Make money by hiding in the interstellar battlefield!

Jian Sheng originally thought he would unleash a torrent of attacks, but seeing Lin Zhizhi's silly grin, he could only sigh.

Are you short of money?

"Of course there's a shortage."

"There are many ways to make money, but this kind of hard-earned money is not easy to earn!"

"It's okay, I know what I'm doing!"

"Okay, everyone has their own destiny. I respect other people's destinies. I just hope that one day I won't have to come and collect your corpse."

"It's okay, brother, I'm not afraid of dying."

I couldn't help but chuckle as I said this.

"By the way, what about your 20 yuan bonus?"

"I had the boss donate the money directly to the North Seventh Ring Road Cathedral where Lin Lan works, in his name."

Why?

"Because the church where Sister Lin Nan works provides relief to many families in need every day, and they are in dire need of money."

"How much money does she need each week?"

Hearing this, Lin Zhizhi's eyes lit up, and she quickly said:

"Brother, are you going to donate money?"

"You're overthinking it. I just want to see just how boring she really is."

Jian Sheng's life motto is that charity must be done by hand. Donating money is like throwing meat buns to a dog—it's all gone and never comes back.

"Alright, get ready, let's go eat together to celebrate you surviving. Let me show you how to make money more easily. In the end, you have to rely on yourself."

Ten minutes later, Lin Zhizhi quickly got ready, and the two walked out of the performance area together. Today's competition was both exciting and short, and many people were still discussing it. Lin Zhizhi took out a mask to cover her face so as not to be recognized by others.

After leaving the performance venue, the two saw a middle-aged man waiting at the exit. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the three went to a rather unrefined food stall outside the Seventh Ring Road and found a relatively quiet corner to sit down. Lin Zhizhi didn't stand on ceremony; she was very familiar with the place and quickly ordered several main dishes.

The middle-aged man was still smiling: "The Queen of Twin Swords truly lives up to her name. From now on, I will be your most loyal fan and will definitely come to support you at every match."

Listening to this awkward flattery, Jian Sheng remained noncommittal and went straight to the point, asking, "May I ask what brings this friend to our invitation?"

"First, let me introduce myself. My name is Paul, and I am a businessman. You two must be the latest batch of the outer city duo from the Mech Officer Academy."

Jian Sheng was surprised and asked with a laugh, "Who came up with the name of this group?"

"Hehe," Paul smiled, "because among all the captains recruited by the Sergeant Mecha School this year, you are the only one from the outer city. And the talent of the Dual Blade Queen, or rather, Lin Zhizhi, is among the top ten of all the candidates. In addition, your amazing skills during the exam have made you two a household name in Seven Rings City."

"Oh, I see. Mr. Paul, what brings you here?"

"To continue my introduction. I am a businessman, and the product I sell is a mineral that will be in high demand in the future, including mechs, communications, and electronics—rare earth elements, of course, refined rare earth elements. This stuff is extremely polluting and toxic. My resource point is about 200 kilometers northeast of the North Seventh Ring Road, where there is a rare earth mine, and a factory area has been built around this mine."

Jian Sheng was somewhat curious about this, because the resource points on the outskirts of Seven Rings City were generally controlled by the nine major families, and without the protection of the S-class mechs of the nine major families, these resource points were usually very dangerous and could easily be destroyed by the intelligent beast horde.

Paul, seeing Jian Sheng's surprised expression, instantly understood his thoughts: "It's like this, in order to encourage people to expand outwards and find various resources that the city urgently needs, Seven Rings City has an ironclad rule: whoever finds it owns it. And this rare earth is a particularly scarce and important mineral, so I reached an agreement with the nine major families that 90% of the revenue from each shipment of rare earth ore would go to them, and I would take 10% of it."

"Oh, I see. So, what do you want us to do for you?"

"Don't misunderstand, it's purely about making friends first. You need to understand that all the important industries in Seven Rings City are basically monopolized by the nine major families. People like me who can acquire some resources through luck are not even noticed by the nine major families and could lose everything at any time. On the other hand, a young talent like you, coupled with the Twin-Blade Queen, has unlimited potential. I hope that one day we can cooperate and build a business together."

Jian Sheng roughly understood his thoughts. Currently, he lacked military support, and even though he had risked his life to acquire some resources, he had to offer the vast majority as tribute to the nine major families in exchange for their protection. However, because of the reputation of this outer city duo, he probably believed that the two had the potential to become even more powerful in the future, so he was investing in them now and forging a good relationship in advance.

Then Paul's "wife" walked into the food stall, took out a package containing 20 Blue Crystals in cash.

"Captain Jiansheng, here's 20, your winnings. Keep it safe!"

Throughout the meal, the two men chatted quite congenially. Paul, having found vital resources in the northern forest, was no ordinary businessman. He possessed knowledge and insights that Jian Sheng, who had traveled from the future, was unaware of. Paul, on the other hand, sought a powerful patron, even one from the future.

The power of the nine major families was too deeply entrenched for him to curry favor with. He painstakingly and risked great dangers to find the minerals, but after deducting his costs each time he returned, he actually received the least amount. He was nothing more than an employee.

