“One option is that our Five Ring Money—no, I—establish a strategic partnership with Cloud Peak. We form an alliance.”
Ye Zhongming listened without any visible reaction.
Deacon Water knew why.
Strictly speaking, Five Ring Money was on the same level as Cloud Peak. Ye Zhongming could represent Cloud Peak, but she, Deacon Water, could not fully represent Five Ring Money. There were three other major figures in Five Ring Money apart from her.
Moreover, Ye Zhongming had likely already inferred from her words that this gold-grade machine—which might soon turn purple grade—was not under her control.
To put it bluntly, proposing cooperation wasn’t impossible, but one needed the qualifications to cooperate. Ye Zhongming’s lack of reaction was essentially a silent expression of refusal.
Deacon Water’s face flushed. She knew that he wouldn’t agree to cooperate with her if she didn’t offer something substantial.
“Indeed, I’m not the sole decision-maker in Five Ring Money, but I am one of the decision-makers. I also control significant power, with trade dominance over several provinces. At least ten mature trade routes in these provinces, each generating immense profits at all times.”
Deacon Water took a deep breath, her earlier embarrassment now completely gone. “Perhaps I alone don’t have the profitability of Cloud Peak. After all, whether it’s your crystal weapons, gene lifeforms, or the equipment crafted by you, they all yield massive profits. You also have armed caravans that regularly bring in huge profits.”
“Your trade in evolution potions has made it clear to us that you, or one of your core members, must possess a high-level skill like ‘Exclusion Technique,’ which grants an extremely high success rate when spinning the wheel. This business also brings you enormous profits.”
“Of course, there’s also Cloud Peak Cuisine, Puxing Town, the Mercenary Guild, and now the dungeons, all of which generate substantial income.”
“Oh, right!” Deacon Water continued as if listing treasures. “There’s also a major source of income I haven’t mentioned yet—the Secret realm and the invisible benefits brought to you by those who come out of it.”
Ye Zhongming waved his hand. “Did you come here to tell me all this?”
Deacon Water smiled. “Of course not. I just want you to know that I fully understand the value of you and your Cloud Peak. And it’s under this premise that I’m proposing cooperation.”
“Our strategic alliance would require synchronized offense and defense, mutual reliance. When Cloud Peak needs to fight or requires intelligence, I can assist. Similarly, I hope Cloud Peak can help me when I need to do these things. Additionally, I want to establish a guard unit of about a thousand people, and I need you to equip them with green-grade gear. I also want a gene lifeform combat team mixed with various functional gene lifeforms like yours, with an average strength of no less than level five.”
Ye Zhongming also smiled but remained silent.
“Also, I’ve established a base, one that truly belongs to me. I need crystal cannons for defense—at least a hundred of them. They don’t need to be the latest models; the previous generation will suffice.”
Deacon Water was practically counting on her fingers.
Ye Zhongming snorted coldly, signaling her to continue.
“Then there’s my own equipment. I hope to obtain one purple-grade item, one gold-grade item, and five blue-grade items. The specific parts don’t matter.”
“Between Cloud Peak and my base, I also want to establish a fixed teleportation device for convenient travel. I hope to receive a discounted price on equipment, potions, gene warriors, crystal weapons, and other items from Cloud Peak.
“Has this girl been hit in the head by Kim Jongyuan?” Ye Zhongming initially found these demands ridiculous, but as he listened, he felt Deacon Water was becoming increasingly unreasonable. Was she making requests or demanding a dowry? Was she worth this much?
Was this woman insane? Did she think she was the sun, with everyone revolving around her?
“I’m not insane,” Deacon Water said, as if reading Ye Zhongming’s thoughts.
“These are what you need to provide. As for what I’ll offer…” Deacon Water waved her hand, and a package appeared. She tossed it to Ye Zhongming and said, “This is the level nine materials I obtained from the Beast Villa. They’re all yours now. Not just mine but also some from Ruan Xiao. I privately bought them from him last night.”
Ye Zhongming was surprised. This package was of significant value.
“This backpack is a special piece of equipment. Materials stored inside won’t lose their energy. I’m giving it to you as well.”
Originally, Ye Zhongming had planned to refuse outright. But as a smith who had just reached the highest level, he was tempted when he saw the world’s most excellent and rare materials.
“Still not enough,” he said. However, he wasn’t planning to agree to Deacon Water’s demands just yet. Level nine materials were indeed precious, and combined, they might be worth an eight-star evolution potion. But what Deacon Water was asking for was equally valuable.
“I control twelve mature trade routes, each with twenty-five to thirty trade stations. I can allow you to participate in their operations, selling Cloud Peak’s goods through them. I’ll only take ten percent of the sales revenue.”
“Hmm?” Ye Zhongming was once again surprised by Deacon Water’s offer.
In the current post-apocalyptic world, commerce was heavily reliant on channels. Ye Zhongming had sent Lu Yi to establish trade routes and set up some shops, but the scale was incomparable to Five Ring Money. Firstly, Cloud Peak didn’t have enough people to set up outposts in every camp along the way. Secondly, Ye Zhongming knew that post-apocalyptic bases were unstable. With the second wave of mutated lifeforms approaching, he didn’t want to waste Cloud Peak’s lives in poorly defended camps.
Moreover, Cloud Peak’s goods were currently in high demand. Gene lifeforms and crystal weapons were self-explanatory, but even equipment and evolution potions were selling out instantly. Lu Yi often returned before reaching his destination because the goods had already been snapped up.
This was also why Ye Zhongming wasn’t too concerned about establishing trade routes.
Of course, he never considered himself a merchant and had no intention of following the paths of Five Ring Money or Cannibal Chain.
From this perspective, Ye Zhongming didn’t particularly need the conditions proposed by Deacon Water.
But Ye Zhongming wasn’t just looking at the present.
Currently, Cloud Peak Manor had a surplus of goods.
For example, the monster eggs from the Secret Realm or dungeons couldn’t be sold off quickly.
More and more materials were piling up, which were essentially “taxes” paid by Cloud Peak’s affiliated forces in the form of demon crystals. Ye Zhongming couldn’t spend all day crafting equipment, so these materials had already filled countless warehouses.
At Ye Zhongming’s current level, crafting low-level equipment was a waste. Many of these materials were unusable, and their value decreased every day they sat in the warehouse. As the post-apocalyptic world progressed, the demand for low-level equipment would drop, rendering these materials useless.
Previously, Ye Zhongming hadn’t thought much of it, but now he realized it was quite wasteful.
Additionally, Cloud Peak’s population was growing rapidly and would continue. Even the number of gene lifeforms, crystal weapons, and the laboratories serving them were expanding. The amount of high-quality goods being produced was increasing, and these would eventually need to be sold. Relying solely on Lu Yi’s caravans wouldn’t be enough.
There were also newly established factories, like the pharmaceutical plant, whose outputs would soon face the same issue of needing to be sold.
If ready-made trade stations were provided to Ye Zhongming, Cloud Peak’s goods could be distributed without Lu Yi and his team risking their lives in the wilderness. Cloud Peak could immediately gain a battle-hardened main combat unit.
At the same time, Ye Zhongming could expand these profitable industries without worrying about overstocking.
In the future, he could simply sit back and collect money. Moreover, Deacon Water only asked for ten percent, which was entirely acceptable.
But was that all? Ye Zhongming still shook his head. It still wasn’t enough.