The beautiful crystalline creature poured the three of them a blue drink.

"This is... Ascension Liquid?" Yin Seli picked up the cup and examined the liquid inside as if it were a gemstone.

"What is that?" Li Changzhou pretended not to know.

Yin Se-ri didn't have time to give him a look that said she was an idiot; she kept her eyes on the cup and explained:

"It can increase the altitude of human flight. If you, Captain, don't care about money, you can buy me a top-of-the-line flying car with thirty cups of this."

"...Your flying car is so expensive?" The captain, who doesn't like money, has learned something new.

Yoon Seul-ri looked up at IAO: "You... Your Excellency actually used it to entertain us?"

IAO, puffing on what looked like a cigar, listened to Yoon Seul-ri's words and casually replied, "Because I like the taste."

Rich old man!

The wealthy old man looked at Li Changzhou and said, "This kind of thing is just a beverage to us. Only the trash in the garbage can (that's how it was pronounced in the system translation) needs to be 'ascended'."

The wealthy old man spoke of garbage naturally, without arrogance or disdain, and without any deliberate air of superiority.

Just like no one would object to putting trash in the trash can, have any emotions about it, think it shouldn't be done, or feel great for doing it.

“If they don’t ascend, they’re even more trash.” Li Changzhou subtly expressed his differing opinion.

“Of course.” The wealthy old man nodded, showing no particular emotion towards the trash.

Yin Seli was pouring three cups of Ascension Liquid—hers, the captain's, and Little Radish's—into test tubes she carried with her, turning her perfectly good living room into a laboratory... or a begging scene?

The wealthy old man not only didn't look down on them, but also gestured with his "cigar" to the glass in front of him, indicating that he could also take it away.

Yoon Seul-ri felt that coming here with the captain was the best decision she had ever made.

If I hadn't come, the ascension liquid in front of me would definitely have been drunk like a beverage by aliens and divine beings.

As a rather skilled hacker, she could vaguely sense the captain's curiosity about the taste of the ascension fluid, much like a pig is curious about the taste of boiled cabbage.

Li Changzhou was indeed curious, not only himself but also thinking about how to let Yang Qinglan and his sister try it.

“Complete my task, and I can give you an extra bucket,” the wealthy old man said.

...This was the first time I had ever heard someone use a bucket to describe the Ascension Liquid.

"Your Excellency, two more guests have arrived," the blue crystal servant suddenly spoke.

"Let them come over."

A short while later, Yaochi and Bi walked in.

Bi was dressed in a military uniform, skirt, and cap. She had blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a petite but very straight posture. She was a dashing young officer.

Yaochi, who was walking next to her, had legs that were almost as long as Bi's height.

Wearing a black openwork dress with intricate black lace along the edges, her snow-white hair cascaded down to her waist, and a silver, diamond-encrusted crown on her head, she looked like a princess or a queen, like an elf straight out of a fantasy novel.

"I offer my respects, from the Parc family, to your beauty." IAO sat in his chair and bowed slightly to the two of them.

"Hello, Your Excellency IAO," Yaochi said with a smile, her voice soft and charming, very pleasant to hear.

Bi's eyes darted around, and when she saw Li Changzhou, a disdainful smile curled at the corners of her small mouth.

"Please sit down," IAO gestured for the two to sit.

Two more cups of Ascension Elixir were brought over, but IAO ignored these trivial matters. He leaned back in his chair and continued, "Do the three of you know what mission I intend to entrust to you?"

He had this "if you had internet access, you would have guessed" look on his face.

"Could it be that we need to find out the identity of the 'winner'?" Li Changzhou guessed. "I do have a little bit of skill, but in front of the 'winner,' I'm no different from an ordinary person."

“To the ‘winner,’ we are all just ordinary people,” IAO replied. “But I’m not here for this matter; it’s a much smaller one.”

"Oh?" Yaochi showed just the right amount of curiosity.

Yaochi and Bi acted as if they didn't know him, which suggests they were on the same page as him—pretending not to know each other might yield unexpected benefits.

"How much do the three of you know about the Sky Star?" IAO asked.

“I know nothing,” Li Changzhou replied.

“About a thousand years ago,” IAO scratched his brow with the little finger of the hand holding the cigar, “a man named Konglu worked for KOI 3-Seconds, training assassins for him. The job was simple: remove the assassins’ bad habits and replace them with what KOI needed. When Konglu retired, KOI gave him a planet, which is now known as ‘Konglu Star’.”

"The current Star Lord is the 52nd generation Kong Lu. He has no money in his pocket and instead of living off his inheritance and farming properly, he dared to provoke me at Si Si's concert."

“I’ve decided to teach him a lesson.” IAO stubbed out his “cigar.”

There was a moment of silence in the living room.

It will take some time for people on Earth to accept this.

Yin Seli spoke up: "Your Excellency, with your strength and wealth, although destroying a habitable planet is illegal, there are still many ways to do so..."

“You don’t need to teach me this,” IAO interrupted her. “My advisor recommended that I build an interstellar route and include Konglu Star within it, but that makes no sense. I need a more humiliating way.”

Yoon Seul-ri was not angry because of IAO's attitude.

“Your Excellency IAO,” she carefully chose her words, “we go to sea, though for money, but also to enjoy the adventure and the unknown of the universe. We don’t do this kind of thing—”

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!