Swallowed Star

by Alexander Buchanez

  "May I ask when you plan on coming?" asked Wang Hou.

  "I'll go to the main sector of Kyoto headquarter city these two days. I'll contact you at that time" said Luo Feng.

  "Alright, alright. I still don't know your name"

  "My last name is Wei" answered Luo Feng.

  "Oh, Mr. Wei, then I'll wait for your grand arrival" Wang Hou's voice had a bit of passion in it.

  Luo Feng smiled as he hung up. He has never attempted these kinds of things before, but it seems like..... it's really easy. Just one phone call and everything's organized.

  "First, I should open an account in a Swiss international bank" Luo Feng used his new phone in his hand to swiftly enter the web page of a Swiss international bank and quickly applied for a 'nameless account'. The password was simple, yet safe with its triple part 12 character code comprised of Chinese characters, alphabetical letters, and numbers.

  "Done, now I just have to wait to sell my stuff"

  That night, under the light of the first floor's living room, Luo Feng sat around a table with his family and ate dinner.

  "Dad, mom, I'm going out tomorrow to deal with some business" laughed Luo Feng, "I'll probably be able to return the day after tomorrow"

  "Oh, where're you going?" Luo Hong Guo looked at his son with a look of astonishment.

  Luo Feng laughed: "To meet a fighter friend"

  "Hong Guo, don't bother asking. Maybe Feng is going to meet his girl friend" snickered mother Gong Xin Lan on the side. Luo Feng was dumbfounded because of this. Gong Xin Lan continued, "However, son, truth be told, you're quite old now. After next year you'll be 20. You should start getting into a relationship. A relationship needs at least one or two years before marriage. By then, it won't be early"

  Brother Luo Hua also laughed on his wheelchair: "Yea, bro, even I'm faster than you. You better step up your game"

  "You little kid" Luo Feng shook his head as he laughed, "Oh yea, how're you doing with your girlfriend Nan?"

  "What else, of course the same as usual I guess" Luo Hua was extremely happy.

  ���

  The morning of the next day. After eating breakfast with his family. Luo Feng carried his gigantic backpack as he left his home. He didn't ride on the Dojo of Limits' private car, but took a cab to the train station.

  Beside the train station was a 'Kungfu' fast food restaurant.

  Fast food restaurants like Kungfu, KFC, McDonalds, etc. always have an astonishing amount of people entering and leaving them. Luo Feng entered this 'Kungfu' fast food restaurant, randomly ate some stuff, and then entered one of the rooms in the restroom. After locking the door, Luo Feng swiftly drew some basic makeup.

  He wore the glasses, pasted on the moustache, slightly darkened his skin color, wore a hat, and made his shoes taller.

  Suddenly, Luo Feng seemed like a completely different person.

  In this kind of fast food restaurant, hundreds of people are inside at any time. With people passing and going every single moment, who would notice Luo Feng? After Luo Feng finished his basic makeup, he left the fast food restaurant and rode the fastest train leaving Yang Zhou city.

  As of now, it's quite costly to protect the trains, so regular people rarely leave the headquarter city. Fighters don't have to pay anything..... as long as they show their fighter ID card, they don't even need to purchase a train ticket to board the train. They can also get off whenever they want.

  This is one of the privileges of a fighter.

  ���

  The same day, around 6 PM.

  "Dear guests, the train is about to enter the station. Guests who are getting off at Kyoto headquarter city, please get off the train from the front door with all your belongings" with the broadcast inside the train, Luo Feng carried his bag as he got off the train.

  "Kyoto headquarter city!"

  Luo Feng looked around, "The largest, most populous city in China that's also its political center?"

  "However, compared to Jiang-Nan headquarter city, it's not much bigger. It's just that the humidity here is way lower, so it's a bit colder" Luo Feng smiled as he left the train station and called a cab. He headed straight towards an entertainment area, 'Will Palace', that's quite famous in Kyoto city. It's also considerably high class.

  In front of the main gate to the area stood uncountable beauties wearing all sorts of clothes, which made it seem like one was entering the country of women.

  "Mister....." a man wearing a suit slightly smiled.

