Chapter 161: That Fortune, You Don't Have the Life to Take It

Jiangling City.
The Su Family Manor.
The sky was overcast, shrouded in a blanket of thick, gray fog, making the air increasingly stifling and muggy.
Perched high upon the mountain, the Su Family Manor appeared rather desolate, which conveniently managed to dispel much of the summer heat.
However, in the wake of the recent incident, the security level of the entire Su Family Manor had been drastically upgraded. Armed security personnel in black suits could be seen everywhere.
Patrolling and scouting around them were professional Dream Weavers wrapped in black trench coats,
safeguarding the security of the entire estate to absolute perfection.
Yet today,
the manor suddenly felt uncommonly cold.
A chilling gust of wind swept into the estate, and up in the sky, flakes of white snow began to drift and fall one after another.
Snow falling in the dead of summer—
this phenomenon was unmistakably wrong at first glance!
The Dream Weavers hired by Elder Su hurriedly released their Dream Soul perception, attempting to investigate the cause behind this falling snow.
However, they could sense nothing at all.
Even the City-Crossing Dream Weavers hired at a lavish expense were completely unable to detect even a shred of abnormality.
It was as if...
this snowfall had occurred entirely through natural causes.
Inside the estate, snow flurries danced through the air, and before anyone noticed, the ground was covered in a thick layer of white snow,
transforming the scenery into a world of ice and snow.
Inside the house,
before the floor-to-ceiling window.
Elder Su sat in a wheelchair, having had a servant push him up to the glass to gaze at the snowy landscape outside.
The old man narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Since you are here... there is no need to hide."
Elder Su said in a raspy voice,
as if he were speaking to the empty air.
The servant pushing the wheelchair froze, staring at Elder Su with a face full of confusion.
Aside from them, could there possibly be anyone else in this room?
Yet, Elder Su displayed no emotional fluctuations, waiting quietly.
Suddenly...
The falling snow that had been drifting outside the estate
began to fall inside the house as well.
The temperature plummeted rapidly, growing almost painfully numbingly cold by the end.
The servant trembled all over, gripped by terror.
A single snowflake drifted onto the top of her head,
and the servant instantly turned into an ice sculpture. With a pop, she shattered, scattering in all directions like pulverized ice cubes.
Elder Su’s facial muscles twitched slightly.
Even when faced with this intangible crisis, however, Elder Su did not reveal an excessive amount of fear.
"Not bad, quite a strong psychological constitution."
A soft chuckle rang out.
The wind and snow coalesced, and Carl's figure gradually materialized.
Beside Carl stood Su Hao, a look of trance still lingering on his face.
Elder Su looked at Carl, his gaze finally falling upon Su Hao, a trace of disappointment welling up in his eyes.
"You unfilial wretch,"
Elder Su scolded.
Su Hao snapped back to his senses. Upon seeing Elder Su, a ferocious expression instantly twisted his face!
"Unfilial wretch? I busted my ass working hard for the Su Group, so why do I end up with nothing in the end? What right do you have to call me unfilial?!"
"I just wanted to get what rightfully belonged to me!"
Su Hao roared.
At this moment, all the suffering he had endured in the Federation poured out of him in a complete release.
Carl watched the scene with a lighthearted smile.
Shortly after, his Dream Soul perception expanded, beginning to search for the mysterious forbidden artifact that had been brought into the Great Xia Country.
However,
the smile on Carl's face rapidly began to fade.
For his Dream Soul perception echoed and searched relentlessly throughout the entire manor, yet he could not find a single trace of the forbidden artifact!
Inside the room,
Su Hao frantically charged toward Elder Su.
The person Su Hao hated most was Elder Su, followed by Su Xiaoyu, and lastly, the Wildfire Team.
Because Su Hao believed that the one who had driven him to a desperate end was Elder Su, this ruthless old man!
Clearly, compared to Su Xiaoyu—that good-for-nothing girl who only knew how to idle away her days—he, Su Hao, was far more suited to inherit the Su family!
Yet, Elder Su simply refused to look upon him favorably!
However, just as Su Hao closed in on Elder Su, intending to choke the old man to death,
his legs suddenly froze in place.
Su Hao shivered violently and crashed straight to the ground.
With a crisp crunch,
his frozen feet shattered upon impact.
"Ahhh! My feet!"
Su Hao shrieked in excruciating pain.
"What did you do to me?!"
"You promised me that if I brought you to Great Xia, you would spare me! What are you doing?!"
The pain stripped Su Hao of his composure and decorum.
He broke out into a frenzy of screams and roars directed at Carl.
Elder Su looked at Su Hao with sorrow.
This child still had not learned reverence for power.
Carl's expression bore not a shred of amusement, for the forbidden artifact—which he had considered a guaranteed success—had vanished, stirring a surge of anger within his heart.
Had he not risked coming to the Great Xia Country precisely for that forbidden artifact?!
And yet, it was gone!
And Su Hao... a mere ant-like creature, actually dared to roar at him?!
"Who do you think you're yelling at?"
Carl squeezed the words coldly through his teeth.
The next moment,
he raised his hand.
Su Hao stiffened all over, his anger-addled brain instantly snapping back to clarity.
"No... no... I was wrong! Mr. Carl, I was wrong!"
