Chapter 294: A Contract of Servitude

Chapter 294: A Contract of Servitude

The moment Chen Huaian said those words, everyone was stunned.

Especially the Ascenders who had just emptied their storage to bid.

Money? He wanted RMB? For them, Ascenders’ resources were priceless and not for sale—not even for money! Wasn’t that better than cash?

But when it came to money… yeah, they really didn’t have much.

For them, money was only useful for daily necessities. When it came to cultivation resources, everything was traded.

Meanwhile, the family clans and Exorcist Division folks were overjoyed.

This C Province Exorcist Division Governor had clearly lost his mind!

But chances like this—bumping into a moron—were rare. If they didn’t act now, when would they?

So, someone immediately placed a bid.

“Capital City Exorcist Division offers 1 billion RMB! From today on, Governor Chen is my sworn brother, a distinguished guest of the Capital City Exorcist Division! I hope everyone can give me, Liang Baigan, some face.” A young man in a Tang-style suit stepped forward and cupped his hands to the crowd.

“Just 1 billion? That’s a joke!” another voice shouted. “S Province Exorcist Division offers 100 billion! Governor Chen, please consider!”

“Shut the f*** up!” Chen Huaian dropped his hand and roared.

The shout exploded like thunder, leaving everyone nearby dizzy and disoriented.

Only then did people remember—this Governor was no pushover. He was the real deal.

“This Venerable One hasn’t even started the bidding, and you’re all already panicking like headless chickens?”

“Then may I ask, Governor Chen, what’s the starting price?” someone quickly asked.

“1000 billion.” Chen Huaian narrowed his eyes and spat out a number that left jaws dropping.

Now that the Digital Girlfriend game wasn’t pretending anymore—and with the Cangyun Realm practically breathing money—every breath was like inhaling cash.

Fifth stage of Void Fusion was already priced at 80 million per minute.

Before, they kept things modest—Nascent Soul was the default, and they’d only activate Void Fusion briefly to show off.

Now, because of the small world’s existence, the base state had been bumped up to first stage of Void Fusion, which still ran 1 million per minute.

Put simply, Chen Huaian had truly become that old internet meme: a man earning millions per minute.

If he didn’t think they might not even have that much cash on hand, he would’ve set the price at 5000 billion.

Who cared how he’d sustain the Cangyun Realm avatar later? First, he’d drain the world dry.

“W-what? 1000 billion?! Governor Chen, what the h*** are you gonna do with that much money?”

“Yeah, I mean… high-grade resources are traded item-for-item nowadays…”

Chen Huaian rolled his eyes, too lazy to answer.

Some people were still frozen in shock, while others had already whipped out their phones and started making calls.

Transmission of techniques was different from passive Spiritual Awakening. Theoretically, even an ordinary person could receive it and instantly become a cultivator.

And being a cultivator meant a long life—to rich folks with no talent but a desperate hunger for cultivation, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

One Awakened finished his call and raised his hand: “Governor Chen, could you wait a little? My boss says he’ll be here in a helicopter within thirty minutes. He promises to make you a satisfying offer!”

“Who's your boss?” Chen Huaian raised an eyebrow.

“You know… the guy behind the total AI automation and new energy revolution.”

“Oh.” Chen Huaian knew who it was.

The richest man in Huazone. That worked.

They said money makes the world go round—and right now, the rich could still ‘buy’ Awakened as loyal dogs.

Those tycoons had probably already tried every trick—cell culture, blood analysis, bio-hacking—only to find they still couldn’t awaken.

Some of the Awakened participating in the Monster Hunting Tournament were probably working for those rich guys, hoping to win things like Bone-Cleansing Pills or a transmission opportunity.

Unfortunately, the competition was brutal.

Only after entering did they realize: Ascenders totally crushed Awakened.

Chen Huaian agreed to wait thirty minutes.

And during that half hour, the Awakened around him scrambled to raise funds, sell assets, do whatever it took. Even Ascenders began selling their resources on the spot to the Exorcist Division and family clans, just to gather cash.

High-tier resources that normally never entered the market were now—thanks to Chen Huaian’s money-hungry attitude—suddenly up for sale again.

Chen Huaian felt very satisfied.

This was how money should move—money needs to circulate, or how else was it gonna end up in his pocket?

Thirty minutes later, over a dozen helicopters landed in sequence on Mount Taishan’s peak.

Word had already spread, and it wasn’t just Huazone’s richest man who showed up—many other top-tier tycoons from various industries were here too.

“You’re Governor Chen? Truly a man of great talent!”

“I’ve heard so much about you—hero of the flood rescue! Your reputation is well deserved!”

“Weren’t you also one of the Top Ten Most Touching People of the World? A hero at such a young age!”

Chen Huaian blinked at the dozen or so middle-aged and elderly men in front of him and slowly raised a question mark.

Hero of the Corpse King disaster? Sure.

But flood rescue hero? What the h*** was that? Top Ten Most Touching People? Where did that even come from?

If they couldn’t think of a relevant title, maybe just don’t slap random accolades on him?

“No need for flattery. You’re all big names. Let’s get to it—start bidding.”

He waved them off casually, unfazed.

Even in the past, these kinds of people didn’t impress him.

They were capitalists. Not saying they were all evil, but ones with actual conscience were rare.

In a world where the economy had collapsed but tech was exploding, most industries were replaced by AI. Forget graduates—even post-docs couldn’t find jobs. Unless your degree was in AI or new energy, you were totally screwed.

Life was getting more high-tech, but wealth was concentrating at the very top.

The rest of the world? Drowning.

Spiritual revival was another full reset of the game board.

Sure, the rich could use money to grab resources early on…

But talent and awakening? They couldn’t buy that. Even if they won this transmission, they’d only have power, not the capacity to use it.

Chen Huaian scanned them—every single one had the most average kind of spiritual root and dantian.

Could they really handle a transmission?

He glanced at Hong Li, who looked indifferent—seemed like it didn’t matter who received the transmission.

“Interesting,” Chen Huaian narrowed his eyes.

He was getting more and more curious about this so-called transmission of techniques.

Bidding began.

A few tycoons set a high starting bar, and the price quickly soared past 1 trillion RMB.

Just as the bids were leveling off—

“I bid 2 trillion!” Wang Debiao, heir to the Wang Family, suddenly jumped in, raising his hand with a proud expression. “I sold my Kunlun Immortal Palace Ascension Staircase qualification for this! Nobody try to outbid me—the transmission is mine!”

He had just sold that spot to another tycoon.

That qualification gave one a chance to enter Kunlun Immortal Palace—on paper, it was even more valuable than this transmission.

But passing the Ascension Staircase also required high talent. That tycoon had probably bought it for a mildly gifted junior.

“2.5 trillion!” Huazone’s richest man raised again.

“3 trillion!” Wang Debiao’s face twisted with rage as he gritted his teeth and went all in.

“Wang brat, where the hell are you getting that kind of money?” Even the richest man was stunned.

3 trillion was nearly 90% of his liquid funds.

If he spent that, a ton of his businesses would grind to a halt.

The transmission was rare—but not worth risking everything.

After all, with spiritual revival ongoing, there would be other opportunities for longevity.

But the Wang Clan? How could they have that kind of cash?

Where were they getting the funds?!

Wang Debiao didn’t answer. Instead, a smirk curled his lips.

He reached out and took a freshly signed document from a subordinate beside him.

It was a contract of servitude.

—His own contract.

…

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