pertwk Chapter 70 Silver Frost Rose
Chapter 70 Silver Frost Rose
Chapter 70 Silver Frost Rose
Nine o'clock in the morning, at stratosphere altitude.
A small, private shuttle pierced through the thick layer of industrial acid mist.
The view outside the porthole is undergoing dramatic changes.
The pipes spreading like festering sores below, the grayish-yellow clouds of exhaust fumes, and the laborers crawling like ants were gradually left behind.
Before my eyes appeared a blue sky so clear it was almost unreal.
There was also the blinding, bright sunlight.
A magnificent Gothic spire stands proudly above the sea of clouds.
Governor's Palace.
It is also the heart of this agricultural planet.
Lowe sat in the cramped cabin, clutching the report in his hand.
As the altitude increased, the air circulation system inside the cabin seemed to switch modes as well.
The air became fresh.
The air smells like money.
Luo Wei took a deep breath, allowing his lungs to adjust to this "noble" oxygen concentration.
He must stay alert.
He was now nominally a favorite of the governor's court, but he knew very well that his relationship with Alicia van Valentius was essentially a tightrope walk.
He offered a plan to increase production.
She provided safe haven.
Once the plan fails and his value is exhausted, the seemingly noble and aloof female governor will not hesitate to throw him into the shredder like a piece of waste paper.
The shuttle landed smoothly on the helipad in the middle of the spire.
The hatch opened, and two royal guards clad in black armor were already waiting there.
"Manager Lowe, the Governor is waiting for you in his study."
The study in the Governor's Mansion was immersed in a timeless silence.
It was as if the air itself had been dead for many years, leaving only dust struggling meaninglessly in the dim light.
High on the wall, portraits of past governors, with their lifeless gazes, oppress the living who intrude into this silent space.
However, Alicia did not remain frozen behind the obsidian desk like a worshipped portrait.
Unlike when we first met.
She stood before the French windows, holding a steaming cup of black tea, leaving Luo Wei with only a cold, aloof silhouette.
She shed her so-called sacred power armor.
While that thing symbolized power, it was also like a metal coffin, imprisoning the primal life force surging like an underground river within the girl's body.
She changed into a smart hunting outfit.
The tight fabric and leather did not conceal, but rather accentuated the curves of her body with an almost crude honesty.
These lines were forged under high pressure and constant struggle.
Thighs are firm and strong, waist is flexible.
It exudes a tension characteristic of female predators, poised to strike.
Before her, outside the window, was a vast and turbid sea of clouds, churning and rolling.
It is the world's rough and heavy breathing.
In Rowe's eyes, Governor Alicia at this moment was like a silver frost rose growing in the desolate wilderness.
The petals are translucent, like moonlight frozen in ice.
Pale as snowflakes on a barren plain.
Yet it remains as hard as steel even in a storm.
She blooms alone in this desolate place, arrogantly surveying the insignificant world beneath her feet with an almost cruel and cold beauty.
"You're here?"
Her voice had a quality that resonated from her chest.
This brought Luo Wei's chaotic thoughts back to reality.
"Greetings, Your Excellency the Governor."
Luo Wei bowed slightly.
"I heard you got paid and immediately divided up the meat?" Alicia turned around.
The usual coldness was absent from her purple eyes. "What, do you think what I'm giving isn't enough to fill your stomach?"
"On the contrary, it's because there's too much," Luo Wei replied calmly. "In the Seventh Granary, five kilograms of bright red meat is enough to ignite the violence in the veins of one hundred thousand men."
"I separated it out to quell the refugees' primal hunger and to prevent my office from being burned to ashes by their anger."
"A cunning fellow." Alicia walked to the table and put down her teacup.
The porcelain cup collided with the stone table, making a crisp sound.
"Let's get down to business. Instead of keeping an eye on those filthy rats in the granary, you've come here to see me. It's not just to show your humility, is it?"
Luo Wei stepped forward and presented the report with both hands.
"This is the final solution for increasing grain production by 20%, the task you assigned me last time."
Alicia was slightly surprised.
She didn't actually have much faith in Luo Wei; if production could increase by even 5%, she wouldn't really execute him.
I took the report and turned to the first page.
What comes into view is a high-resolution photo:
In experimental field A-3, wheat is growing rapidly.
The dark purple wheat, with its serrated edges and wire-like stalks, presents a ferocious scene of abundant harvest.
This doesn't look like a plant at all.
There's a sense of forced, premature abundance that sends shivers down your spine.
Alicia's brows furrowed instantly.
It is an instinctive rejection of this distorted vitality.
She quickly flipped through the data at the back:
The growth cycle is shortened by 40%, the fullness of the wheat ears is increased by 30%, and it is drought-resistant, acid-resistant, and cold-resistant.
