Not Necessarily Human

"Not 180, not 998, but 1,888! "The currency is Federation dollars, and the unit is ten thousand. "Sales tax not included, nor is there any plan to pay it. "In short: you buy it to get ripped off, you buy it to get scammed!" After half a month of maneuvering on both sides by the Lou and Tong families, the joint workshop formed by Ji Jue and Lou Feng finally officially launched its sales operations through the Ring of Taiyi's Association, the Balance Chamber of Commerce, and the Wild Gathering. The [Sundial] series was officially on sale. Among them, the most prestigious, top-tier, and greatest-sucker Artisan Signed Edition was limited to one hundred pieces, priced at the astronomical sum of 48.88 million. So, a week had passed—how were sales? Hilarious: aside from the shills they hired themselves, no one even looked at it! The tier below, the Exclusive Collector's Edition, had only sold around forty-odd pieces, most of which were bought out of pocket by fellow artisan competitors within the Association just to take back and study... Compared to these two models that were visibly sharpening their knives for suckers, it was actually the sturdy, unpretentious Upgraded Edition at 4.88 million that proved the most popular. Everything the bottom-tier entry model lacked, it had; and everything the high-end edition boasted, it also had—at most just slightly dialed back. Not only did it feature razor-sharp detection and perception tuned to the absolute limit of cost-efficiency relative to similar premium goods, checking environmental corruption levels in real time and assessing the wearer's physical condition, but it also retained an extra spiritus reserve completely sufficient for a Celestial Chosen of the Beckoning rank in times of crisis... Ji Jue had even bled quite a sum to partner with Boundless Telecom, so purchasing a Sundial now included three months of automatic alarm services. Once it detected that the wearer's physical or spiritual vitals dropped below safe thresholds, it would automatically trigger and dial the emergency contact number configured by the wearer, facilitating rescue at any moment. Anyone reading the advertisement this far would pretty much understand exactly what target demographic Ji Jue's user profile was aimed at... That's right: the old brothers in the wilderness, the scavengers far from the cities, and all the shady characters operating in the chaotic zones outside Central City long-term. And... the vast ocean of newbie White Stags in the White Nation! "Sales are extraordinarily good, Mr. Ji! Far better than expected!" On the phone call from Bishop Longge, the old man sounded uncharacteristically delighted, his raspy voice full of brisk cheer. "Most of the stock you consigned with the church has already sold. It's just... are you certain you wish to donate all proceeds to the church? "My apologies; I originally assumed you meant profits and had prepared the books accordingly. But when coordinating with Mr. Gou, it seemed he had no such intention." "Yes, that was my intention." Ji Jue looked down at the ledger and said calmly, "Every cent of revenue from the church's consigned goods belongs to the church. We will guarantee product supply, though in terms of volume, other partner channels will take priority. I hope you can understand." Elder Longge fell silent for a long time, then sighed softly. "It's too much, Mr. Ji... It's already far too much." "Inayat mentioned to me that the church has recently been recruiting workers to expand the orphanage?" Ji Jue said placidly, "In that case, let's treat it as an agreement between Haian Industries and the church's orphanage. These funds will provide for their meals and education, but the sponsored children must maintain their grades. Furthermore, upon graduating, they must sign a ten-year employment contract with Haian. How about that? "I pay the church to help me cultivate qualified workers. A clean, aboveboard transaction—neither party owes the other. Haizhou has already handled it this way; Elder Deng has signed the contract. If you could kindly add your seal later, the matter will be settled." "..." Elder Longge paused for a moment, then sighed with heartfelt emotion. "Sometimes I often feel that you don't seem like an artisan." "Artisans occasionally look to the long run, too." "Then let us proceed as you say." Elder Longge chuckled. "Though it may sound like an old refrain, please allow me to express the church's gratitude for your benevolence." "Much appreciated. I accept." Ji Jue smiled and hung up the phone. Turning his head, he saw Lou Feng staring at him as if he had seen a ghost, eyes wide with disbelief—as though he had witnessed a delinquent take monastic vows or a sow reform its ways. "Whoever you are, do not leave Ji Jue's body!" Even though Lou