Chapter 251 - Silly and Bold
Chapter 251: Silly and Bold
When the LS Group officially opened its shop on the Shrimp B1 Island four days ago in accordance to Zhang Lisheng’s instructions, it had accumulated quite a reputation from the human gathering place for selling fresh raw meat from Earth.
Part of the rise of their reputation came from the foreign world’s habit of consuming big insects on a long-term basis on the island. Other than those people born with some peculiarities, most of the people would have an uninhibitedly strong appetite when they saw the fresh, plump, bright, red textured steaks covered in snowy fat veins. Even if they wouldn’t buy it, they would still take a glance at it a few times.
The other part of the reputation came from the fact that the meat products sold in the shop were of excellent quality and were very expensive. All the meat, regardless of whether it was pork, lamb, or beef, was priced at around 150 USD per pound.
The price sounded astounding. However, in the medieval-like human gathering place on the foreign world’s island, the price of the goods native to Earth was quite surprising. All these meats appearing in the shops the big companies integrated after the new year astounded the people inside the gathering. After all, it subjected them to the constraints of the cost it needed to transport these goods. It’s not cheap to have a warship escort only for Shrimp B1 Island.
In fact, despite the high price of these consumer goods, which were sold as ‘luxury goods’, the companies were actually selling them at a deficit. So far, the development of large companies and groups on the island’s market was only carried out with the concept of ‘preemption’.
It was precisely because of the lack of consumer goods native to Earth on the island that made Zhang Lisheng’s alluring promises to be even more tempting. This allowed the soldiers on the island to transport his ‘experimental materials’ to the LS meat warehouse with tremendous speed.
Actually, the so-called ‘meat warehouse’ was just an empty standalone concrete house that had cold storage installed. The warehouse itself had a hundred square meters of space within.
If it was in New York, this ‘meat warehouse’ would be regarded as simple, but when it appeared on the Shrimp B1 Island, it felt like a miracle instead.
In fact, this was the miracle of money. Just the transportation cost of the cold storage alone cost over one million dollars. Its cost was unimaginable.
“This is a good place to store supplies. It has a low temperature; not to mention, it’s clean, and it makes transportation easy.” After the forklifts sent the experimental materials to the expensive and cold storage of the LS Group, Zhang Lisheng watched his staff members who were busy while taking some raw meat out of the cold storage. He then spoke to a smiling middle-aged bald man standing by his side. “Mr. Tony, let me use this cold storage from now on. Inform Charlie to send another cold storage for the shop. Since there is a lot of empty land in our gathering place, you can choose another place to build another warehouse.”
“Yes, Mr. Zhang,” When the bald middle-aged man heard his big boss’ willful command, he replied without hesitation. The reason he got this position wherein a man like him had some personal contact with Zhang Lisheng was that he was a slick animal who had adapted to the ecology inside the workplace.
“Also, find a chef to barbecue and fry the meat we have taken out. Go buy some beers and fine cigars as well to entertain the soldiers who have delivered the goods tonight. Oh yeah, all of you are welcome to join. According to the number of working days since we arrived on the island, it’s the weekend tomorrow. Everyone, you can relax and rest tomorrow morning.”
The employees of large companies working on the Shrimp B1 Island had all signed high-paying contracts, but they abandoned the general vacation time in exchange. The same went for Lisheng’s employees as well. Therefore, for this reason, it could be said that having a break for a half a day here was a godsend.
The middle-aged man immediately said with gratitude, “Understood, boss! You’re too compassionate! It’s my honor to work for LS!”
Zhang Lisheng smiled noncommittally and walked back to his bunker. He did not join the joyful barbecue party later at night, only walking out of the bunker in the next morning.
At this time, the sun had just scratched the dark and quiet sea while gradually rising to the sky. The cold night wind had not yet dispersed, although there were already many pedestrians getting busy across the streets of the gathering place. That did not include the LS Group employees who had drunk till they became incredibly intoxicated last night.
After finding his second-hand pickup truck in the parking lot that he had just bought on the island two days ago, Zhang Lisheng drove alone into the meat warehouse he had occupied. He opened the cold storage’s iron gate, and in an instant, the special small container with a height of less than two meters appeared in front of him.
Clenching his fists excitedly, Zhang Lisheng unscrewed the container with his fingers like steel pliers. When he saw the rows and rows of neatly arranged black metal boxes with the name of the drug labeled outside, a satisfactory smile crept upon his face.
After that, he moved the heavy boxes out of the container, one after another. After picking out a few boxes, he opened them. The contents were plain sailboat cloths and fishing nets compressed and stacked inside.
Looking at the “TUI fiber solid-state finished product” written on the box label, a pleasant smile appeared on the corner of the young man’s lips as he muttered to himself, “Actually, I’m not lying, to be honest. It’s just that these soldiers were lacking in the knowledge of common chemical terminologies…”
He re-locked the metal boxes and carried them to the back of his truck. After covering them with a tarpaulin sheet, he drove out of the warehouse and headed towards the city entrance of the gathering place.
