Chapter 493

How did they get here?

Li Cheng felt slightly puzzled; since the London incident, he and the Special Affairs Bureau had maintained a certain tacit understanding—not to contact in public, for the benefit of both sides.

Now that the Special Affairs Bureau had come to him directly, could it be…

That they were here to congratulate Gray Rain on successfully graduating from elementary school?

Li Cheng stepped out of the 3D warehouse, walked off the Zhu Xing Zhen Tai, and greeted the three from the Special Affairs Bureau: "Good morning."

"Where's 'good morning' at?" Su Jie glanced at the weather system simulating nighttime beneath the alley's dome, his eyelid twitching, yet he kept his expression calm as he introduced: "Good morning. This is Director Xing Hechou of the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau."

"Oh, Director Xing? I've heard your name for ages—it's legendary."

Li Cheng shook hands with Xing Hechou; the man's palm, both sides of his index finger, and the heel of his hand bore thick calluses formed over years of firearm use.

Combined with his rigid posture and mental demeanor, he likely had a military or police background before becoming a Player—ordinary people absorbed into Mobile Task Forces after becoming Players undergo short-term, high-intensity training.

"You're too kind. It's you, Master Pi Fu, who's truly young and accomplished."

Flattery costs nothing, especially since the Special Affairs Bureau's database held a complete psychological profile of Master Pi Fu, and Xing Hechou wore a micro earpiece connected to a psychological team.

"Director Xing has a sharp eye for people."

Li Cheng nodded as if he'd found a kindred spirit, unzipped his coat, and revealed inside: a Huawei foldable phone, Huawei wireless earbuds, Huawei smartwatch, Huawei electric car key, and even—damn it—a Huawei electric shaver and hair dryer, each stored in its own pocket.

So this is what you mean by "young and accomplished"?

If I praise you for having the cosmos and oceans in your heart, will you pull out a Samsung Galaxy family bundle?

Just as Li Cheng was about to zip up, *click*—a Samsung flagship phone fell out from an inner lining pocket.

He remained calm, bent down, and picked up the Samsung phone calmly—only for more phones to tumble out: Apple, Xiaomi, Vivo…

"I have reason to believe you prepped all these phones specifically to pull a stunt whenever someone praises you."

Yuan Zhixia and Su Jie's eyes clearly conveyed their sarcasm.

Li Cheng acted as if nothing happened, used a powerful magnet to pull all the phones together, and stored them in the 3D warehouse: "What's this about? Let's discuss it in the office."

The three from the Special Affairs Bureau followed him willingly, passing through the store's shelves into the office.

Pushing open the door, they saw on the left a row of freezers, stacked like frozen meat with troll arms, demon wings, petrified lizard thighs, earth dragon tails, and other fantasy biological organs.

On the right were various cultural relics—like the Sanxingdui bronze masks—destined for the toy factory.

In front lay a pile of empty cardboard boxes; on the right, stacks of study materials: *Mid-Term Exam Interpretation*, *Five Years of Mid-Term Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests*, *New Structural Review for Junior High*.

There was barely space to stand.

"My home's still messy—please, make yourselves at home."

Li Cheng politely said, picked up an old-fashioned thermos from the corner, brewed three cups of tea in enamel mugs, handed them to the Special Affairs Bureau trio, then sat down first inside an empty cardboard box.

"Why are you so practiced at this? Are you some Japanese middle-aged loser who hides his unemployment from his family, pretends to go to work during the day while actually loitering in the park playing Go, and hides in cardboard boxes when he sees someone he knows?!"

Xing Hechou held the enamel mug, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably; Li Cheng's behavior gave him a strange, unsettling sense of déjà vu.

Seeing Xing Hechou about to sit in a cardboard box too, Yuan Zhixia acted decisively, flipped under the box, and pulled out four chairs—Special Affairs Bureau protocol demanded all work leave traces; she refused to have footage of herself sitting in a cardboard box archived in the headquarters database.

"Here's the thing,"

Xing Hechou, seated on the chair, carefully chose his words, first building rapport with Li Cheng: "Miss Cai Anjie is currently at Red Star Orphanage and adapting well. We've assigned three teams of agents for round-the-clock protection to ensure her growth remains undisturbed."

"That's good."

