The dragon just wants to stay at home, but the players are frantically upgrading their technology.

"What happened? Did the merchant bully us? Is he taking advantage of his power and bullying our lovely Miss Polar Bear?"

"Is that so? I'm bursting with fighting spirit right now, I have inexhaustible energy, I'll definitely tear him to pieces."

"Given your condition, go work in the bricklaying team and lay bricks for two days, and you'll be fine."

Upon hearing what Zhan Shuai said, the players immediately turned their concerned gazes, while some even made jokes.

"No."

Faced with everyone's attention, the polar bear shook its head shyly, its face flushed.

“When I was picking wild fruit, I went south and found some food scraps and fresh wheel tracks on the trade route.”

"I went offline and used AI to analyze it. AI said it was most likely a small smuggling caravan, with between twenty and thirty people. Depending on the size, there were five to eight combat personnel. They had been gone for more than an hour."

After saying that, the polar bear scratched his head, smiled, and said smugly.

"I thought, 'How slow would it be to run?' So I committed suicide and came back to report."

The author, speaking with a somber tone, posed a crucial question.

"You went offline, why didn't you notify us in the group?"

"Oh? That's right!"

The polar bear was stunned, as if struck by lightning, and his expression froze.

"My chance to be resurrected!"

Raising its hand, the polar bear looked at its new body, on the verge of tears, and roared to the sky.

"Pfft! Miss Polar Bear is so cute!"

"I think you mean to say she's stupid, right? Go! Buy some melon seeds for Miss Polar Bear."

"Hahaha! That's hilarious! But it's okay! Just call a few people to run back to the corpse and bring it back."

The players were instantly amused, bursting into laughter, with some even sporting a typical nerdy grin.

As for running back to the corpse, that's an extra resurrection method set up by Siegel.

In the end, a player's resurrection only consumes about 100 pounds of flesh.

Players can revive at will as long as they can provide enough fresh meat.

"Alright, stop laughing! If you keep laughing, she'll break."

"Justice is everything," he sighed, shook his head helplessly, glanced at the crowd, and gestured.

"Everyone, get ready! The merchant should be arriving at the stakeout in the north soon. We're going to trade ironware with him."

The players scattered, and a few took the lead and rushed into the warehouse.

Most of the people in the camp are construction workers, spending all day building infrastructure and acting like slaves; they're getting really bored.

"fine."

"Justice is Justice" patted the white bear on the shoulder and comforted him, "The deal's done. I'll go with you to your corpse."

"Hmm~"

The tearful polar bear nodded and hugged Justice in a tight hug: "The boss is the best."

"Alright, alright, enough with the sisterly affection. Hurry up and get the furs and weapons; we need to prepare for the trade."

Beside him, Zhan Shuai waved his hand dismissively.

"I think you're just envious and jealous."

"Justice is everything" cursed, glaring at Zhan Shuai.

But she discovered that Zhan Shuai's eyes had lost focus, clearly indicating that he had logged off to notify the hunting team.

Not long after, following a brief period of commotion, the players in the camp assembled and set off.

Along the way, Zhan Shuai carried several pieces of fur on his back and held a clay tablet map in his hand, leading the way toward the stakeout point.

When they were more than halfway there, Koujingjizheng and his team received a report from the people lying in wait.

The players quickened their pace and soon arrived at their ambush point.

In a thicket beside a mountain path, Baicaoyuan and the others, having received Zhan Shuai's notification, were already there.

"Commander! Those weak merchants are almost here. Should we fight or rob them? We're waiting for your order!"

Beside the Hundred Herbs Garden, a trainee Dragonblood Warrior player rubbed his hands together, his face full of bloodlust.

"Want to fight? Once you get the ironware, craft your weapons and rattan armor, you'll have plenty of goblins to fight."

Zhan Shuai glanced at him, then looked over the other players and made some simple arrangements.

“This is a mountain path, low in the middle and high on both sides. You will hide in the woods on both sides and follow my hand signals.”

After saying that, Zhan Shuai pointed to two kobolds, who took fur and some strange-looking herbs and came to the abandoned trade route.

It's called a trade route, but it's still the Middle Ages. It's not even as wide as a village road when Siegel traveled through time, let alone a road in today's Earth era.

Before long, there was movement at the end of the narrow, winding trade route.

Instead of a carriage, two guards appeared, armed with short crossbows, wearing drab leather armor, and carrying weapons at their waists.

They had traveled for a short while when the carriages and caravan members slowly appeared.

A sturdy horse with a mottled coat pulled a heavy cart covered with a cloth, its wheels rolling over the gravel road.

The caravan members, dressed in coarse linen clothes and covered in dust, were scattered on both sides of the wagons.

Upon closer inspection, many caravan members carried weapons at their waists, and there were also many guards clad in bright leather armor.

"Tsk, there are scouts too!"

Hiding by the roadside, Zhan Shuai watched from afar, clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, and completely gave up on his plan to double-cross the other party.

Suddenly, on the distant trade route, the two scouts stopped and raised their hands.

The caravan behind them stopped abruptly, and the guards' hands were already on their weapons.

"This game is as hardcore as ever!"

Stepping out of the forest, Zhan Shuai, leading two players, arrived at the center of the abandoned trade route and sighed.

The two scouts ahead frowned slightly upon seeing the three kobolds.

When they noticed the scales on Zhan Shuai's body and his bulging muscles, their expressions darkened even more.

"Don't be nervous, we don't have any weapons, we just want to make some deals."

As Zhan Shuai slowly stepped forward, he raised his hands to indicate that he posed no threat.

The two scouts exchanged a glance, said nothing, and made no move.

One of them pointed his crossbow at the commander, signaling him not to advance any further, while the other kept watch on their surroundings.

Soon, someone from the convoy behind came to inquire, and then went back.

Chapter 11 Trading

As a businessman, Freyteris has been quite troubled lately.

I heard that the war in the south has ended, but the lords' war taxes have not ended; in fact, they have become even more exorbitant.

That would be fine, it just makes business a bit more difficult.

In recent years, however, businessmen from the south have become increasingly outrageous.

The weapons, farm tools, and iron pots they sell are not only cheap, but also shiny and of good quality.

This squeezed all these honest and law-abiding northern merchants out of the market, leaving them only able to go to remote villages.

Frye was one of them, and he started to personally handle his old business: smuggling.

"This is really weird! This year they're selling it for less than my cost price, only a few silver coins!"

Fry sat in the carriage, muttering curses under his breath.

"I really don't understand! Are their workshops full of mindless trolls who don't eat, don't ask for wages, and have no brains?"

"but……"

Looking back at the cloth covering the goods, Frye had to admit that these things were indeed cheap and good.

If we take these things to the northern grasslands and to the demi-human races, we'll definitely make a fortune.

Just as Freichang was thinking about how he could use these goods to earn back the money that his old comrades in the border army and the lord had exploited, and then switch to other industries, the caravan suddenly stopped.

"what happened?"

Frye's expression darkened slightly as he looked up at the veteran mercenary he had hired at great expense, a second-tier knight named Grayson Capone.

Grayson stopped in front of the convoy, his burqa covering his leather armor. He was clearly very experienced and methodically sent men to check things out.

Soon, Grayson, having received the report, came over.

“Sir Grayson, what happened? Time is money, we can’t linger here any longer.”

Turning his gaze away from the distance, Frey got out of the car, went to meet them, and suppressed his irritation as he asked.