Benjamin Reed wore a professional smile at the corner of his mouth, stepped aside and gestured, “It’s my honor, Mr. Carter, please come in.”

With a seasoned sales manager like Benjamin Reed leading the way, Brian Carter was indeed spared a lot of effort. He simply described his mother’s preferences, and Benjamin Reed immediately drew up a gift list and handed it to Brian Carter. “According to your requirements, Mr. Carter, I believe any one of these three items would make a satisfactory birthday gift for your mother.”

A GFF Maglev Car Company’s New Year limited edition B56 maglev sports car; a Dong Dafu Jewelry limited edition blue-gold necklace, with three extremely rare royal blue diamonds set in the pendant; a nano ring imported from a level-seven civilization, which, although it only has 0. square meters of storage space, is an ultra-advanced technological product that a level-five civilization cannot manufacture at all—one of those rare treasures that money alone may not be able to buy.

“My mom spends all day at the First Research Institute, so she wouldn’t need a sports car… She’s grown up, and apart from her wedding ring, I’ve never seen her wear any other jewelry…” Using the process of elimination, Brian Carter quickly ruled out the first two options and said decisively to Benjamin Reed, “I’ll buy the nano ring.”

Once Brian Carter made his decision, Benjamin Reed was secretly pleased. After all, he didn’t rely solely on a fixed salary; most of a sales manager’s income depended on the purchasing power of his clients. The price of the nano ring was much higher than the other two items, so naturally, his commission would be higher as well.

“Please wait here for a moment, Mr. Carter, I’ll go fetch the item.” Since the nano ring was a rare product, even in the VIP customer area it wasn’t displayed openly. After seeing Brian Carter nod, Benjamin Reed quickly walked off to retrieve it.

Brian Carter stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window, gazing at the bright sunlight outside. He couldn’t help but stretch lazily toward the sky, when suddenly, he caught sight of an extremely dazzling little flash.

In less than half a second, the five-layer reinforced high-titanium steel glass was pierced by a falling metal shard from above. That shard, only about a third the size of a fingernail, happened to shoot straight through the titanium glass and into the center of Brian Carter’s forehead.

Brian Carter didn’t even have time to cry out in pain; he just felt darkness before his eyes and immediately lost consciousness.

The loud crash of the titanium steel window shattering startled everyone in the VIP shopping area, including Benjamin Reed, who had just come out with the nano ring.

“Mr. Carter, what’s wrong… Hurry, get him to the hospital! Oh my god! This is a customer with a Crown VIP Gold Card!”

Chapter Four Brian Carter’s Parents

After such a major incident, Qinmei Shopping Center responded quickly, sending the unconscious Liam Carter to the Zujin Federal Hospital, the city’s best-equipped and most highly staffed facility, as fast as possible.

On the operating table, the most skilled surgeon at Zujin Hospital was performing emergency surgery on Brian Carter, while more and more people gathered in the waiting area outside.

At first, only a few managers from Qinmei Shopping Center were present. After learning of Brian Carter’s identity, Benjamin Reed promptly notified his parents and school. Although this was truly an accident, the fact that Brian Carter was injured at Qinmei Shopping Center was indisputable. In a sense, Qinmei had to bear full responsibility.

If Brian Carter were just an ordinary federal citizen, it would be nothing more than paying some medical bills and convalescence expenses. But when Benjamin Reed contacted his parents using the information from Brian Carter’s ID card, his heart leapt into his throat, and he immediately reported the incident up the chain to the current executive president of Qinmei headquarters.

Normally, such overstepping would not be well received, but this time, the executive president immediately affirmed Benjamin Reed’s actions, personally rushed to Zujin Federal Hospital, and even issued an order in advance via Skynet intercom: “All of Brian Carter’s medical expenses will be covered by Qinmei, and the best doctors in the city, or even the country, must be brought in to treat him. There must be no negligence. Before I arrive at the hospital, no one is to make any rash decisions.”

From the executive president’s attitude, it was clear that Brian Carter’s identity was truly intimidating.

When Brian Carter’s father, Kevin Carter, arrived at the hospital, Benjamin Reed immediately and respectfully recounted the entire incident and repeatedly expressed Qinmei’s deep apologies.

Kevin Carter was silent for a moment, then immediately connected to Skynet. Ten minutes later, he disconnected, his gaze fixed on the communication light outside the operating room. Knowing that this middle-aged man before him was the president of one of the Federation’s top ten companies—Tianxing Mining—Benjamin Reed dared not utter another word.

Another half hour passed. The signal light outside the operating room turned green, and the doors opened. Kevin Carter rushed forward at once and asked the chief surgeon, “How is my son now?”

The doctor showed a strange expression and said, “The surgery was generally successful. Once the anesthesia wears off, he should wake up. However…”

“There are aftereffects?” Kevin Carter frowned.