During the next three days, the Imperial family proceeded with the redevelopment.
The Emperor, who was impressed with the performance of the attack helicopter, announced the project right on the following day of the public trial.
Instead of restoring the neighborhood, they started developing exactly how the second prince prophesized. It's too bad that the original owners won't be getting back their properties.
The residents who were living in the neighborhood were shifted to different commercial districts and were compensated for their loss.
Instead, the plots around the Genesis store were given to the auction house so that they will be bought by the wealthy traders and businessmen to develop inns and high-quality stores and turn this particular area into an Elite neighborhood that specifically belonged to commoners.
Of course, Mark knew that it will take a while for everything to turn into a normal business neighborhood but surprisingly, the ruins still weren't cleared. The work was too slow compared to what he expected.
The main reason for it is none other than the Song Clan. The Clan oversees the ministry of Public works and its minister is Song Yun, who might have written off the debts officially but his grudge only increased.
This means that Song Clan won't try to deliberately provoke Mark or his Android assistants but Song Yun can still make trouble for him, legally through indirect means.
For example, making the redevelopment too slow so that Mark gets fewer customers, and in turn, face losses. In reality, both the Song Clan knows that it's an act of petty revenge as this move wouldn't do anything to Mark. The latter can just shift his home to some other neighborhood and open the store there.
However, officials of the Public works ministry were confident that it will at least annoy their minister's enemy. And in case Mark really moves into another neighborhood, then, it would also make it seem like Mark ran away and maybe, the minister will reward them.
And by coincidence, during the three days, Mark didn't step out of the store, and neither did he bother to open the store. The officials working there thought that Mark might really leave the place but they didn't know that the main reason behind the closure of the store is the system upgrade.
Because of it, the ultimate defense skill is also not available. To make sure that people won't find out, he closed the store, even putting up a notice outside that he'll be cultivating close doors.
Meanwhile, Allen attended the spar sessions at the Lin Mansion as usual but as Mark forgot to take out enough weapons from the inventory, he made a request through Allen that the goods will be received 3 days later and he will also receive money when they were delivered.
Lin Xue never had an interest in those weapons. So, she readily agreed to it. Maybe, Mark defending Song Yue affected her impression a little bit. At the very least, she didn't look at him negative way like before.
On the other hand, Song Yue wasn't heard or seen ever since she left with her father. Despite losing against Mark, her father was reinstated as the minister of public works as well as the Patriarch of the Song Clan. As Song Yun took over his duties once again, the family left Bai Mansion and shifted to their guest house.
Meanwhile, the elders who were surprised that he possessed a Semi-Divine weapon, all along, questioned him. If the staff belongs to the clan, then, he's obligated to tell them. But, if he acquires it by another way privately, even then, Song Yun must at least inform them in case he used clan funds or their properties.
Song Yun gave them a shocking reply that it was handed to him by his mother.
His statement surprised many people, including Bai Xun because Song Yun's mother belonged to Bai Clan, which is just a minor noble clan. Some were curious about how did a member of the Bai Clan manage to get their hands on a Semi-Divine weapon and the others assumed that Song Yun was just trying to use it as an excuse to hide its origins.
While this was going on, Mark received a summon from the palace about honoring him with a title for his service but Alina informed them that her master who is busy in close door cultivation for the next three days doesn't want a title as a reward.
Instead, he wished for a materialistic reward like a large estate in the outskirts so that their firearms manufacturer can direct manufacture there, thereby, reducing the transportation time.
The message was passed from Alina to the messenger of the palace.
Mark's request was well received by the Emperor who intended to form a friendship with him so that one day, the Empire might receive more than a few flying machines like the one that defeated Song Yun and Sui Rong or atleast powerful weapon like the Battle tank that demolished the Song Clan.
With the crown prince being house arrested and absent in the courtroom, no one dared to protest against the Emperor's decision to reward Mark, a huge estate, somewhere nearby the Imperial City.
Unfortunately, even that comes under the authority of the Public works ministry. As Song Yun knew that he can't defeat Mark, once again, he decided to take petty revenge in the form of choosing a location.
The Emperor knew of these matters but Song Yun was close to him, perhaps the closest of the six ministers. He was also aware of the loyalty of the Song Clan towards the throne. Song Clan is one of the first allies that joined Shang Yating to overthrow the Xia dynasty and form the Phoenix Empire.
So, he was lenient on them. As for Mark, he decided to compensate with the land area size.
It was around 11, with only a few hours left till the upgrade completes. Allen was supposed to finish his sparring session with Lin Xue and is probably on his way. In the upstairs, Mark and Alina sat on the floor with a board between them. On the board, there were several black and white stones with white only half the number of the black stones.
Mark's face doesn't look good and Alina was smiling as if she was enjoying it.
*Tin*
Alina placed another black go stone, taking out three of his white stones, "Big Brother, your turn."
He took the white stone and looked all over the board, "Ugh, fine, you win."
"Yay…" As Alina cheered with a high pitch, Mark mumbled to himself, "These Chinese games are tough to understand."
Alina, who heard Mark, quickly stood up on her feet and went towards the shelves before returning with another board and box, "Big Brother, we can play Chess, the one you are familiar with."
"Forget it, we already played three times and I don't want to be destroyed once again." Mark let out a sigh as he lies on the floor and looked at the ceiling. "I guess I'm too used to creating bullets. I feel bored. I can't even go outside due to the fear of ambush."
Seeing that, Alina went into trance for a moment, "Searching the database for the ways to relieve boredom for a man."
0s and 1s appeared in her eyes for a second before she spoke out, "found entries, the top solution, Erotic Adventures of Lai Ben Shan volume 2, page 32, page 43, page 46, page 57, page 65, page 78, page 79, and page 96. The best way for a man to relieve boredom is…"
In the next second, Mark's eyes widened as he stuttered pointing at this female Android, "you… you… what are you doing?"
