Chapter 3069: Nobles and Merchants (10)

The Abandoners Alliance.

One occasionally hears that name.

But almost no one pays it any attention.

Or rather, almost none of the ordinary people around Zhao Chi pay it any attention.

They keep far too low a profile.

Being generous, one might call it reclusive.

Being blunt, they seem to be scheming behind the scenes, afraid of being seen — extremely mysterious and secretive.

By normal logic, the Abandoners Alliance's accumulated wealth by now should be staggering.

That wealth isn't just gold coins, but all kinds of supplies and items, and their military strength should be staggering too.

Yet they remain completely unknown.

That really is strange.

Zhao Chi asked these questions, deeply puzzled.

Li Ruanyu merely shook her head lightly: "I don't know. They're very mysterious — it even feels like they're always hiding from others. Just like you said, they do seem to be plotting something in the dark, but aside from running the black market, they haven't done anything too outrageous."

Shangguan Ting said: "Not only have they not done anything outrageous, even when they clash with others, they always focus on defusing the conflict. They rarely let disputes escalate into war."

Fuyao laughed: "Hearing it that way, they really are law-abiding, upstanding merchants. What if they really have been planning something, and we just don't know about it? Like, doesn't the Ruby Chamber of Commerce trade very smoothly with the werewolves? Could the Abandoners Alliance be backing them?"

Gu Qing asked: "Are you saying this werewolf invasion might have the Abandoners Alliance pushing it from behind?"

Fuyao smiled: "Just guessing wildly."

Li Ruanyu shook her head: "Probably not. I can't say for certain there isn't, but from every sign, the war in our Snowfield City has nothing to do with the Abandoners. Unless they're hiding extremely deep — but there's no need for that."

Qiyue asked while giving a massage: "Maybe it's to maintain their image as good merchants?"

Shangguan Ting shook her head: "There's no need. The Abandoners Alliance is the parent organization of all the chambers of commerce. A good image only needs to be maintained by the chambers themselves; the Abandoners Alliance doesn't need it — after all, they don't even seem to want a good reputation."

Zhuang Ya asked, propping her chin on her hand: "Why do I get more curious the more I listen? Could the Abandoners Alliance really have some enormous conspiracy planned?"

Gu Qing laughed: "It's sounding more and more terrifying. Especially when not even the slightest clue has leaked out — it really sends a chill down your spine."

Li Ruanyu said: "So, we know far too little about the Abandoners Alliance. Zhao Chi, you'd better not get involved with them — something about it just doesn't feel simple."

Shangguan Ting nodded: "Right, right, that's exactly what I was about to say. Zhao Chi, if you contact Song Ji again in the future, be extra careful."

Zhao Chi nodded: "Understood…"

Actually, the main reason for contacting Song Ji this time was that he is also a member of the Ruby Chamber of Commerce.

Shopkeeper Wanyan of the Ruby Chamber of Commerce had left Zhao Chi with a very good impression.

It had nothing to do with her appearance — it was that she kept her word.

From their very first contact on Fragrant Food Street, she had given Zhao Chi a good impression.

Later, in Copper Rock Town, Zhao Chi had commissioned a custom order from her worth several tens of thousands of gold coins.

When Copper Rock Town fell, Shopkeeper Wanyan, in order to deliver the first batch of goods to Zhao Chi, had specifically entered Garrison North Town, from which the Ruby Chamber of Commerce had already been driven out.

Later, when Zhao Chi needed to order large quantities of supplies, Shopkeeper Wanyan helped him purchase them through every channel available, even going to the werewolves' side.

Of course Shopkeeper Wanyan wanted to make money too, but at least her work attitude was excellent — very earnest and responsible.

That was enough.

Because of her, Zhao Chi had an innate favorable bias toward the Ruby Chamber of Commerce as well.

But he had never imagined there was another layer above it — the Abandoners Alliance.

Fortunately, the Abandoners had remained extremely peaceable all along, with a peacefulness that defied logic.

