Chapter 68: Landlord

Xie Sen looked at the comments, saw that the Starnet was full of unfavorable comments about the Cox family, and said, “Serves you right. The public’s eyes are discerning, and they don’t know unless they do.” He was a bit puzzled. “The Cox family actually didn’t prohibit the leakage of information, and let this kind of unfavorable story out about their family. Strange.”

Maine glanced at his bemused look, and laughed lightly. “I spread the news,” he said with a cold flash in his eyes. “It’s impossible to hide it!”

Xie Sen looked at him in surprise, then gave him a thumbs up. “Smart. Will the Cox family find out about you?”

“No. I’m anonymous, and my IP is obfuscated with IT, so I can’t be traced.”

Xie Sen said, “You’re amazing!”

Maine said, “Not really. I just know how they handle things, and I don’t want them to get what they want.”

Xie Sen scrolled down through the comments, decided there wasn’t much to see, and returned to the main news page. He asked curiously, “What punishment will the military tribunal give Soria?”

Maine said, “The Cox family is in the limelight now. To minimize the impact of Soria’s actions, they will definitely not protect Soria and will want to get rid of him.” As long as there was such a thought, even if they didn’t think of dealing with it that way, he would make them think of it.

Maine’s mouth curled up, and his tone was certain. “Soria will be exiled to where he belongs.”

Xie Sen drifted off. His eyes shifted and he saw the picture that accompanied the news below, and his gaze immediately paused. “Huh. Isn’t that the flying eagle beast?”

The news headline was, [Flying Eagle Beast saves the day!]

The corner of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched and he clicked in. At the top of the news was a description of the incident, [Today a citizen was held hostage by two criminals. The flying eagle beast saw the injustice and helped, successfully saving the victim.]

The bottom was a nine-pane grid with pictures. The pictures were very clear. The first few pictures were of a flying shuttle on the road. A flying eagle beast, soaring in the sky, followed that picture. The middle ones were the pictures of the flying eagle beast flapping its wings to tilt the shuttle, pictures of the inch-haired man and the light gray-haired man coming out to check the situation before and after, and the last two pictures were of the two criminals being slapped to the ground by the flying eagle beast.

Xie Sen had been unconscious in the shuttle during that time, and just vaguely felt the shaking. It was only when he saw the photos that he realized what the flying eagle beast had done.

“The flying eagle is so smart,” he exclaimed.

The people watching the news had the same thought as him. [This is too smart! It’s so clever to make the shuttle shake on purpose to lure people out and then save them!]

[So cool. If this wing flapped at me, could I take off in place?]

[So contract beasts also have good and evil!]

[Curious about who was kidnapped. Does the flying eagle beast know the person or not?]

[Since the thugs took him, his identity should not be ordinary!]

[I’m more curious about how these photos came to be? The front photos have changed position in each one, the photos are so clear, no matter where, the photographer is in front or behind, it is impossible to shoot so successfully, unless it is taken in multiple directions.]

[Since it’s a sudden event, only the traffic department can get shots like this.]

[Right! The Department of Transportation has road control aerial photography all around, and by pulling up screenshots of road surveillance, they can achieve this effect.]

[That is to say that the person kidnapped even knows the Ministry of Communications. I am alarmed. It’s not small!]

Xie Sen looked at the comments once again and sighed. The netizens are also too powerful!

[No matter who it was, it’s okay now anyway. I’m curious where the flying eagle beast went?]

[I also want to have a flying eagle beast. Have it as escort, too secure. A wing that can fan people, who wants to touch me? Not even the corner of my coat can touch!]

[Wake up, right? Bird contract beasts are the most difficult beasts to bond with, let alone S class contract beasts, don’t dream about it!]

[By the way, I remember that the flying eagle beast and the contract beasts in the ‘Contract beasts’ live broadcast were brought out of the rogue forest by Xie Sen together, right? Why has the flying eagle beast not been involved in the live, ah?]

[Yeah! If you want to see the flying eagle beast, find Xie Sen. I want to go to his live stream and request to see the flying eagle beast!]

