Chapter 94: Charm Breakthrough

General Thomas seemed to understand why Zhao Li reported a huge sum of money rather than keeping it all to himself, and directly asked Zhao Li to state his terms: "What are your requirements?"

"Requirements?" Zhao Li was momentarily stunned, but immediately realized this was his chance to ask for benefits: "General, how do you think I should handle this?" Turning the tables, he threw the question right back. Firstly, it made him appear selfless; secondly, this attitude would greatly please the General.

"Well, then!" General Thomas did not mind at all that Zhao Li had kicked the question back to him. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I will help you open an anonymous account. Rest assured, it is very secure, and no one will be able to trace it. As for the rest, see what else you need." In short, a single sentence let Zhao Li know that his share would not be shortchanged.

"Thank you, General." Zhao Li also understood that General Thomas's gesture completely cleared away his last lingering doubts: "When you send people to receive the shipment, it would be best if they could bring a batch of conventional weapons and ammunition. Supplies are very scarce here." With such a good connection as the Military Region Commander, why bother looking for those arms dealers? It was rational, legal, and much more reassuring than underground transactions.

As soon as Zhao Li brought it up, the General knew what was going on: "That's simple. I'll have a batch of arms brought to you. What else?"

When prompted to think further, Zhao Li actually couldn't think of anything else. Having his own share of the fortune was already enough for him to arrange his subsequent plans. However, since weapons were mentioned, the logistics lieutenant colonel had been very kind to him, so he couldn't help mentioning it here: "General, the logistics officer here has taken good care of me. I heard it was arranged by General Lucas. If it's permissible..." Zhao Li left the rest unsaid, assuming General Thomas would certainly understand his meaning.

"That fellow Lucas actually did a good deed for once." Hearing Lucas's name, General Thomas chuckled instead. "Don't worry, he is the Military Region Commander of your sector anyway; this matter couldn't possibly bypass him."

After hanging up the communicator, alongside a look of excitement, General Thomas couldn't help feeling a bit of a headache: "This fellow, I was hoping he would keep a low profile and tail tucked in over there, yet he pulls a stunt like this right away. Sigh!" Shaking his head, he began to ponder how the two billion purple crystals should actually be handled.

"You should be secretly thrilled!" Old Man Kang watched Zhao Li's slightly pained expression and couldn't help offering some guidance: "Do you think two billion purple crystals are that easy to dispose of? You have to make the superiors feel that the money was acquired reasonably, protect you from being betrayed, balance the relationships among various factions, and appropriately give some benefits to important figures. Do you think it's that easy?"

"Is it really that exaggerated? It's just money!" Although Zhao Li already understood part of the difficulty, he didn't fully grasp the inner workings yet. Following Kang Hongyuan was practically like taking a class: "Please enlighten me, elder."

"To put it simply, it's money laundering. Of course, this is money laundering by the military high command, so it might be relatively easier. However, it cannot be reported under the guise of seized goods, otherwise, you'd forfeit your life right here." Kang Hongyuan seemed well-versed in handling such funds, showing no unfamiliarity at all—he must have encountered this sort of thing frequently. "And of course, there's arms smuggling. Don't forget, the laws here prohibit the presence of such a massive quantity of weapons."

Zhao Li didn't dwell much on the arms smuggling. After all, with two Military Region Commanders teaming up, if they couldn't even smuggle in a few weapons, it would be utterly inexcusable. However, mentioning money laundering reminded Zhao Li of Ban Yunchan. Being able to launder a sum of money large enough to bankrupt HSBC silently—such capability far surpassed what Zhao Li was currently agonizing over regarding the two billion purple crystals.

Ban Yunchan's delicate and beautiful face seemed to appear before Zhao Li once more. If she were here, perhaps things wouldn't be this troublesome. After all, two billion purple crystals still genuinely hurt to part with!

For two or three consecutive days, there was no news from General Thomas's side; it seemed opinions on how to handle those assets had not yet been unified, which was quite imaginable. Everything in the camp remained relatively normal.

What struck Zhao Li as strange was that he hadn't seen Christine for two or three days. Even when he went to the medical bay, the original military doctor was on duty. When asked, the doctor hadn't seen Lieutenant Colonel Christine either and had no idea what she was up to.

