Chapter 101. Jiang Dehai steps down...
When Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi arrived, they first registered at the front desk of the municipal building and then waited for verification.
After going through several security checks, I finally followed the staff and boarded the elevator to the 38th floor.
When the staff pushed open the door on the 38th floor, they could clearly see more than 30 people sitting inside, divided into two groups, each sitting on either side of a 4-meter-long conference table.
Jiang Dehai, sitting on the right, was wearing only a white vest, a black combat uniform and hat adorned with various badges, which were tossed directly onto the center of the table. He had a dark expression on his face and held a pipe to his lips, but was not smoking it.
The mayor of the capital city opposite him didn't look too good either, but he was still dressed neatly, and his chest was heaving rapidly, showing that he was trying to suppress his rage.
When Mayor Ge Jiu of the Imperial City saw Lin Xiaoxiao enter following behind the staff, he immediately stood up to greet her, forcing a friendly smile: "Ms. Lin, you've arrived. Welcome!"
Lin Xiaoxiao reached out and shook the mayor's outstretched hand for three seconds, then released it with a gentle smile: "Mr. Mayor, you're too kind. I hope my arrival at this time hasn't delayed your business?"
Why did you choose to come directly instead of scheduling another time after receiving the call?
Firstly, Lin Xiaoxiao was afraid that things might get complicated if things dragged on. The longer the delay, the more trouble Ran Bai and Cheng Guangmin might cause.
Secondly, she and Xiao Weizhi had already prepared their things and were just waiting to leave for the Black Abyss once things were settled here.
Just as Lin Xiaoxiao and the mayor were exchanging pleasantries with perfunctory smiles.
Jiang Dehai, wearing a white vest, holding a pipe in one hand and with the other behind his back, leisurely walked to Xiao Weizhi, who was standing by the door, and whispered, "Xiao kid, good tricks."
Xiao Weizhi's gaze fell on Lin Xiaoxiao, who was about two meters in front of him. His lips curled slightly, and his voice was very steady: "Grandpa Jiang, you flatter me!"
Jiang Dehai noticed that Xiao Weizhi's gaze hadn't left his face, and deliberately provoked him: "Xiao boy, Miss Lin has no idea that you've been stirring things up behind the scenes. What if she doesn't want you anymore one day? Wouldn't all your efforts have been in vain?"
The reason why this meeting produced results so quickly was partly due to Xiao Weizhi's efforts. He used the Xiao family's connections, borrowed Lin Xiaoxiao's identity, and joined forces with the Li family to put pressure on the top leaders in the capital. With a little bit of linguistic skill and a little bit of pros and cons analysis, he ultimately 'facilitated' this cooperation.
Xiao Weizhi smiled confidently and firmly: "She won't."
Seeing that he hadn't broken down, Jiang Dehai stopped teasing him and changed the subject: "Xiao boy, I did what I promised you. Don't forget what you promised me."
Xiao Weizhi nodded: "I won't forget."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Dehai didn't say anything more, but simply scanned the conference room with a lingering gaze.
It will be difficult to come to this conference room again in the future.
An elderly man, who had also taken off his combat uniform, reached out and patted Jiang Dehai on the shoulder, whispering words of comfort: "Old Jiang, we've been fighting on the front lines for so many years, it's time for us to retire and enjoy a few years of gardening and growing vegetables."
Jiang Dehai nodded. He understood the reasoning, but he hadn't expected retirement to come so suddenly. He thought he would work until he died.
While Lin Xiaoxiao was negotiating the terms with the mayor, she noticed Jiang Dehai standing by the door with a dejected look on his face, and cast a questioning glance at Xiao Weizhi.
Xiao Weizhi opened her mouth slightly, answering silently: 'I'll tell you later.'
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded, then turned back to negotiate the subsequent terms with the mayor of the capital city. After more than five hours of back-and-forth verbal exchanges, the asylum terms were finally settled.
The Dragon Kingdom is required to remit 3% of its annual treasury balance as a protection fund; it is also required to establish a temple of faith in every city; under reasonable circumstances, Lin Xiaoxiao has the right to mobilize public officials to assist in this matter…
Lin Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, needs to fend off the covetousness of foreign agents after providing protection; she also needs to grant management rights to five S-level secret realms within ten years...
Once the terms are agreed upon, it means signing a contract.
The contract used a (quasi-god-level) contract document item provided by Lin Xiaoxiao:
[Divine Contract (Quasi-God Level): Crafted by Master Monet, this contract incorporates a few strands of divine power to ensure its validity. Furthermore, the words and actions of both parties will be monitored by the gods, and any violation will result in divine punishment…]
The moment both parties finished signing, the brown paper document flew into the air and dissipated into countless tiny specks.
The next second, both of them felt a special shackle placed on their souls.
The moment there is even a thought of breaching the contract or not acting in accordance with it, this shackle will shatter the soul into pieces.
The mayor smiled kindly and extended his hand to Lin Xiaoxiao: "Ms. Lin, I hope we can cooperate in the future."
