Chapter 348 - 348 228 A New Storm

Words : 1666 Updated : Oct 15th, 2025

348: Chapter 228: A New Storm 348: Chapter 228: A New Storm “….No, I won’t sign it!” Mei Yuge was called over abruptly and presented with a taboo contract, leaving her somewhat dumbfounded. After understanding a bit more, the girl was determined not to sign it, staunch in her refusal. “If you don’t want to sign, then forget it.” Lu Ping’an, though confused about her persistent aversion towards him, did not want to force her into anything. The five people around them, some pretended to pity her, some tried to persuade her further, but none were as tenacious as before… perhaps, they were pleased to see Mei Yuge’s giving up. After all, in their view, choosing three from six and choosing three from five are two different levels of difficulty. Especially since the opportunity was brought by Mei Yuge, there was a chance that she would be favored in this situation. Some even felt a sense of secret glee, thinking that they were ridding themselves of a major competitor. They weren’t really sisters, and Lu Ping’an’s “limited” + “quota” could create rifts even among real friends and sisters. “Let’s make a slight amendment, ensure two spots out of the five.” Lu Ping’an thought for a bit and made another proposition. He viewed Mei Yuge favorably primarily because of her talent abilities. That day, he gave her an “investment,” which naturally gave him part of her memories from that day, including her talent ability…it wasn’t particularly powerful, but Lu Ping’an thought it could be a useful tool. Investing in and cultivating it shouldn’t result in a loss. The girl’s previous assumptions were not unreasonable; an originally presumed spot was set for Mei Yuge. Unless the other girls exhibited astounding talents or obtained powerful abilities, Mei Yuge was likely to secure one of the early investment spots. As for what comes later? Of course, Lu Ping’an would cross the river and dismantle the bridge. With his vast resources, training a first-tier required two months? He just viewed it as investing resources evenly and waiting for sprouts to grow. Whoever does it better (gives him more dividends) could get more spots, but as long as everyone gets a turn, barring some who fall behind, everyone should be able to reach the first-tier. However, Lu Ping’an’s current move of reducing the quota instantly changed the faces of everyone around. The girls’ faces turned a bit, with some forcing a smile that looked awful. “Brother Lu… President Lu, could you wait outside for a while? We need to discuss.” The “eldest sister,” Ximeier’s voice sounded like it was squeezed out from her teeth. “Of course.” Lu Ping’an left in a gentlemanly manner, but the following moment wasn’t so friendly for one girl. Five minutes later, when Lu Ping’an came in, he saw a pitiful girl with a long face, shouting, “I’ll sign, I’ll sign everything.” After a while, Lu Ping’an looked at the stack of contracts in his hand, nodding in satisfaction. The contract was straightforward, without any tricks. Lu Ping’an arranged the signees’ priority learning objectives for this period (top priority), and guaranteed that six of them would advance to first-tier professionals within six months. As for the confidentiality clause, it was just a standard term. Since the contract was signed, it was time to get down to business. “Any of you want to be long-range soldiers?… Or, you can divide it, be a long spear, long ax, war-hammer, war-halberd, anything is fine.” Lu Ping’an threw a bag of basic spear techniques, which were standard training materials and basically valueless. However, unlike ordinary materials, all of these were long-range weapons he needed. Then, he gave the rather familiar Ximeier, Tian Xi, and Mei Yuge an “investment” BUFF. “My ability can significantly speed up your growth, so get practicing.” Said and done, Lu Ping’an was ready to go. “…Uh? What about our…” Seeing Lu Ping’an was about to leave, one of the girls couldn’t help but speak up. She really prioritized Mei Yuge, even though she rejected it so much. “My abilities have a quota limit, only three people at a time, you take turns. I can get your progress feedback from the ability, and focuses on those who make quick progress.” “So, because the ability quota is only for three people, the contract is also for three, right? Those who lag behind won’t have the opportunity to gain the ability?” Immediately, the gazes of several girls sharpened. “No, these quotas are extremely precious. Later on when I have more personnel on my side, I might only offer quotas to one or two people or maybe none. But don’t worry, achieving three first-tier level is still enough. You all will know as soon as you try it out. My BUFF is very powerful, and you won’t be able to afford it through regular means,” The words from Lu Ping’an were even crueler than they