Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1192: Chapter 33: I Can’t Let Outsiders Get My Spiritual Energy for Free!

The true dragon of China, having regained her powers, naturally wouldn’t take the Harmony train or any such means of transportation heading north—she didn’t even want to fly, as she felt more secure with her feet firmly on the ground.

However, being a true dragon, her speed couldn’t really be considered slow.

After entering the capital, Long Xiruo easily walked into the headquarters base of the Management Bureau.

She held one of the highest advisor titles here and even had her own office, though it had been opened only a handful of times over the years.

The last time was over ten years ago…

The headquarters of the Management Bureau had been under construction ever since the New Kingdom was founded, and expansions had been ongoing throughout these years.

Others might not know, but those working here were well aware of how massive the headquarters built beneath the capital actually was and the incredible technology it possessed.

The combination of Taoist magic arts and science made this place operate fully—even capable of withstanding a nuclear explosion. When the Spiritual Energy of Mount Tai erupted, upon receiving the news, this place had already accommodated a host of the core high-level personnel of the New Kingdom.

But Long Xiruo had no interest in observing the changes in the headquarters base over the years nor in the continuously emerging new technology here.

Should she wish to conquer this place, no matter how strong its defenses are, unless it is akin to the level of the Penglai Treasury, it would just be a matter of minutes or hours.

As long as her feet are on the ground, it’s nearly invincible; it’s not an exaggeration when they say even an immortal could be counter-attacked.

“Is this the baby born with powers?”

In the room, looking through a specially made glass mirror, Long Xiruo saw the newborns in incubators in the other room and subconsciously frowned.

Not to mention her supreme identity as the true dragon of China, just considering her title as one of the top advisors of the Management Bureau, those accompanying Long Xiruo here couldn’t be ranked any lower than among the second-tier management personnel.

In fact, those accompanying her were the deputy director of the Management Bureau, the four National Scholars led by Fiery Cloud Evil God, and Dr. Zhao, the head of the R&D department.

As for why the deputy director appeared instead of the director, it was naturally because the special characteristics of the Management Bureau meant no one was appointed to lead. It was directly under the authority of the highest leader of the New Kingdom. The deputy director is actually the highest position within the Management Bureau system.

In one of the incubators, the body of a newborn was visibly floating… sucking on a finger while sleeping in mid-air.

Although the floating height was minimal, approximately only a few centimeters, Long Xiruo’s keen eyesight easily noticed this slight distance and sensed that this was neither Taoist magic nor monstrous magic, nor some high-tech zero-gravity device, but a genuine power originating within the newborn.

Next to this floating baby, another infant’s body emitted light akin to tungsten filament bulbs—of course, it was merely light without any attack power.

The other two exhibited different powers—though these abilities seemed to have little utility for now, they could only be referred to as minor abilities.

Dr. Zhao tentatively categorized this mutation as a new evolution of humans following the Spiritual Energy resurgence.

He even regarded these newborns as the seeds of New Humans and speculated that more similar newborns might emerge in the future. Whether adults could also possess ‘powers’ in the future remains an unknown possibility.

Long Xiruo didn’t speak throughout, pondering something.

She was thinking about Mo Xiaofei… Mo Xiaofei had powerful brain domain development, which, to put it plainly, was a postnatal ability evolved from mutated spiritual power, known as telekinesis.

Also, besides Fiery Cloud Evil God, the other three National Scholars.

The three National Scholars too wielded formidable supernatural abilities, but these were indeed outcomes of the New Kingdom’s research over decades.

But these newborns were different. Their seemingly weak powers were inherent, unrelated to their brain development level—not to mention these newborns are only a few days old, what sort of brain domain development could they have?

“What are your plans?” Long Xiruo directly asked the deputy director.

This query didn’t apply to Fiery Cloud Evil God; although he was among the top advisors and had personally trained numerous agents within the Management Bureau, he ultimately volunteered as a high-level hired hand, whereas real decisions were made by these administrative personnel.

