150: Chapter 149 Counterattack by Cheng Xiang

The women's watches Cao Xiao brought out were all originals obtained from the Angress Family's secret room. The value of luxury items like world-class watches, besides exquisite craftsmanship and luxurious materials, is reflected in the brand's reputation and rarity. If people had no demand for famous watches, their value would be less than a tenth of the selling price. Every top-tier watch is produced in limited numbers; if they appeared in large quantities, the price would be heavily discounted. Replicas produced with the same craftsmanship and materials wouldn't come close to the price of the originals because people recognize the fame, not the watch itself. Therefore, even if Cao Xiao could manufacture these top watches in large quantities, he wouldn't give them to his family to use. If someone saw through them, it would be embarrassing.

He didn't have much of a concept of these famous watches himself, but it was different for others; the price factor alone was enough to shock them on the spot. The lowest-priced among these watches was a Patek Philippe Ladies' Nautilus in rose gold, with a market price of around 2.4 million huaxia currency. The Vacheron Constantin Métiers d'Art piece he brought out was priced at 10 million huaxia currency. The Piaget Extraordinary Treasure was slightly higher than the Vacheron Constantin Métiers d'Art by several hundred thousand. The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle was nearly 7 million huaxia currency, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was 6 million, and the Chanel jewelry watch was over 5 million. The most expensive was a Vacheron Constantin Malte, priced at 21 million. Furthermore, there were eight watches priced over 10 million huaxia currency. This bag of twenty-three watches was worth a total of 320 million huaxia currency. From this figure alone, one could directly sense the meaning of extravagant luxury and immense wealth.

Even though girls like Zhou Xinmeng usually paid attention to these top luxury goods, when the things they usually fantasized about actually appeared before their eyes, they couldn't recognize many of them. After estimating the value of the few they could identify, they were left speechless for a long time. The jewelry from before was one thing—they knew it was very precious but didn't know the actual value, so it didn't have the same immediate visual impact. Now, they didn't even dare to touch them. To them, these super-luxury items worth millions, of which there might not be many in all of Huanghe City, were terrifying to even touch.

Seeing that no one was moving, Cao Xiao chuckled, picked up a watch, and handed it to Liu Chang, saying, "Xiao Chang, your cousin treats you the best. This Patek Philippe Nautilus in rose gold is worth over seven figures. Patek Philippe is the world's top watch brand, and I think it would look best on you."

"Really?" Liu Chang took the watch and asked somewhat suspiciously; she felt Cao Xiao's smile was a bit unnatural.

"Of course... ahem!" Seeing Liu Chang like this, Cao Xiao felt his face redden slightly, but he immediately changed the subject. He took the watches out from the coffee table one by one and handed them to everyone. "Dad, Mom, this is for you. Xiao Fan, this is yours... Shanshan... Xinmeng..."

Cao Xiao didn't favor one over the other. Instead, he distributed the four best watches to the four girls: Zhou Xinmeng, Wang Can, Hu Kexin, and Dai Hanqiu. The remaining four worth over ten million were given to Mi Fan, An Ni, He Yueshuang, and Li Lanshan. Conversely, Liu Chang, He Yueyou, and his mother Li Fengmei received the ones with the lowest value. Zhou Xinmeng and the others who knew the prices of these watches declined repeatedly, but Cao Xiao insisted on pressing them into their hands. Mi Fan also understood the value, but she had no reaction—no envy and no refusal. He Yueyou was slightly surprised by Cao Xiao's distribution but didn't speak or get angry. With her family background, if she were willing to wait a while, she could easily custom-order a unique top-tier watch, so she didn't care how much the watch in her hand was worth. Based on her understanding of Cao Xiao, she believed he must have his reasons for doing this.

It wasn't until evening that Liu Chang learned the truth. Having received a set of expensive jewelry and a watch worth millions today, her head was spinning, and she thought she had received the best and most expensive items. In the evening, she remembered to check online. After looking up and comparing the prices of everyone else's watches, she found that although her Patek Philippe Nautilus rose gold watch was worth over two million, it was the lowest-priced among all the watches Cao Xiao had brought out. She couldn't believe the result at the time and thought she had the model wrong. After interrogating Dai Hanqiu, who paid the most attention to luxury goods, and confirming it, she immediately exploded. She tormented Cao Xiao with crying and fussing until the early morning. Cao Xiao had to pay a significant enough price to calm her down, one of which was the supercar she had been dying for recently.

