Hearing Fang Tianheâs words, Lin Xinghai felt his heart skip a beat.
He knew that sooner or later, he would attract the attention of the Shelterâs higher-ups, but he hadnât expected it to happen so soon.
However, he noted Fang Tianheâs expression, composed himself, and asked, "This Great Elder you mentioned, is he the director of the Star Shield Shelter?"
"Yes, thatâs right." Fang Tianhe nodded. Seeing Lin Xinghaiâs expression, he offered a reassuring smile. "You donât have to worry. This is a good thing. Based on my guess, itâs probably about the national Seed Plan."
"The Seed Plan? Whatâs that?"
"Although Iâve interacted with the higher-ups quite a bit recently, Iâve only managed to learn a little."
Fang Tianhe organized his thoughts and explained, "Actually, this world is far more dangerous than we imagine. Itâs just that the place weâre in isnât considered one of the most dangerous spots."
Lin Xinghai was left rather speechless. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Fang Tianhe cut him off. "I know what youâre going to say. When I talk about danger, Iâm not speaking from the perspective of a Mercenary Corps, but from the perspective of the nation and the military."
"Those places we consider extremely dangerous, even the city center, can be swept clean as long as the military is deployed."
Lin Xinghai really couldnât refute that. Especially after the battle with the Wild Wolf Mercenary Corps, where he had personally experienced how terrifying the militaryâs weapons were, he knew that as long as the military didnât spare any ammunition, they were fully capable of clearing out all the Zombies in the entire city.
Seeing that Lin Xinghai didnât argue, Fang Tianhe continued, "But there are some places where even the military is helpless. Those are the truly dangerous zones."
"Do places like that really exist?" Lin Xinghai couldnât help but ask.
"Uh... they definitely exist, but thatâs all I know, so donât ask me for details."
"What I want to talk about now is the Seed Plan. Itâs a program to cultivate the strong. The nation gathers outstanding talents from small and medium-sized Shelters and provides them with unified resources for training. The experts they produce are meant to deal with those dangerous places," Fang Tianhe said.
"Isnât that incredibly dangerous then?" Lin Xinghai frowned.
"Itâs dangerous everywhere. If the nation canât contain those few perilous zones and the things inside get out, then youâd die no matter where you hide."
"Besides, even if you donât join this Seed Plan, as soon as you break through to the Blood Qi Realm, youâll be drafted sooner or later anywayâunless you can manage to live outside the Shelters," Fang Tianhe said.
Lin Xinghai was slightly taken aback by this. He had previously wondered why there were so few experts in the Blood Qi Realm within the Shelter.
After all, as long as there was no shortage of Genetic Medicine Liquid, it wasnât just people like Fang Tianhe and Shen Hanâeven Roger and Wu Yan would eventually be able to break through to the Blood Movement Realm.
The reason there were so few now was that those who broke through had all been transferred away by the state.
âIf thatâs the case, Iâll face the same fate sooner or later.â Of course, if he didnât live inside a Shelter, he had no doubt he could survive on his own abilities.
But he didnât just want survival; he wanted a comfortable life.
"So, what are the specifics of this Seed Plan?" Lin Xinghai asked.
"That I honestly donât know. I only know that the qualifications for selection are extremely difficult. Only those with a Genetic Assessment of A Level, or B Level individuals with exceptionally outstanding performance, are eligible."
"And thatâs just for the preliminary selection. To truly become one of the âseeds,â you have to wait until you reach the Blood Qi Realm and then pass a real assessment."
"If you can become a real âseed,â youâll definitely be safer than others. At least, they wonât send you on overly dangerous missions before youâve fully developed. Plus, after joining this plan, the Cultivation Resources youâll receive will be on a completely different level from what you can get now."
"So, I believe the pros of joining this Seed Plan far outweigh the cons," Fang Tianhe said, sharing his thoughts.
Lin Xinghai nodded. "When will the Great Elder meet with me?"
"This afternoon! Iâll go with you when the time comes," Fang Tianhe said.
...
After leaving the second floor, Lin Xinghai checked the message Gao Mountain had sent back, then left the headquarters and headed for the Mercenary Guild.
"Is something wrong?" Gao Mountain asked immediately upon seeing Lin Xinghai.
"I couldnât let you all make that trip yesterday for nothing. Iâm going to settle the Points with you," Lin Xinghai explained as he began a transfer on his wrist-mounted computer.
Hearing about settling the Points, Gao Mountain initially wanted to refuse. But after a slight hesitation, he held back his words. After all, this wasnât just about him; the brothers under him still needed to make a living.
Besides, after seeing Fang Tianhe have his men collect the equipment and Mecha to hand over to the military yesterday, he knew the military would definitely compensate the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps handsomely. So, he felt he could accept these Points with a clear conscience.
Soon, Gao Mountain heard a notification chime from his wrist-mounted computer. He glanced at it, and his eyes instantly went wide.
He had received a notification for a deposit of 100,000 Points.
"Why so many?" Gao Mountain said, stunned.
He knew that his Mercenary Corpsâ help was definitely not worth this price. Getting ten or twenty thousand Points would have already been considered incredibly generous.
If the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps could spare this many Points, why would they have needed to invite their Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps for help? They could have just hired a Third Level Mercenary Corps to take the risk.
"Under normal circumstances, it wouldnât be this much. But I topped it off," Lin Xinghai said in a level tone.
According to Fang Tianheâs distribution plan, the Points for the five members of the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps were supposed to be about 5% of the total earnings, which would be around 40,000 Points.
So, the remaining 60,000 Points were all added by him.
"Wh... Why?" Gao Mountain stammered.
"Because I need you to accelerate the Mercenary Corpsâ development. Right now, the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps is too short-staffed, and your equipment canât keep up. You donât even have the money to modify your Armored Vehicle. Use these Points to recruit members and buy equipment."
"Focus on recruitment. Our Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps isnât well-known, so the only way to attract skilled Mercenaries is with better compensation. I want the corps to have 50 members within a week," Lin Xinghai stated his demands.
Previously, Lin Xinghai had taken a hands-off approach to the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corpsâ development. But after hearing what Fang Tianhe said today, he changed his mind. He was on the higher-upsâ radar now. His own strength was still too weak, and if he didnât want to be easily pushed around, he needed to increase his leverage as much as possible.
Rapidly strengthening the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps was an excellent option. In the future, he would have his own foundation, making it easier to get things done.
After hearing Lin Xinghaiâs requirements, Gao Mountain took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and nodded confidently. "Donât worry. A request like this would have been difficult before, but with these Points, all our problems are solved."
After speaking, he hesitated for a moment before adding, "Recruiting enough people quickly wonât be a problem. But if too many new members join in a short period, Iâm worried it will affect the corpsâ cohesion. I canât solve that problem on my own."
How could Lin Xinghai not understand the meaning behind his words? "Just go ahead and do it. For the next while, Iâll be splitting my time between both places. Iâll spend at least half my time here with the Mountain and Sea Mercenary Corps."
With Lin Xinghaiâs assurance, Gao Mountainâs worries vanished. He even canceled their mission plans for the day and immediately started arranging for manpower to recruit new members.