The deputy director was named Kuang Jianguo, a name fitting the naming style of his era, around fifty years old, considered relatively young within the leadership structure of the New Kingdom.

Kuang Jianguo solemnly said, “Currently, we can only gather these newborns. If they were allowed to grow up in society like this, the impact remains immeasurable. However, considering future occurrences, similar situations might increase even further; even we won’t be able to suppress it… We must prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

Long Xiruo frowned, “Special legislation?”

Kuang Jianguo stood upright, “This is merely the first step, to adapt to the worst possible future circumstances. If more newborns with abilities emerge, we may be forced to announce the existence of the Transcendent.”

“In that case, I suggest your actions better be swift,” Long Xiruo unexpectedly said.

“Why do you say that?”

This left Kuang Jianguo somewhat surprised… He originally thought, based on Long Xiruo’s past conduct, she might become an obstacle to implementing this legislation, which is why she wasn’t informed prior to its proposal and passing. After all, if the true dragon were to be adamant, the probability of the legislation passing was quite slim.

Humans are strong, but even so, presently, they remain helpless against the true dragon of China.

Long Xiruo glanced at Fiery Cloud Evil God indifferently, then sneered, “What, hasn’t this old fool informed you?”

Fiery Cloud Evil God frowned slightly and saluted, “Master Long, what do you mean by this?”

Long Xiruo said, “You perceive these newborns’ powers, yet don’t see their physiques? These children brim with Spiritual Energy, their bones transparent; if in the ancient times when Spiritual Energy hadn’t yet dried up, they’d be optimal for cultivation… Do you understand now?”

Fiery Cloud Evil God pondered momentarily, then gravely said, “You mean… the Taoist sects, would intervene to seize them?”

Long Xiruo shook her head, “Not necessarily seize, but surely they’d strive for it. No need for me to say; you know the talent decline among the Taoist sects, no successors with fresh potential. Ultimately, the issue lies with the Spiritual Energy; its weakness significantly reduced the chances of high-potential talent appearing. Over the past century, many sects even witnessed negative growth among disciples… Now, if a considerable number of high-potential children were born, wouldn’t the sects strive for their heritage?”

“This…” Fiery Cloud Evil God fell silent; he naturally understood the implications if the true dragon’s words were accurate.

The decline of the Taoist sects wasn’t a recent problem, yet now with Spiritual Energy recovering, the sects embraced a new beginning. Though immediate effects might not be visible, decades later, the sects would likely be revitalized… This pertains solely to the Taoist sects, without considering the conditions of various demon clans—perhaps they represent yet another uncontrollable circumstance.

If the new generation joins the Taoist sects, they are taken as disciples from a young age and cut off from worldly ties from the start. Once they grow up, they might only focus on their own sect, which is completely different from the Management Bureau’s recent practice of selecting trainees to send to various sects and demons for training.

The latter is controllable, but the former is completely uncontrollable.

“What does Dragon Consultant mean?” Kuang Jianguo picked up on the subtleties, cautiously asked.

“I don’t support either side.” Long Xiruo stated bluntly: “But if anyone makes a mess in the mortal world, injures the innocent, and destroys the mountains and rivers, I’ll beat them up until they’re unable to live independently. Now that Spiritual Energy has recovered, the fortunes of the three sides, humanity and demons, will oppose each other in the future. After Mount Tai, humanity’s fate has changed. Whether humanity can continue to dominate as it is depends on your own efforts. I won’t interfere, my fists are meant for outsiders, and those scums inside!”

Kuang Jianguo immediately said, “Dragon Consultant, rest assured, after this incident, we have cleaned up some corrupted individuals in the team… Over the years, everyone has been quite complacent, and new achievements continue to emerge from the research department. Some people in our team lost their perspective, got inflated, and broke away from the people…”

Long Xiruo waved and said, “Don’t give me this nonsense, Huaxia has thousands of years, I can recite history backwards, don’t think I don’t know your nature?”

Kuang Jianguo could only awkwardly remain silent… During the Mount Tai incident, some powerful individuals privately abused the Management Bureau’s power to capture demons, secretly developing and experimenting, which caused resentment among many powerful demons and contributed to the Mount Tai disaster as one of the triggers.

