Chapter 1921: Cultivating Artificial Crystals

Xia Qing, who was walking back while patrolling the 49th Mountain's 3rd Zone, chatted with the little monkey in her satchel, "Blue-Face, Third Brother doesn't want this set of equipment anymore."

"Yi." The Blue-Face little monkey responded. It was very afraid of the aura on the human named Zhang San, and now that Zhang San had left, the little fellow was very happy.

"Yi..." The not-so-standard-sounding Guapi little pig followed up. The little fellow had just finished eating and was already starting to get sleepy.

The set of equipment in Xia Qing's backpack was something her idol, who stood at the pinnacle of the pyramid, had exchanged from Big Brother Wu last year to milk the green-light dairy cow in the 7th Territory.

Based on Xia Qing's understanding of her idol, the 350,000 he quoted was the second-hand price of this equipment. Based on the professional instincts of a middleman, Xia Qing quickly estimated that Third Brother's acquisition price was around 430,000.

And she had exchanged for three sets of equipment from the big brother a while ago—one semi-new, two brand new—for a total price of only 300,000 points.

When Big Brother Wu exchanged the precision instruments he made himself, he didn't use cost-plus pricing or market-rate pricing, but rather "face-based pricing": if he found the person wanting to buy the instrument pleasing, he quoted a low price; if he didn't, he quoted a high price.

"Blue-Face, Guapi, in Sixth Brother's eyes, I am now more pleasing than Third Brother was last spring." After Xia Qing finished saying this happily, her heart ached, "The price I quoted for the equipment I sold to Fourth Old and the Broken-Waist one was too low."

"Yi o a ya." The Blue-Face little monkey understood and responded a few more times.

Guapi didn't follow up because it had already fallen asleep.

Xia Qing fed Flat-Head a piece of homemade grass-block ration and chatted with the Blue-Face little monkey while walking, "You're right, what's past is past. In the future, when exchanging supplies, I must price them carefully and never lose out. Blue-Face, once we've planted the fields well, I'll arrange for you and Does Ergua to start learning together. Once your cultural level is higher, I'll give you a raise. If you like, once you've learned the knowledge, you can be responsible for our territory's financial work, how about that?"

"Yi!" The Blue-Face little monkey was full of anticipation for learning and getting a raise.

Xia Qing carried the crystal pillar back to her territory, brought along Sheep Boss who was watching the car, Xin Yu, the meal she had prepared, and the lunchbox left by her idol, and went home to eat.

Hearing that the chicks of Gua Gua and White-Eye were going to hatch tonight, Xia Qing had originally planned to have dinner at the 8th Territory, but later changed it to her own territory because she had just captured the invading golden monkey H5.

If she went to the 8th Territory for dinner tonight, it was very likely that people secretly watching this area would mistakenly believe that the Blue-Face little monkey J3 was hiding in the 8th Territory, bringing unnecessary trouble to Xin Yu.

Xin Yu accepted Xia Qing's good intentions and brought the ingredients to the 3rd Territory in advance to prepare dinner in the small kitchen next to the conference room. Because Xia Qing wasn't home, Sheep Boss didn't allow anyone to enter the deserted village where it and Xia Qing lived.

Now that Xia Qing was back, she naturally had to bring her good friend home for dinner.

After the off-road vehicle stopped in the courtyard, Xia Qing got out first to open the passenger door and carried Sheep Boss out of the car. Then, this fellow held its big head high and walked to the sheep shed, kicked the door open, and went in to chew the cud with the little yellow cow.

Xia Qing picked up the toad head outside the house door, thanked the family of plucking weasels in the sheep shed in a soft voice, and after reporting that her guest had arrived, she opened the satchel at her waist and placed the green-haired, blue-faced little monkey and Guapi little pig on the ground.

The Blue-Face little monkey had only seen Xin Yu twice, didn't trust her yet, and wasn't willing to stay in the same room as her. Therefore, this alert little monkey took its companion directly to the shed built again on the ruins of the house outside the courtyard.

After settling the companions, Xia Qing and Xin Yu carried the food box into the house.

The Dai Gua watching TV in the house hid in the tree nest on the wooden climbing frame, hugging Does Ergua who was playing with a mobile phone in the tree nest.

