Chapter 310 - Intelligence from the Golden Chamber of Commerce
Yang Yi checked the listings in his online store and, after confirming that there were no issues, contacted Shen Guanquan to complete yesterday's transaction.
“There’s a newly listed single-soldier rocket launcher, but there are only five rockets in total. Do you want it? I can sell it to you at a discounted price of 30,000 Shell Coins. The original price is 38,000,” Yang Yi said, attaching the item details in a private message.
“I’ll take it,” Shen Guanquan replied.
There was no reason to refuse this kind of heavy infantry firepower. Moreover, he was currently researching the mass production of firearms, so many of the weapons he purchased were intended to serve as reference models.
Weapons granted by the system with unlimited ammunition were impossible to reproduce in the short term, but conventional technological products still held development potential.
At present, they had already finalized a preliminary design for an assault rifle.
“By the way, include an assault rifle as well. The engineers on my side became interested after seeing it,” Shen Guanquan added.
The transaction was completed quickly.
In total, Yang Yi sold one hundred beam rifles, one hundred beam pistols, one assault rifle, three anti-materiel sniper rifles, all of the sniper rifle magazines, twenty-three fragmentation grenades, and the single-soldier rocket launcher along with its five rockets.
Since there were only three anti-materiel sniper rifles in stock and Shen Guanquan had placed such a large order, Yang Yi bundled the magazines together and gave them away as complimentary gifts.
In addition, he sold ten thousand magic stones to Shen Guanquan. After including the discount, the total value of the transaction reached 12.2804 million Shell Coins.
“You really have a lot of money,” Yang Yi remarked after completing the trade. His account balance had gained yet another digit, making it difficult not to comment.
“Hahaha... that money doesn’t belong to me alone,” Shen Guanquan replied with a bitter smile. “I have a lot of crew members under me. Everything costs money, and when it needs to be spent, it has to be spent.”
Managing such a large group was clearly no easy task.
Yang Yi soon remembered something else and sent over information about the Vitality Sardine Tree and its fruit, asking whether it could be cultivated.
“How in the world did you manage to grow something this bizarre...? Wait a moment, let me ask Geng Qiu,” Shen Guanquan replied.
He was not the captain of the Farmer, so he needed to consult Geng Qiu to determine the specifics.
A few minutes later, Yang Yi received a response.
“This is a unique plant and cannot be cultivated. It’s even more unusual than the Terror Plants left behind by the Forest Elves. The Farmer currently has no means of breeding it,” Shen Guanquan replied.
“Terror Plants?” Yang Yi asked.
“They’re basically the plants you killed aboard the Farmer,” Shen Guanquan explained through the communication channel. “Because they possess strong offensive capabilities, they’re classified as Terror Plants. If used properly, they can enhance a fleet’s overall combat strength and can even be used to make certain potions.”
He did not conceal anything, since Yang Yi had already seen most of those plants.
However, researching and cultivating Terror Plants inevitably involved considerable risks, making them a double-edged sword.
Shen Guanquan had previously experienced an incident related to this field, so he had likely strengthened his safety measures afterward.
The two soon ended their conversation.
Yang Yi then completed transactions with several other players and finalized today's giveaway winner, Shen Guanquan, who would receive a complete Rat Fur Set free of charge.
Of course, it would have to be sent tomorrow. Sending it immediately would make things look far too suspicious.
Now that he had money to spare, Yang Yi browsed the trading section for top-grade Enhancement Stones and high-quality equipment.
Very few people were selling them.
Only one shop had a top-grade Enhancement Stone available, priced at eight million Shell Coins.
Yang Yi felt it was somewhat too expensive. He probably would not consider buying one until he had accumulated thirty or forty million Shell Coins, as he needed to reserve enough funds to purchase Crystal Diamonds for upgrades.
There were not many players selling Crystal Diamonds on the market. Yang Yi only managed to buy a little over a thousand of them, spending a total of 720,000 Shell Coins, of which 170,000 went solely toward transaction fees.
From that perspective, Shen Guanquan purchasing ten thousand Magic Stones directly from Yang Yi really could not be considered a bad deal.
By the time Yang Yi finished these purchases, trading hours were nearly over.
He checked the faction intelligence section.
There was not much information available, but there had been a significant update regarding the Golden Chamber of Commerce.
It was both a merchant guild and a religious order. Compared with other cults, however, it was relatively loose-knit because the entity they worshipped was the Collector.
Yang Yi had never visited it before, and all the information about the Golden Chamber of Commerce had been uncovered by players.
The organization placed great importance on credibility. Although the prices of goods varied from region to region, they never deceived customers or swindled money through fraudulent means.
Moreover, they accepted almost anything and sold almost anything—including people—the lives of their customers, and even their own lives.
Everything had a price, as long as one could afford it.
If a customer possessed a Covenant Relic of the Collector, they could even become a VIP member of the Golden Chamber of Commerce and enjoy discounted internal prices.
However, no player possessing such a relic had entered the Golden Chamber of Commerce yet, so the extent of the discount remained unknown.
“It’s really strange,” Yang Yi remarked after reading the intelligence.
He checked the time. It was already close to 12:30, and trading hours had long since ended.
However, the Maritime Forum was still accessible for browsing; it simply would no longer update.
Yang Yi sat on the bed and pondered for a while, mostly driven by curiosity about the kind of discounts the Golden Chamber of Commerce could provide.
If they offered a twenty percent discount, then purchasing Crystal Diamonds directly from the Chamber of Commerce would not only eliminate transaction fees but also lower the overall cost, and the goods might even be available immediately.
According to player reports, the Golden Chamber of Commerce generally maintained a large inventory. Even high-grade resources were often stocked in quantities of tens of thousands, and supplies could also be transferred from other branches.
Maybe I should wait until I've saved up twenty million Shell Coins and then go take a look at the Golden Chamber of Commerce, Yang Yi thought.
He took out the hand-drawn sea chart he had obtained from the native ship and examined it. The distance was approximately forty-five sailing days, which would probably take about a month aboard the Nightmare Star.
Let's wait until we've sold off the loot and dealt with the Shelter before making a decision, Yang Yi thought, tentatively settling on this plan.
The next day.
After feeding the Vitality Sardine Tree and taking it out for a few laps on a leash, Yang Yi began another full day of opening capsules.
He was already sick of it.
Judging by the amount of loot remaining, however, he estimated that it would still take another two or three days before everything was finished.
Fortunately, a considerable amount of supplies had been sold the previous day, freeing up storage space for the rewards obtained from the capsules.
In the afternoon, Suna finally woke up.
The moment she pushed open the door, she caught Yang Yi's attention, and he immediately walked over.
“How are you feeling?” Yang Yi asked.
“As if someone forced a sleeping draught down my throat and knocked me unconscious for nearly an entire day,” Suna replied, glaring at Yang Yi with her crimson eyes. Her expression was far from friendly.
“That was beyond my control. Besides, didn’t you do something similar to me once before?”
“Did I?” Suna asked. “I thought you’d already forgotten about it!”
Yang Yi felt that Suna had become more aggressive, perhaps because the abnormal condition she had suffered from had not yet been completely eliminated.
He immediately asked to see her status panel.
Without hesitation, Suna sent it over and explained what had happened.
After drinking the Magic Addiction Potion, her extraordinary path had changed. Her attributes had increased, and she had gained a special ability called Witch Form, which would only activate when her Sanity dropped below fifty.
Moreover, this extraordinary path possessed another effect: whenever she consumed a potion she had personally developed, its effects would be doubled, but the corresponding Sanity loss would also be doubled.
Yang Yi carefully examined Suna's status panel.