The very beautiful crystal life poured a blue drink for the three of them.

"Is this... Ascension Liquid?" Itheri picked up her glass, examining the liquid inside as if it were a gemstone.

"What is that?" Li Changzhou asked, genuinely clueless.

At that moment, Itheri had no time to give him a look reserved for idiots, still staring at her glass, she explained:

"It can elevate the body's Ascension height. If Captain Money--who doesn't like money--had thirty cups worth of what's before us, you could buy me the most top-of-the-line flying car."

"... your flying car is that expensive?" remarked the money-disdaining Captain, enlightened.

Itheri looked up at IAO and said, "You... Your Excellency actually uses it to treat us?"

IAO, puffing on something resembling a cigar, replied casually after hearing Itheri's comment, "Because I like its taste."

Tycoon!

The Tycoon looked over at Li Changzhou, "This is merely a drink to us, only the trash in the garbage bin needs 'Ascension'."

The Tycoon spoke of rubbish naturally, devoid of arrogance or disdain, without that intentional air of superiority.

Just as no one would object to throwing trash into a bin, feel emotionally about it, think it shouldn't be done, or feel great about themselves for doing it.

"Without Ascension, they are even more of trash." Li Changzhou subtly expressed a different viewpoint.

"Of course." the Tycoon nodded, he harbored no special feelings towards the trash.

Itheri was now transferring her cup, the Captain's, and Little Radish's--a total of three cups of Ascension Liquid--into the test tubes she carried, turning the otherwise nice living room into a laboratory... or perhaps a scene of begging?

Far from despising her, the Tycoon pointed with his "cigar" to his own cup in front of him, indicating it could also be packed up to take away.

Itheri felt that coming here with the Captain was the best decision of her life.

If she had not come, the Ascension Liquid would definitely be consumed like a drink by the Cosmic People and the Divine Will people.

As a quite outstanding hacker, she could vaguely sense the Captain's curiosity about the flavor of the Ascension Liquid, just like a pig curious about the taste of boiled cabbage.

Li Changzhou was indeed curious, not only for himself but he was also thinking about how to let Yang Qinglan and his sister try it.

"Complete my task, and I'll give you an extra barrel." said the Tycoon.

... It was the first time Itheri heard someone describe Ascension Liquid in terms of barrels.

"Your Excellency, the other two guests have arrived." the blue crystal servant suddenly spoke.

"Let them come."

Soon, Turquoise Pool and Bi walked in.

Bi, dressed in a military uniform and skirt, wearing a boat hat, with golden hair and beautiful blue eyes, carried herself with a confident and spirited demeanor, a petite military officer.

Walking beside her, Turquoise Pool's legs seemed as long as Bi's whole height.

Dressed in a black lace long dress with intricate black lace at the edges, with early snow-like white hair trailing to her waist and a silver crown set with gems atop her head, she looked like a princess or a royal lady, as if she stepped out of a fantasy novel.

"I offer the respects of the Seconds-Gap family to your beauties." IAO, sitting in his chair, bowed slightly to the two.

"Hello, Your Excellency IAO." Turquoise Pool replied, her voice soft and very pleasant to the ear.

Bi's blue eyes surveyed the area, and upon seeing Li Changzhou, the corners of her petite mouth curled into a disdainful smile.

"Please, have a seat." IAO gestured for them to sit down.

Two more cups of Ascension Liquid were brought up; IAO, unbothered by the details, leaned back in his chair and continued, "Do you three know what task I plan to entrust to you?"

He had an 'if you've been online, you should be able to guess' look.

"Could it be to find out the identity of the 'Winner'?" Li Changzhou guessed, "I do have a little capability, but in front of the 'Winner', I'm no different from an ordinary person."

"To the 'Winner', we all are ordinary people." IAO replied, "But that's not what I've called you here for, it's something much smaller."

"Oh?" Turquoise Pool showed just the right amount of curiosity.

Turquoise Pool and Bi behaved as though they did not know him, it seemed they went along with his presumptions—pretending not to know may yield unexpected gains.

"How much do you know about Konglu Star?" IAO asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Li Changzhou answered.

"About a thousand years ago," IAO, scratching his brow with the pinky of the hand holding the cigar, said, "a person named Konglu worked for KOI·3 Seconds Gap, helping him train assassins, a simple job of getting rid of the bad habits in assassins and replacing them with what KOI needed. When Konglu retired, KOI gave him a planet, which is now known as 'Konglu Star'."

"The current Star Lord of Konglu is the fifty-second generation, barely has two coins to rub together, instead of just living off his inheritance, farming properly, he dared to challenge me during a concert by Sisi."

"I've decided to teach him a lesson." IAO snuffed out his "cigar".

The living room fell silent for a while.

Earthlings needed a moment to take it all in.

Itheri spoke, "With your power and wealth, Your Excellency, although destroying habitable planets is illegal, there are still many ways....."

"I don't need you to teach me that," IAO interrupted her, "My advisor recommended that I build an interstellar highway, planning Konglu Star within the path, but that method is pointless, I need a more humiliating way."

Itheri wasn't offended by IAO's attitude.

"Your Excellency IAO," she chose her words carefully, "we go out to sea, although for money, but also to enjoy the adventure and the unknown of the cosmos, not to engage in this kind—"

"300 million Divine Will Coins."

"Deal!"

Li Changzhou, Turquoise Pool, and Bi all glanced at Itheri in unison.

"Captain!" Itheri excitedly whispered to Li Changzhou, "To teach a lesson to a Star Lord and get paid 100 million, my flying car—"

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