Opening the double doors, Zhui Yun enters the office, and says—
"I've brought Sir Wang."
"Un."
Hearing this, Nian Yao Yao rises off her seat, and walks over to the armchair.
Momentarily, Zhui Yun walks over, and stands behind Nian Yao Yao.
"Excuse me."
Walking into the office, Wang Yongning enters with Zhang Yong and Hui'er behind him.
Seating himself on the opposite armchair—with a rectangular table between them, Wang Yongning looks around the lightly furnished office.
Just as Zhang Yong and Hui'er seated themselves on the sofa, Wang Yongning glances at Zhui Yun, and remarks—
"Only one guard?"
Chuckling lightly, Nian Yao Yao snaps her fingers.
"…"
"…"
Simultaneously, two individuals appear behind Wang Yongning.
The two men both look to be around 30 years of age.
The first individual is named Níng Qiū Héng—whose attire consists of a trench coat and dress shirt with a pair of trousers, all of which are black in color. With how messy his hair is, he gives off the image of a man that could be seen hanging around a cheap bar.
The second individual is named Lán Shān. Unlike Ning Qiu Heng, this individual is bald, and much like Wang Yongning, he is also dressed in a changpao, but is blue in color. Footwear wise, he wears wooden sandals.
"…"
As Wang Yongning glances behind himself, the two individuals walk around the seating area, and proceed to situate themselves behind Nian Yao Yao, who asks—
"Better?"
Raising a smile, Wang Yongning leans back in the armchair, before glancing at Zhang Yong.
"…"
Getting off the sofa, Zhang Yong stands to the side, and opening his storage pouch, he displaces several wooden crates onto the ground.
Upon finishing that, Zhang Yong returns to his seat.
"That's all of it?"
"Yes. But more is to come if you are to place additional orders."
Answering as such, Wang Yongning hands Hui'er an invoice, along with two employment contracts, all of which the latter passes over to Nian Yao Yao.
Receiving the stacks of paper, Nian Yao Yao looks them over, and replies—
"Hmm, for the time being, it should do."
The employment contracts are for Hui'er—who is being brought into NPI as a guest specialist in the field of medicine, while Zhang Yong shall serve as her personal bodyguard.
As for the crates, all of them contain Carps.
"Do you mind me asking what you intend to do with all these Carps?"
"Footages recorded by my employees showed me the flaws in these drugs of yours. I intend to correct that."
Hearing this, Wang Yongning blinks his eyes, and replies—
"I do not-"
"Impossible to say for certain without trying."
Raising her head, Nian Yao Yao turns to Hui'er with a business smile, and says—
"Well then, Lady Hui'er, pleasure to have you onboard, and I look forward to working with you."
"…Uh? Pleasure is mine, I guess?"
Maintaining his skepticism, Wang Yongning asks—
"How confident are you in this project?"
"My company has studied your Carps and Spirit Extracts in great detail. The reason for the Carps' flaw is because one of the ingredients is unstable. Whoever made this concoction, they didn't manage to purify it perfectly."
Setting the papers aside, Nian Yao Yao leans back in her armchair, as she sees Wang Yongning's lips twitch.
(According to rumors, one of the ingredients was refined by the hall master. She's basically saying that she can do a better job?)
Shaking his head, Wang Yongning says—
"Just to confirm, Hui'er would only be demonstrating the ability of her Relic, and not partaking in anything dangerous?"
"You have my guarantee for all it's worth. Also, if we are successful, you can buy the enhanced drug for a quarter off."
"…I'll look forward to it, if it goes well."
Towards these words, Nian Yao Yao continues to maintain a business smile.
Even though this world isn't able to contend against the forces of the Immortals—as they have recently learned, Nian Yao Yao doesn't intend to just sit back and do nothing.
(Recent examinations of practitioner bodies have found spirit Qi to be present in their blood. In the past, this wasn't the case, I wonder what changed?)
As all the practitioners on the frontlines are using Incarnation Scrolls to enter the Leng Bing Realm, the amount of blood each corpse can provide is very limited.
About the size of a fingertip, that is the amount of blood needed to create a clone—via the Incarnation Scroll.
With that being the case, sample sizes of undiluted practitioner blood have always been low, but since the Ling Yuan family had decided to enter the Leng Bing Realm with their actual bodies this time, the quantity of the samples had risen by an exponential amount.
Adding to the fact that NPI had acquired a stable supply of practitioner blood—through their connection to New Moon Village, they've had much more time to study them than any other organization in this world.
(That unstable energy in those Carps, I still find it hard to believe its lightning energy. But since all the researchers seem to have agreed on this, I'm forced to accept it. Questioning the technology of the Immortals would only drive me insane otherwise…)
During one of the experiments, Nian Yao Yao had been present, and it was there that she witnessed—
(When this lightning energy came into contact with the blood of a practitioner, it became noticeably weaker. Maybe if we just mix practitioner blood into the Carps, we can stabilize this energy—to allow Sinners to absorb it with greater efficiency? Hmm, I should ask Long Hua more about this later, and see what he thinks.)
Dismissing these thoughts for the time being, Nian Yao Yao returns her focus onto reality, and asks—
"Well then, is there anything else that I can help you with, Sir Wang?"
Shaking his head, Wang Yongning rises off the armchair, and says—
"None, I'll entrust the well-beings of my subordinates with your company."
In exchange for this deal, the Ashen River Hall had no need to pay an entry fee to enter the next ruins excavation. This is seen as a positive by everyone, as it would save them a great deal of money in the long run—while nabbing themselves Spirit Extracts.
"Pleasure doing business with you and your group."
"Un."
Nodding his head, Wang Yongning leaves the office.
Outside of the office, a person had been arranged to escort Wang Yongning out of the building.
"…"
Turning to Ning Qiu Heng, Nian Yao Yao says—
"Qiu Heng, show our two guests around."
"Understood."
Replying as such, Ning Qiu Heng takes Hui'er and Zhang Yong away for a tour.
Following the three's leave from the office, Nian Yao Yao turns to Lan Shan, and asks—
"Lan Shan, how's your body condition lately?"
Lan Shan is the first person to have taken the prototype drug, so he had been told to give a daily report on his health conditions.
Raising a smile, Lan Shan chuckles, and replies—
"I'm fine. Much better than fine actually."
Towards Lan Shan's words, Zhui Yun can't help but feel a bit displeased, as she asks—
"Lady Nian, I want to use the prototype drug as well."
Contemplating for a brief instance, Nian Yao Yao replies—
"Be patient. I…- Hmm, there's still a few days before the excavation. On the day of it, we should have a better prototype. You can take that one."
Being promised this, Zhui Yun smiles, while Lan Shan jokingly says—
"So, I'm the guinea pig then?"
Towards this, Zhui Yun replies—
"Aren't all monks supposed to be kindhearted, and be willing to sacrifice themselves for others. What's that odd saying again? "If I do not fall into Hell, then who would fall into Hell?" Shouldn't that be your motto?"
"Amitābha. …Some people in this world are beyond redemption."