Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 96 - 9 We Need Trade Routes

Chapter 96: Chapter 9 We Need Trade Routes

Is there a gold mine in Huangzhou?

Chen Jian recalls there is.

But obviously, what they found in this civil defense fortification couldn’t possibly have come from a gold mining company; it seemed more like commoditized gold bullion.

"Who brought this stuff in?"

He Shuo wondered.

"I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter who brought it in; it’s ours now anyway."

"56 blocks, each weighing one kilogram, that’s 56,000 grams."

"Originally, we only had 1,200 grams of gold on hand, and the bounty we’d yet to pay couldn’t be covered."

"Now this is better, suddenly there’s a large amount, solving the currency shortage issue."

Chen Jian urged everyone to quickly pack up all the gold while, at the same time, Lei Jie signaled to begin the first round of explosive breaching on the heavy isolation door.

"Boom!"

After a loud explosion, the ground inside the fortification shook a few times.

With sufficient, even excessive, charges, the concrete wall beside the isolation door was blown into a large hole. Lei Jie quickly stuffed a second set of charges into the hole, and after another loud boom, the tunnel was wide open.

Chen Jian crawled through the passage to find that the emergency passage was still quite intact.

No need to climb up the elevator shaft anymore.

The group quickly moved up the passage; after turning several flights of stairs, they finally saw sunlight again.

"We’re out!"

Chen Jian took off his empty respirator and let out a long breath.

The trip to Huangzhou didn’t yield much, for he hadn’t found the heavy weapons and ammunition supplies he most wanted, nor any useful facilities or equipment inside the fortification.

But fortunately, the 56 gold bricks were real.

Of course, Yellow Stone City’s fiscal and economic situation wasn’t as tight.

Not to mention the impending compensation promised by Han Shui City, even without that, if external trade was necessary, a small quantity of scarce weapons could be exchanged for even more urgent resources.

However, Chen Jian always felt that weapons, as one of the most important survival tools, must not be exported unless absolutely necessary.

Now, with readily available currency, this problem is easily resolved.

"Let’s go, get ready to head back!"

Chen Jian made a sweeping gesture, and the drone ascended once more.

After determining the squad’s position, Chen Jian contacted Zeng Yi via radio to arrange a new rendezvous point.

Twenty minutes later, the five-man squad successfully met up, then boarded the caterpillar vehicle, preparing to return via their original route.

"Made any discoveries?"

Seeing the team empty-handed, Zeng Yi asked curiously.

"Nothing special, but we found a batch of gold, about 56 kilograms or so."

Chen Jian replied casually.

"56 kilograms?"

Zeng Yi was slightly surprised and then continued to ask:

"You found it in the ruins?"

"That’s right."

"That’s quite a lot..."

Zeng Yi exhaled gently and said:

"In the past, we would find gold in the ruins too, but most were scattered, and some were already made into jewelry."

"Although they looked substantial, after refining, there wasn’t much at all."

"This time is not bad, with this batch of gold, Yellow Stone City’s most pressing food problem can be addressed."

"Food problem?"

Shen Yue instinctively repeated, puzzled, and asked:

"In the short term, we aren’t lacking food, and in the long term..."

"Didn’t Han Shui City promise to provide us with food?"

"Do you dare to take it?"

Chen Jian rolled his eyes at Shen Yue and continued:

"Do you really think after this war they’ll just submit to us? Their short-term weakness is just to buy themselves time."

"They can’t annihilate us, but we can’t fully suppress them either."

"This is strategic stalemate—essentially, we’re still enemies."

"I understand...."

Shen Yue gestured with his hands and said:

"What I’m saying is, poisoning food, if they did that, wouldn’t it destroy the credibility system they’ve built?"

"There’s order and trade in this world; if even food isn’t safe, it cuts off all connections between a city, a force, and the outside world."

"Doing so would ruin the Mechanical God Sect directly, wouldn’t it?"

"Wouldn’t that be self-destructive?"

"You can’t use normal thinking to predict the actions of religious fanatics."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"Besides, Old Jiang dared to plan to blow up the dike; isn’t it normal for them to poison?"

"So we must be cautious and make dual preparations: ramp up food production within Yellow Stone City and quickly open up trade routes externally."

"Also, we need to choose towns far away to organize trade to avoid exposing our real trading identity."

"Only this way is absolutely safe."

"It’s too complicated..."

Shen Yue let out a sigh, leaned back in his seat, and said:

"I honestly might not be a qualified manager; just thinking about these issues, I feel like my brain’s about to explode."

"But you have to think about them."

Chen Jian’s gaze became slightly stern as he looked at Shen Yue, speaking each word carefully:

"The responsibility is on your shoulders; you must bear it."

"I know."

Shen Yue sat up straight and continued:

"Don’t worry, I won’t shirk my duties."

"Pushing it to the extreme, I still want to live a good life here."

"To create a better life, you must rely on your own hands...."

"Good to know."

Chen Jian was amused and exasperated. After a pause, he turned to Zeng Yi and asked:

"Regarding opening trade routes, do you have any good ideas?"

"Your squad used to travel around; you should be quite familiar with this aspect, right?"

"Very familiar, you could say."

Zeng Yi nodded, then said:

"Besides the merchants of the Mechanical God Sect and Holy Blood Temple, each independent town and force organizes their own chambers of commerce."

"For instance, the female demon of Huadu we encountered before—actually, the female demons also took on a considerable portion of merchant duties."

"They serve as ’envoys’ externally and organize trade, which is why we thought at the time that the female demons brought weapons from Huadu to the vicinity of Han Shui and sold them to those Blood Skulls."

"This detail can be put aside; what I mean is, we have many chambers of commerce to choose from."

"However, in my opinion, the most suitable would be to partner with neutral chambers of commerce."

"Among neutral chambers, the largest is Jinling’s Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce."

"Their trade routes cover the entire Southern Region, with their own armed forces. Although they can’t compare to the Mechanical God Sect and Holy Blood Temple, their flexibility is strong, and they cooperate with major forces, making manipulation unlikely."

"Most importantly, I have a working relationship with them."

"The monster bounty in Chuansha was issued by them."

"Excellent."

Chen Jian nodded with satisfaction, then said:

"This task is yours; you contact the chamber of commerce."

"We have start-up funds now, and future resources will come from the chamber."

"No problem!"

Zeng Yi immediately nodded.

Perhaps this task wasn’t difficult for him, but nevertheless, he finally felt some responsibility placed on him.

Isn’t this what they’ve talked about before... a sense of mission?

Zeng Yi pondered this question all the way, and unconsciously, the squad had already returned to Yellow Stone City.

As they crossed Great Governance Lake and returned inside Yellow Stone City, Huang Yu hurriedly came to greet them.

"Leader!"

Seeing Huang Yu’s anxious face, Chen Jian asked:

"What’s the situation?"

"Someone’s here, claiming to be merchants!"

"Merchants?"

Chen Jian was surprised.

Getting what you wish for, having a pillow when you want to sleep, having in-laws when you want them?

Could it be so coincidental?

Moreover, during such a critical juncture, someone actually dared to come to Yellow Stone City?

Couldn’t they have heard the terrifying legends about this place?

Chen Jian immediately sensed something unusual. Following Huang Yu’s lead, the group, fully armed with safety mechanisms on, entered a freshly tidied room. As they entered, Zeng Yi suddenly grabbed Chen Jian.

He looked intently at the mark on the arm of the person inside the room and then said in a deep voice:

"Ring Traders!"

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