The next day, Cao Xiao woke up early and practiced his boxing for two hours, then ate a bowl of snake meat soup for breakfast. Since he started practicing boxing, his appetite had grown larger by the day, and he favored meat. During his time in South Africa, he had to eat several pounds of beef every day, and he got hungry quite quickly whenever he practiced. He knew this was his body absorbing energy to become stronger; practicing boxing consumed a lot of energy, so he naturally needed to ingest a lot of food. In just a few days, his combat strength had increased by two points, reaching thirteen. While this surprised and delighted him, it also worried him. He had grown sick of eating beef lately, and other meats and grains didn't provide as much energy as beef. Even if he ate until his stomach was round, he would be hungry again in a few hours.

He didn't want to become a glutton. Over the past two days, the way Liu Chang looked at him during meals was somewhat gloating, which made him a bit embarrassed and angry. However, he had made a big discovery during these two days. Ever since going to South Africa, he hadn't taken out ingredients from his space to eat, but for the past two days, everything he ate was from his space, and he hadn't eaten a bit of beef. He hadn't noticed anything unusual after the first meal, but after several meals, he realized he wasn't getting hungry as fast as before. Last night, out of curiosity, he tested the ingredients in his space and finally discovered that the meat from that unknown species of python actually contained five times more bio-energy than beef! Although the beef he usually ate wasn't the absolute top tier, it wasn't cheap, low-quality beef either. One should know that in the same category of food, being a few percentage points more nutritious can define a grade. In terms of bio-energy, the difference between the best and worst beef of the same mass wouldn't be too large, at most about double; a several-fold disparity was unlikely to exist. And the bio-energy contained in beef is considered quite high among meats, so among all edible meats, there shouldn't be any meat five times higher than beef!

After analyzing the specific composition of the python meat, he found it contained a peculiar protein component. After being digested and broken down by the human body, the efficiency of the released energy being absorbed by the body was astonishing. There was almost no energy loss during the decomposition process, and its chemical structure was different from any known protein. What surprised Cao Xiao most was that this protein actually contained several isotopes of light elements that couldn't exist in nature or laboratory environments! He wasn't a physics idiot; he naturally knew this protein in the python meat was extraordinary. Previously, he had only simply tested if it was edible and had given some samples to his teacher for testing, but there had been no news since then. He had always thought his teacher hadn't detected anything unusual, but now it seemed things weren't that simple. This protein structure was abnormal; with today's scientific detection technology, it wouldn't be hard to detect, and it would naturally attract the attention of the testers. Subsequent in-depth testing would naturally reveal the isotopes of several light elements. Yet half a month had passed without a single word, and his teacher hadn't asked him about the snake meat. Logically, such a discovery could cause a sensation in the academic world. He had only given his teacher a small sample; to study it, they would naturally need to obtain more samples from him for experiments. Yet he, the person involved, had received no news until now, which was very abnormal. He didn't believe the professionals at those large research institutes would be so careless as to ignore such an obviously novel substance, but since they had discovered it and made no move, he couldn't guess why.

While discovering the strange protein, he became even more curious about that strange python colony. Currently, eating python meat was a huge help to his boxing practice; not only did it provide a lot of energy, but the quality was also high. With high absorption efficiency, his progress in boxing would naturally be greater. But now, while it seemed there was still a lot of python meat in his space, as his appetite slowly increased, it wouldn't last him very long. Until there was a better food substitute, the python meat was crucial to him, so he needed more python meat for his reserves. However, in his anger at the time, he had already exterminated that python colony. There were some snake eggs in the space that could hatch that kind of python, but it would take at least several years for a small snake to grow into a large python, and he couldn't afford to wait! Cao Xiao planned to search Baiyun Mountain again in a few days to see if he could find a new python colony or any survivors, and also to investigate the reason for these pythons' abnormality.

After breakfast, Cao Xiao drove alone to Dizang Company.

"Hello, Mr. Cao!"

Although Cao Xiao didn't have much of a presence in the company and many new employees had been added during this time, he was the owner after all. The corporate culture materials that new employees had to read upon joining included his personal profile, so many employees could recognize him. Greetings were constant as soon as he entered the company.

"Oh! If it isn't Mr. Cao! What wind blew you here? You're a rare guest! Linger, come out quickly to receive the guest!"

Cao Xiao was about to walk toward the general manager's office when he unexpectedly ran into Cheng Xiang, who was walking over while talking with two employees. Facing this bold girl, Cao Xiao was a bit uncomfortable. As soon as Cheng Xiang's strange words came out, Cao Xiao's body stiffened mid-walk, and he almost stumbled into a nearby desk.

"Ahem! Hello, Supervisor Cheng!"

