Chapter 489

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

By dinnertime, Yi Yaer still hadn't replied, and Chen Yi said helplessly, "Looks like he's planning to use up all three days. The Water Dragon God Temple's efficiency is practically on par with the government. What are we eating tonight?"

West River City grew more prosperous by the day, yet Chen Yi's residence had no fixed cook; apart from the canteen, every meal had to be eaten out.

Fortunately, whether it was the Rhombus Conference Hall or ordinary students, everyone was used to communal meals, so no one found it hard to adapt.

Jin Douna loved Chinese food immensely, so she tugged at Chen Yi's arm and suggested, "A new Chuanjiang Fishery opened. Want to try it? Sister Liu?"

Liu Xinyu had finished work early and rubbed her belly, saying, "The fishery sounds good. I want some rice—the kind steamed in small bowls."

"I heard they have Japanese rice; we can give it a try."

The West Continent saw several hundred thousand tons of goods moving in and out each month, with demand and priority order set by the Archive Research Room. The latter's function grew ever broader; they had assessed nearly every item, and anyone who logged into the internal network could basically check the priority order of the supplies they needed, then apply to the government office.

The city-state already had its own server and could go online at several fixed locations. For rice like what the fishery needed, they could choose domestically grown rice or certain more exotic origins; as long as it could be bought relatively conveniently, it was the same Loyalty Level B—as a foodstuff, its priority order guaranteed monthly imports, only the prices of different varieties differed slightly.

Jin Douna cheered and changed her clothes first.

She had been on the West Continent for nearly half a year, and what she found hardest to adapt to was the food. Jiangning still had various goods from Korea, but West River City-State rarely managed that.

The three walked shoulder to shoulder to the square in the city center and found a three-story building made of raw timber: Chuanjiang Fishery.

The boss was naturally a former student, a short, enthusiastic man with a square face and big ears. He recognized Chen Yi's group and immediately came forward, smiling, "Hall Master, Instructor, welcome. No wonder I heard magpies calling this morning. We have the finest Number One Heavenly private room. This way, please..."

The old-fashioned greeting suited this hardwood shop quite well, and Liu Xinyu smiled faintly, "When did the West Continent get magpies?"

The shopkeeper was dazzled by the two beauties and, blinking, said, "I bought a Spirit-Joy Bird from a native. It's four or five times bigger than a magpie, but looks about the same."

A magpie four or five times bigger would be about the size of an eagle. This banter made the students in the main hall laugh, and their original nervousness upon meeting the Hall Master or "Sovereign" was halved.

"How's business?" Chen Yi waved casually to the students.

The owner led the three into a private room separated by thick wooden doors and said, "Pretty good. The brothers lent me a large sum, and the government office gave special support. Soon, Xima Market will have a vegetable market."

All three laughed. At that moment, two students climbed up from downstairs and hesitated on the last step of the stairs. Chen Yi saw them, called them up proactively, and asked with a smile, "What is it?"

The two looked at each other, steeled themselves, and said, "We are students of the 72nd session. I am Class Monitor Liang Qi. We've only seen the Hall Master twice. After coming to the West Continent, we heard that above Body Technique Level 9 there is Combat Skill Level, and above that, Divine Art Level. Everyone is very interested, so..."

"Mm." Chen Yi's expression didn't change, and the two relaxed slightly.

Liang Qi gritted his teeth and said, "We want to ask the Hall Master to give us a few lessons."

This wasn't an unexpected answer. Chen Yi smiled and said, "Understood. How many people are in the Outer Hall now?"

Liu Xinyu thought for a moment and said, "1200 people. Those above Body Technique Level 6 can enter."

The Outer Hall's management was very loose—basically just classes and assessments. Its main person in charge was a group of Combat Skill Level Knights from the Yin Sen Family. They followed the Martial Arts Hall's curriculum strictly, rarely making mistakes but rarely standing out either.

Chen Yi pondered for a moment and said, "Too late today. Next time. When I come to the West Continent in the future, I'll give you a few classes every month. The exact number of people will be decided later."

When he was at the Jiangbei Martial Arts Hall, he used to give extra tutoring to the first few sessions of students, but now he rarely went to the Martial Arts Hall. Although Yin Senyong and others were Divine Art Knights, under different cultural backgrounds, their understanding of education was also different.

"That's great." The two students naturally nodded repeatedly.

Chen Yi shook hands with them lightly, then saw them out of the private room. The whole process was extremely practiced, as if he had done it countless times.

Liu Xinyu sat opposite, laughing, while also surprised by his maturity. If at their first meeting she could still guess what Chen Yi was thinking, now she was completely clueless.

Whether it was the West River Water Fortress, Gold Bonds, or the officialdom storm he caused in Jiangning, Liu Xinyu couldn't fathom his purpose. However, looking back a year later, she might gain some insight.

This feeling seemed to only remind her of a few big shots in the Human Development Research Society, but that was under circumstances of vastly different status, and Chen Yi's progress was also too fast.

Jin Douna was seriously choosing fish. She picked the most beautiful Colorful Spotted Fish from the menu picture, then began discussing the Seaweed Rice Roll.

