016. The Odd Little try

  Li Aozi's video went viral globally in a rather amusing way. Many people, at first, saw the yellow-and-bck shared links sent by friends, intending to criticize them with righteous indignation, but upon clig, they found themselves staring at Li Aozi's handsome face.

  —Well, maybe it's not so bad after all.

  Although Frost-Pted kept a tight guard, fag this kind of trick, where people were lured into watg Li Aozi's speech disguised as a short film, exposing the truth about Frost-Pted and Abyss Humanitarian's experiments, there was simply no way to prevent it.

  In the end, Li Aozi found his video gradually being popur in an abstract manner, with various izens using his link to prank others, even trending toward being a meme or a trope.

  "Doesn't matter, I will bee famous."

  Li Aozi focused on the practical results; sihe goal was achieved, whether he became a meme in Azure Star or not didn't matter. After all, he had already killed off most of Abyss Humanitarian's people, and at this point, the Frost-Pted authorities had no choice but to block the news and tinue hunting him down, with a flood of bounty hunters heading tle Town to take him down.

  Did the lord care? Not at all.

  Li Aozi didn't care either; after all, with a flick of his finger, Lord Aud would have a rge group of new miners. The lord not only didn't mind but would have to thank him.

  The Frost-Pted people wouldn't get angry over something like this; on the trary, Tianhuan, which had always coveted Frost-Pted's territory, was already itg to move at such a good opportunity.

  Just two days ter, a low-key voy arrived in Triaown, and Lord Aud received them. After a brief discussion, he sent a message to Li Aozi:

  "The Tianhuan people have arrived."

  Li Aozi put aside his work at the biochemical pool and ged into his Trash Old outfit, the persona he showed to the outside world, further solidifying this impression.

  Even for Tianhuan, dealing with the three major external anizations required careful sideration.

  Passing through the hall, Li Aozi arrived at the Aud family's reception room, where two cold-faced guards with swords stood at the door. Tianhuan's bloodline was highly mixed, and due to the rge influx ees from the outer world, their appearand skin ade it impossible to distinguish them from people of the outer world.

  The lord's guards, holding rifles, stared disapprovingly at the Tianhuan people in front of them. Notig Li Aozi's arrival, they straightened up and saluted him:

  "Mr. Li Aozi, you're here."

  "Yes, Lord Aud called for me." Li Aozi nodded, and the guards immediately opehe door for him to enter.

  Sitting on the sofa in the reception room were two men in suits, oh a stern fad a promi scar, clearly someone who had crawled through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The other had a friendly appearance, with a stantly upturned mouth that made him seem kind.

  Upon seeing Li Aozi arrive, Lord Aud immediately jumped out of his chair, happily approached, and gave him a hug:

  "Ah, Aozi, I'm really sorry to bother you at a time like this."

  "No problem."

  Li Aozi noticed that Lord Aud deliberately called him 'Aozi' and gave him a big hug, even patting him on the back. Such affeate behavior was clearly meant to show off to outsiders.

  【He's probably trying to show that Triaown and I have a close retionship, aiming for strategiding? No, more likely it's to maintain appearances in front of Tianhuan.】

  Li Aozi didn't mind; he g the visitors and asked:

  "And these two are…"

  "Let me introduce you."

  Aud poio the civil servant beside him:

  "This gentleman is remarkable, the deputy director of the SCIA intelligence department of Tianhuan, Director Liu Deming. The samurai beside him is Jin Xiuming, a retainer of the Aoba family."

  Liu Deming smiled warmly, stood up, walked over to Li Aozi, aended his hand:

  "The lord praises me too much; I am merely an ordinary administrative officer. Please take care of me."

  The samurai beside him nodded slightly, still with arms crossed. Li Aozi couldn't be bothered to eianhuan's samurai css was more arrogant than the officials; they only obeyed their own family groups and had a habit of not saluting outsiders.

  An intelligence officer apanied by a samurai—this was no small setup. Li Aozi realized he had uimated Tianhuan's determination to deal with Frost-Pted.

  Although both were part of the Four Nations, Tianhuan and Frost-Pted were a bit too close, even if separated by over 3,000 kilometers of old-era seabed. However, the existence le Town revealed the hidden value of this seabed.

  The forward cities of both tries tio dig forward, all for resources. Given this, it was only a matter of time before the two tries cshed. Tianhuan and Frost-Pted almost stantly sndered each other on GTB over the forward city routes, her looking aer thaher.

  Lord Aud le Town was certainly worried about a Tianhuan invasion, but Tianhuan was also a key importer and exporter fle Town. For the data in Li Aozi's possession that could threaten Frost-Pted, the two Tianhuan representatives offered an irresistible tax exemption deal.

  Over the years, the fri between Tianhuan and Frost-Pted had never ceased. Lord Aud foresaw that war was iable, and if Tianhuan attacked Frost-Pted, Triaown would bee a crucial hub, likely to be taken over directly.

  Therefore, Aud tightly g to Li Aozi, hoping to leverage Li Aozi's identity and the information he held to gain prote.

