The Fourth Calamity: People in High Martial Arts, Gods in Games

Chapter 92 Gang Wars

Although Abner spoke casually and calmly, Flo's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Abner in astonishment, clearly not expecting Abner to be planning to do such a business.

"Monopolizing the trade route, that's no easy feat." Lin Qi was quite surprised, but with the help of the Star Explosion Visualization Technique, his expression remained unchanged, and even his voice was extremely calm and without any fluctuation. "We at the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy are going to build Crimson Moon Mountain, so I'm afraid we don't have enough manpower to do other things."

Monopolizing trade routes usually involves robbing transport convoys traveling between cities, allowing only their own convoys to pass safely, which can bring enormous profits.

Many businesses and companies in the suburbs outsource this transportation work to outdoor gangs. Once a monopoly is established, these businesses and companies can only choose the outdoor gang that can provide safe transportation, unless they are willing to pay higher prices to have those suburban gangs provide transportation. Few businesses and companies are willing to accept this.

Trade competition between cities is fierce, often resulting in price wars. Increased transportation costs naturally lead to soaring prices, making it difficult for goods sold in other cities to be competitive. Therefore, the only option left is to find outdoor gangs that can transport goods safely.

However, monopolizing trade routes requires a large amount of manpower. After all, there are many caravans traveling between cities, and countless caravans are robbed every day. Without enough manpower, it is simply impossible to do so.

"Don't worry about that, Master Lin," Abner said with a smile. "As I said before, I'm here to make friends with you, Master Lin. So, the trade route between Wanxing City and Zhuguang City will be handled by our Demon Star Gang. We'll rob those wild gang caravans traveling from Zhuguang City to Wanxing City."

"Although our Demon Star Gang can't rob every caravan, if this goes on for a long time, I estimate that fewer and fewer wilderness gangs will be willing to take the job. When that happens, when the Obsidian Martial Arts School takes on those commissions to and from Wanxing City, I believe many companies and enterprises will come to us."

"Then what can our Obsidian Martial Arts School do for the Demon Star Gang?" Lin Qi smiled and couldn't help but look at Abner, who was over two and a half meters tall.

This unilateral monopoly on the trade route is of no benefit to the Demon Star Gang at all. It may even cause the wild gangs in the City of Light to become hostile to the Demon Star Gang in the future, and make the Demon Star Gang's convoys transporting goods to the City of Light subject to various attacks. It can be said that it is a thankless task.

In the world of martial arts, gangs are all driven by self-interest; he simply doesn't believe in things that only bring harm and no benefit.

Abner looked at Lin Qi and said cautiously, "After arriving at Crimson Moon Mountain, I have high hopes for it. So I hope that Master Lin can allow our Demon Star Gang to build a large shop and a large warehouse. We will only sell no more than ten kinds of products unique to Myriad Star City, and we have no other requests."

The transit market is extremely profitable. Once it's established, unique products from Wanxing City can be sold at even lower prices. At that time, a large number of nomads from Chasing Light City will definitely buy them, instead of transporting Wanxing City's products to Chasing Light City without the right to sell them.

Although nomads in the wild don't earn much bit, their numbers far exceed those of city residents, so there's no worry about Wanxing City's unique products not finding a market.

However, doing so would also present a huge problem, namely, it would infringe upon the interests of the Obsidian Martial Arts School. After all, the Obsidian Martial Arts School had gone to great lengths to create a transit market that could feed the nomads in both cities. If the Demon Star Gang were to sell Wanxing City's unique products, it would naturally affect the Obsidian Martial Arts School's ability to sell Wanxing City's products.

Therefore, Abner didn't dare to ask for too many. Ten unique items from Wanxing City were only a small part compared to the hundreds of unique items available in Wanxing City.

"If this is all you ask for," Lin Qi paused, concealing his secret delight, and then said, "I can agree to your request, but only for ten unique items that are not expensive."

He did indeed intend to live off the urban vagrants from both ends, but the Obsidian Martial Arts School simply doesn't have the manpower and funds to source goods from Wanxing City and sell them back in Chiyue Mountain. In fact, it would be good enough if they could just hold onto their current territory in Chiyue Mountain.

If someone were to open a shop on Chiyue Mountain, making the market there more prosperous and attracting more vagrants, he would be more than grateful to that person.

"Thank you, Master Lin." Abner couldn't help but clench his fist slightly after hearing this. If this deal went through, his status in the Demon Star Gang would rise significantly, and he could even personally make a lot of money. "Regarding the monopoly of the trade route, I will start taking action as soon as I get back. I believe I will soon give Master Lin a satisfactory result."

"Alright, here's a map of the trading area in Crimson Moon Mountain." Lin Qi nodded, took out the Crimson Moon Mountain map he had drawn for the players yesterday, pointed to an area far from the mines, and said, "Choose any two plots of land in these locations to build shops and warehouses. If you find a satisfactory one, just let me know when you start building."

