Global Mining.

Chapter 983 Avoiding Lightning
Soon, Uriel and the Guardian each received a black card printed with "Evil Spirit Island Bank".

The bank teller explained, "Madam, you now have 1000 million mining coins in your card. You can come and withdraw them at any time... in cash."

The guardian sighed helplessly: "I was originally thinking of building a new restaurant in the alleyway area."

Michael immediately said, "Our next step is to connect with the pirates' shadow banks, so that ladies can withdraw money from the pirates' shadow banks in various cities."

The guardian asked in surprise, "Why would they want to communicate with you?"

Michael said, "Because our bank has shares held by several major pirates, including Redbeard, Blackbeard, Bluebeard, and Whitebeard, as long as our island develops better, these major pirates should expand our business."

The guardian asked in surprise, "But your island has clearly submitted to the Empire and is Imperial territory. Would the Empire allow pirates to continue developing like this?"

Michael was certain: "This involves the gray area. Rather than being unable to control the pirates' funds, the Empire is better off establishing such a gray cooperation with them. Our next step is to integrate the pirates' power and open up more shadow banking channels with other forces."

The guardian chuckled, "You have so many plans."

Michael said, "The development of our island is very well planned."

The guardian laughed and said, "Since the lord is so confident, I am also confident in the future development of your island. How about I use this 1000 million to invest in building a restaurant on your island?"

Michael was overjoyed: "It's our island, ma'am, of course you're welcome! Our island has construction companies with extremely low labor costs, so it won't cost that much!"

The guardian laughed and said, "No need to be stingy, just spend 1000 million! Let's get started as soon as possible. I'll stay here and observe the progress, how about that?"

Uri asked in surprise, "This, ma'am, you're not going back to Black Iron City?"

The guardian laughed and said, "Can't you just think of it as a trip to get some fresh air?"

Sila laughed: "Great news! It's like the Broken Bottle Merchant Guild is opening a new base on Spirit Island. Wait for me—"

Gabriel said irritably, "We're just waiting for you to become the president!"

Michael immediately summoned the construction company owner, Piend: "Boss, this lady is the guardian deity of the Broken Bottle Merchant Guild of Black Iron City. She wants to invest in a restaurant on our island. This matter is entrusted to you, immediately!"

Peter nodded repeatedly: "Madam, I have some ready-made drawings here. Which style do you need?"

The guardian laughed, "A model with a 1000 million specification!"

Peter laughed: "No problem, ma'am! We were just worried about the supplies taking up space in the warehouse, I'll gather the manpower right away!"

As the island's bells rang, almost all of the thousand evil spirits, except for the few hundred mithril evil spirits, gathered in the square.

Michael suddenly realized something was wrong: "He has such great influence? I can't even gather this many people directly!"

Gabriel sighed, "After all, the boss's reputation is only lukewarm!"

Michael felt a sense of urgency: "Now that the lord's quest is complete and the distillery is built, I should return to the Golden Throne to turn in the quest..."

So Michael greeted the Sirens, then remembered the two princes and decided to discuss it with them as well. He had always had a good relationship with the fourth prince, and they had been secretly investing in shadow banking here. The news of the shadow banking had already spread to all the cities, and the emperor had no reason not to know. He would have to give the emperor an explanation when it came time to complete the mission.

Michael approached the two princes: "Your Highnesses, I am about to report the lord's mission to His Majesty. If the Emperor inquires about the bank, how should I respond?"

The two princes said in unison, "Don't mention the bank!"

Michael was dumbfounded. Did they think their father, the emperor and the god, was a fool?
Michael sighed helplessly: "But news of the shadow bank has already spread to all the cities, and the Emperor himself has inquired about it."

The fourth prince said, "Then you won't admit it!"

The second prince explained, "Once that's acknowledged, wouldn't the shadow banks become the Imperial Bank? The significance of shadow banks is that some people are unwilling to deposit their money in the Imperial Bank!"

The fourth prince said, "So the gray area is all about knowing something in your heart, but never admitting it publicly."

Fuck! You two are setting me up?! Are you going to deny it to the Emperor, who knows perfectly well what's going on?! Or should I just sell you both out?
Michael could only reassure them: "Understood, I won't mention the bank. I'm off."

Michael then set off to fly back to Gem City.

But he was truly undecided: "Gentlemen, should I listen to them? If I don't admit it, wouldn't that be disloyalty to the emperor?"

