players, NPCs with all kinds of functions were a necessity.
“Your Excellency, I have already arranged her…”
At this time, Huang Yu walked in to report the situation. He took a few steps forward and saw the image on the laptop screen. He stopped the sentence, and the look in his eyes became weird.
Seems like I discovered something extraordinary!
Is… is this what they call a peeper?
Could this be the boss’ unknown hobby?
Will I be killed‽
Huang Yu took a quick step backward and looked down at the floor, acting like he had not seen anything at all.
Han Xiao clearly knew that Huang Yu had misunderstood him; he shook his head but did not bother to explain.
Let it be a misunderstanding then, the Great Mechanic Han has never cared about what others think.
“Don’t tell anyone,” Han Xiao said.
Huang Yu thought that Han Xiao did not want anyone to know about his weird hobby, so he nodded rapidly.
…
Emerald Grass was always very efficient. She started work almost immediately.
The players did not know that he had a deal with Stardragon secretly, and the efficiency of the information flow between players and NPCs was very low. However, Han Xiao required Emerald Grass to wear a mask and hide her identity just in case. It was not the best time to show their identity, and Han Xiao wanted to be steady for as long as possible.
Due to the difference in information, the players were at a disadvantage when it came to their sensitivity toward pieces of intelligence. Without missions or a storyline introduction, they would have no idea what type of information the organizations needed, and they would also not know how the organizations operated. Most players were busy doing missions, making money, and getting equipment. Also, with their player mentality, they would not chat too much with the NPCs, which meant that there was an even smaller chance of their conversation mentioning other NPCs.
Since it was for safety reasons, Emerald Grass did not have any problems with it.
Emerald Grass created many kinds of drugs with a very high quantity. Han Xiao took the healing agents and steroids with the best quality and allowed Emerald Grass to sell the rest of the drugs with lower quality to the players, which showed the ‘multiple functionalities’ of the sanctuary to the players.
There was always a high demand for drugs on the market. They were usually expensive to limit the players from using drugs excessively to win battles.
Despite that, players still had a very high demand for these drugs. The appearance of Emerald Grass made a lot of players content.
The message spread very quickly—all the players knew that there was a new NPC in the sanctuary who sold drugs, so a lot of players came and bought from Emerald Grass.
Emerald Grass was very curious about the Inhumans. She realized that the players were the best test subjects, and they were all very easy to talk to. As long as she asked them for help, they would almost always agree. She also did not have to worry about the consequences of failure—they were indeed perfect test subjects. Emerald Grass was like a fish in water; she enjoyed staying there even more.
Sanctuary Three was a good place.
Han Xiao still had the drugs that he had robbed from Louis Research Institution, but he did not plan on selling them any time soon. They were all of extremely high quality, and they would have much better effects when the level of the players became higher. Then he could sell them for a good price.
Thinking about Louis Research Institution, Han Xiao realized a small problem—the institution should know that Black Phantom was the one that robbed them by now, but they had not done anything about it.
“Looks like they are afraid because of my name. They don’t dare take revenge, so they decided to hold their indignation in,” Han Xiao sneered.
Organizations that knew their place were the best—a lot of small troubles would be avoided, and he did not have to destroy them.
Chapter 231. Expedition of the Six Nations! |
Twenty days had passed since the start of Sanctuary Three’s construction.
The West City Area and North City Area of Graymetal Ruins had been modified into temporary sanctuary areas with the completed basic layout, including walls, power plants, residential areas, electricity network, and all the basic facilities.
Han Xiao’s [Sanctuary Three] main storyline mission that had thirteen construction requirements and a three month target now only had three uncompleted.
There were still ten days until one month—he would easily complete it within the period.
In that case, the mission would be completed sixty days in advance. According to the multiplier, the reward would be multiplied six times!
There was no such thing as too much experience for Han Xiao; he would never let such an opportunity slip through his fingers.
What would be completed within a month was only the basic layout. The overall requirement of the main storyline mission [Sanctuary Three] was to build a completed sanctuary three, so there was still a long way to go.
The good thing was, once the progress followed the right path, he did not have to care too much about the construction anymore. However, he had never actually cared anyway.
With Huang Yu’s help, it was easy for Han Xiao.
For the sake of more credit, Huang Yu was extremely diligent to showcase his usefulness so that by the time reward were distributed according to the amount of contributions one had made, he would receive a lot of credit.
The assistant whom Bennett had sent was indeed quite capable. At least, Han Xiao had been satisfied with Huang Yu’s efficiency till now; he took care of everything very well.
The only bad thing about it was that Huang Yu was a man, not pleasing to the eye at all.
As the saying goes, when there’s something to do, the secretary will do it; when there’s nothing to do, do the secretary.
Han Xiao had only heard of that saying. Unfortunately, he had never been part of it. He still remembered the owner of the small store below his house. The single old man that kept telling him how many CEOs he knew and how sexy their secretaries were. For the sake of the five percent off that Han Xiao received, he did not expose those lies.
The single old owner had dreamt of the luxurious lifestyle full of women, and in his eyes, even a fart from a beautiful lady had a flower-like fragrance. Every time he talked to Han Xiao about this topic, Han Xiao would always show his contempt and tell the owner that this was not a noble lifestyle one should wish for—it would be better for the owner to refill his stocks and stop buying fake instant noodles. Every time that Han Xiao ate the instant noodles bought from him, there were no seasoning packages, and he had to chew them dry!
Anyway, other than the assistant not being pleasant to the eyes, everyt
hing else in the sanctuary was going well.
According to the discussion on the forums, there were currently 60,000 players working in Sanctuary Three; it was livelier than a street market.
There were about 130,000 to 150,000 players in the entire Southern Continent, so almost half had gathered in Sanctuary Three. Its popularity was not hard to imagine.
There were a lot of players but only a little more than 2,000 wanderer residents. With the harsh environment of Karst, there were not many wanderers.
To achieve the ‘Players’ Main City’ plan. there had to be enough number of NPCs to provide functionalities to the city. The [Sanctuary] main storyline missions could only attract the players for so long, and as soon as the sanctuary was completed, the players would all be gone if there was nothing to attract them to stay.
All good things must come to an end.
Han Xiao wanted the players to be attracted to the sanctuary.
Therefore, he had to largely increase the residents of the sanctuary, and with more important people like Emerald Grass to provide unique functions, the sanctuary would provide more uses to the players.
The most direct way to increase the population was to migrate people from other large colonies. Han Xiao thought of Lu Cheng, Alumera, and such right away, he put this all into consideration.
…
Clank!
Metal finger blades and a retractable knife clashed and pushed against each other. The weapon vibrated and made squeaking sounds.
In the small empty square, Frenzied Sword, who had metal claws on his arms, was fighting with Hao Tian, who waved the retractable knife. Bun-hit-dog watched the two pro players spar, but he did not record due to privacy reasons.
Further away, Han Xiao leaned against the recliner chair casually and observed their fight.
Both Frenzied Sword and Hao Tian were pro players, and to hone their skills, they instantly agreed to spar with each other. After sparring once, it was like a fire that could not be put out. They sparred dozens of times a day. The professional league was drawing close, and the pro players had to prepare for it.