Strange as it was, at least they were better than the werewolves.

At least for now, there was no danger in dealing with them, but they were too strange — best to keep as much distance as possible.

The meeting ended here.

Originally Zhao Chi had wanted a free-for-all, but on Gu Qing's suggestion, he stuck to tangling with just Li Ruanyu and Shangguan Ting.

After all, their time was limited — they couldn't come over whenever they pleased.

Better to focus on keeping them company now.

He'd expected it to be easier, but it turned out far beyond expectation.

The two of them had been on terrible terms before — who would have thought they could coordinate so seamlessly now.

Zhao Chi actually felt his time was packed full, with not a single quarter-hour wasted.

Time passed very fulfillingly.

Last time the two of them hadn't been like this — had they rehearsed in private?

Not bad at all, keep going.

Time flew.

Over ten hours passed.

The early hours of the next day.

Zhao Chi was in Fuyao's room, lying in her arms.

Fuyao lay lazily on her side, gently stroking Zhao Chi in her embrace.

"Zhao Chi, Su Qin's conversion is complete. She's now half Eternal Human and half Eternal Elf. Her gene cap inherited the 27 from the human side, and it will expand along with the humans in the future, but her gene types are inherited from the elves. You can make some adjustments."

"So if I expand the gene cap for Eternal Humans later, Su Qin will change along with them?"

"Right. After all, the gene cap is fully inherited from the human side, so it will update in sync. But the gene types will follow the elves. If you want Su Qin to also gain human gene types later, you'll need to have her regenerate once, and you can adjust it for her."

"Understood, not bad!"

This was very good.

In the future, there was no need to expand Su Qin's gene cap separately — just let her expand along with the main group.

He began helping her set up her genes!

This was easy to set up.

He had originally planned to copy the Eternal Human's genes directly, but after thinking it over, some fine-tuning was needed.

Mainly, the two genes "Tree-Limb Grafting" and "Steady Aim" were currently exclusive to the Eternal Elves — Zhao Chi had never improved them for the Eternal Humans.

Since Su Qin was an Elf Commander who also relied on long-range arching, these two genes needed to be added for her.

But doing so meant removing two genes from the Eternal Humans.

That was a bit tricky.

Human genes were all very strong.

But the swap had to be made.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Chi removed the Human genes "Charging Heavy Strike" and "Sturdy Chest Muscles," and replaced them with "Tree-Limb Grafting" and "Steady Aim" for Su Qin.

The other genes remained unchanged.

Among them, "Charging Heavy Strike" only applied to melee combat — Zhao Chi basically wouldn't let Su Qin fight in melee, so this gene wouldn't be of much use.

And "Sturdy Chest Muscles" wasn't very useful either; it boosted chest muscle and defense by +100%, but it was also a melee skill, and was basically useless for a long-range fighter like Su Qin.

Although removing it would drop her bust size by one cup, smaller sizes were the prized ones nowadays.

After the removal, Su Qin would become the smallest among the women by Zhao Chi's side at a C-cup.

Last place was still a place.

Su Qin was the type of refined, older-sister beauty — though not as cute as Tang Ruan, her looks were very pure and fresh, and that kind of look suited a smaller bust size.

It suited her, and it was fun too.

There were plenty of big ones.

Su Qin was the only small one.

She probably wouldn't be unhappy.

If she was unwilling, once he had more Gene Expansion Stones later, he could add them back.

Zhao Chi was destined to max out all the genes for the Eternal Humans.

Modifications complete.

Fuyao laughed: "Oh my, Su Qin little sister wasn't exactly big to begin with, and now after your changes she's even smaller. When the time comes, you'll have to compliment her extra — especially how cute the small ones are."

Zhao Chi laughed: "I know. Go to sleep already — look, you can barely keep your eyes open."

"As you command, my lord~"

Fuyao gave a sweet smile, then fell fast asleep.