Using the annulment agreement, Xiao Qicai boldly obtained 100 million, but due to the hellish start of her situation, she could only temporarily hire a big shot, nearly exhausting the entire sum.
She originally thought she could make a fortune with her beauty potion and secure her first bucket of gold.
But now, it seemed making money was still difficult.
Money, money—what a wonderful thing. It could even buy citizenship status.
Whatever. She’d worry about it later. For now, she had to focus on enrolling in school.
She’d take this as a lesson—a lesson about her ignorance of this world’s rules.
From this perspective, studying was absolutely necessary.
It had to be said, Xiao Qicai’s mentality was something ordinary people could hardly match. No matter how many difficulties she encountered, she could quickly adjust.
While preparing other enrollment materials, she studied even harder on the virtual network. At the same time, she gritted her teeth and bought ingredient after ingredient for the beauty potion, making sure she had a backup plan.
Because if Xi Yuanche refused to cooperate, she’d have to find another way.
She never put all her eggs in one basket.
——
On the very day Xiao Qicai received her admission letter, He Xinmin got the news.
Recently, all the people she had hired to deal with Bai Yushan had been taken out. Now, no one was willing to take the job—no matter how much money was offered.
The main reason was that Bai Yushan had given 100 million to Xi Yuanche, the underground boss of Planet 4628, hiring him as a bodyguard and gaining his protection.
Those desperados would risk their lives for money, but as long as they were on Planet 4628, they were under Xi Yuanche’s influence. Now that he had made his stance clear, who would dare take the job? Only a fool with a death wish.
Gamblers might take risks, but even thugs weren’t stupid enough to walk into certain death.
A hundred million!
Wasn’t that the exact amount from the annulment compensation? And she had contributed 90 million of it!
The thought that her 90 million had gone to waste—even worse, it had helped Bai Yushan find a powerful backer—made He Xinmin so furious she smashed a terminal.
Then came another piece of news: Bai Yushan had actually applied to the prestigious 46th Advanced Academy. It seemed she wanted to attend university!
How could things go so smoothly for her? Did she think she could just carry on unaffected after her family’s downfall? Even attend university?
Most importantly, He Xinmin couldn’t let her money go to waste! That was 90 million—almost all her private savings. Lately, she had even started living frugally.
But Planet 4628 was too remote. The He family’s influence couldn’t reach that far.
Just as she was fretting, she suddenly received a call.
The voice on the other end was gentle, the face on the screen delicate and sweet.
“Sister, you and Brother Luomeng are meant to be. Bai Yushan wants to go to university—she must be trying to break free from her low-tier citizenship and come back! If she returns, Brother Luomeng might soften toward her.”
He Xinmin rubbed her temples. “I know. And yet, the Luomeng family actually rejected our marriage proposal.”
“If Bai Yushan dies, Brother Luomeng won’t refuse! Since those thugs won’t take the job, why not try another approach? She’ll have to deal with officials at some point—community inspectors, government investigators… I’m sure no one would refuse a transfer out of a D-class planet. As long as they can escape, someone will take the risk…”
Hearing this, He Xinmin's eyes immediately lit up: "Exactly! Find someone legitimate who can get close to Bai Yushan. If they can kill her, or at least cause her enough trouble to prevent her from attending school, promise to pull strings to transfer them away from this Class-D planet. Someone will definitely take the offer!"
"You're so clever, sis." The young girl smiled like a blooming flower.
——
Xiao Qicai suddenly received an urgent notification from Li Qing—there was an error in her school enrollment verification, showing discrepancies between her admission notice and citizen information.
"How could there be discrepancies? I'm certain I used my real information when registering." Xiao Qicai was deeply puzzled.
"We're not sure either, but apparently there are errors with your citizen card ID and name. You might need to visit the Citizen Information Center for verification. If you want to renew your housing lease, you should act quickly. There are only 10 days left until month-end. If the verification isn't completed by then, we'll have to reclaim this apartment."
"Understood, thank you!"
Xiao Qicai felt grateful for showing kindness to Li Qing, who had indeed helped her tremendously. Without this warning, she wouldn't have known about the issues with her citizen card information—the most fundamental database in the United Government affecting all aspects of life. If problems arose, it wouldn't just impact her lease renewal but potentially her education and daily living.
