Chapter 260: The Wicked Exploiting Class

Watching the unnamed tree struggling under the control of the Reincarnation Eye, Li Ang calmly extended his right hand.

Since the other side refused to speak, he would just look for himself.

'But can the Reincarnation Eye read a tree's memories?'

Li Ang was momentarily uncertain, and he didn't know what organ these plants used to store memories.

With the mindset of giving it a try, he pressed his hand against the tree before him, its surface gleaming with a metallic sheen.

As Li Ang activated the Reincarnation Eye, the world before him plunged into darkness, then a massive tree—similar in shape to the one standing before him—materialized.

"Who are you?"

A sound like metal scraping rang out; Li Ang raised an eyebrow at the sight before him.

He hadn't expected his first "soul-searching" to be caught in the act.

"Hah."

Li Ang did not answer the giant tree's question; he directly ended the memory extraction.

The giant tree stared at the sudden disappearance of the figure, falling silent for a moment.

"Hedi's helper?"

After a while, the low scraping sound returned; recalling the indistinct figure just now, the giant tree felt a growing sense of unease.

Aside from the left eye with its concentric patterns, the only other thing that struck him as unusual was the peculiar aura.

It attracted him, yet also repelled him for no apparent reason.

In short, it was both fragrant and foul.

"What a strange creature."

"I should inform Lord Duonuo."

After making the decision, the giant tree fell still, as if falling asleep.

On the other side.

After stopping the memory extraction, Li Ang's vision returned to normal.

He glanced at the motionless tree hanging in midair, shook his head slightly, then released his control.

Boom—

The moment the tree hit the ground, its companions dragged it back with vines.

At that moment, a twenty-meter-long Clearwater Tree arrived at the shore and entered the water tank Li Ang had made.

Watching the enormous Clearwater Tree vanish into the tiny water tank, the trees on the shore trembled.

Soon, a voice came from inside the tank: "Mr. Li, did they offend you?"

Hearing this, Li Ang waved his hand slightly to indicate he was fine—after all, a group of Second-Tier plants meant nothing to him now.

Seeing this, the tank turned toward the metallic-gleaming trees: "Jingtie Tree Clan? What are you here for?"

Though it was a synthesized voice, Li Ang could tell the two sides were not on good terms.

Faced with the Clearwater Tree's accusation, the Jingtie Trees froze in place.

It wasn't that they didn't want to answer—it was because their group leader lay motionless on the ground.

Seeing this scene, Li Ang's face lit up with interest.

Compared to the Clearwater Trees, these Jingtie Trees were plainly rigid; even Papachi, a Clearwater Tree who hadn't yet reached adulthood, already behaved nearly like a normal human.

Recalling what had happened during his memory extraction, Li Ang formed a rough hypothesis.

The silence didn't last long; the Jingtie Tree whose memory Li Ang had just read gradually regained consciousness.

As if remembering something unpleasant, he shuddered, then silently moved away from Li Ang's position, and using a sound device on his pot base, said: "Lord Duonuo ordered us to collect this year's Clearwater Fruit quota."

Upon hearing this, the Clearwater Tree's tone turned hostile: "It's still over three months until this year's submission deadline, isn't it?"

As the two sides spoke, Papachi had already piloted her small water tank to Li Ang's side: "These Jingtie Trees are so rude! Mr. Li, are you alright?"

She completely ignored that the Jingtie Trees were the ones being victimized.

Li Ang shook his head slightly, then asked: "Do you have to surrender your Clearwater Fruit every year?"

"Yes, most of our clan's Clearwater Fruit is taken each year; the remainder is stored to entertain guests, but it's still over three months until the agreed date."

Papachi made no attempt to hide the truth.

Hearing her words, Li Ang finally understood why he'd never seen Clearwater Fruit on the market.

At that moment, the lead Jingtie Tree spoke: "We're taking it now, and we'll take it again in three months."

"It's Lord Duonuo's order."

Lord Duonuo?

Hearing that name, Li Ang raised an eyebrow—if he remembered correctly, that was the Viceroy of the Morabiss Star System.

And now demanding two shipments in a row.

Wasn't this forcing the Clearwater Tree Clan to hand over every last bit of their remaining fruit?

