Chapter 15: Interest

“Sir!” The two on-duty Claw Wolves immediately stood up and saluted Neo upon seeing him.
“Hmm! Open the warehouse. This is the captain’s highest authorization seal,” Neo said, pulling out the captain’s seal card. He was now the military CEO of the airship. He had originally pretended to be the captain, but that guy was too thin—Neo could make people gain weight but not lose it.
Behind Neo was a team of crew members, who were like sailors of the ship, belonging to the Hurricane rather than the Fangs Regiment. They had been woken up in the middle of the night to move goods. A batch of special supplies was to be transported and loaded onto a large magic-powered freight airship parked near Deck 4—it was an emergency mission.
Magic-powered airships were considered luxury items, as they consumed elemental energy crystals, making each trip extremely costly. The two such airships on the Hurricane belonged to Victor personally and were not part of the ship’s standard equipment.
“If you don’t want to be turned to ash, be careful! Their power is a hundred times greater than explosives!” Neo said, hands on his hips, gesturing emphatically.
“The usually kind executive can be so serious too—seems this batch of goods is truly special…” The laboring soldiers never imagined their executive might already be reduced to ashes.
Special magic-powered trailers could attach up to 10 carriages. After just two or three round trips, the cargo hold of the magic-powered airship was already filled.
“Soldiers, open those warehouses too,” Neo said, pointing at several other warehouse doors.
“Sir, these are the Fangs Regiment’s storage areas. We need either their authorization seal card or a direct order from the prince.”
“The authorization card is being processed right now. Open them.”
“But…”
“This is an emergency mission. Can you afford the consequences if something goes wrong?”
The warehouse doors were opened.
“Move everything over to the incinerator—destroy it all at once!”
“What?” The warehouse guards and soldiers were stunned. Destroy everything? That was absurd! The warehouses contained important supplies for the Fangs Regiment, including boxes of spare parts for Wild Armor. Destroying them all would be a huge waste of money!
“Execute the order! Soldiers!” Neo shouted urgently.
“Yes, sir.”
“You two, come here!” Neo called over the two skeptical lower-ranking officers.
“Over here,” Neo said, leading the way to a corner. The two officers exchanged a glance but followed without hesitation.
“From the way you look, it seems you’re not happy about carrying out such a task,” Neo said sternly.
“We wouldn’t dare, sir!” the two officers replied in unison, standing straighter.
Instead of reprimands, they received a heartfelt explanation: “I also don’t want you to feel like you’re doing something crazy or foolish. But since this is a confidential matter, you must first ensure that no one is informed during the information blackout.”
“Yes, sir. We will keep it strictly confidential.”

“Mm.” Neo nodded. “This is an emergency. Terrifying incidents of mutation due to the Dark Plague have occurred among the Fang Troops stationed in the valley. It is initially suspected that the pathogen likely originated from the reserve supplies. Removing the energy crystals and destroying those supplies are measures to prevent further problems.”
“Huh…” The two lower-ranking officers gasped in shock, realizing just how serious the situation was.
“No wonder! There’s a war going on down in the valley—everything’s in chaos,” one of the lower-ranking officers couldn’t help but say.
Hearing this, Neo felt a pang in his heart, but he held back and didn’t ask further. Instead, he said sternly to the two officers, “This mission is of great importance. There are two key points: first, keep the information strictly confidential to avoid panic. Second, prevent sabotage by hidden spies. Now that you understand the stakes, you may proceed as you see fit. If anyone tries to obstruct, use force to warn them. Understood?”
“Understood!”
“Do you have the confidence to complete this mission?”
“Yes!” The two lower-ranking officers replied firmly.
“Very good. I’m entrusting this mission to you two. I need to deal with other matters.”
“Please rest assured, sir.”
Neo left quickly. The two lower-ranking officers discussed among themselves. One stayed behind to supervise the operation, “Stay alert and speed things up!”
The other called over three squads of soldiers. “Sergeant Muse, I order you and your squad to oversee the transportation. Use force if necessary to ensure smooth delivery.”
“Yes!” The burly sergeant led over a dozen men to take on the surveillance task. They were all armed with the alliance’s latest model of magic-powered rapid-fire guns. With ten people together, their firepower was quite strong, especially inside the airship, where there were many corridors and staircases.
“Sergeant Russell, I order you to take your men to the incinerator and take charge of supervising the destruction process there.”
“Yes!” The muscular Russell led his men toward the waste incineration room.
“Sergeant Norton, you’re to guard the main entrances and exits of the warehouse area to ensure normal supply delivery. This is an order from the Chief Military Executive. Do not stop unless you receive orders from a higher authority. Understood?”
“Understood!” The strong-nosed Norton also led his men away.
The lieutenant sighed in relief, thinking, “With such arrangements, I’m sure I’ll get a commendation after this incident.”
There were 34 people in total—three squads plus the squad leader himself. Though they were at the grassroots level, once mobilized, they could exert considerable power, at least to destroy things swiftly and effectively.

