Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 452 - 90. Valenkov’s Winter_2

Chapter 452: 90. Valenkov’s Winter_2

Julian carefully examined the contract and said, "The price is for the future child of Rosa and me?"

"I can assure you that I will provide him/her with complete and high-quality educational resources, and set him/her on a powerful path."

"No, that’s enough." Julian stared at the terms, completely dazed: "My God, an allowance of 40,000 Ammonium Gold a year, am I dreaming?"

"Whether it’s a dream or not, you decide," Li Aozi said with a playful tone. "But now, you need to get ready. I’ll take you back to see your family soon, and we’ll set off in two days."

"We’re departing so soon?" Julian wasn’t surprised, but he glanced at the chaotic city, unable to hide his deep concern: "Tell me the truth, what will become of our homeland? I know the company is searching for the Blood of Nakis, will they just let it go?"

"Valenkov’s Winter."

Li Aozi stated without a doubt:

"Valenkov has already fallen out with Velazquez, and with most of their high-level personnel dead or injured, Velazquez won’t sit idly by. If Velazquez can’t get it, they will send smaller and more neutral groups to conduct the search. For a long time to come, the issue of the Blood of Nakis will attract all sorts of mercenaries and interest groups. Although large-scale wars are unlikely to break out, small-scale skirmishes will be frequent."

"Ah..." Julian sighed: "So it’s inevitable that war will come to our land?"

"However, winter is not the end."

Li Aozi, with his arms crossed, gazed at the retreating silhouette of the Velazquez Fleet, the nonexistent head of his slightly smiling:

"Isn’t Valenkov, in itself, a Mercenary City-State?"

Julian was taken aback, then he understood something.

"The civilians of Valenkov might evacuate from this fortress planet, but the soldiers can stay. They will have new jobs. Civilians could also provide services to mercenaries on the outer border or produce reality shows, broadcasting these ’Great Escapes’ to the outside world to turn a profit—keep your mind flexible."

Li Aozi tapped on his void head, teasingly saying:

"Winter has arrived; would spring be far behind?"

Although this was not the best of endings, undoubtedly, it brought a new turn to the fate of Valenkov.

The tremendous value of the Blood of Nakis meant that Valenkov couldn’t monopolize it; even being a raw material exporting country wouldn’t work. But in the cosmos, there are too many industries that can make money.

In the past, the Valenkov Alien survived by selling war services, but there are too many capable fighters in the universe. They lacked their own industry and military logistics to sustain such a state.

In the future, Valenkov, by driving away Velazquez and initiating low-intensity but continuous military actions, temporarily stabilized employment rates and, at the very least, saw hope for a transition to service and entertainment industries.

Julian felt he vaguely understood but was somewhat bewildered about this outcome.

Yet upon reflection, this seemed relatively acceptable to all parties.

Li Aozi had never attended college, nor did he understand sociology, but when it came to the understanding of narrative-level civilizations in Layer Abyss, few knew better than he did.

Valenkov’s Autonomy would face a severe and bitter winter, but afterward, people would gradually adapt to and understand it all. By conceding the fortress planet for others to fight to the death, Valenkov would just collect the Admission Fee, provide services, and produce live broadcasts, becoming the existence with the fewest casualties in this event.

Narrative-level civilizations would not be deprived of the supply of Blood of Nakis, and they could at least accept this outcome. Lower-intensity battles could also be mostly controlled, preventing total chaos.

This strange and delicate balance would persist, and by the time the Blood of Nakis was depleted—which might be tens of thousands of years into the future—

For narrative-level civilizations, that’s a short time, but for the Valenkov race, such an extended period is enough for them to complete their transformation.

Is this outcome a good one?

Julian didn’t know.

But a short pain is better than a long one, and civilizations have their paths to follow. This was no longer his concern. Torn between betraying his homeland and missing his family, at this moment, he was finally free of worry. His feelings were pure and simple—he just wanted to hurry back to his family and reunite with them.

Before long, Li Aozi had returned Julian to the Nikita household. Watching the family embrace each other with tears streaming down their faces, Li Aozi felt a subtle emotion arise within him.

