I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

He stood in a building overlooking the Mortal Realm Marketplace streets, watching the Mortal Realm Members rush about. A deep smile graced his features.

’To grow a business quickly,’

’sharing the profits is a must.’

’Letting others get a piece of the cake is essential.’

’And if you want the business to grow like crazy, you have to offer a line of credit.’

He provided the money and the goods. These other factions only needed to run a few errands to earn an incredibly generous reward. It would be strange if they didn’t go wild for it. He had already anticipated the current frenzy in the Marketplace.

The only regret was,

this world had no computers.

Bookkeeping was inconvenient.

He could only rely on manual labor.

It looked a bit tiring, but judging by the looks on their faces, everyone seemed very excited.

"We’re still short on people."

Chen Fan, who was standing to the side, couldn’t help but sigh. The Mortal Realm had a full 247 members now, but they were still shorthanded. They had enough people to run errands, but not enough specialized talent.

For example, he was currently lacking a few quick-witted and trustworthy accountants. That way, he wouldn’t have had to pull Wang Kui over from his other duties.

He had already sent all the smooth-talkers to the Mortal Realm Marketplace to act as stall owners.

Just then—

"Domain Lord."

Lame Monkey, who was following beside him, asked with some hesitation, "Isn’t this a little too crazy? What if we can’t handle the pressure? It’ll be a disaster if we can’t collect on the Ghost Stones we’ve loaned out in time."

"We’ll be fine."

Chen Fan chuckled without explaining. The others didn’t know his actual cost for crafting a Skeleton Horse.

To craft one Skeleton Horse, he only needed... 100 Ghost Stones.

This meant that the 66 Skeleton Horses someone bought with 100,000 Ghost Stones on credit represented a deficit of only 6,600 Ghost Stones for him.

He could absolutely withstand it.

"But I still feel like we’re letting them earn a bit too much," Lame Monkey said, slightly indignant. "They don’t even have to put up any money. They make tens of thousands of Ghost Stones on a single round trip. How is that fair?"

"Don’t be impatient."

Chen Fan smiled and said softly, "This is called ’buying the bones of a thousand-league horse.’ We’re using our actions to show everyone that if you roll with the Mortal Realm, you’ll get your share of the meat."

"It will make the factions that haven’t joined us green with envy."

"And make them eager to join the Mortal Realm and get a piece of the action."

"Under this large-scale supply, the Skeleton Horse markets in Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan will quickly become saturated in the short term. They’ll slowly start lowering their prices. It’ll be normal for them to sell something they bought for 1,500 Ghost Stones for 1,700 or even 1,600 Ghost Stones."

"And then—"

"comes the main event."

"By that time, many factions will have already eaten their fill with the Mortal Realm. Their trust in us will be high, and they’ll be eager for more. Some of these factions have trade routes to the Guanxi Plain. We’ll then use these factions to sell Skeleton Horses to even more distant places."

"Our reputation will grow bigger and bigger."

"At that point!"

"If someone becomes our enemy, we won’t even have to lift a finger. With a single word, a horde of factions will help us eliminate them."

"This is what’s called: ’The world is not mine to own, but it is all mine to use.’"

Lame Monkey bowed his head, thinking seriously. He could faintly sense that if this plan succeeded, it would be epoch-making. No other faction had ever achieved something like this. But the flaw was...

...if it failed, they would be doomed beyond recovery.

"What if someone defaults on their debt?"

"The Nine-Five Dragon Carriage will roll over them. We’ll kill the chicken to scare the monkey."

...

This day was destined to be one of frenzy.

Many factions had been attracted by the Mortal Realm’s reputation and the auction, completely unaware of the Mortal Realm Marketplace. But after taking one lap around the Marketplace, their eyes turned red with greed.

’This isn’t fucking Jiangbei!’

’This is our long-lost second home!’

"Quick, hurry!"

On another street in Mortal City—one responsible for acquisitions and facilitating free trade between factions—was the official purchasing shop of the Mortal Realm.

A middle-aged man anxiously pointed to the cart of goods behind him.

"Give me an estimate. I’ll sell it all."

He was from a faction in Jiangdong.

Hearing that many factions would flock to the Mortal Realm after the rainy season, he had specially brought a cartload of goods to sell as soon as it ended. But only after arriving did he discover how insane this place was.