As box after box of valuable supplies was stuffed into the incinerator and burned to ashes, Neo was already giving orders to another officer. “Captain, I order you and your men to be under my direct command from now on. Go gather your men right away and have them wake up our technicians, seal off the area, and conduct a thorough search of the power room. I’ve received reliable information that someone has planted a bomb in the power room trying to destroy our Hurricane. We must not let that happen.”
“Understood, sir!” …
A few dozen minutes later, in the flight area of the cabin section, Neo gave orders to two more officers. “Lock all the aerial riders in the no-fly cages and push all the vehicles into the cabin area. All of this must be done before the incinerator is restarted. You have 20 minutes left!” …
Nearly half of the Hurricane’s crew were mobilized by this Military CEO. The elevators leading to the flight deck were locked, all the aerial riders and vehicles were sealed away, and the incinerator was shut down to search for the bomb, cutting off the energy supply. This meant that numerous devices were disabled and completely locked down. Just restarting the incinerator alone would take an hour.
Alerts were issued, martial law was declared, all passages were sealed off, and everyone not on duty was ordered to stay in their cabins, not allowed to leave. This included the officers of the Fangs Regiment on board as well as Victor’s direct subordinates. On the ship, the captain held the highest rank, but since the captain was nowhere to be seen, full authority had been given to the Military CEO, making him the highest-ranking person. Yet when the entire airship became a living coffin floating in the air, he had already boarded a heavy transport aircraft and left the ship, heading southeast.
On the ground, atop the cliff in the valley, Victor watched the large plumes of flame stars erupting from the rear of the airship and frowned. “What’s going on in the middle of the night? Is there that much trash to burn?” …
Another few dozen minutes passed.
The man in black grew impatient. He coughed a few times and said to Victor, “Is it almost over? More than a third of my men have been lost.”
Victor glanced at the situation in the valley. There were indeed very few civilians and mutated monsters left. “Hmm, it can end now.” With that, he took out a small velvet pouch from his space ring and handed it to the man in black.
The man in black opened the pouch, took a look, nodded in satisfaction, and as he put away the pouch, he waved his hand. A high-pitched whistling sound came out, and his dark minions scattered like a tide retreating. Those who were trapped or injured were ignored, left to be killed by the clawed wolves.
Taking advantage of the retreat of the dark minions, the Fangs Regiment carried out a massacre, killing dozens more. But the man in black didn’t seem too concerned. With manipulation and bribery, this was the Frey Alliance—a magical land where it was easy to gain followers and find pawns. The payment Victor gave him was enough for him to raise thousands of new pawns, all of them above the level of demonized beings.

The valley was in chaos—burning tents, corpses, limbs, blood, and snow mixed together, with the stench of burning flesh and blood filling the air. Werewolf soldiers still roamed the camp, attacking any monsters that weren’t completely dead with vicious claws…
Over 200 werewolves had been killed or injured, more than half of them in battles against the Dark Claws that followed. As for the members of the migration group, fewer than a hundred survived. They huddled together, refusing any help from the werewolves.
“What should we do? These guys claim it was we who turned their relatives and friends into monsters. How absurd!” snapped a werewolf officer, breathing out white vapor in anger.
“Damn it, they’re the ones who started it. Let’s just kill them all. I bet one of them will mutate again soon.”
“We can’t do that. They’re victims too. Those monsters attacked them—you saw that!”
As the officers argued, screams came from the migration group—three more people had mutated, forcing the survivors to flee in all directions.
It was Victor’s doing again. A few people had suddenly lost consciousness; when they woke up, thinking they’d been lucky to survive, they were actually drugged. The monsters could tell who they were and wouldn’t attack them, but now the drug’s effect was triggered remotely, turning them into monsters instantly.
“Kill them! Eradicate these Dark Cultists!”
Someone took the lead, and others followed. Ten minutes later, not a single surviving member of the migration group was left in the valley.
Victor took a deep breath of the cold, blood-stained air. He smiled at the man in black. “How about this blood sacrifice? Not bad, right?”
“Yes. I’ll report to Lord Thore. I’m sure he’ll be satisfied.”
“Thore… Hmph! That wretch? I doubt he even gets a chance to speak in front of Lady Dantestine.” Victor muttered inwardly.
“Then there’s another matter, Neo. Can I take care of it and take him away? Lord Thore is very interested in that boy.”
“I’m sorry, but that cunning guy escaped while Quintus and the Church troops were here.” Victor already knew Neo was important to Dantestine. He didn’t want Thore to claim the credit for this victory.
The man in black thought Victor was lying. With a cold snort, he was about to confront him when one of his subordinates rushed over and whispered something in his ear.
The man in black stared at Victor intently and said coldly, “The spy I placed in the migration group is missing.”
Victor’s expression changed. He immediately ordered his subordinates to check on Neo.
“What? He’s gone? He didn’t leave through the main door, there are no signs of a fight in the prison cells, and the walls are intact. How did he leave? A magic teleportation array?” Upon hearing the report, Victor’s face twisted with anger as he demanded an explanation.
The man in black was even more convinced that Victor was acting, and a rather poor act at that. “Weren’t you just saying he escaped when the Church arrived? Did he escape again?”

