The world begins with refining skills

Chapter 454 Prelude to the Storm! (Seeking monthly votes)
"Ring ring~!"

"Om~Om~"

Three o'clock in the morning.

In a room in an upscale residential complex, a piercing alarm clock suddenly rang out.

Qin Meirou, who was fast asleep, suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.

In the pitch-black bedroom, the light from the phone screen was particularly glaring.

"Is it time?"

Qin Meirou murmured somewhat dazedly, reaching for her phone on the bedside table and squinting as she turned off the alarm.

After the jarring sound disappeared, Qin Meirou didn't get up immediately, but sat blankly on the bed.

I was jolted awake again when my phone alarm rang once more.

【03: 10】

Qin Meirou was only in a moment of panic, and ten minutes had passed.

Wow! Ten minutes have passed so quickly!

Qin Meirou slapped her cheeks hard to try and clear her head.

"Minister Zhao's plane is scheduled to land at five o'clock. We can't delay any longer, or we'll be too late!"

Qin Meirou forcibly resisted the temptation to doze off a little longer, and yanked the blanket off and got out of bed.

More than half an hour later.

After washing up and getting dressed, Qin Meirou, wearing a fitted women's suit, drove a car out of the residential area and headed towards the airport.

At 4:50, Qin Meirou was already standing at the arrival gate of Dachang City Airport.

"Ten minutes left, nice!"

After glancing at her phone and confirming that it was still not time for the plane to arrive, Qin Meirou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Qin Meirou had been living a very comfortable life in Dachang City for the past month, and she had become somewhat lazy. If it were before, she would have arrived at the airport half an hour earlier.

"This Mu Sheng, he either disappears without a trace, or he shows up and causes such a huge mess."

Qin Meirou glanced at the black-clad police officers she saw everywhere in the airport and muttered to herself.

These black-clad police officers suddenly appeared two days ago and quickly spread throughout Dachang City.

From what Qin Meirou could observe, the number of these black-clad police officers was no less than ten thousand.

Qin Meirou couldn't understand where Mu Sheng had recruited so many subordinates.

Even headquarters couldn't trace the origins of these people; it was as if they had appeared out of thin air.

Ten minutes later.

Qin Meirou finally saw Zhao Jianguo and the others who had flown in from Dajing City.

"Minister Zhao, over here!"

Qin Meirou quickly waved and called out to Zhao Jianguo and the others.

At the arrivals exit, Zhao Jianguo heard Qin Meirou's voice and then withdrew his gaze from observing the black-clad police officer.

"Minister Zhao, let me help you carry those things!"

Qin Meirou jogged forward, saying that she was about to take off Zhao Jianguo's briefcase and carry it on her own back.

"Qin Meirou, thank you for coming to pick us up!"

Zhao Jianguo smiled and handed the backpack to Qin Meirou.

Without exchanging pleasantries, the group left the airport, got into their car, and headed straight for Dachang City.

Qin Meirou did not continue driving, but handed the car over to one of the accompanying staff members, while she sat in the back seat with Zhao Jianguo.

"It wasn't easy to communicate over the phone before, Qin Meirou, could you give me a more detailed introduction to the situation in Dachang City?"

Zhao Jianguo looked at Qin Meirou with a smile, his right hand still in his pocket, his fingers unconsciously stroking the things inside.

Judging from its shape, it should be an octagonal object.

"Yes, Minister Zhao!"

Qin Meirou responded, and then began to recall and carefully describe the information she had gathered.

"Since a month ago I"

The car sped along the road, entering Dachang City as the sun rose in the east.

They drove through the entire city, heading towards a manor in the suburbs.

Two hours later, the group finally arrived outside the club estate.

On either side of the manor gate stood two guards clad in bronze armor, each holding a large halberd and standing motionless.

Upon seeing Zhao Jianguo and his group's car, a guard approached and knocked on the window.

Qin Meirou, sitting in the back seat, rolled down the car window and said to the guard, "We have an appointment with President Mu to visit him today."

The guard watched Qin Meirou quietly, then glanced at Zhao Jianguo and the others inside the car, a flash of yellow and black writing in his eyes.

After a few seconds.

Seemingly having confirmed Zhao Jianguo and the others' identities, the guards retreated to their original positions.

The gates of the manor slowly opened.

Once inside the manor, the car slowly drove along the internal roads.

Inside the car, Zhao Jianguo was deep in thought, his face serious.

