Sky-cracking Rider

"Stock options? I'd rather not take them!"

As a graduate with a degree in economics, Chen Fei certainly understood the meaning of this term. Although it sounded tempting, there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

If you can't bring benefits to the boss, why would you share in the boss's fortune? Wishful thinking!

"Don't worry, I won't cheat you. There are only advantages, no disadvantages."

Granting stock options to employees is essentially a way to win them over. Hanna Gagel was certainly not about to play a shell game deceiving monkeys with peaches. She sincerely intended to share the benefits, to bind everyone together.

But it wasn't a foolish giveaway either. The rights of stock options were limited to profit-sharing while employed. All other shareholder powers were non-existent, and the entire company was still under Boss Hanna's sole control.

Once someone quit, naturally, they would get nothing.

However, there truly were no drawbacks!

"Let me hesitate for a moment!"

Having been tricked before, Chen Fei had some psychological shadows regarding his sister.

When it came to money matters, even the boss couldn't speak freely, even if Boss Hanna truly had no malice towards him.

"Okay! I'll get the agreement to you later, and you can sign it anytime."

As Hanna Gagel clinked glasses with Chen Fei, she wasn't worried at all that he wouldn't sign. An opportunity to get benefits for free—only a fool wouldn't sign, and such foolish employees could be spared.

Moreover, once the meat was in the pot, it could only stew there.

"That, that, can I sign too?"

The Magical Beast Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet Er Lang, having overheard the conversation between Chen Fei and Hanna Gagel, had his eyes bulging out, almost drooling at the prospect.

Wow, such a significant benefit, practically a guaranteed meal ticket.

Its time at the Aircrew Base 911 wasn't short, and it had a good understanding of the strength of both the base and Jiu Defense Company.

Jiu Defense Company was not just some small military contractor. It was on par with even the medium-sized contractors.

That wasn't strange at all, given it was a defense company newly established on the foundation of some assets from the large military contractor Apocalypse Defense Group. Then it had severely drained its old employer, starting with a much stronger foundation than those small contractors who didn't know where their next meal was coming from. Having been through the baptism of corporate warfare, even if it didn't have the best reputation in the industry, it was definitely not viewed as a weakling or a trivial player.

Since the neighbor, Aircrew Base 909, had been targeted, no competitor dared to trouble Jiu Defense Company and Aircrew Base 911.

"You can!" Boss Hanna's right eye twirled as she said cheerfully, "But you have to sign a long-term contract!"

That's my boss for you, killing two birds with one stone and tickling this High-Rank Magical Beast in just the right spot.

Chen Fei secretly gave a thumbs up...

"No problem!"

Magical Beasts that liked straightforward deals usually didn't hesitate. The Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet, a sly old hand in human society, was very shrewd yet agreed without hesitation.

What did it matter where it scraped a living, with food, drink, accommodation, fun, little work pressure, and comprehensive benefits? Why wouldn't it sign a long-term contract?

Sign!

It definitely had to sign.

"The contract starts at ten years!"

Boss Hanna put down her glass and made a cross with her two index fingers.

"No problem!"

Er Lang's tail wagged like a puppy's.

Just ten years, a mere blink of an eye for Magical Beasts that generally had longer lifespans than humans. Time would pass just like that.

"A Magical Beast's word..."

"Is hard to chase as a flying horse!"

This was a local saying from Cangqiong Star, the home of Magical Beasts, which had exchanged influences with the Blue Star civilization.

"Come by tomorrow morning to leave your paw print!"

Magical Beasts couldn't write, but paw prints could still serve as legal evidence. A paw print was as unique as a fingerprint, with a very low probability of repetition.

An alarm rang through the air.

In the middle of the night, there was trouble again.

Boss Hanna remained calm, Chen Fei was used to it, and the Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet kept licking its drink. It was a Level Two combat readiness alarm, nothing to panic about.

Little Bird... What's this alarm about? Continue sneaking drinks...

A ringtone from a cell phone began to play.

Boss Hanna lay lazily on the counter of the small western-style house, her chin propped in one hand, tipsy and saying, "It's not mine!"

"Nor is it mine!"

The Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet looked back at the tactical vest on its back, where the phone was properly inserted in the pocket, neither blinking nor vibrating.

"Then it must be mine!"

Without using the process of elimination, the ringtone alone told him it was his own. Chen Fei took out the phone; it was an internal group number.

"Hello! Who's looking for me?"

"Teacher Shen's school is surrounded again, do you want to go have a look?"

It was the on-duty manager Mahnam's voice, and it just so happened to be his shift.

The Aircrew Base 911 was adjacent to a mountain area school. Was it hard to guess which was the soft target?

In this period, the school in the mountain area had been attacked by mutants more than once.

Fortunately, the distance between the two wasn't far. Chen Fei had built a tall steel wire fence for the school, far sturdier than the one around Rabbit Valley, and left a Third Rank Human Order Dark Shadow Wolf there. Along with the firearms Teacher Shen had, the school was not without the capacity to defend itself; it could hold out until support from the aircrew base arrived.

"Go! We must go!"

When Chen Fei wasn't there, someone else would take over.

