Chapter 435 Friendship

Although they were delayed for a while before logging off last night, when the sun rose in the morning, the White Bear Knights still appeared at the entrance of the Petra Fortress Market as promised and met Old Bulma who had been waiting there for a long time.

The old man who changed his clothes was no longer in a mess. He not only looked much more energetic, but also looked like a businessman.

"Are you going to exchange the goods for money or barter?" Looking at the benefactors who came to him, he said respectfully, "I recommend the latter. After all, you can see... The desert is not peaceful now. It is not a good idea to hold the money in your hand."

Sissi said after discussing it with his teammates in advance.

"We need to stay here for a while, so let's exchange it for money."

Old Bulma nodded, and without saying anything extra, she began to help find buyers in the market who had the strength to buy the goods in their hands.

There was no need to advertise it in a big way. Hearing that there was devil cloth produced in the eastern provinces, a group of merchants soon surrounded them.

Weipa and Rourou followed curiously and watched the excitement.

Zhimahu was going to follow and take a look, but was bumped by a black and white cat. He squatted on the ground, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and helped the cat, which had already turned over and lay down, to smooth its fur.

Sisi handed the task of finding a buyer to Bulma, found a less noisy place nearby to sit down, spread the newly bought "Silver Moon Holy Word" on his knees, and read it quietly.

The status of this book is roughly equivalent to the "Bible" of the Camelback Kingdom. The content is roughly the "explanation" of the teachings of the Desert Spirit by local believers.

If "Oasis under the Zobar Mountains" explains the local humanistic landscape from the perspective of scholars, then this "Holy Word" recommended by the Academy Researcher analyzes the spiritual core of the locals from the perspective of believers.

Under the protection of the Zobar Mountains, the unique geographical advantages of the Camelback Kingdom make it almost free of alien harassment.

The main threats basically come from the sea.

Salt, camels, big-horned cattle imported from Borneo, and a wide variety of fruits and grains are abundant here. The local backwardness and prosperity coexist, handicrafts and commerce are developed, the citizen class is relatively wealthy, and some city-states even have merchants who are not loyal to the feudal lords, and city lords elected by the citizens.

It is precisely because of this that the attitude of the locals towards religion and the royal family is not as respectful as that of the people of the other four kingdoms.

If the falcon is classical militarism, the destroyed honey badger is an enlightened monarchy, the golden lizard they did not go to is a feudal dynasty that pursues mysticism, and the lion that is caught in the flames of war is a feudal dynasty that takes the path of inner sainthood, then this place is more like a classical republic.

The twelve city-states are highly autonomous, and the local residents not only have more secular living habits, but also have established a secular "new religion" -

that is, the "Silver Moon Sect".

The sect's belief in the spirit of the sea of ​​sand is infused with the animism theory of the southern archipelago. It has invented a "lover" named Silver Moon Goddess for the spirit of the sea of ​​sand, who has neither sex nor a wife, and has injected a touch of humanity into its divinity.

According to the explanation of "Silver Moon Holy Words", the spirit of the sea of ​​sand is the lord of the desert, ruling the Luoxia Province, and is destined to rule the universe.

But the Silver Moon Bay, which is irrigated by rivers and "river banks" to the south of the Zhuobar Mountains, is the territory of the Silver Moon Goddess, and is ruled by two gods.

The locals agree with the mainstream sect's interpretation of the doomsday theory, including "the world will eventually be swallowed by yellow sand", but new views have also been put forward on this basis.

For example, "the world will burn out one day, and we should cherish this last dusk", "candlelight can dispel darkness, and lighting it at dawn can delay the arrival of the end of the world", etc.

The former corresponds to the secular concept of enjoying life in time, while the latter has evolved into a worship culture.

At the beginning of each month, the followers of the Camelback Kingdom would light a candle at home, face Mount Zhuobar, and recite scriptures and pray. They could even hire three unconverted pagans to do this for them, instead of praying every day like the followers of mainstream sects.

"...It seems that Luoxia Province is really big. Five completely different cultural concepts have evolved in a desert."

Sisi, who was flipping through a book, muttered quietly, and at the same time, he silently made up his mind to collect more works written in the Wasteland Era during his journey, and translate the contents and organize them on the forum.

After all, it was something that the dog planner had worked hard to compile. Wouldn't it be a pity if no one found it?

And she always had a feeling.

