Chapter 91: Faction Showdown
Although Abner spoke very casually and calmly, Flo, standing beside him, showed a slight change in expression and looked at Abner in great shock. It was obvious he had not expected Abner to plan to do this kind of business.
“Monopolizing the trade route, that is not easy.” Lin Qi was very surprised in his heart, but with the help of the Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique, there was no change in his expression at all. Even his voice was utterly calm, without the slightest fluctuation. “Our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall needs to construct Crimson Moon Mountain, so I am afraid we do not have enough people to do other things.”
Monopolizing a trade route usually meant robbing the transport convoys traveling between cities, allowing only one’s own convoys to pass safely. The profit this brought could be said to be extremely large.
Many enterprises and companies in the suburbs entrusted this kind of transportation work to wilderness gangs. Once a monopoly formed, these suburban enterprises and companies could only choose the wilderness gang that could transport safely, unless they were willing to pay much higher prices to have the suburban gangs transport for them. There were probably very few enterprises and companies willing to bear such a thing.
Competition in trade between cities was extremely intense, often amounting to price wars. If transportation costs rose sharply, prices would naturally skyrocket. By then, goods sold in other cities would struggle to be competitive, so in the end they would only choose those wilderness gangs that could transport safely.
However, monopolizing a trade route required deploying a large amount of manpower. After all, there were many convoys traveling between cities every day. One would have to rob countless convoys. Without sufficient manpower, it was simply impossible.
“Hall Master Lin, you can rest assured on this point.” Abner said with a smile. “I said before, I came to make friends with you. So the trade route between Wanxing City and the City of Light Chasing will be handled by our Magic Star Gang. We will rob those wilderness gang convoys that travel from the City of Light Chasing to Wanxing City.”
“Although our Magic Star Gang cannot rob every convoy, if enough time passes, the wilderness gangs willing to take those jobs will become fewer and fewer. By then, when the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall accepts commissions for journeys to and from Wanxing City, I believe many companies and enterprises will come to you.”
“Then what can our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall do for the Magic Star Gang?” Lin Qi also smiled and could not help looking at the more than two and a half meter tall Abner in front of him.
A one-sided monopoly like this was no good for the Magic Star Gang at all. It would even cause the wilderness gangs of the City of Light Chasing to become hostile toward them in the future and subject the Magic Star Gang’s convoys bound for the City of Light Chasing to various attacks. It could be said to be a thankless effort.
In this high martial arts world, gangs never moved without profit. He did not believe in something that brought only disadvantages and no benefits.
Abner looked at Lin Qi and said a little cautiously, “After I arrived at Crimson Moon Mountain, I took a great liking to the place. So I hope that Hall Master Lin can allow our Magic Star Gang to establish a large shop and a large warehouse here. We will only sell no more than ten kinds of goods unique to Wanxing City, and will seek nothing else.”
The profit of the transit market was enormous. Once it was up and running, they could put Wanxing City’s special goods on sale there at lower prices. By then, a large number of vagrants from the City of Light Chasing would definitely buy there, instead of hauling Wanxing City’s goods to the City of Light Chasing without being qualified to sell them.
Although wilderness nomads did not earn many bits, their numbers were far greater than the residents in the cities, so there was no need to worry that the special goods of Wanxing City would lack sales channels.
However, doing this would create a huge problem: it would encroach upon the interests of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. After all, the hall had finally created a transit market that could profit from wilderness nomads from both cities. Once the Magic Star Gang sold Wanxing City’s special goods, it would naturally impact the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s sale of Wanxing City’s goods.
So Abner did not dare to ask for much. Ten types of special goods from Wanxing City, compared with the hundreds of special goods there, were only a very small portion.
“If this is your request,” Lin Qi paused, hiding the joy in his heart, then said, “I can agree, but only for ten special goods with low prices.”
He did indeed plan to profit from nomads from both cities, but at present the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall did not have enough manpower and funds to go to Wanxing City for procurement and then bring the goods back to Crimson Moon Mountain for sale. In fact, it was already good enough that they could hold on to this little piece of Crimson Moon Mountain.
If someone was willing to come open a shop at Crimson Moon Mountain, making its market more prosperous and attracting more vagrants, he would not even have time to thank them enough.
“Many thanks, Hall Master Lin.” After hearing this, Abner could not help but lightly clench his fist. Once this deal was made, his status in the Magic Star Gang would soar, and he personally would be able to skim off quite a lot. “As for monopolizing the trade route, I will start taking action as soon as I return this time. I believe I will soon give Hall Master Lin a satisfactory result.”
“Alright, this is the trade area map of Crimson Moon Mountain.” Lin Qi nodded, took out the map of Crimson Moon Mountain he had drawn for the players yesterday, and pointed to an area away from the mine. “In these locations, you may choose any two plots of land to build your shop and warehouse. Once you are satisfied with your choice, just inform me before construction.”