Li Mengdie was still drilling the soldiers. The soldiers, especially the elite ones, were currently in high spirits, with an incomparable enthusiasm for training. The increase in their strength and the effortless annihilation of a guerrilla trade site boosted their confidence immensely; they no longer harbored the perfunctory mindset of the past.

Of the techniques from the Genius Academy, Li Mengdie had only selected those permitted for transmission, and the results were excellent. However, her cultivation realm was still different from Li Mengdie's.

Zhao Li had once carefully consulted Li Mengdie. Christine had told Zhao Li that secrets regarding the Genius Academy didn't need to be kept from him, so Li Mengdie didn't hide anything at all.

Usually, the process was that when cadets entered the Genius Academy, they immediately began learning advanced foundational techniques instead of basic body-conditioning exercises. This was completely different from ordinary society.

Once a cadet's cultivation surpassed a certain realm, their personal attributes were strictly tested. Then, instructors at the Genius Academy would choose one to three techniques based on the cadet's actual situation. Aside from advanced combat techniques, Christine practiced healing and soul-capturing techniques. As a combatant, Li Mengdie was only permitted to cultivate a single technique, which was her current Glacial True Qi.

Aside from Zhao Li realizing that Li Mengdie turned into an iceberg beauty after cultivating this, with her true qi attacks carrying frigid frost, he had no other concept of it, and even the name felt rather strange.

"It's not strange. The full name should be Glacial True Qi Number 27," Li Mengdie said without any surprise. "It should be the twenty-seventh ranked technique of the glacial attribute that someone has already experimented with cultivating."

"Experimental cultivation?" Zhao Li couldn't help asking, and simultaneously realized that the cadets of the Genius Academy had always been white mice studied by researchers.

"Yes. High-tier techniques cannot be promoted on a large scale, but they can greatly enhance combat effectiveness," Li Mengdie seemed accustomed to being a lab rat. "Our mission is to master and figure out a set of methods to lower the cultivation threshold through our own practice. Even if such a method cannot be found, we must strive to obtain detailed data in an attempt to promote it on a small scale."

"Doesn't that mean you have to undergo a massive amount of scientific research?" Zhao Li asked knowingly, feeling a twinge of pity for Li Mengdie.

"Isn't this for the sake of improving the physical fitness of the entire population?" Li Mengdie's casual reply made Zhao Li marvel at how thoroughly the Genius Academy brainwashed its students. "The sacrifices of a few of us are so that all ordinary people can one day achieve greater advancement! Moreover, as gifted cadets, our treatment is many times better than that of ordinary people, so we ought to give something back."

"But life right now is already very good! What's the point of such massive advancement?" Zhao Li's own perception was somewhat lagging behind. "Ah, I understand." Seeing Li Mengdie look at him as if he were an idiot, Zhao Li decided it was best to surrender immediately.

He could basically guess Li Mengdie's life at the Genius Academy: day after day of practicing martial arts, being brainwashed, regularly providing tissue samples and cultivation reports to researchers, operating as regularly as a machine.

Fortunately, he had already formed his own conceptual awareness back then and successfully avoided such a lifestyle. On this point, even Zhao Li admired his own wisdom. Although entering the Genius Academy allowed one to learn powerful techniques, one had to lead such a life. Who knew, maybe after coming out, he would become an unpopular misfit like Major Michael, which wouldn't be good.

Moreover, his current Nameless True Qi wasn't necessarily inferior to these various techniques. At the very least, even if an eighth-tier expert encountered an attack from Zhao Li's Nameless True Qi, the targeted muscles would still experience spasms; it was just that the higher the tier, the shorter the recovery time. To date, Zhao Li hadn't encountered anyone who could resist it. Such an all-powerful skill made Zhao Li feel it was far superior to practicing some experimental technique, though he didn't dare to be certain whether the old prison warden had given him this nameless technique to enlighten him or to use him as an experiment.

When asking about Christine, to Zhao Li's surprise, Li Mengdie stated that Christine was currently in secluded cultivation, supposedly having had some sudden flash of insight. This left Zhao Li even more baffled—could she have been stimulated by seeing so much money?

Regardless, since Christine could enter secluded cultivation, she must have had an epiphany. Zhao Li specially stationed two guards outside Christine's seclusion room and then quietly waited for her to emerge.