What she was doing might be able to reconnect the cultural bloodline of this world that was cut off by war and radioactive dust.

Although this could not bring in silver coins and contribution points, it would be a pity to be an emotionless task master in such a high-completion open world game.

Even if it is just a hobby.

Although the noise in the market was noisy, it did not affect her.

The bargaining lasted until noon. There were too few merchants who could take out so much money at once, and the White Bear Knights were unwilling to barter.

Old Bulma was talking dry under the shed, and finally he waited for a buyer who had the ability to buy this batch of goods.

The merchant was not tall, with a slightly dark complexion. From his almost distorted accent, he was obviously from the southwestern province of Borneo.

He planned to take these fine silks and those strange and peculiar goods back to his hometown.

Including those black and white silks and other things.

These magical chemical products interested him greatly, and the only flaw was one thing——

"Why only black and white?" He asked with a confused look on his face.

The tail was surprised.

"Eh? Doesn't it look bad?"

"Not that it doesn't look bad," the merchant thought, stroking his chin, "Don't you have dyes? Why don't you consider dyeing it in various colors..."

Sisi closed the book in her hand and stood up from the carpet with a subtle expression.

"That would be ugly."

Colorful or something...

Whether in reality or in the game, she didn't want to try it, but Wei Tail beside her showed a thoughtful expression.

I hope she is not seriously considering this matter.

The merchant smiled embarrassedly.

"Anyway, it's okay. I am very satisfied with your goods... Let me calculate, how about 5 million gold camel coins?"

Hearing the number of five million, Wei Tail exclaimed, quickly looked at Rou Rou next to him and whispered.

"Five million... What is this concept?"

Rou Rou also whispered.

"I don't know! But the cows here only cost three or four thousand..."

Wei Tail was shocked instantly, his eyes sparkling.

"My goodness! More than a thousand cows! Rourou, let's herd cattle in the future!"

Rourou refused without hesitation.

"I don't want to! We are the White Bear Knights, herding cattle is too embarrassing! And we agreed to be the president of the Mercenary Guild! Ah Wei, have you forgotten your dreams?"

Wei Wei scratched the back of his head.

"Hmm... it's a bit difficult to choose."

Zhimahu, who was holding the cat, smiled shyly.

"Haha..."

Bargaining is Sisi's job. Among all people, only she has the best language. Not only can she communicate in basic ways, but she can even roughly understand some unfamiliar words that are not easy to understand.

Although her level is not as good as those of the elders who entered the game in the "ancient times" such as Yaya and Teng Teng, at least in terms of language ability, she has reached the T1 level, almost catching up with a big brother who almost married a paper man.

After some bargaining, the batch of goods was finally sold at a price of 10 million gold camel coins.

Although the guy looked like his wallet was drained, Sis always felt that there was a sly smile behind his depressed expression.

As for the other members of the White Bear Knights, they were now immersed in the joy of success.

Especially when they heard that the goods worth hundreds of thousands of silver coins were actually exchanged for gold camel coins that could buy more than 3,000 cows, Weiwei and Rourou's eyes almost turned the color of silver coins.

According to the average price of 5,000 silver coins per cow...

Fifteen million silver coins? !

Weiwei clenched his fists excitedly.

"Giao! Si! We're rich!"

Rourou also said excitedly.

"Oh oh oh! I'm going to find a manager to order an exoskeleton like Garbage-kun!"

"This is too... amazing." Zhimahu was stunned, and the cat in his arms almost fell off.

Sis looked at his companions and curled his lips.

"Not rich, but I did make a little bit... Oh, Awei, and Rourou, remember not to show off on the forum."

The tail and Rourou nodded almost at the same time.

"Yeah!"

"Don't worry! I'll keep an eye on this tail!"

Seeing that the two guys agreed so readily, Sisi was a little worried.

But to be honest, this profit is not too exaggerated. The most difficult thing about doing business in the wasteland is not bargaining, but transporting the goods back safely.

Even if the more than 1,000 cows are transported back to Frostspear Ranch without any loss, deduct the cost of food, fresh water, hired personnel, natural fat loss of livestock, and changes in market supply and demand. If all the cows are bought and transported back, it will be difficult to make half of the actual profit of 15 million.

And considering the capacity limit of the ranch and the risks hidden in the freight cycle, this method is difficult to make money stably in the long term.

Although the ROE of factories selling bricks, cement, steel, airplanes, tanks, and cannons is not high, the Alliance's demand for these products is almost unlimited.

