Chapter 51: The Late Viscount, Section 6

He was urgently called to the living room by Black Hair. At that moment, he was dealing with a huge deal that required as many as three thousand transport ships to carry out. So his mood was extremely poor.
Yet no matter how bad his mood was, he didn’t dare to lose his temper in front of Black Hair. Moreover, before entering the room, Koko took a few deep breaths, forced on a perfect smile, and then entered the living room.
There, he saw an old man with white hair.
“Who are you?” Koko frowned. He hadn’t expected to meet a stranger here. After all, the living room he had entered was no ordinary place—across the Twin Stars, only a handful of people were qualified to come here. Even on a larger scale, within the Blood Wolves, only a few leaders could enter.
Of course, Black Hair was an exception. As for this old man… Koko searched his memory carefully and confirmed again that he had never met him before.
Yet even so, the smile on Koko’s face remained unchanged. On the contrary, it became even more friendly. He knew clearly that since he truly didn’t know this man, there could only be one person who had brought him here—that was the ruler of the Blood Wolves, the Wolf King Black Hair. In front of Black Hair, no matter how powerful Koko had become, he was still just that little Ganlu merchant from before.
It could be said that without Black Hair, there would be no Koko as he is today, nor his achievements of commanding respect. So no matter when, Koko would never risk offending Black Hair. Besides, he had long gotten used to the feeling of being above others. But all of this meant nothing without Black Hair’s support. Without the terrifying military power of the Blood Wolves, Koko wouldn’t even dare to speak loudly to outsiders, let alone act as the de facto ruler of the Twin Stars, receiving worship from all merchants every day.
Thinking of this, Koko smiled even more amiably, bent down with a warm, even slightly flattering tone, and asked,
“Who are you?”
“Are you Lord Koko?” To Koko’s surprise, the other person spoke first before he could finish speaking. Moreover, they exaggerated even more, laughing so much that their eyes were barely visible, their face full of flattery—just like Koko himself had been long ago!

“Ah… Yes, I’m Koko.” Startled by OldOld Buick’s behavior, Koko replied in a dazed manner. At the same time, he racked his brain trying to figure out who this person was and why he acted like that—like some lowly merchant from the lower classes. How could such a person be valued by Black Hair, and how could he even enter the most sacred and important room in this twin planet?

But he didn’t have time to think any further. As soon as he agreed, the old man across from him suddenly rushed at him, shouting like a fanatical believer, “My god…”, while trying to kneel in front of him…

Sweat poured down Koko’s back. He stepped forward desperately to stop him. At that moment, a cold voice suddenly rang out in the room.

“I’ll cut off whatever part of you you use to receive his honor.”

The chill in that voice was like the icy wind of hell. Koko shuddered immediately. Already moving fast, he sped up even more, his small and thin body performing a diving motion. He managed to get under OldOld Buick before he could kneel. Then… he took a heavy knee strike.

“Ow…”

Even though OldOld Buick wasn’t particularly large, Koko still felt the pain sharply. His gaunt face twisted, his eyes almost closing. After taking several deep breaths, he finally managed to speak.

“You can’t kneel!!!”

“Ah? Oh, fine. The old man won’t kneel.” OldOld Buick was stunned for a moment before stepping back a few steps. He indeed stopped kneeling but tried another method—he began to lie face down on the ground…

Prostration!?

Koko’s eyes widened in shock, nearly fainting from fear. What a joke! Just a simple kneeling gesture had already drawn a warning from Black Hair. Now this old man wanted to use such a ritual? That would mean certain death! Koko had never doubted Black Hair’s words—if he said he’d cut off the part used for receiving honor, he wouldn’t spare a single hair. If this old man really knelt, he’d probably end up as meat paste by tomorrow!

In his panic, Koko ignored his status entirely. He struggled to lift his upper body and screamed in a shrill voice as if his child had died. “This isn’t allowed either!!!”

“Ah?” Hearing this, OldOld Buick was utterly confused.

He was a person from the planet Shek, which, to put it plainly, wasn’t much in human society, so its social structure was also very primitive. Old Bek had lived half his life and knew best that one had to yield when facing fists and bow when encountering nobles. In short, one must obey and respect the strong.