Li Cheng nodded; big guilds' reputation was their substance. The Bell Tower had suffered a massive loss in London in front of the entire world and still hadn't retaliated—any rational faction wouldn't dare stir trouble over it again.

"And," Xing Hechou paused, his gaze flickering to the Sanxingdui bronze mask in the corner, "Master Pi Fu, you possess a high-tier item capable of converting culturally significant relics into equipment, skill scrolls, right?"

"Correct."

Li Cheng admitted openly; in truth, this wasn't even a top-secret matter.

The guild-employed actuaries and analysts had long since quantified the Zhu Xing Zhen Tai's operations—using public data like foot traffic, average customer spend, inventory turnover—to precisely calculate costs and profit margins, fully mapping the shop's business model.

In fact, although Li Cheng had been ruthlessly milking customers—retaining A-grade concepts during refinement and investing B-grade concepts during forging—

Compared to certain guilds' custom-item services, he was already remarkably ethical.

They were truly penny-pinching, squeezing every last drop.

With the aid of actuaries, they specifically targeted transcendentals seeking to complete their power-system puzzles, pricing their services exactly at the player's maximum tolerance threshold, forcing them to become beasts of burden, slaving for game currency and contribution points.

The micro earpiece in Xing Hechou's ear gave him advice; he took a deep breath and said gravely: "The Bureau wants to sign a long-term contract with you. We'll supply you with a steady stream of relics for manufacturing through the Zhu Xing Zhen Tai.

No need to jump the queue entirely—just maintain some spacing between our orders and regular ones."

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow, puzzled: "Huh?"

The Special Affairs Bureau had its own logistics department, established earlier, with high labor productivity and comprehensive capabilities.

Logically, it shouldn't need to rely on a private institution like the Zhu Xing Zhen Tai—whose supply is unstable, output random, and production opaque.

His multi-threaded mental domain fully activated, Li Cheng's thoughts raced: Xing Hechou's "large volume of relics" meant truly massive quantities. Such a critical matter must carry the will of the headquarters.

Partnering with a big guild would shrink his profit margins. Li Cheng said: "My shop is small, with thin margins—I'm afraid I can't…"

Xing Hechou said: "We'll pay a 25% premium over standard orders. The higher the product quality, the higher the premium."

"I'm afraid I can't afford to refuse."

Li Cheng switched his answer without hesitation. Seeing Xing Hechou's barely perceptible sigh of relief, he asked curiously: "If I recall correctly, the Special Affairs Bureau's logistics division is nicknamed 'Industrial Cthulhu'—stronger than Prometheus or European Heavy Industry's manufacturing divisions.

From weapons and armor for Lv5 newbies,

to epic items for Lv35 elites seeking power-system puzzles, they can design and forge them all.

Why come to me?"

"Uh…"

Xing Hechou smiled wryly, pulled a laptop from thin air, and handed it to Li Cheng: "Brother Pi Fu, take a look at this."

On the laptop screen was clearly a PowerPoint file: the first section listed contractual terms, including delivery and payment methods,

the second section covered risk controls, including confidentiality and force majeure,

and the third section was the order requirements.

Li Cheng skimmed the order section at a glance, his pupils contracting sharply.

【Human Infant and Toddler Knowledge and Skill Implantation Learning Device】

【Space Microgravity Environment Mining Drone】

【Atmospheric Modification and Toxin Filtration System Capable of Sustaining One Hundred Thousand Lives】

【High-Speed Gene Sequencing and Adaptive Vaccine Development Platform】

【Artificial Synthetic Nutrient Paste Production Line】

【Cryogenic Hibernation Chamber】

Hundreds of items in total, with few demands for high-quality equipment or props—instead, all were specific, general-purpose items designed to respond to disasters,

Among them, explicitly marked to incorporate transcendent power.

Li Cheng silently slid the touchpad; in the real world, domestic biotechnological methods already existed to synthesize starch from carbon dioxide—the 【Artificial Synthetic Nutrient Paste Production Line】 could be implemented outright.

The Special Affairs Bureau commissioned him to manufacture it, explicitly requiring transcendent power, to distinguish it from conventional technological artifacts. There was only one possibility.

They were making a backup.

A backup capable of carrying hundreds of thousands, millions, even hundreds of millions of humans away from Earth aboard a doomsday ark.