Eternal Night

Chapter 713 The Plan to Take Control of the World

Wu Pifu and Amadeus really couldn't understand what Xu Shilan meant by saying that making money was much faster than robbing.

However, both Wu Pifu and Amarde have a strong sense of self-awareness: leave professional matters to professionals, and they only need to do their own job.

As Xu Shilan's deputy, bodyguard, and human shield, Amadei's job was simply to follow Xu Shilan. Wu Pifu's task was also very simple: just go to the port every day and show his face. As long as he appeared every day, that was enough. If he had nothing to do, Xu Shilan would make him do manual labor.

It's real "bricklaying," even though it's wood.

Although the people at the shipyard are professionals, they are basically ordinary people. Even if their physical abilities are stronger than those of people in the real world, they are certainly no match for a human crane like Wu Pifu.

The humans in this world seem to have some mixed-race features. While ordinary people still make up the majority, you can see people who are two or three meters tall everywhere. There are also some with long arms and legs, horns, wings, and fish scales. Therefore, the people in this world are much stronger than the humans in Gaia. Have you ever seen an ordinary person who can lift a steel coil with the help of four or five people? They exist in this world!
Of course, no matter how "ordinary" a person is, they can never compare to Wu Pifu, a pure-blooded human.

While Wu Pifu was helping the shipbuilders quickly modify the Dog Egg, Xu Shilan took Amadei to the trading market, taverns, various captains' gatherings, and the banquet halls of the island's middle and upper-class nobles.

As crew members of the Dog Egg ship, Xu Shilan and Amadeus are now world-famous. No matter the nobleman or captain, no matter how high their status, they are treated with caution and humility.

This is actually very realistic. To put it bluntly, even in the 21st century where Wu Pifu lives, if someone could slap open a passage through the Himalayas, even if it were just his dog, as long as it was intelligent and could speak human language, it could still run to the United Nations and bark at everyone. Moreover, governments, dignitaries, dictators, and powerful families from all over the world would have to listen carefully and take notes.

On the fifth day of the Dog Egg's renovation, the renovation work was nearing completion. Wu Pifu returned to his lodging at dusk. As soon as he entered the room, he smelled the sweet aroma of cake. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Xu Shilan cutting the cake.

"You're back? Go take a shower first. You shower quickly. After you're done, we'll eat, and then we can talk about our next move." Xu Shilan smiled sweetly at Wu Pifu.

Wu Pifu nodded and walked into the bathroom, took off his clothes, jumped into the hot spring pool, scrubbed and washed, dried himself with his internal energy, got up, washed his clothes, dried them... It took him about ten seconds in total. He walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and just saw Xu Shilan had placed a fruit cake on his seat.

Wu Pifu naturally didn't stand on ceremony and sat down to eat. At the same time, Xu Shilan also spoke up, saying, "In these five days, we've learned a lot of important information about this world. To get to the point, our money-making plan is completely fine."

Wu Pifu nodded, signaling Xu Shilan to continue.

Xu Shilan cut another piece of cake for Amadei and continued, "I had a suspicion before that a world like this, which is mainly ocean-based and has no main landmass, but only various island ports, island nations and city-states, must be a place where various trade barriers, taxes, and trading qualifications are rampant. Sure enough, from the intelligence I have collected, to do business in each port of this world, different qualifications are required depending on the location. Some small islands and small ports require fewer qualifications, generally the level of the trading ship and the amount of tax paid, etc. However, island city-states and large ports with a certain status require confirmation of their allegiance, whether they are hostile countries, whether they have made contributions to the port city-state, whether they have a market share in the merchant guild, etc. If it is a larger archipelago or empire, then the required qualifications are more numerous and the entry barriers are higher."

Wu Pifu and Amadei had heard it, but Xu Shilan didn't expect them to understand anything. She immediately said, "But all of this is irrelevant to us. As long as we are piloting... the Dog Egg, then all barriers will cease to be barriers. To put it bluntly, what we are bringing them is free trade. They don't even kneel down and express their gratitude. How much do they despise freedom?"

Wu Pifu and Amadeus were immediately embarrassed. Wasn't this robbery?

Xu Shilan seemed to know what they were thinking, and immediately put her hands on her hips and said, "This is not robbery! You should know that we are doing legal business, not stealing or robbing, and paying no reasonable taxes. As for those so-called qualifications, barriers, conditions and the like, they are just thresholds set up by the powerful, factions, and forces in order to maintain the nobility and monopoly of those rent-seeking classes. Why should we listen to those powerful rent-seeking classes? The only reason we haven't overthrown them is because it's too much of a waste of time!"