  "Give me a personal, quiet room. I don't want anyone to bother me" Luo Feng flashed his fighter ID, which made the receiving manager much more polite: "Understood, please follow me"

  Will Palace, room G #3.

  "Mister, all the wine is inside here" said the manager respectfully, "May I ask if you need anything else?"

  "No need, and without my permission, I don't want anyone to come in here" ordered Luo Feng.

  "Understood, there's a service list and phone over there. If you have any sort of request, feel free to order us" said the manager as he smiled and left. Luo Feng easily locked the door and, at the same time, scanned the entire room with his spiritual force. There was no sort of recording device in the room. The room also had a beautiful design with an extremely delicate flooring made out of monster fur on the ground.

  Luo Feng looked at the screen on the wall, which displayed a list of services.

  "Damn, they sure can enjoy themselves" Luo Feng shook his head as he laughed and dialed that Wang Hou's number.

  "Hello, Mr. Wei" Wang Hou passionately yelled.

  "Wang Hou, I'm in Will Palace's 'Chinese Lobby' G #3 room in the main sector of Kyoto headquarter city" responded Luo Feng.

  "Alright, understood, I'll be there within an hour" a hint of excitement could be heard in Wang Hou's voice.

  After Luo Feng hung up, he laid on the sofa and made himself some tea with a tea bag taken from the cabinet.

  "Hm?" Luo Feng felt his phone in his pocket vibrating.

  "Who's calling me?" the phone in his pocket is Luo Feng's old phone, and not his new one.

  Luo Feng picked up his phone and looked: a call from home.

  "Hello" Luo Feng picked up his phone.

  "Feng, your brother, your brother had an accident" mother Gong Xin Lan was sobbing as her voice carried over.

  Luo Feng was startled as he ferociously stood up.

  Smash! The dropped tea cup shattered as the tea inside spilled out.

  Chapter 98: Brother Luo Hua

  "Luo, don't, don't panic" mother Gong Xin Lan sobbed as she spoke, "Your brother almost drowned, but he's been saved and is fine now"

  "Drowned? Mom, what's going on?" Luo Feng just couldn't understand: how could something happen to his brother in the headquarter city? Isn't the nanny always with him?

  "Feng, this is what happened: This afternoon, the nanny brought your brother Hua to the nearby park to play. You know that your brother frequently goes to the park..... this time, he met his girlfriend's parents in the park. That Nan's parents invited your brother for a chat on the side"

  Luo Feng frowned. They never told his girlfriend's parents about Luo Hua and his girlfriend's situation.

  And this time, his girlfriend's parents are clearly talking to his brother Luo Hua for a reason.

  "At that time, your brother asked the nanny to bring him there and talked to Nan's parents for a whole hour. After that, Nan's parents left"

  Luo Feng's mom's voice was a bit hoarse in the phone, probably due to crying too much, "Afterwards, your brother said he wanted to stroll around the park alone and told the nanny to wait for him at the gate to the park"

  "The nanny believed that there wasn't any danger in the park, since it was all scenery, and didn't think any further. She then proceeded to wait for your brother at the gate to the park"

  "However, who would've thought that your brother would actually push his wheelchair into the beautiful lake, which froze a long time ago. There was only one hole, wh
ich was created by some playing children. And your brother went right into the lake through that hole"

  Luo Feng's face turned pale as he listened. Even though he knew that his brother was eventually saved, but falling into a frozen lake as a handicapped person showed that he didn't want anything more to do with this world.

  Virtually suicide.

  "Thankfully, one of the fighters in our sector, a young man named 'Qiu Yi', directly jumped into the lake, broke through the ice, and swam below to search for your brother. He finally found your brother and saved him! At that time, your brother wasn't breathing anymore, but thankfully, Qiu Yi knew some CPR and saved him. Afterwards, the doctors in our sector said that if they were just a little bit late, he would've passed away for sure"

  "I wonder what kind of cruel words Nan's parents said that pushed my son to the brink of death. Don't they have a child too?" His mother couldn't hold it in at all and started sobbing again.

  Luo Feng just clenched his fists.

  Ever since his brother became handicapped, he was usually alone at home. He attended classes through the internet at home too! Being alone for long periods of time caused him to be quite introverted. The only people he opened his mind to were his family.

  Mentally, his brother was extremely weak.

  "That Nan's parents probably only cared about their daughter and said all sorts of harsh words to make my brother leave their daughter. Of course they wouldn't care how my brother would feel"

  People are all the same.

  In Luo Feng's heart, his parents and brother are the most important

  And in Nan's parents' hearts, their daughter is, of course, the most important!

  "Mom, how's he now?" Luo Feng continued to ask.

  "The doctor in the sector said that there isn't any problem now. However, your brother is emotionally unstable, so your dad and I are taking turns to take care of him, in case he does something foolish again" mother Gong Xin Lan shook her head as she said, "Feng, you should come back earlier. Hua opens more of himself to you and isn't willing to tell us many things"

  Luo Feng and Luo Hua are close in age, so Luo Hua was naturally willing to open up more to Luo Feng.

  "Okay, I'll be able to return home tomorrow morning" nodded Luo Feng.

  After he sells the dragon egg, battle uniform, and blade, he'll ride the train through the night and rush back.

  After hanging up, Luo Feng sat on the couch; he was quite depressed. His brother actually had a decent life all these years. After moving into Ming-Yue sector and becoming familiar with that Nan, his brother became even happier.

  But who would've known...... that this first love made his brother extremely happy, and also drove him to death.

  "This experience, compared to a regular person, has an even larger impact on my brother"

  "That Nan's parents are probably against their relationship just because my brother is handicapped"

  Luo Feng took in a deep breath, "Soon. If I'm lucky this time, I might be able to earn that 30 billion needed for that 'Elixir of Life'!" 30 billion! Of course, that dragon egg isn't worth that much. The main things are still the battle uniform and the blade.

  "I hope they're SS grade. If they are, then I'll be rich"

  Luo Feng himself didn't have a way to grade them, for he would need some professional detectors to do so. Sadly, Luo Feng didn't have these detectors, and he didn't want the HR alliance or the people from the Dojo of Limits to examine these things.

  Time passed slowly.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! The sounds of the door knocks carried over. Luo Feng walked over and opened the door.

  "I'm here" smiled Wang Hou.

  "Please enter"

  Luo Feng let him in and then directly closed the door.

  The two of them sat on the couch.

  "I heard that Mr. Wei has some valuable things?" Wang Hou's smile was bright, and his eyes looked like they just found some prey.

  Luo Feng slightly smiled as he directly opened the huge backpack he brought with him. The green dragon egg took up the most space in the bag, and Luo Feng carried it over and put it on the couch as he smiled towards Wang Hou: "Wang Hou, this is a dragon egg. I'm sure you can guess what kind of dragon egg it is"

  "Dragon egg? A dragon egg worth over 10 billion? Could it be the East China Sea's green dragon's dragon egg?" Wang Hou was flabbergasted.

  Luo Feng froze.

  The East China Sea's green dragon? That's an emperor level monster, way stronger than a horde leader.

  After all these years, only one green dragon's egg showed itself on this world. According to the Home of Limits, it sold for an astronomical price.

  "What's with this guy's guess? After doing business for so long, I thought he would be able to recognize it straight away"

  Luo Feng shook his head and said nothing.

  What Luo Feng didn't know was that dragon eggs are extremely rare. Wang Hou himself has only personally seen two of them. Of course he wouldn't know what kind of dragon egg this was.

  "No, the green dragon's egg is larger than this" said Wang Hou.

  "I never said it was the green dragon's egg, hurry and examine it" Luo Feng couldn't help but to say.

  He said that his things were worth over 10 billion, not just one dragon egg.

  "This is the first dragon egg I have received, hehe" Wang Hou's eyes flashed.

  "A dragon egg" Wang Hou swiftly opened his bag, which contained three locked safes. He took out one, and took out a pair of detectors from it afterwards. As if they were spiders, one of the detector's antenna touched against the surface of the dragon egg. Suddenly, the display of the detector swiftly showed a large amount of numbers.

  Wang Hou smiled as he looked at the numbers, "Mr. Wei, you sure are powerful. You even got a dragon egg! In today's world, none of the monsters worthy of the title of 'Dragon' are easy to deal with"

  "The test is complete?" Luo Feng looked towards the display.

