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Including the remaining Floating Land Origin in his possession, if he also sold the Assaulter Engine he had replaced, as well as some scattered resources on the Cangqiong, the total funds he could bring out this time was roughly around ten thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
Ten thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin was no small figure. If he used his original identity to purchase with such an amount of money, attracting attention was inevitable. Moreover, Song Chi had no intention of exchanging the 571 threads of First Rank Floating Land Origin in his hands through official stores.
The official exchange rate was 1 (First Rank) to 10 (Zero Rank), whereas in the black market it was 1 to 12, even 1 to 13. After calculating, he could exchange over a thousand threads more of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin. He wasn’t so foolish as to go through official channels for the exchange.
Half an hour later, having successfully emerged from the black market, the First Rank Floating Land Origin Song Chi had on him had turned into 7423 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
However, there was a minor incident. Even though he had concealed his identity and completed the exchange at the fastest speed, he was still targeted by someone—perhaps a person who specialized in such robbery and murder, or maybe someone sent by the merchant he had dealt with.
In any case, it took him quite some effort to finally get away safely.
This experience made him realize that as the level of the Ruins Market advanced to First Rank, the volume of Floating Land Origin he traded each time increased dramatically. Entering and exiting the black market, even with a concealed identity, was useless. The greater the sums involved, the more likely he was to be targeted, and the risk of exposure would continually rise.
Thinking of this, he silently decided that henceforth, the mineral resources he brought back from the Alien Star Domain should not be sold through the black market. It would be safer to directly trade them in the Ruins Market.
After all, the previous few times he had only risked selling his gains in the black market due to a lack of startup capital. Now, after several trades, he always had sufficient Ruins Market trading startup funds on hand, eliminating this step wouldn’t have much impact.
Moreover, it would be best not to go purchase stock in person in the future. Instead, he could just use a Fire Peony Soldier Figurine or something similiar, controlled by a Brainwave Remote Control System.
Of course, the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines were still not very safe. It was no secret that he had a Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree on the Cangqiong, as he had used it several times in public. It would be better to get a combat robot with untraceable origins from the black market to replace it.
While thinking about this, he quickly switched back to his original identity and sold the Assaulter Engine, which had been downgraded to lv0, to a regular store. This engine had been purchased through official channels before, and its origins were easy to track. Concealing his identity and selling it otherwise would rather seem like an attempt to hide something obvious.
However, while the previous purchase cost him 2300 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, this time the store’s buying price was only 2000 threads. In just under twenty days, he had lost 300 threads.
In addition, there was the “Fire Pattern Turtle Shell Ship Armor,” also for 2000 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
Even though he was accustomed to the ruthless nature of these merchants, Song Chi still found it somewhat difficult to accept.
At the same time, a thought suddenly sprang to his mind: doing business on the same piece of Starry Sea Floating Land was so lucrative, weren’t his previous trades at threefold or fivefold profit margin a bit miserly, considering that Zhu Tian Ruins Market connected civilizations from different domains of the Shattered Starry Sea?
“Should I raise the price more? Maybe eightfold, tenfold—or even simply a hundredfold?”
After pondering for a moment, his gaze gradually firmed up, and he decided to try tenfold sales once the Ruins Market opened for trading, but let’s forget about hundredfold for now. If the market was good, he would consider doing hundredfold later.
The price disparity between different civilizations, different Star Domains, or even different galaxies, was enormous. Tenfold really wasn’t that exaggerated.
Seeing that he had amassed over ten thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, Song Chi again concealed his identity and began purchasing the various items he had planned for.
Genetic optimization potions were naturally a must. This time he took 2000 vials, costing 2000 threads of Floating Land Origin.
He bought 1000 vials of Primary Body Tempering Elixir, costing 1000 threads of Floating Land Origin.
He bought 200 vials of Intermediate Body Tempering Elixir, costing 2000 threads of Floating Land Origin.
One hundred suits of Zero Rank civilian exoskeleton armor, costing 2000 threads of Floating Land Origin.
Twenty suits of First Rank military exoskeleton armor, costing 2000 threads of Floating Land Origin.
Ten First Rank military energy pulse guns, costing 500 threads of Floating Land Origin.
