Chapter Ninety-Nine: Young Dragon Star

Night had already fallen over the estate, and beneath the slowly deepening darkness, a colossal financial transaction was taking place.

"I choose the second option," Liu Shaoyu said without hesitation. That was the main purpose of his visit.

What he needed was not something he could easily find anywhere else.

"Then I can transfer the funds to you right away. As for the goods, I have a catalog here you can take your time looking through."

Liu Shaoyu's decision was exactly what Du Yue had expected.

"No need. I'll say it plainly. I want a planet, and a military-grade Nature Life Scepter."

Only then did Du Yue realize that Liu Shaoyu had come prepared. After all, fewer than three people could get their hands on the military version of the Nature Life Scepter, and Du Yue was one of them.

In truth, Liu Shaoyu had indeed come prepared. From the very first contact, everything had been part of his plan.

Among all the black-market brokers the Earthling had dealt with, only Nei Shanxing and Du Yue had a deeper connection. The others might be able to make introductions, but there was no guarantee Du Yue would take them seriously.

Even the choice of Du Yue had been made after careful investigation.

He happened to possess everything Liu Shaoyu wanted. The manufacturer of the Nature Life Scepter was his brother-in-law's family.

With the family’s connections in the military, smuggling out two military-grade units was not all that difficult.

"The planet you want, could it happen to be one I also happen to have?"

Since both sides already understood what was going on, Du Yue decided there was no point in beating around the bush.

"That one." Liu Shaoyu had clearly prepared for this. He projected a star map at once.

When the map settled on a planet at the very edge of the Federation’s sphere of influence, Du Yue finally relaxed.

It was an abandoned industrial world.

"Are you sure it’s this one? This planet... doesn’t seem to be worth much, does it?" For a client worth trillions, Du Yue genuinely did not want to cheat him.

"It’s this one." Liu Shaoyu knew this planet’s situation no less well than Du Yue did.

"Then look carefully. Don’t come back later and say I cheated you."

Although he was a black-market merchant, that did not mean he was ruthless. In this line of work, reputation mattered more than life itself.

Du Yue prided himself on being a competent black-market trader, and there was a reason he had risen so high.

"Confirmed. It’s this one."

"In that case, you should already know the price of the military Nature Life Scepter: four trillion SC. To be honest, this planet really isn’t worth much, so I’ll give it to you at cost. Thirty billion and seventy-two point nine seven SC."

At that price, Liu Shaoyu really was getting a deal. What kind of cost price was this? It was accounting down to the last cent.

There were not many military-grade Nature Life Scepters available on the entire black market, so the price was perfectly reasonable.

Besides, this was not something you could simply buy if you had money. The military maintained extremely strict control over such military-grade products.

If some criminal were to buy one and use it to construct an interstellar attack route, the consequences would be unthinkable.

So with this kind of merchandise, the sale still depended on the person.

Du Yue was willing to agree because of the planet’s location.

It lay in a chaotic border zone where three powers met, a place no one truly governed. A lawless region, in other words.

In such a place, not even the stargates were guarded. Refugees from the mixed starfields would rob smuggling ships clean.

This planet was even outside the Earth Federation’s joint defensive perimeter. In a place like that, if you brought in a military model and laid out military trajectories across the entire star system, no one would care.

The second reason was his intuition.

Du Yue had a feeling that Liu Shaoyu’s appearance would bring him some kind of change, a faint but unmistakable shift he could sense.

That instinct had carried him to his current position by the age of twenty-three.

So he trusted it.

"Pleasure doing business."

Liu Shaoyu extended his hand. After the handshake, both men knew the transaction had gone through smoothly.

Soon afterward, Liu Shaoyu received the remaining payment.

"The planet transfer will take about an Earth hour. Once you confirm it here, the planet will be yours." Du Yue brought up the property certificate for the planet. The online administrative system could handle this sort of transfer entirely on its own. After paying the transaction tax, Liu Shaoyu finally became the owner of the planet.

A one-day waiting period meant that, for now, Liu Shaoyu was only the provisional legal owner. After one Earth day, he would formally become the planet’s true proprietor.

"Please name the planet." The planet management system prompted him. Once the name was entered, the new designation would appear in the star map system.

"Young Dragon," Liu Shaoyu said.

"Naming complete. System updating."

"The Life Scepter will be delivered directly to the planet in a week. If you need anything else, contact me anytime. This is my private communication number." Du Yue took care of the final details and handed Liu Shaoyu his contact information.

"What I actually want to know is this: how much ice ore can you take off my hands?" Liu Shaoyu asked suddenly.

Du Yue was immediately alert at the question. At once he understood the reason. This kid still had more.

But even so, the five hundred pieces he had just received would already take him a long time to digest, and moving that much at once was an easy way to bring trouble down on himself.

"In the short term, not too many. At most another two hundred or so. Any more than that, and it’ll get messy," Du Yue replied.

Liu Shaoyu had gotten the answer he wanted, and a calculation was already forming in his mind. It seemed that turning ice ore into money was basically a one-time thing.

So if he wanted to cash in the remaining ice ore later, it would not be so simple.

Still, that was fine. His biggest expense had now been settled. All that remained was to wait for the Life Scepter to arrive.

Besides, in Liu Shaoyu’s plan, money... was not the important part.

"The company registration has been completed." Thomas’s voice sounded in Liu Shaoyu’s ear.

At the same time that the planet transfer was finalized, Liu Shaoyu uploaded the company registration documents he had prepared long ago.

The commerce and administration bureau now operated entirely through intelligent AI and accepted applications twenty-four hours a day. So within just a few minutes, the application was complete.

Because Liu Shaoyu had applied to establish a mineral company, including mining and sales rights, the company needed not only ownership of, or a lease on, a non-residential planet, but also registered capital.

And just now, he had obtained both. Though there was still a one-day cooling-off period, in legal terms Liu Shaoyu was already the owner of Young Dragon Star.

Everything was ready. Now all he had to do was wait for the Life Scepter to arrive.

Everything Liu Shaoyu was doing was, in the end, for one purpose: to make himself stronger.

Because when he had been in the barren starfield, he had felt it clearly: humanity was far too small.

And the many signs of unrest all pointed to a bloody storm soon to sweep in.

Before that storm came, Liu Shaoyu needed to build up his own leverage, so that he could better protect himself and the people he loved when the unknown danger finally arrived.