Shawn Miller wiped down a chair with his sleeve, smiling so hard his eyes nearly disappeared.

  “Of course, of course. Mr. Evan, please—let’s sit and talk.”

  “No need.” Evan waved him off, cutting straight to the point. “Old Xu, just tell me what EvolutionTech is willing to pay for this fourth?tier extract. If the price works, I’ll sell. If not, I’ll take it to the next buyer.”

  He wasn’t bluffing.

  The Organization could track the vial.

  Once they shook off Fante Zhang, they’d come straight for him.

  Shawn Miller nodded quickly. “Mr. Evan is refreshingly direct. In that case, allow me to run a full scan first. Then I’ll give you an official quote.”

  Under Evan’s watchful gaze, Shawn Miller placed the emerald?glowing vial into a complex diagnostic machine.

  A few seconds later, the screen lit up with the results:

  Abyssal Shadowfiend Extract

  Tier: Fourth?Tier, Grade B

  Potential Skills: Shadowmeld, Night Assault, Fear of the Dark…

  Evan’s heart skipped.

  A fourth?tier B?grade.

  Already considered high?quality.

  EvolutionTech’s grading system ran from S → E.

  Same tier, different grades — the price gap could be hundreds or thousands of times.

  Liam Zhao’s Giant?Strength Ant and Rhino Charge extracts were S?grade.

  Burrow?rat and Spray?frog extracts? E?grade trash.

  Shawn Miller, meanwhile, looked like he’d just won the lottery.

  He’d worked in this tiny Blackrock City branch for over a decade.

  The best he’d ever handled was a third?tier extract.

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  Fourth?tier? Never.

  Fourth?tier B?grade? A career?making miracle.

  As for where the extract came from?

  He couldn’t care less.

  If EvolutionTech didn’t buy it, LifePharm would swallow it whole without blinking.

  And once EvolutionTech swallowed something, it never came back out.

  Across the entire Linhua Continent, only a handful of forces could make EvolutionTech hesitate — and none of the six nations were on that list.

  “Mr. Evan, one moment. I’ll report this to headquarters.”

  He hurried to his computer, spoke rapidly with someone on the other end, then returned with a glowing smile.

  “Good news. Headquarters has approved the highest possible offer. You may choose your preferred payment method:

  Option 1 — Linhua Credits (LC): 110 billion LC

  Option 2 — EvolutionTech Points: 1,000,000 points

  (1 point = 10,000 LC)

  Evan kept his expression calm, but inside—

  Holy hell. I’m rich.

  He’d thought two hundred million was a fortune.

  Now he realized that wasn’t even a fraction of a fraction of a fourth?tier extract’s worth.

  He finally understood:

  Fourth?tier extracts weren’t commodities.

  They were strategic resources — the key for Butterfly?tier evolutionists to ascend to Saint?tier.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  “Points.”

  EvolutionTech points were hard currency among high?tier evolutionists.

  Money could buy nothing past second?tier extracts.

  Third?tier required massive markups.

  Fourth?tier? Points only.

  If he took the 110 billion LC, he still couldn’t buy a single fourth?tier extract.

  But with points — he could buy anything EvolutionTech offered.

  Shawn Miller nearly burst with excitement.

  “Mr. Evan, do you have a registered EvolutionTech account? I’ll have headquarters credit the points immediately.”

  “I’d prefer not to use my real identity.”

  “No problem!” Shawn Miller slapped his chest. “We respect client privacy. For customers like you, we offer anonymous VIP accounts. I’ll prepare one right away.”

  While Shawn Miller handled the paperwork, Evan browsed EvolutionTech’s online store.

  Fourth?tier B?grade extracts:

  950,000 points

  1,100,000 points

  A million?point buyout price was… surprisingly fair.

  Moments later, Shawn Miller returned with a sleek black VIP card.

  “Use this card for all purchases, online or in?store. Since it’s anonymous, please remember your password — resetting it is extremely troublesome.”

  “Got it.” Evan pocketed the card. “Now take me to your first?tier extracts.”

  Evan just traded danger for power — and walked out with a million points to his name. Not bad for someone who started the day running for his life.

  Now I’m curious:

  If you suddenly had a million EvolutionTech points, what would you buy first — power, protection, or something completely unexpected?