Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 97 - 10: The Ring Merchant

Chapter 97: Chapter 10: The Ring Merchant

Ring Merchants?

Chen Jian remembered that name.

When trying to uncover the truth about the Mimic Heretics earlier, Zeng Yi had mentioned this organization.

According to him, the Ring Merchants are the world’s most formidable intelligence brokers and also the most sinister war merchants.

At the same time, they used to be an incredibly powerful chamber of commerce, accumulating vast resources and wealth by selling "ancient technologies."

In short, it’s a complex and mysterious organization.

Zeng Yi had also warned that if they were to approach them, they must do so with significant caution.

So, when Zeng Yi mentioned their name, Chen Jian almost instinctively raised his gun.

And everyone around him did the same.

The man opposite seemed startled by their actions, a look of panic that didn’t match his weathered face appeared.

"Relax! Relax!"

"Gentlemen! I’m just a merchant, there’s no need to treat me like this, is there?"

The man spoke hurriedly while raising his hands to show he was not a threat.

Chen Jian gently nodded his head, indicating for him to stand in the corner, then asked Huang Yu:

"How did he get up here?"

"As you requested, he swam up here without any clothes."

Huang Yu quickly replied.

Chen Jian felt slightly relieved and then ordered:

"State your identity!"

His gun was still not lowered, but the other party keenly noticed the decrease in hostility.

The man took a deep breath and slowly began to speak:

"I’m a merchant from the Ring Chamber of Commerce, my name is Qin Yuan."

"I’m here to conduct business---- of course, I know you’ll ask why I came to Yellow Stone City at such a time."

"My answer is simple."

"We are naturally active in various dangerous locations, and our business is definitely not considered safe."

"You know, we are intelligence brokers, and even war merchants."

"So, my presence here is actually quite reasonable, isn’t it?"

As the words fell, Chen Jian slowly nodded.

"Reasonable."

"What do you want?"

"I want intelligence."

Qin Yuan immediately replied:

"I want information about you---- intelligence that you think you can provide me for barter."

"You know, you just defeated the combined forces of the Holy Blood Temple and the Mechanical God Sect, and in battle, you displayed quite powerful strength."

"Thousands of troops turned to ash in an instant."

"Now, this news has spread for miles, even in the Imperial City where the Holy Blood Temple resides, there are legends about you... or rather, horror stories."

"There must be many curious about you, and what I want to do is get information from you to sell to those who need it."

"This is not a demand, just a proposal."

"If you think this request is unreasonable, I can leave immediately, pretending I never came."

"I will forget everything I saw---- guaranteed by the reputation of the Ring Chamber of Commerce."

"What’s your reputation worth?"

Chen Jian sarcastically retorted, but the other party answered with a sincere expression:

"Very valuable."

"If you don’t believe, you can ask the well-informed Holy Blood by your side."

After Qin Yuan spoke, Zeng Yi nodded at Chen Jian, then softly said:

"They live by their reputation, unlikely to break their promises."

"Understood."

Chen Jian simply replied, then continued to ask Qin Yuan:

"What can you bring me?"

"Gold."

Qin Yuan replied:

"This is the simplest transaction, if you need gold, we can provide you with gold."

"Meanwhile, we can also provide you with channels to trade gold, and with these exquisite metals, you can exchange a lot from us."

"Food, weapons, tools... everything is available."

"Of course, if you don’t want to make the transactions too complicated, you can directly state your terms."

"How much food, how many weapons... we’ll evaluate thoroughly and give you a satisfactory answer."

"Very reasonable."

Chen Jian finally lowered the muzzle of the 191 but did not retract the weapon mounts on the exoskeleton.

He looked levelly at Qin Yuan opposite, continuing to ask:

"What if we don’t want any of those things?"

"We guessed you might not be interested in those things... so, we prepared something better."

A slight smile appeared on Qin Yuan’s face, then he spoke:

"Knowledge, technology, and those ancient equipments... in fact, we have quite a lot of them."

"It’s just that it’s been a long, long time since we traded them."

"So why this time?"

Chen Jian remained suspicious, as far as he was concerned, everything delivered to the doorstep should be treated as an enemy until tested.

Qin Yuan shrugged and answered:

"Simple, because of your potential."

"The Ring Chamber of Commerce has had enough of those charlatans from the Mechanical God Sect and those perverts from the Holy Blood Temple."

"They might make the world better, but they’re too slow."

"They even need to spend a lot of time and manpower to clear a single Level 3 Monster."

"And you... reportedly only need a few minutes."

"Why should we not cherish such a rising star?"

"...Very persuasive reasoning, but illogical."

Chen Jian sneered and countered:

"You’re just merchants, do you really care about whether the world is good or bad?"