This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 672: There Really Is Gold Everywhere Here!

Chapter 672: Chapter 672: There Really Is Gold Everywhere Here!

In the Wasteland, the Alliance’s reputation is generally good in most regions.

Especially the army of the Alliance, whose image of strict discipline is deeply ingrained in people’s hearts; never have they heard of any Commercial Team or residence being robbed by the soldiers of the Alliance.

Therefore, Mogavi wasn’t panicked at all, and with only two agile mercenaries, he boarded the inflatable boat, urging the person steering the boat to speed up towards the direction of the beach.

After sailing for two or three kilometers, the inflatable boat soon reached the shore.

"You guys secure the boat! As soon as you’re done, come find me!"

Mogavi instructed the two mercenaries to drag the inflatable boat ashore and ground it, while he himself hurried towards the camp by the shore.

The beach was different from the sea.

Their inflatable boat was coated with a tree oil boiled from Black Iron Wood, which could give off a rotting smell to repel sea Variants, but once on shore, he had to rely on himself.

Rushing out of the edge of the beach, the moment the soles of his shoes touched the soft muddy ground, his eyes widened in shock at the sight before him.

All he could see was a stack of fur of various sizes and colors, piled up like a deck of cards on a platform made of logs.

Probably to save space, they were tied into tofu block shapes with hemp ropes, stacked tightly together, with the only protection being a crudely made shelter of thatch.

These raw skins were probably freshly stripped from their prey not long ago, still smeared with uncleansed blood and grease, emitting a faint stench under the high temperature.

"Spirit of the Sand Sea above..."

Mogavi’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg.

What shocked him wasn’t the cruelty of the scene before his eyes.

In the Wasteland, unless one is absurdly full and bloated, no one would overflow with so much sympathy as to feel for Variants.

What really shocked him was the barbarity and rudeness of these people!

They were treating these treasures worth their weight in gold so terribly, piling them up here like old rags!

Did these wasteful fellows not fear retribution from the heavens!?

"Spirit of the Sand Sea above! Purely colored Mink Fur! Wait, is this a mutated leopard?! Emerald Python, Mutated Rhino Skin..."

"Hiss—"

"You’re just piling these treasures here, letting them rot in the high temperatures?! You might as well give them to me!"

The noisy sound quickly drew the attention of nearby players.

Some of the players who were working at the slaughter points dropped their work and curiously crowded around him.

"Wow, is that an NPC?"

"There’s a cargo ship docked over there, looks like that guy came from that ship."

"What’s he blabbering on about?"

"Who knows, I turned on my translator too late."

Wiping the blood off his boning knife, Green Lantern Old Wine, wearing a leather apron, glanced at the NPC, narrowed his eyes, and spoke in imperfect United Human language.

"Who are you?"

The man quickly turned to look at him, anxiously pulling out a damp business card from his shirt and handing it over with excitement.

"I am Mogavi, a merchant from Silver Moon Bay! Are these furs yours?"

Without answering his question, Green Lantern Old Wine glanced at the business card, casually stuffing it into his pocket, and eyed the man once more.

"You know your stuff about these goods?"

Mogavi quickly nodded, forcefully restraining his excitement and said.

"Of course! Name your price, I want all of these goods!"

Not to speak of anything else, just the pieces of Mink Fur he had just seen, if properly handled, could be made into fur coats and taken to Poluo Province, which at the very least could be exchanged for one hundred slaves!

And if he went a bit further west, to the ports near Triumph City, that could easily fetch 100,000 Dinars!

Not to mention those few pieces of Mink Fur were just the tip of the iceberg in this pile of goods.

And as for Variants like Mutated Rhino and mutated leopards, which aren’t considered rare, though their fur wouldn’t sell for a high price per unit, they are in high demand. No matter which port, they always have buyers, so there’s never a worry about being stuck with unsold goods in hand.

To say it without exaggeration, the profit from his entire ship’s cargo couldn’t match up to the few stacks of fur piled carelessly here.

After all, a whole container of iron ore couldn’t earn 1000 Dinars, but here a relatively intact piece of fur could easily sell for that price!

