"Let's do it," Zhou Yi immediately flew to meet with Duke Destructive.

"You want to go to the Forbidden Continent?"

Right away, the other side guessed his intention: "Is it for the electric cat?"

Zhou Yi didn't hide it: "There are various reasons. The Warlord has invited me, mentioning that there are Aliens needing Diagnosis and Treatment, and my hand can only be completely healed by him."

"Electric cat is also one of the reasons. But more importantly, we are establishing a school here and need high-quality teachers. I plan to recruit some graduates from Dragon Palace."

"That is actually a good choice. Those who complete the cultivation at Dragon Palace are generally quite profound in their fields."

Duke Destructive warned, "The salaries for advanced learners are very expensive."

Zhou Yi was aware of this.

In this recruitment venture, when he hires Dragon Palace graduates to teach at Mushroom Forest Primary School in Sand Port, along with a formal company structure, the salary definitely has to be higher.

Otherwise, people certainly wouldn't be willing to come.

"As far as I know, those who complete a 4-year primary stage in Dragon Palace demand an annual salary of 20 Light Seeds. Those who complete the secondary stage require 40 Light Seeds and those achieving the third stage need upward of 100 Light Seeds, with no upper limit."

Duke Destructive provided a reference price scale.

Translated, that is Bachelor's 20, Master's 40, and PhD 100+.

That's also manageable.

Even after spending a lot of money to gain control back to the city, Zhou Yi still has over 400,000 Light Seeds in savings; he can afford these salaries.

Duke Destructive said, "Going to the Forbidden Continent, you need to buy a ticket, don't try to go on your own."

Zhou Yi asked, "Not even by self-driving on the sea or flying?"

"If you don't buy a ticket, you won't be able to enter the safe zone. It's more stable to follow the official route. The ticket costs 100 Light Seeds per person, includes a round-trip, and starting from landing, you can stay for 15 days. Once the time is up, the entrants will be sent back to the departure point."

Zhou Yi was curious, "No problem with buying a ticket to get in, but who's in charge of this ticket business?"

"This is part of the operating mechanism of the Forbidden Continent."

Duke Destructive explained, "There's a specific ferry that transports people over. It appears randomly around the Dead Sea, you have to find it to get on board and buy a ticket."

"Some people run this business. They search for the ferry everywhere, buy tickets on board, and then resell them. Once you obtain a ticket and scrape it, the ferry will come to pick you up. To return, just use the remaining half of the ticket."

"It's very convenient; both times I went were like this."

Zhou Yi said, "Then help me buy a ticket. Yuan Xiao and I will go, do you need to bring anyone from your side?"

"No need. I'm used to traveling alone."

Duke Destructive suddenly said, "I've heard that you have connections with Qin Xie of the Dead Sea Knights?"

"Why?"

"You could ask him to come along."

Zhou Yi did not understand, "Does their family also have a power base on the Forbidden Continent?"

"I'm not sure about that," Duke Destructive said. "But his lover, Mrs. Mei, has a certain influence on the Forbidden Continent."

"Among the three wonders there, Meat Mountain, Golden Elephant Valley, and Spark Plain, there's a place called Tri-Branch Slope—although it's called a slope, it's actually a settlement where various businesses are conducted. Tri-Branch Slope is Mrs. Mei's property."

Zhou Yi was startled.

Qin Xie actually has a connection with Mrs. Mei, that sure cuts a lot of corners.

This indeed matches his impression of Qin Xie—he is tremendously eager to progress.

"Who exactly is this Mrs. Mei?"

"I don't know much about her either," Duke Destructive said. "Mrs. Mei has been in control of Tri-Branch Slope for many years."

"That area is within the safe zone where violence is prohibited. However, the controller has certain privileges; they can use some powers of the Forbidden Continent to lock up those who break the rules, or even throw them into the danger zone, preventing them from ever entering again."

"The Forbidden Continent is a very special place, where power manifests the rules. As for the specific mechanisms, only actual controllers like Mrs. Mei know."

"Controllers?" Zhou Yi sharply realized, "There are many local powers there?"

"The Forbidden Continent has a saying of 'Zone 7, Segment 16,' containing seven main regions and connected by sixteen segments; these zones and segments make up the safe zone. They run throughout the entire Forbidden Continent while the areas outside are more dangerous, filled with various monsters and abnormal phenomena."

Duke Destructive introduced, "Mrs. Mei's Tri-Branch Slope is one of those sixteen segments."

Zhou Yi understood.

Mrs. Mei is one of the local territorial powers.

No wonder Duke Destructive mentioned bringing Qin Xie and using Mrs. Mei's connections.

Duke Destructive went on, "Mrs. Mei has been actively involved in external trades for a long time, which also made Tri-Branch Slope more prosperous. Some items inconvenient for open trade in the outside world are auctioned there, and it also produces some special goods that are popular outside."

"The Black Emperor personally made her one of the Governors of the Heavenly Kingdom. The purpose, of course, is to turn Tri-Branch Slope into the empire's black market and backdoor."

