Chapter 460: Wealth

"Is Master Pi Fu available? We are representatives of the Saudi PIF Public Investment Fund, and wish to discuss cooperation with you."

"Let me go first! We are the Qatar QIA Investment Authority."

"Cough cough, Master Pi Fu, do you remember me? I'm Cliff from the 【Mercury Alloy】 Guild, now representing BlackRock Asset Management. You're an outstanding transcendent and entrepreneur—BlackRock is eager to walk alongside you toward the pinnacle and push you to even greater heights."

Several days later, morning found Zhu Xing Zhen Tai's entrance still packed with people; a crowd of business elites in suits and ties blocked the door completely, making it impossible for ordinary customers to squeeze in.

Inside Zhu Xing Zhen Tai's office, Hui Yu wore noise-canceling headphones and a massage eye mask, reclining in a specially reinforced executive chair, listening to a radio program.

Li Cheng remained in the 3D warehouse, wearing protective gloves, continuing his unshakable routine of tightening screws on severely damaged six-legged self-propelled artillery.

This London trip was truly a case of ten years tightening screws unnoticed, one moment of lightning-fast elbow strike making the whole world know.

The vast majority of player forums were debating this event, with conspiracy theories and urban legends flying side by side, "inside information" blending with martial arts world legends.

On the communication panel, many previous friends had sent messages, probing indirectly for information.

Li Cheng's response? Hmm. No response. Read but not replied.

According to the magical contract signed with the Zhong Lou, all conflict and disputes must cease.

The Zhong Lou's high command cannot, in any way, pursue or harass Master Pi Fu regarding this matter. In exchange, Li Cheng will provide the antidote to the 【Primordial Epoch】 virus, to be distributed across all of London by the GOC.

The commotion was immense—undoubtedly the most far-reaching event in the past two years affecting the real world from a battlefield.

To suppress the news, the GOC deployed a fleet of aerial airships and dispatched airborne troops to seize control of London's key transportation routes.

Taking advantage of the citywide blackout and the not-yet-restored network communications, they sealed off the city.

The GOC alerted all major global media, telling the public in other regions that "London experienced its first major earthquake in over four hundred years."

Simultaneously, GOC agents swiftly moved in, dispersing the 【Primordial Epoch】 virus antidote and memory-erasing agents via artificial rain and aircraft spraying.

The memory-erasing agents targeted primarily neighborhoods where transcendent battles had been witnessed, resetting all eyewitnesses' memories to one day prior.

Afterwards, they told them that due to earthquake damage to London's underground gas pipelines, they had accidentally inhaled toxic gases such as natural gas, causing amnesia.

Once again, natural gas bore the blame.

The entire cleanup operation would take at least two more months, but the GOC wasn't losing—Britain's government had nearly collapsed, forcing it to cede a significant portion of its national sovereignty to the United Nations.

On the forums, some players even considered this event a turning point for human civilization.

For the first time in history, a single transcendent openly challenged one of the UN's five permanent members—and won.

Its significance and far-reaching impact could not be fully grasped from the present vantage point.

For the past ten thousand years, human civilization's conflicts had been between slave and master, landlord and tenant, colonizer and colonized, capitalist and worker—between nations, races, faiths, interests.

No matter how sharp the contradictions or fierce the conflicts, they had always occurred solely among humans.

But London's rainstorm signaled that history had turned a new page—not only were ordinary humans powerless before transcenders, but sovereign nations, once symbols of absolute collective power, now appeared bloated and clumsy before transcenders wielding special violence.

A chasm, silent and absolute, now stretched between ordinary people and transcenders. Some players who thrived on chaos might see this as a great thing—chaos is a ladder; the more turbulent the times, the more obvious their own value and strategic worth.

But more sober players sensed the danger and terror within—should states collapse rapidly and international order shatter instantly into lawless chaos, it would not be good for transcenders at all.

It would swiftly descend into a dark forest where the strong dominate all, where ever-stronger transcenders would oppress both lower-tier transcenders and ordinary people equally.

"Tsk."

Li Cheng clicked his tongue. As the main architect of this event, he had few deep thoughts—what truly concerned him was.

"This tank is so damn hard to fix!"

Fifty to sixty severely damaged six-legged self-propelled artillery units all required manual repair—screwing until his hands smoked.

Li Cheng lay on a skateboard, pushed off the ground with both hands, slid out from under the vehicle, and stood up, walking toward a giant aquarium.

The bodies of the Many, dismantled into multiple pieces by the Puppet Disassembler, floated in separate aquariums filled with nutrient solution; each limb retained severe mutations.

On a microscopic level, the Many's immune system was working furiously to eradicate cells twisted and distorted by the intravenous injection of 1000ml of Xuanlei Qilin blood.

Tumors formed and vanished, vanished and reformed; the most severely affected areas looked like clusters of grapes hanging grotesquely.

"Many, you've worked hard. Here's a little extra meal."

Li Cheng, moved, tapped the aquarium glass and poured in a bucket of glucose and animal serum.

Besides the self-propelled artillery and mechanical Many, his long-time companion 【Ten Perfect Tonics】 was exhausted, and the last 【Summoning Technique: Estate Guard】 had been consumed—massive losses.

Yet correspondingly, the gains were unprecedented.

Li Cheng turned to look at the corner of the warehouse, piled high with loot seized by Hui Yu from the British Museum—this girl had, en route to hunting the Judge and Thompson, taken a detour to the British Museum.

Dunhuang murals, the Rosetta Stone aiding the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, fifth-century BCE sculptures from the Parthenon, ninth-century BCE Assyrian human-headed winged lions.

The former Empire on Which the Sun Never Set had collected over eight million cultural relics through global colonization, plunder, and illegal acquisition.

Perhaps knowing they were too hated, the British authorities had dared not store these artifacts in Lü Street—this worked to Hui Yu's advantage, allowing her to carry an automated warehouse and sweep through the museum, matching the offline TikTok videos of key museum artifacts.

Cosmic justice never fails—robbing a bank is nowhere near as profitable as robbing the British Museum!

Li Cheng looked at the corner, overflowing with treasures, and sighed sincerely: "Raised Hui for a thousand days, used Hui in one moment."

Although by Toy Factory standards, only artifacts of major historical significance could be squeezed for concepts, accumulation over time would more than suffice to replenish the Ten Perfect Tonics and Estate Guards he'd lost!

Artifacts that yielded no concepts or strange points could be returned to their countries of origin.

Like Greece, Egypt, Italy, India, and others.

Local players there would gladly pay to redeem the relics—the cultural treasures of this world, even identical to those in the script world, were psychologically distinct.

"I made money! I made money! I don't even know how to spend it! Left hand, buy a Nokia; right hand, buy a Motorola~"

Li Cheng thought about treating Hui Yu to chicken legs tonight, humming an old song, feeling the joy of a farmer surveying a bountiful wheat field.

At that moment, the friend panel rang again.