Leaving Earth

Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen exchanged glances.

“Lord Mingyu, I have a question.” Hong looked at the burly man before him. “If we join the Virtual Universe Company, what will be required of us, and what are our obligations?”

“Initially, when you are weak, the company is nurturing you. Therefore, management is very strict! You must obey company orders, undergo training, face life-and-death trials, and so on. However, as your strength increases, your freedom will continuously expand. Cosmic Level, Domain Lord, Sector Lord—the stronger you are, the more freedom you’ll have, only needing to act at critical moments,” Mingyu stated directly.

Luo Feng and the other two hesitated.

Strict management?

Hong and Lei Shen, both founders of Martial Arts Halls, could hardly tolerate being strictly managed by others.

“During the nurturing period, when we are weak, can we not act freely?” Hong asked.

Luo Feng and Lei Shen also looked at the burly man.

“You’ll have holidays, specified holidays.” The burly man said solemnly, “The nurturing period for the weak is very strict; you must understand this! Holidays? You can meet and chat with family and friends through the virtual universe network, so holidays don’t really hold much meaning.”

Hong, Lei Shen, and Luo Feng looked at each other and shook their heads.

Unacceptable!

Nurturing period? Perhaps the entire Planetary Level, in the Virtual Universe Company, was considered a ‘nurturing period.’ To be strictly managed for hundreds of years or even longer—Luo Feng and the other two couldn’t accept it.

“Hmm?” External Supervisor Mingyu frowned slightly, sighing inwardly.

They couldn’t stand strict management!

He had encountered this many times. As an external supervisor, he often invited geniuses to join the Virtual Universe Company. But since they were geniuses, they were often courted by other powers early on, and most of them were unruly, unwilling to be strictly managed for long periods, so many refused.

However...

The Virtual Universe Company’s cultivation of important internal personnel required strict management, indoctrination, and other processes.

“We cannot accept this,” Hong said.

“Oh, of course…” Mingyu smiled slightly. “What I just mentioned was for ‘internal members.’ Our Virtual Universe Company has internal and external divisions. Internal members receive many benefits, but management is stricter. As for external members… they have more freedom, but far fewer benefits. Nowhere near as many as internal members.”

“For example, I am an external supervisor.” Mingyu chuckled. “If you become external members, while you won’t receive evolution agents for free, you can still purchase them. The first one can be bought at a low price. The second one will be much more expensive, and an ordinary external member can purchase a maximum of three.”

“What’s the price?” Luo Feng quickly asked.

“For the bloodline evolution agent, the first purchase is 100 million Ganwu Currency. If it’s the second, it will be a high price of 1 billion Ganwu Currency,” Mingyu said. “Very little of the bloodline evolution agent circulates outside; only those with immense influence can acquire it, and the price is incredibly inflated. At the same time, the Virtual Universe Company strictly forbids you from selling evolution agents. If any clandestine selling is discovered…”

“Death!” Mingyu said casually.

Luo Feng immediately abandoned any thought of selling.

“These are some of the rules for becoming an external member of my Virtual Universe Company. Take a look and see if you can accept them.” The burly man, Mingyu, pointed to the screen, and a large list of rules immediately appeared.

…

Five minutes later.

“Welcome to the Virtual Universe Company. You are now external members of our Virtual Universe Company’s Heilong Mountain Branch, temporarily under my jurisdiction. You can email me directly if you have any issues,” the burly man Mingyu said with a slight smile.

“Yes, Lord Mingyu.”

Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen bowed slightly.

…

Leaving the Slaughterhouse and returning to their residence, Nine Star Bay on Heilong Mountain Island.

“External membership truly offers a lot of freedom.”

“They even allow us to join ordinary organizations, and even things like the Ganwu Dojo, it’s incredible!” Lei Shen exclaimed as he walked along the pebble path by the lake. “They only forbid us from joining cross-universe nation powers like the Giant Axe Martial Arena.”

The Virtual Universe Company’s Martial Department was divided into internal and external.

Internal members were the most loyal and the most important part of the Virtual Universe Company, absolutely forbidden from joining other forces.

External members had much more leeway.

For example, a ‘Sector Lord’ from the Ganwu Dojo, if invited, could have a ‘nominal membership’ with the Virtual Universe Company as an external member. Generally, in important conflicts, external members could be sent to fight! Ordinarily, there were few restrictions on external members, as long as they didn’t join other super-powers of the same level.

“The Virtual Universe Company simply doesn’t put the Ganwu Dojo in its eyes, huh,” Luo Feng chuckled.

“Haha, joining the Virtual Universe Company, Luo Feng, I originally wanted you to leverage the ‘influence’ of the Ganwu Dojo in the future, but if you can achieve a sufficiently high status as an ‘external’ member in the virtual universe, that would be amazing too,” Babata said excitedly.

“Big Brother, Second Brother, do you have enough money to buy that evolution agent?” Luo Feng asked.

“Enough.”

“More than enough,” Hong and Lei Shen both replied.

