Chapter 172: Seed Trade
Inside Red Pagoda Tower in the city center.
At a desk on the 32nd floor.
Xiong Haohan opened his phone and saw a message from Xiong Wenwu.
Xiong Wenwu: Zhang Yu is a good person; he takes good care of me.
Xiong Wenwu: If it’s convenient, could you help him out, Brother Haohan?
Xiong Haohan was a manager at the Red Pagoda Breeding Company.
The reason he was in contact with Xiong Wenwu was primarily because they both came from the same breeding base.
Coming from different breeding bases was an important identity marker within Red Pagoda Husbandry.
Because in a situation where the vast majority of demon-kin shared the same father, the breeding base they were born in represented who they grew up with and studied with, a natural label that allowed the demon-kin to unite with each other.
If further subdivided, it would be which incubation room of the breeding base, which dormitory, whether they had a middle school or high school education, whether they attended Red Pagoda High School, which class they were in at Red Pagoda High School, and specifically which demon-kin race they belonged to.
Yes, although they were all classified as demon-kin in the citizen registry, there were clearly huge differences between one demon-kin and another.
This difference not only had an impact within the demon-kin community, but even to humans… different types of demon-kin were very different.
For example, turtle demons, toad demons, and the like were less popular than bear demons, dog demons, and cat demons. They were more easily discriminated against, found it harder to achieve good results, and Red Pagoda Husbandry was reducing the breeding numbers of these types of demon-kin every year.
Under such layers of subdivision, various large and small groups formed within Red Pagoda Husbandry.
And perhaps because they were easily discriminated against in the human world, or perhaps because they lacked parents they could rely on, the demon-kin liked to band together in these various large and small groups.
Like Xiong Haohan and Xiong Wenwu, besides coming from the same breeding base, they had also both studied at Red Pagoda High School, had both been students in the model class, and both belonged to the bear demon clan.
This allowed Xiong Wenwu to get acquainted with this senior, Xiong Haohan, early on through the alumni association and the bear demon group chat.
Especially in the bear demon group, this senior bear demon, Xiong Haohan, who had become a manager at the breeding company after only three years of work, was practically the goal countless bear demons aspired to—a social elite who spent his days in an office building watching the world go by, with a stable income, able to make loan payments on time, and work overtime at will.
But at this moment, seeing the message from Xiong Wenwu, Xiong Haohan sighed, Little brother, you think too highly of me.
Looking at Zhang Yu’s file, Xiong Haohan thought, I’m just a minor employee in the company. For a student from Songyang High School, I can’t offer him a higher price even if I wanted to.
Our fertility bank and research team here… don’t just accept any old trash.
After becoming the company’s overtime machine, Xiong Haohan no longer had the energy, time, or interest to care about the shifting tides of the high school education scene, so he was completely unaware of Zhang Yu, a student who had recently been making a name for himself among the three major high schools.
But one point was deeply engraved in the heart of this Red Pagoda High School graduate.
Besides the three major high schools, students from other high schools were even worthy of selling their seeds?
From Songyang High School? Wouldn’t printing this out be a pure waste of paper?
But as Xiong Haohan continued to read and saw Zhang Yu’s monthly exam scores, competition results, and various other data, he was greatly shocked.
This is from Songyang High School?
How can this be from Songyang High School?
And this Zhang Yu is already so strong in his first year. I wonder how much money was invested in him. Does he still need to come and sell?
Xiong Haohan sighed internally. As expected, high school cultivation is a bottomless pit. As long as you want to spend money, there are plenty of places to spend it. There’s never enough money.
But regardless, his talent and potential are indeed very strong.
However, given my rank, my authority to make an offer is limited. I’m afraid I can’t offer him a price he’ll be satisfied with.
After thinking about Xiong Wenwu’s request again, Xiong Haohan used his authority to report Zhang Yu’s situation to his superiors.
This is all I can do. How much money he gets in the end will depend on his own luck and ability.
And to Xiong Haohan’s surprise, his superiors responded shortly after, telling him to arrange a time to receive Zhang Yu as soon as possible.
Thus, the meeting time was set directly for early the next morning.
And the next morning, not long after Zhang Yu had sat down in the conference room, Xiong Haohan hurried over.
“Hello, hello, I’m Xiong Haohan.” After shaking hands with Zhang Yu, Xiong Haohan said with a friendly expression, “There’s something I need to trouble you with.”
“It’s not that we don’t trust the test results from Songyang High School, it’s just that we’d like to obtain some more precise data from you, student Zhang Yu. Mainly your magic power and physical strength, as these two things have the strongest correlation with bloodline inheritance. With precise data, it will be easier for us to negotiate.”
“How does that sound?”
Since Zhang Yu had come here, of course he would not refuse.
So he quickly completed the magic power and physical strength tests within the company.
“Magic power 88.14, physical strength level 8.09…”
Xiong Haohan first looked at the overall data for magic power and physical strength, then looked at the various other physical data such as blood and urine tests.
Xiong Haohan was inwardly shocked. This magic power and physical strength… it’s quite a bit stronger than the results from his last monthly exam that he sent over. Has he improved again recently?
He’s only about to start his second year, right? But these basic stats are already at the level of a third-year.
