Chapter 153: Why Does My Professional Panel Have an Anime Art Style?

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At this moment, in Li Ang's eyes, Lu Ke had transformed from the stereotypical pampered rich kid into an incomparably generous patron.

After a moment of silence, Li Ang spoke up: "Then thank you very much, Young Master Lu Ke."

"It's nothing."

Lu Ke put his sunglasses back on, then stood up and prepared to leave.

Of course Li Ang couldn't just let him slip away like that; he still had some things he wanted to ask.

"Young Master Lu Ke, please wait a moment."

Saying so, Li Ang took out the fire crystal dagger he had crafted a few days earlier.

He'd been hanging onto this thing for several days with no one interested, so he might as well use this chance to draw closer to the young master in front of him.

After Lu Ke took the dagger and played with it for a while, he sat back down on the sofa: "As long as it's not something too secretive, this young master can tell you."

"May I ask how Young Master Lu Ke came to know Bureau Chief Ma Kusi?"

Li Ang poured a glass of water and set it in front of Lu Ke as he asked.

This question was merely a lead-in; it wasn't what Li Ang truly wanted to ask.

Hearing this, Lu Ke shrugged: "His mother and my father had some dealings, and after a few back-and-forths they got to know each other."

"Ma Kusi has it tough too. His mother is a Fourth Energy Level powerhouse, but his father is just an ordinary person, so he isn't very well-regarded within the family."

"Otherwise he wouldn't have come alone to a godforsaken place like Colony Star 9527."

At this point, this young master from the Viceroy's residence seemed to recall something and fell silent for a moment.

Seeing him in such a state, and combined with his relationship with Ma Kusi, Li Ang's gaze flickered.

'Looks like this young master isn't having an easy time either.'

Although he didn't know exactly how many children the planetary Viceroy had, he figured it was certainly more than just Lu Ke.

And Lu Ke currently gave Li Ang the impression of being nothing more than a First Energy Level weakling, so he probably wasn't very well-regarded within the Viceroy's residence either.

He and Ma Kusi were fellow sufferers, no wonder the two of them could get along.

At this moment, Lu Ke had his emotions under control, and asked with a grin: "Anything else you want to ask?"

"Does Young Master Lu Ke know City Lord Brando?"

This was what Li Ang truly wanted to ask.

Since he suspected Brando was the mastermind behind the smuggling case, he naturally had to start gathering intelligence.

Hearing the three words 'Brando,' Lu Ke stroked his chin and began to think.

After quite a while, he finally spoke: "Brando, huh."

"That old man rarely shows his face. Even on my father's birthday, he basically only ever sends a gift over."

"But I remember he's already very old; most likely he's gotten so old he can barely walk."

However, upon hearing Lu Ke's words, Li Ang slightly furrowed his brow.

Based on the dealings he'd had with the man a couple of days ago, that Brando didn't give Li Ang the impression Lu Ke described of being so old he could barely walk.

Even though the man kept self-deprecatingly calling himself an old man.

"Thank you, Young Master Lu Ke, for answering my questions."

Hearing this, Lu Ke stood up once more: "It's nothing."

Saying so, he walked toward the door, tossing back a line as he went: "The payment will be delivered in a couple of days."

Li Ang watched this young master from the Viceroy's residence get into the vehicle that had been waiting outside, then stepped forward and closed the door.

He had to admit today's gains were quite substantial.

Setting aside the spatial equipment that hadn't arrived yet, just that unknown metallic mineral alone had been a great harvest for Li Ang.

'As expected, doing business still requires connections.'

'With this first deal, my alchemy workshop can finally be considered open for business.'

With this thought, Li Ang logged onto the trading website and took the fire crystal dagger off the shelf.

Heh, yesterday you couldn't be bothered with me, but today I'm out of your league!

Two days later.

Just as Li Ang was hiding in the basement constructing his alchemy workshop, a faint knocking sound suddenly came from upstairs.

'The spatial equipment Lu Ke mentioned has arrived?'

With this thought, he immediately headed upstairs.

Opening the front door, Li Ang saw a familiar flashy guy in sunglasses leaning against the door frame.

"Master Li, haven't seen you in two days."

"."

Li Ang hadn't expected it to be this young master personally showing up; he stepped aside to let him into the house.

However, as he passed by Li Ang's side, Lu Ke tossed him a simply-styled silver-white ring: "The promised payment."