  "Almost" Wang Hou smiled and was totally relaxed.

  "Oh" Wang Hou's eyes flashed and then looked at the screen. He then smiled towards Luo Feng, "According to the database, this is a steel armored dragon's egg! A steel armored dragon is above average out of all the monsters with the title of 'Dragon'. I'll be straightforward and go by the market price for this dragon egg: 5 billion Chinese dollars!"

  Of course, before coming, Luo Feng already got all the prices straight. 5 billion is indeed quite a generous price: even if you go to the HR alliance, you probably won't be able to get such a price.

  "Alright, straightforward enough" Luo Feng smiled, "This price is fine"

  "There are tons of people willing to speak up for how I do things" Wang Hou smiled, "Business always pays attention to the details. If I scam you, you'll probably trash talk me on the discussion boards..... if my credibility lowers, then I won't be able to do any business. Soһһ once anyone does business with me, they'll know that Wang Hou is fair"

  Luo Feng slightly smiled in reply.

  "Mr. Wei" Wang Hou couldn't help but to say, "You probably still have more things?"

  "I do" Luo Feng nodded as he took out a blade still in its sheath from his bag.

  "Oh?" Wang Hou's eyes flashed as he looked at the blade and looked at Luo Feng with a face of astonishment, "This is a really nice blade. Even this sheath is extremely expensive. May I have a look?"

  "Please do" Luo Feng started to get a bit expectant: I wonder what grade this blade is, at least S grade for sure.

  "CHI"

  After unsheathing the blade, Wang Hou examined it carefully and couldn't help but to nod, "Great blade, great blade, this is a really great blade. I'm 100% sure that a wargod used this blade. If I'm seeing this correctly, this should be a SS grade blade. This blade is indeed worth quite a lot"

  Luo Feng was extremely happy inside: this blade was actually SS grade!

  "We'll need to see how damaged this blade is before we determine on the price" smiled Wang Hou, "Of course, a blade starts off with
no damage, but slowly gets damaged as it battles against monsters. The blade itself suffers damages unseen to the eye and, as time goes on, the damages pile up. It'll continue like this until one day, the blade itself breaks"

  Luo Feng nodded...... the description for an A rank weapon is that it can virtually fight against all A rank monsters without suffering any damage.

  Knowing this, weapons can still break.

  "The less damaged it is, the more it's worth. Naturally, the more damaged it is, the less it's worth"

  "Let me check" Wang Hou immediately opened another safe and took out another pair of detectors to examine the blade. A dreamy light shot out from the detector and enveloped this blade.

  The detector's display immediately showed large amounts of information in the form of numbers. Soon enough, the detector calculated the results.

  "0% damaged" Wang Hou was extremely surprised.

  Chapter 99: The Battle Uniform’s Price

  Luo Feng couldn't help but to let out a smile. The fact that the blade is 0% damaged means that it'll definitely sell for a good price.

  "This weapon was probably used to battle against a monster lower than the SS grade" smiled Wang Hou as he said.

  If an SS grade weapon is used to battle against an SS grade emperor level monster, miniscule damages will start to pile up on the blade. As long as the damages continue to pile up over time, it might break.

  However, if an SS grade blade is used to battle against horde leader and commander level monsters, then it'll take absolutely no damage at all.

  "Wang Hou, what price can you offer for this blade?" continued Luo Feng.

  "If you try to purchase a blade like this, it'll cost 30 billion, half price 15 billion. If you purchase it in the Palace of Wargods, the lowest price will be 10 billion" smiled Wang Hou, "I'm sure that you know all of this already"

  Luo Feng said nothing.

  Know this?

  He didn't know much about the legendary 'Palace of Wargods'. He didn't think that the best deal for a weapon in the palace of wargods would be even cheaper than the Dojo of Limits' half price.

  "'100 billion' is the cheapest price possible in the Palace of Wargods, and the cost to create this blade is around 9 billion. If I purchase this blade, then I'll have to pay tons of fees before I can sell it again! So the highest price I can give you is 8 billion: any higher, and I won't gain any profit at all" explained Wang Hou.