Sariel said irritably, "Originally, this Evil Spirit Island was our secret base for dealing with the Emperor, but it was taken over by the Emperor's leader. So is it possible that the leader has lost his value and the Emperor can depose him at any time on charges of disloyalty and have the two princes replace you as lord?"

Michael frowned: "That possibility is not out of the question. But I am a lord recognized by Evil Spirit Island, and it's not necessarily something that can be replaced at any time."

Sariel sneered, "These princes are all fiancés of the city beauties generated by the system. I've always disliked them, so why don't we just hand them over to the authorities?"

Michael was in an even more difficult position: "But I've always suspected that the Fourth Prince is a traitor, an informant of the Emperor. If I betray him, the consequences will be unpredictable."

Raphael said helplessly, "If the Emperor asks about this, the boss should just flip a coin. Heads, we'll sell to them; tails, we'll deny it."

Michael was utterly astonished: "My future will be decided by a single coin?"

Gabriel said, "How about we change the subject? The head maid said that the Golden Throne was attacked by the Pirate King. The Emperor's first priority right now must be the Pirate King. If we talk about the Pirate King, once the incident is triggered, the Emperor will need the boss to do things, and we won't make things difficult for the boss."

Michael sighed, "Perhaps, we have no choice but to give it a try."

After flying back to Gem City, Michael teleported all the way back to the Golden Throne.

At this moment, the entire Golden Throne was shrouded in smoke and dust, and the fire brigade's sirens blared throughout the city.

Michael was stunned! Although he had received news of being attacked by the Pirate King, he never expected to be beaten so badly. This was with the Emperor himself in charge! However, a bad beating was better, as it might divert the Emperor's attention.

As he looked around, a subordinate from the Secret Service came over to report: "Sage, His Majesty is waiting for you."

Michael immediately went into the palace.

The emperor sighed softly: "Sage, you have returned."

Michael quickly changed the subject, saying, "Your Majesty, this third-generation pirate king is far too arrogant. I'm also investigating the third-generation pirate king, and it seems I've confirmed his identity."

The emperor was indeed intrigued: "Who is it?"

Michael said, "It is very likely that it is the puppet that appeared in the evil cave of Oak City a few days ago, who claimed to be the King of Oak City. But the appearance of that puppet is also suspicious. I think that puppet is actually the first generation of Pirate King who turned into an evil spirit, so the third generation is actually the first generation!"

The emperor was stunned, then waved his hand, and a monitoring screen popped up in the hall. The screen showed the whole process of Gabriel entering the pirate ship and being received by the two Geminis.

Michael breathed a sigh of relief, having successfully diverted the Emperor's attention!

Gabriel was furious: "Fuck you!"

Michael was worried for Gabriel: "Your Majesty, this female pirate said that the Oak Sage has a surveillance self-destruct device on him, and she won't allow any investigation unless it's removed..." The Emperor said indifferently: "I don't care."

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief: "It's best if you really don't care."

Then another surveillance video appeared, showing the Nightmare Dragon Baron and a Gemini man pushing the stolen cannon into the gun pod.

Michael immediately said, "That's right, this is the Nightmare Dragon, a subordinate of the Oak City Puppet. Its appearance on the pirate ship is proof of that! According to my further investigation, this puppet is in Count Amir Khan's mansion in Black Iron City! Please order me to investigate the puppet's whereabouts, Your Majesty."

The Emperor pondered for a moment and nodded: "Even if this puppet is not the Pirate King, it wiped out the Nightmare Organization in Oak City, which is worth investigating and being wary of. So go and investigate. Also, this is your reward for successfully becoming the Lord of Evil Spirit Island."

—System notification: You have completed the mission "Declaring Administrative Sovereignty over Evil Spirit Island". You have been awarded the Imperial title of "Baron" and your reputation has increased by 50!
—System notification: You have received the quest "Investigate the Oak City Puppet".

baron!!
The chat group erupted in cheers: "Boss, this reward is amazing! It's even better than the legendary artifact!"

Michael dared not be pleased and quickly left, saying, "Your Majesty, I will investigate immediately!"

The Emperor continued to ponder, while Michael turned and left. As long as the Emperor didn't stop him, the bank issue would remain unresolved.

Even after Michael left the palace, the emperor remained deep in thought.

The chat group cheered again: "Successfully avoided the disaster!!"

But Michael wasn't so optimistic. As long as he was in the city, he could be summoned back by an official at any time, so he rushed toward the teleportation array.