“All these areas are available?” Abner saw the areas on the map where shops could be built and was full of surprise. He had not expected Lin Qi to offer up locations near the mountain path. These were excellent spots, usually reserved for one’s own people and not given out to other factions.
But when Abner looked at Lin Qi, whose lips were curved into a slight smile, he suddenly understood what Lin Qi meant.
It was that the Magic Star Gang had to work hard, and only if they performed well could they keep these excellent shop locations. If they did poorly or their cooperation broke down, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could reclaim those shops at any time, leaving the Magic Star Gang with nothing but the view.
“The person in charge of this Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is indeed not simple. No wonder he can be in charge at such a young age.” Watching Lin Qi leave to transport energy ore, Abner’s evaluation of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall rose by several degrees. He decided that the people sent to Crimson Moon Mountain in the future must be smart and quick-witted, and must not displease Lin Qi, or they would not even know how they died.
As the sunset sank, Lin Qi rushed back to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall with the first batch of energy ore before nightfall.
When Lin Qi returned, he saw that the training ground of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was filled with players cultivating the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, looking just like real martial arts hall disciples.
At the very front of the training ground stood a humanoid robot more than two meters tall, the Coach B6 training machine that had been a system reward.
This Coach B6 training machine could be called the best companion for newbies. It could instruct up to twenty people at once in the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique, with an effect no worse than real-person guidance. It could detect various problems players had at the first moment and give correct instructions.
This method, which could promptly help players correct errors in their cultivation method, not only allowed newcomer players to increase their proficiency in the method more quickly, but also let Lin Qi harvest the players once more: any player who wanted to speed up had to pay a tuition fee of one hundred points per hour, essentially paying to accelerate their progress.
Of course, the Coach B6 training machine was not without drawbacks. For the cultivation method it recorded and taught, it could only help players reach the initial proficient level. After that it could no longer provide instruction, and further improvement would depend on the players themselves.
Even so, it made the newcomer players at the time rejoice. They had not expected such welfare for newcomers.
But before the newcomers could be happy for long, they discovered that in the new version of the martial arts hall there were very few remaining ways to obtain points and contribution. For newcomer players, the only options left were digging holes and farming, or helping veteran players harvest blood essence rice. The veterans would reward them with some points, which counted as an extra way to earn points, but compared to previous veteran players, the acquisition of points was still far too little.
Only by reaching apprentice-level as soon as possible and heading to the new map could they earn points and contribution more efficiently.
Because of this, the veteran players at the time felt somewhat relieved, as their previous efforts had not been in vain.
Just after Lin Qi issued a few tasks to the newcomers to carry energy ore, his advanced smart watch on his wrist suddenly chimed with an incoming communication. The caller was Luo Qi.
“Have you chosen the new store?” Lin Qi answered with a smile.
Just two days ago, he had persuaded Luo Qi to become the shop owner of the suburban store, specifically to manage the processing work of future wilderness harvests.
Originally, he had planned to leave this to the players, but considering that players could only understand the human race language and were unfamiliar with many things in the City of Light Chasing, Luo Qi was undoubtedly the best choice.
She was not only a mechanic familiar with all kinds of materials and goods, but also a formal resident who had lived for many years in the suburbs of the City of Light Chasing and was fluent in multiple languages. She was simply the perfect candidate for shop owner.
“I have chosen it. It is a three-story building in a busy commercial district, with a monthly rent of one hundred thousand bits,” Luo Qi said.
“A three-story shop in a busy district for only one hundred thousand?” Lin Qi was quite surprised. He had not expected Luo Qi to be able to secure such a cheap shop. Normally, even a single-story shop in the suburbs would cost ten to twenty thousand, and you could not possibly get one in a busy area for less than thirty or forty thousand, let alone a three-story building.
“We can call it a bargain. The owner of the shop had an accident, leaving only a mother and daughter. To avoid trouble, they want to rent it out quickly.” Luo Qi nodded, then sighed, her tone somewhat helpless. “But today I also heard some rather bad news while asking around in the suburbs.”
“What news?” Lin Qi asked curiously.
“I heard from a friend who works at a suburban enterprise that very few enterprises and companies in the suburbs of the City of Light Chasing plan to commission the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Even the ones that do are all extremely dangerous transport routes. All of this is because the White Feather Gang has been spreading the word among those many suburban companies and enterprises that if any company or enterprise commissions the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, then the White Feather Gang will no longer accept that company’s commissions,” Luo Qi said worriedly.
Without commission transportation from these suburban companies and enterprises, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would not be able to bring back special goods from other cities or towns along the way to sell at the suburban shop.
And for the top fifty wilderness gangs, their main income came from the sale profit of these special goods. If that disappeared, their income would drop by at least thirty percent.
But the most crucial problem was that her shop would have nothing to sell…