'There were some words flashing in the guard's eyes just now; it must have been some kind of supernatural power.'

'Using ghost servants to guard the gate? Isn't Mu Sheng afraid of causing problems?'

Zhao Jianguo was worried about Mu Sheng's behavior.

For some reason, he always felt that Mu Sheng had no respect for evil spirits whatsoever.

As the head of Interpol's Asian region, Zhao Jianguo has come into contact with far too many ghost tamers.

Among the other ghost tamers, even those who have become somewhat morbid and insane due to the corruption of vengeful ghosts.

Deep down, he still harbors an indelible fear and dread of vengeful ghosts.

But Mu Sheng was different; he always exuded a kind of inexplicable confidence.

They were even arrogantly confident, so arrogant that they weren't worried at all about the resurgence and corruption of the vengeful spirits.

'Is it another person like Ye Zhen?'

No, it's not quite the same.

Just as Zhao Jianguo was thinking, the car stopped.

"Minister Zhao, we've arrived."

Qin Meirou reminded him, then opened the car door and got out.

After getting off the bus, Zhao Jianguo saw a young girl who came to greet them.

Su Lei, a survivor of the "ghost knocking on the door" incident at No. 7 Middle School, is also Mu Sheng's deskmate and currently in a romantic relationship with him.

The moment he saw the other person, relevant information flashed through Zhao Jianguo's mind.

There is even some information about Wang Shanshan and Miao Xiaoshan.

'Does he have a fondness for women? That's similar to many demon tamers.'

Zhao Jianguo glanced thoughtfully at Qin Meirou, who was talking to Su Lei.

'After this matter is over, it's time to give Xiao Qin a heads-up.'

"You must be Minister Zhao Jianguo?"

Su Lei stepped forward gracefully and greeted them, "Please come with me, Mu Sheng is waiting for you in his study!" With that, she took the lead and walked into the hall.

Before accepting the divine position, if Su Lei had met a high-ranking government official like Zhao Jianguo, she would have been so nervous that she would have stammered.

But now, as the first subordinate god under the Yama King with 'superpowers', Su Lei can look Zhao Jianguo on equal footing.

Su Lei's mentality is not unique. With the outbreak of supernatural events, the ghost tamers who have mastered the power have become a part of the situation.

Especially those powerful figures at the top of the paranormal world are increasingly disregarding power and influence.

Taking the elevator upstairs, the group quickly arrived at the study on the fifth floor.

The room is lined with bookshelves made of Phoebe zhennan wood, filled with all kinds of books.

Zhao Jianguo's gaze swept across the bookshelf, finding that most of the books were Eastern and Western myths and legends, as well as some ancient literary classics.

A desk is placed on the south side of the study.

A handsome young man was sitting behind a desk, reading a book.

On the right side of the desk was a low tea table, where a pure and beautiful young girl was brewing tea, albeit somewhat clumsily.

"You guys should have studied this stuff by now, right? What do you think?"

Mu Sheng put down the book in his hand and gestured for Zhao Jianguo to sit down.

There was only one chair in front of the desk. Zhao Jianguo sat in the chair, and Qin Meirou and her entourage stood behind him.

After Zhao Jianguo sat down, Wang Shanshan had just finished brewing tea. She placed the tea set on the desk and poured a cup for both Mu Sheng and Zhao Jianguo.

"This spiritual artifact is indeed very valuable; even Professor Wang praised it highly."

Zhao Jianguo picked up his teacup, took a symbolic sip, and said.

He intended to downplay the role of the magical artifact, but ultimately did not.

People who are willing to trade these items naturally understand their value. Overly calculating and profit-driven approaches only evoke resentment.

"If you can provide twenty magical artifacts every month, headquarters can turn a blind eye to everything you've done in Dachang City!"

Zhao Jianguo's meaning was quite clear: this was equivalent to leasing Dachang City to Musheng in exchange for 20 magical artifacts per month.

Qin Meirou, who was standing behind Zhao Jianguo, widened her eyes instantly upon hearing these words.

'Is this a plan to grant Dachang City to Musheng?'

'Is that supernatural item really that valuable?'

Qin Meirou was shocked. That supernatural object, which looked like a Bagua mirror, was actually handed over to headquarters by her.

Qin Meirou never expected that thing would be so valuable.

If Zhao Jianguo knew Qin Meirou's true feelings, he would probably give a bitter smile.

