The apocalypse, the rural area east of Su City.
The one hundred story skyscraper stood desolately among the ruins.
Not far away, a sign engraved with <East Asia Electronics>, dangling on the side of the road, was replaced with the <Dark Red Chamber of Commerce> written in red paint. It hung in the middle of the building. The original owner of the building had the “foresight” to use a large amount of expensive and durable material in the construction of the building. And the building did, in fact, manage to withstand the nuclear explosion five kilometers away twenty years ago.
Unfortunately, the radiation still burned him into dust. When the nuclear blast arrived, he was on the elevator, coming down from the top floor office, escaping to the basement. However, regrettably, he died on the 27th floor.
The building exchanged hands multiple times before being occupied by the Dark Red Chamber of Commerce as their base. The hundred story height was a natural observation tower easily capable of scouting tens of kilometers away.
On the roof of the building, Lin Chaoen sat on the edge with his feet hanging in the air without any fear of heights. His eyes narrowed as he looked to Wanghai’s direction.
He was unafraid of heights because it was an emotion that belonged only to creatures.
Suddenly, he smiled.
“Wanghai’s sky has changed.”
“Is this something predictable?” Two meters behind him, a man in a suit with a distant expression stood up straight with his hands behind his back. He was gazing in Wanghai’s direction, but in the distance, only the skyline of Wanghai was barely visible. Other than a few faint columns of smoke rising, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Cao Guangkai, the current president of Dark Red.
During the past winter, his father Cao Jinsong launched a coup in the Sixth Street and died after the failed attempt. After receiving the information, he decisively took the soldiers loyal to him and executed his cousin who planned to split Dark Red with him; it was his father’s nephew, Cao Wei. Finally, he controlled all of the assets of Dark Red and prevented the massive empire from falling apart.
It was after that he met Lin Chaoen and initiated a partnership with him.
A few months ago, he listened to Lin Chaoen’s advice and withdrew Dark Red’s merchant fleet from doing business in Wanghai and sold the assets under an anonymous name. He was skeptical of what Lin Chaoen said in the beginning, but the robot’s words became true.
A mutants flood indeed erupted in Wanghai.
“Of course, everything in this world has causations.” Lin Chaoen sighed as he said leisurely, “For example, the economic crisis in 2150 meant the war would be inevitable. And that economic crisis was because of…”
Cao Guangkai burst out laughing. “I’m not interested in listening to you talk about our history, I’m a businessman, I only care about now and-”
“Shhhh!” Lin Chaoen suddenly interrupted him and put his finger in front of his lips.
Then, he put his hand beside his ear and closed his eyes; it looked like he was listening to something.
“Listen, they are talking again.” Lin Chaoen leaned forward with a smile, “The poor bugs.”
Cao Guangkai, standing on the side, twitched.
He suddenly had the urge to kick the fool down.
But thinking that there was no point in being angry at a robot, he restrained himself from this dangerous thought.
“Pretending to be supernatural.”
Cao Guangkai cursed out in a low voice and headed for the elevator.
“Are you not curious about what I heard?” Lin Chaoen turned his head and said sluggishly.
“I’m only curious what kind of mental state your designer had to bring you into this world.” Cao Guangkai scoffed while taking a hidden shot at him.
“Perhaps… Mhmm, similar to father’s mental state?” He didn’t seem to understand the mockery in his words and shrugged. “Speaking of which, I have one thing I’m curious about. Can you answer it for me?”
“Oh? Is there something you don’t know?”
“Don’t you want to seek revenge on that person? He killed your father.” Lin Chaoen smiled.
He was referring to Jiang Chen.
Because of Fishbone’s sudden intervention, the balance in favor of them smashed to the ground, and all the stakes were collected by that person. The mantis preying on the cicada while the bird waited to strike at the final moment.
“There is no family in business. He failed his investment in Wanghai and lost all his stakes, that’s all,” Cao Guangkai said emotionlessly.
“You have an open mind.” Lin Chaoen laughed mischievously, turned his head, and continued to gaze into the sky in the distance.
“Although the Dark Red originated from the Sixth Street, the base is in Su City with business in Hang City and the even further Luzhou. I never agreed with father’s strategy of intervening with the local situation. Only when we abide by the identity of a merchant can we generate more profit.”
“Is that so?” Lin Chaoen said slowly.
Just like Cao Guangkai was disinterested in what he said, he was not interested in the business he was talking about. In his eyes, the human’s stance toward crystals was like monkeys playing with stones.
They didn’t understand what kind of powerful weapons he possessed.
“Yes.” Cao Guangkai nodded.
Without responding, Lin Chaoen silently watched Wanghai in the distance. He seemed to want to say something interesting as a smile emerged from his lips.
Cao Guangkai stood silently behind him.
Just then, his communication device started to buzz.
He pressed the button on his collar and picked up the phone.
“Hello? … Mhmm, I see.”
He quickly hung up the phone and looked at Lin Chaoen on the edge of the building.
“The thing you need is ready.”
“Oh? That’s great.” The smile on Lin Chaoen’s face grew bigger. He pressed his hands on the floor and propelled himself up.
The move was nothing by itself, but to do it at the edge of a hundred story building…
Cao Guangkai thought he had a calm state of mind, but just by watching his action, he felt tense.
“The recipe to the drug.” Just as Lin Chaoen passed by him, he opened his mouth.
“Oh, that.” Lin Chaoen seemed to have remembered something as he took out a USB from his pocket with sluggishness. “Here you go, it’s all inside.”
It was the recipe of Happy Times.
It was the recipe of the hallucinating drug.
Cao Guangkai held his breath while he took over the USB.
He felt his fingers were trembling.
He was not holding a USB, but a key to a crystal treasure.
Only one tablet was enough to live in the happy times before the war.
Lin Chaoen enjoyed the expression on his face for two seconds before he curled his lips into a smile that held deep meaning.
The camera zoomed out.
In the empty ground north of the Dark Red building stood a six-story-tall rocket.