Thinking of the huge profits, Mogavi’s heart pounded wildly, his breathing becoming involuntarily rapid.

It was as though there was gold everywhere!

Praise the Spirit of the Sand Sea!!

Looking at the merchant hastily asking for a price, a strange expression raised Green Lantern Old Wine’s eyebrows.

Was this guy new to doing business?

It was as if he had the words "Come and slaughter me" written on his face.

With a slight turn of his eyes, he spoke.

"...These skins haven’t been processed, we plan to sell them after processing."

Mogavi protested painfully and urgently.

"There’s no time, with this way of processing, even a piece of wood would rot! Don’t disbelieve me, at most by tomorrow morning, if half of these goods are left, I’ll consider myself the loser!"

Green Lantern Old Wine was stunned for a moment, instinctively retorting.

"How could it be so fast!"

What a joke?

He wasn’t a butcher for the first time; back in the City of Dawn, he could leave the skins out to rot for two or three days before dealing with them and still find buyers.

How could it possibly decompose in a day?

Watching this guy, who clearly hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation, Mogavi couldn’t help but say with a laugh and a cry,

"Are you joking? This is the tropics! You don’t think decomposition here is as slow as back home, do you? I just got off the boat and could smell that stench from a mile away."

Green Lantern Old Wine subconsciously sniffed the air and, perhaps having grown used to the local scent, truly couldn’t smell anything.

But he got the gist of Mogavi’s words and his expression gradually lost its previous calm.

"Then name your price."

Hiding his glee, Mogavi stretched out five fingers and pointed to the pile of goods beside him, saying with all sincerity,

"Since we’re fated to meet, I’ll offer you 50,000 Dinars for this stack! I want all five stacks in total!"

That would be 250,000 Dinars in all,

including those few "insignificant" mink furs.

Mogavi felt that his offer was quite sincere.

After all, if he left these goods untended, they’d just rot on the beach and he wouldn’t be able to sell them for a penny in the end.

To his surprise, though, upon hearing his earnest offer, the guy in front of him rolled his eyes without hesitation and refused.

"Get lost! You think I don’t know the worth of Dinars? This pile has at least two hundred pieces. 50,000 Dinars? Are you kidding me?"

Mogavi was stunned for a moment, then said with a pained expression,

"Friend, these are unprocessed hides. Over 200 Dinars apiece is already very generous. Even if you took them to Silver Moon Bay right now, you wouldn’t find a buyer more generous than me."

Green Lantern Old Wine shook his head like a rattle drum.

"Don’t even think about it; I’ll process as many as I can. If you really want to buy, then no less than 50,000 Silver coins for one stack."

"50,000 Silver coins?!" Mogavi’s eyes widened, "Are you kidding me?! That’s enough to buy a truck!"

Green Lantern Old Wine laughed, saying unreservedly,

"Guess how many trucks these could fetch back in the City of Dawn?"

Mogavi laughed and cried as he looked at him,

"You can’t bring them back, your methods of handling them mean this batch will absolutely rot halfway!"

Green Lantern Old Wine made an indifferent face,

"Forget it, the temperature here is high, but doesn’t it drop once we reach the sky? A thousand furs, we’ve got them all packed. Once we’re back in the City of Dawn and give them a little treatment, we could sell them for at least 500,000 Silver Coins. We can even transport the local seafood back, let alone a few furs."

Truth be told, he was bluffing a bit. After all, air transport isn’t costless.

And the Northwestern Wind airship isn’t a dedicated cold transport vehicle; it can manage to transport some seafood in foam boxes. Residents of the City of Dawn might buy them as novelties, and earning enough to cover airfare isn’t an issue.

But these furs were different; they were for bulk trade. Putting aside whether there were cold storage facilities, even if they could be transported back based on weight, whether they could earn back their cost was unknown.

However, a price of 250 Dinars each was definitely unacceptable to him. The cost of obtaining those animals was much more than that.

If he really sold them at that price, he might as well go bankrupt.

Mogavi shook his head, intending to walk away but saw that nobody was trying to stop him. He stamped his foot and clenched his teeth before turning back.

