Chapter 144: A Good Idea

Betrayal, cold words, abandonment.

Mo Lie recalled the moment when he had risked his life to rescue the citizens of Ansen City, only to fall from a height and then be back‑stabbed by every Beastfolk in the city, including his father and all his relatives.

During that time, a dark, violent rage arose; all Beastfolk deserved to die.

But now, as he looks at Lin Manzhi before him, his mood is unprecedentedly joyful, as if the world in his heart had been destroyed, yet now he possesses an entirely new world.

That makes him linger, and also makes him willing to abandon everything he has to treat her with sincere devotion.

He wants to present the best of everything before her, and to be able to be with the little female at all times.

Mo Lie thought.

In the future he can lay down the identity and past of the Young Master of Ansen City, and start a brand‑new life with Lin Manzhi.

After conquering Kuangsha City, all the miscellaneous affairs will increase; without subordinates to manage the business, Lin Manzhi will certainly worry about these mundane matters.

Then the little female's gaze will spend less time on him; not wanting her to worry so much, he can keep Xiang Sa in Xicheng Qu, and naturally also keep the leaders of other districts.

Mo Lie lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on Lin Manzhi, and said: "Jia Jian, this Beastfolk is sharp; he can trade with distant lands and turn Central City into one of Kuangsha City's top five powers through commerce. I think we should keep him to continue managing the business; it would be more beneficial to us."

Lin Manzhi nodded.

She once again strained to recall the description of Kuangsha City in her mind.

Now that she can change Mo Lie's way of acting, Lin Manzhi thinks that's quite good; at least because of Mo Lie's single change of mind, shifting from full‑scale war to a strategy of cunning, it has avoided countless battles in which Beastfolk would bleed and die.

She arranged the thin parchment on the table, and as she lifted her hand to place it into the wooden box holding the ledger, she suddenly remembered, looked up at Mo Lie: "Jia Jian's Beast Form is an armadillo, right? Then why aren't the leaders of other districts, when faced with this city's wealth, plotting to seize Central City?"

Mo Lie said: "The information my agents gathered is that beside Jia Jian there is a fierce beast whose strength is not inferior to the leaders of other districts, called Xiong Kui, whose Beast Form is a brown bear."

He smiled slightly, his blue eyes cold as the deep sea in a heavy rain, yet his expression showed no darkness: "Coincidentally, I once saw him while I was with the Lord of Sajin City."

Lin Manzhi: "Ah!"

She let out a light exclamation, "Xiong Kui belongs to the Lord of Sajin City, so is the trade route behind Jia Jian actually Sajin City?"

Mo Lie nodded, his smile indulgent: "Exactly."

"So you want to deal with Xiong Kui first," Lin Manzhi thought, recalling now.

The Lord of Sajin City is also a brown bear; Cha Lan, who claims that females can never be tamed, is a male beast who is indifferent to the heroine who can cultivate medicinal plants to treat Spirit Core issues, until the heroine produced honey, which instantly turned this blood‑thirsty, violent brown bear into a big sweet bear.

The bear race loves honey; this preference has persisted even in the genetically evolved male bears. The author wrote that honey contains abundant energy, beneficial for the male bear's Spirit Core energy storage.

Therefore sweet foods attract bears immensely; medicinal plant extracts can be replaced with potions purchasable with gold coins at any time, and sweet‑tasting food is scarce in nature.

The honey‑producing bee tribe belongs to the insect race, mortal enemies of the beast race; separated by a vast ocean, commercial trade is virtually nonexistent.

Xiong Kui is also a brown bear.

Lin Manzhi smiled faintly, saying: "I think I have a way to help you."

Mo Lie was startled for a moment, looked up at Lin Manzhi sitting opposite him.

He saw the other side with a mysterious expression, then proactively moved a chair closer, speaking softly: "Since I arrived at the tribe, I've been trying to cultivate a plant called Agave, which yields water as sweet as honey; it's now almost mature."

Having never heard of a plant called Agave, Mo Lie restrained the urge to pull the other into his arms, a hint of suspicion flashing in his eyes: "Hmm… you mean using this to approach Xiong Kui."

Lin Manzhi confidently nodded, her voice carrying an authoritative affirmation: "Consider it done."

The setting written in the original book is infallible.

Lin Manzhi reached out, grasped Mo Lie's hand on the table, gently pulled him up, and hurriedly led him outside.

Her steps were light, as if there was not a single worry in her heart.

Behind her, Mo Lie let himself be led, his steps slow, his blue eyes showing obvious amusement.

They arrived at the Lettuce Planting Base; Lin Manzhi glanced around, saw no one, immediately released Mo Lie, telling him to fetch a large tank‑like barrel and fill it halfway with soil.

She, while Mo Lie went to get tools, returned her consciousness to her own Space Spirit field.

In that Hundred‑Day Spiritual Field, the Agave had grown to ten meters tall, its sprawling long leaves comparable to a hedgehog's spines; after roughly seven or eight years of cultivation, it was ready for Agave juice extraction.

To obtain the honey water from the Agave, one must first cut off all its leaves with a knife, exposing the round Agave stem; then carve a hole in the stem, from which honey water suitable for brewing will exude.

Such an Agave can yield about four liters of water per day; as long as after each collection you scrape it again with a knife and repeat, the harvesting period can last three to four months.

Lin Manzhi originally wanted to brew wine; now she thinks that in water‑scarce Kuangsha City, selling Agave honey water directly is also an option.

Soon, just as she had a small mechanical puppet vegetable farmer dig up an Agave and bring it back to reality, Mo Lie also returned with his items.

Amid the green of the lettuce, a massive, never‑seen plant emerged from the ground, its gray‑green sword‑shaped leaves looking extremely hard, spreading outward, each leaf edge lined with backward‑hooked serrations—a rare sight of green in the desert.

Lin Manzhi had already decided to sell Agave water; seeing Mo Lie, she told him how to extract the water, and said they'd use this one to test the effect.

Mo Lie, already aware of the little female's special ability, was able to remain expressionless as she suddenly produced a shocking plant.

He first cut off all the excess sword‑leaves of the Agave, leaving a round stem half a person's height and weighing over a hundred jin, then, as Lin Manzhi instructed, planted it in the sand.

Lin Manzhi stood aside.

She took the watering pipe from the lettuce rack, intending to water the Agave later with water infused with Space Spirit, and while waiting said: "Planting it entirely in this wooden barrel won't work; let's build a second planting base with actual soil."

Mo Lie lowered his gaze, his broad shoulders and back moving as he planted the Agave; under his clothes faint muscle lines showed, and even a simple planting gave a top‑tier visual pleasure.