Ten thousand Tungsten Gold Combat Shields and ten thousand Tungsten Gold Lances, costing 200 threads of Floating Land Origin.
“`
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High-level titanium alloy battle shields, 100 of them, high-level titanium alloy longswords, 100 pieces, Floating Land Origin—1000.
After a good round of acquisitions, the more than ten thousand strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin he had on hand were all spent, but this also left Song Chi with a substantial amount of merchandise to sell.
Looking at the pile of resources amassed on the Cang Qiong, a trace of anticipation flickered in Song Chi’s heart. If he could truly sell them at ten times their price, just this batch of items could earn him nearly one hundred thousand strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
After returning home and greeting his parents, Song Chi immediately locked himself in his bedroom.
Spectral Energy coursed through his body, flowing into the Star Sea Ruin Market Rank hanging around his neck, and then his figure quietly vanished from the bedroom.
Since his Torch Warship couldn’t convert the Star Sea Ruin Market Rank into a shipborne component, he always kept it hung around his neck.
Inside the Ruins Market, Song Chi’s figure appeared. His gaze swept around and, not finding any signs of attacks from Void Demons, he finally relaxed a little.
Although he had used an Abnormal Status Purifier to remove that Demon Mark, he was still somewhat uneasy.
Fortunately, for over a month straight, there had been no further incidents of being discovered by Void Demons.
By now, he could almost confirm that the Demon Mark was indeed completely eradicated, and the “Averting Misfortune” feature of the Ruins Market had been reactivated, ensuring no other Void Demons could track him down by the mark.
Standing before the Ultra Long-Distance Space Gate Random Deployment Platform, Song Chi watched as 36 points of light gradually lit up on the platform. He turned his gaze toward the entrance of the Ruins Market, where thirty-six spiral gateways quietly emerged.
As he waited in silence, a certain tension lurked in Song Chi’s eyes. This was, after all, the first transaction since the Ruins Market advanced to First Rank, and naturally, he hoped for as many First Rank Alien Races to come through as possible—the more there were, the more he could earn.
Although the Ruins Market provided a hefty income every month, Song Chi quickly realized he still had a substantial financial shortfall to address.
For starters, the [Brainwave Remote Control System] and the [Abnormal Status Purifier] on board the Cang Qiong had yet to be enhanced, and just these two components would require a significant sum of money.
Next, the current patrol radar and the shipborne secondary cannon on the Cang Qiong were still of colorless quality and needed to be replaced as soon as possible. Even the Goldrock Ship Armor could use an upgrade in quality, so this matter also needed to be scheduled.
Moreover, the Zhu Tian Ruins Market required the addition of a shielding configuration to conceal the disturbances caused by ascending.
Let’s not forget the Buluo Civilization Ruins; to explore them again, he would need a main cannon with stronger attack power and the attribute of attacking multiple targets.
Finally, since the Cang Qiong had ascended to First Rank, collecting the special resources necessary for enhancing to Second Rank Escort Ship based on his previous pace also needed to be planned.
Thinking about all this, Song Chi felt overwhelmed, as the shortfall of Floating Land Origin was immense.
Of course, this was also related to the notable quality of the components installed on the Cang Qiong. Take, for example, the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator that had just been enhanced to Lv29, tens of thousands of strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, were just enough for a 10-level enhancement.
In the hands of an ordinary First Rank Torch Warship captain, this amount could purchase several components of blue quality.
After sighing, Song Chi quickly bounced back. With the Zhu Tian Ruins Market, the speed of acquiring various resources was still terrifyingly fast. If the test to sell at tenfold was successful, he would earn ninety thousand strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin from this one transaction alone.
Ninety thousand strands a month, that’s over a million strands a year; such calculations were quite astonishing.
While his thoughts were racing, a subtle spatial fluctuation came from the entrance, and Song Chi’s face lit up with joy, knowing that an Alien Race had come through the spatial gate.
Turning his head to look, the joy in his eyes grew even more intense—the one who had entered was a First Rank Alien Race, a great start indeed.
This Alien Race had a humanoid upper body and four legs on the lower half, gripping a metal long spear in hand, with eyes that showed a deep wariness.
Memories flowed through Song Chi’s mind, and soon, he softly uttered three words.
“Centaur?”
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