Citizen card IDs were typically assigned at birth and shouldn't have any issues under normal circumstances.
But if problems appeared, it meant something abnormal was happening.
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Qicai's eyes—she suspected someone might be manipulating things behind the scenes.
For the first time in a while, she left her residence and personally visited the Citizen Information Center.
"Bai Yushan 896658860? Sorry, according to my search, there's no record of this name or citizen ID number in Planet 4628's database. Are you sure you remember your name and ID correctly?"
"None? That's impossible. I was exiled from the Class-B planet Helanja just a week ago. Without registered information and citizen data transfer, I couldn't have entered this planet. Are you certain there's no mistake?" Xiao Qicai explained.
"No mistake. Planet 4628 definitely has no record of this name or citizen ID. Young lady, you're not some unregistered person trying to sneak into the system, are you? This method is too crude—we get loads of people daily claiming they forgot their names and IDs wanting replacements. You'd better leave!"
The staff member's attitude was hostile, looking at her with disdain:
"Stop wasting my time. This planet has too many unregistered people like you without citizen status. If you keep making trouble, I'll call the peacekeepers to arrest you!"
Xiao Qicai frowned but moved to another counter. The staff here were slightly more polite but still couldn't locate her citizen card or ID information.
She didn't attempt a third inquiry—the result would undoubtedly be the same. Someone had clearly tampered with her records.
Indeed, on this Class-D planet where even street thugs dared intercept government orbital shuttles, the system was utterly chaotic. It was entirely possible to bribe officials to delete someone's information from the local citizen database.
Xiao Qi had just secured Xi Yuan Ce's promise, but she never expected that when no one dared to touch her directly, they'd resort to such vicious methods instead.
Without a citizen ID card, she'd be considered an undocumented resident—denied all welfare benefits from the Union Government and stripped of civil rights. In other words, if she died, no one would care or seek justice for her.
Forget about doing business or earning money. The Star Coins in her virtual network account and terminal could no longer be used for online transactions or face-to-face transfers—only account transfers were allowed. If caught violating this, those funds would be confiscated.
Only the most heinous criminals, outlaws, or space pirates had their citizenship revoked and their cards deactivated.
Clearly, someone wanted to cut off every possible path for her survival!
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Qi's eyes, but she eventually calmed herself.
"002, do you have a solution?"
"I..." 002 cautiously studied Xiao Qi's eerily composed expression. Based on their interactions these past days, it knew she was absolutely furious—more so than ever before.
The calmer she appeared, the angrier she was. This was the first time 002 had seen her this enraged, and it even felt a little afraid.
"As an AI system, I can't hack into the citizen database. Maybe... maybe you could find a hacker? No, wait—given the Union Government's current security, that might be too difficult... Hmm, you could try reaching out to Xi Yuan Ce. He's been here long enough—he might have connections."
"I see." Her face hardened with resolve.
——
Xiao Qi checked her account balance, then used a wire transfer to purchase nearly all available raw materials for beauty potions.
By the time she finished, only a little over 1 million Star Coins remained.
Next, she proactively contacted Xuan Chen, asking if he had made a decision yet, as time was running out.
Xuan Chen was surprised she reached out first. After a brief hesitation, he agreed to visit her later that day to discuss.
That afternoon, a knock came at her door.
She had expected Xuan Chen, but to her surprise, Xi Yuan Ce had come in person.
Looking at his stern face, she realized it had been almost a month. If he hadn’t finished all the beauty potion, its effects would have worn off by now.
His arrival was even better. Though his expression was as stiff as a coffin lid, Xiao Qi smiled and invited both him and Xuan Chen inside.
This time, an entire row of bodyguards—or underlings—followed them.
Of course, none entered. Even if they wanted to, there wasn’t enough space.
But now, many of the furnishings from her last meeting were gone, including the two high-end massage chairs.
Xuan Chen couldn’t help asking, "Didn’t Miss Bai Yu purchase those chairs last time?"
"Ah, well, hiring bodyguards is expensive. I ran out of funds, so I just had them recycled. Please, take a seat. These wooden stools were salvaged from a trash—er, a secondhand furniture market. They’re thoroughly disinfected, sturdy, and definitely won’t collapse under you."
Xuan Chen: "..."
