Black Shark retreated, but his eyes held a hint of schadenfreude.
Chu Tian felt utterly embarrassed.
Were these two truly greedy, or were they escalating their extortion?
One was black-hearted enough, and the other was doubling down.
It was like playing landlord...
Honestly, Chu Tian had lived two lives.
He had never done anything so shameless.
Even when he killed people, he always found a reason...
But this little black guy here, he didn't care about reason.
Someone just had to hum, and they demanded five million.
Black Shark was even worse. Hearing that the "Hua Ge" from the Qinghua Hotel indicated he wouldn't interfere, he directly escalated.
He specifically named several people, telling Xiao Hei that their net worth was in the billions.
Xiao Hei was even more ruthless. While saying they shouldn't go too far, he asked for ten billion per head.
These two together were simply a perfect match of wolf and jackal...
Xiao Hei possessed astonishing strength, while Black Shark was incredibly cunning.
When Xiao Hei mentioned ten billion, everyone present was stunned.
But upon hearing his subsequent statement, countless people surged forward.
Zhou Lao, who had been standing at the forefront facing Xiao Hei, along with his three bishop-level esper followers,
Their faces turned ashen, filled with resentment.
At this moment, they were suddenly pushed to the back by the surging crowd.
...
In just a few minutes, more than half of the people gathered at the entrance of the Qinghua Hotel had dispersed.
Only about a dozen big shots remained, along with their escorts.
These dozen or so individuals were the ones Black Shark had specifically named.
They were the ones Xiao Hei had demanded a ten billion 'toll' from.
"Come on, pay up, or you can pay with your lives!"
Xiao Hei bared his pearly white teeth.
Beside him, Black Shark of the black market held a card swiping machine,
The amount had already been entered.
His expression was one of excitement...
Why wouldn't he be excited? He had already received money for 74 heads.
That amounted to 370 million!
Just standing there, he had received 370 million in mere minutes.
How could he not be thrilled?
He thought about his Black Shark mercenary group.
After years of effort and investing in weapons and equipment, all their expenses amounted to about eight to nine hundred million.
After deducting all that, what was left in his hands wasn't much.
His personal account only held tens of millions.
Black Shark waited for the people in front of him to pay.
These were the very same people who had previously put a high price on his head.
If he didn't fleece them now, it would be a complete injustice.
The remaining dozen people wore grim expressions.
They stood in a stalemate for a while.
Xiao Hei was not in a hurry.
Chu Tian remained silent, his spiritual consciousness no longer focused on the immediate scene.
His spiritual consciousness was following Miss Jing'er, the singer.
After she went backstage, she proceeded up the stairs to the highest floor of the hotel.
Chu Tian had initially assumed she was going to meet someone. He didn't believe this "Hua Ge" was the true owner of the Qinghua Hotel.
However, as his spiritual consciousness followed Jing'er to the top floor,
Suddenly, the woman turned and glanced in Chu Tian's direction.
This glance seemed to meet Chu Tian's gaze.
"Hmm? Discovered?"
At that moment, the woman offered a faint smile towards Chu Tian's location.
Her smile conveyed disdain.
The next moment, she opened a room door.
Finally, she pursed her lips at Chu Tian.
Just as Chu Tian was about to extend his spiritual consciousness further,
At this very moment!
*Dong...*
His divine sense felt as if it had slammed into a wall.
Chu Tian felt as if he had hit a truck with his head.
A tremendous rebound force caused his divine sense to retreat like a tide.
A slight stinging sensation appeared in Chu Tian's mind.
"Is the top floor constructed with soul-proof material?"
The instant Chu Tian's divine sense was repelled,
He immediately expanded its coverage, encompassing the entire top floor.
He discovered that there were no openings through which his divine sense could penetrate.
The Qinghua Hotel had five floors in total.
The lower four floors were normal structures.
However, the entire fifth floor was constructed entirely from materials designed to prevent divine sense detection.
It appeared normal from the outside.
That was because a layer of ordinary building material had been applied externally.
Chu Tian mused,
"Holy hell, is it really that extravagant?
They're richer than the Luo family!
Although the Le family also had buildings constructed with soul-detection-resistant materials,
Chu Tian's previous spiritual consciousness could slowly penetrate that kind of material.
After so long, having gone to the Sea of Death and spent a full 8 years!
He had also experienced the Heart Demon Tribulation!
He had faced life and death!
His soul had mutated into a spiritual consciousness possessing the power of infinite energy!
Yet, he couldn't even penetrate this material one bit!
Is this thing a product of Blue Star?"
Chu Tian harbored doubts.
Because this substance did not exist in the elemental table of Blue Star.
Just as Chu Tian reached this thought,
He suddenly made an unexpected discovery.
He seemed to have encountered this element somewhere before.
It was...
Back when he was ascending the tribulation on Deng Xian Island, east of the East Sea.
An envoy from some Divine Sea Palace had come.
After being reduced to dust by him, a token had fallen from his body.
That token bore a string of numbers.
It should have been that envoy's identity token.
The material used for the fifth floor of the Qinghua Hotel now,
Was it identical to that token?
"Could this Qinghua Hotel be related to the Divine Sea Palace?"
Thinking of this, Chu Tian's brow furrowed tightly.
The Divine Sea Palace bore a great grudge against him.
During the battle outside Whale Fall City in the Merfolk Kingdom at the bottom of the sea,
Although the Divine Sea Palace did not directly participate in that battle,
The weapon held by the leader of the giant toothed sharks was provided by the Divine Sea Palace.
Without the involvement of the Divine Sea Palace, how would the sea creatures who originally belonged to the merfolk kingdom dare to rebel?
If they hadn't rebelled, how would Luo Luo have been captured?
If Luo Luo hadn't been captured, he wouldn't have gone down.
And there wouldn't have been that battle.
His father, whom he had only recently learned the identity of, wouldn't have been gravely injured while saving him, nearly dying.
If it weren't for his mother, the冥主 (Underworld Lord/Mistress),
Overcoming all obstacles.
Coming to Blue Star.
And guiding him to transform that dark jade into the Underworld Jade Ghost Head Coffin.
His father might have already gone to find his mother.
More importantly, Chu Tian knew the dangers of the Underworld.
At the bridgehead upon first entering the Underworld,
It was uncertain whether his father could even cross.
The one guarding the bridgehead specialized in harvesting powerful soul energy.
His father would surely become a target upon reaching there.
That bridge seemed specifically designed to harvest the souls of the strong,
Preventing the souls of the powerful from passing to the Gate of Ghosts.
Chu Tian thought of this.
Suddenly, he harbored a sense of animosity towards this Qinghua Hotel.
Everything related to the Divine Sea Palace was his enemy.
Chu Tian's gaze instantly turned incomparably cold.
His soul power, which had recovered in his mind,
Mixed with infinite energy.
He instantly mobilized it.
Preparing to use a soul skill to directly blast through the walls of the fifth floor of the Qinghua Hotel.
However, at this moment.
He suddenly felt someone pat him.
"Boss!"
Chu Tian's attention was completely elsewhere.
Suddenly feeling someone pat him,
The soul power in his mind
Instantly trembled, almost erupting.
But he heard the voice.
It was Xiao Hei.
Chu Tian quickly suppressed the soul power that was about to erupt.
"What are you doing..."
Chu Tian was interrupted by him.
Instantly, he let out an enraged shout!