Chapter 42: What’s Next? Infiltrating the Solar Eclipse Society [4K]
When Lu Xibei received the Spirit Energy item blueprints and alchemical potion recipes from Zhang Hainan, she didn’t examine them closely; she just took a rough glance before putting them away.
Firstly, it was not good to study them too carefully in front of Zhang Hainan, after all, they were things she got for free, and to be picky would seem ungrateful.
Secondly, she was not collecting these blueprints and recipes for her own use.
She initially planned to hand over those blueprints and recipes to Du Sixian for mass production, then distribute them to the urban legends in Huacheng, or sell them at the Ghost Market, using what was left to arm the Zhipianxian army.
After all, there were thousands of urban legends in Huacheng, relying solely on the Spirit Energy provided by scares wasn’t a long-term solution; over time, the ordinary people in Huacheng might stop being afraid, and they could even end up becoming fervent fans of urban legends like Uncle Zhang Shan.
Thus, establishing a few production lines for Spirit Energy items and alchemical potions was necessary for sustainable development.
From a certain perspective, that was precisely what the Solar Eclipse Society was doing!
However, Lu Xibei was different from the Solar Eclipse Society; she had no interest in creating sensational news; she only wanted to protect herself. At the very least, she needed to cultivate a hundred or so A Grade urban legends from the urban legends of Huacheng.
Stinky Sister’s Peach Source had twenty or so A Grade existences under her command, which was several times more than hers; that didn’t seem unreasonable, right? This was Lu Xibei’s mindset.
However, after examining the blueprints and recipes with Du Sixian in detail, she realized Zhang Hainan was indeed cunning. The blueprints and recipes he provided were all “average goods”!
In the depths of the Huacheng Calamity Irresponsible Scare Company, in Du Sixian’s office.
Lu Xibei sat on the sofa, watching Du Sixian behind the desk, intently calculating data on the computer screen.
It had been some time since she had seen Du Sixian. Perhaps it was due to being busy with work every day, but that originally energetic girl had started to exude a hint of shrewdness.
If this continued, Du Sixian wouldn’t turn into one of those super career women no one dared to approach, right? Lu Xibei thought. In fact, she felt a bit guilty about letting Du Sixian manage so many things.
Although Du Sixian was Lu Xibei’s subordinate, she was still merely an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl.
Making such a girl, in her most beautiful years, spend all day with a bunch of odd urban legends wasn’t fair to her.
However, after Du Sixian repeatedly expressed her love for these matters and her enthusiasm for them, Lu Xibei gradually felt more at ease. Perhaps she could ask Stinky Sister for help to see how Du Sixian’s romantic prospects were?
Living without knowing work and not doing anything else meaningful was no different from being a machine, Lu Xibei thought, quietly waiting while glancing at the drink Meng Meng had personally prepared on the coffee table, frowning.
In the mug with Bai Xiaohua’s classic rose skin, there was a thick red liquid emitting a soft glow, with small particles shimmering with silver floating within.
This was Meng Meng’s developed urban legend drink—Lava Star.
Lu Xibei, “Can this thing really be drunk?
Isn’t this, in a way, a manifestation of the phrase ‘drink more lava’?”
Staring at the mug for a long time, she suddenly noticed Meng Meng peeking through the office’s floor-to-ceiling glass window, her eyes filled with anticipation. Lu Xibei gritted her teeth and brought the cup to her lips, taking a small sip.
Meng Meng made the drink herself; she couldn’t let her goodwill go to waste, right?
Just like how Zhang Hainan would force himself to eat the dumplings I made, no matter how bad Meng Meng’s drink was, I had to force myself to drink it!
The warm liquid tasted moderately sweet and sour with a bit of a kick, like having a bite of popping candy. Hmm? It actually tasted pretty good? Lu Xibei tilted her head and took a bigger gulp.
The warm beverage slid down her throat and quickly sparked a wave of warmth that spread to all four limbs, making her feel like every pore was suddenly unblocked, as if she had swallowed a core from an urban legend that completely purified negative substances.
Aside from that, Lu Xibei felt a hint of something different.
That feeling was sincere and pure, warming her heart.
Perhaps it could be called “gentleness”?
That was likely the delicious “ingredient” that Meng Meng unintentionally added while wholeheartedly making the drink.
It was only at this moment that Lu Xibei recalled what Du Sixian had told her earlier, “Meng Meng solved the issue of the young urban legends finding the provided Spirit Energy supplement unpalatable.”