"Pfft! Hahaha! Mr. Cao, you need to take care of your health! Otherwise, our livelihood will be gone!" Seeing Cao Xiao's disheveled state, Cheng Xiang couldn't help but laugh out loud. She stepped forward quickly to support Cao Xiao with concern, but her words didn't sound right no matter how one heard them.

Cao Xiao now wished he could strangle Cheng Xiang on the spot. He thought to himself that this female monster had teased him in front of so many employees as soon as they met and was now even cursing him. This was a real embarrassment; with so many employees watching, his glorious and tall image as the boss was completely gone! What was lost had to be recovered. Since Cheng Xiang made him look like a fool, he wouldn't let her have it easy either! So he stood up straight and said to Cheng Xiang with a solemn face, "Is Supervisor Cheng very idle? It seems our company hasn't been doing well lately! In that case, let's cancel all bonuses and benefits for this month! I hope everyone can understand the company's difficulties!"

"Ah!"

As soon as Cao Xiao finished speaking, all the employees in the office area looked over together, and cries of surprise rose one after another. Many employees had come to Dizang Company for the generous benefits. Now, they hadn't even been working for a month and hadn't received their salaries yet, and the boss was going to cancel bonuses. This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue, an undeserved disaster! Consequently, the employees who had seen the scene just now turned their gazes toward the culprit, Cheng Xiang. The deep resentment in their eyes made Cheng Xiang shudder, and her gaze toward Cao Xiao was full of shock.

"Mr. Cao, I was wrong! The company's development momentum is very good right now, how could I not be busy! I have things to do, so I won't accompany you! Hehe!" Cheng Xiang wasn't afraid of Cao Xiao, not only because she was good friends with Hao Linger, but also because she had learned about Cao Xiao's personality from Hao Linger. She knew Cao Xiao wouldn't get angry over small jokes. But she didn't expect Cao Xiao to pull such a move, using his position to pressure her and making her the target of public criticism all at once. If the bonuses really weren't paid this month, these dozens of employees would hate her to death. So she had to quickly admit her mistake to salvage the situation, though she was still a bit indignant in her heart, thinking about how to get revenge next time.

"Haha!"

Looking at Cheng Xiang's retreating back as she fled in panic, Cao Xiao laughed triumphantly. He thought to himself that a little slip of a girl couldn't possibly be his match. At this moment, his mood was absolutely wonderful!

After he finished laughing, Cao Xiao turned around and saw the employees in the office area still staring at him. He suddenly felt uncomfortable all over. He scanned the room and opened fire on the employees.

"What are you looking at? Is all your work finished? Do you still want your bonuses?"

"That older brother with the black-rimmed glasses, you've already played Honor of Kings to Eternal Diamond III, and you're working so hard during office hours. Do you want me to give you a raise?"

"That little sister putting on makeup, I suggest you stop. You look fine as you are! Just put some cucumber slices on those dark circles!"

"That fat guy, what are you smiling at me for? Since you smile so nicely, do you want to change jobs and be a front desk customer service representative?"

"The one eating snacks—yes, you! Are the Little Bear Biscuits tasty? Do you want some spicy strips and a beer to go with them?"

After Cao Xiao's machine-gun-like verbal barrage, the office area was in a state of chaos. Employees scrambled to handle their non-work-related items and sat up straight, starting to work with trepidation.

Seeing the effect his words had, Cao Xiao turned around with satisfaction and pushed open the door to the general manager's office.

Only after Cao Xiao entered the office did the employees in the office area relax and begin whispering toward the direction of the general manager's office. Especially the few who had been singled out; the resentment in their eyes was so thick it could almost penetrate the wooden door of the office.

"I'm only twenty-four this year! Just because I haven't shaved for a few days, he actually called me 'older brother'!" the young man playing games complained aggrievedly.

"You're fine, he actually called me 'little sister.' I'm thirty-six this year! What kind of eyes does he have! I just finished touching up my makeup, and he actually said I was bare-faced. Hasn't he seen smoky-eye makeup before! And telling me to use cucumber slices—I'll stick them all over his face!" the woman who was applying makeup said fiercely.

"My build isn't that fat! It's just that my eyes are a bit small! I wasn't even smiling just now, okay!" the fat guy said aggrievedly.

"Your face really does have a sense of comedy; you could consider a part-time job as a front desk customer service representative, you wouldn't even have to waste any expressions. Our young boss has really bad taste. I finally managed to snatch these biscuits from my girlfriend; I usually don't get to eat them. Have any of you tried drinking beer while eating spicy strips?" the young man eating biscuits said with interest.

"The boss was cursing you to have diarrhea! You actually want to try it?"

"Pig~"