How could headquarters possibly hand over an entire provincial capital city just because of a supernatural item!

Ultimately, it's because Mu Sheng displayed such immense power.

The strength that can suppress Li Jun, the domineering ability to single-handedly destroy Xiaoqiang Club, and those black police officers who seem to have been created with supernatural power.

Tens of thousands of Black police officers—that number alone is enough to send chills down your spine.

Tens of thousands of unarmed ordinary people are enough to throw a city into chaos.

Tens of thousands of heavily armed soldiers can easily destroy and control a city.

The threat posed by tens of thousands of objects suspected to be paranormal is only greater!
More importantly, this reveals a fact: if Mu Sheng can create tens of thousands of Black Police, can he create even more?

After recognizing this fact, headquarters understood that worldly forces were probably no longer able to restrain Mu Sheng.

"Twenty items? Impossible!"

Mu Sheng refused without hesitation: "A maximum of five items per month. Any more than that, I'll exchange them for other things."

"Um, right now I only need ghosts. One ghost can be exchanged for 10 magical artifacts."

Although making magical artifacts doesn't require much effort for Mu Sheng, he can easily make hundreds of magical artifacts a day.

However, this is because of Mu Sheng's special circumstances. If other ghost tamers dared to do the same, the vengeful spirit within them would be revived.

Besides, scarcity increases value. If Musheng acts too indifferent, headquarters will only take advantage of the situation!

"Five items are too few. There are more than two hundred cities in the country with a population of over 500,000."

"If you throw five magical artifacts into such a large pool of water, you won't even see a splash."

Zhao Jianguo shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no, five items are too few."

Even at 20 pieces a month, it would take a year to barely meet the needs of a prefecture-level city.

Mu Sheng rolled his eyes upon hearing this, as if the headquarters would distribute all these magical artifacts.

"Just five pieces? Do you think these magical artifacts can be made casually? They've caused me a lot of damage!"

Zhao Jianguo hesitated for a few seconds, knowing that Mu Sheng would not agree to 20 items: "Then 15, no less!"

"A maximum of 10!"

"Ten is too few, how about adding fourteen?"

"How can you subtract them one by one?"

"."

After a series of negotiations, the two sides finally reached a consensus: Mu Sheng would hand over 12 magical artifacts every month in exchange for control of Dachang City.

For Musheng, using something that could be made easily saved him a lot of trouble, so he could be said to have made a profit.

As for the headquarters, since the loss of Dachang City was inevitable, they might as well use it to gain some benefits.

Moreover, this will allow us to establish a good cooperative relationship with Musheng.

Later, when encountering difficult paranormal events, this relationship can be used to make a deal with Mu Sheng.

After this matter was resolved, Mu Sheng brought up the issue of exchanging ghosts for magical artifacts again.

"Since you have already studied the Bagua artifact, you should know that the blue supernatural color on it originated from a member of the Xiaoqiang Club."

"As long as headquarters can provide more ghosts, I can also create magical artifacts with different supernatural powers."

"Minister Zhao, you should also understand that there is a restraining relationship between different ghosts."

"If we possess different supernatural artifacts, headquarters will be much more efficient at resolving paranormal incidents!"

Mu Sheng's tempting words immediately made Zhao Jianguo's heart flutter.

However, while he was tempted, this was not a decision he could make alone.

Zhao Jianguo shook his head and said, "This matter is not that simple. Mu Sheng, you may not understand, but in the eyes of some people above, ghosts are also a kind of resource."

Zhao Jianguo only mentioned it briefly and did not go into details.

Ghosts can be used not only to create supernatural items, but also to train ghost tamers.

In this transformative era of supernatural revival, the vested interests of the old era will not willingly relinquish their wealth and power.

Whether it's to maintain their own privileges or to have the power to protect themselves.

Those in the Heavenly Palace who controlled the means of production began to use their resources to study supernatural powers as early as the very beginning of the emergence of supernatural phenomena.

They began to cultivate ghost tamers belonging to their own faction.

For example, Li Jun from headquarters is an elite selected by the state from the military, who mastered the will-o'-the-wisp through a series of experiments.

Other forces are doing similar things.

After reaching the agreement, Zhao Jianguo took his share of the magical artifacts for the month and prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Zhao Jianguo suddenly told Mu Sheng something.

"Someone at headquarters is looking at your file. Be careful lately."

(End of this chapter)