Chapter 382: How Do You Plan to Cooperate?

Xia Qing had long since thought it through. "It's worth letting go. Auctioning and promoting the spinach seeds might earn a bit less in the short term, but it's beneficial in the long run."

Xia Qing truly had no grand ambitions—she only wanted to survive. But no matter how capable one person was, on the post-evolution mad Blue Star they were still insignificant. Only when humanity grew strong could individuals live better.

Therefore, Xia Qing hoped the nation would prosper and society remain stable, hoped more people would survive, hoped humanity would not be devoured and wiped out by the rapidly evolving creatures of Blue Star.

The premium nutrient solution made from the native high-Yi element Green-Light spinach in her territory was something that could save lives at critical moments.

Even without making it into premium nutrient solution, eating more of this spinach could boost human immunity, repair bodily damage, and promote evolution. In other words, ordinary people and regular evolvers who couldn't afford premium nutrient solution could also benefit by planting this spinach and advance their physical evolution.

So selling a large batch of spinach seeds at once would not only let Xia Qing rake in a fortune and cut off the Blaze Squad's income to keep them in line, but also benefit the overall situation—hence the long-term advantage.

Besides, this promotion method wasn't giving anything away for free. The tens of millions of points earned from selling the seeds would last her a long time.

Even if seed and spinach seedling prices dropped after promotion, the first-generation seeds she cultivated would surely still cost more than ordinary Green-Light seeds.

If some research institute or squad used a high-Yi element environment to cultivate seeds more stable than her first-generation seeds and promoted their planting, causing her first-generation spinach seeds to fall out of favor, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Because she was a lord with pollution-free spring water and seven thousand mu of territory, she had plenty of ways to earn survival supplies.

Seeing she had figured it out, Yang Jin didn't waste more words and asked directly, "How do you plan to cooperate this time?"

Xia Qing had already mastered the strategy for negotiating with a miser and wouldn't quote her bottom price right away. "You return the seeds you took, and I'll handle planting them in these two terraced fields using the spring water and Yi stones from my territory. You handle sales, make sure the Blaze Squad doesn't get suspicious of me, and provide the personnel and equipment to protect my territory so no one discovers I'm growing spinach on a large scale. After harvest, we'll split it 20-80—you get two, I get eight. Deal?"

Yang Jin smiled inwardly, shook his head firmly, and bargained. "40-60. I get four, you get six. Scattering sales of over a million spinach seeds without the source being traced back costs me plenty too. And another thing: although the planting resources are yours alone, I'm responsible for keeping the nearly two mu of spinach hidden from people, scout birds, reconnaissance aircraft, even satellites over the three-plus-month growing period—that also requires massive expenditure of manpower, money, and resources. If even one link in that chain is neglected, when the spinach seeds flood the market, the Blaze and Sufeng people will connect it to the large spinach fields in your territory."

Precisely because she knew growing spinach on a large scale was dangerous and that Xia Qing couldn't keep the secret under her own power, she gave up tens of millions in profit to Yang Jin and let him handle it.

Yang Jin understood this point too, which was why he demanded forty percent of the profit.

Xia Qing offered her low price. "You get thirty-five percent, I get sixty-five. I can't go any lower. Growing this spinach also means that over the next three months, I'll have to expend ninety-five percent of my spring water, Green-Light fertilizer, and Yi stones."

Yang Jin didn't say yes or no, and began calculating costs and returns. "1.2 million seeds, sold at 30 points each, brings in 36 million. Spring water, Green-Light fertilizer, Yi stones, my work smoothing out sales channels, deploying personnel and equipment to protect the spinach fields—total investment roughly 9 million. If everything goes smoothly, at the split ratio you just mentioned, your income would be 17.55 million. That is indeed a very large sum of points, but the energy we'll need to put in over these three months is also enormous."

Yang Jin paused for a few seconds. Seeing the Miss across from him still perfectly calm, he asked proactively, "If your target profit is over 17 million, we could just sell these 20,000-plus spinach seeds at a high price this year. The returns aren't low either, and there's no need to spend the energy growing another batch."

Xia Qing had of course considered this option too, but— "Although 20,000-plus seeds isn't a small number, once sold they might be monopolized by a few squads or institutions, who would produce premium nutrient solution for points like the Blaze Squad does, failing to achieve the goal of promoting widespread planting."

So that was her concern. Yang Jin smiled. "We can sell the seeds to someone capable, who won't pocket them privately, and who'll profit through the seeds themselves. Then we get the best of both worlds."

Xia Qing had considered this too, but such a person would have to be a big shot, and it would require Yang Jin to contact the big shot directly—the risk of exposing the secret was huge.

But since Yang Jin had brought it up, it meant he had such a candidate in mind and a plan that wouldn't expose the spring's secret. Xia Qing asked, "Who do you want to trade with?"

"Our Hui-Three Base commander, Qi Zhongye." Yang Jin explained to Xia Qing why he chose Qi Zhongye. "This batch of seeds is hugely significant. Whoever discovers and promotes the seeds will be credited with a major achievement. For our respective reasons, neither of us can claim the credit, so we can pass this merit to the base commander. He absolutely won't pocket it—he'll find ways to promote the planting of the spinach seeds as quickly as possible."

"With these spinach seeds, his prestige in Hui-Three Base will rise, and he'll have more say in Hui-One and even the Red City main base. The stronger he gets, the weaker Vice Base Commander Tang Zhengrong becomes, and the Sufeng Squad will weaken along with him."

Yang Jin went on to explain the benefits choosing Qi Zhongye would bring Xia Qing. "This won't only benefit the Green Dragon Squad, it'll also make Territory Two much more peaceful, and your territory will be safer. How about it?"

Being able to weaken Tang Zhengrong and the Sufeng Squad—of course Xia Qing was extremely tempted. Compared to the Blaze Squad, she naturally wanted to weaken the Sufeng Squad even more and revenge herself sooner. But— "How do you explain the source of the seeds to the base commander?"

Luo Pei answered, "Wherever Brother Luo got the pollution-free spring water for detox, that's where these spinach seeds came from."

Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. "The Sea of Death in Lancheng? Is there really pollution-free spring water there?"

"There is, but extracting the spring water is very dangerous, and the water quality isn't as good as what's in your territory. I went to the Sea of Death in May this year, and I did find Yi-evolved spinach there, but only of ordinary Green-Light quality. But I can say I discovered high-Yi element spinach in the Sea of Death."

Yang Jin tossed the winnowing basket lightly and continued. "After I discovered them, I collected the seeds from these high-Yi element spinach, cultivated and planted them, and only after confirming the seed quality did I consider the question of promotion."

After saying this, Yang Jin grabbed a few spinach seeds from the winnowing basket. "If you think it's feasible, I'll arrange for someone to head to the Sea of Death as soon as possible, bury these spinach seeds in the grass near the spring in the Sea of Death, and then go to the safe zone to find the base commander and negotiate this deal."