The Clearwater Tree Clan isn't limited to Hedi for fruiting—other adult Clearwater Trees can bear fruit too.

Over these past few days, Li Ang had tasted Clearwater Fruit of various qualities; aside from taste differences, only Hedi's fruit enhanced mental strength—the rest merely soothed the spirit and replenished mental energy.

Still, that was quite good enough; Li Ang thought it would sell like crazy as a functional beverage.

Pure juice, zero additives—easily outclassing Red Bull from before his reincarnation.

As Li Ang let his thoughts wander, the adult Clearwater Tree left the tank and swam toward the center of the lake.

Clearly, he needed to inform Hedi of what the Jingtie Trees had said.

The shore fell silent.

The few Jingtie Trees huddled together, clearly terrified of Li Ang.

Meanwhile, Papachi kept circling Li Ang, as if guarding him.

Although if it really came to a fight, it was still unclear who would be protecting whom.

After quite a while, the Clear-Bitter tree that had left earlier reappeared, then pushed a few rings through its vines to the front of those Jing Iron trees.

Seeing this, the leading Jing Iron tree extended a vine to touch the rings, then said through a sound-emitting device: "Lady Hedi's fruits, we want them too."

Hearing these words, before the adult Clear-Bitter tree in the water could say anything, Papachi could no longer hold back.

"It's still several months before Mother truly bears fruit—Lord Duonuo is being utterly unreasonable, isn't he?!"

Whoosh—!

A vine, glinting with a cold, hard sheen in the sunlight, stopped in front of the water vat.

Li Ang, floating in midair, said with a forced smile: "Bullying a child isn't really appropriate, is it?"

Although Papachi was 64 and Li Ang was 23, in his eyes the other party really did count as a child.

The Jing Iron tree slowly retracted its vine and shrank back a little.

And the adult Clear-Bitter tree on the bank, upon sensing this scene, forcibly restrained the branches it had already extended above the water, and once again vanished without a trace.

A moment later, the previously calm water surface gradually stirred up ripples, and then a thick root burst through the surface.

At the same time, a gentle voice rang out: "May I ask how many of my fruits Lord Duonuo requires?"

"One thousand."

"Very well, please wait a moment."

Li Ang hadn't expected Lady Hedi to be so easy to talk to—whatever the other party asked for, she simply gave.

Recalling that towering tree standing between the mountain ranges, he now had a rough idea of the Viceroy of planet Morabis's strength.

'Fourth Energy Level, then.'

Otherwise there was no explaining Lady Hedi's current behavior.

Just as he was thinking this, a thinner vine had already placed a ring on the bank.

After the leading Jing Iron tree inspected it and found no errors, it buried all the rings containing Clear-Bitter fruits into its own flowerpot, then turned and left without the slightest reluctance.

Not long after this group of plant-people had departed, Lady Hedi's voice rang in Li Ang's ear: "Thank you for protecting Papachi just now."

"It was nothing."

Li Ang didn't think much of it, but Lady Hedi's next words made his expression freeze.

"Apologies, sir, but the transaction contents we previously agreed upon may need a slight revision—the fruits remaining in the clan can only complete three more transactions."

Clearly, the sudden tribute had completely drained the Clear-Bitter tree clan dry.

Though Li Ang was somewhat helpless about this, he didn't say much more.

After all, every time he completed A finished product, Lady Hedi would pay for one, so for him it merely meant earning a little less.

However, counting the three water vats not yet delivered, Li Ang had this time obtained a full two hundred Clear-Bitter fruits produced by Lady Hedi—a quantity sufficient for him to conduct his research while also selling some off.

Thinking of this, he said: "It's alright, Lady Hedi, I can understand."

Hearing Li Ang say this, Lady Hedi breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, then I won't disturb you any further, sir."

She was truly worried that this matter would sour their relationship; fortunately, it seemed the other party wasn't angry.

After handling the unexpected incident, Lady Hedi manipulated her roots to roll up Papachi—who was deeply mired in an inescapable hero-saves-the-'damsel' complex—and carried him off.

And at this point Li Ang no longer felt like resting; moreover, with only two water vats left to complete this order, he prepared to work overtime and rush out the remaining two vats.

Still, having the order cut in half left him a little annoyed.

'Tch, those wretched exploiters.'