Feng already knew about Ji Jue's track record, seeing this dog of a man display such universal benevolence with his own eyes was still hard to swallow. "A scoundrel like you can actually do good deeds?" Ji Jue let out a helpless sigh and shot him a sideways glance. It was the look one gave the village idiot drooling by the roadside. "How much could it possibly cost to have the church help sell a few dozen defectives?" Ji Jue leaned forward, asking solemnly, "Conversely, if the Church of Chongguang vouches for something, would anyone suspect it harbors ill intent?" "..." Lou Feng was struck dumb, thoroughly at a loss for words. He genuinely wanted to be shocked, but the moment Ji Jue revealed that shameless expression, a profound sense of *ah, of course* washed over him. *I knew it! How could the sun rise in the west?* "You really are a piece of work, Ji Jue!" To make such a measly buck, he even exploited the Church of Chongguang! That wasn't just ordinary bastardry! "I'll take that as a compliment." Ji Jue calmly continued flipping through the ledger. "Meanwhile, some people do so many atrocious things they aren't even fit to be called beasts." Lou Feng shook his head. This kind of thing only worked for Ji Jue... Anyone else—let alone getting the church to consign goods—could only dream of even meeting an elder inside church gates. With so many people worldwide making massive donations to the church, regardless of motive and looking purely at their actions and footprints, how many truly qualified as benefactors? How many could receive the Medal of Venerated Goodness? And how many had three elders personally vouching for them, with the church openly endorsing and advertising their wares? Few. Far too few! To the point where every time Lou Feng looked at this bastard, he felt an internal brawl between the left and right hemispheres of his brain. One could only say: he was indeed a beast, but when he was good, he was genuinely good. Too bad he was still a beast... Even if he was a bit good. You couldn't think too deeply about it; the more you pondered it, the sharper your headache grew. "When do you plan to make your real move?" Lou Feng pressed. "Our competitors are just waiting to laugh at us." "No rush. Let's wait a bit longer." Ji Jue grinned, utterly unbothered. "In any case, when the time comes, I won't be the one they're laughing at." "You surnamed Ji, you motherf—" Lou Feng's fists clenched! *** It wasn't an explosive blockbuster, but neither was it crickets. If one judged purely by the sales numbers of the Sundial series wristwatches, it could be considered a hit within the Association recently. However, factor in the identities of the two creators, and it looked somewhat dismal. All current sales could only be described as... expected. Most of it came from personal connections. The Chaocheng and Yacheng Security Bureaus took a thousand pieces from Ji Jue, while Chen Xingzhou waved his hand and bought a thousand in support, listing them on the Wild Gathering to sell off slowly. When the scavengers out in the Haizhou wilderness heard Haian had produced something new, their expressions turned fascinating upon discovering it was a watch. Scavengers were called scavengers because... the vast majority of them were still picking through garbage. The wealthy among them were a tiny minority, after all; very few Celestial Chosen actually worked as scavengers. Many settlement chiefs and Celestial Chosen bought one or two Upgraded Editions out of respect for Haian—or rather, figuring Director Ji was petty, they bought a couple as protection money. After buying them, they realized the things were actually pretty good—smooth to use—and occasional word-of-mouth sales brought in a bit of revenue. All of this was expected income. Never mind watches—even if Ji Jue sold toilets and chamber pots, people would still show up to support him. Yet strip away Ji Jue and Lou Feng's personal clout, and the sales were merely mediocre, nowhere near spectacular. It made sense. Before an improved product completely broke into the market, it could only grow slowly, taking the long-term sales route. Or one could burn money ruthlessly, scale up, and play financial games, turning the product itself into a trivial afterthought. Unfortunately, Ji Jue looked down on both options. Ji Jue was waiting. Waiting for the Sundial series watches to truly build a reputation among their users, waiting for the scale to expand to the target threshold, waiting for an opportunity... Meanwhile, their competitors were already blowing their lids. The market segment for individual spiritus detection and analysis wasn't particularly large to begin with. Years ago, everyone had competed fiercely without managing to put anyone out of business, leading to peaceful coexistence for many years—until Ji Jue suddenly barged in. Everyone felt that the guy surnamed Ji had lost his mind! Yet when they actually bought Ji Jue's product to reverse-engineer it, they discovered that whether Ji Jue was insane or not, they were the ones about to go mad! From the instant the Sundial was disassembled, everyone realized they weren't going to survive in the future... In Nancheng of the Federation, inside Vision Workshop, an aging artisan stared at the components on his workbench, drenched in cold sweat. No matter how he took it apart, no matter how he inspected it, whether through brute-force dismantling or clever ingenuity to breach the outer protective layers of the movement and reach its core... He couldn't comprehend the craft and procedures used. He couldn't even grasp the underlying principles! Aside from traces of Fluid Alchemy and the Lou clan's spiritus synthesis, it was completely baffling! And yet, it seemed inexplicably reasonable! After all, objects nurtured spirit over time! Even a plain stone worn close to the body for a decade or two would gain a sliver of spirituality. There were even malevolent relics that brought misfortune to their masters, or treasures that protected them. Through years and months of use, spiritus and obsessions would inevitably entangle and linger upon an object, giving birth to natural spirituality. So now you're telling me that overnight, thousands or tens of thousands of wristwatches mysteriously developed spiritual resonance and spirituality, then mysteriously fell into the hands of that bastard Ji, who conveniently catalyzed and crafted them into creations to sell en masse? *Come on, man, by what right?!* *Why do I never stumble upon such a windfall?!* Anyone who actually saw Haian's shipment volume and still believed this was completely natural had a screw loose. Even if it hadn't reached the scale of tens of thousands just yet, that steady, methodical pace showed zero sign of hitting any production ceiling! To be fair, Ji Jue's goods were on the expensive side. Individual spiritus and progress monitoring, external corruption index analysis, even integrated with extra spiritus reserves—4.88 million was still exorbitant. From that perspective, if it came down to a price war, the competitors weren't afraid at all! The catch was... did anyone actually dare to start one? Forget Ji Jue's background, forget the Lou family's influence—just look at the pile of junk on the table, folks... "There really isn't a single goddamn Blessing on it!" The aging artisan's pupils contracted repeatedly as he glared at the movement, practically going cross-eyed, his breath coming in ragged gasps. No matter how many times he looked, there was not a trace to be found. Completely, utterly devoid of any Blessing! By traditional standards, this item couldn't even be called a Blessed Creation. Under the Association's grading criteria, it wouldn't even rate a B-rank! Yet the evaluation result issued by the Association today was an A+! Just a hair shy of an S! All seven masters on the review panel had, without exception, awarded the highest score their authority allowed—precisely because it didn't contain a single Blessing! The review panel had spared no praise, heaping hyperbole upon hyperbole: [A flawless union of material properties and spirituality, a legendary resurgence of Fluid Alchemy, a superlative synthesis of theory and technique. The panel eagerly awaits the early submission of the related thesis by both artisans.] A creation without any Blessing had achieved an effect bordering on nature's own craftsmanship solely through the fusion of material properties and spirituality. The seamless connection and mutually complementary concepts had truly turned the mundane into the miraculous—a pure manifestation of alchemy's very essence. For an ordinary mechanical watch to reach such heights under the enlightenment of spirituality was like a dream. Most importantly, not only did this thing lack any Blessing, but it was mass-produced! It was a blatant display of prowess, flexing its muscles before every peer in the Association: *Do you see your daddy's consummate mastery of Fluid Alchemy?* *Do you see your daddy's supplements and enhancements to Fluid Alchemy?!* *And... do you see your daddy's guaranteed Golden Ribbon?!* In matters like this, laymen watched the spectacle while insiders understood the craftsmanship. Whether a product was well-received lay in the hands of users, but just how absurd the technical prowess inside was—only peers in the trade could comprehend. And for the artisans who happened to share the same niche, it was nothing short of a horror story! They couldn't understand how such a work could exist. Even less could they fathom how someone could be so shamelessly stingy! —*You dog, you didn't put in a single drop of real material!* While the effects might be roughly comparable, you don't even have a Blessing, yet you dare charge this much? Who the hell gave you the courage?! Production costs? Excluding the tiny bit of spiritus you nurtured, that cheap movement mass-produced on a factory assembly line couldn't be worth more than eighteen bucks! Charging this much was bad enough, but you weren't even willing to include a tourbillon! Four point eight eight million for a watch plus a spirit seed, and people were still expected to say it was amazing and thank you? Why didn't you just rob them outright?! Less than a month after the official launch, a call from the Association reached Ji Jue. The tone held no severity whatsoever, only utter politeness. "Mr. Ji, I believe you have already received the notice from the Association in your inbox. "Recently, our Supervisory Department has received over seventy complaint letters, all alleging predatory competition, disrupting the market, violating Association guidelines, and manipulating pricing." "Yes, I know." Ji Jue gave a placid nod, not bothering to offer a word of explanation. "Complaints are just complaints. Did I violate any Association rules?" "..." The staff member on the other end sighed, feeling utterly helpless. "Strictly speaking, alchemical creations that do not utilize rare materials and lack Blessings cannot be priced so exorbitantly." "But as I recall, the category I declared wasn't an alchemical creation, but the modification of antiques and curios, wasn't it?" Ji Jue flashed an 'OK' sign to Lou Feng, who had stood up beside him, signaling him to keep calm. "According to Association regulations, modified items are permitted to mark up roughly twenty to fifty percent above their original price, based on the craftsmanship involved." "..." In the long silence that followed, there came the sound of rustling pages on the other end, followed by a faint, muffled *holy crap*. Immediately after, another flutter of pages, followed by two more *holy craps*. A chorus of stunned profanities! Interspersed with occasional murmurs of admiration, it culminated in a meaningful, deeply respectful sigh: "That is indeed the case, Mr. Ji." Translation: *You dog, you sure know how to exploit a loophole!* And he had actually pulled it off... Could he have failed? Before acquiring this white-label manufacturer, Ji Jue had gotten Chen Xingzhou to run a self-bidding scheme at a Wild Gathering auction, artificially inflating the brand's auction prices. Since barely any of the originals survived in circulation anyway, and most were rotting in a warehouse waiting for Ji Jue to retrofit them, the setup was perfect! Calculate the auction prices of the different models against the retail prices of the current Sundial series, and it landed squarely at that forty-percent markup! Not a penny more, not a penny less. He didn't even bother disguising it—*I'm exploiting the loophole, what of it?* *Go ahead and try closing this loophole. Let's see who curses the loudest then, and whether it's me or the council rolling up their sleeves to brawl!* After flipping through regulations for a good while and being forced to acknowledge the legitimacy of Ji Jue's pricing, the staff member offered a friendly reminder: "While that may be the case... the Association does have exceptional clauses. "If the complainants manage to gather two Masters to formally bring charges before the Association, the regulations dictate that the Association must convene an inquiry hearing." "Oh, got it." Ji Jue yawned. "Then let them convene it. Whenever it's ready, I'll be waiting." *He really wants to fight?!* The staff member's heart jolted, his spirits snapping to attention. Looking at this attitude, hadn't the man been spoiling for a brawl all along? He was Ye Xian's student after all—not remotely someone to be pushed around! *So that's what he was waiting for?* *Things are about to blow up!* Then again, no matter how big things got, what did it have to do with him? He was just a lowly administrative worker who didn't even know alchemy, earning a meager fixed wage. Why bother worrying on behalf of the president? The main purpose of the call was to represent the Association and gently defuse the issue before conflict erupted. But since Ji Jue was already geared up for a fight, what was there to hesitate about? Time to grab some popcorn! *I want to see blood in the streets!* "The preparation time for an inquiry hearing usually takes around two weeks," the staff member said, his energy instantly surging with eager anticipation. "The Supervisory Department will notify you separately of the exact date, and I will also—" "No need." Ji Jue chuckled, thoroughly unconcerned. Before hanging up, he left only one final sentence: "If that hearing actually manages to take place, consider it my loss."