The shopkeeper said confidently, "We have six types of domestic rice, two types of Japanese rice, one type of Korean rice... Anyone with a favorite food can apply to the government office. Rice is in large quantity and much easier to apply for than vegetables. Seaweed might have to be dried."

Chen Yi was actually more like a railway system—only responsible for transport, not content. For any supplies needed on the West Continent, submit an application to the government office. The Archive Research Room staff assessed the value of supplies and assigned different priority orders. Finally, after confirmation by the Rhombus Conference Hall, they were handed to Chen Yi, who then distributed them to the Central Storage Area and Jiangbei Warehouse. Mail went through the same channel.

Previously, the Central Storage Area submitted procurement needs to the Equipment Procurement Department for global purchasing. Now that the West River Association existed, they first purchased through the West River Association, and any shortfall was handed to the Equipment Procurement Department.

As the West River Association grew larger, now apart from some more sensitive, highly unique goods, the West River Association could basically take on everything. Member companies of the West River Association doing import-export business even established departments specifically to contact purchases of supplies Chen Yi needed. Their costs were lower than the Equipment Procurement Department, causing the latter's global department to lay off staff continuously—it was the most turbulent company department under Chen's banner.

Under the premise of internal competition, Chen Yi didn't care about the Equipment Procurement Department's life or death at all. It was originally a department established for procuring supplies and had once been glorious for a period. If it couldn't compare to other professional companies, abolishing it didn't matter.

Not long after, the Colorful Spotted Fish Jin Douna chose was served—a huge fellow two meters long, placed on a white wooden platter, occupying the entire table in the private room.

"So big!" Jin Douna opened her small mouth, immediately making Chen Yi think lewdly.

"Such a big fish costs 5000 yuan. Prices on the West Continent aren't expensive." Liu Xinyu reached across the table to pick out fish meat on the other side, just exposing her white, deep cleavage.

Chen Yi openly admired her while saying, "Locally produced Colorful Spotted Fish, over 1000 copper coins. The seasoning might even be more expensive than the fish meat."

Soon, the waiter brought the honey wine gifted by the shopkeeper and said, "There's a new performance tonight. If you want to watch, you can open the window of the private room facing the main hall."

"What performance?" Jin Douna's small waist was thinner than the fish, yet she alone ate nearly half a fish.

"A native named Shen Xu. Tonight he performs eating live raw pork sashimi."

Jin Douna immediately shook her head: "Then I won't watch."

Chen Yi waved his hand at this point and asked, "Has he already come? Six people?"

The waiter was stunned for a moment and answered, "Yes."

"Are they all performers?"

"They all come from the Circus Troupe."

"Then that's not right." Chen Yi felt the dissipating battle qi and said, "Go call them up."

The waiter was a new student from the Martial Arts Hall working part-time. Not understanding why, he went down to call them. After a while, the shopkeeper brought in Shen Xu, who was twice as tall as him, into the private room.

Chen Yi had finished eating the fish and was rubbing his hands saying something. Seeing the six people, he bared his teeth in a smile and said directly, "When did Combat Skill Level Knights become so worthless as to work in a circus?"

The few Long-arm Clan people behind Shen Xu were Knights around Level 8 with dissipating battle qi. Hearing his words, their muscles all tensed.

Yin Senyong suddenly blocked the door.

Seeing it was a Divine Art Knight, Shen Xu immediately gave up, wrapping his long arms around his head in surrender, showing teeth that weren't cleanly brushed, and said, "I am a priest of the Poison Dragon God Temple. Your river water has already been poisoned by us. If you don't want to see corpses everywhere tomorrow, do as I say."

The shop owner was stunned, swallowing his saliva, and said in a low voice: "We also use West River water."

Shen Xu instantly became smug, speaking in a deep voice: "The five people behind me—if you train one person as a Divine Technique Knight, I'll give you detoxification for 2,000 people; five people means detoxification for 10,000 people."

Chen Yi scooped up the fish soup with a spoon and said as if unmoved: "We are not just 10,000 people."

"Then it depends on how many Double Divine Technique Knights you can create." Shen Xu's face was red with laughter, like a roasted native.

"You can't even produce 100 tons of gold?"

"This is not just about gold." The native Shen Xu lowered his arm and said: "What is being discussed now is the second matter—you must return all slaves belonging to the Poison Dragon God Temple, all of them. Our poison was carefully prepared by the High Priest; without our antidote, death is certain within seven days."

Yin Senyong knew about this and took up the conversation: "We have no slaves from the Poison Dragon God Temple."

"You will soon."

Without question, he was referring to the slaves Yi Yaer was about to deliver.

Liu Xinyu left the private room without a sound to notify Yu Weichao. The West Continent has its own chemists and biologists—for example, the ongoing Bacterial Metallurgy Laboratory has expanded into a professional laboratory with over 15 researchers; although they tend toward practical scholars, they always have a certain amount of experience.

Chen Yi lifted his tea water and sipped it, judging the truth of what the native priest said.

Shen Xu arrogantly raised the lips that had licked the Saber-toothed Beast's sword, and Yi Ran was unafraid.

... (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)