That is the real money printing machine.

Many T0 and T1 players no longer disclose their earnings on the forum.

Although there is no direct evidence, Sis conservatively estimates that the value of their assets will not be less than 100 million, or even more exaggerated.

It's just that the profits were not extracted and turned into "cash" through dividends...

...

The two parties rented a warehouse and completed the delivery of goods and the counting of gold coins.

Looking at the boxes of gold coins on the ground, the merchant patted the dust on his hands with a successful completion, looked at Sis and his group and said with a smile.

"Since you have made me a fortune, I will give you a piece of advice. No matter what business you are here for, I advise you to quickly exchange the gold camel coins for dinars or other things that preserve value."

The tail tilted his head.

"Why?"

"When the legion arrives, all this money will become waste... Look at those people in the refugee camps and slums, their pockets are filled with Golden Lion Coins and Golden Badger Coins, but they can't even buy a piece of bread. I heard that in Silver Moon Bay, many wealthy merchants are exchanging Golden Camel Coins for dinars or ships to go out to sea."

After all, he was doing business on someone else's territory, so the merchant didn't say it too directly, and stopped talking after saying enough.

The entire Honey Badger Kingdom fell within a week, and the Lion Kingdom lost half of its territory. Compared with the Falcon Kingdom supported by the Legion, these ancient kingdoms are not at the same level in terms of equipment or military theory.

In his opinion, Luoxia Province is no different from being finished.

The final fate of the Hump Kingdom will probably be the same as that of the Falcon, and it will succumb to the Legion and circulate the dinar as legal tender.

"Then... what about gold?" Zhimahu asked in a low voice.

"Gold..." The merchant shook his head, "I don't recommend it."

Although there are many local forces in the wasteland that use gold to mint coins, the embarrassing thing is that gold itself is not valuable.

There are many deep-seated reasons for this, including the large amount of gold mined in space left over from the prosperous era, the fact that the gross social product is far lower than the total value of the stock of precious metals, and the lack of expectations of "a better tomorrow" and a yearning for a better life in the cultural form of the wasteland era, etc.

The biggest difference between the wasteland and the chaotic world is that people in the chaotic world do not doubt from the bottom of their hearts that the chaotic world is only temporary and will end sooner or later. As for the people in the wasteland, not many people expect the dead civilization to be resurrected.

Therefore, what is valuable in the wasteland is never precious metals, but confidence, which is more expensive than gold.

Currency without confidence will soon be worthless.

As for the factors that can provide added value such as force, productivity, technology, culture, etc., although they also determine the value of currency, they are only one of the factors floating on the surface.

The businessman looked at Sisi. He thought she should understand what he said before, and took off his hat to say goodbye.

"...Thank you again, beautiful lady Kangkai. Your goods have brought a perfect end to my journey to the East. I sincerely advise you to leave this troubled place before it's too late."

"Thank you for your advice. I will pay attention to it." Without making any comments on his words, Sis waved and said goodbye to the merchant in front of him.

Old Bulma on the side saw the guest walking away, and finally couldn't help cursing.

"Petra Fortress will never surrender to the Legion. We are different from those cowards!"

The tail was full of energy.

"Oh! Of course, as long as Petra is built, everything will be fine!"

Although Old Bulma didn't understand what she was saying, she could feel that it was a compliment to her hometown, and her originally indignant face suddenly became happy.

Rourou couldn't help but complain.

"Awei, you're playing the wrong game."

Watching the secretly happy figure disappear at the corner of the street, Sisi glanced at the camel-printed coin in her hand, then looked at the boxes filled with coins behind her, and after thinking for a moment, she looked at Old Bulma.

"I plan to open a bank. People who have fled here from the Golden Lion Kingdom can exchange Golden Lion coins for Golden Camel coins here... By the way, are private banks allowed here?"

This was not her sudden idea.

It's just that the merchant's words just now made her see a new business opportunity.

"This... no one said no," Old Bulma, who was full of joy, was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly dissuaded, "Exchange this money for Golden Lion coins? What do you want Golden Lion coins for?"

Sisi: "Is it not possible?"

Old Bulma said with a smile.

"This is not a question of whether it is possible or not... but the Lion Kingdom is about to perish, and their currency will soon be worthless."

Emotionally, he believed that Petra Fortress would never fall, but the Lion Kingdom next door was hard to say.

