Chapter 78 Harsh Urban Information Conditions

Although the members of the Sand Fox caravan were somewhat confused by the leader's arrangements, they still began packing their luggage in a well-trained manner.

Before leaving, Wu Fan deliberately separated from the group and asked someone to meet with the local town mayor. He solemnly handed over the wine that Lin Nanxing had specially entrusted to him: "This is a small gift that our Lord Lin specially asked me to pass on. May the friendship between our two towns last forever."

The mayor accepted the gift box with a smile, secretly amazed. The person in charge of this Star Territory was really generous; he should definitely befriend them.

He looked at the merchant in front of him as if he had seen a great treasure. After learning that the merchant was about to leave, he tried to persuade him to stay, saying, "I heard that you are leaving tomorrow. Why are you in such a hurry? Why don't you stay a few more days and let us treat you well? Although our town may not be as good as the Star Territory, it is still worth a visit."

Wu Fan interrupted with a smile: "To be honest, we are in a hurry to return to our territory to prepare for new products. We recently developed a batch of bamboo products in our territory. Among them, bamboo armor can keep you cool for twelve hours under extreme heat, and bamboo weapons have special effects. I also want to bring a batch out to sell as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, the mayor's hand holding the gift box trembled slightly.

Wu Fan naturally noticed his actions and smiled meaningfully, "We will prioritize supplying the first batch of goods to friendly territories. At that time, we will definitely reserve a batch for your town first."

"Good, good, good." The mayor said "good" three times and personally escorted Wu Fan to the entrance of the town: "Please give my regards to Lord Lin. Flowing Sand Town will always welcome caravans from the Star Territory!"

To show his sincerity, he even dispatched the town's most elite guard to escort the Sand Fox caravan out of his town's jurisdiction.

On the way back, Wu Fan looked at the endless desert and wished he could teleport back to his territory immediately, fearing that someone would beat him to it and buy up the goods.

In fact, Wu Fan's concerns were not unfounded. Sure enough, on the fifth day after the bamboo products appeared, the group from Dongling City found Zhou Qisheng.

"You said that Dongling City wants to cooperate with us and order a large quantity of bamboo products?" After listening to Zhou Qisheng's introduction, Lin Nanxing asked again with some surprise.

Zhou Qisheng nodded and presented a list, "Dongling City wants to order 500 sets of bamboo armor and 1,000 everyday bamboo products, including bamboo hats, bamboo umbrellas, bamboo chairs, etc. This is their price list."

Lin Nanxing took the list and couldn't help but gasp when he saw the price: "As expected of one of the five major cities, they are really generous."

"After all, bamboo products produced in our territory are currently in high demand for combating high temperatures."

Zhou Qisheng was very confident in his products, and analyzed, "Although Dongling City is powerful and has a large population, it is useless to have a large population in the face of continuously rising temperatures. On the contrary, it may be even weaker than small towns in terms of the ability to withstand high temperatures. No wonder they are anxious."

"So you're in such a hurry to order only five hundred sets of bamboo armor?" Lin Nanxing raised an eyebrow.

Zhou Qisheng understood what she meant, but could only remain silent.

Lin Nanxing scoffed at this, "Who do you think you are? If I'm not mistaken, these five hundred sets of bamboo armor are just a test stepping stone for them, right?"

Seeing her expression, Zhou Qisheng was unsure of her thoughts and tentatively asked, "Aren't we going to cooperate with them?"

"Of course we should cooperate. It would be foolish not to take such a large order. But can our production capacity keep up?"

Although she has already used the plant differentiation agent on the bamboo spirits, and now there are two bamboo spirits in her territory producing bamboo materials at the same time, she will still face considerable pressure when faced with a large order from Dongling City, in addition to the daily sales within her territory.

Zhou Qisheng was well-prepared: "There is no need to worry about raw materials. We have found that ordinary bamboo that has been refined by bamboo will also grow on its own. With the help of growth accelerators, the amount of bamboo we can harvest every day is quite considerable."

"The current problem is a severe shortage of production staff. At present, even if the bamboo workshop operates at full capacity, it can only produce thirty sets per day."

He unfolded a plan: "Therefore, I suggest delivering in batches, while immediately expanding the recruitment of craftsmen. In addition, apart from game currency, Dongling City is willing to settle in the form of floating stones, which are a unique mineral material in Dongling City and will be of great help to us in forging weapons."

“The special minerals are indeed quite good,” Lin Nanxing pondered. “Besides money and stones, does Dongling City offer anything else? These alone are not enough to attract me.”

"The team leader is named Qi Ruiyi. She said that as long as we are willing to take the order, other conditions can be discussed, but..."

"Just what?"

Zhou Qisheng: "I only have limited knowledge of the city. Qi Ruiyi did mention that Dongling City has a teleportation array, but we don't know exactly how it works."

Lin Nanxing seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment of thought, he made a decision: "Then let's add a condition. We want Dongling City to share its city-related information and data. In return, we will send them the first batch of goods tomorrow."

“Since we’re going to build a city, we can’t just do it behind closed doors. Brother Zhou, could you please ask Captain Qi to come over here? Tell her I want to talk to her in person about the details of our cooperation.”

Lin Nanxing was only 6 reputation points away from upgrading to a city, but she was still clueless about how to manage the city after the upgrade, since she was just an ungraduated college student before she transmigrated.