expected. The investment quotas were so precious. Now, Lu Ping’an was just here to accumulate martial arts experience. Later, unless an SSR appeared among them, the tool men, it was certain that there would be none. He dusted off his butt and left, leaving behind a mess, and a destined-to-doom friendship of the “Plastic Sisters”… How could one become friends with a competing colleague struggling for promotion? Tian Xi and Ximeier silently stood up and looked for what they needed among the pile of books. They were not fools, on the contrary, they were smart people as they could get into Ancient City University. They already obtained Lu Ping’an’s real goal from the “Sound of Rules”. “Turns out, he wanted to share the practical experience of long weapons.” Lu Ping’an did not hide it, but neither of the two girls had any plans to openly discuss it with their comrades. He wants a “dividend”, then give it to him…Being ahead by one day is already being ahead. As long as he really can help her achieve the “miracle”, what’s half a year’s time? She would have wasted at least a year and a half originally. Only Mei Yuge kept looking over the contract, trying to find the “devil’s hidden clause” from the simple words. —— —– Lu Ping’an left in a hurry, of course, because he had serious business to attend to. “There is some follow-up news about the Sleeping Cherry.” This was the message Xia Qin sent him. The White Sleeping Cherry, or the sakura graft variety of the Xis White Flower, was the “magic-plant weapon” used by the Mother Goddess cult during that attack. Originally, Lu Ping’an had checked, only to find the clue “one of its sources is suspected to be from the far eastern island”, but in the end, he didn’t see the expected high-level gardener. Was there not, or was it hidden? From Fang Wen, Lu Ping’an learned that these “White Sleeping Cherries” were brought out by Long Qianlan. But such things are definitely taken care of by gardeners. There was indeed a gardener present in the previous case, but it is just a lowly third-tier “shrimp”, who can at most take care of this stuff, and development is impossible. There must be a professional person behind the planting and transportation of so many White Sleeping Cherries, and the tier is not low, most likely silver-tier. He could be a part of the Mother Goddess cult, or he could be just doing his job for the money. After the issue of the illegal attack, disposing the “participants” is not the end of it, tracing the source of their weapons by official institutions is inevitable. “The Bureau of Anomaly Management, they are beginning to settle accounts after the event.” “Not only that, this is to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, to wield a heavy stick with this opportunity.” Tracing Fang Wen’s “TV tower” material sourcing channel revealed a series of black-market transport industry, as well as a series of corrupt businesses. Tracking the birth and modification place of the “New Humans” implicated a heap of human trafficking and smuggling networks. And the equipment, consumables, and weapons they used, all involved a large and stable black-market arms industry. This has always existed and has always been a security risk, but it’s okay if it didn’t explode, once it did, it naturally needed to be dealt with and suppressed. And thinking from a macro perspective, it was necessary to control some unstable factors. “In the following period, the number of new professionals in the city will surge, the birth of new secret realms will attract a batch of outsiders, plus this event, which weakened the authority of the officials…. ‘We need to strike heavily, let those wild dogs know who is the master of the Ancient city. This is the original words of the deputy director during the meeting.” Lu Ping’an, who is internally evaluated in Team 3 as “Xia Qin’s external thinking circuit” and the “real deputy captain”, received a piece of information from the management bureau’s team leader meeting. “Good, they are going to act against the black market and arms dealers, and they will definitely hit hard.” Is this good news? Xia Qin only saw another crazy overtime season coming. “Of course it’s good news. When illegal weapons are banned, the price of legal weapons will naturally rise, and our Zion District’s ‘Volcanic Craftsman’s Secret Realm’ will usher in a golden era of development.” Upon hearing this, Xia Qin also relaxed a bit, as the first batch of dividends from that Red Dwarf secret realm has helped the Special Service Team start re-equipping. But Lu Ping’an didn’t finish his sentence. “It might be because the officials now have a stable arms supply channel, they started to strike against the illegal ones. Once again, the source of this ‘Crackdown’ is us. This makes me terrified to think about it.”

Chapter 348 - 348 228 A New Storm

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