Gentle Catgirl, Send Money!

"Er......." Listening to the old man's question, Zhou Jianmin—despite having long been braced for it—still felt an expression he couldn't quite hold back rise to his face. He paused, then drove his back teeth into the flesh of his mouth, using the pain to keep his composure from slipping too far: "Chief, I mentioned material transmission before. This is a two-way link." "That is, while receiving supplies from the Tianling Realm, some local resources are also transmitted to Comrade Lin Yi." "According to the Think Tank's plan, apart from some military replenishment, most of this batch of goods are daily necessities tied to everyday life." "And that tool you mentioned… is one of the items the Think Tank selected after analyzing Comrade Lin Yi's per… um, personality." Over the past few hours, the Think Tank had assembled a large group of top behavioral experts to conduct an extremely detailed analysis of Lin Yi's past behavioral records. For example, based on supermarket shopping records, they determined that Lin Yi preferred Lay's Italian red-braised potato chips, liked Wangwang Snow Crisps but disliked rice crackers, and so on… And… By evaluating and analyzing Lin Yi's browsing history, forwarding history, and cloud storage content, they finally compiled Lin Yi's profile. And that Gentle Catgirl was one of the supplies selected to match that profile—although Lin Yi was already over ninety, sending it over wouldn't take up much payload; at worst it could be set aside, in case Lin Yi wanted to reminisce about his youth… Incidentally, the relevant departments also blocked 7,539 illegal resources from Lin Yi's cloud storage in this sweep, and several groups including the "Huanghuang Hen Keai Hanhua Zu" scanlation ring were taken down, with results maximized. "I see…" After hearing Zhou Jianmin's introduction, the old man remained unusually calm—one could only say that a big shot is a big shot: "Since the expert team considers it appropriate, carry out their plan." "However, in communicating with Comrade Lin Yi, everyone must still strike the right balance, avoid putting too much pressure on him, and absolutely must not treat him as one of their white mice." "Win-win cooperation, moving forward hand in hand—that is the path to lasting success." Zhou Jianmin's expression turned serious: "I remember, Chief." Afterward, the two exchanged a few more Think Tank suggestions, and Zhou Jianmin got up and left the office. ...... At the same time. Tianling Realm. As the party involved, Lin Yi had no idea that back in the home world he had already endured a social-death ordeal that had reached the ears of heaven. At this moment, he stood beside Su Qing by the materials, watching another figure fly toward them from afar. The newcomer was Zhao Ping. Whoosh— Zhao Ping quickly landed beside Lin Yi and respectfully bowed: "Master, Disciple has returned." Lin Yi carefully sized up his eldest disciple. Apart from some fatigue, there were no signs of injury, and his aura was long and steady. He nodded in relief: "Zhao Ping, how did things go on this trip?" "Thanks to Master's blessing, the journey was safe," Zhao Ping said. Compared to Su Qing's liveliness, Zhao Ping's manner was relatively rigid. "After Disciple took the Demon-Seeking Compass and left, I first flew northwest for about a quarter of an hour." "Then the pointer gradually turned and pointed due north, so I changed direction according to the demon trail shown." "But after flying for nearly a shichen in total, until the Demon-Seeking Compass's demon trail failed, I still didn't find anything abnormal." Lin Yi glanced at him and confirmed: "You didn't see any other Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts?" "No," Zhao Ping shook his head. "I only found traces of two or three resting spots; judging by the aura, they were the two from our sect." Lin Yi immediately frowned. This was strange. Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts were a typical herd-living demon beast. Adults possessed first-rank strength, and each herd numbered from a dozen to several dozen. Setting aside extremely rare, overwhelming individuals not useful for reference, most herd leaders' realms were basically between early second-rank and perfected second-rank. The two Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts that attacked Guihua Sect were both late second-rank, and judging by their flesh, they were not old fogies like Lin Yi at death's door. Theoretically, they should at least be the beast chief of a medium-sized herd. Yet Zhao Ping had searched all the way without even finding traces of other Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts? "Zhao Ping," Lin Yi said, temporarily setting aside his doubts, "you mean that after flying for a while, the demon trail turned due north?" Zhao Ping nodded: "Correct." Lin Yi turned his head and gazed toward the northern horizon. Due north… Guihua Sect lay on the border of Qingzhou, also theoretically the northwest edge of Qingzhou reachable by humans. Further west there was still a plain, but the soil within carried deadly poison; even cultivators and demon beasts of profound realms could not survive there. Over time, it formed a vast uninhabited zone. Beyond the uninhabited zone lay the Baiduan Mountains separating Qingzhou and Qiongzhou. The north was similar. Flying north from Guihua Sect for about three days, at the end one reached a super source river famed throughout the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty—the Fengtian River. The Fengtian River was rumored to be far older than the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty, one of the earliest ancient rivers born in the entire Tianling Realm. At its widest, the river exceeded a thousand li across. It cut through mountains and split valleys from west to east, penetrating more than half the dynasty's territory. The river held countless demon beasts, and it was even rumored that world-shaking great demons in human form existed within it. Could it be… that the two Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts came from the Fengtian River? But that wasn't right either. After all, to prevent demon beasts from the river from going ashore to cause trouble, the dynasty had set up many warning restrictions along its course and regularly sent people to patrol. Low-rank demon beasts could not get through, and high-rank demon beasts that broke the restrictions would be discovered. Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts obviously could not be an exception. So could it really just be a coincidence? Thinking this over, Lin Yi touched the demon core in his palm, pondered briefly, and instructed: "Zhao Ping, Su Qing, today's matters are for the two of you to know only; do not tell anyone else in the sect." "After Disciple settles in, I will send a few people out to inquire and see if any clues can be found." "As for this demon core… Master will keep it for now." Zhao Ping and Su Qing glanced at each other and bowed in unison: "Disciple remembers." They were not fools. Two Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts appearing so abruptly—and one even producing a demon core—were not so horrifying upon reflection, but it was indeed hard to reconcile with the known traits of Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts. So being cautious was not a bad thing. "By the way, Master," Zhao Ping said after bowing, then thought of something. He took a small bag from his person and respectfully handed it to Lin Yi. "Now that the sect's Great Calamity is resolved, please take back the Storage Pouch." A Storage Pouch? Looking at the small bag before him, Lin Yi pondered for a moment and then accepted it: "That's fine too." It was not that he was greedy for money or distrustful of Zhao Ping. If he really were that sort of person, he would have already folded, cashed out, and quietly vanished half a day ago. He took back the Storage Pouch mainly because of the upcoming two-world exchange. In the future, the volume of materials exchanged with the home world would inevitably be considerable; without a Storage Pouch for transport, both efficiency and safety would drop sharply. Afterward, Lin Yi stored the various materials in the Storage Pouch and then brought Zhao Ping and Su Qing back into the formation. ...... Twenty-four hours passed in a flash. Time soon arrived at… the day of the second cross-world communication.