Wu Pifu and Amadea nodded in agreement. That was indeed the case. They hadn't stolen or robbed anyone, nor had they used their goods to plunder the wealth of ordinary people. As for the many barriers set up by the powerful, the high-ranking, and the rentier class, they were only doing so for their own wealth and oppressing the common people. Why should they abide by them?

Seeing that the two agreed, Xu Shilan continued with a smile, "This is the first step. Long live free trade! For us, we can ignore any thresholds, barriers, or demands in this world. If any place dares to make such demands, then fine, we'll shut the door and let the scoundrels go!"

"..."

Wu Pifu ate his cake silently.

Xu Shilan said with a grin, "Just kidding. Your fame has spread throughout the world. I don't believe that the powerful and wealthy in this world would dare to cause trouble. This is just the first step."

"The second step is that we can cross ocean currents!"

Xu Shilan said seriously, "Unlike other merchant caravans, or even national-level trade caravans, we can ignore ocean currents. In this world, it is said that only a three-person fleet can ignore them. However, they are either in high positions of power or are pursuing clues about the tenth-level mythical ship. They would never come here to do maritime trade. So this is our unique advantage. Other merchant caravans may need a month to sail, while we may be able to arrive in three days. Many precious goods are seasonal and require a high degree of freshness. For us to do this kind of business, the profit is beyond description."

At this point, Xu Shilan took out a notebook, opened it, and compared it with the nautical chart, saying, "This world has several golden shipping routes recognized by merchants and various forces, but they are not suitable for us. What is most suitable for us are three types of trade goods: first, the water storage shells, sound storage shells, and energy storage shells unique to the pirate camp. These are also extraordinary resources unique to this world. The Order camp has very few resource points and the prices are extremely high. We can buy them from the pirate camp and then sell them in the Order camp. At the same time, we can also keep some to take back to the Land of Redemption to exchange for points."

"Second, spices are also one of the most expensive traded commodities in the world, but they are mostly found on the islands of the Order faction, and very few in the Pirate faction. Spices are also the main target of pirates' looting. We can also buy them from the Order faction and then resell them."

"Third, cherish food. On some wild islands and in some special sea areas, there are special extraordinary creatures or special ingredients. Eating these foods and ingredients can enhance physical strength and domineering aura. Even their blood is the best offering for sacrifices. Their prices are extremely high, mainly because these ingredients, being rare treasures, are extremely perishable. Due to ocean currents, ships often have to take a long detour to reach their destinations. Therefore, they are the most expensive things in the world, but we can obtain them in large quantities, or purchase them in large quantities from nearby sea areas. On the one hand, we can use the ocean currents to quickly reach our destinations, and on the other hand..."

Xu Shilan revealed a bright smile: "I plan to recruit a group of crew members, engineers, and technicians from the Land of Redemption, and pay them points to build our territory island. I will also have them modify the Dog Egg and manufacture technological creations such as refrigerators to store frozen treasures. Wouldn't this be faster than robbery?"

Wu Pifu and Amadei were stunned. They really didn't expect Xu Shilan's plan to be so big, that she actually planned to recruit people in the Land of Redemption to work for her in this world.
As expected of the former head of the Xu family.
Xu Shilan stuck out her tongue slightly and said, "But this is in the mid-to-late stage. First, we need to buy the unique spices of each island and carry them along the way until the cargo hold of the Dog Egg is completely full. Then we will sail to the pirate camp's waters and sell them there to earn our first pot of gold. Next, we will buy various extraordinary resources such as shellfish there and bring them back to the Order camp to sell. The round trip will take about half a month, and we will have the start-up capital. Then we can build our own island and establish a territory-type shelter. I just don't know if the mainframe will give us extra rewards for the shelter or merge it with the event-type shelter to upgrade its level."

"With our own sanctuary territory, we can bring the extra shellfish, as well as information about this world and the transcendent world, back to the Land of Redemption to earn our first points. We can then use these points to recruit employees who are not our team members but can work for us in our sanctuary territory."

"Once we have territory, we can use it as a neutral territory to attract caravans from both the pirate and law factions. At that point, simply sitting back and collecting taxes, and raising the banner of free trade to set trade rules, will be enough for us to grasp the entire world in our hands!"

Wu Pifu and Amadeus were completely stunned.

Xu Shilan...

The former head of the Xu family, who looked like nothing more than a cute girl with big breasts, finally revealed her true colors at this moment!
(End of this chapter)