Chapter 3037

Zhao Tan 【Zhao Chi, you don't need to be so guarded around us, we're just having a normal chat】

Zhao Tan 【His Highness Zhao Quan wants to talk to you personally. I'll set up a temporary communication group, just the three of us. Is that alright?】

Zhao Tan 【His Highness Zhao Quan says two female supervisors from the Ruby Chamber of Commerce were captured by the werewolves. One is named Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan, the other is named Xu Qinglian. They seem to be working for you?】

Zhao Tan 【Among them, Xu Qinglian is already dead, but Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan is still alive. His Highness Zhao Quan can rescue her. The supplies she purchased for you can't be saved, but her life can be saved.】

Zhao Tan 【His Highness Zhao Quan has no additional conditions, he just wants to chat with you. Is that alright?】

Zhao Chi's brow furrowed.

Xu Qinglian is dead?

So she and Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan were both captured by the werewolves.

No wonder there hadn't been any contact for so many days.

Zhao Chi hadn't had much contact with Xu Qinglian, having only met her once, with no friendship or emotional ties.

But upon hearing the news of her death, Zhao Chi's mood still sank a little.

Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan was likely suffering torment as well.

The werewolves knew they were working for Zhao Chi, so there was basically no good end for them.

But how did the werewolves find out?

Didn't the Ruby Chamber of Commerce have anyone protecting them?

The Ruby Chamber of Commerce is a member of the Abandoned Ones Alliance. Two of their female supervisors were captured and no one did anything?

Zhao Chi didn't have much personal feeling for Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan either, treating her only as a trustworthy business partner.

Besides, the 2 million gold coins wouldn't just vanish; Zhao Chi could go to the Ruby Chamber of Commerce to demand them back.

For Zhao Chi, it didn't matter.

But if nothing was done, Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan would definitely die...

Should he let Zhao Quan rescue her?

Letting Zhao Quan rescue her would mean owing a favor.

Although Zhao Quan could save her, it definitely wouldn't be easy for him either.

The conflict between the nobles and the werewolves was already more intense. If Zhao Quan wanted to rescue Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan, he'd certainly have to pay favors too; it was impossible to just pull her out effortlessly.

Was it worth owing Zhao Quan a favor for a Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan?

Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan didn't have that deep a relationship with him. Rationally, it wasn't worth owing Zhao Quan a favor for her sake.

His conscience could handle not saving her.

But...

Even if his conscience could handle it, he was still furious inside.

This whole thing is bullshit!

Why don't the people from the Abandoned Ones Alliance go? Aren't they powerful too?

Have an outsider like me save her?

Damn it...

Zhao Chi didn't want to get involved.

But just by chatting with Zhao Quan, he could save Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan's life...

Goddamn...

Then let's chat.

If Zhao Quan and the others made excessive demands, Zhao Chi still absolutely couldn't agree.

Agreeing to chat with Zhao Quan was already the greatest effort Zhao Chi could make for Yin Shopkeeper Wanyan.

That's that then!

Zhao Chi 【Alright, Zhao Tan, how should I address you now?】

Zhao Tan 【Really?! You agreed? Just call me by my name. I'll set up the communication group then】

Almost instantly.

Zhao Chi received a system notification:

【Zhao Tan has invited you to join "Temporary Call Group No. LS937122211293". Do you accept?】

【Accept】

Soon, Zhao Chi appeared in the new communication group.

Zhao Tan 【Your Highness Zhao Quan, Zhao Chi is here】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Heh~ I see. Getting a word with you is really not easy these days, Zhao Chi. Worthy of being Yao Laohu's right-hand man, quite the big shot now, aren't you】

Zhao Tan 【Your Highness Zhao Quan...】

Prince Zhao Quan 【I know, I know. I'm just joking with Zhao Chi as an old acquaintance. He won't mind, right, Zhao Chi?】

Yao Laohu?

Is he talking about Yao Feng?

It should be her.

So she has that kind of nickname among other people.

Zhao Chi 【It's fine, Your Highness Zhao Quan. What did you want to talk about?】

In this world, "Your Highness" is merely a form of address for status, similar to "Captain," "Supervisor," or "Clan Leader."

It's a relatively polite honorific, not a self-degrading form of flattery.

So Zhao Chi addressing Zhao Quan this way carried no inner reluctance.

After all, Zhao Quan was over forty years old, and was currently the royal clan leader of the Holy Flame Family.

Being polite is just pleasantries.

Prince Zhao Quan 【There's a lot to talk about. First, thank you for lending a hand when the battle broke out. Both Zhao Tan and I were saved by you. We owe you a great favor, so thank you first.】

Zhao Chi 【……No need. You gave me a Gold Treasure Chest, so we're already even. No one owes anyone anything.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Haha, a Gold Treasure Chest? At the time I was only the fourth heir, broke as hell, so that was all I could give you.】

Zhao Chi 【A Gold Treasure Chest was plenty.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【No, no, that's nothing worth mentioning. But this battle did have one benefit — it let those werewolves slaughter my grandfather, my uncle, and my father. My sister was killed by them too. And now the Holy Flame Family is mine. Hahahaha…】

This Zhao Quan…

He actually sounds happy about it?

Zhao Quan was previously the fourth heir.

From what he's saying, his grandfather was the clan head, the heirs ahead of him were his uncle and father, plus there was a sister.

They're all dead, and now Zhao Quan has become the head of the Holy Flame Family.

Is that worth being happy about?

The ones who died were all his family.

Happy that his father died?

Prince Zhao Quan 【Alright, to make it short, I came to you for one purpose — to specially grant you entry into the Holy Flame Family. If you agree, I can specially grant your entire Zhao Clan entry into the Holy Flame Family, and elevate the status of your whole clan. We all share the surname Zhao anyway, so it's about the same. What do you say?】

Zhao Chi 【No need.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Haha, you reject before I've even stated the conditions? Won't you even hear them out?】

Zhao Chi 【No need to hear. I'm doing fine in the World-Breaking Army. If this is what you came to discuss, then we can end it here.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Zhao Chi, you're still young. There are many things you don't understand, and it's easy to be blinded by what's on the surface. I know you have prejudice against the nobility, but I don't blame you. There are indeed plenty of trash within the nobility — that's only natural. But more than half of what you've experienced and heard about wasn't done by the nobility themselves, but by the families that serve as the nobility's dogs. You should know that, right?】

Zhao Chi 【That's none of my business. It's true that many of those things were done by those people, but they could only throw their weight around because the nobility backed them. You can't wash your hands of it.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Ha, well said. But today isn't about discussing that with you. Now the Holy Flame Family is under my helm, and I'm nothing like them.】

Zhao Chi 【Maybe.】

Prince Zhao Quan 【Not maybe — it's certain. I won't hide it from you: although I'm now the head of the family, I've lost a lot of usable hands. Besides the losses to our royal Zhao Clan, the other affiliated families have also suffered severe casualties. Right now is precisely when we need to expand our ranks, so joining the Holy Flame Family now would be sending coal in the snow. You understand the weight of that, right?】

Without Zhao Quan saying it, Zhao Chi had already guessed plenty.

The nobility's losses were certainly not small.

They essentially suffered two blows in this great battle.

The first was the rebels plus werewolves launching a full-scale surprise attack while they were unprepared.

It struck those pleasure-seeking nobles hard out of nowhere, leaving them completely stunned.

The losses from that alone were already huge.

Later, the werewolves fully reinforced and went all out to annihilate them, and the nobility suffered a second devastating blow.