With that reassurance, he didn’t dare sit. He had no intention of paying for another broken stool.
Naturally, Xi Yuan Ce remained standing as well. The two towering men in her tiny 10-square-meter room made the space feel unbearably cramped.
Xiao Qi had no choice but to face them, standing almost pressed against the wall.
Yet even by the wall, she could still speak to them as equals:
"So, have you two gentlemen agreed to my previous request and are ready to collaborate with me? If you agree, I’ll immediately hand over the formula and production method for the beauty serum."
Though she had a backup plan, the truth was those formulas were far too expensive. If they agreed to cooperate, she could simply reap the benefits—nothing could be better.
Unfortunately, such good fortune wasn’t in the cards.
Sure enough, Xuan Chen shook his head. "No, we’ve considered it, and we can collaborate—but on different terms. Miss Bai Yushan, the reason you want to work with us is primarily for our channels and influence, isn’t it? To ensure no one gets envious or causes trouble, right?"
"So?"
"So, our boss’s stance is this: the entire Planet 4628 already knows you’re under his protection. That billion of yours can last you ten months, but if we’re in a partnership, it might last even longer. You can sell this serum under our name, but the sales methods, pricing, and distribution will all be your responsibility. We’ll just take an 80% cut of the profits."
"Eighty percent?! You’re not here to negotiate—you’re here to rob me!" Xiao Qi’s calm facade finally cracked, her expression turning visibly agitated.
She would do all the work, and they would take the money.
In all her years of negotiations, this was the first time someone had dared to make such an outrageous demand to her face.
"Miss Bai Yushan, don’t get worked up. You must understand—you’re not the only clever one in this world. If we were the ones selling this serum, we might grudgingly pay you a patent fee, but we certainly wouldn’t share a single cent of the profits with you. After all, you don’t belong to our faction. Of course, if you were willing to join our gang, that would be a different story. Secondly, Miss Bai, if you tried selling it yourself, do you really think you could keep the profits safely in your hands? This is a Class-D planet, not the Class-B world you came from. Rules and laws don’t apply here. Leaving you with 20% is already a ‘friends and family’ discount. When Dark Star operates, we usually take 200% of the profits. Understand?"
Xuan Chen remained as mild-mannered as ever, while Xi Yuan Ce hadn’t said a word.
But Xiao Qi finally understood—or rather, realized—that the two men before her weren’t like the business partners or competitors she’d dealt with before. They were the leaders of the largest underground syndicate on the entire planet. They were thugs, robbers, wolves and tigers.
Just like how her citizenship records had been erased—it wasn’t rules at work, but raw power.
So, since they were wolves and tigers, she’d have to deal with them accordingly.
The more tense the situation became, the calmer Xiao Qi forced herself to be.
She knew that if she lacked leverage in one area, she’d have to find it elsewhere.
So she steered the conversation away from the beauty serum and instead turned to Xi Yuan Ce, saying:
"Since we can't reach an agreement, let's set aside the beauty potion for now and talk about the potion I gave you last time. Well, Bodyguard Sir? Didn't I tell you the truth? For this entire month, you've been able to see the face of the person you've been longing for day and night, haven't you?"
These words successfully darkened the already cold expression on Xi Yuan Ce's face.
Xuan Chen watched as his boss's face turned stormy, his own lips twitching. This Bai Yushan truly had nerves of steel, deliberately poking at sore spots.
She even dared to address his boss as "Bodyguard Sir"—what gall! He was certain that if not for that "white moonlight" connection, this woman would have been dealt with long ago.
Though admittedly, in his view, Xiao Qicai's face—still dotted with small blemishes—did bear some resemblance to the face that had been growing on his boss's head these past few days.
The destructive power of a white moonlight was indeed formidable.
Xi Yuan Ce didn't respond. Instead, he took a deep breath and suddenly turned to Xuan Chen, who had been watching the spectacle: "You, get out."
Xuan Chen glanced again at Xiao Qicai's face and understood.
So all these days of seeing that longed-for face had rekindled those intense emotions, had it?
Perhaps his boss's second spring had arrived?
With this thought, Xuan Chen walked out with a knowing smile, even thoughtfully closing the door behind them and giving Xi Yuan Ce an "I get it" look.
Xi Yuan Ce: "?"
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