The night was drawing near.
Chen Yu and Su Zhan sat on the city wall, gazing at the boundless yellow sand outside, raising their cups and drinking.
"Hiss!"
The scorching wine slid down his chest, and Su Zhan gasped, squinting his eyes. After a brief aftertaste, he let out a hearty shout.
"Invigorating."
"This wine is indeed spicy."
Chen Yu's alcohol tolerance wasn't particularly high during college. Su Zhan could drink cases of it, but Chen Yu was usually satisfied with six or seven bottles.
This kind of potent wine might be invigorating for Su Zhan.
But for Chen Yu—
He found it somewhat unbearable.
"This is 'Daozi Jiu,' a specialty of the Orc Empire, and it's quite popular among orcs." Knowing Chen Yu's drinking capacity, Su Zhan didn't rush him, grabbing the bottle and taking a large swig.
The fiery liquor made his face flush slightly.
He let out a hearty breath and slumped onto the beast-skin draped on the chair. Turning to Chen Yu, he said smugly.
"Bro, it was with this Daozi Jiu that I managed to outdrink all the orcs in He Town, and that's how I secured this position as City Lord."
"Then you got this City Lord position rather hastily," Chen Yu quipped.
"Hahaha..."
Su Zhan didn't take it to heart, still full of pride.
"You don't understand. These orcs can hold their liquor. Even eighty of you wouldn't be a match for them, let alone drink them under the table."
"Alright, alright, you can drink."
"My brain might not be as sharp as yours, but when it comes to drinking, you're no match for me." Su Zhan swayed his head leisurely, grabbing the wine bottle and pouring more into his mouth. "Old Chen, don't blame me for ruining the mood, but what did you tell Fei Kui? He seemed quite satisfied."
"How could he not be satisfied?"
Chen Yu tilted his head back, gazing at the hazy sky above.
"One hundred thousand sets of perfect-grade Bright Silver Armor, and at 800 gold coins per set. Anyone would be grinning from ear to ear, wouldn't they?"
"150, that cheap?" Su Zhan was shocked.
The price negotiated between the Alton family and their Batu Free Federation was 200 gold coins per piece for the Bright Silver set, which came out to 1000 gold coins per set.
It seemed like a mere 200 gold coin discount, but for 100,000 sets, that was a staggering 20 million gold coins.
"That's what it cost," Chen Yu murmured softly. "Do you think Fei Kui gave up Liuyue so easily just because he was being magnanimous, or because he feared me as an equipment merchant?"
Clearly, neither was the case.
Whether in the underground caves or elsewhere, profit always came first. Did Fei Kui really come to He Town for the marriage engagement?
Not necessarily!
They had been engaged for so long, yet people from the Fourth Kingdom had never shown up.
However, as soon as several mineral veins were discovered in He Town, and the Batu Free Federation gained the favor of equipment merchants, the Fourth Kingdom suddenly remembered the engagement and personally dispatched Fei Kui.
What they needed was profit.
Liuyue was their bargaining chip. Even without Chen Yu's intervention, if He Town truly intended to break the engagement, they would have to provide a satisfactory price.
The profit Chen Yu conceded was necessary.
"Hmph!"
Su Zhan, drinking heavily, snorted dismissively.
"He could have refused, of course. Then let him try. I had made thorough arrangements before he arrived. If he really wanted to be ungracious and take Liuyue away from our He Town, then there are people who can be buried in the new pits I dug on the east side of the city."
"Why are you still so aggressive even in the underground caves?"
Hearing Su Zhan's rough words, Chen Yu couldn't help but grin.
"Su Zhan, this martial world isn't about fighting and killing; it's about human relationships. When we first entered the underground, we might have had to fight for survival, but now that we each have our own cities, we can't act like thugs anymore. Besides, you don't really think the Fourth Kingdom has made no arrangements in secret, do you?"
This made Su Zhan fall silent for a long while. His aggressive demeanor had subsided.
He knew Chen Yu was right.
"Hmph, you have the nerve to talk about me? Are you any better? Human relationships, why don't you coexist with the surrounding camps? I heard you razed all the camps around your small city-state."
"..."
"Isn't it faster to rob them?"
"Indeed!" Chen Yu remained silent for a long time, but eventually, he couldn't help but laugh. Frowning, he continued, "It is quite strange, though. Those camps are all incredibly rich. It feels like a waste not to rob them. As far as I know, many commoners can't earn a few gold coins in their entire lives, yet those rundown camps can possess assets worth millions, even tens of millions."
"Very puzzling?"
"Just a tiny bit."
"It's very simple. These camps are the ones that have survived," Su Zhan murmured, raising his wine. "Old Chen, the underground is unimaginably vast. In this enormous world, there are countless kingdoms and cities, yet there are still vast areas of survival that are not governed by law. Even if certain areas are considered within the city limits, do you think they can truly manage them?"
Chen Yu remained silent. Su Zhan then chuckled again.
"Within the underground kingdoms, there's much corruption. Things here don't develop and change as quickly as in our world. A kingdom can sometimes exist for thousands of years. All countries seem to have an unspoken agreement to have friction only over bordering lands, but never to affect the core cities. Such peace inevitably leads to internal corruption."
"You must have seen the lives of the common people in the Tatu Kingdom."
"How many refugees are there around the city-states?"
"If those refugees want to survive, what else can they do but become bandits? When bandits gather in sufficient numbers and form camps, those who survive are the elite.
"Especially the large camps!"
"Do you know how many small and medium-sized camps are merged to form a large camp? That's the foundation of so many camps being plundered."
"Tens of millions, is that a lot?"
"If you go and rob a city-state, no matter how poor it is, it will have tens of millions in resources. Large camps are actually measured against city-states. The only difference is that city-states are legal, hence they are city-states, while camps are illegal, hence they are camps."
"You seem to understand quite a bit," Chen Yu said with a smile.
"Bro, the first thing I did upon arriving at He Town was to clear out the camps. You haven't seen how many camps there were around He Town. I've wiped out no less than eight hundred, if not a thousand, camps in the past six months," Su Zhan shrugged. "There are still quite a few people in the city whom I've incorporated from the camps. You've probably guessed it, He Town was also a camp before, but now that I've joined the Batu Free Federation, it's legal."
"As expected of you."
"That's just scratching the surface. I've made drastic changes in He Town." Su Zhan's eyes were filled with drunkenness, but for a moment, he narrowed them. "Old Chen, you owe me thirteen cities, right?"
"Of course."
"I'll give you these cities, not just thirteen, but thirty, if you have the guts."
"To do what?"
"Are you interested in joining forces with us to overthrow the Tatu Kingdom?"