Master of the End Times
chapter-205

It went without saying that these shops could not be sold off. All commercial real estate within the colony was under the mayor’s legal ownership.

However, the annual rent for these assets was at the very least, over 100 million yuan.

As for how much money was made after Lin Zheng’s downfall, Qin Feng did not bother asking. There was no need to.

No doubt, Zheng Yang was a genius. After the world had ended, such talks had the same effects as mere verbal agreements. The only added benefit for meeting face-to-face was that they could calculate dividends and make slight alterations much more easily.

Though, in most cases, such a contract was like a house of cards; it could break down without a moment’s notice.

In the event that Qin Feng died in his sleep, the shops would remain standing and no one would be left to enjoy spending this cash.

And in the event that Qin Feng advances into D-tier, Zheng Yang would not pull back the forty percent of his shares, even if he had eighty additional pairs of balls.

Their headlock was a win-win for everyone.

After the talks had officially ended, it was Qin Feng’s turn to personally send Zheng Yang off. However, their conference did not end there.

They still had more calculations to do.

That included the distribution of shares to everyone present in the conference room.

It was given that these shares would never remain static and unchanged.

Should Qin Feng’s feats grow ever larger in the future, so would his subordinates’.

Thus, those who followed in Qin Feng’s footsteps would see the assets in their hands grow ever larger.

Still, there was nothing to lose even if one lagged behind. It was just that the shares would soon saturate the market and when sold, the seller would only be left with his salary in the end.

To avoid such a fate, these people would have to work extremely hard and whether or not they were blessed with certain talents to make it out on top was also a significant factor.

“The large amount of materials Mayor Qin had previously invested should be counted as capital and be transferred into the warehouses!”

“That should be merged with Mayor Zheng’s gift of his shares.”

“Mayor Qin’s additional 2 billion yuan injection has expanded our assets by quite a significant margin…”

At the end of the calculations, Qin Feng alone owned eighty seven percent of Fengli colony’s shares while Bai Li and Lin Wuyi owned three percent of the shares each since their arrival at the colony. That was in spite of zero obligations they had toward the colony.

As the earliest investor, Xue Xingfu’s allocation had been reduced from ten percent to a mere two percent. However, when considered as a whole, there was an overall increase in assets so there was nothing he could complain about.

Each of the remaining F-tier aptitude users were given zero point five percent ownership of the colony each.

That leaves the final one percent that would act as a reserve.

“We’ll be meeting again three months later. From now on, expect changes every yearly quarter. It is fine for you to strive for the better but I still hope that each one of you will continue working together in peace. I expect from you a functioning team, not a brawl! Do you understand me?”

The initial smiles on their faces faded away in the blink of an eye.

Qin Feng had given his warning.

If one of them died, the share in which they held would not fall into the hands of another instantly. However, there was no doubt that it would be redistributed to someone else in the next roundtable discussion.

This was also why relationships within a colony were so complex.

Qin Feng’s growth would soon turn out to be beyond their expectations. It was still too early for them to be turning on each other now.

Qin Feng did not want to see his underlings go through such a process.

All of them responded positively to his warning, indicating that none of them had treacherous intentions, at least superficially-speaking.

It was only after everyone had left did Qin Feng walk out with Zhou Hao.

“Xiao Huang’s recovering pretty well it seems!”

“Of course! I’ve been bringing it to the copper mine at Greenhill and she’s chomped away most of the cave at this point. It’ll not be long before she makes a full recovery!” Zhou Hao responded.

Unfortunately, Zhou Hao did not have the ability to produce and own top-notch items. That said, there were so many valuable resources scattered around in the wilderness, and Zhou Hao was an extremely diligent person.

“Hmm, but you shouldn’t rely too much on it. You’d be better off limiting your visits to the mine. After all, this ant’s already at F5-tier while your ability remains stagnant below it!”

“That, I understand. But still, there ain’t many ways to go around the problem!”

An idea popped into Qin Feng’s mind. “I remember this consciousness-based trick from a beastmaster, it’s called counter-supplementing!”

Contracting through one’s consciousness, one would be able to transfer powers within an ultra beast to strengthen oneself.