Just then, Michael saw smoke rising from Valhalla and was startled! The Four Cities were inside!

Although he was in a hurry, Michael quickly stopped a firefighter: "What is the extent of the damage to Valhalla?"

The firefighter said, "It looks like only the outer wall was damaged by the shelling..."

Michael asked in surprise, "Is it a big problem?"

“Sage…hmm? Baron, please don’t interfere with our work.”

They've switched to calling him Baron! At work, they use titles of nobility…

Michael's worries were useless, and given the strength of the Valhalla's internal space, he figured nothing serious would happen, so he should just run.

Only when he was teleported out of the city did Michael finally breathe a sigh of relief: "That's what you call avoiding lightning!"

Sariel sighed, "What a pity, we can't ask the Emperor for a teleportation array now."

Michael sighed, "We'll have to figure out a solution ourselves."

Uriel asked, "Boss, you're a baron now, so you can easily visit the count's mansion. Shall we go to the count's mansion now? I'll go back to Black Iron City with you."

Michael had been up all night and, after the relief he felt after avoiding the lightning strike, was incredibly sleepy: "I'm at a loss right now, I don't know what to talk to the Earl about. You go ahead, I'm too tired, I'm going to sleep..."

Uriel was heartbroken: "Boss, how can a real man sleep..."

……

At 6 a.m., Da Chun woke up after urinating.

I immediately logged in to check on both accounts. The main account was sprawled out asleep on the floor of the captain's cabin... while the four beauties were lying on the bed, one across and one in between.

Wait, what's going on? Although Da Chun had prepared herself for being censored before logging off, she never expected to be kicked off the bed? Well, as expected of the city's beauty queen, her manners are impeccable. If it were the Fifth Demon Queen, it would be a completely different scene.

Then switch to the alt account, which directly displays the map for ley line awareness.

Di Lian greeted, "Father is here. I'm penetrating the basement walls. Although I've activated the spatial laws, they are indeed very hard, and progress is very slow."

Da Chun encouraged him, "We're not rushing. This is fine as it is. We can rest when we're tired."

"Okay father."

After all, the Frogolo airship incident was deliberately delayed, but there's a good thing about that. If I had dealt with it on the spot, I wouldn't have been able to hide it anymore.

Suddenly, Da Chun remembered the Blood Crystal Lord Bat. He had instructed it to lurk in the surrounding clouds and mist around Gabriel, but he had completely forgotten about it after leaving! What was it doing now?

Da Chun switched back to his large size so as not to disturb their rest. He quietly went out, closed the door, and went to the driver's seat.

First, call out to the magic crystal screen: "Guardian, where are you now?"

The magic crystal screen replied: "We have reached the most remote flight path and have been lying in wait for an hour."

Da Chun said, "No rush, let's wait here for the Empire to send us energy."

Magic Crystal Screen smiled: "That's right. An excellent pirate not only needs to make swift and decisive decisions, but also needs to have the patience to drift."

Da Chun should contact Ai Lian.

A moment later, Ellen's voice came from the magic crystal screen: "Darling, I'm having dinner."

Da Chun asked, "Nothing else happened, right?"

"Nothing bad has happened. The transformation of the Dragon King's damaged divine essence is progressing smoothly so far."

"What about the Blood Crystal Bat Lord?"

"We've been following that Oak Sage all along."

Ah! It really does carry out my instructions diligently? Well, that's good, since I don't know what else to ask it to do anyway.

"I'm fine too, don't worry. Just eat."

"OK, dear."

Speaking of meals, Da Chun had to hurry up and wash up, use the restroom, and call for food. As soon as he picked up his phone, he couldn't help but glance again at the bank transfer notification of 35 yuan from last night. It felt like a dream; he really wanted to spend some of it to justify his feelings!
"Mr. Zhou, breakfast! Steamed buns or noodles are fine."

Zhou Qing smiled and said, "Then send them all over: steamed buns and chicken noodle soup."

Da Chun laughed and said, "Okay! Also, I'd like to treat the brothers on the first floor to breakfast. I'll transfer you 1 yuan, you can arrange it for me."

Zhou Qing laughed, "Looks like Brother Chun is doing well. No problem, we can get him here by tomorrow morning. Wei Shen is really busy now that he's become the village garrison leader. Our first batch of 100,000 players from the China region have already entered the village to take over the canal digging project. Another 100,000 are on their way. The Royal Family left 10,000 to escort them, and the rest set off westward last night..."

(End of this chapter)