Su Hao pleaded in a low voice, paralyzed with terror.
However,
his body began to freeze bit by bit.
Ultimately, amidst endless despair, he turned into an ice sculpture.
Carl snapped his fingers.
The ice sculpture instantly shattered, transforming into broken ice cubes scattered all over the floor.
The gust of wind generated by the shattering of the ice sculpture blew past, fluttering Elder Su's graying hair.
"Tell me, who took that pen?"
Carl looked at Elder Su coldly, speaking with utter detachment.
And Elder Su blankly withdrew his gaze from Su Hao's pulverized ice-sculpture corpse.
He met Carl's eyes,
and spoke in a raspy voice.
"Take my advice... you don't have the life to take that pen."
......
......
Capital City.
Dream-Weaving Tower,
Office of the President-General.
Led by Secretary Lisa, Dufang entered the office.
Wrapped in a blood-red cloak, President-General Ye Zong was bent over his desk, writing something.
"President, Mr. Dufang is here,"
Secretary Lisa announced.
With that, she withdrew from the office, quietly pulling the door shut behind her.
Ye Zong wore round-rimmed glasses, his aura completely restrained. He looked thoroughly ordinary, devoid of any of the terrifying pressure that had emanated from him during their encounter last night.
Seeing Dufang, Ye Zong couldn't help but smile. "The evaluation is over, and your assessment results were submitted to me. I've read them all."
"You performed well. Congratulations on becoming a City-Crossing tier,"
Ye Zong said.
Then, he pushed a small leather booklet across the desk toward Dufang.
It was the Dream Weaver's identification card.
Dufang sat down in a chair, took the ID card, and opened it. A brilliant gleam instantly flashed in his eyes.
The classification on the ID card had been changed from [Intern] Dream Weaver
to [City-Crossing] Dream Weaver.
Furthermore, the border of the ID card had even been treated with a gold-plated rim!
A smile inevitably bloomed on Dufang's face as he looked at it.
"By the way, President-General, if I may ask, what kind of salary and benefits do City-Crossing Dream Weavers get?"
Dufang put away the ID card and asked with high expectations.
Sitting in his chair with a smile, Ye Zong suddenly froze.
What kind of question was that?
The salary and benefits of a City-Crossing Dream Weaver?
Of all things, this was the very first thing Dufang cared about? Did he even need to care about a salary?
Did he look like someone who was short on money?
The smile on Ye Zong's face gradually faded, and his double pupils behind his glasses gave Dufang a deep, lingering look.
"Your salary and benefits..."
Ye Zong coughed lightly; he genuinely didn't know how to answer.
The omniscient Ye Zong
had actually been stumped by a question.
After all, as the President-General of the Dream Weaver Association who handled a myriad of affairs daily, how could he possibly remember such trivialities?
He had never even paid attention to what his own salary was.
After all, as one of the absolute ceiling-tier powerhouses of the Great Xia Country, when had he ever needed to trouble himself with such matters?
"Lisa,"
Ye Zong called toward the door.
The door pushed open,
and Lisa looked at Ye Zong with a face full of confusion.
"President, you called for me?"
Lisa felt rather odd. Was their meeting over already?
Weren't they supposed to discuss important matters?
"Yes, go check what the salary and benefits for a City-Crossing Dream Weaver are, and then tell him,"
Ye Zong said with an expressionless face, refusing to let his ignorance show.
"What on earth?"
Lisa was stunned. What kind of question was this?
However, as a secretary, she quickly recovered. Since Ye Zong had given her a task, her job was naturally to carry it out.
"No need to check, I know all of this."
"The uniform salary for a City-Crossing Dream Weaver is a monthly wage of one hundred thousand, which includes comprehensive insurance and housing fund. The Dream-Weaving Tower's cafeteria is free year-round, travel subsidies include a vehicle, and missions come with a mid-grade forbidden artifact as a bonus. Additionally, depending on the specific tier within the City-Crossing level, the benefits vary: junior City-Crossing Dream Weavers receive ten milliliters of the Dream Soul Spring per month, intermediate City-Crossing Dream Weavers receive fifty milliliters, and senior ones receive a hundred milliliters."
Lisa recited the details as if she were counting her own family treasures.
Ye Zong raised an eyebrow and looked at Dufang. "Did you hear that?"
At this moment, Dufang's mind was entirely filled with what sounded like celestial music to his ears... a monthly salary of one hundred thousand!
Dream Soul Spring? Subsidized vehicles? Dufang cared for none of those.
The only thing he cared about... was that one-hundred-thousand monthly wage!
Money actually landed in one's hands—that was the most down-to-earth, genuine emotional touch!
"Alright. While the Dream Soul Spring is nice, it's meaningless to you."
"When you grow powerful enough and make sufficient contributions to the Great Xia Country, you won't need to worry about salaries or the like. Whatever you deserve, you will definitely get."
Speechless, Ye Zong smiled and said, "Let's hurry up and talk about something important."
Hearing Ye Zong's words,
Dufang's eyes lit up as he raised his head. "An important matter? Does the President have a channel to sell Dream Soul Spring at a high price?"
Ye Zong: "(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻"
Enough is enough!
PS: Monday, begging for freshly baked recommendation votes, begging for monthly votes.