Although Xin Yu often came over and had made many clothes, hats, and backpacks for the two little monkeys, the two little fellows still couldn't fully trust her.

Only by remaining vigilant against humans could these little fellows with low combat power survive safely. Xin Yu didn't deliberately try to get closer to the animals in the 3rd Territory. After greeting them, she let Xia Qing go take a bath and change clothes while she started tidying up the table.

Although there were many animals in Xia Qing's house, Dai Gua was very diligent and kept the house spotless; the dining table only needed a simple wipe before dishes could be set.

Xin Yu couldn't help but look back at the dazzlingly white Dai Gua in the tree nest; she also wanted to hire such a diligent and capable little monkey...

The steamed turbot, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, and snake soup made by Xin Yu, as well as the salted broccoli and stir-fried lotus root brought by her idol, were placed on the table. The aroma of the food immediately attracted the attention of the two "Gua"s.

Xin Yu felt the magnetic field change of the two little monkeys and smiled silently.

Xia Qing, who had washed herself clean, carried the crystal pillar that she had also washed clean downstairs, immediately attracting the attention of the person and the two monkeys. Xin Yu envied, "The impurities in this crystal pillar are also very few, it's really beautiful!"

Xia Qing happily took out a fist-sized piece of high-quality amethyst from her pocket and handed it over, "This one has already been sold. We'll display it for the night, and I'll deliver the goods tomorrow. You can keep this small piece to play with."

"So beautiful! Gua Gua will definitely like it very much!" Xin Yu happily took it and asked, "Was this crystal pillar exchanged with Sixth Brother, or with the Broken-Waist wolf?"

Zhang San, the Broken-Waist wolf, and Xin Yu had split the crystal pillar that Xia Qing had carried back last November. Therefore, Xin Yu inferred that Zhang San wouldn't have any demand in the short term.

The Broken-Waist wolf? That was an evolved wolf that liked shiny objects; as long as Xia Qing quoted a reasonable price, it would definitely buy it.

Xia Qing responded, "Sixth Brother. He wants to use this crystal pillar as a seed crystal to cultivate artificial quartz crystals. Do you know how to cultivate artificial crystals? Is the profit margin of this kind of factory high?"

Xia Qing had just learned that artificial crystals were grown from natural crystals. If it was promising, she would pay to learn this technology, grow crystals to exchange for points, and build a fortress.

"Cultivating crystals has strict requirements for electricity, temperature control, and raw material supply. If any accident occurs during the cultivation period, the whole furnace will be scrapped, but it's not difficult to build a crystal cultivation factory during the disaster years."

Xin Yu introduced the situation of the artificial crystal industry to Xia Qing in detail, "Before the disaster years, let alone our national output, just counting one prefecture-level city in the Gui 2 Base area, there were more than 500 gemstone processing factories at its peak, producing billions of artificial gemstones a year. The inventory of industrial-grade quartz crystals was piled up like a mountain, and the inventory hasn't been used up even now. Therefore, in the first few years of the disaster, our country's quartz crystal inventory was quite sufficient, and the state didn't need to invest in this industry, let alone private individuals having the ability and enthusiasm to invest."

"It wasn't until the seventh year of the disaster that the state gathered the surviving industry elites in the country and, based on the industrial foundation before the disaster, established the Red 2 Zhongjing Technology Company. It wasn't until the ninth year of the disaster that this company resumed research on new material artificial crystal cultivation."

"This business is not worth doing. Sixth Brother wants this crystal pillar to cultivate new material crystals." After Xia Qing understood what Xin Yu meant, she began to praise her good friend, "You are worthy of being a major shareholder of the Zhonglian Group, you really know a lot."

After Xia Qing finished speaking, she felt the heavy burden on her shoulders again.

Xin Yu not only knew a lot but also liked to do research. If Third Brother assigned papers and research tasks to her, she would definitely be very happy...

After noticing the change in Xia Qing's magnetic field, Xin Yu smiled, "Third Brother assigned you research tasks again?"

"Yeah." Xia Qing complained about Third Brother making her read papers and write inspection reports while feeding dishes to Dai Gua and Does Ergua who were staring at her eagerly.

After listening, Xin Yu lay on the table and laughed for a long time before asking, "Do you know why Third Brother has assigned you paper tasks again and again?" ===== CHAPTER 1922 =====