Chapter 354: Secret Information

After handling the matter of the Blood Secret Corporation, it was time to deal with Dannika's affairs.

Looking at the distracted Daelei employee, Li Ang asked curiously, "What's your relationship with that person just now?"

At the sound of his voice, Dannika snapped back to reality.

She scratched her cheek, then replied in an extremely complex tone: "It was Christine who turned me into a vampire."

"?"

The two people and the plant in the room all perked up their ears.

At this moment, Dannika had already slipped into memory.

Her expression grew distant as she began recounting her past: "I wasn't always a vampire—I was just an ordinary human."

"On our planet, everyone must pay blood taxes regularly to support those vampires."

Hearing this, Lu Ke froze in surprise: "Does the Federation not intervene?"

Though he didn't know what blood taxes were, the name alone made it clear they were no good thing.

"The Federation?" Dannika let out a laugh laced with mockery. "The Federation doesn't care about ordinary people who aren't even non-citizen status, let alone when those vampires rarely kill anyone."

"After all, blood taxes are merely to satisfy their appetites. Under the Lord's transformation, those vampires don't even need blood to sustain life."

As she spoke, she couldn't help shaking her head.

Not wanting to dwell further on the topic, Dannika continued: "During one blood tax payment, Christine set her sights on me—and turned me into a blood kin."

She let out a self-deprecating chuckle: "Call me blood kin, but I'm really just a blood servant."

"To be honest, everyone is the Lord's blood servant."

This view aligned perfectly with Li Ang's current understanding of the Blood Secret Corporation—this vampire clan resembled nothing so much as an extension of the Lord's power, much like his simulated servitors.

"As for how I escaped—"

"It's simple: talent."

"During the three-year leave, I seized the chance to flee to Colony 9527, broke free from the blood pact, and at that time, no one on Colony 9527 cared about my origins."

The universe is vast, full of wonders.

Li Ang was only slightly surprised by Dannika's talent for breaking the blood pact.

After briefly explaining the events, Dannika's mood seemed to lift slightly: "That's the situation. I'll be leaving in a few days—it'll spare you trouble."

"That's unnecessary," Li Ang countered the Daelei employee. "Even without you, the Plant Union and the Blood Secret Corporation will inevitably clash."

Compared to what he planned to do next, Dannika's presence was a trivial nuisance.

"Is that appropriate?"

Dannika hesitated for a moment.

As a former employee of the Blood Secret Corporation, no one in the room understood better than her just how terrifying that vampire corporation truly was.

Hearing this, Li Ang shook his head slightly: "You've already been spotted. There's no chance to escape now—better to stay here."

He was certain the Blood Secret Corporation would send people to watch Dannika—after all, several vampires were already surveilling the Viceroy's mansion from afar.

Sensing those revolting auras, Li Ang's eyes flickered with coldness.

He had already dispatched synthetic humans to deal with them. How dare these vampires act so brazenly on his territory?

Dannika, unaware of what was happening outside the Viceroy's mansion, froze upon hearing Li Ang's words.

After a moment, the Daelei employee changed the subject: "What are you planning to do next?"

"Keep them dangling," Li Ang said, since everyone present was trusted. "You'll need to handle things for a while until the updated Clear 3 model rolls out."

"If market feedback is good, we can talk cooperation with Ma Ding."

After obtaining Orte's corpse, the yield issue of the Clear Tree had essentially been resolved.

The Clear Trees Li Ang cultivated now combined traits of the Divine Tree and Orte, capable of absorbing planetary energy to transform their surroundings.

Of course, they had many flaws—after all, they were merely byproducts of his research into Orte and the Divine Tree—but sufficient as fruit trees.

With the yield problem solved, the next step was expanding the market.

Fortunately, thanks to the prior bundling with Morabiss Star tourism tickets, sales in nearby star systems were no concern.

As for distribution channels, Lu Ke had secured them through his father's connections—this young master had handled these matters quite well.

After all, though he was undervalued in the Viceroy's mansion, that was only due to his position—his education had been perfectly sound.

