I became the King of Ryukyu

She didn't ask Zheng Yi why he didn't discreetly tell his own people. She knew the answer: in the organization, the lives of lower-ranking members were cheap. Besides, this Huang Mei was clearly not the kind of person who cared about the lives of his subordinates.

"The cabin has been cleared. All seventeen drug dealers have been dealt with," she reported to the commander, her voice steady, but the fingers gripping the gun were slightly white.

Zheng Yi nodded, put away the lamppost, took out his communicator from his pocket, and dialed the number.

The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Mission accomplished," Zheng Yi said in Huang Mei's steady yet hoarse voice. "The ship is under control. Send someone to take over."

There was a two-second silence on the other end, then the hoarse voice said, "Yellow Eyebrows, you're pretty good."

The phone hangs up.

Zheng Yi put away his communicator, stood at the bow of the ship, and watched as a line of pale light appeared on the distant horizon. The sea breeze blew across his shiny scalp, carrying a strong smell of blood and the salty, fishy scent of the sea.

He glanced down at the lamppost in his hand; the flange was covered in dark red blood and bits of flesh, some of which had already begun to congeal.

Zheng Yi casually tossed the lamppost into the game warehouse, then turned around and jumped off the speedboat with Ishikawa Aya.

"Aren't you going to take a look at those goods?" Ishikawa Ayaka asked.

"That's none of our business."

Zheng Yi gazed into the distance, silently reciting in his heart: I only protect my Ryukyu, and of course, the sun in the sky. As for the Americans, let them pray to their own gods.

The following week of campus life was uneventful.

Zheng Yi attended classes and left on time, reported to the Marine Biology Research Club, brought two cups of fruit tea for Mioko from the main campus, and went back to the attic to tinker with his microwave oven alchemy. The days were as calm as the afternoon sea in Naha Port, without even a ripple.

It wasn't until Friday evening that Bai Ling Shangren's avatar started moving on the game panel.

[Master Bai Ling: My lord, great news! The first batch of okra and cucumbers are ripe.]

Zheng Yi was staring blankly at a plate of charred pill residue in the attic when he saw this message and paused for a moment.

Is it ripe?

He counted on his fingers—from sowing to now, it's only been seven days at most. Even in Okinawa's warm climate, the normal growth cycle for okra and cucumbers is at least two months from sowing to harvest. Harvesting in seven days is about one-tenth of the normal growth rate.

The soil fertility of the Shadow Isles was even more exaggerated than he had expected.

[Zheng Yi: How much did you collect?]

[Master Bai Ling: Approximately thirty catties of okra and forty catties of cucumbers. They are of excellent quality, bright green, and crisp and tender. I have already kept a batch of each for seed. There is another matter to discuss—the island is currently severely understaffed; I earnestly request that Your Majesty send more labor.]

Upon seeing the words "insufficient manpower," Zheng Yi almost instinctively replied, "Aren't there twenty monkeys?"

Master Bailing paused for a moment in his reply, then sent a message that left Zheng Yi stunned for several seconds:

[My lord, you may not know this... but those monkeys are currently busy brewing wine.]

[Zheng Yi: ? ? ? ]

[Master Bai Ling: Three days ago, I discovered Sun Xiaokong leading a troop of monkeys gathered by a mountain stream, collecting wild fruits and placing them in a rocky hollow, then fetching spring water to fill it. At first, I thought they were just playing, but upon closer inspection, I realized—they were brewing wine. This is the "monkey wine" recorded in ancient texts, naturally fermented by clever monkeys gathering hundreds of fruits, extremely rare. I tasted a sip; although it's still lacking in perfection, the base is already excellent. With careful cultivation and given time, it will surely become a superior product.]

Zheng Yi stared at the screen for a long time.

He bought the monkeys with the intention of having them test medicine, farm, patrol, and do chores. But these monkeys, on their very first day, spontaneously set up a brewery, even building their own equipment. You could say they truly are worthy of being Sun Wukong's underlings! This entrepreneurial spirit would definitely earn them an outstanding employee award in human society.