General Thomas's arrangements had not yet been fully implemented, and the two large chests filled with purple crystals simply sat in the basement conference room. Zhao Li sometimes couldn't help worrying what would happen if something went wrong with so many purple crystals.

Only now did Zhao Li truly understand how foolish his initial idea of evenly splitting the money had been. It turned out that having too much money could genuinely crush a person to death. Fortunately, old man Kang Hongyuan was around, otherwise the current situation would be unimaginable.

Instead of waiting for General Thomas, he waited for Christine to emerge from seclusion. Hearing the news, Zhao Li was the first to rush to the scene.

"Why, do I look that strange?" Christine asked playfully. That aura of blooming maturity mixed with a hint of youthful innocence made Zhao Li's heart beat wildly and uncontrollably.

The present Christine was completely different from her past self. In the past, Christine always wore a coquettish smile and would, intentionally or unintentionally, strike seductive poses, making people involuntarily notice her hot figure and seemingly eager gaze.

However, current her was nothing like that. Having undergone a period of seclusion and reappearing, her temperament had changed drastically. It was as if she had transformed from a flirtatious woman who actively seduced others without ever actually delivering, into a restrained yet utterly alluring femme fatale—the kind who made anyone laying eyes on her instantly yearn to conquer her.

One style seduced others into passive daydreams, while the other made people actively want to conquer her upon sight. These two completely different realms were perceptible even to Zhao Li, an inexperienced young man.

Because of this shift in temperament, even her habits had transformed. Now, every movement of Christine genuinely resembled a ripe, delicious peach. Gone were the soul-capturing seductive laughs, and gone were the intentional or unintentional physical touches. Yet, the problem was that Christine's allure was now even greater, almost causing Zhao Li to lose control.

His heart uncooperatively accelerated its beating, pounding so loudly that Zhao Li wished he could find a place to hide it. With no other choice, Zhao Li hurriedly invoked his basic body-conditioning exercise, closed his eyes, ran through nine complete cultivation cycles to calm his state of mind, and only then opened his eyes to look at the ultra-beauty standing before him, who wasn't just a femme fatale, but surpassed one.

Li Mengdie also rushed over. Looking at Christine, she too seemed somewhat speechless. As for the two guards Zhao Li had stationed there, their heads were already spinning, and they had been dismissed by a single sentence from Christine, obediently going off to prepare bathwater for her without a single complaint.

"What's going on?" This was what Zhao Li cared about. For Christine to undergo such a massive change so suddenly, there had to be at least some reason!

"Because I saw something even more attractive, I just had a bit of insight in my heart. Well, am I much more formidable than before?" Christine blinked innocently, looking at Zhao Li with a playful reply.

Pointing his finger, Zhao Li jabbed the air several times in succession, momentarily not knowing what to say. Finally, looking this way and that for a long time, he managed to blurt out: "You are not allowed to go around seducing my soldiers anymore!"

"Fine, then I'll only seduce you from now on!" Christine smiled gracefully yet uttered such an ungraceful line, sending Zhao Li's heart racing anew and drawing another cold snort from Li Mengdie standing nearby.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this cold snort, Christine warmly sidled up to Li Mengdie, reached out, and grabbed her small hand: "Don't mind him, come take a bath with big sister!"

Amidst Zhao Li's dumbfounded expression and farewell gaze, Li Mengdie seemed to have lost all resistance, obediently leaving alongside Christine. Watching the graceful figures of the two women, Zhao Li couldn't help swallowing a mouthful of saliva, then fiercely cursed himself before hurriedly fleeing back to the training ground.

Who could have imagined that, faced with the temptation of two billion purple crystals, Christine would happen to gain a new comprehension of soul-capturing techniques and ascend to a higher level. It seemed that anyone practicing in this direction in the future, upon reaching a certain stage, should just prepare a room full of cash or purple crystals and spend a day inside—they would surely break through.

Not long after Christine came out of seclusion, Zhao Li finally received orders from above instructing him to prepare for a routine military camp inspection by the region, with the responsible personnel arriving the very next day.

Zhao Li calculated; tomorrow happened to coincide with the regular logistics resupply time. It seemed the higher-ups had also racked their brains over this, trying to keep things as low-key and normal as possible without arousing anyone's suspicion. What Zhao Li found most brilliantly executed was that, under the guise of a military region inspection, even his own actions over the past few months were completely and reasonably covered up.