Lin Xiaoxiao shook hands for a few seconds before letting go, smiling gently: "Mayor Ge, it's a pleasure to cooperate."
After agreeing to meet in three days, and having prepared everything, Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi drove home under the cover of night after receiving the Dragon Kingdom's protection.
In the flying car, Lin Xiaoxiao sat in the passenger seat and asked in confusion, "Weizhi, why is Old Master Jiang in such a low mood today?"
Xiao Weizhi rested his left hand on the steering wheel and held her hand with his right, replying softly, "Perhaps because I was forced to retire, I'm a little unwilling."
Forced into retirement?
The reason why this cooperation was finalized so quickly was that Jiang Dehai, together with a group of senior members of the operations department, put pressure on the municipal government and promised to "step down and make way for a more capable person," ultimately securing the cooperation agreement in just half a day.
After learning the reason, a thought suddenly occurred to Lin Xiaoxiao. She tentatively asked, "Weizhi, after Old Jiang and the others retire, will they not be rehired?"
Xiao Weizhi immediately guessed her thoughts, squeezed her hand, and chuckled: "She probably won't be rehired. Shall we have dinner with Old Jiang tomorrow?"
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "Okay, you go and make the appointment?"
Xiao Weizhi smiled gently: "Okay, I'll go and make the appointment."
In the darkness of night, the car sped through the bustling streets and returned to its lodgings.
The next morning, Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi carried some things to Jiang Dehai's house for a visit. They stayed for several hours before leaving, and no one knows what they talked about.
Jiang Dehai, who was seeing the two of them off, was beaming with joy and couldn't stop smiling.
Those in the capital who received the news all wanted to know what they had talked about that could make the usually serious Old Master Jiang smile so broadly.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the appointed time has arrived.
Lin Xiaoxiao led Xiao Weizhi to the operations command tower on time, and followed the newly appointed commander of the operations department, slowly stepping into the top floor that had been closed for many years.
The city's top officials and the operations department's top officials were anxiously waiting downstairs (the top floor of the command tower is classified, and only a select few are authorized to enter).
After passing through layers of verification, the heavy metal doors slowly opened to both sides, revealing a spacious hall covering an area of approximately 600 square meters.
In the very center, there is a spherical energy-absorbing machine, similar to those often seen in science fiction movies.
This machine occupies more than 100 square meters, and the energy ball in the center emits shimmering light.
Dozens of circular protective strips rotated continuously in a regular pattern, with a pointed device resembling a launcher on the side and a red button about half a meter in size in front of it.
The newly appointed supreme commander was a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance, holding a very special key in his hand.
The key looks like a flat, long strip of metal with only a small notch, and several inconspicuous bumps are hidden in the purplish-gold paint.
The commander wasn't very skilled and searched for a long time next to the red button before finally finding the keyhole hidden beside it.
When the key is inserted, turn it.
The protective bar that was still spinning slowly stopped, disintegrated and floated up automatically. The parts floated in the air in an extremely chaotic yet regular pattern, and the energy ball in the middle seemed to have been split in two by an invisible sword.
It revealed a sphere of light floating in mid-air, emitting a light green glow, resembling the core of a secret realm.
After completing a series of actions, the commander retreated to the doorway and waited quietly.
Lin Xiaoxiao took a few steps toward the location of the light sphere, paused for a few seconds, turned around, took Xiao Weizhi's hand, and pulled him forward together.
The commander raised his hand towards them, about to say that this was against the rules.
Then she thought that according to the rules, Xiao Weizhi should have been waiting downstairs and not qualified to come up to this floor, but in the end, he was brought up by Lin Xiaoxiao... Oh well, it's better to avoid trouble.
Xiao Weizhi smiled and let Lin Xiaoxiao lead him forward.
Before walking towards the ball of light, Lin Xiaoxiao attached energy to her other hand and directly grabbed the ball of light, which was about 20 centimeters in size.
Then, you input your own energy into it. As more energy is inputted, the green on the light sphere is gradually covered by a light gold.
Beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead, and the energy within her body rapidly dissipated, just before vanishing completely.
She quickly began to borrow energy from Lady Luck, continuing to pour energy into it frantically.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes... until three hours later, the ball of light in my hand had completely turned into a pure light gold.
After stopping the energy input, she turned her head and smiled lightly at Xiao Weizhi: "Come on, Weizhi, let me show you something interesting."
Xiao Weizhi's gaze was gentle, remaining fixed on Lin Xiaoxiao: "Mm."
Lin Xiaoxiao gently tossed the ball of light in her hand into the sky. The ball floated steadily about 50 centimeters above her head, emitting faint golden light that enveloped them.
A strong sense of weightlessness washed over them, and the two were transported to a completely dark place. They floated together in mid-air, with the sphere of light that had brought them there above them, and only some semi-circular spheres of light of varying sizes beneath their feet.
These orbs of light emitted multicolored light. Some looked very large, some looked very small, some were close together, and some were far apart... What they had in common was that half of them seemed to be buried in the pitch-black underground.