When he looked at the bunch of echoing words below, Xie Sen shook his head in amusement. He didn’t continue to check the news, just opened his bracelet, and clicked into the live broadcast room. Once inside, the entire screen was blocked by pop-ups. He hastily set the smart mode to block repeated words, finally saw what the contract beasts were doing, and then understood why the pop-ups were so excited.

The flying eagle beast that made the news happened to be in the live stream.

The giant tiger beast was laying in a circle around the flying eagle beast. The flying eagle beast was shouting while it walked, but also from time to time it fanned its wings. Its neck also twisted nimbly, and the eyes turned smartly, as if it were acting. It was extraordinarily vivid.

As he watched, its wings waved, and then it folded its wings and fell to the ground. The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. He thought he understood that. 

The next thing he saw was that it stood up again, did the same pose as before when it flapped its wings and fell to the ground, and then it stood up and tilted its neck, while it looked very proud of itself.

[Why do I feel…That the flying eagle beast is telling the contract beasts about its rescue?]

Xie Sen thought to himself what a coincidence, he felt the same way. No, he was almost sure.

Usually there was too little contact with the flying eagle beast, and the last two contacts were when the flying eagle beast suddenly appeared to help.

He never had a chance to find out that the flying eagle beast was also a performer!

There were many responses on the pop-ups. [Hahaha… It’s so funny. It’s reenacting the scene, right? He just learned how the thug fell, it really looks like it!]

[It’s so funny. This acting talent, it kills many people!]

[‘Autumn Wind’ gave the anchor a watermelon shower, the flying eagle beast is awesome! You’re really too cool, I like you!]

The flying eagle beast’s raised neck turned sharply towards the voice broadcast, eyes round and wide, “Chii…”

[Wow, wow, wow, wow, so heartfelt! This is the first time the flying eagle beast has heard a gift announcement!]

[Hm, I’m going to do the impression too!]

Xie Sen’s mouth was slightly open as he watched the colored pop-ups on the pop-up screen in amazement. The sound of the gift broadcast kept coming, and he was getting a ringing in his ears.

The flying eagle beast froze, and looked at the speaker. The giant tiger beast lightly barked at it, and explained a bit. The flying eagle beast’s eyes rolled. Its expression lightened, and it continued chatting.

“The audience is so rich,” Xie Sen sighed, and turned off the live stream.

Maine said, “Speaking of money, I remembered something. I asked the people concerned, and the land at the edge of An Guang District is very cheap. Three thousand per one square meter. The contract beasts are large, so I calculated that their residence should be at least two thousand square meters. We two just need a room, so not too big, one hundred square meters is enough.” 1

Xie Sen listened to the area for a moment. When he thought about it, two thousand square meters was only six million. Compared to the money earned by the contract beasts, it was nothing, and the area was large, so they would live more comfortably.

He checked the balance of his account. The money after the split was more than 160 million, so he immediately nodded. “Yes, buy it as you said. Is this enough money to build the house and get the equipment?”

Maine looked, “Almost. Security equipment and soundproofing equipment will be more expensive. I’m ready to develop and design a feeding robot, so there’s no need to ask for help in the event of an accident. The contract beasts are very smart, and the robot only needs a simple operation process. The design is very simple. If I let Huo Feng help, we can make it as soon as possible.”

Xie Sen was busy nodding. He knew nothing about high technology, he only looked extraordinarily high tech. “That’s awesome!”

Maine’s eyes were tinged with laughter. “The design of our room and the design of the contract beast residence will be up to you. I’ll buy the land as soon as possible. To complete the formalities, your design needs to be ready to start construction.”

Xie Sen looked at the time, and got up. “Let’s go to the Plant Research Institute first. I’ll continue to work on it when we get back. I already have a general idea.”

Ma Qun was surprised to see Xie Sen, then as Xie Sen gave him the plants he brought back from Mining Planet A, he was both surprised and touched. “Good boy. Thank you. You are as great as your parents.”

Xie Sen smiled awkwardly. He didn’t remember anything about the two parents Ma Qun mentioned. He took out the potatoes he had exchanged earlier, and handed them to Ma Qun. “President Ma, these are potatoes. They are different from what you are cultivating now, so try to plant them.”