Due to the Plant Union's unusual corporate structure, Li Ang only needed to assign tasks to the three people present.

Papachi was, strictly speaking, an observer; the real workers were her mother and the clan chief of the Jingtie Trees.

But these two were not mobile, so unless it was major, Papachi could handle most things herself.

With tasks assigned, Lu Ke and the others gradually left the conference room, leaving only Li Ang alone.

He looked at the empty conference room and sighed inwardly.

'Finally, things are on track.'

After months of effort, the Plant Union had finally taken on the shape of an interstellar corporation. If they continued steadily, there was no reason they couldn't become a vast conglomerate spanning multiple star domains.

Just as Li Ang marveled at the nascent form of his power, his expression suddenly froze.

Without hesitation, he vanished from the conference room in an instant.

'It succeeded!'

……

Three days passed like this.

During this time, Christine had come with a new contract, but Lu Ke and the others had fended her off—she hadn't even seen Li Ang.

The vampire found this frustrating; though she could crush these second-tier ants at will, business wasn't done that way.

At least not while the two sides hadn't yet torn off the mask.

Through this period of contact, Christine had gained a rough understanding of Li Ang.

It's hard to pin down, and the divine dragon shows only its head, never its tail.

Even if her surveillance subordinates are far away, they'll appear before her half-dead within half an hour.

After repeating this several times, the blonde big waves gave up.

She could show up in person, but that would be too undignified and unnecessary.

"Sorry, but from our perspective, your company's terms still lack sincerity."

At that moment, a voice pulled Christine's thoughts back to reality.

She stared at the odd trio before her and slightly narrowed her eyes: "Is that so? But this is already the best I could secure."

"Then there's no point continuing the discussion." Dania yawned and tossed the contract back casually. "Please leave, my lord Christine."

Glancing at the contract scattered before her, Christine slowly lost her smile.

After a pause, the vampire spoke with a cold, smiling face: "Your wings have truly grown strong, little Dania, you…"

But before she could finish, Lu Ke interrupted: "Save the threats. Ms. Christine is here to do business, isn't she?"

Interrupted, Christine fell silent.

Seeing this, the two subordinates beside the blonde big waves immediately moved to act—but she raised a hand to stop them: "Heh, you're right, kid."

As she spoke, she signaled her subordinates to collect the contracts scattered on the table: "I'll do my best to negotiate better terms with my superiors."

Doing business is like this—bickering is unavoidable.

Thus, though the trio's attitude annoyed Christine, she forced herself to hold back.

Of course, this was only the surface reason; the deeper reason was

Christine glanced at the white-haired man sitting in the corner scrolling through a communication device, and the golden-haired man beside him, eyes closed in meditation, and her eyes darkened slightly.

'Fourth Tier.'

She hadn't expected the planetary Viceroy to have hidden such a card.

The white-haired man was manageable—his aura suggested he'd only recently entered the Fourth Tier—but the golden-haired man stirred a flicker of threat in her.

But strength wasn't the key; the key was what these two represented.

The Blood Secret Company's intelligence had a gap—the target's background was far more terrifying than recorded, and these two sudden Fourth Tier individuals were proof.

'Tch.'

Christine felt a headache coming. If this was the case, resolving the Plant Union issue in the short term was impossible—unless my lord Kaeus came in person.

But as an executive of the Blood Secret Company's Bar System Cluster, he wouldn't easily turn his gaze toward Morabis, such a backwater planet.

Thinking of this, Christine took a slow breath to steady her emotions: "Then let's end here for today. Please await my good news."

With those words, she and her subordinates vanished from the meeting room.

Seeing this, Lu Ke exhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The events of these past two days had been too intense—he never imagined he'd one day stand up to a Fourth Tier powerhouse.

Though Li Ang had instructed them to do so.

With a lingering sense of dread, Lu Ke mentally grumbled: 'Let's hope we don't have to do this again.'

Fortunately, his good brother had lent support, sparing them from going in blind.

Thinking of this, Lu Ke stole a glance toward the corner—but the pair who had been sitting there had vanished without a trace.