Lin Nanxing wanted to learn about the town's situation first, and it just so happens that someone knew about it.

Qi Ruiyi was not surprised by the meeting, but the town mayor's keen interest in the teleportation array was indeed beyond her expectations.

With a touch of pride, she introduced, "Teleportation arrays are infrastructure for city-level territories. Our Dongling City does indeed have a large teleportation array, but as is customary, this service is currently only available to residents of Dongling City."

She observed Lin Nanxing's expression and extended an olive branch at the opportune moment: "Of course, if Mayor Lin needs to borrow them, I can apply for special approval from above. These bamboo armors you provided are enough to make you a VIP in our Dongling City."

Lin Nanxing frowned slightly.

Logically speaking, as long as both territories have teleportation arrays, they can travel back and forth instantly no matter how far apart they are. This would be extremely convenient for the exchange of goods and the movement of people. Such technology should not be monopolized by a few cities.

Instead of immediately accepting Qi Ruiyi's overtures, she looked somewhat puzzled: "Captain Qi, if I'm not mistaken, teleportation arrays should be basic infrastructure that all territories can build. Now, however, they've become the exclusive privilege of the five major cities. Isn't that a bit unfair?"

She continued her analysis: "The reason why cities can develop into cities is that they rely on the abundant resources in the surrounding areas to attract people. If even basic transportation such as teleportation arrays are monopolized, how can those resource-poor towns develop?"

Lin Nanxing didn't like this.

Qi Ruiyi noticed her dissatisfaction and patiently explained, "Mayor Lin, you misunderstand. Although teleportation arrays are convenient, their operating costs are extremely high. They are usually only activated in emergencies, and the resources required to trigger them are beyond the reach of ordinary people. This is the reason why teleportation arrays cannot be widely used."

"What specific resources are needed?" Lin Nanxing pressed.

Qi Ruiyi stated frankly, "Ore, ores of various properties, are not only important materials for making staves and equipment, but also contain elemental energy, making them most suitable for driving teleportation arrays."

Lin Nanxing was somewhat surprised; it was actually ore?

As far as she knew, players needed ores to forge weapons, and the supply of ores was insufficient just for forging weapons.

"Can we only use ore?" Lin Nanxing asked again to confirm.

"Yes, no other alternative resources have been found at the moment."

Seeing Lin Nanxing deep in thought, Qi Ruiyi added, "For ordinary players, the territory and the surrounding environment are enough to meet their needs for leveling up and living. They mainly use ores to make weapons to survive. So, those who usually use teleportation arrays are mostly lords and high-ranking officials in charge of managing each territory."

"For ordinary players, it is more cost-effective to hire a monster from a casual player's contract, so in Dongling City, the summoner is the most popular profession."

Before coming, Qi Ruiyi had already inquired about the relevant information of the person in charge of this territory. Knowing that the woman in front of him was a summoner, he deliberately flattered her by praising the benefits of being a summoner.

Hearing Qi Ruiyi say this, Lin Nanxing once again realized the cruelty of this high-temperature apocalypse game.

She has been in this world for almost a year and knows how vast the map of this apocalyptic game is. If she simply walks, it would probably take three or four years to get from one side of the game continent to the other, not to mention the various accidents and ferocious monsters she would encounter along the way.

Different resource points will spawn in different locations. If a rare monster spawns on the east side of the map, then players living in the west will basically have no chance to hunt it.

Lin Nanxing guessed that the original intention of setting up teleportation arrays in the game was to provide a channel for players in different areas to communicate and move around, but now that activating teleportation arrays would require a lot of resources, it would be counterproductive.

It's like having a carrot dangling in front of a donkey; the donkey can never reach it, even though there's a carrot there.

Upon discovering that the teleportation array required ore to activate, Lin Nanxing instantly lost interest.

Although Shu Yi did discover a mine recently, the ore in the territory is still a scarce resource. These precious ores are in short supply even just for forging and selling weapons, so there is no extra to squander on teleportation.

Just as she was making her calculations, a familiar system notification sounded in her mind: [Host, Star Territory differs from other safe zones; its functions unlocked after upgrading to a city will also be unique.]

This familiar hint stirred something within Lin Nanxing.

When I upgraded from the town, the system gave me a similar prompt, and sure enough, I unlocked the special barrier later.

This system notification came after she finished talking to Qi Ruiyi about the teleportation array. Could it be that the rewards after upgrading to a city are related to the teleportation array?

Thinking about the barrier that can reflect damage by spending money, and the train tracks driven by game coins that come out of the gashapon machine, Lin Nanxing once again boldly speculated that after upgrading to a city, the teleportation array in her territory could be activated simply by spending money.

Thinking of this, Lin Nanxing, who was already incredibly wealthy, suddenly felt that he could replenish his game currency even further.

She looked up at Qi Ruiyi, her eyes rekindling with enthusiasm: "We can perhaps discuss the details of the cooperation on bamboo armor in more depth."

Ultimately, Lin Nanxing agreed to Qi Ruiyi's request to stop supplying bamboo armor to other places for the next ten days and focus on producing the batch for Donglin City. At the same time, Dongling City would need to increase the express delivery fee by 10% on top of the original fee.