157: Chapter 157 The Elf Alchemist is Not Convinced? Blood Rose Teaches Him a Lesson

The three NPCs swallowed hard at the same time.

The Elf Pharmacist's reserve lasted for about three seconds.

Then she reached out her hand: "Where's the pen?"

The Bearded Mechanic hesitated for two seconds, looking at the five advanced cores on the ground, then at the ditch behind him.

"...I'll sign."

The Rune Blacksmith had already finished pressing his fingerprint; he was squatting on the ground studying the five cores, his drool nearly dripping down.

Yi Chang put away the contracts and turned to face Chen Chen.

There was a faint trace of pride in her vertical pupils.

"Three high-level technical NPCs, permanent buyout. The recruitment efficiency bonus under the Vice City Lord's authority has taken effect; their loyalty is locked above ninety."

Chen Chen glanced at her.

Her figure, wrapped in an OL uniform, was sharply outlined against the backlight.

The swift and decisive methods she had just shown, paired with her cold and glamorous alien face and those long legs that had just transformed—

"Good job."

Yi Chang clenched her skirt, the pride in her vertical pupils turning into a more complex emotion.

"...I owe you even more now."

Chen Chen turned toward the three to four hundred wandering survivors who were still lying on the ground.

"Everyone, get up."

No one moved.

"Those who want to live, follow me. The Floating City is recruiting; there's food, housing, and shields."

There were two seconds of silence.

Then the crowd exploded.

"I'll go! I'll go!"

"Take me with you! I can do anything!"

"Big brother! Father! Ancestor!"

Shen Wanbing's voice came through the communicator: "The population is about to break one thousand. The comprehensive faction value ranking—"

She paused for a moment.

"First, and leading the second place by a massive margin."

...

The three NPCs finished signing the agreement.

He turned to look at the Wasteland Inn—that sixty-meter-long giant mechanical turtle.

Hidden within the three-story building on the turtle's shell was the core resource warehouse that these technical NPCs relied on for their livelihood.

"Pack the warehouse too."

Copper Hammer, the Bearded Mechanic, was stunned. "Boss, there's three years' worth of my stock in there—"

"Five advanced cores a month to buy your service, and five more to buy your stock."

Chen Chen pulled out five more Dark Gold Cores from the storage ring and placed them on the ground.

"Is it enough?"

Copper Hammer's Adam's apple bobbed three times.

Ten advanced vehicle cores of superior quality.

The energy density of this batch was enough for him to upgrade from a B-grade Forging Table all the way to the B-grade peak, and even touch the threshold of A-grade.

"Enough, enough, enough!" The Rune Blacksmith was the first to jump up. "I'll help you move them!"

Eve, the Elf Pharmacist, stood nearby, her emerald-green long hair fluttering in the wind.

Her gaze shifted from the cores to Chen Chen, lingering for two seconds.

"My Potion Recipe Library is in there too."

Her voice carried the ethereal quality unique to elves, the end of her words rising slightly. "Shall I organize it for you personally?"

Yi Chang stepped forward in her high heels, her vertical pupils sweeping a glance at Eve.

"No need, I'll count them."

Fifteen minutes later, the core resource warehouse of the Wasteland Inn was emptied.

Three thousand bottles of various grades of potions, two tons of rare forging materials, and a complete set of Rune Engraving Molds were all stuffed into the storage ring.

In addition to these three contracted NPCs, Yi Chang had unearthed two more from the inn—a B-grade Building Maintenance Engineer and a B-grade Energy Pipeline Technician.

Five high-level technical NPCs, all caught in one go.

Chen Chen glanced at the three to four hundred wandering survivors on the rocky platform.

"Shen Wanbing, register them."

"Already on it," Shen Wanbing's voice came through the communicator, crisp and efficient.

"Three hundred and seventy-two people, including forty-one with vehicles and nineteen talent holders. All have been incorporated into the Third-Tier Logistics Sequence, to be managed by Yi Chang."

"Let's go."

The Ghost Fortress's engines roared, turning back with the newly incorporated convoy.

...

On the way back.

Five more NPCs were in the first carriage.

Copper Hammer and the Rune Blacksmith were settled in a corner to study those advanced cores; the two of them had their heads together, whispering excitedly as if it were the New Year.

Eve, the Elf Pharmacist, didn't go to the corner.

She sat on the sofa closest to Chen Chen, her legs crossed.

The vine-woven long dress already didn't cover much, and this sitting posture allowed a large expanse of jade-white skin to spill out from the gaps in the skirt.

