I Become a Landlady in the Game World
Chapter 247 - 153: Good News and Bad News

Chapter 247: Chapter 153: Good News and Bad News

In the meeting room.

Zhou Bai sat in the main seat, Lord Bayer sat beside her, and Zhou Zhengping and the others sat on both sides.

At that moment, most of the gazes were fixed on Zhou Bai.

Seeing everyone’s eager looks, Zhou Bai spoke directly, "This meeting is primarily to inform everyone about the situation of the nearby territories so that everyone can have a clear understanding. Let me start by introducing Bengala Town."

Then, Zhou Bai recounted the whole process of traveling to Bengala Town.

"Due to the hot weather, the mercenary team of their territory might delay their steps to Hope Village, but they will certainly come. This is an opportunity for our territory to establish a stable trade relationship; future products of Hope Village will not lack buyers, and we can continuously sell our products in the territory," Zhou Bai continued. "The town essentially has no major conflicts of interest with us and can be a long-term business partner, but we need to be cautious about the mercenary team from Bengala Town."

After Zhou Bai opened this topic, Cao Jingshan and others began to introduce.

With each mention, Zhou Bai’s eyes would light up a bit more.

The population of Barnes Village.

The Demon Beasts of Glasgow Village.

The Life System Professionals of Djibouti Village.

The development directions of these three territories are all different, and there’s no overlap with Hope Village, which clearly complements each other.

This meant that Hope Village had a great chance of forming alliances with these territories, binding their interests and using Hope Village as the core to expand slowly.

After knowing the dangers of this world, Zhou Bai was constantly thinking about strengthening the strength of the territory.

But besides inherent strength, the strength of the group was also essential.

She was now more interested in forming connections with native territories than with Blue Star Territory.

Because they were the fundamental basis of this world.

As for relations between Blue Star Territories, they naturally allied in times of crisis and didn’t need management; those who should understand, understood.

But native territories were different.

They still required effort to manage.

Thinking about this, Zhou Bai asked, "How did the discussions with the merchant teams from these three territories go yesterday?"

"I explained the situation to them and handed them over to Yun Juncai, who took the lead in handling this matter. Judging by their attitude, they might stay in Hope Village for a few days to see the situation!" Cao Jingshan spoke up.

Although they had "sincerely invited" them, once in Hope Village, in their home field, it was clearly a seller’s market. As long as they could hold their position firmly, they would be unbeatable.

Therefore, Cao Jingshan and the others were not particularly anxious.

Zhou Bai listened and nodded. When it came to business matters, having Yun Juncai and Zhong Yongnian around indeed meant they didn’t need to delve too deeply. They had brought the people back and provided the necessary conditions; how far the business would go depended on their skills.

It seemed this matter had concluded at this point, but Li Xingteng noticed that Zhou Zhengping had not mentioned anything about Abo Duowei Village.

He directly asked, "Zhou Zhengping, what about Abo Duowei Village? I heard that you brought back quite a number of people, predominantly professionals."

Shouldn’t such a situation make us happy? Yet Zhou Zhengping’s expression suggested otherwise.

"We must also discuss this matter," Zhou Bai stated directly. "During this Territory War, Abo Duowei Village was breached, and its territory marker has turned gray on the map."

The map he referred to was the one carried by those who had visited Abo Duowei Village.

At these words, everyone was shocked and turned their gaze to Zhou Zhengping. What had happened?

"We had planned to leave Abo Duowei Village yesterday, but unexpectedly, early in the morning, a territory launched a ruthless attack on Abo Duowei Village, with no room for negotiation; even surrender couldn’t stop it."

"Doesn’t surrender mean automatic loss?" That was what they knew of Territory Wars.

"But the initiators of a Territory War hold the power. If they aren’t willing to retreat, surrendering is futile," Zhou Zhengping explained directly. "Only after speaking with the Professionals from Abo Duowei Village did we learn that normally, most territories adhere to this rule. They plunder resources and leave a bit to the defeated. However, on the Stan Continent, there are still many aggressive territories whose goal isn’t just to plunder some resources from territory but to completely take over all resources of the opposing territory."

"Including the population?"

"Yes, including the population. Plundered residents, if ordinary people, mostly become slaves. If they are Professionals, they have a chance to be residents, but often they are sold to nobles or wealthy individuals as private guards. This type of personal guard is akin to being a dead soldier, whose life entirely belongs to their master and who is bound by contracts. Unless their master liberates them from the contract, they are essentially an alternative type of slave, utterly bereft of freedom." Zhou Zhengping was truly shocked when he learned this from Watt and the others.

He couldn’t help but feel fortunate that they hadn’t run into such a territory in their previous encounters.

"So, do we have to fight when encountered?"

"Yes, we must try to strike back, drive them off, or hold out for more than 24 hours. But the former requires a significant sacrifice of lives, and the latter consumes unimaginable resources," Zhou Zhengping said.

"Lord Bayer, did you know this?" The others turned to Bayer, having never heard this from him before.

"Yes, but their targets have generally been more developed territories, or ones that possess something they covet. It is more common in Level 1 towns, and since our territory is merely a Level 2 village, I didn’t mention it," Bayer responded.

It wasn’t the time to bring it up yet – to do so would only add unnecessary worry.

Yet, he hadn’t expected this time to be so close to Hope Village.

Bayer furrowed his brow slightly, also feeling concerned.

Although Hope Village had begun to show its potential, it was still developing, and facing such a colossal entity was likely to be fraught with crises.

"So, that means our territory still has time to prepare," Cao Jingshan said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Even though Zhou Zhengping described it lightly, the undertone of his words revealed the ferocity of the battle.

As a Level 3 territory, Abo Duowei Village had many Professionals, yet it couldn’t withstand even a few hours. If the same happened to their territory, it would likely be perilous.

"I also hope so, but we escaped the enemy’s hands and might be marked by them, making us a target," Zhou Zhengping said, "These types of territories are generally collective. It might not be Fasal Village who attacked Abo Duowei Village this time, but it could be another territory. If they set their sights on us, avoiding them may not be easy."

"We were just a merchant team passing through; Abo Duowei Village had other merchant teams as well, right? Surely they won’t only target our territory."

"But of the foreign merchant teams that escaped, we were the only one," Zhou Zhengping said helplessly. "Moreover, my guess is also based on another team that came with us. The leader of that team, Watt, was insistent on heading to Bengela Town and didn’t want to stay in our territory; he probably guessed it."

He found out that several people from Watt’s team had chosen to become residents of Hope Village, but Watt himself and many in his team remained visitors.

Undoubtedly, this supported his conjecture.

As he finished speaking, the entire conference room fell silent.

Just after receiving some good news, bad news followed!