Ma Qun reached out to take them and looked at the fat potatoes with admiration. “I tried to grow them before, but I didn’t succeed.”

Xie Sen laughed. “Didn’t you also fail with the peppers? This time it will work.”

Ma Qun looked at him thoughtfully. “Is there any difference between the last one and this one?”

Xie Sen nodded. “There is a little difference.” In fact, it was the same, but now that the earth energy was recovered, the yellow colored plants in the System could be planted.

Ma Qun understood. “I’ll go arrange it.”

Xie Sen, “Please wait.” Ma Qun looked at him inquiringly, and he said, “Can you sell me some rice every month? I’ll pay the price for rice, but I just can’t grab it at the rich supermarket!”

Ma Qun pondered for a moment. “The rice production isn’t much. The rich supermarket has to ration it every day. But if you want, I can sell you. At most, five pounds a month.”

“Then five pounds,” Xie Sen hurriedly said. As long as there was some, he was satisfied.

Ma Qun said, “Now, in the middle of the month, except for the rice supplied to the rich supermarket, there isn’t much left, so we can only sell you two pounds this month.”

Xie Sen happily bought the two pounds of rice and went home. He made the decision right away, “We’ll have rice tonight.”

The rice from the Institute didn’t smell as good as the rice redeemed by the System, but for people who ate meat every day, it was really appealing. Dinner was rice, then potatoes and meat stew. The two of them were full and satisfied.

Xie Sen sank comfortably on the couch, and sighed with happiness.

When he thought about the balance in his account, he couldn’t help but sigh again. What was the use of having so much money? If you couldn’t even eat good food, your life wasn’t as good as an ordinary modern family!

He leaned back on the sofa and opened his bracelet to enter the Starnet, and browsed the news casually. His attention was soon drawn to the real-time trending. [Soria’s latest verdict. Exile to Planet Skywind.]

He clicked in. It explained the result of Soria’s disposition, and also attached a photo. It was Meyer sending Soria away with a resolute expression and red eyes.

He scanned the comments, almost all of which were supportive of the Cox family, whose reputation had completely turned around compared to that afternoon.

[My God, I can’t believe someone from the Cox family was convicted exactly according to the law.]

[Lieutenant General Cox, this picture is really heartbreaking to look at. After the loss of a son he has to experience sending his partner away. The blow is too heavy.]

[Hey, Lieutenant General Cox also sent a long self-talk statement, full of self-blame. Read it to know that being military personnel is not easy. Most of the time when training for combat not at home, and inevitably neglected the situation at home.]

[Now I think about it, the Cox family can have today’s status, since all the Cox family ancestors fought to get it, the Cox family has many heroes in it!]

[I hope they cheer up. The rest of the family needs to have this warning. The more powerful the family, the more they should not raise bad guys, or may cause too serious a tragedy.]

[Soria is also quite poor, said he used to be the dream of countless males. Mental problems must have been hit hard after Julos died.]

[He is not pathetic. When the Lieutenant General was not at home, he educated Julos. Julos became what we saw. He was spoiled, and now he’s eating his own fruit.]

[The most pitiful is the Lieutenant General, but I believe that the Lieutenant General will be able to come out!]

Maine finished washing the dishes, and took Xie Sen’s shoulder from behind the sofa. Xie Sen turned around. “Where is this planet? Soria was exiled there, now the Starnet is full of sympathy for Lieutenant General Cox.”

“A sanatorium for the mentally ill.” Maine said simply, with heavy mockery and pleasure in his gaze. He knew that as long as he casually steered public opinion in the direction of mental abnormality, even if the Cox family hadn’t thought of such an answer, they would be inspired after seeing the discourse.

After all, this was the least type of loss for the Cox family.

The result would be just to explain to the public that what Soria did was all because he was mentally ill. It was a personal act, and had nothing to do with the Cox family.

Then they could give the picture of being prudent and sad, and still have the goodwill of the citizens.

As for Soria, all his pride would fall to powder after this incident. He would realize that he was no more noble than anyone else. That he wasn’t valued by the Cox family, and was just a person who could be abandoned at any time.