Just at New Kingdom, they prefer a stable strategy, aggressive actions might cause greater turmoil… but handling it so low-key is clearly unsatisfactory for the Godly Land’s true dragon.

“Master Long, humanity’s fate, is it really… going to change?” Fiery Cloud Evil God silently surprised.

“With the recent explosion of Spiritual Energy, humanity and demon fortunes have become thoroughly entangled, even I can’t differentiate it for the time being.”

Long Xiruo nodded… Ultimately, it’s about strength, Fiery Cloud is the Tiger Soul Knife’s heir, sooner or later there will be a destined battle with Xuanyuan Palace. In China, not counting her, Fiery Cloud Evil God is considered one of the points.

Therefore, Fiery Cloud Evil God is the biggest support for the Management Bureau.

As for that damned businessman, Long Xiruo doesn’t count him in at all!

So many encounters made the Godly Land true dragon too clear about the damned businessman’s indecent nature, aside from flirting, he doesn’t care about human suffering!

Damned businessman! At this point, who knows if he’s targeting some family’s girl again with obsessive advances!

So annoying!

Suddenly, the true dragon lord’s face turned unpleasant, and those around felt somewhat disturbed, wondering if the lord was still unhappy about the Management Bureau’s cut-first-report-later approach this time.

Fiery Cloud Evil God quietly signaled to the Bihua National Warrior… gender-wise, it’s closer, and more easily communicable overall.

Nicknamed godmother, Bihua National Warrior understood, stepped forward, smiling, “All right, I’ve also checked the newborn situation. Shall we sit down and chat properly? Lord Long, I have some good tea leaves here, how about a sit-down?”

“Hehe.” Long Xiruo chuckled, waved her hand, “I don’t have time, I have things to do.”

Kuang Jianguo immediately said, “Dragon Consultant, if there’s anything we can help with…”

Long Xiruo rolled her eyes, “I’m going to seal the entire Godly Land’s area now, will you come along too?”

“Seal… seal the Godly Land’s area?” Fiery Cloud Evil God was stunned but soon seemed to think of something.

Long Xiruo angrily said, “I’ve just realized, with so much Spiritual Energy erupting, if I don’t lock it within Godly Land, wouldn’t it allow outsiders to freeload!”

The logic seems right, but why does the tone feel off?

…

…

A few students sulked as they walked out of the office, clearly having just been reprimanded.

They even have to write reviews and bear records because of: bullying classmates, causing a negative influence.

“Damn, it must be Zhao Le who filed the report.” One complained unhappily.

The tall student who had been caught by Zhao Le leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette.

A companion looked at him, “Young Master Feng, should we mess with Zhao Le again?”

“That coward didn’t have the guts to report.” Young Master Feng appeared calm, “Someone else did it.”

“Who has the guts to do this!”

Young Master Feng sneered, looking at Zhao Le, feeling he is a coward, but seeing the other two as idiots. Although idiots have the benefit of obedience, the more direct reason is that he is wealthy.

“Use your pigbrain a bit, will you?” Young Master Feng poked the other’s forehead, “Haven’t forums posted it? Can’t the teachers see it?”

“Just leave it at that?”

Young Master Feng sneered, “I said I’ll mess with him each time I see him. I’ve been after that girl for two months, almost got her. Now great, she starts avoiding me these days.”

“But Chen Mingming seems to protect that kid.” Another person frowned, “But I heard Chen Mingming is quitting school, supposedly immigrating… shall we wait then, without Chen Mingming, Zhao Le is nothing.”

It’s not that bullying has become a habit, but most students at this university are too outstanding, and many from decent families, it’s rare to find ones like Zhao Le from ordinary backgrounds.

“No rush.” Young Master Feng sneered, “In school, we’re good students, how could we bully classmates?”

Young Master Feng adjusted his companion’s collar, buttoned it properly, and patted it, “Know what to do?”

“Understood.” The companion snapped his fingers, his eyes squinted.