Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 144: Waiting in Line

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Those hunters of the older generation essentially wouldn't benefit from Zhang Lie's breakthrough.
Of course, even so, this information was spreading and being disseminated at a frightening pace, because it could benefit a whole new generation of hunters and improve humanity as a whole.

Simultaneously, the Blacksteel settlement began filling with people.
Everyone who was able to teleport to the Blacksteel settlement did so, all having received their news from one source or another, and rushed toward the white-grub cave.
However, by then, the white-grub cave was devoid of any lifeform.

“And with that announcement, I declare the opening ceremony truly over! The dojo will be hosting a luncheon momentarily, and everyone here is welcome to join in.”

Guests began to depart from the Zenith Dojo, Wang Han, Qin Zongming, and the other enemies of Zhang Lie gnashing their teeth as they did so.
Whenever they thought about how much they had suffered at Zhang Lie's hands, all they wanted to do was to run up to Zhang Lie and kill him, but they knew that this was impossible now.
They didn't have the ability to do so, and the price that they would have to pay would bankrupt them and more.

Ignoring Zhang Lie's title of dragonsoul warrior, just the fact that Commander-in-Chief Su Feng had employed him as an instructor for the Blackwind Fort meant that he was nigh-untouchable.

“Let's go! At this point, there's nothing we can do,” Wang Han sighed, leaving the Zenith Dojo without looking back.

Qin Zongming, having regained his rationality, came to the same conclusion.
If he really did want to strike, the next opportunity would be at the Void Cup.

“I won't be staying for the luncheon,” Su Feng told Zhang Lie.
“Once you're done with affairs here at your dojo, report to the Blackwind Fort immediately.”

Su Feng patted Zhang Lie on the shoulder once more, causing Zhang Lie to nod and bow respectfully.

The airship took to the air, and Su Feng left the Zenith Dojo.
With his departure, the other guests collectively heaved a sigh of relief, then began to discuss what they had seen and heard with each other.

Zhang Lie's strength and announcement of these limit fragments were the best advertisement he could get for his new dojo.
Many of the richer citizens of Ning pushed to have their children enrolled in the Zenith Dojo, but the seemingly straightforward enrollment conditions were far more complicated than they appeared.
The clause on loyalty alone was sufficient to deter many a hunter from trying to enter the dojo.

Glancing at the crowd all around him, Zhang Lie suddenly smiled. My dojo's finally open.

A traveler walked into one of the less populous areas in Ning, glanced around, and entered a rather nondescript hotel.
The hotel's facilities were rather old and outdated.
The traveler sighed, ignored the front desk, and headed upstairs.
He walked to Room 309, but before he could enter, he heard a noise from within, as well as a potent fluctuation of genetic energy.

“Who is it?”

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“It's me,” Qin Zongming, the traveler, replied.

The person in the room calmed down.
He opened the door, revealing a pale, sallow face.

Qin Zongming sighed again as he walked inside.
The windows of the room were set to night mode, and there was barely any lighting within.
Through weak rays of light coming from the open door, he could see the shabby furniture within.

“Dad, has Zhang Lie…” Qin Xiao asked, licking his parched lips, as Qin Zongming sat down on a weathered sofa.

“We failed.
We all failed.
Zhang Lie's got a powerful backer now, and even with a few major clans working together, we couldn't do anything about him!” Qin Zongming spat out.

“What? How could that be? He's a piece of trash from the slums.
How could he handle the combined might of a few large clans?”

Qin Xiao's face was filled with disbelief.

“We understand far too little about him,” Qin Zongming began.
He told Qin Xiao what had happened that day during the Zenith Dojo's opening ceremony.
By the time Qin Zongming recounted how Commander-in-Chief Su Feng had paid Zhang Lie a personal visit and employed him as an instructor of the Blackwind Fort, Qin Xiao's face was stark white.

With the Blackwind Fort as Zhang Lie's backer, who would be able to do anything about him? And what of his own revenge?

“Xiao'er, don't you worry.
We're not the only enemy that Zhang Lie's made.
Furthermore, it's not impossible that you'll have a chance to strike during the Void Cup.
He announced an important piece of information during his opening ceremony, one that's sure to augment the abilities of you hunters from the younger generation.
Furthermore, I've had someone record the entirety of Zhang Lie's match.
Train hard, and I'm sure that, with your talent, you'll be able to defeat this brat one day!”

Qin Zongming placed a microchip in his son's palm.

“Just what information did he announce?” Qin Xiao asked, curling his fingers around the microchip.

When Qin Zongming explained the foundational breakthrough to him, Qin Xiao's face turned bleak.
He didn't satisfy a single one of the conditions!

“Dad, are you suggesting that I should purge my framework and start from scratch?” His eyes were crazed and wild.

“Indeed.
As long as you do so, you'll have access to these additional limit fragments, and they'll be the key to your victory over Zhang Lie!” Qin Zongming emphasized.

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Qin Xiao hesitated.
Giving up all that he had worked so hard for the last few years required no little amount of courage; after all, even if Zhang Lie's procedure were to work, he had emphasized that success wasn't guaranteed.

“The Void Cup's about to begin, so if I purge my framework at this point…”

“Don't hesitate! You'll certainly be able to handle the city-level stage even if you purge your framework now!”

Qin Xiao was somewhat hesitant to do so at this critical juncture, because he didn't think he would be ready for the Void Cup by then, but Qin Zongming broke him off.

“Xiao'er, you're my future.
I won't harm you, and I'll do everything I can to get you the resources you need for the breakthrough.”

“Very well, Father.” Qin Xiao sat down cross-legged, the fluctuations in his genetic energy growing wild as he began the process of purging his framework.

