Chapter 1198 - 1195

"By the way, there's another thing..."

After reporting to Master Fuli about the early warning report from the National Astronomy Institute, Zhang Lin seemed to recall something else and continued:

"After receiving the message, Li Xiao has already set off with Sun Xingyao and the King of the Universe from the Dragon Nest to Xia Dong... Um, that is to say, you may need to help Li Xiao arrange for daily living expenses."

"At least, until the accounts from the Dragon Nest are sorted out by the Chang'an City Security Bureau, the action funds cannot be approved."

Given Li Wenkang's position and contribution, he actually has no personal need for money.

Whatever he wishes, as long as it's reasonable, the state covers all the expenses, with no need for spending money personally.

However.

There was an unexpected incident during the Dragon Nest trip, plus some administrative staff were on holiday, leaving Li Wenkang's pockets empty.

"Did he... get flagged by the bank's risk control again?" Ansheng asked with a puzzled expression.

Upon hearing that Old Li's bank card was out of money, Ansheng naturally thought of the last time when Old Li said he couldn't treat them to a midnight snack due to excessive spending being flagged by the bank's risk control.

A seventy-something Old Deng spending fifty or sixty thousand on a midnight snack stand – does that make sense?

"No, he just lost badly at cards, dragging the Chang'an Director, Treasure Tree, Ba Mountain Mosquito, Wang Ya, and Xinxing Agricultural Science College all into the hole..."

"They're still accounting over there; it might take two days before they can spare some time to approve the action funds..." Zhang Lin said with a bizarre expression.

The Gloom Mushroom was already an elite among the Dragon People at the top of society before it went to sleep, lacking nothing.

And as the extension of the Gloom Mushroom's will, the Winter Vacation is naturally the same. To coax Spiritual Particles out of it, one must cater to its liking.

Losing at cards to the Winter Vacation means it will control your body to dash wildly into the city.

For nothing else, just with computers alone, Winter Vacation maxed out Wang Qiqi's savings card.

Six fully equipped ROGs, over eight hundred thousand, Wang Qiqi and Golden Leopard were stunned throughout.

Luxury cars and brand-name watches, among others, were paid for by the Chang'an Security Bureau. The director almost fainted from a burst blood vessel upon hearing the news.

Li Wenkang lost so much even his underpants were gone to the Winter Vacation.

But if you ask whether it's worth it, it surely is. A mere few billion in cash swapped for Spiritual Particle Metal is enough to build a space frontier suspended high above, never falling, reclaiming space resources.

"... So, does that mean every staff member in charge of the Dragon Nest task is paying to work?"

Ansheng asked with a baffled expression.

"The headquarters will reimburse, but their accounts are currently bank-flagged, each person an average defaulter, struggling to even scan for a shared bike or a power bank."

"The bank is expediting things; it's commendable to have this efficiency over the New Year." Zhang Lin shook her head with a smile:

"There are also some for whom death certificates have been issued, and we're still processing the resurrection procedure."

Each turned into a blacklisted account, even network payment software frozen. For jobs involving cross-department coordination like this, completing in two days is very efficient.

"Alright! Have Old Li come over, I'll see if I have any cigarette butts, and I'll find a way to collect some for him."

Ansheng spoke with a face full of helplessness and amusement.

The wealthy principal of Xinxing Agricultural Science College ended up a blacklisted account; in a sense.

The Winter Vacation young miss is really quite a handful.

After hanging up the call, Ansheng didn't even have time to speak to Lin Bingyun about receiving Old Li.

The internal communication software of the Security Bureau chimed with two message alerts.

Zhang Lin: Video file.

Zhang Lin: [Captured by the space telescope, pleased to have Master Fuli take a trip over the New Year.]

"Hmm?" Ansheng clicked on the video sent by Zhang Lin; the video was shot in space.

In the records of the space telescope, a black hole opened in the dark, starless space.

A four-legged, long-tailed creature, its body covered with a layer of gray-black shell, with glimpses of crimson-tight muscle tissue between the gaps, was struggling while being caught by an invisible Power of Will, wrapped in a layer of high-energy rainbow light.

Covered with a faceplate, the four-legged beast in the void adjusted its direction and directly began accelerating, heading like a stream of light toward Blue Star.

After its departure, the silently opened circular hole on the starry sky gradually closed and hidden into the void.

Seeing this, a look of astonishment appeared on Ansheng's fox-like face.

Though he always knew that Blue Star's outer space was protected by a layer of an Invisible Tree defense circle.

Knowing is one thing, but the Invisible Tree always hides in an alternate space, waiting for someone destined to trigger it, and ordinarily, it's impossible to detect its existence.

Seeing the activation of the defense circle, Ansheng truly realized the existence of the Invisible Tree.

"But, what is that Spirit Beast?" Ansheng closed the video on the chat interface, pondering with a contemplative look.

That four-legged Spirit Beast was obviously always blocked outside the defense barrier or, in other words, was imprisoned by the Invisible Tree in an alternate space isolated from the world.

But just now, the Invisible Tree released it, and even directly sent it towards Blue Star.

At this moment, every activation of the Invisible Tree requires a significant cost.

The only one able to engage the Invisible Tree at present is the "Landlord," a Spirit Beast.

This means that the four-legged beast likely poses a great threat, prompting the "Landlord" to want to eliminate the monster before it fully regains its strength.

Otherwise, if it breaks through the defense barrier and descends upon Blue Star in full form, Blue Star will be in grave danger.

Thinking of this, Ansheng looked up Shasha's number in the phone book and called.

"Hey? Where are you? Quickly come to the fishing scene; we have a performance-improving business task here."

Ansheng made the call, and after receiving Shasha's response, he hung up and handed the phone back to Lin Bingyun.

"Old Li is heading to Xia Dong this afternoon, but now his pockets are empty, and his WeChat has been frozen. We need to entertain him; you're in charge of hosting."

"Okay....." Lin Bingyun nodded with a strange expression, then asked, "Should we include a lighter with the cigarette purchase?"

"He's been a heavy smoker; how could he not have a lighter?" Ansheng asked with a puzzled look.

"Alright..." Lin Bingyun nodded, took out her phone, and began arranging tasks.

Lin Bingyun operated on her phone, emerging discreetly from the grass and blending into the team, joining the main group as they walked to the deserted fishing scene to observe the big fish examination.

Ah Qing simulated being an angler, sitting on the fishing platform, tossing her fishing rod into the lake.

The first examined big fish surfaced, circling around Ah Qing's baitless hook, slightly arching its body and clearly showing a disdainful expression.

Yet, despite its reluctance, it lightly nudged around the hook, creating ripples to remind the shore angler, nibbling with two "slurp" sounds and tugging hard.

"Sigh..."

The big fish pulled ashore by Ah Qing looked at Ah Qing with a speechless face and sighed.

Sis..... I'm supposed to bite the hook and get hurt; can't you let me taste something good?

Two ounces of river shrimp turned into paste, wrapped in filament powder, steamed vigorously for twenty minutes.

"Are you eating bait or having morning tea?" Chen Zhiyu rolled his eyes as he helped the big fish unhook upon hearing these words.

Chen Zhiyu tied the work badge on the big fish, then kicked it back into the river without a word.

"Master Fuli..."

During the examination, Shasha, holding a bowl of meat swallow, emerged from the grass, patted off the grass stuck to him, looked at Master Fuli with curiosity, and asked:

"What good business is there to allocate? As soon as I heard you mentioned a good task, I flew over..."

"Not much, just there's something I need your help to identify."

Ansheng walked away from the shore, taking Lin Bingyun and Shasha to Chen Zhiyu's office, where he played the video sent by Zhang Lin for Shasha to watch.

"Hmm?"

Upon seeing the four-legged beast in the video, Shasha's expression visibly froze, revealing an incredulous look:

"This... isn't it the Flesh Sanctification Bug? How is there a living specimen still existing?"

"Pff, pff, pff..." After expressing awe, Shasha then remembered to explain to Master Fuli, hurriedly saying:

"The creature drifting in outer space has an officially propagated scientific name: [Eco-Piercing Insect], hmm..... I've forgotten exactly where they live, but their ancestors are indeed a group of insect-like creatures."

"We discovered them during our voyage, and released flesh pollution, corrupting their planet and catalyzing the evolutionary traits of their species."

The Piercing Insect isn't special, except for its immortality and the ability to shoot toxic tail stings, but their clan possesses a sharpshooter trait, and through our catalysis, they can hit their target with precision even from thousands of miles away as long as locked on."

Shasha raised his hand, weaving his fingers to create a linked ring before Master Fuli.

The existence of the Piercing Insect clan is a perfect species discovered during starry sky voyages.

Initially, they were just ordinary insects, but after the perfect flesh invasion and catalysis, the Piercing Insect clan began rapidly evolving iterations along their [Clan Traits].

They even grasped the Power of Will, allowing them to shoot an inevitable toxic tail sting by locking onto a target.

Tail sting referred to as a sting is, in fact, a kind of particle that can traverse space to hit the target.

Initially, after completing the catalysis, the perfect then obtained the desired flesh traits and devoured Thorn Insect Star.

Therefore, Shasha revealed an incredulous expression upon seeing the Piercing Insect.

A thing supposed to be fossilized suddenly stands up and says "Hello," and anyone would be surprised.