Chapter 401 - 366: An Exaggerated Commission

Chapter 401: Chapter 366: An Exaggerated Commission

"Double Star Bar. This is it."

Guan Tong looked at the sign in front of him. He hadn’t expected the middleman, Black Star, to have moved to a new location in less than a month.

Two young men were looking around at the entrance. When they saw Guan Tong stop in front of the bar, they exchanged a look and walked up to him.

"Excuse me, are you the client?"

"Mhm. Is Black Star in?"

"Yes, Boss Black Star is inside. He’s—"

Before the man could finish, Black Star, having heard the commotion outside, came running out and greeted Guan Tong jovially. "Hello, hello! Welcome back, valued customer. Please, come in!"

As Black Star spoke, he had already seen the nickname and points above Guan Tong’s head, and he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

Guan Tong entered the bar. The main hall was filled with people, and he recognized all of them from his last meeting with Black Star. He figured they were Black Star’s bodyguards.

It was only natural. A prominent middleman was bound to deal with all sorts of dangerous clients, making personal security paramount.

"Have a seat!"

Black Star led Guan Tong to an empty table near the bar and casually asked about Shangyuan Zi.

"The lady who came with you last time, is she not here today?"

"Mhm. She’s busy."

Guan Tong was currently serving as Yelena’s bodyguard and wasn’t supposed to leave her side, but improving his own strength was an urgent priority.

Before coming here, he had left a Shadow by Yelena’s side. Their vision was shared in real time, so if any danger arose, he could instantly use Body Shifting to return. With Shangyuan Zi protecting her as well, there shouldn’t be any issues.

Behind the bar, White Star stared at the space above Guan Tong’s head, her brow furrowed slightly.

She hadn’t wanted Black Star to take this meeting. If this man was truly the "Shadow," she believed that interacting with him would bring too many potential risks.

But now, looking at the words "Shepherd, 1" above Guan Tong’s head, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

’Nicknames can be changed at will; that doesn’t matter. But the points are the real deal. If he really is the "Shadow"... how can he only have one point when the new rules have been in effect for over half a day? With his strength, has he really not taken out a single competitor this whole time?’

"So, what did my valued customer want to discuss this time?" Black Star asked with a broad smile once they were seated.

"A commission, of course," Guan Tong said. "Our last collaboration was a success, so I have a new one for you. I was wondering if you’d be interested."

"And what might that commission be?"

Guan Tong raised his hand, and several crystal-clear, diamond-shaped blocks appeared in his palm.

"These are..."

"Psychic Power Crystals," Guan Tong said, placing them on the table. "They’re an Ability Item—a full set, to be precise. Twelve pieces in total. Their effect... is to store Psychic Power. Each one can hold a maximum of 500 points."

This was an Ability Item Guan Tong had bought from the market that could store and transfer Psychic Power.

Ever since before he established the Origin-Tracing Expedition, he’d been planning to rely on others to transfer and store Psychic Power for him. As a result, he searched the Ascender market on his Terminal Panel for relevant Ability Items almost every day.

But these kinds of Ability Items were rare and were usually snapped up the moment they were listed, so he’d never been able to get his hands on one.

The only reason he’d been able to buy this set was because the seller had set a high price. The usual market snipers probably had to ask their fund managers for approval, and Guan Tong seized that moment of hesitation to buy it himself.

Hearing this, Black Star picked one up to examine it. "So, the commission is to fill all twelve of these up?"

"That’s right."

"A piece of cake!" Black Star laughed. "Haha, a commission this simple... I’d almost feel bad charging for it."

And he wasn’t just being polite. Twelve crystals at 500 points each was only 6,000 points total. He wouldn’t even need to use his network; his own subordinates could probably pool together more than half of that.

Guan Tong shook his head. "This isn’t a one-time commission. It’s long-term."

Black Star froze. "Long-term?"

"I need them filled twice a day, for an indefinite period. I’ll pay in Sublimation Coins for each cycle. Besides payment for those who provide the Psychic Power, you will also receive a fee in Sublimation Coins for yourself each time."

"..."

For once, the normally glib Black Star was struck silent with shock.

’Twice a day... that’s at least 12,000 points of Psychic Power! And it’s a long-term deal... What kind of person needs more than ten thousand points of Psychic Power every single day? And what for?!’

"So, is that a problem?" Guan Tong asked.

Snapping out of it, Black Star quickly shook his head. "No, no! A total of twelve thousand Psychic Power is a lot, but with the number of Ascenders I know, as long as you’re paying in Sublimation Coins, filling them will be absolutely no problem!"

Guan Tong was very pleased to hear this.

The whole reason he’d sought out Black Star was for the man’s vast network in Sisiya.

As one of the most famous middlemen in Sisiya, Black Star was bound to know a large number of unaffiliated Ascenders. By having him act as a bridge, Guan Tong wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of finding people to transfer their Psychic Power to him.

Of course, he could have asked Yelena for help, or proposed a partnership to have her mobilize Ascenders... but she was swamped with other matters and couldn’t afford any distractions.