"Forget it, out of respect for the aid you once offered us, I’ll suffer a loss... Let’s say there are a thousand pieces in total, I’ll take them all for 130,000 Silver Coins!"

There wasn’t a stable exchange rate between Silver coins and Dinars; some places might give 1:3, others 1:10, which depended on the distance from Triumph City and the City of Dawn and whether the slave trade was prevalent in the nearby area.

Though Dinars are metal currency, it’s not Gold that anchors their value but slaves and the value slaves can produce.

But one thing was undeniable.

In most regions, Silver Coins were more powerful than Dinars, even if they weren’t as widely circulated. At least, this was true to the east of the Great Desert.

Hearing the price, Green Lantern Old Wine was instantly tempted.

130,000 Silver Coins!

An average of one hundred thirty Silver per piece!

The price wasn’t fantastic, but it was much better than 250 Dinars.

However, as tempted as he was, he still put on an uncertain face.

"130,000... that price is still too low. I need to discuss it with others."

Hearing this, Mogavi’s eyes bulged out, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Good grief.

It turned out that after all this haggling, the goods weren’t even his!

Seeing the murderous look in that NPC’s eyes, Green Lantern Old Wine gave a sheepish laugh, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and coughed before saying,

"...Most of them are mine, mostly mine..."

Not giving Mogavi a chance to back out, Green Lantern Old Wine immediately went to the slaughter area, gathered the lifestyle players who ran the stalls, and laid out the situation one by one.

This included the NPC who took interest in the stack of unprocessed hides at the port, and the price he had negotiated with the man.

"...I thought about it, and a price of 130,000 Silver Coins is acceptable. Plus, we’d save on transportation to the City of Dawn, labor for skin processing, and potential losses during transit... If we really took them back to the City of Dawn to figure out what to do, we might even lose money. Better to bundle them up and sell them to that guy. Everyone divides the money and makes a good sum."

The lifestyle players thought it over and seemed to agree.

The Variants kept swarming in, and the stalls were nearly unable to hold all the hunted animals. There was no telling when they’d have time to process those furs.

Someone willing to take everything was indeed convenient.

As for old man Green Lantern’s reputation, they trusted him; there wasn’t going to be one price on the surface and another behind the scenes.

"You handle it," they said.

"Bro, I trust you."

"Even if we make less by selling wholesale, it’s still good to get rid of the goods quickly. It would be such a waste to let them rot on the beach."

Seeing how many brothers trusted him, Green Lantern was deeply moved and said with emotion in his eyes,

"Good brothers! With your trust in me, I, Green Lantern Old Wine, will not let you down!"

"Tch, what are you thanking us for? You’re the one who negotiated a good deal for us. If anything, we should be thanking you," a player with a life-profession character laughed and patted his shoulder.

Another player suddenly had an idea and suggested,

"Right, there will definitely be more NPCs coming here to buy furs, so why don’t we register an organization or association? In the future, we can all agree on a price to sell together, setting individual prices for different types of furs. We’re sure to make more than by selling them all at one price. Plus, it can prevent those NPCs from finding us one by one and breaking us down to drive down prices."

The suggestion was immediately met with many people’s approval.

"Great idea!"

"I agree!"

"We can’t let the NPCs shear us like sheep!"

Green Lantern also snapped back to reality, realizing why that NPC almost flipped out when he heard that all the goods weren’t his.

Turns out there was a trick to this all along.

But now was not the time to discuss this.

He coughed twice to get everyone’s attention and then continued,

"Listen up, everyone. We can discuss this in the long term and take it to the forums after logging off. For now, let’s deal with this batch of goods."

The player who had made the initial suggestion nodded and said,

"Indeed, let’s get the goods sorted out first."

After receiving permission from everyone, Green Lantern returned to the pile of goods and found Mogavi pacing back and forth.

This time, with the support of his brothers, he had the confidence to haggle, and he started to forcefully negotiate with Mogavi.

In the end, through his efforts, the total of 1,131 pieces of fur was finally sold for 140,000 silver coins.

Although it did not reach his expected 150,000 silver coins, it seemed that this price was the limit that the NPC merchant could accept.

