Chapter 110
Chapter 110: A Phone Number Worth Five Bucks
Among E-rank awakeners, IKD had a reputation for making aircraft you could actually afford. Even with two old aviation consortiums grinding them down nonstop, they’d held on—mostly thanks to their chairperson, Sheng Qiang.
Sheng Qing Hong showed up on business news all the time beside his mother, so it wasn’t surprising he got recognized on sight.
“Damn, little brother,” one of the awakeners said, practically vibrating as he paid, “your connections are insane. How’d you get in with him?”
“Pure luck,” Qian Qi said, laughing it off.
She handed them their return tickets with a bright, customer-service smile. “Once you’re inside, remember the spot directly under the exit. We’ll stay forty-eight hours and leave thirty minutes before the boss respawns.”
She added, very considerately, “That way you can hunt magic beasts and come out loaded.”
“Hahaha! Then we’ll borrow your good fortune, little brother!”
They clasped fists like old-school martial heroes, stuffed the tickets away, shouldered their parachutes, and marched straight into the dungeon.
Qian Qi sat back down on her little stool, fanning herself like a street vendor, and kept scanning the crowd.
Inside the helicopter, Sheng Qing Hong watched her through the cockpit glass.
The truth was, him “meeting” Qian Qi hadn’t been luck at all.
She’d come to him.
IKD was a new name in aviation—cheap and surprisingly good—which made them a perfect target. The two old flight consortiums had joined hands to suppress them, and IKD had been bleeding money for a long time. If Sheng Qiang hadn’t been hunting magic beasts in C-rank dungeons to keep the company afloat, IKD would’ve been swallowed whole.
Then Sheng Qiang got injured by a magic beast. IKD was maliciously set up by a competitor. Their cash flow snapped. Suppliers backed out.
Overnight, IKD was cornered.
And right then, Sheng Qing Hong received a call from Qian Qi.
He had no idea how she’d gotten his number. She asked for a meeting and proposed a deal. It sounded profitable, so he agreed.
As for how she got that number?
That was a story.
Once Qian Qi decided she needed to revive property prices near the Early Cloud Mountain dungeon, she planned to rent a helicopter and charge awakeners for a guaranteed return ride.
She checked a few big flight companies first, but they were too high-end. They probably wouldn’t bother with business this small. So she started hunting for a smaller company instead.
That’s when she found IKD—the one getting crushed by the giants.
After reading the news, she picked them instantly.
IKD was perfect. Desperate enough that she could take the lead, control the negotiation, and squeeze the maximum profit out of the deal.
So she contacted IKD. But the receptionist didn’t have Sheng Qing Hong’s lightbrain number.
Which meant she had to summon System.
Back then, the conversation went like this:
Qian Qi: “System, you know everything, right? What’s Sheng Qing Hong’s lightbrain number?”
System: “Sheng Qing Hong? The IKD Flight Group prince?”
“His number costs 6,000.”
Qian Qi immediately shook her head and jabbed the photo on her screen. “What prince? That’s too expensive! I don’t want the prince. I want this handsome guy’s number.”
System: “…Oh. Your crush’s number.”
“Five bucks.”
So Qian Qi paid the outrageous sum of five bucks and got Sheng Qing Hong’s number.
For a perfectly proper business deal.
Obviously.
—
Qian Qi gave Sheng Qing Hong three possible plans and made him prepare everything within two days. Which one they used would depend on what happened on site.
And now, watching the flow of people at the entrance, Qian Qi decided:
Plan C.
She glanced back at Sheng Qing Hong. Their eyes met through the cockpit glass.
Originally, IKD had sent a veteran middle-aged pilot to fly the helicopter. But the moment Qian Qi saw Sheng Qing Hong’s face—and then got a sense of the “assets” under that suit—she’d instantly conceived Plan C: turn Sheng Qing Hong himself into IKD’s living, breathing advertisement.
So the pilot got swapped.
“Little Sheng!” Qian Qi waved. “Plan C. Come out. Don’t be shy.”
Inside the helicopter, Sheng Qing Hong pressed two fingers to his brow.
He was four years older than Qian Qi, yet she insisted on calling him Little Sheng. It was… hard to get used to.
And the moment he remembered the “marketing strategy” she’d pitched yesterday, his stomach did something strange.
He climbed down anyway, stopping behind her with a stiff posture. “Will this really work?”
“We’re already here,” Qian Qi said, arms crossed, eyeing him like a product about to launch. “We may as well try.”
Then she snapped, businesslike and merciless: “Hurry up and take your clothes off. What are you waiting for? Do you think money falls from the sky without paying a price?”
Even she had to pay the price of shamelessness to make money. Why was he hesitating?
Sheng Qing Hong wasn’t stage-frightened. He’d been dragged through enough high-profile scenes with his mother to have nerves of steel.
He just… had never executed anything this absurd.
Normally, professional employees delivered detailed marketing plans and he followed them step by step. Qian Qi’s plan, however, felt like it ran entirely on vibes and blind faith.
Still—IKD was on the verge of collapse.
He gritted his teeth, decided to go all in, and peeled off his suit jacket.
Underneath, his physique came into full view. He was the type who looked slim in clothes and carved in stone without them. A black sleeveless compression shirt clung to his torso, outlining a clean, symmetrical eight-pack like it had been sketched on.
His arms were thick and defined, biceps jumping with the smallest movement. His skin carried a healthy tan that made the muscle lines even sharper.
Qian Qi nearly got flashbanged.
“Nice,” she said, approving as a judge. “Jealous.”
“You can train too,” Sheng Qing Hong said earnestly. “Once IKD is saved, I can coach you. I’ll help you build the pecs and abs every man dreams of.”
Qian Qi’s smile froze. “…Thanks. I think I’ll pass.”
Sheng Qing Hong had no idea what Qian Qi’s gender was—she’d been intentionally vague the whole time—so he didn’t realize how badly he’d missed the target.
Qian Qi wiped her face like she’d just been splashed by something. Then she went serious, eyes sharp and determined.
“Relax,” she said. “I’ll make you IKD’s best billboard.”
She dragged out a speaker and a microphone, shot a quick glance toward the hired people in the distance, and faced the hesitant awakeners clustered around the Early Cloud Mountain entrance.
She cleared her throat.
Then she started shouting like her life depended on it.
“Ladies—awakeners! Still hesitating about whether to enter the dungeon? If you can’t decide, come take a look!”
Her voice rolled across the clearing, loud enough to turn heads from a hundred meters away.
“Maybe IKD can solve your problem!”
People began drifting closer, curious despite themselves. Even though she’d called out to “ladies,” both men and women wanted to see what this was about.
Perfect.
Qian Qi lowered her voice into something dramatic and mysterious, like a prophet selling discounted salvation.
“Awakeners on the road to saving the world—are you troubled because you can’t leave the Early Cloud Mountain dungeon once you go in? Has that stolen your courage?”
“Do you feel like the way home is blocked… yet you can’t bear to give up such a perfect chance to grow stronger?”
“Are you tired of dull dungeons, exhausted by danger, desperate for just a little comfort and peace?”
She lifted a hand like she was presenting a miracle.
“Then choose IKD helicopter rental services! IKD builds your exclusive journey home—so after you’ve fought and bled, you can enjoy the most elegant exit imaginable!”
Then she grabbed Sheng Qing Hong by the arm and yanked him forward like the final reveal in a stage show.
“Order now and get a personal handsome pilot—so your trip home can be even sweeter!”
The female awakeners stared at Sheng Qing Hong’s body—
And instantly went: “!” “!” “!”