"Just channel energy into it and you can use it."

Li Ang caught the ring, then immediately used 【Qi Control】 to channel his Qi into the ring.

The very next moment, his spirit sensed an empty space.

'One cubic meter, that's passable.'

Not big, not small.

But for Li Ang's current needs, it was barely enough.

At the very least, it was enough to store some weapons.

Besides, he was only using it as a stopgap; once he learned spatial creation, a spatial equipment of this capacity would be of no use to him.

"Young Master Lu, what brings you here today?"

Li Ang put on the ring and poured Lu Ke a glass of water.

"I've got nothing else to do, so I came by for a stroll," Lu Ke shrugged. "The flight back to Central City isn't for two more days."

"I thought someone like you, a Young Master, would have his own flying vehicle."

Li Ang was surprised—he hadn't expected Lu Ke to have to squeeze onto a commercial flight like an ordinary citizen.

Though frankly, even ordinary citizens on Colony Star 9527 couldn't afford one anyway.

After all, with nothing but bugs outside, ordinary flying vehicles couldn't safely reach their destination.

But this further confirmed Li Ang's earlier suspicion about Lu Ke.

The man clearly wasn't favored in the Zongdufu Society.

Li Ang didn't believe the Zongdufu Society could lack even a single flying vehicle.

After all, according to the information he'd checked, to become Viceroy of a backwater planet like Colony Star 9527, one needed at least Third-Level strength.

In the Federation's prosperous star regions, it was even more extreme—you needed at least Fourth or Fifth Level just to be eligible to compete.

Watching Lu Ke's face darken on the sofa, Li Ang chose to drop the subject.

"If you have any friends, you could introduce me to them."

"I'd do that even if you didn't say anything."

Lu Ke snorted, still annoyed by Li Ang's earlier words.

But seeing this behavior, Li Ang's gaze flickered.

'Could this dumb kid be suffering from emotional neglect because of what I did earlier?'

After all, their only interaction had been the last transaction—Lu Ke had no reason to visit in person over just one space item.

Congratulations, Li Ang guessed right.

Though Lu Ke was never short of sycophants around him, they were all useless wastes.

He'd met plenty of craftsmen, but most only pretended to respect him.

Not to mention someone like Li Ang, an elite craftsman.

At that moment, a sharp vibration suddenly came.

Lu Ke lost his balance and toppled onto the sofa.

"Your bugs are too bold here."

He grumbled, then sat upright again.

Lu Ke had visited many frontier cities, but he'd never seen a bug swarm as rampant as the one in Frontier City 66.

You could say it was normal here: a minor tremor every two days, a major one every three.

Hearing his words, Li Ang thought inwardly:

'So the bug swarm here really is an anomaly?'

Clearly, the problem lay with that unknown New Star bug hiding somewhere.

"By the way, Li Ang, why don't you come back to Central City with me? It's much safer there."

Before Lu Ke finished speaking, a deafening roar reached both their ears.

The Zongdufu Society's Young Master instantly grew tense: "What happened?"

At that moment, Li Ang hurried to the window and looked out—he saw the same burrowing worm from before inside the frontier city.

And more importantly,

There were four worms near him right now.

'Are they coming for me?'

Though he hated to admit it, Li Ang felt the truth was almost certainly this.

He rushed back to the basement, gathered the anti-tank cannon and ammunition he'd prepared earlier, and stowed them inside the newly acquired space ring, then returned to the first floor.

Lu Ke had now figured out roughly what was happening and was scowling as he sent a message through his communication device.

"Young Master Lu, stay here. If things get bad, hide in my basement—it's my workshop, and it can hold off some bugs easily."

Seeing Li Ang prepare to leave, the Young Master quickly called out: "What are you doing going out now, you're just a craftsman!"

"..." Li Ang stared at Lu Ke with a strange expression. "Didn't Ma Kusi tell you my profession isn't craftsman?"

Seeing Lu Ke's blank look, Li Ang smiled: "My profession is combat."

"..."

Lu Ke froze in stunned silence.

Ma Kusi had only told him about Li Ang's identity as a craftsman, nothing else—after all, it was just a business introduction.

And Lu Ke, as a idle playboy, clearly had no intelligence network of his own.

So until just now, he'd assumed Li Ang was merely an alchemical craftsman.

Before he could react, Li Ang had already pushed open the door and stepped outside.

One more chapter coming soon