Xie Sen wondered, “A retreat? It sounds like a retreat to escape responsibility.”

“No.” Maine laughed lightly. “There are no normal people there. It’s all criminals with, or those convicted with mental illness. It’s a long-established sanatorium.”

Xie Sen’s eyes widened in shock, and a cold chill ran down his back. That was terrible!

Maine hooked his chin up, and kissed him on the lips. “Don’t be afraid. It’s a place for criminals.”

Xie Sen nibbled on the corner of his lips. “I’m not afraid, I’m just surprised.” He pulled back his head, and patted the empty seat beside him. “Come on. Let’s discuss the construction of the house together. You see if there is anything unreasonable in my idea.”

Maine propped his hand on the back of the couch, jumped over it, and sat down.

The two of them found a lot of design drawings from the Starnet for reference, and after discussing for more than two hours, they settled on the general layout. Only the details needed some more in-depth thought.

When Xie Sen entered Gold Medal the next day, security guards checked his ID and asked for a security check to make sure he didn’t have any dangerous items on him before he was let in. He glanced at the non-employee queue, and saw that all the customers who came to nurse their contract beasts also had to go through security before they were allowed to enter.

When he finished swiping his work card and went to the lounge, he ran into Sun Mao, who waved to greet him. “How are you?”

Xie Sen, “Fine. What happened at the entrance today?”

Sun Mao said, “After the incident yesterday, the boss lost his temper and ordered us to strengthen the security facilities of all the Gold Medal stores.”

Xie Sen said, “That’s very efficient.”

Sun Mao shrugged his shoulders. “Mr. Long has a fiery temper. Since he personally ordered it, who dares to be sloppy? Besides, it’s a good thing that things happened yesterday and there was no tragedy. Otherwise we would all have been affected. By strengthening security, both guests and staff feel safe.”

Xie Sen was convinced, and the two of them chatted for a while before going off to their own business.

During the lunch break, Xie Sen went to Zone 4-5 to see the contract beasts. The live broadcast had already been opened by the giant black leopard beast. He went in while the contract beasts were dancing, and joined the audience beside the giant armored beast and the flying eagle beast.

Xie Sen couldn’t help but smile. Was the flying eagle beast in love with this place?

He walked over, but before he got close, the flying eagle beast saw him and lifted its wings to reach out to him. He squeezed them in his hand, and immediately the voice of the flying eagle beast appeared in his mind. “A’Sen, have you recovered physically?”

“Mn, I’m fine. Have you been staying here since yesterday?”

“Yes, it’s fun here, but I can’t fly freely. I’ll go out later,” the flying eagle beast said.

Xie Sen said, “Many people know about you saving me. You are very famous now, so be careful when you go out.”

“Hmph. No one can catch me.” The flying eagle beast was confident.

The giant armored beast came over, rubbed against him and asked in a soft voice, “A’Sen, the flying eagle beast said you were captured and injured. Are you still not feeling well?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” He touched the phosphor armor of the giant armored beast.

At that moment, the song ended and the contract beasts, having finished the dance, all came over. All kinds of noses, tails, meaty pads came towards Xie Sen, and his mind was suddenly filled with the contract beasts concerned about his condition. He was touched and petted them all soothingly. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Hmph. How dare they touch you? Where are they? I’ll bring everyone to help you take revenge!” The giant black leopard beast roared lowly.

“Yes, let’s show them what we’re made of!” The giant tiger beast quickly flicked its tail, and immediately echoed.

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. “It’s okay. It’s okay. They’ve already been captured. They were small criminals. No need for you guys to do anything.”

Little Spot said gently, “Sen is too soft. Even if the other party was a small criminal and was captured, this doesn’t work. We need to find a way to improve our ability to protect, ah!”

Xie Sen – zapped.

“I was careless this time! I’m actually very good!” he said then changed the subject, as he opened his bracelet, and expanded the virtual screen. “This is the floor plan of your future residence. I’ll explain it to you once, and you can see if there is anything you need to change or add.”

He explained one by one, from left to right, where and what things were. The contract beasts’ attention was immediately drawn to him, and they no longer questioned his ability. After they listened to his introduction, the contract beasts barked excitedly every now and then, and talked with their companions.