"Are all these areas okay?" Abner was surprised to see the areas on the map where shops could be built. He hadn't expected Lin Qi to be willing to offer areas near the mountain road. These were excellent locations, normally reserved for their own families and never given to other forces.

However, after Abner glanced at Lin Qi, who had a smile on his lips, he suddenly understood what Lin Qi meant.

That means the Demon Star Gang needs to work hard. Only by working hard can they secure these good shop locations. If they don't perform well or the cooperation breaks down, the Obsidian Martial Arts School can take back these shops at any time, and then the Demon Star Gang will just have to watch.

"The person in charge of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy is indeed extraordinary. No wonder he can manage the Academy at such a young age." Abner watched Lin Qi leave to transport energy ore and his opinion of the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy rose a few points. He decided that the people sent to Crimson Moon Mountain in the future must be smarter and more resourceful. They must not displease Lin Qi, or they would die without even knowing how.

As the sun began to set, Lin Qi finally returned to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall with the first batch of energy ore before sunset.

As Lin Qi returned to the Obsidian Martial Arts Academy, he saw that the training ground was full of players practicing the Shocking Breathing Technique, just like real martial arts academy disciples.

At the very front of the training field stands a humanoid robot over two meters tall, which is the Coach B6 training machine awarded by the system.

This Coach B6 training machine is arguably the best companion for beginners. It can teach up to twenty people to practice the Shocking Breathing Technique at a time, with effects comparable to real-person instruction. It can detect various problems in players immediately and provide correct instructions.

This method, which can help players correct their training errors in a timely manner, not only allows new players to improve their training proficiency more quickly, but also allows Lin Qi to exploit players. If any player wants to speed up their progress, they must pay a teaching fee of 100 points per hour, which is to make new players spend money to catch up.

Of course, the Coach B6 training machine is not without its drawbacks. The training method that records instruction can only bring the player to the initial proficiency level. After that, it cannot be used for further instruction, and players will have to find their own ways to improve.

Even so, it still made the new players at the time very happy, as they never expected that new players would receive such benefits.

Before the newcomers could even enjoy their excitement, they discovered that the new version of the martial arts school had left very few places to earn points and contributions. The only options for new players to earn points and contributions were digging holes to plant crops or helping veteran players harvest Blood Essence Rice. Veteran players would reward them with some points, which was a way to earn extra points, but compared to the previous veteran players, the points earned were still far too few.

Only by reaching the apprentice level as soon as possible can you better earn points and contributions when venturing into new maps.

This is why the veteran players were somewhat gratified, knowing that their previous efforts had not been in vain.

Just a short while after Lin Qi assigned several tasks to the new recruits to move energy ore, the high-end smart watch on his wrist suddenly beeped with a communication notification. The person who contacted him was Luo Qi.

The latest novel is first published here!

"Have you chosen a new store?" Lin Qi asked with a smile after answering the call.

Just two days ago, he persuaded Luo Qi to become the owner of a shop in the suburbs, specifically to manage the handling of future field harvests.

He originally intended to give it to the players, but considering that the players could only hear the human language and were unaware of many things about the City of Light, Luo Qi was undoubtedly the best choice.

Not only is she a mechanic who is knowledgeable about various materials and goods, but she is also a regular resident who lives on the outskirts of the City of Light and is fluent in multiple languages. She is simply the perfect candidate to be a shop owner.

"It's already chosen. It's a three-story building in the downtown area, and the rent is 100,000 bits a month," Luo Qi said.

"A three-story shop in the downtown area for only 100,000?" Lin Qi was quite surprised. He didn't expect Luo Qi to be so resourceful as to be able to get such a cheap shop. Normally, a one-story shop in the suburbs would cost around 10,000 to 20,000, and it would be impossible to get one in the downtown area for less than 30,000 to 40,000, let alone a three-story building.

"You could say I got a good deal. The shop owner had an accident, and now only a mother and daughter are left. To avoid trouble, they wanted to rent out the shop quickly." Luo Qi nodded, then sighed, her tone somewhat helpless. "However, I also heard a lot of bad news in the suburbs today."

"What news?" Lin Qi asked curiously.

"I learned from a friend who works in a suburban company that very few of the businesses and companies in the suburbs of Chasing Light would entrust the Obsidian Martial Arts School with their services. Even those that do entrust their services use extremely dangerous transportation routes. All of this is because the White Feather Gang has spread the word to many of these suburban companies and businesses that if a company or business entrusts the Obsidian Martial Arts School with its services, the White Feather Gang will not accept any more of their entrustment requests," Luo Qi said with some concern.

Without the transportation services commissioned by these suburban companies and businesses, Obsidian Martial Arts School would be unable to bring back unique products from other cities or towns on their return trip, which they could then sell in suburban shops.

The income of the top 50 gangs in the wild mainly comes from the profits from the sale of these unique goods. Once this aspect is gone, their income will decrease by at least 30%.

But the most crucial issue is that her shop will have nothing to sell...

(End of this chapter)