[Zheng Yi: Who will farm that land?]

[Master Bai Ling: This old monk still has some strength, and the little white dragon can also pull farm tools in the water on land closer to the beach. However, to expand the scale of planting, we do need more manpower, and it would be best to purchase some more agricultural machinery.]

Zheng Yi gets angry when agricultural machinery is mentioned.

Japan's agricultural machinery market is basically controlled by agricultural cooperatives. A small tiller can sell for 800,000 yen, and a ride-on rice transplanter can be priced at 3 million yen.

Furthermore, agricultural cooperatives do not allow farmers to purchase agricultural machinery from other regions; they must buy it from dealers designated by the local agricultural cooperative, and the price is entirely determined by the seller. Even more outrageous, many agricultural machines are equipped with GPS locks, making them impossible for unauthorized personnel to repair. If they break down, farmers can only go to repair shops designated by the agricultural cooperative, where even a simple filter replacement can cost 20,000 yen.

These middlemen are better at making money than the Gods' Palace is at double-crossing each other.

Zheng Yi shook his head, putting aside the messy agricultural association issue for now, and replied: "So you mean the monkeys will continue brewing wine, and I'll get you another batch of monkeys to farm?"

[Master Bai Ling: Amitabha, our lord is wise.]

Zheng Yi rubbed his temples.

He opened the game panel and glanced at his current financial situation—the money he used to buy the monkey was all gone, and all he had left in his pocket was the 500,000 yen card given to him by Mioko Honbu, and some spare change. But coincidentally, the "bonus" from the God's Palace had arrived in his account a couple of days ago.

Huang Meifo successfully completed his first mission, and the organization officially promoted him to head of the Okinawa region. Along with the official promotion notice came a bonus of one million yen.

When Zheng Yi received the money, his feelings were quite complicated.

He was an inside man who carried out a double-cross for the criminal organization, earning a million dollars from the right wing with tears in his eyes and anger.

If he doesn't take this money, he's endangering world peace. What good can these right-wing bastards possibly do?

As for whether it will endanger the American people, well, that just means the American people will have to suffer even more.

He only cared about his own Ryukyu.

One million plus the five hundred thousand given by Mioko from headquarters, that's a total of one million five hundred thousand. More than enough to buy another batch of monkeys.

The next morning, Zheng Yi activated [Spiritual Transformation] again, transforming into the Kansai animal rights activist speaking with an Osaka accent, and walked familiarly into the animal laboratory of the Faculty of Biology at the University of the Ryukyus.

The technician, wearing thick glasses, recognized him: "Oh, Mr. Yamada, here to buy monkeys again?"

"Oh, I'm so honored that you still remember me!" Zheng Yi said with a smile, handing over a new business card—this time he had changed the association's name to "Kansai Natural Symbiosis Research Association." "The last batch of monkeys worked very well, and our president was very satisfied. He specifically asked me to come and purchase another batch."

In addition to the business card, a small cloth bag containing some newly arrived seafood was also handed out.

The technician smiled and took the bag, shoving it under the table. Without a word, he quoted the price: "Same price as always, 100,000 each. How many do you want this time?"

Zheng Yi did some mental calculations. He had 1.5 million; he'd keep 300,000 as working capital, and the remaining 1.2 million could buy 12 more. Adding that to the previous 20, that would make a total of 32 monkeys, which should be enough manpower on Shadow Isle.

"Twelve."

The technician nodded and was about to lead him to choose one when he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, Mr. Yamada, we just received a new batch of primates a few days ago—a gibbon, transferred from an endangered species rescue center in Southeast Asia. It was originally going to be sent to a research institution at Kyoto University, but there were some procedural issues, so it's temporarily staying with us. It's in excellent condition, but it's a bit aloof and doesn't socialize much. Are you interested?"