As he uttered the words "deal", the NPC looked as if he had been gutted, completely defeated and bankrupted.

Even though the guy was an NPC, the NPCs in this game were nearly indistinguishable from real people, so Green Lantern Old Wine didn’t have the heart to squeeze him dry.

He still wanted to keep this business going for the long term.

As part of the deal for the 140,000 silver coins, the players of Potato Harbor needed to help pack up the thousand-plus pieces of fur and deliver them to the deck of the "Northwestern Wind" cargo ship.

Without a dock, it wasn’t easy to load ten to twenty tons of goods onto the ship, but Green Lantern Old Wine readily agreed to it.

"As you wish, 140,000 silver coins! I’ll need to go to the ship to get the money... You bring the goods to the deck, and we’ll make the exchange there."

After making a verbal agreement, Mogavi headed toward the south side of the camp, stopped by the fence gate, and repeatedly instructed Green Lantern Old Wine.

Seeing Mogavi with the look of someone who had lost money, Green Lantern chuckled and waved it off.

"Got it, you’d better go. Tell your captain to steady the ship; we’ll have your goods over in no time."

"It’s a deal..."

Mogavi didn’t want to waste any more time on the beach and started heading towards where the inflatable boat had run aground.

At that moment, two mercenaries carrying guns approached from their direction, and seeing their boss hurrying back, they were momentarily dumbfounded.

"Boss?"

"What... has happened?"

"The deal is done!" Mogavi slapped the shoulder of the mercenary leading the way, urging them on, "It’s time to go; time is money, we have to rush back to the ship."

The batch of goods now piled up belonged to him, and every minute he wasted there was a risk of damaging a piece of fur.

This is something he could not tolerate.

Especially since several of the mink furs he coveted were tied up with a stack of mutated rhino skins meant for leather making. The sight of the blood and grease on the beautiful fur made his heart cramp with pain.

Such a bunch of prodigals!

When the mercenaries heard the boss say it was time to go back, they almost spewed old blood.

With great effort, they had dragged the speedboat ashore, thinking they could have a couple of drinks in the Alliance settlement, but before they even got a chance, they were pushed to head back.

"What are you staring at me for?" Mogavi glared at the two stationary mercenaries, "Get moving!"

"Yes..."

Not daring to offend their employer, the mercenaries ultimately swallowed their anger and headed back toward the inflatable boat with grudging resolution.

To get back to the deck quickly, Mogavi didn’t care about getting his trousers wet with seawater and joined the mercenaries in pushing the boat.

After half an hour of struggle, they finally managed to get the speedboat back to the anchored cargo ship.

The two speedboats they’d left behind had not departed, and the patrol captain was waiting impatiently, smoking on the bow, as if he had been waiting for them for a long time.

Mogavi wasted no time in climbing the ladder up to the deck.

Seeing the employer return to the deck, Song Haining immediately approached and asked,

"What exactly is happening onshore?"

"It’s true! Land that’s teeming with gold! Hahaha! I can’t believe I found it!" Mogavi was ecstatic, his earlier dejection onshore forgotten as he grabbed Captain Song by the shoulders.

Song Haining was confused for a moment by these words, completely at a loss, before regaining his composure and speaking,

"What do you mean land teeming with gold..."

"I’ve bought a batch of goods from them. Just wait here; they’ll be bringing the goods over soon. I’m going to prepare the money."

Mogavi walked toward the ship’s cabin, and Song Haining immediately reached out to grasp his arm, asking hastily.

"Wait, what cargo? Delivered to the deck? How are they going to bring it up?"

He had no plans to dock here, not to mention there was no pier for them to use.

If they had to transfer the cargo little by little by boat, when would they finish?

If they were targeted by the submarine from Shelter No. 70, he didn’t believe that two patrol speedboats could provide full protection.

Looking at Captain Song’s anxious face, Mogavi chuckled and patted his hand.

"Don’t worry, they said it would be quick and it won’t take long; we’ll just wait a bit."

Song Haining retorted, staring at him.