After the dismissal of the unlucky General Rowling because of the sudden attack of the spiritual monsters, the newly appointed US chief commander on the Shrimp B1 Island had taken an opposite form of management for the garrison and civilian forces of the gathering place.
The control of the garrison had become strict. Other than the personnel on duty, the soldiers on their off days could not wear military uniforms on the gathering place’s streets. As for the small instances of trading that happened with the natives last time; heck, that was even worse since that was completely scrapped. It caused the army to enter the role of being just a ‘defender’. As for the civilians, he had adopted a more open-minded and laissez-faire form of management. As long as it did not infringe on the interests of others, it was one’s freedom to do whatever one wanted.
From a long-term perspective, such a management model was the right way to make the Shrimp B1 Island gradually self-sustaining so the civilians’ forces could pioneer the extension of human forces on the island.
From a short-term perspective, it allowed Zhang Lisheng to drive the dusty pickup truck carrying a full vehicle of supplies with no one stopping him as he left the gathering place openly.
There were also a few other cars that passed through the city entrance. They were all off-road cars or minivans that could trek over mountains as though they were coursing on flatlands.
The price of the cars on Shrimp B1 Island differed completely from New York. Upon seeing Zhang Lisheng drive the old pickup truck he bought for 40,000 USD, somebody asked aloud, “Hey, young man! Nice car! Is it yours? Do you provide any rental services?”
“I’m sorry, sir! I work for the TTK Group!” Turning his head to look at the black-bearded burly man who was carrying a long gun while sitting on the back seat of a tattered convertible jeep, Zhang Lisheng shrugged and randomly came up with a reply.
“Oh young man, you can never be a millionaire if you worked for those big companies. If you have the guts to stay on the island and even drive by yourself, are you really willing to just survive on a paycheck for the rest of your life…” The black-bearded man had an expression of pity on his face as he shouted towards the courageous yet young Asian man.
However, Zhang Lisheng, who had already arrived at the edge of the jungle, just ignored him and waved his hand, before driving his car straight towards the outskirts of the island.
“The hell? Pete! Did you see that? T-That fellow drove straight into the jungle!” Seeing the pickup truck suddenly disappear in front of him, it stunned the black-bearded man for a moment before shouting in a dumbstruck tone. “I thought I’ve met a courageous fellow and was about to call him to join in our group, but who knew that he was actually a stupid and bold person…”
“Enough, Dave! Other than the few of us who are stupid and bold, nobody will fall for your pie in the sky! Hurry up and get ready! We’re going into the jungle as well!” When the young white man heard his companion’s muttering, he slammed down on the horn on the steering wheel and shouted loudly. His dirty blond hair could almost cover the entirety of his face while driving the jeep.
“I’m not drawing any pie in the sky when I analyze the terrain and soil structure! This island has a huge gold mine! We’ll all be rich when we find it!” The black-bearded man said with a serious expression. Then, he took out a bag of black powder from under his feet. He then showed an intoxicated expression when he opened it before scattering it evenly on the car. “By that time, we can lie on big beds inside royal suites in Las Vegas while being surrounded by beautiful women, recalling the taste of the dried stools of the beasts in this foreign world!”
“Oh, what the hell? Dave! You’re disgusting!” His companions showed a disgusted expression over his inappropriate metaphor and the disgusting smell emitted by the grey powder. At the same time, Zhang Lisheng, who had already entered the jungle, stopped his pickup truck under the fetters of the branches and vines.
Amidst the faint and irregular hissing sounds in the vicinity, along with the horrifying wails that would reverberate from time to time, the young man jumped out of the car and commanded Ghostface to climb out of his pocket after looking around the dark and dull jungle and found no abnormal movements.
The big spider moved along the wind and landed on the ground. It had already transformed into a giant beast almost three meters high and was the same size as seven extended SUVs.
After dexterously taking out all the dark metal boxes on the back of the pickup truck and placing them on the spider, Zhang Lisheng undressed his clothes and threw them onto the wizard gu. Then he commanded it to produce a sticky and tough spiderweb from the pores on its back. After making sure everything had already been secured, he cast the Money Toad’s transformation energy and transformed to become a powerful giant with a height of over ten meters.
Crouching on the ground, he stretched both of his arms out and grabbed the pickup truck before smashing it flat like a biscuit. He squeezed it into an iron ball and buried it in the mud. Then, he endured the pain and transformed his body to become the nine-tailed lizard before turning invisible and leaping on Ghostface’s back.
After commanding the wizard gu to trample around on the ground for a while to destroy the traces of the buried pickup truck, Zhang Lisheng sat on the metal boxes on the back of the wizard gu and muttered to himself smugly, “These are so perfect and smooth!”
With a thought, he commanded Ghostface to open its black big mouth and spit out a bunch of colorless spiderwebs that flew several dozens of meters away, which subsequently stuck onto a trunk of a big tree.
Immediately after, the wizard gu retracted the spiderweb, and its body was suddenly flung up high in the air. Just like this, it drifted away through the air and gradually disappeared, vanishing in just a blink of an eye.