Once the City of Plenty falls.

The fall of the kingdom is only a matter of time.

Sisi nodded, thought for a moment and said.

"Then... exchange it at an exchange rate of 6 to 1."

6 Golden Lion coins for 1 Golden Camel Coin.

Although it is not enough for those poor people to live a life of food and clothing like in their hometown, it can at least save them from starvation.

Hearing this exchange rate, Old Bulma smiled bitterly.

Six to one...

Even if it is six hundred to one, it will still be a pile of garbage...

Tails tilted his head and looked at Sisi.

"But don't we have to buy cattle back?"

"Well, that's what we said, but as long as we win this war and drive the legion out of Luoxia Province, we can buy more cattle back..."

With excitement flashing in his eyes, Sisi was halfway through his words when he suddenly thought of something and stopped talking.

"Oh, by the way, why don't we divide the dividends first."

"Dividends?" Rourou tilted his head, "Why here?"

Sisi thought for a moment and calmed down and said.

"Well... this is just in case. After all, investment is risky, and I can't guarantee that my judgment is correct."

No matter how well-planned, there is still the risk of encountering unexpected events.

If it succeeds, the benefits are certainly gratifying, but if it fails, it may not only be money that is lost, but also friendship that is more valuable than money.

These boxes of gold camel coins are almost all the belongings that everyone has saved since the opening of the server, including most of the income from the previous copy.

Once lost.

At least half a year of hard work is in vain.

She believed that her companions were not the kind of people who valued interests above all else, and that was why she liked being with them.

But she was sober after all.

It was difficult for sober people to convince themselves to believe in the probability of human nature.

Moreover, even if her companions would forgive her mistakes, it would be difficult for her to forgive herself for letting everyone's efforts go to waste.

She admitted that she was not as brave as others imagined.

She was not afraid of many things.

But she was only afraid of taking the blame...

"If that nuclear bomb really blew up the river bank, you might lose money even if you win. If you are worried about losing your capital--"

"Don't say such polite words."

The shoulders were suddenly surrounded by a warm feeling.

Sisi, who was still calmly analyzing the previous second, suddenly had a sudden blush on her cheeks, and opened her mouth but couldn't speak.

Hugging her shoulders from behind, Zhimahu, shaking his cat ears, smiled and leaned close to her face, saying in a happy voice.

"I actually know that Sisi always thinks a lot and is super reliable when thinking about problems calmly. Although I am just an ordinary teacher in real life and I am not as good as you in games, we are partners... please trust us a little more!"

"If you have any plans, just tell us. Don't carry such a heavy psychological burden. Just do it boldly!"

"That's right!"

Rou Rou, whose eyes have been shining since just now, raised his claws and said excitedly, "Although I don't understand it very well, it sounds so awesome!"

She is also not a very strong high-level player. She chooses auxiliary in seconds when playing games. She likes to hide behind ADC when she is out of tank. Not only is she timid, but she is also addicted to losing. She has to DD teammates on the public screen when playing a king. After all, it is better to pit passers-by than acquaintances.

Until now, she still doesn't know why the operator chose her, and she was lucky enough to draw a different character with "initial attributes bursting".

However, this is not the luckiest thing.

The luckiest thing in her mind is to meet a group of friends who never despise her clumsiness and are willing to grow up with her.

Even if something like "MT got scared and ran away, causing the team to lose the front line" happened, everyone would not blame her for being bad, but would patiently encourage her, help her adjust her equipment and research new ways of playing...

It's great to meet them.

Tail also raised his hand with great enthusiasm.

"Oh! No one has any objections, Tail agrees too! But we have to save the funds for treasure hunting, we agreed to explore the ruins, don't spend all the living expenses!"

Rou Rou squinted at her and complained.

"No one else would do this except you, okay?"

"Giao!!"

Tail, who was complained by Rou Rou, showed a deeply shocked expression, but it was obviously just a joke between friends.

Looking at the people who supported him, Si Si's eyes were touched, and the explanations that came to his mouth were finally condensed into two words.

"Thank you..."

"I told you not to be so formal."

Letting go of Sisi's shoulders, Zhimahu picked up the cat she had put on the ground again and said with an embarrassed smile.

"By the way, do you have a plan for the ruins of the Lost Valley?"

With a confident smile on her face, Sisi said in a serious tone.

"I was just about to talk about this."