"We can’t wait too long; the Federation’s patrol is waiting for us, and without their guidance, we can’t get through the sea minefield. And then there’s Shelter No. 70’s—"

"Then I’ll have to trouble you to relay the message for me, and ask them to wait a little longer! Two speedboats... I can pay them an extra 2000 Dinars!"

Watching Mogavi release his arm and dash toward the ship’s cabin, Song Haining’s face was furrowed with worry.

At that moment, a sailor ran down from the gangway, urgently saying to him.

"Captain, that flying vessel onshore! It’s approaching us!"

A flying vessel?!

Song Haining was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked up to the northern shore of the strait. There he saw the hovering flying vessel, dangling a string of ropes, and slowly flying towards them.

Staring at the objects hanging from the rope, his eyes nearly bulged out.

Great Scott.

This works?!

Mogavi, who had just emerged from the cargo hold with a suitcase, was also taken aback by the Alliance’s operation.

However, his surprise didn’t last long. In less than fifteen minutes, the flying vessel had drifted above their cargo ship and came to a slow stop.

The sea breeze blew fiercely, and several "tofu blocks" dangled from the rope, swinging like pendulums, and it took several attempts before they were carefully placed and stabilized on the deck.

Watching this thrilling and exciting scene, Song Haining felt his heart being pulled to his throat.

Especially when that "pendulum" swept towards his Northwestern Wind, his entire face turned white with fear.

Fortunately, everyone was lucky, and this series of outrageous operations didn’t result in any deaths.

One of the "tofu blocks" revealed a man in a leather jacket who jumped down.

He looked around and upon spotting the dumbfounded Mogavi standing by the ship’s cabin, his eyes brightened, and he walked forward with a smile.

"The cargo has arrived; where’s the money?"

It took quite a while for Mogavi to recover, shutting his open mouth before raising his thumb in affirmation, then handing over the suitcase in his hand.

"All 140,000 Silver Coins are here."

Green Lantern Old Wine checked the suitcase and, seeing several bundles of hundred-denominational notes neatly placed inside, closed the lid with a smile.

"Pleasure doing business."

"Pleasure doing business... I’ll be back here in a few days, so if you get any good stuff, remember to save some for me," Mogavi said with a cough, looking at Song Haining, who was staring at him, "and, you guys... should think about building a pier soon, I’m afraid no ships will take me back otherwise."

Green Lantern’s eyes lit up.

"Oh, that can be arranged, I’ll introduce someone to you!"

Mogavi paused, looking at him oddly.

"You guys... have a ship?"

"Of course!" Green Lantern said with a smile, "If you need one, when you get to Ring Harbor, you can look for someone named Tail. She’s on that ship with the White Bear flag."

Mogavi nodded, "I’ll check it out if I need to... By the way, how do you plan to get back?"

"No problem, I’ll go back the way I came, see you soon!"

Green Lantern gave a wave, returned to the pile of goods, then unhooked the rope that held the fur stacks and hooked it onto himself.

Everyone watched as the guy, clutching a suitcase, was hoisted up by the flying vessel and swayed away towards the shore.

Watching the figure disappear from sight, Song Haining swallowed hard, glaring hard at Mogavi beside him.

Knowing what he wanted to say, Mogavi coughed awkwardly and explained.

"Actually, these guys are pretty good people, much easier to deal with than most survivors in settlements... it’s just that they can be reckless sometimes."

"I don’t care about reckless or not; don’t you even think about dragging me into your reckless adventures. This ship has been with me for twenty years!" Song Haining persisted, continuing to glare at him, "This is the last time... I won’t stop here when I come back, don’t even think about it!"

Mogavi nodded with an apologetic smile.

"Alright... okay!"

But not stopping here was impossible.

After the profit from just that deal, it was almost catching up to the profit of his entire cargo.

He not only wanted to come back but also to stay here for a while.

Maybe when he got to the port of Ring Island, he could ask the shipowner referred by the cargo owner about that Tail, to see if they would take the deal...

But thinking back.

That name sounded terribly familiar...

Mogavi always felt he had heard it somewhere.

——

(Thanks to Ansnow for the generous sponsorship!!!)