The wind howled.
Amidst a pure white background, snowflakes danced, and faint light reflected off the snowy ground, creating a crystalline sheen.
In the projection, Jiang Yaqing, bundled in a fur hat with ice crystals frozen on her eyelashes, held a steaming thermos cup. This cup of warm water was like a lifeline to her.
Without it, she truly wouldn't have been able to endure such a harsh survival environment.
At this moment—
Jiang Yaqing was crouching in the snow. Before her, several small snowmen with carrot noses were waving animatedly.
"Who are you calling a big fat sheep?"
Without even looking up, Jiang Yaqing's displeased tone carried through. Only after her words fell did she slowly lift her head, her eyes brimming with exasperation.
"Don't push it, have you gotten too familiar with me?"
"You're still in the Eternal Icefield?" Chen Yu raised his eyebrows, looking at the familiar background. "It's been over a week of mining. Classmate Jiang, I'm not trying to lecture you, but enough is enough. Don't bite off more than you can chew. These underground caves have their own ecological balance, do you really intend to mine the entire icefield dry?"
"None of your business."
Jiang Yaqing shot Chen Yu a glare, then raised her hand and pointed at the projection.
"Xiaobai, spit at him."
*Swish.*
A small snowball was indeed spat out from the mouth of the carrot-nosed snowman towards the projection, completely obscuring it and bathing Chen Yu's side in a screen of white snow for a full five seconds.
"All right, you've bonded with the spiritual beasts of the Eternal Icefield?"
Chen Yu stretched lazily, took a bite of cheese, and seeing this scene, Jiang Yaqing's eyes immediately lit up.
"Give me some."
*Ding.*
You have gifted Jiang Yaqing 20 exquisite cheese, 20 exquisite roasted meat, and 20 exquisite canned fruits.
"Here, eat up." Chen Yu waved his hand grandly. Jiang Yaqing, who had received the gift, was a little surprised. "Tsk, so accommodating, you didn't even ask me to buy it. You... you don't have some favor to ask of me, do you?"
In the projection, Jiang Yaqing's face was filled with suspicion.
Despite this, she still took a bite of the cheese and broke off a piece to share with the snowmen in front of her. Jiang Yaqing was already accustomed to the deliciousness of Chen Yu's exquisite food. For the first time tasting exquisite delicacies, the snowmen's snow-white cheeks flushed with happiness the moment the cheese entered their mouths.
They waved their little hands and swayed in the snow, reaching out to ask Jiang Yaqing for more.
Jiang Yaqing was not stingy.
She directly took half of the cheese and gave it to the snowmen. The snowmen who received the cheese wolfed it down. Jiang Yaqing watched them silently, gently stroking their heads.
"Eat slowly~"
With gentle eyes, she gazed at the snowmen for a while before looking back at the projection.
"Go on, what do you want to ask of me this time?"
"Tsk, look at what you're saying. With our relationship, what's the big deal about me giving you some snacks?" Chen Yu retorted righteously. "Am I giving you things just to ask for favors?"
"Heh..."
However, Jiang Yaqing gave Chen Yu no quarter.
"Just say what you need."
"Sigh, you really don't appreciate a good deed." Chen Yu sighed softly. "Fine, I'm not going to waste time. I have a business deal for you, want in?"
"What business deal?"
"Exploration invitations, wanna buy?"
"Damn, I knew it! This is your doing!" To Chen Yu's surprise, Jiang Yaqing, who was squatting in the snow playing with the snowmen, suddenly widened her eyes and shouted.
The snowmen beside her seemed to be startled, dropping the cheese they were holding into the snow.
"There, there, don't be scared~" Noticing the startled snowmen, Jiang Yaqing quickly raised her hand to stroke their little heads, then picked up the cheese, shook off the snow, and put it back into the snowmen's hands. She then looked back at Chen Yu with gritted teeth.
Frankly, Chen Yu was also quite shocked.
He hadn't expected Jiang Yaqing to have such a strong reaction. But then again, given her background, it wasn't strange that she would be one of the buyers.
It seemed everything was as Chen Yu had anticipated.
The purchase of exploration invitations was a tacit understanding among these buyers. Although they bought the invitations, they wouldn't let the news leak. Chen Yu's appearance had disrupted this balance.
"No wonder you were so eager to have the Silver Realm people leave. They are your family's exploration main force, right? You planned to use the purchased invitations for them?" Chen Yu asked with a smile.
"Chen Yu, do you know how much trouble you've caused us?"
Jiang Yaqing gritted her teeth and said, "Just because you leaked this news, it's not just our region, other regions are aware of this matter now as well."
"Hmm, and then?"
"And then? You're actually asking me 'and then'?"
Jiang Yaqing seemed to want to shout, but she suppressed it for fear of startling the snowmen beside her, and said through gritted teeth.
"The result is that the invitation supply chain that my family had cultivated has run into problems. It's not just our family; Xu Nuo and a few others are in the same predicament."
"That shouldn't be the case, should it?" Chen Yu feigned surprise. "How would my leaking the news affect you?"
"What do you think!"
Jiang Yaqing said sternly.
"Chen Yu, are you genuinely unaware or are you asking a question you already know the answer to? They know that the city-states are collecting invitations, so of course, they want to cooperate with the underground city-states. We provide resources, but the city-states provide actual underground currency. Between underground currency and the resource points recognized within the survivor community, who do you think they'd favor?"
Tsk.
Listening to Jiang Yaqing's explanation, Chen Yu's eyes were filled with amusement.
Everything was proceeding as he had predicted.
"You little rascal, when I saw the message in the regional channel, I knew something was wrong. I suspected it might be you then, but I figured with your brains, you'd know such things shouldn't be brought to light and would suppress it. I never imagined you were an undercover agent!" Jiang Yaqing said through gritted teeth. Chen Yu, with a smile, asked, "Is the impact significant?"
"At least more than half don't want to cooperate, what do you think?"
"Hiss, that serious?"
Chen Yu looked astonished and said, "But this shouldn't affect you much, should it? You have so many gold coins. If I collect them with underground currency, you collect them too."
"Am I supposed to collect them with gold coins? Am I stupid?"
Jiang Yaqing clenched her fists in anger. In the projection, her eyes seemed to want to devour Chen Yu alive. However, less than half a minute later, she sighed dejectedly.
"Even if I did use gold coins, they might not believe me. They might even suspect my money is fake."
"It's all your fault!"
After a moment of silence, Jiang Yaqing glared at him with gritted teeth. Seeing her furious expression, Chen Yu knew that this matter indeed had a significant impact on her family.
But—
Everything could be remedied.
"How many invitations did your family acquire at the time?" Chen Yu asked in a low voice. Jiang Yaqing frowned and glared. "What for? Are you trying to pry into my family's core secrets?"
"Tell me~"
"150."
Hoo.
Hearing this number, Chen Yu was stunned.
It was true.
He had estimated it to be around 150 resource points back then, and it turned out to be exactly that.
"Look at your shifty eyes, what sly thoughts are you hatching now?" Jiang Yaqing glared. "Don't even think about raising the price. My family is vast and wealthy, we can afford to buy them at 300 or 500."
"Is that so?"
"Ah!"
"Wow, wow, then you go ahead and collect them slowly." Chen Yu shrugged with a look of regret. "I was originally going to say, since we have a future cooperation, and considering our relationship, I'd sell them to you for 100 resource points. But since you want to collect them at 300 or 500, then..."
Just as Chen Yu was speaking in a low voice, Jiang Yaqing's face in the projection instantly appeared close to his.
"What?!"