"Oh, so the misunderstanding was that I was the last card up the Xiolong’s sleeve."
Only then did he turn his head to look at Li Ming, "You’re talented and caught the eye of Wu Yanqing. Xiolong is just a group who should have been dead already. A great future lies before you, you should know how to choose."
Li Ming sighed helplessly, as it turned out this fellow wasn’t here to apologize.
He had thought it was like the Xunying Company coming to give money, but after all the confusion, although the other party came to make peace, they showed not a hint of sincerity.
Not only that, there was an underlying condescension, as if they were bestowing charity upon Li Ming.
"The one who killed your father was the Black Hawk, and you killed him already, so there’s no need to continue the hatred, right?" Wang Yan pursued.
Li Ming glanced at him and nodded, "The hatred, indeed there is no need to continue."
As long as the other party didn’t provoke him further, he didn’t want to fight on.
Wang Yan nodded in satisfaction and pulled out a purple-red invitation from his chest. In interstellar society, where information is exchanged at high speeds, the tactile quality of a paper invitation stood out even more.
"Steward Fu, there is a charity dinner at the Starlight Hotel tonight, and many would like to meet you," he said. "I hope you’ll honor us with your presence."
Li Ming took the invitation but did not respond, and got out of the car.
Wang Yan was calm about Li Ming’s cold demeanor, straightened his collar, and said quietly, "Let’s go."
"Who are these people? No trouble, right?" Once he was in his own car, the new driver—Wang Zhaoyuan—asked with concern.
"No trouble, just a ridiculous person," Li Ming shook his head, and the hovering car also took off, releasing a flurry of dark purple paper scraps through a window gap.
Under the night sky, at the top of a skyscraper that was brilliantly lit, were men and women dressed in luxurious attire.
"...Congratulations, from the Heluo Star System, a three thousand-year-old Turtle Glyph Ancient Armor, sold for 160,000 Star Coins!"
With the fall of the hammer came a crisp burst of applause, a woman with bare shoulders smiled radiantly, lifting her champagne glass and toasting with others across the air.
After the banquet, all the guests were sent off, and steward Fu Zongchen looked grim, "Didn’t you say he would come?"
Wang Yan’s expression was awful: "He, indeed accepted the invitation."
"Fool!" Steward Fu Zongchen chastised coldly.
Wang Yan lowered his head, "Then, should we..."
Fu Zongchen shook his head, "Accepting the invitation means he really doesn’t want to fight with me. Not coming is his way of telling me he isn’t afraid of me."
Wang Yan said uncertainly, "Could it be a bluff?"
Fu Zongchen remained silent, his face dark and indecisive.
Li Ming didn’t care about this episode. The next day, he collaborated with the Xunxing Company on the star network—
The Xunying Company announced—inspired by Li Ming’s deeds, and after gaining consent, they decided to name a new establishment in Silver Grey City after him, the "Li Ming Medical Genetic Institute," which was responsible for treating Grey Sand Disease.
The hype around Li Ming hadn’t completely faded, and the timely entry of Xunying Company brought Star Creation Company back into the spotlight. Comparing the two, the superior one was immediately apparent.
Many praised Li Ming for not forgetting his roots and contributing to his home star.
On Silver Grey Star itself, massive demonstrations erupted, both commending the establishment of the medical foundation and protesting against the longstanding persecution by Star Creation Company.
In a blink of an eye, half a month passed.
Amid various intricate situations, Li Ming spent the mornings exercising and the afternoons attending classes, where he caught up on a lot of knowledge related to evolution.
He learned many well-guarded secrets. Even in a highly developed interstellar society, accessing certain knowledge still required specific keywords.
Yet many people couldn’t even determine the relevant keywords. Despite seeming open, the infospheres encapsulating each individual were as thick as alloys.
After returning at night, he continued his training or took time out to meet Yang Yu.
During this period, Li Ming had Zhang Huaiyuan purchase samples of all the alloys available on the market for him to test.
Among them, he found the most cost-effective alloy—Flame Blue Alloy—a material widely used in the inner walls of cargo holds for various corrosive liquids.
After testing, Li Ming spent five million Star Coins from the lab and another five million Star Coins from Xunying Company to buy Flame Blue Alloy, totaling ten million Star Coins.
Zhang Huaiyuan said, when filing for financial reimbursement, the pain was visible on his face, which was evident even to him.
Buying at the real market price was much cheaper than on the Black Hole Network, not only without a markup but also receiving a 10% discount for buying in bulk.
The ten million Star Coins’ worth of Flame Blue Alloy provided him with 160,000 units of metal energy, reaching the maximum in one go.
Inside the training room, Li Ming’s physique expanded once again, growing close to three meters in height, surpassing the Fierce Bear’s 2.5 meters.
His eyes were covered with a layer of blue electric light, and his skin occasionally exploded with electric arcs; a vertical Thunder Pattern Form faintly visible on his forehead, making him look like an electrified body.
After a moment, Li Ming exhaled a breath tinged with electric arcs, quickly shrinking down to normal size.
The Thunder Pattern Form, a core ability of the Purple Lightning Bear Gene Seed that could only be awakened at 90% development, further amplified the Fierce Bear Form. It tripled the strength and increased the defense by 1.5 times.
His body was enveloped by a charged particle field, making every move carry the lethality of thunder and lightning elements.
The thunder pattern on his forehead matched almost exactly with that of the Purple Electric Bear.