An elf's body proportions were different from a human's—her waist was excessively thin, and the vine-woven fabric over her chest was stretched into exaggerated curves.

"Lord."

Eve leaned over, her emerald-green long hair sliding off her shoulder to reveal the sensitive skin at the base of her pointed ear. "In my S-grade potion recipes, there is a... secret medicine specifically for strengthening the male physique."

Her fingertips were entwined with pale green energy threads, and she intentionally or unintentionally traced them over her collarbone.

"Need me to concoct it for you personally?"

Jiang Yanxue's knife-wiping motion stopped. Her dark red pupils lifted, staring at Eve.

Su Xiaoqi, with half a pterodactyl leg stuffed in her mouth, mumbled indistinctly, "This green-haired sister is so pale."

Yi Chang sat on the other sofa, her vertical pupils narrowing slightly.

She was just about to speak when a rich fragrance spread out before she could.

Blood Rose.

The woman with wine-red curly hair leaned back in the booth, her lips curling slightly.

SS-grade Succubus Poison Body.

A pink mist seeped silently from between Blood Rose's lips and teeth, spreading through the carriage.

This aphrodisiac fragrance had a limited effect on human females, but for an elf—

Eve's face instantly flushed red.

Elves are extremely sensitive to natural energy, and the aphrodisiac fragrance of the Succubus Poison Body happened to be a mutated natural type.

The effect was doubled.

Eve's legs snapped together, her knees knocking with a soft sound.

Her hands braced against the sofa, her emerald-green long hair falling to cover half her face.

"You..."

Blood Rose finally lifted her eyelids, her dark brown pupils glowing with a seductive red light.

"Little girl, trying to use Charm Arts on this vehicle?"

She stood up, her 182-centimeter height looming over her.

The high-slit leather skirt parted with her movements, exposing a large expanse of snow-white long legs.

"This big sister is SS-grade."

Blood Rose leaned down, a finger hooking Eve's chin. "Your little bit of Elven Charm is like a mere tickle to me."

Eve's body was trembling.

The tips of her ears were a blood-red, and her breathing was so rapid that the vine-woven fabric over her chest was heaving violently.

"I... I didn't..."

"No?"

Blood Rose's finger slid from Eve's chin to the tip of her ear, giving it a gentle pinch.

Eve went completely limp, sliding off the sofa and falling onto the metal floor.

The vine skirt spread out, revealing a large expanse of jade-white thighs.

Remember the rules.

Blood Rose withdrew her hand and licked her fingertip. "The men on this vehicle are not for you to touch."

Jiang Yanxue gave a cold snort and continued cleaning her blade.

Su Xiaoqi tilted her head for two seconds, chewing her meat as she commented, "The green-haired sister is so weak."

And Yi Chang, who was sitting on the other side—

Her condition was not much better than Eve's.

Blood Rose's aphrodisiac fragrance was equally lethal to a newly transformed Snake Scale Tribe member.

Cold-blooded animals have a very low perception threshold for external stimuli, and Yi Chang's fresh skin was ten times more sensitive than a human's.

Her legs involuntarily pressed together.

The tight hip-hugging skirt was stretched into an astonishing curve, the fabric clinging to the inside of her thighs.

Her breathing became shallow and rapid, and her ice-blue vertical pupils were clouded with a layer of mist.

She bit her lower lip, her nails digging into the leather surface of the sofa.

Chen Chen turned his head from the command console.

He walked over.

Yi Chang lifted her watery vertical pupils and saw Chen Chen leaning down.

The spinal reflex of a cold-blooded animal once again took over her rationality.

Chen Chen's right hand descended.

His scalding finger pads pressed against the outside of her thigh through the thin fabric of her narrow skirt.

There was a faint, silver invisible scale pattern.

His finger pads traced the path of the scale pattern, slowly stroking upward.

Yi Chang leaned forward, her forehead almost bumping into Chen Chen's chest.

A forked tongue flicked out from between her lips and retracted again, repeating three times.

"Chen..."

Her voice broke into a breathy whisper.

Chen Chen's hand stopped at the edge of the skirt, going no further.

"Endure it for a bit," his voice was very low, audible only to Yi Chang. "When we get back, we need to do a re-check of the Fusion Pod data."

Yi Chang's vertical pupils trembled.

She wasn't sure what he meant by "re-check," but her body had already reacted ahead of her brain—curling up in the sofa.