After stumbling into Xiao Huang, Zhou Hao had read extensively on all things beastmaster-related and it was safe to say that this was no easy job. The greater the beast’s potential, the greater the danger the beastmaster was exposed to. In the event that the fragile contract between man and beast breaks down, the first person to die would be none other than the beastmaster himself.

“But, that wouldn’t be too kind on Xiao Huang would it!?” Zhou Hao stole glances at Bai Li. He knew that she had already reached E-tier so he whispered into Qin Feng’s ears. “Please don’t tell me you’re gonna use the same trick on Bai Li.”

Qin Feng could not help but laugh at the idea of sucking away Bai Li’s powers. “She isn’t really suited for that kind of a role.” he replied. The thing was, he did not need to rely on such a method to grow his powers. Qin Feng was already satisfied at the rate of his growth.

Though, should the day come where the rate of his growth became insufficient, Qin Feng could engage in real battles to strengthen himself. After all, he was far from lacking in the energy department.

It was Zhou Hao who severely lacked energy, but on the battlefield, he remained quite the competent fighter.

“Zhou Hao, why don’t you think about it this way. While the yellow ant queen certainly possesses a formidable combat capability, don’t forget that it’s also a queen whose job is to produce offspring. The energy that overflows when it grows will not be utilized to upgrade its own ability but to produce massive batches of larvae. When that day comes, what would you do? Eat ant eggs everyday as population control?”

Qin Feng’s words resonated with Zhou Hao’s concerns. “Speaking of that, I’ve noticed that Xiao Huang has been acting up for the past couple of days. It seems like it’s gonna molt into an even larger body. You’re lucky to own a house that big. If not, you’d face the trouble finding a suitable place to house her!”

It was obvious that Xiao Huang’s maternal instincts to create a new burrow in order to spawn more of her kind had kicked in. Thinking back to the anthill from before, Zhou Hao was reluctant to let her have it her way.

“That is why Xiao Huang’s purpose isn’t for you to command her on the battlefield. Instead, she’s gonna help you grow your strength. Tell me, if that isn’t the case then what else can be the reason for Chi Long to be so envious of you? It is only because of Bai Li’s ability that he refrained from messing with you. My advice to you is to hurry up and get stronger, get it?”

“Yeah, I understand now!” Zhou Hao nodded. He planned to head back and practice his skills, but right before leaving, he could not stop himself from teasing Qin Feng. “Bai Li’s ability makes her very powerful too. Still, I see that you don’t let her in on your fights that often. Perhaps her function isn’t to fight but to be your lover?”

“Oh piss off!”

“Hahaha!”

“Well, guess I’ll leave first. Seems like Lin Wuyi is waiting for his turn to speak with you.” Zhou Hao gestured toward the person who was standing not far behind Qin Feng.

Lin Wuyi waited for Zhou Hao to leave before walking toward Qin Feng.

“Qin Feng, I really have to thank you this time. Especially after you have allocated the shares to me!”

Qin Feng’s actions gave him a rare sense of belonging.

Lin Wuyi was euphoric after gaining his much-awaited freedom. However, his reintegration into society had been a rocky journey and he was clueless in the beginning.

As mutants were different from ordinary ancient warriors, they could not grow stronger by relying on the cultivation method. Instead, they had to go through changes in their genome in order to get stronger or had experiments done onto them, just like back in the research facility.

And since there was no need for Lin Wuyi to cultivate his strength, he was so bored that his *nuts had started hurting.

“The reason I’m allocating the shares to you is so that you can tear your mind out on making it grow larger. If you’re truly bored, then I suggest you go out there and make some dough. So what if you can’t enhance your ability right now? You’d still be able to upgrade yourself by buying some more runic equipment, don’t you think?”

“Well, that’s certainly true!” Lin Wuyi nodded in agreement.

However, a new idea surfaced in Qin Feng’s mind. “If that’s the case, you should come with me to Sea City in two weeks’ time. Profits are guaranteed, I should add.”

Lin Wuyi smiled cunningly. “Of course. I’d like to meet the beauties at Sea City while we’re at it!”

“You guys!”

How could one blame these young men who were full of vigor for thinking about girls?

TL note: this is a literal translation. I could technically use “bored out of his mind” but the original translation sounds funny as hell.