The two young men before him were quite remarkable. One had broken Percival's record, demonstrating his extraordinary talent, and was currently the captain of the mech team—the first outsider to hold this position in over a decade. The other, the Dual-Blade Queen, was also among the top ten in talent this year, with the potential to become an A-rank mech warrior—precisely the ones he wanted to curry favor with. Although neither of them had yet reached their full potential, as an angel investor, this was the only way to ultimately reap greater rewards.

After dinner, Paul warmly invited the two to continue with the second half of the entertainment, but they politely declined. Paul didn't insist, but simply left his satellite phone contact information and handed Jian Sheng a bank card from the George family bank. He didn't mention the amount in the card, only saying it was a token of his appreciation.

Jian Sheng did not refuse, because he was indeed short of money, and he knew that such attempts to seek protection and win him over would only increase in the future.

After more than three months, his current assets are as follows: He acquired a total of 9 kilograms of general-grade blue crystals on the black market, spending a total of 6 yuan; plus nearly 90 yuan won through card games over the three months, plus 4% commission and 2000 million yuan in income from selling positions, his current total assets are 3693 million yuan. It seems like a lot, but thinking about the enormous amount of general-grade blue crystals he will need to purchase in the future, it's enough to make his scalp tingle.

There's another problem: there's simply no way to spend all that money. General-grade blue crystals are currently in high demand but short supply; the market has absolutely no demand. It seems the nine major families have already acquired them all, presumably to provide energy for B-grade mechs in the near future.

Because it was so late after the match, the two could only find a hotel in the Seventh Ring Road area to spend the night. For them, there was no awkwardness whatsoever. Lin Zhizhi was always so carefree, while Jiansheng felt more of a comradeship with her, mainly because he felt this girl still had a childlike mentality, and he simply couldn't bring himself to hurt her.

The two lay on the bed in the hotel's standard room, unable to sleep, so they chatted.

"Zhizhi, tell me about Lin Lan." Because she had spent a lot of time with Lin Zhizhi, she often talked about Lin Lan. In her mind, Lin Lan was the best person in the world. Although they were both at the Sergeant Mecha School, she rarely saw her. She seemed to be very busy. Besides the school team's affairs, it seemed that there were even more things waiting for her at the church.

Hearing this, Lin Zhizhi said excitedly, "Sister Lin Lan is the kindest and smartest woman I've ever met. Do you know? She's the frontrunner for the next Archbishop of the Church. People below say that if the future Archbishop dies, Sister Lin Lan is very likely to succeed him, which will be a blessing for all the ordinary people in Seven Rings City."

On this point, Jian Sheng neither agreed nor disagreed. Many historical disasters brought about by people of high moral character are no less severe than those brought about by those of low moral character; in some respects, idealism itself has even brought greater disasters.

"Let's talk about something a little less serious. Has Lin Lan ever been with a man?"

"Women like Sister Lin Lan are avoided by all men, because none of them are good enough for her. However, it is said that the upper three of the nine great families are interested. Fujiwara no Taro of the Fujiwara family is interested in a marriage alliance with Sister Lin Lan."

"Fujiwara no Taro, he's not a very good person."

"Hey? Bro, do you like Sister Lin Lan?"

Upon hearing this, Jian Sheng didn't react much, only chuckled and said, "Hey, I like all beautiful women."

"Am I pretty?"

"Beautiful, you are the most beautiful woman in the world."

Hearing this, Lin Zhizhi seemed very satisfied and chuckled foolishly. Bai Sheng, on the other hand, had already eaten and drunk his fill and was fast asleep. Although he was a nocturnal animal, because he had lived with Jian Sheng for a long time, his biological clock was now exactly the same as Jian Sheng's and Lin Zhizhi's. However, Jian Sheng often said that not staying up late was good; at least you'd live longer.

Since learning that Lin Zhizhi was participating in the underground competition, the three of them had an extra activity. Every time Lin Zhizhi competed, Jiansheng would bring Baisheng to cheer her on. Lin Zhizhi's entrance ceremony also became very interesting. Before each entrance, Baisheng would fly around the arena three times, then land on her shoulder, squeaking, making the whole audience laugh.

Paul still attends every game, and it's said he bets on the Double-Blade Queen to win every game, making a lot of money from these games.

The next day, Jiansheng went back and checked the amount in his card; it was a full 100 million. He gave 50 of it to Lin Zhizhi and told her not to donate any more money.

With the future emergence of Class B mechs, she'll definitely need one, given her talent. A single mech is estimated to cost no less than 5000 million, perhaps even more. She needs to save money now; only with higher combat power and status can she earn more money more easily in the future. This current desperate approach to saving money will inevitably lead to trouble sooner or later.

Over these three months, the friendship between Paul, Jiansheng, and Lin Zhizhi deepened. Paul, a shrewd and capable businessman, was indeed very considerate in handling many matters, often gifting them houses, cars, and clothes, and taking them around the city to broaden their horizons and introduce them to friends—they had a wonderful time. Of course, he also wanted to gift them women, but he dared not, with the Twin-Blade Queen by his side.

"Bro, why is Paul so nice to us?"

"If a person wants to get rich, it's far from enough to just risk your life, because human life is worthless. A person needs to find the right leverage, take some risks, and have some luck to have a chance to defy fate. Our leverage is the gun barrel in our hands, and Paul needs our gun barrel to protect his already valuable life."

"Can't understand!"

"Just remember, the sharper your knife, the easier it is for you to make money."