No wonder the higher-ups are taking his seed seriously. It must be related to the latest fertility bank project, right?
Xiong Haohan knew that ever since Oasis Group’s lab-based cultivation technology had seen major developments, Red Pagoda Husbandry’s original livestock and breeding markets had been continuously shrinking.
To reverse this situation, Red Pagoda Husbandry had begun to transform while continuously selling off assets.
The targets were the customized fertility market and bloodline development.
And in Xiong Haohan’s eyes, the Zhang Yu before him seemed to be excellent material, perhaps capable of increasing the success rate of Red Pagoda Husbandry’s transformation.
Next, Xiong Haohan began to discuss the specifics of the seed transaction with him.
But not long after, he frowned. “You’re only selling the research rights, not the breeding rights?”
Seeing Zhang Yu nod, Xiong Haohan said, “If you only sell the research rights, you won’t get a high price. To be honest, the most I can offer is a hundred thousand or so, tops.”
“Your talent is so amazing, many people would definitely be willing to propagate your bloodline. There’s a lot of profit in that…”
Just as Xiong Haohan was trying to persuade him, Fu Ji spoke in Zhang Yu’s mind, “Don’t you dare agree to sell the breeding rights. We’re just here to earn a little spending money.”
“As for propagating your bloodline, while you could earn a large sum right now, if you climb to the upper echelons of Kunxu in the future, the matter of descendant bloodlines becomes troublesome. The karma involved could be exploited by your opponents, and it’s even possible for people to cast Daoist arts against you based on your bloodline.”
“Considering the long term, it’s best you don’t have any descendants for now.”
Zhang Yu had of course heard Fu Ji’s warning long ago, and now, facing Xiong Haohan’s persuasion, he did not yield.
Just as Xiong Haohan was mentally organizing his words, thinking about how to continue the conversation with Zhang Yu, a call came to his mobile phone.
Zhang Yu saw Xiong Haohan, who had answered the call, suddenly straighten his body, then continuously nod and bow, saying “yes, yes, yes” nonstop, finally hanging up the phone with a respectful expression.
Then, Xiong Haohan looked at Zhang Yu with a surprised expression and said, “A very important person is interested in you and wants to talk to you personally.”
So, under Xiong Haohan’s guidance, Zhang Yu followed him to the 333rd floor of Red Pagoda Tower, stopping in front of a huge golden door.
Xiong Haohan swallowed, looking at the door with a mixture of longing and fear, and said, “You can go in. I don’t have permission, so I’ll wait for you out here.”
So Zhang Yu pushed open the door and stepped inside.
And the first thing he saw after walking in… was something like an underwater tunnel in an aquarium.
Overhead was a gigantic artificial seawater pool that stretched out of sight, with all sorts of marine creatures, some Zhang Yu recognized and some he did not, swimming within.
He even saw many demon fish with dragon scales and dragon horns.
Zhang Yu walked forward for several tens of meters before arriving at a huge office.
And behind the office, a whale was slowly swimming in the seawater, separated by a glass wall.
A figure over three meters tall stood with his back to Zhang Yu, watching the swimming whale, and said, “The office environment here isn’t bad, is it?”
“After making a major decision, I always like to come here and feel the tranquility of the ocean.”
The other person turned around, revealing a beautiful face that was both masculine and feminine.
A few fine dragon scales on his face did not detract from his beauty, but instead acted like ornaments, adding a mysterious quality.
A pair of dragon horns on his forehead exuded a domineering aura, causing Zhang Yu to unconsciously hold his breath.
And although this ‘dragon-person’ was three meters tall, he was not burly like Song Hailong or Zhao Tianxing. Instead, his build was closer to that of an ordinary person. Casually draped in a black and gold robe, he exuded an elegant and noble air.
At this moment, this ‘dragon-person’ was smiling at Zhang Yu and said slowly, “Zhang Yu, I like you. Are you interested in becoming my adopted son?”
Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback and said with some surprise, “You are… that Black Dragon director from Red Pagoda High School? The father of all those demon-kin?”
Zhang Yu inwardly cursed his luck, never expecting that selling some seed would attract the attention of such a major figure.
And Director Long looked at the Zhang Yu before him as if looking at a high-quality seed, one that would surely create considerable profit in Red Pagoda Husbandry’s future transformation plan.
In fact, Red Pagoda’s corporate transformation this time was not only due to the influence of Oasis Group, but also stemmed from the directors’ judgment of the future.
In this Director Long’s view, the major powerful families on the first layer of Kunxu, after years of development, already controlled all the key positions, their monopoly over the entire first layer extending into every aspect.
“In the world of the future, there will be no place for commoners. Or rather, the commoners of the future… will only come from the declining branches of the powerful families.”
“The powerful families everywhere are the biggest market.”
“And as the powerful families’ monopoly grows, commoners will gradually withdraw from the competition, and what follows will be intense struggles between the powerful families themselves.”
“At that point… the Immortal Dao potential of their descendants will become incredibly important.”
“The powerful families everywhere will place more and more importance on bloodline modification, procreation, and talent enhancement for their descendants.”
“I’ve heard that in the Immortal Capital, there are already cases of powerful families using the Immortal Dao… to modify their descendants starting from the bloodline.”