The data is perfect.
It was so perfect it was almost frightening.
"Is this your solution?"
Alicia closed the report, her gaze sharp, piercing Lovi's face.
"Love, I'm having you farm, not breed monsters on my planet. Do you know how much these things look like heretical creations? They're brimming with evil energy."
"They are."
Loewe did not deny it, and his honesty surprised Alicia once again.
"The fertilizer for this batch of seeds came from a rather unusual source, as detailed in the report."
Lowe used vague vocabulary to avoid the nauseating details.
"I conducted three genetic stability tests and toxicity analyses on this batch of wheat."
"And the conclusion?"
"Contains trace amounts of neurotoxins, has a rough texture, and is as hard as gravel." Lowe described it as if it were some kind of mineral. "Long-term consumption can lead to tooth wear and mild neuro-hallucination: a false sense of pleasure."
"You want me to hand over this poison as a tithe?" Alicia's face turned cold. "Do you want the court to hang us both on a lamppost and display us like dried meat strips?"
"Of course not, Your Excellency."
Luo Wei raised his head, his eyes revealing the cold rationality unique to auditors.
"This wheat won't go directly into human consumption. I've already contacted the butcher in charge of the northern grain depot," Bill said.
"After this batch of wheat is harvested, it will be transported directly to them for deep detoxification and high-temperature, high-pressure processing to produce standard hard military rations."
Seeing that the governor didn't say anything, Lowe continued, "These biscuits are hard, dry, and incredibly high in calories. They are indeed difficult for ordinary humans to swallow, but for the Oglin apes on the front lines, or the heavy manual laborers at the bottom of the Nest City, they are the perfect fuel."
"They have strong jaws and a voracious digestive system; they don't care about the taste, they only care about the heavy feeling of filling their stomachs."
"As for the courts—" Lowe smiled slightly, "they only care whether the tithe tonnage meets the standard."
As long as these carbohydrates don't grow tentacles and eyes, who would care what filth they were irrigated with?
Alicia re-examined the young man in front of her.
She had seen greedy bureaucrats, fanatical warriors, and cunning businessmen.
But Loewe is different.
He possesses an extreme pragmatism.
This pragmatism transcends both morality and fear.
He can dismantle the devil's contract into a series of compliant, cold financial statements.
"What if something goes wrong?" Alicia asked.
"I kept two sets of records for all production," Luo Wei quickly replied.
"One set was for the Interior Ministry, pristine and unblemished; the other was the real thing, and if anything went wrong, all the blame would fall on Case, the former head of what had become a wet server—his legacy of a mad experiment."
Alicia paced back and forth, remaining silent for a long time.
Finally, she picked up the quill pen on the table and signed her name at the end of the report.
"You're a genius, Rowe," she tossed the report back to Rowe, "and a complete madman."
"Your Excellency, in this world, these two types of people usually have a stronger will to live." Lowe put away the report.
"There's one more thing."
Alicia opened the drawer, took out a gold-embossed letter of appointment, and threw it directly in front of Rowe.
Luo Wei caught it and quickly glanced through it.
[Love Dane is hereby appointed as the (official) Supervisor of the Eastern Grain Depot of the Seventh Agricultural District]
He is no longer the "acting supervisor".
This is a real, official appointment that holds the power of life and death over countless people.
Lo Wei looked up in surprise.
Logically speaking, for a low-level civil servant like him with no connections, it would take at least three years of probation to become a permanent official.
Of course, countless dirty political donations are also needed.
"Those old fogies in the Executive Yuan are vehemently opposed." Alicia picked up her teacup again, her tone indifferent, yet revealing a suppressed anger.
"They said you're too inexperienced, having only been here for a month, and suggested bringing in a nobleman named Valentine."
"How did you do that?"
"I slammed the bomb gun on the table," Alicia replied casually. "I told them that whoever could make up the deficit and double production within the time limit would get that position."
"If Valentine can do it, I'll let you make room for him; if he can't, I'll put him in the fermentation tank and turn him into fertilizer."
She turned around and stared intently at Lo Wei.
His eyes revealed a desperate, fervent determination.
"I made an exception for you, Lo Wei. I've offended half of the Executive Yuan and put almost all my bets on you."
"If you mess up the granary—" Alicia's voice turned low and dangerous, and she said fiercely, "I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs myself, without the Tribunal even having to lift a finger."
Luo Wei gripped the letter of appointment tightly in his hand.
This thin sheet of paper feels incredibly heavy at this moment.
"I will not fail in my mission."
After the report concluded, Luo Wei was preparing to leave.
He stopped at the door, as if he had suddenly remembered something.
"Your Excellency, there is one more thing I would like to ask you."
"explain."
"How's that woman named Mary—I mean, that wild psionicist—doing now?"