262: Chapter 262 Team Expansion, Increased Responsibility!

Laughter and chatter echoed on the second floor for quite a while before gradually subsiding.

Lin Xiao sat down in the middle of the sofa and took the half-cup of coconut juice handed over by Jiang Wanwan, taking a gulp. The cool liquid slid down his throat, suppressing some of the fatigue he had felt just moments ago.

He set the cup on the coffee table, the ceramic bottom making a crisp clinking sound against the surface.

“Let’s talk business,” he began, his tone half a degree lower than during the casual chat.

Four pairs of eyes looked over simultaneously.

Wen Yiran was using a wet towel to wipe the scribbles off her face; hearing this, her movements stopped.

“You all worked hard today, but from now on, we might become increasingly busy.”

Lin Xiao leaned against the back of the sofa and stretched his neck. “Currently, the Astral Express is carrying over 1,700 passengers. Managing them is indeed quite a lot of pressure.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Yiran grabbed Jiang Wanwan’s arm and leaned half her body against her shoulder. “Wanwan and I have no experience in this area.”

She blinked and pointed to Xiao Tian and Jing Hua nearby.

“Look, Xiao Tian is a top-tier star; she often attends press conferences, launch events, and the like. She won’t show any stage fright even in front of tens of thousands of people.”

“Sister Jing Hua was originally the commander of the Merfolk Tribe remnants, already managing over a thousand people. Only Wanwan and I...”

Before she could finish, Jiang Wanwan chuckled and patted her hand away. “To correct you, I was the Student Union President, so I have a certain amount of management experience too~”

“She even served two consecutive terms,” Lin Xiao added timely.

“How does everyone have such a background?” Wen Yiran instantly deflated.

She let go of Jiang Wanwan’s arm and leaned back, sinking into the sofa cushions with a very low groan.

Before boarding this doomsday train, she worked for a cross-border e-commerce company.

The company size was only about a hundred people.

And she wasn't even a supervisor; she was just an ordinary clerk.

“Take it slow, you’ll get used to it,” Jiang Wanwan said with a smile, reaching out to tuck a damp strand of hair behind Wen Yiran’s ear.

Lin Xiao didn’t linger on this topic for long.

He turned to Jing Hua, his gaze becoming a bit more serious: “So, about what we discussed before, have you considered it?”

Jing Hua was slightly startled.

The pale purple scales on the back of her neck fluttered slightly.

She opened her mouth, about to ask, but Lin Xiao spoke for her: “It’s about joining the team.”

The living area fell silent. The three women, including Jiang Wanwan, looked at Jing Hua with gazes of either curiosity or expectation.

As for Jing Hua, she was not someone without her own opinions.

From leading the Merfolk Tribe remnants against the Black Tide and Cang Ming’s forces for a hundred years to publicly disarming, her decision-making speed had never been sluggish.

But at this moment, she indeed hesitated.

Agreeing to join the team meant moving into this territory and living under the same roof as humans.

Once her clansmen found out about this...

No, they would definitely find out!

How would those female Merfolk Tribe, who had just transferred from the remnant base to the Astral Express, look at her?

What would they think?

The daughter of the High Priest, the commander of the remnants, after a hundred years of persistence, choosing to hand herself over to a human male?

Would this... be inappropriate?

Lin Xiao looked at her expression and, after some consideration, spoke:

“You are the commander of the Merfolk Tribe remnants. Only by staying by my side can we better coordinate cooperation between the two sides and help your clansmen integrate into life on the Astral Express faster.”

“If you are worried about the gazes of others...”

He paused, and his aura suddenly shifted.

At the same time, he reached out, his index finger slightly raised, gently tapping Jing Hua’s chin to make her look up at him.

“Jing Hua, you are mine now. Who would dare say a single word against it?”

You are mine now...

When Lin Xiao said this, his tone carried a hint of coldness.

Perhaps to others, it sounded the same as usual—plain and indifferent.

But at this moment, it made Jing Hua’s mind go blank.

The whole world seemed to consist only of Lin Xiao’s focused gaze.

Immediately after, her cheeks flushed hot.

Her pale purple pupils dilated slightly, and she even forgot the rhythm of her breathing; only her slightly trembling fingertips betrayed the turmoil in her heart.

After a long while, she responded softly:

“...Yes, Jing Hua will obey the Master!”

As her words fell, a notification popped up in the bottom right corner of Lin Xiao’s vision:

[Merfolk Tribe - Jing Hua, has joined the team]

[Population: 5/10]

Lin Xiao glanced at that number.

The team population had reached five.

After two territory upgrades, the population cap had increased by four, so there was still a distance to go before it was full.

This was quite a massive undertaking!

Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze, his tone returning to normal: “There is a space prepared for you on the fourth floor. Once you’ve settled in, you can start mass-producing potions.”

The stardust conversion device in the workshop could produce seven points of source essence every day.

Three points of source essence are refined into one dose of fantasy potion.

By tomorrow, he would have roughly three finished products, which he would then use Triple Moonlight on for the final fusion and upgrade.

The third stage was imminent.

The appearance of the Silver-White Train added a layer of unpredictable risk to the future.

He didn’t know whether what awaited this train car when the next stage opened would be a normal round of calamity or an even more insane PVP mode.

But regardless of which one it was, he had to synthesize the quest for knowledge potion in the shortest time possible to push his mental power limit higher.

That way, even if he encountered an unexpected danger, he could activate the rune skill [Wave Breaker].

According to the skill description, after using it, he could control the Astral Express to perform a charge.

The train’s speed would gradually increase to 300%, with continuous Super Armor during the duration.

Of course, it required 240 points of mental power per minute.

The threshold was extremely high.

Without mental power, everything was empty talk!

The night grew deeper.

The lights on the second floor of the territory were dimmed by half. The entropy element lantern emitted a constant warmth in the corner, and outside the window was the long-absent blue moonlight.

The bathroom door opened time and time again.

First was Jiang Wanwan, walking out wrapped in a bath towel, her wet black hair clinging to her fair neck and shoulders.

Then Wen Yiran squeezed out from behind her, her face finally clean, though she was still muttering softly because of what happened earlier.

Tian Xiwei and Jing Hua walked out arm in arm.

Jing Hua was very fond of human bathing products; as she walked to the bed, she kept lowering her head to smell the lingering floral fragrance on her arms.

By the time Lin Xiao came out wrapped in a towel, the four women had been waiting on the bed for a long time, ready for their pre-sleep tactical exercise.

This night, the territory gained a few more traces of vitality than in the past.

The girls from different worlds each had their own charm.

By the latter half of the night, the beds and sofas on the second floor had been pushed askew.

Bedding and sofa cushions were scattered on the floor, overlapping with several different styles of underwear.

There were lace ones, satin ones, and pure cotton ones printed with fruit patterns.

The ceiling light cast an ambiguous warm hue, and the puddles of water on the floor shimmered with fragmented light, vaguely reflecting the enticing curves of the women.