Victor wore a dark expression. “If I say we’re fleeing, we’re fleeing. Report this to Lord Thorey immediately as it is. I won’t see you off.” With that, he lifted his cloak and, surrounded by his guards, strode away at speed.

The man in black stared intently at Victor’s retreating figure, took a deep breath, let out a heavy grunt, then was swiftly carried away by a swirl of black wind. His subordinates didn’t need to rush through the dark wilderness either—huge dark earthworms were waiting for them. They would crawl into those terrifying, slime-dripping maws and be carried away by these insects, whose effects were similar to those of the Death Vine. It was undoubtedly a secret and safe method. Of course, such giant magical beasts couldn’t be kept by ordinary groups.

Half an hour later, Victor stood beside the corpse of his beautiful adjutant, trembling with rage. In his hand, he clenched tightly a piece of paper that read: “Scum! You’ll pay ten times what you owe—here’s just some interest first.”

The so-called “interest” included destroying supplies worth over 500,000 gold dinars, seizing energy crystals worth more than 3 million, along with some advanced equipment. Not to mention the airship itself, which was worth 300,000 dinars. But what was truly valuable was the knowledge and technology stolen by Neo. Unless Neo could break into top-tier research institutions like the Alliance Institute, he would never obtain more valuable or practical knowledge than what he had here. After all, this airship was known as an aerial city or castle, containing knowledge and technology from all fields, most of which were among the best in the world. Once Nancy mastered all this knowledge, Neo would theoretically have the ability to build his own similar system—not necessarily an airship, but also a well-structured fortress or stronghold.

At that moment, the person ordered to compile the loss report returned. But seeing Victor’s state, he was too scared to speak.

With a murderous glint in his eyes, Victor glanced at him and said, “Read the loss report to me.”

“Yes!” The man began reading in a trembling voice.

Before he could read a single sentence, Victor trembled violently, let out a roar, and eventually stopped listening altogether. He rushed into the magic garden and began destroying the plants frantically. If Neo had been there, he would have applauded in approval: “Good. Keep going. Destroy this place, and you won’t even know what I’ve taken from here.”

Boom! Severe explosions echoed throughout the airship. The backup power supply for lighting was affected, causing lights in various compartments to flicker and the ship to shake violently. Metal pipes, panels, and other structures made ear-piercing creaking noises, and some screws and nuts flew off.

“What’s happening now?” Victor, with messy blond hair and a fierce expression, stabilized himself amid the chaos and roared in fury.

Soon, a soldier rushed over to report: The main power room of the airship exploded during the restart of the power furnace. Over 30 technicians were killed or injured. It would take at least 48 hours to restore basic functions, and other losses were still unaccounted for.

48 hours—without a functioning elevator and an unusable flight deck, even if the cage lock is broken and the air rider is set free, it’s useless. Such a large air rider can’t possibly pass through the emergency passages for humans. By the time they make their way to the sky ladder to take off from there, everything will be too late. Moreover, the air rider’s endurance is nowhere near that of an aircraft. With about 3 hours left until dawn, how large a search area do they need to cover to find that aircraft?
“Ah… I’m going to kill you, Neo! I’m going to kill you! Kill you!!” Victor was completely driven mad, screaming frantically for most of an hour, losing all trace of dignity and composure.