Xiao Weizhi looked down at the orbs of light, somewhat puzzled: "What are these orbs of light? And where is this place?"
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at the orbs of light with a complicated expression, and chuckled softly, "Guess."
Xiao Weizhi shook his head: "I can't guess."
Lin Xiaoxiao didn't keep them in suspense any longer and explained softly, "The secret realm, and the Black Abyss."
Upon hearing the words "Black Abyss," Xiao Weizhi immediately tensed all his muscles and quickly took out his staff, holding it in his hand.
Lin Xiaoxiao pointed to a large, bluish-green sphere below and continued, "See that? That sphere contains the Dragon Kingdom..."
According to Lin Xiaoxiao's narration: Dragon Kingdom is actually in a super-large SSS-level dungeon, and the black land outside the dungeon is a world corrupted by the Black Abyss.
Other countries are also enveloped in other secret realm spheres. To get there, one can only use special vehicles and special teleportation methods. If one goes the wrong way, one may be swallowed by the Black Abyss...
An SSS-level secret realm can accommodate countless secret realms below SS level, but it cannot accommodate secret realms of the same level. Therefore, the highest level secret realm that appears in the Dragon Kingdom is SS level, but there are a few entrances to SSS-level secret realms.
Xiao Weizhi's breathing became rapid. She forced herself to calm down and asked, "So, the Dragon Kingdom is a secret realm?"
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "Yes, to be precise, this planet has actually been occupied by the Black Abyss. Apart from the secret realm, only a small part of the pure land remains."
The number of people in each country who know this inside story is no more than a hundred; it is a secret of world history.
Of course, this excludes the agents of the gods and the professionals fighting in the Black Abyss (once a professional enters the Black Abyss, the chance of them coming out again is very low; they are on the front lines of the Black Abyss until their last breath).
Ignoring Xiao Weizhi's emotions, Lin Xiaoxiao mobilized the power within her body, forcing out a drop of golden blood from her heart, and maneuvered it to fly rapidly towards the light sphere where the Dragon Kingdom was located below, before merging into it.
[Lucky Goddess Agent - Lin Xiaoxiao, should we bind ourselves to the Dragon Kingdom and designate it as a sanctuary?]
Lin Xiaoxiao softly uttered a single word: "Yes!"
In an instant, the turquoise orb below was dyed pale gold by the drop of golden blood, and countless golden threads floated out from it, connecting to Lin Xiaoxiao's body.
She slowly closed her eyes, relaxed her body, and let the golden threads connect to various parts of her body, forming a link.
At the same time, a light, pale golden rain began to fall within the Dragon Kingdom.
The golden drizzle fell on the earth, and the plants, humans, and monsters that were touched by it all felt as if a warm power was flowing through their bodies, healing some of their hidden injuries, making their fur smoother, and causing their branches and leaves to grow more lush...
A few minutes later, a clear, ethereal voice resounded throughout the entire Dragon Kingdom:
[Congratulations to the Dragon Kingdom for gaining the favor of Lady Luck's agent—***, who has agreed to bestow her protection.]
[All Dragon Kingdom players receive: Lucky Buff (Permanent) (Diamond Tier)]
[Lucky Buff (Permanent) (Diamond Tier): Chinese citizens who possess this buff will permanently gain +5 points to their Luck attribute. May good fortune be with you.]
Some professionals who were about to die in the secret realm were able to escape death by virtue of these 5 points of luck.
Some crafting professionals, teetering on the brink of failure, were suddenly given an extra 5 points of luck, which allowed them to successfully forge their items and advance to the next level...
Everyone was cheering for the unexpected lucky buff:
"Although I don't know the details of this agent and shelter, the permanent +5 luck buff is amazing!"
"My God, a permanent luck buff! Thank you Buddha, thank you God, thank you agent."
Wow, that's awesome!
...
Amid cheers, streams of faith power flowed into Lin Xiaoxiao: 1 point, 2 points, 3 points... 20 million... 30 million...
The sudden surge of faith power awakened the omniscience within her. It sensed it, then slowly closed its eyes again, absorbing the faith power to accelerate its advancement.
As time went by, Lin Xiaoxiao officially established a connection with the destiny of the Dragon Kingdom, and from then on, the two complemented each other.
Amidst everyone's cheers, Ran Bai stood with his arms folded in front of his chest on an open space, gazing at the sky and sighing helplessly: "Even with someone specifically helping to set the conditions, I still failed to negotiate. What a waste of my time."
Behind him was a box more than 2 meters tall. The box was not closed properly, and you could vaguely see a huge block of ice inside.
Ran Bai dragged the suitcase with one hand and slowly walked into a spatial rift, muttering in annoyance, "I'll have to go through procedures to come to the Dragon Kingdom in the future, what a hassle!"
In the sunlight, one could vaguely see Cheng Guangmin, his face deathly pale, encased in ice. His eyes were wide open, as if he had encountered something extremely terrifying and could not close them even in death.
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