His faction had no prior dealings with the Mortal Realm.

He had to spend 50,000 Ghost Stones in the Marketplace to become a Level 1 Trusted Influence of the Mortal Realm, which was the only way he could bring a large batch of Skeleton Horses back to Jiangdong.

But he had come here to sell goods.

He wasn’t the head of his faction, just the one in charge of their commerce association. How could he possibly be carrying so many Ghost Stones? He only had thirty or forty thousand on him, which he had planned to use along with his profits to buy another batch of goods to take back and sell.

The Mortal Realm was only offering 20 slots today for those who spent 50,000 Ghost Stones to become a ’Level 1 Trusted Influence.’ After discussing it with his clan leader,

they decided to quickly liquidate the goods to the Mortal Realm, use the money to purchase 50,000 Ghost Stones’ worth of Skeleton Horses to become a Level 1 Trusted Influence, and then use the 100,000 Ghost Stone line of credit to buy even more Skeleton Horses to take back.

Now, the slots had been snatched up until only seven remained.

This was why he was so anxious.

’This is basically free money for the picking.’

’The main thing is, there’s no risk.’

’The Mortal Realm shoulders all the risk. All we have to do is make a round trip, and we’ll return with our pockets overflowing.’

"I know the rules."

The middle-aged man said hurriedly, "This batch of Exotic Treasures are all unappraised. There’s no time to inspect them. Can you just take them as a bundle?"

"Don’t be hasty, customer."

The Second Elder of the Chen Family walked out with a cheerful smile. He waved his hand, and a few attendants came out from the shop to carry all the bundles and bags of goods inside. Only then did he speak, "Our Shopkeeper will give them a quick look-over first, then give you a specific number."

"Please be quick, I’m in a bit of a hurry."

"Of course, of course."

...

「Inside the shop.」

Chen Fan sat in the back room, quickly scanning the panels of each Exotic Treasure. There was quite a large number of them. Most were white-level Exotic Treasures, with seven or eight green-level ones. Finally, his gaze landed on a jadeite token.

-

[Exotic Treasure Name]: Architect’s Order.

[Exotic Treasure Level]: Green.

[Exotic Treasure Effect]: This token allows one to become an Architect.

-

Such a simple effect.

Yet it held immense value.

"..."

Chen Fan suddenly couldn’t help but laugh. ’Sure enough, once you have enough people, treasures like this just deliver themselves to your door.’ This item could absolutely be the final lot of the upcoming auction!

The grand finale!

As for the other Exotic Treasures,

there were some good ones and some bad ones. He planned to take them all to stock the reserves of the Mortal Realm Commerce Association.

「A short while later.」

He came up with a suitable price, then looked at the former Second Elder of the Chen Family, who was waiting for instructions in the back room. "Offer him ten thousand Ghost Stones," he said softly. "See if he sells. You can go higher, but don’t act too eager."

"Understood."

The Second Elder of the Chen Family nodded respectfully before striding out of the room. He gave a light cough as he looked at the anxiously waiting middle-aged man. "The Shopkeeper has finished the appraisal. The buyback price is 8,000 Ghost Stones. Among them..."

Before he could even finish his sentence!

"Deal!"

The middle-aged man urged excitedly, "Quick, quick, give me the Ghost Stones! The goods are all yours."

"..."

The corner of the Second Elder’s mouth twitched slightly. He had planned to raise the offer to ten thousand Ghost Stones to make the man feel like he was getting a great deal. He hadn’t expected him to be in such a rush. The Elder immediately waved his hand, and an attendant beside him quickly counted out the Ghost Stones and handed them over.

The middle-aged man took the Ghost Stones without the slightest hesitation.

He and his men immediately dashed toward the adjacent ’Mortal Realm Marketplace Street’, afraid that if they were a step too slow, the slots for Level 1 Trusted Influence would be all gone.

"Truly..."

He couldn’t help but let out a long sigh as he watched the man’s departing figure.

’Thankfully,’

’I never bullied the Young Master in the past, so I was able to keep my life and have the good fortune to witness the prosperity of Mortal City.’

’Although I’m already old,’

’I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I feel like I’m experiencing a second spring in my career.’