But since he was at the aircrew base right now, it was naturally his turn. Mahnam's call was indeed timely.

The savvy Mahnam deserved an extra chicken leg.

"Let's go, Big Cat, time for some exercise!"

Chen Fei didn't forget to grab the nape bloom of the Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet and took off with it in hand.

"Hey, hey, hey, I don't want to exercise, I want to drink!"

Er Lang twisted his body in protest. He was enjoying his drink just fine; how did he end up being conscripted?

A Level Two combat readiness alert wasn't significant enough to require its claws.

"No! Wishful thinking!"

Chen Fei was dragging the Big Cat to the door already.

Pure Light Sparrow Xiao Jiu had been perched on his shoulder from the get-go.

Wherever Chen Fei's father went, it went without question.

"Come back soon!"

Boss Hana waved at the trio—one man, one cat, one little bird.

This kind of combat power combination could strut around in the Xingdu Kush Mountain Area unchallenged. What was there to worry about?

The ones who should be worried were those mutants.

"No, don't, I don't want to!"

The Big Cat was dragged out the door, and soon a large tricycle soared straight up into the sky from right outside the hangar—the kind of aircraft that didn't care for formalities and could take off and land just about anywhere.

Er Lang's voice continued to echo across the sky.
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"Damn it..."

This wasn't a flyer for daycare, it was for elementary school.

The tricycle couldn't compete with turboprop aircraft like the Big Mouth Monster in speed, let alone think about MiG-28s or F-22s.

But it still managed to reach the Aircrew Base's neighbor, the mountain area elementary school, within ten minutes.

"Big Cat, circle around the wire fence and throw some Wind Blades around."

Chen Fei actually strapped the Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet onto the tricycle, intending to use it as a bombing cat.

If this large tricycle had a spirit, it might one day boast about its past glories. "I, too, was once magnificent."

The sight of an aircraft hurling spells at the ground is a privilege usually reserved for National Treasure Artifacts like the Crystal Jet.

"Die, all you annoying creatures!"

The Big Cat was bristling with anger, its spiritual power surged violently, instantly targeting all the mutants on the ground. The strong winds stirred up by the tricycle's main propellers were harnessed to form huge Wind Blades with diameters exceeding ten meters, which fiercely slashed down.

It seemed as though the Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet was venting out all the resentment it had from being dragged away from the bar against those mutants.

Once a High-Rank Magical Beast of the Seventh Human Order gets going, the lethality of its spells is truly terrifying.

Whizz, whizz, whizz... The shrill screams tore through the sky.

"Chirp!"

From the pocket of Chen Fei's coat, where only its little head showed, the Little Bird conjured an Illumination Technique Light Orb the size of a tennis ball. With a gentle peck of its beak, it floated leisurely down, bathing the ground in soft light.

Mutants, as big as calves and clad in scale armor, with long spikes extending from their limbs that seemed perfect for climbing, were shredded by Wind Blades falling from the sky, with their flesh and blood flying everywhere.

The momentum of the Wind Blades did not diminish as they drove into the ground, leaving one deep cut after another, sparing not even the hardest stones.

"Awooo!"

A wolf howl with a whimper rose into the air.

Outside the tall wire fence, a dark figure emerged, stumbling toward the fence. It collided with several mutants along the way, tumbling and scrambling in a most pitiful state.

The still-hovering Light Orb drifted over, kindly illuminating its path.

The shadow turned its head to look up to the sky, its face filled with despair.

The Dark Shadow Wolf, unable to hide under the Light Element's Illumination Technique, clung to the steel wire as thick as fingers, letting out pitiful howls.

"Awooo! Awooo! (Let me in! Let me in!)"

If it weren't for the annoying Light Orb overhead, it would have turned into a shadow and slipped through long ago.

The steel wire fence might stop mutants, but it couldn't stop a Shadow Wolf in its Shadow Transformation.

Chen Fei piloted the oversized tricycle around the fence, and Er Lang's Wind Blades carved a circle on the ground.

The remaining two or three mutants scattered and fled.

Though mutants were fierce, they still hadn't managed to securely hold the top spot in the natural food chain in the wild. Once they lost the advantage of numbers, they quickly became a feast for other carnivores.

Even though the Kush Mountain Area of Xingdu always dealt with mutant disasters, creatures like wolf packs were still surviving quite well.

The Shadow Wolf, having narrowly escaped death, collapsed outside the wire fence, shivering. The tennis ball-sized Light Orb floated right above it.

This job was impossible to do!

The oversized tricycle landed inside the fence, and the school children staying in the school gathered around with lamps and flashlights.

One, two, three, four... Good heavens, all accounted for, plus a dozen or so younger ones. It seemed that home couldn't take care of them, so they were all dropped off at Teacher Shen Fei's place right next to the Aircrew Base.

Taking care of so many kids all day long, Teacher Shen was probably quite exhausted.

"Thank you so much, you've had a hard time," said a person who emerged from among the children, reaching out to Chen Fei with a hand.

It wasn't Teacher Shen. Chen Fei paused, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Who are you?"

He involuntarily dropped the polite form of address.

It looked like someone was trying to encroach on his family's private land...

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