The viewers in the studio were surprised to see the floor plan and said, [Is this a move?]

[Definitely. It looks like a new building.]

[Yes, the contract beasts have been staying at Gold Medal, and Gold Medal has a mixed population, so it’s dangerous if someone gets mixed in.]

[I wonder where it will be built? I want to buy a house nearby in advance!]

[I also want the anchor to reveal in advance!]

Xie Sen scanned the pop-ups, didn’t reply, then wondered silently, should we buy all the land nearby? So as to avoid a bunch of fanatic fans living next to us?

He thought of the picture of the land Maine had sent him this morning. It was a large flat area with nothing on the ground.

He pondered, if they bought more land, then later, after the wood energy was recovered, they could plant some trees on the periphery, then some flowers and plants, and even some vegetables and fruits. The whole thing could be considered the back garden of the apartment. With the plants, they and the contract beasts would live comfortably.

He finished his explanation for the contract beasts, listened to their additional requirements, recorded them one by one, then left Zone 4-5. As soon as he left, he contacted Maine and asked him to buy all the surrounding land he could.

Not counting his share of the live stream, he had forty million dollars just from the contracts. But it was three thousand a square meter, and there was a lot of land to buy!

“I have over forty million here. I’ll keep ten million, so use the rest to buy land,” he said.

Maine didn’t know why he wanted so much land, but he agreed. “Okay, I have money here too. The live platform alone has more than 100 million. Should I buy it all?”

Xie Sen calculated. “No, you and I buy another thousand square meters each, and keep the rest of the money, first for our apartment and the contract beast accommodations. Then we can plan how to use the two thousand square meters of land, where the money will still be needed.”

“Okay, I’ll pick you up in the evening.”

“Hmm.”

After work, Xie Sen asked Maine about the land as soon as he got on the shuttle, and Maine sent him a message with an attachment. He clicked on it. The attachment was a map that had a piece of land marked in green, with two spots in the middle marked with red and yellow circles.

Maine said, “The green area is just over 4,000 square meters in total. 2 The red circle is where our apartment is located, and the yellow circle is where the contract beasts will live.”

Xie Sen looked at the land map and suddenly felt like a landlord. His gaze moved to the upper right corner. Land owner: Xie Sen.

He stared. “You wrote my name?”

Maine laughed. “Of course. It all belongs to you.”

Xie Sen looked at him. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll cheat you out of all your money?”

“You won’t.” Maine said.

Xie Sen smiled. “We’ll discuss the details of the design tonight, then we can have someone start working on it tomorrow.”

The next day, Maine sent Xie Sen to Gold Medal. It was only after he saw him enter, that he went to the construction company and gave them all the construction-related things, then decided on the brand and model of equipment that would be needed. He spent more than two hours there, as he negotiated with the construction company, calculated the cost, agreed to finish by June 20th, signed the contract, paid the money, and finally left the construction company.

When Xie Sen received the contract from Maine, he felt pained as he looked at the payment of 130 million dollars. When he saw the finished mockup, he silently consoled himself that every penny counted and there was a reason for the price.

At noon, he went to Zone 4-5 as usual to see the contract beasts. He made sure that everything was normal, and chatted with them for a while before he left. He was about to ask Adam about the energy, when Adam’s weak but excited voice rang out in his mind, “A’Sen, I’m sensing wood energy!”

Xie Sen’s sleepiness disappeared. He opened his bracelet, pulled up the interstellar map and asked, “Where is it?”

Adam, “Two hundred million kilometers southeast of our current location on Brandt Star.”

Xie Sen put a finger on the map, drew a line and froze. “There’s no planet there. There are three large planets nearby, but the distance is almost 1.8 billion kilometers. You said the approximate distance?”

“No, it’s more than 1.8 billion kilometers.”

Xie Sen frowned, “Any farther would be a planet at a distance of 2.3 billion kilometers.”

“No, in between them. Two hundred million kilometers.” 3 Adam was confident.

Xie Sen scaled up the map and searched carefully, yet he still couldn’t find the planet Adam was talking about.