Even if he were to partner with her, Guan Tong wanted to wait until she had resolved the pile of urgent tasks on her plate. In the meantime, he would use Black Star’s channel to meet his needs.

Guan Tong then stated his price. "I’ll pay one Sublimation Coin for one point of Psychic Power. If you can manage to negotiate a lower price from your suppliers, I don’t care. The difference is yours to keep. On top of that, for every full day’s quota you meet, I’ll give you an extra 500 Sublimation Coins."

At these words, Black Star’s eyes lit up.

That rate was insanely high!

One coin for one point of Psychic Power? At that rate, Ascenders would be falling over themselves to sign up.

After all, Psychic Power regenerates over time. Someone could sell 100 points of Psychic Power and get 100 Sublimation Coins. A few sales like that would be equal to the entire reward from completing one of the system’s "rules"!

Plus, he’d be taking an extra 500 for himself every day. That amounted to fifteen thousand a month, which was a huge sum even for him.

However...

Black Star stared at Guan Tong, utterly astonished. ’To collect Psychic Power like this, he’d be spending a fixed 12,500 Sublimation Coins every day! That’s nearly four hundred thousand a month... Just how loaded is this guy?!’

What he didn’t know was that if Guan Tong had more Ability Items for transferring Psychic Power, he wouldn’t have hesitated to double the required amount.

For him, keeping a million or so Sublimation Coins in reserve was more than enough. He planned to convert the other several million into stored Psychic Power—the more, the better, and the faster, the better.

He had already done the math. He currently had eight million Sublimation Coins. He would keep one million and use the other seven million to purchase Flowing Psychic Power at a 1:1 ratio, giving him seven million Flowing Psychic Power.

Then, using the Wordless Book, he would convert that seven million Flowing Psychic Power into his personal reserve of Psychic Power at a 10:1 ratio... netting him a final reserve of seven hundred thousand!

At his current stage, seven hundred thousand reserve Psychic Power was more than enough. While it wasn’t enough to be squandered recklessly, it was more than sufficient for combat and for the in-depth development of his Spatial Realm ability.

"So, are you taking the commission?"

"Take it? Of course I’ll take it!"

There was no way Black Star was going to pass up a golden opportunity like this, and he hastily confirmed his acceptance.

"Then let’s start tomorrow."

Guan Tong transferred the crystal Ability Items to Black Star and stood up to leave.

"I will be back tomorrow at noon and again in the evening to pick up the crystals."

"No problem! Take care!"

"Please wait a moment." Just then, White Star emerged from behind the bar and stopped Guan Tong.

Guan Tong stopped and looked over at her.

Black Star nervously hurried to White Star’s side and hissed, "White Star, what are you doing? Don’t start anything!"

White Star ignored him and walked up to Guan Tong, her tone respectful. "To be able to make such a generous offer, you must have an extraordinary identity. Accepting your commission will likely bring us trouble, won’t it?"

"White Star!"

Black Star grabbed her arm in exasperation, shooting her frantic looks to get her to stop talking.

Guan Tong looked at her, then back at Black Star. "If you’re afraid of trouble, why be a middleman in the first place?"

"You’re absolutely right!" Black Star said hurriedly. "My little sister doesn’t know any better. Please, forgive her."

"But she’s not wrong," Guan Tong said after a moment’s thought. "Taking my commission is indeed riskier than others. How about this? I’ll add an extra ’risk fee’ of five thousand Sublimation Coins."

With that, Guan Tong turned and walked out. Black Star hurried to follow. "We couldn’t possibly accept an extra...!"

He hadn’t taken two steps before he felt something blocking his legs, stopping him in his tracks.

He looked down and saw a mass of pitch-black shadow barring his path.

A chill ran through Black Star, and he swallowed the words he was about to say.

Behind him, White Star also saw the Shadow that had become a roadblock. In the next instant, it softened, flowing rapidly along the floor to follow Guan Tong’s retreating figure.

’The Shadow... It really is him...’

’I had my suspicions, but when I saw he only had one point, I thought it couldn’t be.’

’But the appearance of the Shadow was an undeniable confirmation of his identity. Other things could be imitated, but it was doubtful anyone could replicate such a unique ability.’

Now that Guan Tong’s identity was truly confirmed, White Star was at a loss for words.

She could only feel her heart pounding in her chest, unable to believe she had just interacted with the legendary number one Ascender in the world.

"White Star, you’ve really done it now..." Black Star turned, a bitter smile on his face. "Well, you’ve made him angry."

"Angry? But... isn’t he giving us an extra risk fee?"

"Idiot!" Black Star sighed heavily. "If it was just about giving us a risk fee, would he have needed to bring out his Shadow? Did you think he was revealing his identity as a sign of goodwill, you silly girl?"

White Star paused. "So he revealed his identity to subtly warn us not to push our luck?"

"The fact that you figured that out means you’re not completely hopeless," Black Star said, exasperated. "Forget it. I was originally planning to skim a little off the top. He offered us one coin per point; I was going to take 0.2 for myself and offer 0.8 to the suppliers. But now, thanks to you, I’ll have to offer the full price."