After exchanging a few more words, Qin Zongming left the hotel as silently as he came.

By the outskirts of the Blacksteel settlement, the once-desolate white-grub cave was now crowded with throngs of hunters.
Of course, this had only happened after Zhang Lie released crucial information about the foundational breakthrough.

“Just what's going on? Weren't there countless white grubs here just a few months ago? Why aren't there any more left?”

“A clan must have monopolized them all, I'm sure of it!”

“No, no—look at all the dust around here! I think there haven't been any white grubs for quite a while.”

“Could someone have cleaned out the cave long ago?”

“Ah, don't you all remember Zhang Lie's old nickname?”

As the gathered hunters kicked up a fuss, someone brought up a fact that the hunters had temporarily forgotten.
During Zhang Lie's early days as a hunter, he had been known as the king of the dumps because he had stayed at the white-grub cave for three whole months after his induction as a hunter.

Three whole months in the real world—in other words, two and a half years in the dimensional world!

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Many hunters, including some of the ones gathered here, had joked that he was a fool, but now, it seemed as though they were the real fools.

The white grubs that Zhang Lie had spent so long hunting represented the lowest class of lifeforms in the dimensional world.
What good could their cores be used for? Thinking back to the sight of Zhang Lie lugging bag after bag of white-grub cores to the Blacksteel settlement, the hunters felt as though someone had slapped them on the face.

“It looks as though we'll have to go to Zhang Lie to get any of these cores!”

“Quick, we'd better spread this information around.”

“Right, didn't the Yun and Chu clans sweep over the cave a while back? They might have some supply remaining as well!”

Quite a few hunters did know about Zhang Lie's actions in the white-grub cave, but none of them had expected that the white grubs would have been hunted to extinction.

News that white-grub cores were no longer available quickly spread through the settlement and beyond, and as the bottleneck for this critical foundational breakthrough, they became precious beyond measure, especially when news spread of a few rare geniuses who had consumed a few white-grub cores in the past and had then successfully undergone their breakthroughs.

The price of the cores quadrupled, tripled, then quadrupled again, sending the markets into a frenzy.
The market supply quickly ran out, leaving the hunters with no choice but to seek out Zhang Lie.
 

Qin Zongming quickly learned about the news.

“What? That damned bastard!” In anger, he slammed a fist down on a reinforced wooden table, causing the entire room to quake.
Before he announced the news of this foundational breakthrough, he had seized all the white-grub cores and hunted the white grubs to extinction!

“Is there nowhere else where these cores can be acquired?” Qin Zongming asked, sucking in a deep breath.
Unless he had no other choice, he didn't want to have to make a request of Zhang Lie.

“Head, I'm afraid the white grubs are endemic to the Blacksteel settlement, and no one knows anything about their so-called growth factors other than Zhang Lie himself!” one of his subordinates reported.

Qin Zongming's face turned dark.

“In that case, the only way we hunters will be able to get any white-grub cores at all will be to purchase them from the Zenith Dojo.”

“Under such conditions, this does seem to be the only route for procuring these ingredients, but given the relationship between our clan and Zhang Lie, I doubt it'll be easy for us to acquire them,” an elder commented.

“Silence! No matter how hard it is, the Qin clan must acquire some white-grub cores.
Send someone to the Zenith Dojo at once!”

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“Yes, Head!”

This was Qin Zongming's only option left.

By then, the entrance to the Zenith Dojo was clogged up with hovercars, and there were even more hunters present than at its opening ceremony.

Two long lines had already formed outside of the entrance of the dojo.

The representative from the Qin clan twitched.
The reason for these lines was obvious; everyone knew just who possessed a supply of these white-grub cores, and they had immediately rushed to his dojo that had just opened in an attempt to secure some.

“Those here to purchase white-grub cores, line up to the left! Those here for admission into the dojo, line up to the right!” a few of the dojo's employees shouted, directing the numerous guests into the two long lines.

After the opening ceremony, Zhang Lie had warned Zhang Hong about a series of more tedious affairs that she would have to handle; she had expected that it would involve administrative tasks for the dojo's new disciples, but the truth was far more surprising.
Zhang Lie had hidden this new 'business venture' from her, and now there was a sea of people both within and without the dojo!

Many came from Ning, but there were even a few from the capital and from Meng, quite a fair distance away.
There was no choice, after all.
The few lucky hunters who had managed a foundational breakthrough had exaggerated its effects, and suddenly all the major clans found themselves unable to sit still.

These limit fragments would represent a new beginning, a higher vantage point! How could these prideful clans bear having their scions worse off than those of other clans? As a result, acquiring a few white-grub cores became a matter of prime importance.
Successful breakthroughs would shore up a clan's strength, preserving its authority for years to come.

If not for such a tempting matter, neither the Qin nor Wang clans would have deigned to send a representative over.

Murmurs rose from the crowd: the Li clan's hovercar had just been spotted in the distance.
Clan Head Li's two sons had both been killed by Zhang Lie, and yet he was still sending a representative over to buy these white-grub cores…

Everyone in line was thinking two things: not to provoke Zhang Lie, or suffer the fate of the Wang, Li, and Qin clans; and to acquire some white-grub cores at all cost!

The Li representative joined the very end of the line on the left, even as a few other hunters in line murmured and pointed at him.
The Li representative scowled, but what could he do?

A large sign was hung up at the very front of the line: If you try to cut in line, or if you make a fuss, you'll be barred from making any purchases!

If the Li clan didn't want to be surpassed by other clans, then it had to acquire these cores for its younger generation, and the only means of doing so was through Zhang Lie.
Even if Li Mo bore Zhang Lie a blood feud, he had to send someone over and swallow his pride.
As the head of the Li clan, he had to put the clan's future first and foremost.