# Chapter 823: Forget the Past! Look to the Future
Originally, Jiangnan planned to directly fly Xiaoniupi and the others to the Steel Forest Spirit Ruins in Yang Province!
But Yang Jian disagreed. After all, they were still within the country, and with the massive Tianniu herd, he was worried something unexpected might happen along the way!
So he decided to arrange train cars to transport them.
In the adjacent reception room, Yang Jian was discussing profit sharing with Mi Ye!
Xuexue, Mila, and the others had already gone to Jing Du, leaving Jiangnan alone in the reception hall, bored out of his mind!
For the past month and a half, he'd either been fighting or on his way to a fight.
Suddenly having free time, Jiangnan instead felt completely out of sorts!
Right now he was sprawled across the table, blowing on the water in his teacup, staring blankly at the ripples!
(๐•́з•̀)⁼³₌₃♨ Hoo~
Truly. Bored enough to blow bubbles!
The two Long Yuan girls standing guard at the reception hall entrance stood ramrod straight!
Their gazes occasionally stole glances at Jiangnan sprawled over the table.
(๐◔◡◔ิ๐)(⸝⸝◔◡◔ิ⸝⸝)
They could barely suppress their laughter. So this was Nan Shen?
They'd imagined someone cold and stern, domineering and mighty. This was completely different from what they'd pictured!
The Nan Shen who brought back two layers of core for Huaxia, who turned the tide so brilliantly in the Abyss—he was actually playing around blowing bubbles?
Wasn't that just too adorable?
Jiangnan seemed to notice their stares and looked back!
The two hurriedly fixed their gazes forward, expressions solemn!
(*❛ั◠❛ั*)(｡❛ั◠❛ั｡)
Jiangnan scratched his head, then, bored out of his mind, began checking his system panel!
The moment he looked, Jiangnan's eyes went red!
"You're full of shit!"
A furious roar made the two girls jump in fright. Blushing, they looked weakly at Jiangnan!
And sniffed lightly!
(•̥́﹏•̀ू): "It... it wasn't me! I didn't!"
Jiangnan stiffened: "Sor... sorry about that. I wasn't talking to you two!"
The two girls looked confused. What was wrong with Nan Shen?
Right now Jiangnan's face was pitch black. He hadn't noticed before!
It was only when flipping to the last page of the system panel today that he discovered:
[Due to the Vendor Cloth repeatedly overloading itself to tank damage for the host!]
[Current stall fees are severely insufficient! 1 billion stall fees have been pre-deducted to cover losses!]
[Please replenish stall fees promptly. Current debt: 1 billion yuan!]
[If not repaid in time, the system will automatically sell off the host's assets to settle the debt!]
Jiangnan: ~Pfft (ŎεŎ|||)
Grandma's leg! A whole billion!
Just for using the Vendor Cloth to tank a few Spatial Rifts, a few supernovas, a few of Mi Ye's nuclear explosions?
Was that really necessary?
Hadn't all those stall fees he paid before gone to waste?
[(˵ಡ◠ಡ)و✧]
[One must forget the past and look to the future!]
Jiangnan: (ꐦᵒ̌益ᵒ̌) Hmph~ tUi!
I see you eyeing my treasures and trying to swindle my hard-earned cash!
So this is what they call starting a game with a billion in debt?
I just barely recovered some funds, and now the system comes to exploit me again?
[Detected the host insulting the system. One gold brick deducted as punishment!]
Jiangnan: (งཀдཀ)ง You again?
Wait!
"What about my upgrade card? Since the last upgrade card, my resentment value spending has long exceeded 30 million, right?"
[(꒪ͦก꒪ͦ) Huh? Has it...?]
[Searching... Record data incomplete...]
Jiangnan exploded. Incomplete records my ass! Playing dumb again?
You just don't want to give it to me! Always trying to welch on your debts!
Is this what you call forgetting the past?
No one does business like this!
"Records lost, huh? What about my little notebook? You forgot, but I've kept track for you!"
With that, he pulled a little notebook out of his alternate dimension, clearly recording every single resentment value expense!
Last time alone was 880, plus all the previous ones!
Jiangnan glared: "See? It's over 48 million now! If I hadn't kept track, you'd have really fooled me!"
"Hard evidence! Where's my upgrade card?"
[(•́﹏̀٥) Huh?]
[Upgrade cards are currently out of stock!]
[The host may exchange for two upgrade cards upon spending 60 million resentment value!]
[Or exchange for one Fusion Card upon spending 50 million!]
Jiangnan was stunned. What was a Fusion Card?
He'd never seen the system offer one before!
"What does this Fusion Card do?"
[Can be used to fuse two spirit beads of the same attribute. 100% fusion success rate. Fusion can improve the quality of the spirit skill, with random overlapping skill effects!]
Jiangnan's eyes went wide. Spirit beads could actually be fused?
This immediately made him think of the Starlight-grade Space-type spirit bead he'd just obtained!
His heart ached!
It would be a real waste not to use it. Though it was a bit of a lemon, if he could fuse it with another bead, the effect would be completely different!
After all, even if he went into the Void Sea, he wasn't guaranteed to find a Starlight-grade spirit bead!