Meng Meng had added some cheap alchemical materials to the Spirit Energy supplement to make it into a drink!
This was similar to how many children don’t eat bread and raw vegetables alone, but if you add a meat patty and turn it into a hamburger, they’ll devour it!
In fact, aside from Lava Star, Meng Meng had developed over twenty kinds of urban legend drinks. Although the raw materials for these drinks were just some cheap alchemical materials, they became quite popular among the urban legends in Huacheng, even attracting urban legends from surrounding cities who came to taste them.
If this continued, would Huacheng become like those cities with popular milk tea shops, where urban legends would come from all over the country for a visit?
The concept of an urban legend milk tea shop seemed exciting!
At that time, they could engage in hunger marketing, making those visiting urban legends wait in long lines without necessarily buying anything, and then have a few unknown smaller urban legends act as scalpers,
selling them at a high price, and they might even make a small profit! Lu Xibei thought, feeling somewhat excited.
Just as her internal calculation was clicking away, Du Sixian finally completed the data calculation, let out a long sigh, stretched, stood up, and walked over to Lu Xibei’s side.
“High Person, I’ve figured it out. Based on the current prices of raw materials circulating in the Ghost Market, as well as the average prices of low-grade Spirit Energy items and common alchemical potions, if we really want to go into this business, the profit is only 10.3% to 15.7%. What do you think?”
Lu Xibei, “This was probably all calculated by that old man when he handed over those recipes and blueprints to me, right? A minimum profit of 10.3% doesn’t seem particularly low, but compared to the Spirit Energy items and alchemical potions that could have profits upwards of 50%, or even several times that, this is indeed quite low.
In Lu Xibei’s view, Zhang Hainan probably anticipated the use of these blueprints and recipes, so he deliberately gave her some that had a profit but no exorbitant profits to be made.
But…
“That’s not a problem!” Lu Xibei said seriously, “We can adopt a low-profit approach with high sales!”
Du Sixian nodded, “Then I’ll go discuss with Meng Meng about procuring materials, and organize some reliable urban legends to start trial production?”
Lu Xibei thought for a moment and gently shook her head, “Let’s not rush. There’s still one issue to be addressed before we start trial production.”
“Oh?” Du Sixian tilted her head, “What else is there?”
“We need to devise a way to discreetly set up a mechanism on these Spirit Energy items,” Lu Xibei explained, “This type of mechanism won’t affect the normal use of the Spirit Energy items, but when activated at a critical moment, it can temporarily disable the Spirit Energy item.”
Otherwise, if others buy the Spirit Energy items we create and end up using them against us, that would be quite unpleasant. Winning would be fine, but losing would feel like being defeated by others using one’s own tricks, Lu Xibei thought.
After saying that, Du Sixian paused, then a look of realization dawned on her face, “I see, I know what to do!”
“I’ve seen similar things when learning how to make Spirit Energy items!”
Upon hearing Du Sixian’s words, Lu Xibei couldn’t help but marvel at how Du Sixian was truly more capable than Meng Meng; she had taught herself the technique of making Spirit Energy items and alchemy without Lu Xibei even realizing it.
What does it mean to be a quality subordinate? One who can continuously self-learn and strengthen themselves based on needs is a true quality subordinate! Those proxy player sisters recommended were a bunch of oddities!
Before I could even go look for them, they actually fell off! Lu Xibei thought.
Hmm! After researching the discreet mechanism, you can start attempting production,” Lu Xibei continued, “However, after making the items, don’t rush to sell them right away; wait for me to operate them first.”
“When the time is right, I’ll inform you, and the selling price might be a bit higher than what you estimated now!”
Du Sixian frowned slightly, puzzled, “A bit higher? The market competitiveness will drop significantly; after all, our products… are really quite average!” Du Sixian added to herself in her mind.
“I know, I know.” Lu Xibei explained, “These Spirit Energy items and potions aren’t that great, but what if we label them as products of Dachunyang Palace?”
Old man doesn’t let me earn a little money, huh?
I have my ways! Just borrowing Dachunyang Palace’s name, is that too much?
At that time, let Lin Nian spread the news that during the Pink Fluffy Rabbit incident, someone took advantage of the chaos to obtain a batch of Spirit Energy items from Dachunyang Palace, in huge quantities at beautiful prices. Lu Xibei thought.
After hearing Lu Xibei’s explanation, Du Sixian’s eyes lit up, “That’s indeed feasible!”
The four characters Dachunyang Palace alone would be enough to raise the price of these “average goods.” Furthermore, although these Spirit Energy items and alchemical potions are mediocre, they indeed belong to Dachunyang Palace.
This is similar to new generation electronic products from large factories; discerning people can see that the performance only saw a marginal improvement, yet many still flock to buy them.
“However, this matter should remain between us. Don’t mention it to outsiders,” Lu Xibei cautioned. “If buyers ask, you can only give them an ambiguous answer; absolutely don’t admit that our items are genuinely products of Dachunyang Palace. You should know how to handle that, right?”
After all, it’s a scheme to borrow a chicken to lay eggs; if it gets exposed and Dachunyang Palace comes knocking, we’d be in real trouble.
“Understood!” Du Sixian replied with a knowing smile, “My father and uncles do similar things often, and I’ve picked up a bit.”
Lu Xibei, “
That kid is smiling in a way that would scare children; it seems she understands more than just a little? Truly, the daughter of a capitalist; is this a bloodline awakening?——
After discussing various details for selling Spirit Energy items and alchemical potions with Du Sixian, Lu Xibei then chatted with Meng Meng for a while, sharing some insights on dessert making and suggesting Meng Meng could pair some snacks alongside the drinks.
After doing all this, she rode her scooter and left the underground parking lot.
She originally wanted to tell Du Sixian that after she successfully fused Ling Tai Purification and the God Realm Prototype, they could move the base from the underground parking to the God Realm Prototype.
At that time, both the venue and secrecy would greatly improve.
However, considering that the fusion issue was still in conceptual stages, and whether it would succeed was uncertain, Lu Xibei decided not to mention it to Du Sixian.
Before she rode out of the Happy Neighborhood on her scooter, Lu Xibei ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation of the “cultivation cat” and made a trip to Miao Xiaoqi’s cat castle.
Then, Miao Xiaoqi left several bl**d marks on her hand. “Next time you act all clumsy, I’ll scratch your face!”
Looking at the mottled cat that wore a fierce expression mirroring a human’s, and spoke in human language, Lu Xibei’s feelings were complex as she asked, “What’s wrong with a little cultivation? Aren’t the older ladies in this neighborhood petting cats every day?”
Miao Xiaoqi pouted with a small cat face, her chin slightly raised, “I have my principles; humans can touch,”
“Urban legends can’t?” Lu Xibei interjected.
Urban legends can, but not the King of Urban Legends,” Miao Xiaoqi said, “No way!”
Lu Xibei,
I see you’re targeting me, the torture king of Huacheng; aside from me, who else is there? Stinky Sister is also a King of Urban Legends?
Then it’s all good!
Realizing that even Stinky Sister couldn’t pet the cat, Lu Xibei suddenly felt much more balanced. “By the way, what’s your boss up to these days? I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
While saying this, she walked over to the cat castle, squeezed Miao Xiaoqi out, and sat in her cozy spot.
Not letting me pet, but not saying I can’t take your cat’s nest, right? Hehe, it feels soft and nice!
Miao Xiaoqi glared fiercely at Lu Xibei, raising her paw, ready to scratch Lu Xibei, but suddenly seemed to remember something, letting out a soft sound, “Oh no, the thing boss instructed me to do.”
She had been having too much fun hanging around in the Happy Neighborhood; had Lu Xibei not mentioned the Void, she might have completely forgotten about the task the Void had assigned her.
“I can tell you what our boss has been up to lately, but you have to tell me something too.”
“Alright!” Lu Xibei raised an eyebrow, “Then you go first.”
“Um…” Miao Xiaoqi licked her paw and tilted her head, thinking, “Boss has recently found the God Realm and is trying to get a hold of it; it’s almost done.”
Lu Xibei, “???“
Huh? What the heck? That guy really went to search for the God Realm? He actually found it, it’s totally outrageous!
After complaining a couple of times in her heart, Lu Xibei looked at Miao Xiaoqi and said, “Okay, what do you want to ask me?”
Miao Xiaoqi asked, “Just wanna know, after the God Realm is established, what’s your next plan?”
That guy, the Void, wants to copy me, huh? Lu Xibei slightly furrowed her brows, expressionlessly replied, “Next step? Infiltrating the Solar Eclipse Society, I guess.”
If you have the capability, you should learn that too! Lu Xibei thought.
