139: Chapter 139 Inviting the Pig-Faced Butcher to Live Here!

The armored door of the Ghost Fortress opened from the connecting passage.

Chen Chen walked into the first floor of the fortress, his combat boots clicking on the floor.

The proprietress turned around.

She sized Chen Chen up for a couple of seconds.

It had only been three days since their last meeting, but the sense of oppression emanating from the man before her was now entirely different—

His bio-electric field crushed down on her at close range, causing her instincts as an outlander to trigger a "danger" alarm.

He was also taller.

Or rather, more filled out.

His tactical long sleeves were stretched tight by his forearm muscles, and the lines of his torso beneath the fabric were incredibly hard.

"Welcome aboard."

Chen Chen lifted his chin, pointing toward the entire southern side of the first-floor plaza area.

"This whole area belongs to you. Shops, storage, trading counters—you decide the layout, and you pick where to place the crystal ball."

The proprietress set the crystal ball on the ground and patted the dust off her hands.

"You're really willing to invest. Are you serious about the exclusivity agreement?"

"Dead serious. The daily needs of two hundred people will pass through your hands. You handle the pricing, and I'll handle the supply."

The proprietress's fox tail flicked twice.

"Can you keep up with the supply?"

Chen Chen pulled a whole Icefield Mammoth Tenderloin from his storage ring—it was half as long as a person and frozen with a layer of frost, but the meat's texture was clearly visible, and its energy density was so high that it emitted a faint golden glow.

The proprietress's pupils suddenly contracted into vertical slits.

"This—"

"I have thirty more in stock."

The proprietress's mouth hung open.

Her fox ears twitched twice.

"...Deal."

Footsteps came from outside the armored door.

Jiang Yanxue walked in from the connecting passage.

She had changed into a new set of black combat fatigues, her high ponytail was tied neatly, and her dark red pupils swept over the proprietress's furry fox ears and the fluffy, swaying red fox tail—her hand moved to the hilt of the blade at her waist.

"Another one?"

Her tone was unfriendly.

Su Xiaoqi peeked half her head out from behind Jiang Yanxue, her twin tails swaying: "Fox-eared sister!"

She dashed out, heading straight for the proprietress's back, and grabbed the fluffy fox tail.

"The tail is so soft—"

The proprietress's fox ears stood on end.

"Let—let go!"

The first-floor plaza was instantly thrown into chaos.

...

After settling the proprietress in, Chen Chen returned to the Pilot Tower.

He didn't rush to close the communication panel; instead, he brought up a list of special frequency bands for the Red Fox Tribe communication chips.

"Can this chip contact all known NPCs on the first map?"

The proprietress's voice drifted up from the first floor, sounding exhausted after Su Xiaoqi had been kneading her tail for ten minutes:

"In theory, yes, as long as the other party is still alive and carrying an energy source that can be recognized by the Red Fox Tribe's frequency. The Pig-Faced Butcher in Gluttony Town is one—the Pig Bone Mask he wears is an energy medium itself."

Chen Chen scrolled through the frequency list for three seconds.

He locked onto a signal with strong, bloody energy characteristics.

He dialed.

The signal was intermittent—the devouring nature of the black mist made communication on the first map extremely unstable.

It connected after five seconds.

The holographic image was a scene of chaos.

The Pig-Faced Butcher was standing on the ruins of a collapsed skeletal building, swinging a massive bone-cleaver with his fan-like hands, sending a Tier 3 Aberration that had lunged out of the black mist flying.

The ghostly green fire on the Pig Bone Mask flickered violently.

Behind him, seven or eight high-level Aberrations were surrounding and attacking him.

"Butcher."

A voice like sandpaper rubbing together came from behind the mask: "Who... are... you..."

"Gluttony Town. The one you had kill the Mutant Fungus Mother."

The Butcher's bone-cleaver paused for half a beat.

The ghostly green fire in his eye sockets flickered twice.

"You're... still alive..."

"More than just alive."

Chen Chen switched the camera to an external view.

The full view of the Sky Fortress appeared on the screen—a floating fortress five hundred meters in the air, the halo of a fleet of forty-four vehicles, and the forty-five-ton steel behemoth that was the Ghost Fortress.

The Butcher almost dropped his bone-cleaver.

Chen Chen pulled a dark red Tier 3 Aberration core from his storage ring and held it up to the camera.

"The second map. Plenty of high-level flesh to go around, and I have thirty Tier 3 cores in my warehouse. Are you coming?"

The Butcher fell silent for two seconds.

An Aberration lunged from behind him, but he split it in half with a backhand swing of his axe without even turning around.

"Enough... to eat?"

"As much as you want. That little girl who punched the pig's head—"

The screen switched briefly to Su Xiaoqi rolling around on the first floor while hugging the fox tail.

"—she can eat ten mammoth tenderloins in one meal now."

The Butcher's ghostly fire flared.

"I'm coming!"

...

The Cross-realm Induction Anchor was activated once again.

Thirty mid-tier cores were consumed.

An orange teleportation beam pierced through the fortress dome.

After the light faded, a burly giant over two and a half meters tall slammed onto the metal floor, making the entire first-floor plaza tremble.

The Pig-Faced Butcher.

The ghostly green fire on his mutated Pig Bone Mask flickered warily in the unfamiliar environment.

The apron he wore, stitched together from various mutated leathers, was covered in fresh bloodstains, and the boning knife, bone-cleaver, and skinning hook at his waist clattered together.

He looked around.

Constant-temperature airflow, clean metal floors, and the view from five hundred meters in the air through the distant portholes.

"Here... it really is flying."

There was a rare hint of amazement in his sandpaper-like voice.

Chen Chen walked over from the connecting passage, followed by Su Xiaoqi—the little girl still had half a mammoth tenderloin in her mouth.

As soon as the Butcher saw Su Xiaoqi, the ghostly fire in his two black eye sockets surged.

He squatted down and gestured with his fan-like hands around Su Xiaoqi.

"You've... grown..."

Su Xiaoqi nodded vigorously while chewing on the meat: "I'm super strong now!"

The Butcher's ghostly fire flickered twice more.

He turned to look at Chen Chen.

"Her... muscle density... is three times... what it was last time... How did you raise her..."

"Fed her until she was full."

The Butcher was silent for three seconds.

"...You're a lunatic."

A pause.

"I like it."

Chen Chen settled the Butcher in the northern district of the first floor—right next to the proprietress's shop area, separated by a partition wall.

His role: Chief Body Modification Specialist and High-level Ingredient Processing Expert.

All the Aberration remains, high-level cores, and special flesh brought back from the battlefield would be dismantled and refined by the Butcher, then priced and distributed by the proprietress.

The proprietress stood behind the bar she had just set up, watching the two-and-a-half-meter giant move in next door, her fox tail pressed tight against her legs.

"Aren't you afraid he'll scare my customers away?"

"He's not scary."

The Butcher was hanging his bone-cleaver on the wall.

Three rows of slaughtering tools, gleaming with a cold, grim light, were lined up on the metal wall.

The proprietress's fox ears drooped.

"...Fine."