Duke Destructive pulled out an enhanced controller, swiped it, and a screen displayed a lady with an exotic appeal, appearing to be in her early thirties.

Mrs. Mei has a sharp face, long eyebrows, and wears a dagger-shaped pendant on her earlobe.

Strikingly beautiful.

Her beauty and gaze had a strong sense of aggression.

It was as if her face said, "Either be my friend, or I'll have you killed."

Zhou Yi thought to himself that Qin Xie really had good taste.

Duke Destructive remarked, "With Mrs. Mei's connections, many things would be easier."

Zhou Yi immediately contacted Qin Xie.

As usual, straight to the point.

"We need Mrs. Mei's connections."

"No problem."

Qin Xie was very straightforward: "I'm familiar with Tri-Branch Slope. But you have to help me install a top-quality Floating Heart for Teddy."

"Alright."

Two days later, Qin Xie and Duke Destructive both arrived at Sand Port, one after the other.

The installation of Teddy's heart was personally undertaken by Liu Chen, and the process went very smoothly.

However, there were faults in the subsequent tests.

The problem was that Teddy was using a second-generation Floating Heart, a technology still in internal testing and not yet publicly released.

The toy bear insisted, "I want the new, not the old. Install this new model! I'll accept any issues; I just want to use the new one!"

The energy efficiency of the second-generation heart had improved from 88% to 92%, but the downside was that it required a proportional mix of sugar and oil as fuel. Its interior divided into left and right chambers, with sugar supplying the overload high-frequency bursts and oil maintaining stable operation most of the time.

After all, this was a new technology, lacking sufficient feedback and optimization, leading to Teddy's reaction: "Sometimes it feels a bit jerky, my body keeps trembling, I just tremble inexplicably, and then I feel numb..."

Thus, the elders conducted further adjustment tests, requiring ongoing observation.

Because of this, Teddy could no longer go to the Forbidden Continent.

Duke Destructive spent every day burrowing into the cat house, his eyes full of longing as he looked at the electric cat, then he would turn to Zhou Yi and point at the electric cat.

Zhou Yi was a bit overwhelmed.

"Alright, alright, if we raise another stable electric cat here, we'll give it to you."

"You said it, remember!" The puppet suddenly grinned in a smile.

Duke Destructive began consulting Tuo Zhu and You Ai, two cat-raising experts, preparing to learn about raising cats for the future.

During this time,

Another incident occurred at the company.

The sent-over demented Panda Man, Tuo Hai, quickly recovered under Sun Hao's Consciousness Puzzle treatment.

Initially, his eyes gradually regained clarity, he slowly stopped drooling, knew to eat by himself, and went to the fixed toilet to defecate. Later on, he remembered his name and realized he had a son.

The entire treatment process lasted a month and finally completed the repair.

"Father, Tuo Hai's consciousness was severely damaged, many parts were completely missing, leading to significant memory loss."

Sun Hao was puzzled, "Normally, consciousness damage is a continuous process, starting from local irreversible fractures extending to many fragments detaching, which leads to partial memory loss."

"But Tuo Hai is different; his consciousness is missing a large chunk, while other parts are minimally damaged... It's as if it was knocked out by an external force or eaten."

Sun Hao was uncertain of the cause.

Ni Ge said, "Bugs have drilled into his brain!"

Zhou Yi's expression turned serious: "But Da Vinci didn't find anything abnormal during the inspection... Could it be that the bugs there are unobservable?"

"No, Mr. Chairman."

The Mud Tree People explained, "The bugs from there parasite, enslave, and manipulate other lives, I've seen this kind of situation."

"The bugs rely on massive numbers, cooperating to produce terrifying power. But individually, they are fragile and cannot penetrate the Space Bubble."

"When Tuo Hai came back here, the bugs in his brain were squeezed to death by the Space Bubble, so that's why there's a part missing in his brain. We've rescued others of our kind in the past who also had this condition."

Tuo Zhu was overwhelmed with gratitude and extremely satisfied: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you to the company! My father is really getting better!"

Due to prolonged energy loss and poor nutrition, Tuo Hai needed a long time for recovery, and his level had also dropped to B-grade.

Zhou Yi and Tuo Hai had several conversations.

"It's better not to remember the past; it also means fewer worries."

The old Panda Man had a great attitude.

He was planting bamboo in Sand Port, practicing Tai Chi, teaching the children how to identify bamboo shoots and make bamboo tools, and sometimes he would play a melodious bamboo flute, living his twilight years gracefully.

Sometimes, the old Panda Man would gaze into Dead Sea during the sunset, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The children knew he had once been an elite warrior of the Heavenly Kingdom, had fought in the Otherworld, and often pestered him, "Panda teacher, teach us to fight and battle! We want to become strong!"

"Yeah, yeah! Teach us! We want to be as great as you!"

The old Panda Man just smiled and shook his head: "No teaching! No teaching!"

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