Li Tianming asked, "Old Lu, is the project your wife got involved in legal?"
"Yes."
"Who organized it? The Three Major Chamber of Commerce or the United Government?"
"The United Government's Ministry of Economy. But it's no different from the Three Major Chamber of Commerce. After all, the Minister of Economy is Jiang Yuanrui, who is basically in bed with them."
"How did she lose money?"
"The process is too complicated. Simply put, the people from the Three Major Chamber of Commerce set her up."
"The Three Major Chamber of Commerce set you up?"
"Yes, a bunch of despicable scumbags. They approached me before, but I turned them down. Since they couldn't get to me, they went after my wife instead."
Lu Daoxing's tone carried both helplessness and anger.
Qin Siyang asked, "Professor Lu, your God-Hunting Weapon is worth so much, why is your wife still under financial pressure?"
"My family really doesn't have much money. Whatever we have, I basically use to buy materials for my research on God-Hunting Weapon."
"Why don't you just sell two pieces and make some money?"
"You don't understand," Lu Daoxing sighed, "I trade or use all my first and second-tier God-Hunting Weapon for research. Third and fourth-tier God-Hunting Weapon, however, involve my core technology. If I sell them, my technology will be exposed, so I absolutely cannot sell them."
"For third-tier God-Hunting Weapon, I occasionally use them. Even if I don't, I dismantle them myself to prevent technological leaks."
"Fourth-tier God-Hunting Weapon is my trump card for survival. There's no way such Weapon would ever circulate in the market."
"When Old Li was reassigned a few years ago, I was at the East Glory Research Institute, just barely coasting along to collect my paycheck. I did my real research at home, not daring to reveal my God-Hunting Weapon, afraid they'd demand I hand over my core technology."
"My financial situation is basically just enough to not worry about food and clothing."
"I've never worried about money. But my wife isn't in research, and I never talked to her about these things. She probably thought I wasn't making any money."
Qin Siyang scratched his head, "Why hoard so many survival trump cards? What's the point if you can't trade some for money?"
Lu Daoxing shot Qin Siyang a glance, "If I didn't have a full set of trump cards, I would have died outside the Safe Zone last time when I came to find you, kid."
"Oh…"
"Besides, right now, the various factions inside the Safe Zone are getting restless. Who knows when things will break into chaos again?"
"If you don't have enough money, you can just rob others. But if you don't have enough God-Hunting Weapon, you'll be the one getting robbed."
Lu Daoxing's words hit Qin Siyang like a wake-up call.
'The Safe Zone… can still fall into chaos?'
'That makes sense.'
'If my neighbor hoards grain, I hoard guns. Then my neighbor becomes my grain reserve.'
Looking at it that way, there's really no need to stockpile money. As long as there's enough to spend, it's fine.
The top priority should still be improving one's own strength.
After saying that, Lu Daoxing lit a cigarette and smoked with a face full of worry.
Zhang Kuang asked, "This whole project, was it just to target you?"
"Not just me," Lu Daoxing shook his head, "There were a few other professors and associate professors who are more focused on making money than on technology. Most of them are from West Glory."
"To be precise, these people are like me. They research God-Hunting Weapon. Only we had the qualifications to participate."
"This God-Hunting Weapon futures project was a gamble on the market transaction price of God-Hunting Weapon."
"Profits could be exchanged for cash, rare materials, or even real estate in Zone 1. But if you lost, the compensation had to be in the form of God-Hunting Weapon. The project was only open to those who had the ability to pay, meaning those who could provide God-Hunting Weapon as compensation."
Li Tianming frowned deeply, "So, Jiang Yuanrui set this whole thing up just to extract a batch of God-Hunting Weapon?"
"Exactly. The Three Major Chamber of Commerce, as well as East Glory University, which they control, have always been lacking in God-Hunting Weapon technology."
"This setup was clearly meant to collect God-Hunting Weapon and reverse-engineer its technology."
Zhang Kuang asked, "Old Lu, how many pieces of God-Hunting Weapon do you have to compensate?"
"Twenty-eight third-tier God-Hunting Weapon."
"What? That many?"
Lu Daoxing exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes empty, "I actually got off easy. West Glory's Gao Bohan has to pay thirty third-tier God-Hunting Weapon, plus three fourth-tier ones."
"I'm guessing he'll soon have to resign from West Glory and be forced to join Hao Ri Trade Guild to work off his debt."
"Gao Bohan? He's skilled and well-experienced. Why would he join a money-making project like this?"
"I heard he owed a huge gambling debt and wanted to use this to make a comeback. Instead, he ended up in even deeper debt."
Hearing that someone owed even more than Lu Daoxing, the others had nothing more to say.
Li Tianming asked, "Old Lu, is there no way to turn this around?"
"No. All procedures are legal and compliant. The contract signing was recorded on video, it was entirely voluntary. And—"
"Not everyone lost."
"A few professors, along with my wife, bet against the market and made a huge profit. The Ministry of Economy immediately promised them an astronomical amount of earnings."
"But in my eyes, no amount of profit is worth even a few third-tier God-Hunting Weapon."
Hearing this, Li Tianming also furrowed his brows, "Jiang Yuanrui is making a fortune in God-Hunting Weapon this time. He'll definitely settle accounts with the United Government."
"With the United Government backing him, if someone doesn't repay their debts, they'll face severe punishment."
At this point, Lu Daoxing rubbed his eyes.
"My wife is now completely lost at home, like a walking corpse. I'm busy with work, and to prevent her from doing anything drastic, I specifically hired a [Sleepless One] sequence nanny to watch over her 24/7."
Qin Siyang knew about this sequence.
The [Sleepless One]'s skill was that they didn't need to sleep like normal people.
This ability was useless when hunting gods outside the Safe Zone.
But for standing guard and keeping watch inside the Safe Zone, it was incredibly effective.
As a nanny, it seemed like an excellent choice.
It was easy to imagine how expensive it must be.
Hiring a nanny from this sequence must have cost Lu Daoxing a lot of money and effort.
"Other than Old Li, none of you are involved in God-Hunting Weapon research, but you should know that the more rare materials you have, the easier it is to enhance the quality of God-Hunting Weapon while requiring less advanced research technology."
"When technology isn't enough, materials make up for it. It's always been that way."
"For third-tier Weapon, just mixing in some Crimson Crystals or Vine Core materials and using publicly available research techniques is enough to create them."
"The reason I asked Little Qin for Crimson Crystals was to hand over some low-tech third-tier God-Hunting Weapon, so Jiang Yuanrui wouldn't get his hands on my core technology."
A bit of cigarette ash fell on Lu Daoxing's hand. He glanced at it and casually blew it off.
The burn left a red mark on his hand, but he didn't react at all.
At this point, everyone finally understood why Lu Daoxing had been so desperate for Vine Core and Crimson Crystals these days.
But they were all powerless to help.
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