If he found a suitable one and fused it with this Space Mark, wouldn't that be wonderful?
Jiangnan's face darkened!
Wasn't the system just tempting him to exchange for the Fusion Card?
But then he thought again—by the time he spent up to 60 million, the system would probably claim it was out of stock and welch again!
Plus, he didn't particularly want to upgrade any consolation prizes right now. After all, upgrading both strengthened the effect and made the side effects deadly!
After a struggle, Jiangnan gritted his teeth and stomped his foot: "I'll take the Fusion Card!"
Jiangnan waved his hand and did 20 more ten-pull draws. Nothing new came out. His resentment value was down to 1.7 million!
[Detected the host has spent 50 million resentment value. Reward: One Fusion Card!]
Jiangnan snickered gleefully. After all that effort, he'd finally squeezed something out of the system. Not easy!
Keeping accounts really was necessary, after all, this damn system always liked to forget the past!
But remembering he still owed a billion, Jiangnan's face scrunched up again!
Just then, bursts of arguing suddenly came from next door, catching Jiangnan's attention!
Mi Ye's legs were casually propped on the table: "Thirty percent gross profit! And unconditional supply of high-precision spirit-binding weapons for the Nightless City garrison!"
"Otherwise, no deal!"
Yang Jian covered his face: "You won't give an inch, will you? Supplying weapons—that I can accept!"
"But thirty percent gross profit? Don't other countries only get twenty percent?"
Mi Ye said flatly: "Everyone else gets ten percent. Who told Jiangnan to take back two layers?"
Yang Jian took a deep breath: "Can't you make it any cheaper, for Jiangnan's sake?"
With no other option, Yang Jian had to play his trump card!
The moment Mi Ye heard that, her eyes shot wide!
(๐･᷅◠･᷄): "You bring him up again? Mention him, and it's forty percent gross profit!"
"He blew up my Nightless City! Twice! It was shrouded in fart haze for over half a month! I haven't even asked you to pay compensation yet!"
Yang Jian: (•́ω•̀٥)?
This... this isn't how he imagined it!
Jiangnan's face was so expensive? It actually raised the price by ten percent?
As he spoke, Yang Jian pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit it!
Mi Ye frowned: "What are you doing? Smoking? Don't smoke indoors! I don't like the smell of smoke!"
Yang Jian shook his head: (̿▀̿̿Ĺ̯̿̿▀̿̿)̄
"No... it's too dark. I just needed some light..."
Mi Ye: (￢д￢｡) Huh?
Mei: (⑉ԾกԾ) Pfft~
Yang Jian scratched his head: "If this is how it is, there's nothing to discuss! It's almost fifty-fifty? We have to put in manpower and resources, and you're just sitting back collecting money?"
Mi Ye didn't speak. She just pointed at the core Mei was carrying!
With the pot lid in hand, the Abyss is mine!
"Cough~ If there's nothing to discuss, I won't talk to you. Go get Jiang Lan to talk to me!"
"Maybe if I'm happy, I'll lower the price!"
Yang Jian was stunned: "Jiang Lan? Who's that? Do we have someone by that name on our side?"
Mi Ye: (꒪ͦ～꒪ͦ*) "Cough~ Go ask Jiangnan. He knows who it is!"
Yang Jian left the meeting room completely baffled and found Jiangnan!
"She insists on talking to Jiang Lan. Do you know who that is?"
Jiangnan's forehead beaded with sweat. What was Mi Ye playing at?
Didn't she already know Jiang Lan was just him in disguise?
Was she asking him to cross-dress and come keep her company?
Damn! Mi Ye was clearly trying to make a move on his cabbage!
Jiangnan swallowed hard: "I do know her, but..."
Yang Jian urged: "But what? Hurry up and get her here to save the situation!"
"No matter what, we have to keep the profit share at twenty percent. Do you know how many more billions a year just one extra percent means?"
Jiangnan covered his face: (ﾉ)﹏(ヾ) "I can call her, alright!"
"But Brother Jian, you must never forget the contributions and sacrifices I've made to our country's spirit-binding industry!"
Yang Jian heavily patted Jiangnan's shoulder: "Don't worry, kid! It's all noted!"
"Where is this girl? Far? Should I send a plane to pick her up?"
Jiangnan shook his head: "No need! Give me three minutes. I'll go get her!"
With that, Jiangnan vanished. Yang Jian looked confused. He didn't remember anyone named Jiang Lan!
But before long, a pure, innocent girl walked into the reception room. She wore a pink hoodie and a white vest on top, with a pink felt hat!
Below were leggings and a pleated skirt, with a white rabbit backpack on her back!
A wave of pure and adorable charm washed over!
Yang Jian only took one look before his body stiffened. His heart suddenly raced!
That inner flutter even made Yang Jian recall his first love!
What a likable girl! So kawaii!
Yang Jian raised his hand and gave himself a hard slap!
Honey, I'm sorry! At this age, actually feeling a crush on another young girl?
That slap startled Jiang Lan. What was he doing?
(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั): "Uncle Yang? Nan Shen asked me to come over. Is there something?"
Yang Jian: (٥♡ὢ♡)
Then he fiercely pinched his own thigh!
This... what a sin!
—
Author's Note: