Summoned creatures, the must-have for killing enemies and cleaning up after.
Every Xianzhou general and marshal has one.
Ever since he got his, Zero no longer had to worry about assassins.
If you really had to nitpick and point out a flaw...
It's that the summoned creature is too bright.
Especially indoors, it causes serious light pollution, making people dizzy and uncomfortable.
How to describe it? It's basically like being surrounded by a bunch of people all welding at once.
This time, it wasn't just Zero there, two other subordinates of his, both Envoys of "Reignbow Arbiter," were also present.
When they sensed an enemy, the two quickly summoned their own creatures.
Three summoned creatures, light pollution multiplied.
The glare shot straight into Zero's eyes; the sting almost made him lose control of his expression. He had to close his eyes.
One after another, they heard the sound of heavy bodies hitting the ground.
Zero vaguely felt warm blood splatter on his face.
He thought to himself, 'Isn't this fight a bit too intense? Is the table covered in blood now too?'
'What a pity, such good food and wine, wasted.'
Then he clearly heard something being dragged outside.
Probably the guards outside, who had heard the commotion but didn't dare act without orders, waiting quietly until the summoned creatures finished cleaning up before coming in to handle the aftermath.
When Zero opened his eyes, he saw two of his subordinates, the flirtatious "Sea King" woman who was always blocking the general's residence asking for a title, and the vain male subordinate who powdered his face and curled his hair every day, both offering him a handkerchief at the same time.
Without hesitation, Zero took the woman's handkerchief to wipe the blood off his face.
The refined male subordinate murmured, "That's gender discrimination…"
Before Zero could reply, the woman snatched her handkerchief back. Hearing the man's words, Zero couldn't help but chuckle.
"Wasn't this your idea? 'Take care of women in every detail,' wasn't it?"
The male subordinate took a deep breath, then smiled proudly, his macho face glowing.
"No problem. I'm a general of Yaoqing, just being by your side is enough for me."
The woman forced a grin, clutching her handkerchief tightly.
Seeing that his subordinates were about to start another fight, Zero sighed helplessly and changed the subject, "Let's go. We'll talk somewhere else."
The two immediately called a truce, one followed behind Zero, who was carrying a child, while the other helped support the corporate shareholder who had fainted.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zero noticed the summoned creature hadn't disappeared yet. Slightly puzzled, he guessed that Lan's consciousness might have descended into the creature, but he brushed the thought aside.
Business first. Handle the important things.
They walked into the courtyard. The male subordinate looked at the small artificial hill and fish pond, barely a hundred square meters, and sighed.
If his boss weren't so used to living here, he'd have already found him a bigger place.
Zero crouched down and set the child on the ground.
"You win."
Meeting the child's hopeful gaze, he smiled softly. "What do you want?"
Without thinking, the child hugged his leg tightly.
The blond, blue-eyed shareholder, still shaken from the earlier chaos, saw his daughter hugging the one person they must never offend and stumbled over, apologizing again and again, "My daughter is ignorant and rude, please forgive her, Marshal…"
With his clearly non-Xianzhou face, he stammered through the Xianzhou language to plead for mercy.
Normally, Zero loved to toy with people, but right now, he could tell where to draw the line.
Though he and the man's ancestors once had "minor disagreements" over a colossus project, they'd long since reconciled for mutual benefit.
Especially after that family became the largest shareholder and most influential voice in the Interstellar Peace Corporation, such small grudges hardly mattered anymore.
Zero softened his expression and spoke kindly to the child. "What do you like?"
The little girl reached out and grabbed the dragon-shaped jade pendant on Zero's waist.
Zero paused. He hadn't expected the child to pick that, a gift from his subordinates.
"This one's not for you, okay?"
Ignoring the panicked shareholder sweating beside him, he gently tried to pry the child's hand loose.
But she wouldn't let go no matter what. So he started rummaging through his system's backpack, then with a magician's flourish, produced a golden gem.
The girl instantly released the pendant and grabbed the gem instead, eyes shining.
Zero stood up and reassured the dazed shareholder.
"You were dragged into this mess for no reason. Take it as an apology."
That so-called "Emperor" machine had caused the company immeasurable credit losses, a real headache for them.
Before, when Zero and his team were handling the cleanup, the company didn't need to spend a dime and could still share the profits. But now that he'd stopped, the spread of the rogue machines was expanding, and the capitalists who'd been sitting on the sidelines couldn't stay calm anymore.
The company first sent senior executives to test the waters, then shareholders close to the Xianzhou Alliance, hoping to cooperate on dealing with the out-of-control machines.
And just their luck, they walked right into an assassination attempt on Zero.
This could turn into a huge problem. If everything smoothed over, both sides would be happy. But if something went wrong halfway…
Say, if the assassins realized they couldn't kill Zero and, fearing for their own families, decided to drag the company down with them, or even turned to stab the shareholder instead,
From their perspective, offending a shareholder was a lot safer than offending the Xianzhou Marshal.
And if rumors spread that the company had tried to assassinate the Marshal… well, no one in the corporation would be laughing.
The shareholder knew all this, he'd been terrified the entire time, praying nothing else would go wrong. And just when things had finally calmed down, his daughter started causing trouble again…
He forced a smile, trying to refuse the gift.
But Zero didn't care.
He smoothly pulled out another high-quality yellow jade from his backpack, a freebie, really, and used it to close the subject, making his stance clear.
Lan wouldn't let him make canned goods; fine. But selling machine oil? That should be allowed, right? And worst case, he could always propose a partnership with the Interstellar Peace Corporation and let them handle it.
Besides, it wasn't even anything valuable, what's given is given. No reason to take it back.
Some adults like to decide what children's things "should" belong to someone else.
They'll generously gift a kid's favorite toy to a friend or relative, acting like it's nothing.
But that becomes a thorn in the child's heart, and years later, when they ask about it, the adult just shrugs and says, "Did that really happen?"
Zero wasn't like that. He'd rather inconvenience others than wrong one of his own subordinates.
Today, Zero's humanity was in full bloom, he decided to give the child a proper, happy childhood.
As for what price the company would have to pay for Xianzhou's help… well, that was for the professionals to negotiate.
He trusted his subordinates to secure the best possible deal.
The two subordinates immediately caught his drift, their Marshal wasn't interested in small talk anymore, and started chatting smoothly to wrap things up.
Knowing their boss rarely left the house, they brainstormed together until they finally managed to persuade him to go out with them.
After sending off the shareholder and his daughter, the three strolled and chatted.
Once they were alone, Zero finally turned to the female subordinate and asked what had been on his mind, "Why'd you leave Luofu and come to Yaoqing?"
He wasn't accusing her, just asking literally.
Zero only exploited bugs and machines; he was very humane toward his subordinates.
As long as each Xianzhou was running fine and their work was handled, he didn't care where they went, even if they flew a planet-buster battleship just to blow up a few stars for fun.
After all, their faith as Xianzhou followers was "Reignbow Arbiter." Following their god's footsteps to blow up planets? Perfectly reasonable.
He couldn't ask while outsiders were around, so he waited until they were gone.
The male subordinate snorted. "What else? Probably running away from her romantic debts..."
The woman laughed awkwardly, eyes gleaming. "Do you want the Interstellar Peace Corporation, sir?"
Zero raised a brow. He didn't think she was bragging, and following her logic, he instantly understood.
'So her new toy was a company executive, huh?'
He started to question her taste.
"Didn't you used to only like guys under twenty-five? What's this, fell for one of their executives? Well, since they're asking for our help…"
Zero was conservative by nature, he'd never sacrifice marriage for profit, and he didn't really understand her "Sea King" behavior. But he still followed his "as long as my subordinates are happy" principle, and encouraged her,
"Don't overthink it. If you really like him, just take him."
Both subordinates, "..."
Their boss spoke so casually, handing over the fate of another faction's executive like he was talking about a stray cat or dog.
But they weren't alarmed, just deeply moved.
Their Marshal was too good to them. Spoiling them like children, no parent could compare.
Such a sweet problem to have…
The male subordinate rubbed his temples. "Sir, you spoil us too much…"
'You're gonna turn us into spoiled brats!'
The female subordinate waved her hands. "He's not worth it! I'd rather the company pay Xianzhou in credits!"
Zero didn't care either way, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone nearby looking panicked.
'Hmm? They hadn't said anything that terrifying, had they? Maybe he's from the company?'
He curiously opened the man's profile, and was instantly intrigued by his nearly perfect stats.
If the pre-divine Lan was an ultra-rare UR, then this man was one tier below, an SSR.
Only problem, his alignment was annoying. Sure enough, he was from the Interstellar Peace Corporation.
'Such a talent for scientific research, and he's stuck in sales? What a waste!'
'Well, not anymore. This SSR now belongs to Xianzhou.'
Zero turned to his female subordinate. "Got a photo?"
Puzzled, she pulled out her jade communicator and showed him a picture of her new lover. Zero studied it seriously and said, "His son looks good too. Why don't you bring him over as well?"
Both subordinates, "..."
As their boss started inventing imaginary sons, nephews, and grandsons out of thin air, they immediately caught on and played along, discussing these nonexistent relatives in detail.
The SSR who'd been eavesdropping nearby was shaken to his core, he took a step back, terrified they'd notice him and decide to "bring him over" for his "mature charm."
Zero chuckled softly, glancing at the panicking SSR, and said lazily, "Ah, looks like you've already learned about Xianzhou's plan. All the more reason not to let you go."
The company salesman, "..."
'What the hell?!'
'So you just bully people openly now? Discuss kidnapping on the street?!'
'Are all of Xianzhou's "plans" this casual?!'
By the time the salesman came to his senses, he was already sitting in a barbecue restaurant with the three of them, the devils incarnate.
Still dazed from their earlier talk, he mindlessly ate the meat served to him while listening to their conversation.
The female devil complained first, "Marshal, at the next annual meeting, can we please perform some shows instead of drawing for checks and planet-buster ships again? Let's do something new!"
The male devil dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief and nodded.
"Yeah, we each already have a battleship. That's enough."
"No need for shows," the head devil said lightly. "Work's tiring enough. Let's draw for vacation planets next time."
The salesman, "..."
Wait… suddenly they don't seem that devilish?
He kept chewing, listening as they complained about too much vacation time and too many benefits.
"What do you mean, 'two days off every week is boring'?!"
"What do you mean, 'having to spend three months a year on the company's exclusive resort planets is dull'?!"
'Your annual meeting giveaways are checks and battleships, and now even planets?!'
'What more do you people want?!'
The poor office worker almost broke down in his corner, the barbecue didn't even taste good anymore.
Then the boss, the radiant, golden, perfect boss, turned to him with a friendly smile.
"Oh, I almost forgot, you're on the same schedule as my strategist, right? One day on, one day off. You'll work overtime with him the day after tomorrow to get familiar with things. Any problem?"
The salesman, "..."
He was about ready to write his resignation letter.
But then the shining boss continued, smiling, "Overtime pays triple. Any problem?"
The salesman, "..."
'Forget the resignation letter, I'll just get fired after skipping work for three days!'
He shook his head hard. "No problem, sir! I can start today!"
Zero paused, feigning a troubled look.
"Can't today. My strategist went home early. You'll have to wait till the day after."
He almost laughed out loud at the man's desperate eagerness to start.
As they ate, Zero suddenly remembered something.
Oh right, he'd completely forgotten about Lan…
Finishing quickly, he exchanged contact info with the SSR, waved off his two clingy subordinates, and hurried back to his residence.
———
In the courtyard, Lan's projection was sitting by the stone table near the fake hill.
The blue-haired, black-eyed youth stared at him.
Zero sat down opposite him, confused.
"You're asking why I've been using that power so often?"
When he heard the question, Zero raised a brow, answering casually, "Probably because, after provoking me, they couldn't eat or sleep in peace."
"Rather than living every day in fear, it's better to take the initiative..."
"And erase the source of their fear."
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