Luo Feng felt a pang of helplessness. His funds were indeed tight right now because he was using a massive combination of metals with 89 times the efficiency to furiously devour and evolve his inner world… He believed he would break through to the ‘Cosmic Level’ in less than a year. The price of metals required for a Cosmic Level Golden Horned Beast would increase by hundreds or thousands of times.

His current funds, by his calculations, wouldn’t be enough!

“My teacher back then probably never imagined that his re-disciple would possess a Golden Horned Beast body. A Golden Horned Beast… truly a money pit,” Luo Feng mused inwardly.

“Third Brother, after talking with the external supervisor, I’ve decided to prepare to register with the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance.” Hong’s eyes gleamed. “Although I can’t take the ‘apprentice mercenary assessment’ yet, I… I can’t wait any longer.”

“Me too!” Lei Shen licked his lips, a wild glint in his eyes. “Dancing on the edge of a knife, that’s the kind of life that has passion.”

“You guys…” Luo Feng was startled.

“Third Brother, are you coming?” Hong asked.

“Want to come with us?” Lei Shen also looked at Luo Feng.

How many warriors on Earth were cowards?

“Yes, of course, I’ll come!” Luo Feng said.

“Haha…” Lei Shen burst out laughing.

“Brother.” Hong also clapped Luo Feng on the shoulder.

Luo Feng looked at his two elder brothers, whose hearts were already burning with excitement, and silently thought, “Adventure? Yes, I also want adventure. The feeling of dancing on the edge of a knife is indeed wonderful!” Back in the wilderness, fighting monsters to the death, that feeling truly kept one on edge at all times.

“If Big Brother and Second Brother truly encounter an irresistible crisis, I can also release my Golden Horned Beast body to save them!” Luo Feng thought to himself.

The existence of the Golden Horned Beast needed to be kept secret.

But if they encountered an irresistible danger, of course, he would still release the Golden Horned Beast!

…

Slaughterhouse Hall.

An incredibly old, green-skinned elder sat in a corner of the hall, holding a cup of water. His wrinkled forehead lifted, and his cloudy eyes occasionally scanned the surroundings. He was Manluo, the general manager of the Slaughterhouse on Heilong Mountain Island, a rather famous old man here.

Just then, the burly man Mingyu quickly walked over, directly approaching the green-skinned elder.

“Lord,” Mingyu whispered.

“How did it go?” The green-skinned elder’s cloudy eyes looked at him.

Mingyu bowed respectfully. “As you predicted, Lord, none of them wished to join internally, only externally. And Hong is indeed formidable, Planetary Level Nine with Triple Domain.”

“Triple Domain?” The green-skinned elder’s eyes lit up. His previously cloudy eyes now became incredibly clear, as if containing infinite wisdom, capable of seeing through people’s souls. Before this elder, Mingyu, a Two-Star Tier Cosmic Mercenary, was utterly respectful, a respect that came purely from the bottom of his heart.

“Hmm, very good.”

The green-skinned elder smiled and nodded, his eyes returning to their cloudy state. “To discover an ‘Elite Tier One’ is not bad. After all, ‘Special Elite’ talents are rare and hard to come by. Such geniuses indeed cannot be forced. It’s good enough that they joined externally! Let them develop on their own.”

“Yes,” Mingyu said respectfully.

The so-called testing of Luo Feng and the others, the so-called one-month observation… all these instructions came from Lord Manluo. Mingyu himself wouldn’t actually have the leisure to observe Luo Feng and the others for a month.

…

Earth.

Spring had arrived, and flowers were blooming. In Yangzhou City, Huaxia Nation, a C9-class deep blue triangular spaceship hovered above a castle. This was a spaceship Luo Feng and the others had just purchased, costing 11 billion Heilong Currency. For Luo Feng and his companions now, this was certainly not a large sum.

After all, Luo Feng had spent dozens of times the cost of the spaceship on the planetary defense system.

“Don’t cry, Daddy’s just going out, and we can still meet in the virtual universe, right? Come on, be good, give Daddy a kiss.” Luo Feng half-knelt before his two sons, who now looked very cute and handsome. They each gave Luo Feng several big kisses and hugged him tightly, seemingly very reluctant to let go.

“Son.”

Luo Hongguo patted Luo Feng’s shoulder. “I won’t say much more. Be careful out there.”

“Hmm, by the way, where’s Luo Hua?” Luo Feng looked around.

Zhen Nan, who was there to see them off, quickly said, “Luo Hua has been in a very tense period with his financial investments these past few days. It’s currently trading time, and he doesn’t dare to relax even a little. So, he asked me to tell you that he’ll apologize to you later in the virtual universe.”

“That kid,” Luo Feng shook his head and chuckled.

…

Luo Feng said goodbye to his family. Beside him, Hong’s family and Lei Shen’s family also bid them farewell.

Then, Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen, accompanied by two servants, boarded the spaceship.

“Whoosh!”

The deep blue triangular spaceship slowly ascended, flying rapidly into the atmosphere and disappearing from their families’ sight as they watched.