Rita laughed when she saw Yego's exasperated expression.

She downed the juice in her glass in one gulp and whispered, "We're all idiots."

"What?"

“I say, we’re all fools!” Rita raised her voice. “Our people, generation after generation, have worshipped the ancient sea god Krakosh, obeying his sacred commands and avoiding everything on land. In the end, we’ve lived like wild beasts, barely surviving!”

Yege opened his eyes wide, pounded the water's surface with force, and roared, "Blasphemy! Ancient Gods! You are guilty!"

Rita looked at Yego with an almost pitying gaze and slowly said, "Alright, let's not talk about gods, let's talk about the present. Look around, this is how mermaids live now, what do you think?"

Yege looked around, still furious, and said, "Strange!"

Rita put down her cup and clapped her hands.

Soon, dozens of mermaid warriors carried heavy wooden crates and slowly swam into the room along the waterway.

The wooden crates were placed one by one on the shore of the room. Under Yego's questioning gaze, Rita ordered the crates to be opened.

Seafood sausages—each large wooden crate was filled to the brim with large-sized seafood sausages.

Looking at all this, Yege gasped. Even though he was not good at arithmetic, he knew without counting that there was enough food here to feed his people for a long time.

"25 wooden crates and 7,500 seafood sausages. If you eat them sparingly, it will be enough for two weeks' worth of food."

Yege slowly climbed ashore, reached into the box, excitedly rummaging through the food, and exclaimed, "Food! Precious!"

Rita laughed and said, "Do you know what I traded for all this food?"

Yege looked up, his face blank: "What?"

Rita took out a small leather pouch from her bosom, opened the seal, and unfolded it. Inside were pearls that were a centimeter or two in diameter.

“Land creatures seem to be particularly interested in these things from the sea, and they are willing to trade their food for these pearls.”

Yege glanced at the pearl and said disdainfully, "Pah! Trash! I have one, bigger and brighter!"

Rita poured the pearls into her palm and said with a smile, "A hundred of these pearls can be exchanged for the food rations in front of you."

Yege stood there, stunned, and didn't move for a long time.

After a long pause, he asked uncertainly, "Garbage? In exchange for rations?"

"It's absolutely true. 100 of these pearls can be exchanged for 25 boxes of food rations."

Confirming the other party wasn't joking, Yego wiggled his fins and laughed heartily: "Land, creature, foolish!"

Rita laughed along with him: "Yegor, let's cooperate. You and your people will be responsible for collecting trash from the sea. It doesn't have to be pearls; coral, chalcedony, ores, gold, gems... these inedible things can be traded for food with the land people. And we mermaids will be responsible for selling your trash and bringing in food. What do you think?"

Yege lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Why don't you go and collect garbage?"

Rita shrugged: "You know, merfolk aren't exactly a warlike race. When facing predatory creatures and other threats from the deep sea, we can't be as brave as shark people. So, merfolk are better suited to bargaining with land people than gathering resources."

Yege nodded, which was taken as an agreement with this statement.

Rita clapped her hands and laughed, "Since you've agreed to my proposal, we should swear an oath in the name of the ancient gods and formally establish a cooperative agreement. As a demonstration of the merfolk's sincerity, we are willing to reluctantly give these 25 boxes of food to the shark people."

Yego gripped the wooden box tightly, as if afraid Rita would change her mind, and quickly said, "Make the vow! Now! Immediately!"

Half an hour later, the mermaids who had made a pact of cooperation watched the shark-man dragging the wooden box swim further and further away.

A mermaid maid swam up to Rita and said with a smile, "This is great! We were worried that no one would eat those sausages, but now someone has finally helped us move them away."

Another maid chimed in, "At first, the taste was alright, but it got more and more greasy as we ate, and eventually no one wanted to touch it anymore. We could only watch helplessly as the food went past its expiration date."

"Besides, those 25 boxes of food are only worth 10 pearls. If those idiotic sharks really try to trade them for 100 pearls, we'll make a killing!"

Listening to the discussions of her tribesmen around her, Rita said expressionlessly, "You bunch of fools whose minds are only filled with eating, drinking, and having fun! Do you really think that cooperating with the shark people is just for making money?"

"Chief, is there another reason?"

Rita turned her head and looked west through the window, slowly saying, "In a while, as the Black Plague spreads, more and more marine races will come to submit to the Dragon God. Before that, we need to find a reliable ally to deal with the upcoming conflicts."