— As a former security guard of the Frost Plated Silver Bank, Li Aozi had always yearned for such family harmony, something he didn’t even dare to dream of.

Immensely grateful, Nikita could not immediately think of a suitable gift to offer Li Aozi. After some deliberation, he secretly met with Li Aozi for a private exchange.

"Here, take this."

Li Aozi received the item Nikita had given him: the "Eye of Truth" immediately completed its assessment. It was a set of single combat notes from interstellar wars, granting the combat skills of "Interstellar Assault Trooper Training".

As a "Star Realm Echoer", Li Aozi naturally had no use for it, but he planned to later teach it to players, which would significantly improve their tactical proficiency.

"I’ll arrange for you to go to Baizhu Star. If there’s any issue, seek out a woman named Yawen at the 10-98-1 ruins. She will provide temporary housing; you can stay there for now. There’s no rush regarding the household registration."

Two days later, after completing her delivery task, Flana returned to pick them up. Li Aozi generously transferred seven thousand Ammonium Gold to her as a hiring fee—despite her dimwitted nature, when it came to driving, she was truly skilled.

Having made a tidy sum from this job, Flana was unusually spirited, her esteem for Li Aozi shooting up; now she spoke to him with nods and bows:

"Boss, are you heading back to the Valkyrie Fortress? I can take you all the way there."

"No, let’s take a detour first."

Now that the task involving Valenkov was resolved, Li Aozi’s "Lifestyle Profession" of "craftsman" was finally able to advance, becoming a "Forging Master".

In the hands of a player, this occupation would simply involve crafting high-grade weapons and powerful equipment, but in the hands of an NPC, it possessed an interesting effect: the creation of Copy Crystals.

Flana naturally had nothing to object to; she quite enjoyed driving for Li Aozi, even though the private transport fees were somewhat expensive. After Li Aozi spent several days gathering materials, he had used up all his Ammonium Gold.

Fortunately, by the time he returned to Baizhu Star, he had collected enough materials to create just two instances. In a few days, once Priest Konstantin’s funds were properly managed, it was time to repay him both interest and principal.

"Now, it’s time to go back and continue my university life."

Li Aozi stroked his non-existent chin.

Though in reality, his purpose was to hunt down these "Society" citizens whose origins were unknown.

Baizhu Star was his personal backyard treasury; his two weapons were still stored there, the players were about to return, and his strength at this moment had reached a bottleneck.

The situation was such: missions that were within his ability to defeat provided no significant rewards, and those he couldn’t defeat were truly beyond him.

For instance, there was a long storyline behind the Velazquez Corporation— but Li Aozi genuinely couldn’t continue with it. If he did, the 11th narrative "Union Group" would blacklist him.

To irritate a Narrative-Level Civilization, especially one that played an intermediary role like the "Union Group," over some modest rewards from Velazquez wouldn’t be wise at all for Li Aozi.

This time, he struck a perfect balance, teaching them a lesson without killing the core member Andrew. Coupled with the mighty reputation of the "Star Realm Echoer," his personal reputation surged to new heights.

Now, rumors circulated in half of the Layer Abyss—a certain native from Crystal Tower wielding Gamma Rank strength had soundly thrashed Zeta Rank opponents and escaped unscathed.

—In truth, Li Aozi’s thrashing contained a good amount of bluster; he hadn’t defeated a single Zeta Rank throughout, but even so, shattering a Velazquez warship and outfighting higher ranks alone were feats that drew many sidelong glances.

Having reached this point, Li Aozi planned to lay low, waiting to see if Crystal Tower was still willing to accept him.

Having beaten up someone even tougher than his teachers before school even started... Whether or not the teacher had face wasn’t the main concern; it would be quite unsettling to discover upon return that a student was missing a head.

Even if they decided to expel him, Li Aozi had plenty of contingency plans. The worst-case scenario being that he might just migrate to the Empire of Heralds.

The best outcome, of course, would be to stay on good terms with Crystal Tower and continue his life as a student.

With these thoughts in mind, Li Aozi embarked on his journey back to Baizhu Star.

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