“All right, all right, I know it’s not easy for you taking care of ‘the kid.’ After this mission is over, you can take a long vacation,” Chips quickly coaxed her. “Did you see the information I sent you?”
“The bounty page on Hunter’s Market? Yeah, I saw it. Whoever posted that is playing a big game. They’ve got the whole hybrid world involved.”
“This flight landed almost at the same time as you. Within a week, three such charter flights have flown from the United States to China.” Chips handed over a charter contract.
“Three Boeing 747-400s? The hybrids from North America sure are extravagant,” Mai tossed the document back to Chips. “That means over a thousand hybrids have entered China. Do they think slaying a dragon is a high-difficulty raid that can be solved by sheer numbers? With some of their bloodlines, they’ll die of heart failure the moment they step into the Dragon Aura field!”
“No, not a thousand, but over three thousand people. More are coming from Europe to Beijing.”
Mai recalled something: “When we were at the airport earlier, there were hundreds of people lined up—probably that group? If customs officials knew what kind of tour group they let into China, they’d be heartbroken.”
“There are three people among them—Finger von Frings, Chu Zihang, and Lu Mingfei,” Chips said.
Mai’s face turned serious. “Lu Mingfei? So the boss has given us new orders, right?”
“I received the boss’s email three hours ago and immediately called you,” Chips said in a low voice. “The order is that, among these three thousand people, it must be Lu Mingfei who personally kills the Dragon King!”
Mai rubbed her forehead. “Not again! Is the boss out of touch with reality or just incredibly insightful… Sometimes I really can’t tell! This loser—why spend so much time on him? How did he get so lucky? So many people are babysitting him, it’s like getting a wild card entry directly to the World Cup finals! This kind of bug character makes people want to kick him a couple of times!”
“We can’t concern ourselves with the boss’s logic, but those are the orders.” Chips’ tone was resolute. “The Dragon King must die at Lu Mingfei’s hands! Everyone else who has seen the Dragon King will be buried with it!”
“Those charter flights are death flights, then.” Mai shrugged. “All right, let them be the sacrifices. Those poor bastards—they’re just unlucky to run into a boss like this. But the problem is that Lu Mingfei is genuinely a loser. Otherwise, he could have pulled out ‘Wrath’ and killed Norton during the Three Gorges incident, instead of me having to finish the job. How do we ensure that Lu Mingfei personally kills the Dragon King?”
“Well, there is a way. The six people from Cassell College are split into two groups, and Lu Mingfei’s group has that set of alchemic swords. Those are paradoxical weapons designed to kill any Dragon King. All he needs is the will to pull them out. But there’s an even harder part to the order,” Chips sighed. “We must make Lu Mingfei killing the Dragon King public knowledge.”
“Make it public?” Mai was stunned. “What do you mean, make it public? Dragon-slaying can be made public? Is the boss having another brain glitch?”
“I want the whole world… to see his grand performance as a hero!” Chips said each word slowly, “That was the last sentence in the boss’s message.”
“Damn…” Mai suddenly sat upright, pressing her hands on her knees, assuming a solemn expression. “Good evening, viewers, this is the news broadcast of China Central Television. Today’s special report, ‘Requiem for the Dragon King of the New China.’ We will now broadcast live the battle between Cassell College’s S-ranked loser, Lu Mingfei, and the Dragon King. Now we switch to our front-line reporter…”
“Are you seriously doing this now? Can you not be so dramatic, People’s Artist?” Chips said helplessly.
“The whole world would go insane with that!” Mai shouted in frustration.
“Anyway, you know the boss’s style—his orders cannot be disobeyed. Even if it defies logic, we have to make it known worldwide that Lu Mingfei killed the Dragon King. This news needs to be published in major media outlets, maybe even broadcast on national news,” Chips patted Mai’s shoulder in consolation. “That’s why I urgently called you to Beijing. If we had time, I’d cry it out with you, but first, we need to come up with a plan. You have the most media resources among us. Could I expect the three-no girl to come up with a solution? She’d just obediently follow the boss’s orders, filming Lu Mingfei slaying the Dragon King on a handheld camera and then uploading it to YouTube or Tudou…”
“I bet she could really do that…” Mai covered her face.
“The point is to release a headline like ‘Lu Mingfei Successfully Kills the Dragon King’ on public media, but without causing too much chaos…”
“Successfully kills… kills… kills…” Mai’s eyes lit up as she repeated it, savoring the rhythm of the headline. She clapped her hands. “I’ve got an idea!”
Chips stressed, “This trick won’t fool the boss. It has to be made public.”
“…Fine, just get me two million dollars ready!” Mai said, pulling out her phone from her travel bag. “Prepare two promissory notes, each for one million.”
“Hey! Could you not spend money so casually and generously? All the money you’re spending was painstakingly earned by me, the accountant girl!” Chips cried out while simultaneously drawing zeros on the promissory notes, her face brightening. “But it’s still cheaper than I expected!”
Fourteen hours later, Irvine, California—Blizzard Entertainment Headquarters.
Marketing Director Heber Higaty pushed open the conference room door. The uninvited guest was already sitting across from the sunlight, waiting for him. It was a young and dashing Chinese man, looking no older than thirty-five, dressed in a well-fitted gray suit with a matching tie, formal and polite. Beside him was a secretary in a black business suit, looking like a lawyer.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m a practicing lawyer from Los Angeles. Our firm specializes in mergers, spin-offs, refinancing, and IPO-related legal work.” The Chinese man stood up, smiling as he handed over his business card.
It was a well-known law firm—or notorious, depending on perspective. These wolf-like lawyers prowled the Bay Area, preying on financially strained companies, tearing them apart for profit on the market. Behind them were massive institutions holding vast sums of capital.
“Hello. May I know the purpose of your visit?” Heber smiled cautiously—these financial representatives were not to be offended easily.
The lawyer took an envelope from his assistant and slid it across the table to Heber. “This is a check for ten million dollars. A client of ours has an interest in your company’s online game, ‘World of Warcraft’…”
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