Alaska, a wasteland in the northwest corner of North America that covered an area of 1,710,000 square kilometers and a population of 650,000. Even on the hottest day, the temperature was not over twenty-six degree Celsius. Summer had no ties with this land, and flourishing was the last word anyone would describe the place as.
In 1867, when the Russians sold Alaska to the Americans for 7,200,000 dollars, they never thought that the place was hiding a shocking amount of oil. A land over 1,710,000 square kilometers sold at a price of 7,200,000 dollars. It was most likely the best deal anyone could hope for. It was less than a day’s profit from the oil supplied by Alaska.
When Xia Fei’s Quantum Holdings started promoting clean, new energy to the world, the oil fields in Alaska had lost their value; hence, the population had decreased every year.
Alaska was not suitable for living in every aspect, but it was the perfect place for Xia Fei to set up his secret laboratory. After all, Harris’s identity had to be kept confidential, and Xia Fei did not want to expose the core secrets of Quantum Holdings, either.
A two-story building stood alone on the land covered in snow close to the Arctic Circle. Apart from a bunch of religious believers who worshipped nature and chose to cultivate the world of snow and ice, there was nothing but nature within a few thousand square kilometers from the building.
It did not have a proper name. It only had a codename, the Alpha Base.
Xia Fei’s Vampire was too easy to grab attention since there were only a few spaceships on Earth. The media already knew about Xia Fei’s personal spaceship and had published countless articles pertaining to it.
Rumors said that the owner of the dark-red warship was the biggest stakeholder of Quantum Holdings, whose identity had remained a mystery until today. He was none other than Xia Fei, the richest man and the strongest warrior, too, of the Earth Federation.
Even though Quantum Holdings had kept a low-profile, the busybodies still managed to spread Xia Fei’s activities all over the world. Humans had always been curious toward the unknown. Xia Fei had long become a legendary monster after the rumors were spread countless times among the Earthlings. Even Nezha, who rode the wind-and-fire wheel and had three heads and six arms, was nothing compared to Xia Fei.
There were people who admired Xia Fei thought his existence had surpassed God, while those who hated him assumed him to be a demon from Hell who was not supposed to exist in this world.
Xia Fei simply disregarded these hearsay. Only he knew with certainty that he was no different from the Xia Fei who used to ride a scooter to deliver mails and parcels. He was only lucky to stumble upon an fortuitous opportunity, which he managed to hold onto.
Xia Fei parked his Vampire amid the snowy wasteland and set it into autopilot mode along the Earth’s orbit. He only needed to connect to the interplanetary internet with his microcomputer to summon Vampire, and it would return in a minute.
The building in this place resembled a sphere. It looked no different from a normal residence. A fence of ten kilometers surrounded to indicate that it was private land, where only authorized personnel were allowed entry.
Xia Fei walked into the building, leaving a trail of footsteps behind in the snow. Many Alaskan Malamutes were staring at the stranger on alert. Some with a worse temper were growling.
The living room was tiny, just the size of a standard sitting room. The decorations were simple and warm. A blonde woman in the outfit of a housewife was watching TV on the couch. She did not seem surprised when she saw Xia Fei. She went up to take his coat and used a white towel to clean the snow on him.
“Mr. Chairman, this way.” The woman opened a door and said with a smile.
Xia Fei nodded at her and asked, “Do you feel lonely working here?”
“Not at all.” The blonde shook her head. “I can watch satellite TV and play video games here. I just miss my family a little since I can’t go back to them, but it’s all worth it. Once I work here for three years, the company will allocate me to Miami, where I can enjoy the beach and sunlight.”
Xia Fei smiled. “Very well. You understand that you are rewarded based on your effort. Trust me; you’ll get everything you desire, as long as you keep your mouth shut.”
The blonde smiled. “Believe me; I used to be in charge of internal security when I was working for Siemens. We, Germans, know the rules. We’ll never break the ones we’ve set ourselves.”
Xia Fei did not comment on it and just walked into the room with a smile.
It was a small parlor without a single window. It only had two rows of couches and a few magazines placed orderly on a coffee table.
Xia Fei sat on the couch and lit a cigarette. The room began to sink all of a sudden at a steady pace. Only those with sharp senses would notice that it was moving from the inside.
“The workers here aren’t too bad. The receptionist just then clearly knows her place,” Phantom said. People who underwent professional training behaved differently when interacting with others. The blonde had answered Xia Fei’s tricky questions perfectly by speaking the truth without being too frank with her answers.
Xia Fei nodded. “I agree. I can tell that Andre has put a lot of effort in setting up this place, but I can’t be too sure still. I’ll have to wait until I meet everyone here.”
A moment later, the door swung open again. This time, it was a black-haired woman with spectacles who greeted Xia Fei. She seemed to be Asian.
As Xia Fei thought, the black-haired woman spoke the Beijing dialect fluently and he immediately felt right at home.
“Mr. Chairman, I’m Gu Fengzhu, the administrator of Alpha Base. Welcome.”
Xia Fei rose to his feet and smiled. “My pleasure; just call me Xia Fei. I’m here to work just like the rest of you. Don’t bother with the title.”
The black-haired woman adjusted her glasses and said, “I shouldn’t be too formal then. I heard from Andre that you’re from Beijing, too.”
Xia Fei replied, “Not really; I was constantly moving when I was young, so I’ve been to many places. It’s hard to say where my hometown is, but I did spend a long time in Beijing. We’re already in the space era. We’re all Earthlings, so we all have the same hometown.”
Gu Fengzhu led Xia Fei outside the room and said, “You sure are good with words. I initially thought that you’d be an aged man like Andre. I didn’t expect you to be so young.”
Xia Fei smiled. “Well, I didn’t expect the administrator of Alpha Base to be so young, either.”
Gu Fengzhu led Xia Fei through a long corridor to the atrium. They did not bump into a single person along the way. The place felt a little empty. It seemed like Alpha Base did not have a high usage.
“How’s Harris doing here?” Xia Fei asked.
Gu Fengzhu’s expression shifted slightly at the mention of Harris’s name. She answered cautiously after a brief pause, “Mr. Harris is excellent in his field. He’s countless times better than the best research institute in the world, but…”
It seemed that something was bothering Gu Fengzhu. Xia Fei frowned and asked, “Just tell me whatever’s on your mind.”