Chapter 147: The Forum Exploded

The owner of the Linkcom Company was not the owner of the entire corporation, but rather the proprietor of this specific building. He partnered with the Linkcom headquarters to handle sales, sharing in the final profits.

Listening to his subordinate's report, the owner, a man named Kudo Taio, wore an expression that suggested he had long since seen right through them.

He sat in an antique chair carved from dark wood, a small, burning brownish-grey stick clamped in his mouth. Reclining lazily, he said, "Speak clearly. What on earth is going on? Do not lie. One must remain calm and composed when facing adversity; any problem can be solved."

"Boss, I..."

"Wait."

Kudo Taio took a drag from the brownish stick, looking leisurely. "Take a moment to catch your breath and organize your thoughts. What's done is done, so we might as well give some thought to a solution."

"Oh, oh."

Hearing the boss's words, the salesperson gradually slowed her breathing and calmed down. "The boss is truly the boss, after all."

"Naturally."

Kudo Taio said in a steady tone, "If one day you reach my level of detachment, you will be your own bosses. Tell me, what is actually happening?"

Taking a deep breath, the salesperson began, "It's nothing major, really. Just that a customer came into our building and took away all the communication gas orbs."

What?!

Hearing this, the brownish stick fell from Kudo Taio's mouth, landing squarely on his trousers and burning a hole through them with a sizzle.

His semi-reclined posture instantly snapped upright in the chair, and he trembled as he asked, "Is what you just said true? You aren't lying to fool me? All the communication gas orbs flew up and were taken away by a single person?"

Those were all money! They were the fruit of his blood and sweat!

He had genuinely thought the salesperson was just spouting nonsense.

"Yes, indeed."

At this moment, the salesperson's tone was extremely relaxed. She figured the boss was truly a boss; even an issue of this magnitude couldn't ruffle his emotions. His state of mind was simply supreme.

She was full of admiration.

Smiling, she said, "Boss, it's true. All the communication gas orbs were taken away by that one customer. Oh, and it wasn't just the communication gas orbs—all the similar products flew away too! Haha, it was so magnificent."

Inside the building, every single product of that kind had spontaneously flown into the air, converging toward Orochimaru. Everyone inside the building was dumbfounded.

Various miscellaneous products formed neat queues, even taking the elevator—a truly spectacular sight.

Someone, thinking nobody was paying attention, looked left and right, wanting to steal a few from the neatly lined-up products.

However, the moment they reached out their hands, they seemed to touch an invisible membrane that blocked them completely.

Their eyes widened, and a shiver ran through their hearts. This was the work of an immensely powerful individual; they had better not stir up trouble, lest they offend an existence they could not afford to provoke.

The salesperson continued happily, "Boss, if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you wouldn't believe it—those products even queued up to take the elevator!"

Kudo Taio was dumbfounded, his face as dark as the bottom of a wok. Listening to the salesperson's relaxed tone and her bell-like laughter, how could it sound so grating to his ears?!

His darkened expression instantly flushed crimson, as if he were being boiled alive. A surge of fury erupted from his chest, and he bellowed, "Take the elevator, your sister! Hurry up and fix this for me..."

A torrent of roars followed...

...

Inside the building, the communication gas orbs and similar products formed a queue and entered Orochimaru's glabella. Orochimaru kept his eyes half-closed, his expression placid.

To Torre Misuzu, who stood nearby watching this scene, Orochimaru appeared utterly domineering. And this was Linkcom Company they were dealing with!

As one of the top ten corporations doing business across the entire universe, their influence and strength were so immense that even the ten cosmic races would not provoke them without cause.

Yet he loved it. A man like this was worthy of his loyalty!

He remained by Orochimaru's side to guard him, preventing anyone from harboring malicious intentions toward Orochimaru.

There were many powerhouses in the universe. Aside from universally recognized figures like Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke, one had to actually fight the others to know their true worth.

Three individuals carrying large sabers and bearing faces resembling monkfish set their sights on Orochimaru.

Drawing the heavy blades from their backs with cold smirks, they prepared to make a move on Orochimaru and plunder the products amid the chaos!

"Stop right there!"

Seeing the three monkfish-people rush forward, Torre Misuzu shouted sternly. His hands transformed into snake tails, whipping through the air like lashes.

"A Snake-Head clansman? Just the single one of you won't be enough!"

The three monkfish-people cast cold gazes, completely unfazed.

Someone in the crowd recognized these three monkfish-people as notorious plunderers across several nearby star systems: the Monkfish Trio!

"Run for your lives! It's actually the Monkfish Trio!"

"Wherever the Monkfish Trio goes, not a blade of grass survives. We're finished, we're completely finished!"

"They actually set their sights on this place!"

"..."

...

The Monkfish Trio possessed formidable strength. Even though Torre Misuzu had been enhanced, he was no match for the three of them and was sent flying straight away.

With mocking smirks, they charged toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru kept his eyes closed, paying the Monkfish Trio no mind whatsoever.

Within his consciousness, he was multitasking, processing the communication gas orbs.

Over the past few days, he had been researching the communication gas orbs and had basically figured out their underlying principles. This was the very reason he had taken action to collect them.

He now possessed the strength to assemble them.

Once he established an autonomous genjutsu network base, operating would become significantly more convenient.

The Monkfish Trio leaped into the air, raising their massive sabers to slash downward from above. Orochimaru didn't even open his eyes; only the middle finger of his right hand twitched slightly.

It looked as though he was about to snap his fingers, but the finger never actually met the thumb—this was a finger-snapping technique belonging to a race called the Purp-Pups.

That race practiced a cultivation method passed down from Earth, and through a back door, Orochimaru had mastered the art.

Yet dealing with the Monkfish Trio did not warrant a full finger-snap, so he merely flicked his middle finger slightly.

While still mid-air, with triumphant and greedy smiles still plastered across their faces, the Monkfish Trio abruptly turned to ash and vanished.

"What?!"

"The Monkfish Trio are dead?"

"Just like that, they died so easily?"

"..."

The onlookers were shaken to their core. This unremarkable-looking man was vastly more powerful than the Monkfish Trio!

At the same time, a scene like this was not only playing out in this building; across the entire planet, every building that sold communication gas orbs and similar products was being graced by Orochimaru's presence.

These were Orochimaru's shadow clones. He had long since split off tens of thousands of shadow clones to purchase the communication gas orbs, though the process had been somewhat turbulent.

...

After ending his communication with the salesperson, Kudo Taio immediately contacted the Linkcom headquarters. The losses this time were astronomical; he could not bear them all by himself. The Linkcom headquarters had to be dragged into this.

Once the connection went through, he immediately cried out, "It's a catastrophe! A disaster! Someone is robbing us! I'm bankrupt! This isn't my fault, it's an act of God, you have to compensate me..."

"What? Not just me, but the entire planet as well?"

Kudo Taio felt a shock in his heart, followed immediately by a surge of relief. So it wasn't just his establishment that had been plundered; there were countless others sharing his fate.

For some inexplicable reason, his heart felt somewhat balanced.

"Oh, oh, oh! I'll go check the forum right now!"

Disconnecting the call, Kudo Taio logged into the forum and discovered that someone had already uploaded the footage. The entire forum had completely exploded.