Koko, the greatest Ganroo and a legend among merchants, was in Old Bek’s eyes on par with God. So even before arriving, he had prepared himself mentally—so much so that even if he were truly insulted by Koko, he would consider it entirely normal, as he and Koko were not of the same rank at all. Koko was heaven; he was just dust on the ground.

Yet he didn’t know that behind this insignificant dust lay a demon whom even God feared.

“Enough, Old Bek. Don’t put Koko in an awkward position. He wouldn’t dare accept your grand bow.” Just as Old Bek was at a loss, a voice suddenly came from behind, followed by the lazy figure of Blackhair appearing before them.

“Blackhair!” Seeing this figure, Koko immediately shouted and sighed in relief. At least he didn’t have to wait for a savior. With Blackhair here, he could finally figure out who this old man really was. With Blackhair around, there was no risk of offending him.

“Blackhair?” Old Bek was also stunned. “Weren’t you going out to buy some things? Why are you back so soon?”

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Seeing Old Bek speak to Blackhair so casually, Koko trembled again and felt lucky. He was a shrewd man—just that one sentence was enough for him to realize Old Bek’s status was special. After all, in Death Star, no, throughout the entire human sphere, only a few people could speak to Blackhair with such nonchalance. Even Marshal Wick probably couldn’t.

While thinking this, Koko acted quickly, respectfully stepping forward to invite Old Bek to sit aside. Of course, this gesture made Old Bek feel flattered. The two began arguing over who should sit where once again.

All of this fell into Blackhair’s eyes, causing him to sigh helplessly.

“Enough, you two. Stop being so formal with each other. We’re all on the same side. Koko, this is FatherOld Buick, my savior. I brought him here to meet you and to find him some work. Sulei must have told you all about this, right? In a few days, hundreds more people will arrive, all of FatherOld Buick’s subordinates. You can arrange things together then.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about it,” Koko replied quickly and loudly. Her gaze toward FatherOld Buick also became much more respectful. She had long heard that Hei Fa had a savior—turns out it was this man. Thankfully, she hadn’t been reckless earlier. If she had offended him, she might have offended Hei Fa as well.
Koko felt relieved. After wiping away some cold sweat, she caught her breath before speaking.
“As for FatherOld Buick’s role, I’ve already made arrangements. Right now, the business operations on Twin Star are quite busy, and many places are short of staff. How about having FatherOld Buick serve as an executive on Planet Two? I can also arrange for his subordinates to work together there. That would make things easier. To be honest, managing Twin Star seems glamorous, but traveling back and forth between the two planets every day is exhausting. With FatherOld Buick’s help, I won’t have to make those trips every day.”
“Oh. That sounds good. I just wonder if FatherOld Buick will like it.” Hei Fa rubbed his chin and glanced at the old man beside him, trying to gauge his thoughts. Encouraged by him, FatherOld Buick became less nervous than at first. After hesitating for a while, he finally spoke up.
“Well… what does an executive do?”
“An executive?” Koko smiled and glanced at Hei Fa. “It’s the actual manager of a planet’s operations. It’s just not made public. Just like me—everyone thinks I’m the head of Twin Star’s largest merchant guild, but in reality, I’m also an executive. It’s just that because Twin Star operates under a special free-trade system, this position can’t be revealed to others.”
“What!?” FatherOld Buick was shocked and almost cried. “Isn’t that almost the same as being a lord?”
“Basically, yes. But it’s not as comfortable as being a lord. As I said, Twin Star is special, so it can’t be exposed. You can only control the actual operations, but you need to hide behind another identity on the surface. I’ve thought of this—I’ll assign you a branch on Planet Two to manage. You just need to check in occasionally. The details will be handled by the people below.” After saying that, Koko gave Hei Fa a slightly proud look, thinking to herself that this arrangement was quite good—sure enough to satisfy him.

“I can’t do it, I really can’t.” OldOld Buick shook his head like a maraca, waving his hands repeatedly. “I’ve spent my whole life as a scavenger. Even if there were a factory, asking me to manage a planet is completely impossible. It’s too much of a difference—how could this be considered a pleasure? Isn’t it deadly? What if I make a mistake someday and it causes big problems? I can’t do it, I really can’t.”
“Well…?” Seeing OldOld Buick’s firm refusal, Koko was stunned. Her big round eyes turned to Hei Fa, looking pitiful as if to say, “Now it’s up to you to decide. I’m at a loss…”