  This little scheme was no big deal, and Li Aozi was happy to maintain Triaown's rality. After all, this was his future base, and stayiral wouldn't provoke Tianhuan or Frost-Pted, allowing his busio tinue flowiweewo tries.

  "Pleasure to meet you." Li Aozi shook hands with the other party. "Director Liu, I'm a straightforerson. I know why you're here."

  "Oh, Mr. Li, you're mistaken." Director Liu chuckled, "We came with the friendship of the Tianhuan people. You might not know, living ier world, but you have now bee a national idol in Tianhuan."

  Li Aozi forced a smile and said nothing.

  He was well aware that regardless of their ethnic background, once people ied into Tianhuan, they became two-faced. They especially loved to praise others to the point of bewilderment, making them feel invincible, only to suddenly pull the rug out from uhem, pushing them off their pedestal.

  This despicable atmosphere was ong Tianhuan's lower css, but the upper echelon was skilled at maniputiions, making it something to guard against.

  Seeing that Li Aozi wasn't ied, Liu Deming didn't feel awkward. He signaled his secretary to open the briefcase and take out a rge-capacity ste drive:

  "This is a small token of our friendship. Please accept it."

  Li Aozi took the drive, and a system prompt immediately appeared:

  【Item Name】: "Omega Energy Refiheory"

  【Type】: Information Carrier / Professional-Level Supernatural Knowledge

  【Quality】: on Durable

  【Attribute】: A USB drive taining specialized knowledge.

  Prerequisite: Limited to 【Mutant】 profession

  【Description】: The carrier itself is not important; what matters is that it taiailed steps on how to extrad vert energy from cells and genes using Omega Energy.

  Learning this knowledge will grant Omega Energy users greater power, further unlog their Omega Energy potential.

  Effect 1—By tinuously releasing Omega Energy, you more quickly increase the development level of Omega Energy.

  Effect 2—Your core Omega Energy development level +1

  Effect 3—Some Omega Energy evolve into nelication branches.

  ——————————————

  This was not just simple knowledge.

  Acc to the cssifications in Star Abyss, knowledge is ranked from lowest to highest: Basic, Advanced, Professional, Elite, Theoretical, Fantastical, Fial, Ultimate, Supreme, with an additional yer of Forbidden Knowledge uo narrative civilizations and societies, totaling 10 levels.

  What does professional knowledge mean on Azure Star?

  It's akin to the importance of fertilizer in agriculture—crucial to produ.

  Li Aozi couldn't help but admire the Tianhuan people's thhness. They had deeply researched his background and probably spent a lot of moo gather intelligen Frost-Pted.

  This was indeed something that could move him, and frankly, si was given freely, there was no downside for him.

  "A small token." Li Aozi said pyfully, "I see your try is determio obtain the Abyss Humanitarian data."

  "No, no, no, pared to Frost-Pted, what we want more is you, Mr. Li."

  Director Liu's words were ambiguous, but the subtext was clear:

  —Within Tianhuan, they wao leverage Li Aozi's current status to tinue operating in Frost-Pted.

  Li Aozi was already used to being hunted daily by bounty hunters as a wanted criminal. This identity was even more suitable for operating in the bck zones, helping Tianhuan deal with some troublesome targets.

  Li Aozi's impressive record and strength were also highly valued by Tianhuan.

  In Tianhuan, paying for war and making money from war was on practice. Dressing up merary work as something noble, Li Aozi didn't even know how to respond.

  One could only say that Tianhuan people had always been sistent in not being humane.

  "Giving you the data isn't a problem, but killing people still costs extra—I'm curious, though, with all the samurai and security teams in Tianhuan, what target requires my intervention?"

  Li Aozi asked curiously.

  "Mr. Li, do you know the Grand Duchy of Grant?" Director Liu didn't rush to answer but instead asked.

  "Yes, it's a vassal state of Frost-Pted. Thanks to its abundahermal energy, tourism is booming, and it's also Frost-Pted's most important pntation and food-produg try."

  With the higher education knowledge from Yavanna's agent, Li Aozi had some uanding of such small tries.

  Historically, the Grand Duchy of Grant was a y of Frost-Pted, once a famous tourist destination in the old era. With fertile nd backed by voloes and vast forests, even after Azure Star was enveloped by Camity, it still had enviable geothermal energy, always sidered a nation born with a golden spoon.

  Due to its excellent geographical enviro and agricultural resources, the Frost-Pted people never gave up their trol and ization of Grant, exploiting it to the fullest, squeezing every drop of blood from the Grand Duchy.

  However, what surprised Li Aozi was that the Grand Duchy of Grant was tens of thousands of miles away from Tianhuan. If Tianhuan wao intervene in a y, it should be looking at pces like Modesha or the White Crystal Uates, which were already pro-Tianhuan and had a supportive popution.

  "Yes, precisely that Grand Duchy of Grant."

  Notig Li Aozi's fusion, Liu Deming smiled and expined:

  "We want to hire you to help the y gain independence."

  AnnouA big thank you to [hawai661] and [er] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL