One Goblin-brand excavator for one Conqueror 10 tank—Mosquito considered the price he offered more than fair.
Both ran on caterpillar tracks, so was a one-for-one swap really asking too much?
Not in the slightest!
He had not even factored in depreciation.
Besides, the Legion's tanks had always been the type built for sheer mass and volume. There was hardly any eye-opening black technology inside; their sole redeeming feature was their absurdly high equivalent armor thickness.
Mosquito had only one use in mind after buying it: flipping it in Bolo Province.
Aside from the handful of warlords over there, practically no one else would be interested in the thing.
To his dismay, however, the Wilante failed to appreciate a good bargain and angrily shook his hand off.
"Get lost!"
An excavator for a tank, and a Conqueror 10 heavy tank at that!
To him, the offer was nothing short of an insult!
Seeing the deal slipping away, Mosquito felt a surge of urgency. Undeterred, he quickly grabbed the man again and pressed on.
"Brother, don't be so quick to say no. Hear me out. Hauling all this hardware back from the front line to the rear will cost more than building a fresh batch at home. If you don't unload it on me, it's just going to sit here and be scrapped on the spot. Why not seize the chance to make a quick buck?"
The decurion nearly choked on his spit at the words.
"What quick buck?! Tell me how trading a tank for an excavator makes me a quick buck! Can't I just sell it myself?!"
Mosquito chuckled.
"Ahem, well, you'd need a buyer with access, wouldn't you? You don't have ships or railways here, so you can't haul it very far. Who else is going to buy it besides me? Besides, the excavators I'm offering you are top-notch. Even after you finish up this construction site, you can drive them to another site to dig earth. You'll easily earn back the price of the tank!"
Dizzied by this fast-talking nonsense, the decurion froze, his brain momentarily failing to make the turn.
"...What do you mean, drive them to another site to dig earth?"
Mosquito's mind raced, and he hastened to explain.
"Another site just means... well, another construction site! Ahem! The Alliance plans to build ports and settlements around here. When the time comes, they'll be paying good money for labor. You'll have the manpower and the heavy machinery—why worry about finding work? Even if you don't feel like doing it yourselves, that's fine too. Rent the equipment to whoever needs it and rake in the rental fees. It's just a matter of how much you want to make."
The moment he heard that the Alliance intended to build ports and settlements nearby, the decurion suddenly snapped out of it.
"Wait, that makes no sense... You people are from the Alliance! Why should we work for you?!"
Mosquito hardly knew whether to laugh or cry.
"Why are you so rigid? What does this have to do with whether we're from the Alliance or not? Even if you don't like us, you don't hold a grudge against money, do you?"
Hearing that, the decurion turned the thought over in his head. It did seem to make sense.
Though the Alliance was thoroughly unlikable, those crisp, shiny silver coins were quite lovely. They could buy a great deal of fine things.
Seeing that the decurion seemed swayed, Mosquito struck while the iron was hot.
"Look, the war's already over. Those tanks and artillery pieces are definitely useless now, but your people probably won't be pulling out anytime soon. You'll likely be stuck here for a while. Why not grab some pocket money while you can and improve your living conditions?"
The decurion pondered for a moment, then lowered his voice.
"How many do you want?"
Suppressing his inner excitement, Mosquito smiled.
"As many as you have! And not just tanks—planes, artillery, even rifles... As long as you have no immediate use for it, we'll take the whole lot. The price is negotiable!"
"I can't make this call on my own... but I can ask my superiors for you. My name is Anthony. What about you? How should I address you?"
"Mosquito! Heh, just call me Mosquito. Practically every blue coat on the Alliance side knows me." Mosquito flashed a knowing grin and tactfully slipped a pre-prepared coin pouch into the Wilante's hand. "A small token of my esteem."
The decurion weighed the pouch in his hand, a beaming smile immediately spreading across his face, and gave a hearty nod.
"Wait for my word!"
Leaving those words behind, he hailed his squadmates who had just emerged from the ruins and headed toward their camp.
Watching the man walk away, Mosquito grinned from ear to ear. He tossed his cigarette butt to the ground, ground it beneath his heel, and walked over to an armored SUV parked under an abandoned building.
This armored SUV was the exact model produced by North Island Heavy Industries.
Ever since discovering that its doors could withstand an RPG's shaped-charge warhead, he had decisively placed an order for an entire fleet.
Sitting in the driver's seat was one of his "lackeys," Duo Ming, who was gripping the steering wheel and waiting in sheer boredom.
Watching Mosquito pull open the door and climb into the passenger seat, Duo Ming sighed helplessly.
"...Speaking of which, we have our own products. Why not sell our own stuff?"
Goblin Tech's wares were far more lethal than anything the Wilante produced.
Mosquito, however, wore a look of complete disregard and retorted self-righteously,
"How can the money from selling our own goods smell as sweet as picking up free cash?"
Naturally, he would still sell his own arms, but that did not stop him from doing business with the Wilante.
Besides, with the war over, it was hardly the time to set up new production lines.
Judging from the manager's string of moves in the Southern Sea, outer space exploration was the meta of the next version!
If you wanted to stay ahead of the curve, you had to learn how to anticipate it!
Mosquito had already worked it out: pulling in two to three hundred million silver coins from this single venture would be a walk in the park!
He intended to pour every cent of that money into Goblin Tech's new venture—the outer space equipment development project!
While Mosquito was lost in his grand daydream, Duo Ming, still sitting in the driver's seat, felt that something was off. After holding it in for a long while, he finally could not resist asking,
"...Is this deal actually reliable?"
Mosquito waved a hand with a laugh.
"Relax, it's ninety percent locked in!"
*So there's still a ten percent failure rate...*
Duo Ming thought to himself, looking over at him again. "Where to now?"
"To the port." As he spoke, Mosquito was already placing coordinates on his VM, a confident grin on his face as he chattered away. "I've already lined up the buyer—a representative of General Jeha, a warlord from Tiger State. The guy is waiting at the Death Coast port right now. We can't keep our distinguished guest waiting too long!"
Tiger State... was that the state north of Golden Gallon Port?
Duo Ming had never been to Bolo Province. He tapped open the VM map and glanced at it before finding the location.
It was hard to imagine.
Such a blessed land, far removed from all the core crises of the wasteland, could actually swallow up several hundred million silver coins worth of arms.
"What do the warlords there want to do? Fight the Legion?"
Mosquito chuckled, sounding utterly indifferent.
"Who cares what they do? Even if they're fighting our brothers in the Burning Corps, we still sell the gear we need to sell... It'll just give those bastards something to do."
Simply trafficking weapons did not violate the player handbook; munitions were the best-selling commodity on the wasteland.
There was only one scenario that would get someone hammered: selling arms to a faction declared hostile by the Alliance or placed under an embargo.
Yet their current trading partner clearly did not fall into that category. He did not even possess the potential to draw the Alliance's scrutiny.
"..."
Duo Ming cast a speechless glance at him, then returned his gaze to the map.
That place was an oasis far vaster than the "oasis" of Sunset Province. It had no broodmothers, no mutant species, no mutants, nor any other bizarre monstrosities.
Though it was still part of the wasteland, nowhere on the entire wasteland came closer to paradise—or was more suited for farming...
Staring at that blessed expanse for a long time, Duo Ming finally could not help but sigh.
"...Shallow waters truly breed a lot of turtles."
...
Inside the magnificent banquet hall of the North Island Hotel, impeccably dressed guests mingled back and forth before long tables.
Most present were prominent figures from the Alliance and the Southern Sea Alliance.
Among them were government officials, industry representatives, and academic titans.
There were shareholders of Baiyue Company, senior executives of North Island Heavy Industries, researchers from the Scientific Expedition, and more.
Beyond that, several survivor factions on good terms with the Southern Sea Alliance had also received invitations.
Examples included the Mammoth State authorities, who had a labor-export relationship with the Southern Sea Alliance, as well as the Golden Gallon Port authorities and the Camel Hump Kingdom, both of which maintained close trade ties with the Southern Sea.
The guests chatted among themselves. Their topics encompassed not only the post-war order following the Battle of Heaven and the Southern Sea civil war, but also the site selection for the "trackless space elevator" and other potential avenues of cooperation.
As a mysterious and immensely wealthy magnate from Bolo Province, Duke Nihak stole the limelight at the banquet.
Initially, the hosts had harbored some misgivings about simultaneously inviting both Duke Nihak and the representative of Golden Gallon Port, but they soon realized the concern was entirely unnecessary.
Not only did Duke Nihak show zero lingering resentment over past unpleasantries, but he even generously granted Golden Gallon Port an interest-free loan of ten billion Xilan coins.
His lavish squandering drew gasps and applause from the crowd, and amid their fawning praises, he grew all the more light-headed. Even the Camel Hump Kingdom managed to fleece an interest-free loan of ten billion from him.
Watching the ruddy-faced Duke Nihak, Lao Bai, standing in a corner of the banquet hall, could not help but grumble,
"...What's the largest denomination of the Xilan coin anyway? A hundred million?"
Fang Chang chuckled.
"I think it's a thousand. I can't remember either."
Lao Bai fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"...Utterly insane."
Though he did not know how many silver coins a Xilan coin was worth, he had heard it had a five-to-four peg against the gallon, and the latter's exchange rate against the silver coin was stable around ten to one.
Ten billion Xilan coins was roughly worth a billion silver coins. It was not mere paper after all; it could be exchanged for tangible goods.
Seeing Lao Bai's look of incomprehension, Fang Chang gave a faint smile.
"Slaveholders are mostly like this. It's not their own money they're spending anyway; the poor souls turning screws will be the ones paying it back in the end... Do you think he cares? If I were him, I wouldn't care either."
Rabidly printing banknotes constantly diluted the debt tied to them. At a time like this, as long as one had the channels to swap Xilan coins for silver coins, CR, or dinars, borrowing meant pure profit.
After all, it was an interest-free loan.
Even without making any investments, simply exchanging it for silver coins to buy Alliance bonds as a principal-protected wealth management product would generate a mountain of interest out of thin air.
As for the exchange-rate risk if Xilan coins appreciated in the future?
At the speed Duke Nihak was writing checks, even if the empire's serfs pedaled their sewing machines until they smoked, they could never reverse the overarching downward trend.
Only two possibilities could cause opportunistic little sparrows like the Southern Sea Alliance and the Camel Hump Kingdom to suffer catastrophic losses: if the Alliance bonds they bought failed to outpace Alliance inflation,
or if the empire's low-caste serfs managed to pedal out an antimatter reactor on their sewing machines.
Such a possibility was not zero, but in all likelihood, it could only occur in Duke Nihak's daydreams.
Even so, Fang Chang could not help but feel a twinge of jealousy.
He was especially envious when he saw the Camel Hump Kingdom's envoy secure a ten-billion interest-free loan from Nihak after offering merely a couple of flippant compliments.
Those bastards had no ability to make the pie bigger, yet each was more eager than the last when it came to slicing it up.
Most absurd of all, the pie being sliced was far more eager than the knife doing the slicing.
Meanwhile, an honest baker like him was left grinding away, dutifully rolling out flatbread.
"There's simply no justice in this world."
Fang Chang shook his head, let out a soft sigh, and walked off, deciding that what the eye didn't see, the heart wouldn't grieve over.
What he did not know was that as he walked away shaking his head, Governor Nihak's eyes locked onto him, the corner of the governor's mouth curling into a cold sneer.
*What foolish creatures.*
Over the course of a single banquet, he had practically bought off all of the Alliance's partners, yet the Alliance remained completely oblivious to having its foundation undermined.
Now Xilan coins were stuffing the pockets of wastelanders, just as the Alliance had once stuffed silver coins into their pockets.
Just you wait.
These arrogant fools would sooner or later fall victim to their own hubris!
While Duke Nihak was envisioning how the Alliance would collapse ten or twenty years down the line, the Alliance's manager was busy painting grand visions of ten or twenty years in the future for his circle of followers.
"...We cannot subsist indefinitely on the legacy left behind by the Human Alliance era. Only by returning to outer space and reclaiming the territory of the Human Alliance can we forge an era far greater than the past!"
Rousing applause enveloped Chu Guang. Standing amid the crowd, he looked far more like the protagonist than Duke Nihak.
An era greater than the Era of Prosperity!
This sounded not merely wonderful, but almost fantastical.
Excitement was written across nearly every face.
Of course, some wore expressions of hesitation and concern.
A minister from the royal court of the Camel Hump Kingdom raised his right hand, giving a slight bow once he caught Chu Guang's eye.
"Respected Manager, I must admit your plan is magnificent... but I would like to ask one question."
Chu Guang said amiably,
"Please, go ahead."
The minister looked at him earnestly and continued,
"When that time comes, where will we... or rather, where will the children of the Desert Spirit stand?"
Murmurs rippled through the surrounding crowd.
Chu Guang's expression did not waver, and his tone remained gentle.
"The new era we envision will be the result of collective deliberations among all peoples. You may remain wherever you wish to remain, so long as you do not impede others sharing the same vessel. We will grant ample time to those unwilling to step into the new era to contemplate their place in the universe and decide when to take that final step... This will not be forced."
Hearing Chu Guang's reply, the minister visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He bowed slightly, murmured his thanks, and stepped back into the crowd.
Compared to the other kingdoms in the desert, the Camel Hump Kingdom was already relatively progressive.
In particular, the residents of Silver Moon Bay embraced new ideas with an openness that rivaled the citizens of Dawn City.
The royal house of the Camel Hump Kingdom did not fear new ideas sprouting on the land sheltered by the Goddess of the Silver Moon; they only feared that the flame of progress might burn too fiercely and reduce their prosperity to ashes.
Yet from the manager's reply, it was clear that the Alliance harbored no such intentions.
At least for now, they had no need to worry about being singed by those searing flames.
After chatting a bit more with the guests interested in the space elevator project, Chu Guang suddenly felt thirsty. He stepped over to the long table and picked up a flute of champagne.
Due to unpleasant memories from his past life, he was not fond of alcohol, but he did not mind low-proof sparkling wines.
Just as Chu Guang took a couple of sips in solitude, a young man approached from the side and addressed him respectfully:
"Respected Manager, I am Velu, envoy from Mammoth State. Please permit me a moment of your time."
Hearing the voice beside him, Chu Guang set down his glass and looked the young man up and down. To his surprise, he caught a glimpse of Shu Yu in him—
particularly those bright, piercing eyes and his vibrant, spirited aura.
Harboring a favorable impression of polite young men, Chu Guang said pleasantly,
"Of course. What is it?"
Velu took a deep breath and spoke with deference.
"I would like to... pitch ourselves to you."
Chu Guang raised an eyebrow slightly and smiled.
"An interesting choice of words."
"Since you find it interesting, I shall proceed." Velu stepped closer, his eyes burning with conviction. "The Bolo Sea trade route is a vital foreign trade conduit for the Alliance. Merchant vessels departing Silver Moon Bay carry Alliance goods to every corner of the Central Continent's coastline... Yet the Alliance possesses only a single military base along the Bolo Sea coast. Don't you find that a bit sparse?"
Chu Guang looked at him with keen interest.
"And what do you propose?"
Without missing a beat, Velu continued,
"The Mammoth State authorities can provide the Alliance with a tract of coastal land to serve as your strategic foothold in the northern part of Bolo Province's eastern seaboard! We will charge nothing for it, and we are even willing to shoulder part of the logistical expenses for your garrison stationed there!"
*Well, well.*
*Trying to borrow a knife to do his killing?*
Hearing this astonishing proposal, Chu Guang looked at the young man with surprise.
"Is this your idea, or your leadership's idea?"
Velu replied, "Naturally, it is our leadership's idea!"
Chu Guang smiled faintly.
"I know what you're trying to do, but I'm afraid the Alliance's armed forces cannot fight your civil war for you. We have far more important matters to attend to."
Faced with this rejection, Velu did not back down, but pressed on.
"We will not ask you to take part in our war in any shape or form. I can guarantee you that!"
"Yet if we wish to keep that military port, we would have to ensure you don't lose the civil war, wouldn't we?" Chu Guang saw through his intentions at a glance and called it out without hesitation.
Exposed, Velu showed no sign of embarrassment. Keeping a straight face, he said,
"And why shouldn't you? We are manifestly a far better investment than the Xilan Empire! The very first thing we did after seizing control of Mammoth State was abolish slavery! We will enshrine everything we are doing into our constitution, and once we take the entire empire, we will immediately do the same throughout Bolo Province!"
"It does sound appealing," Chu Guang nodded. "However, have you considered that the moment we step into the arena, what you face will no longer be just the empire?"
The instant the Alliance intervened in Bolo Province's civil war, the Legion would enter the fray immediately.
The ultimate outcome would be nothing short of a proxy war between the Alliance and the Legion in Bolo Province—the exact scenario Chu Guang least wanted to see.
He still had a great deal on his plate, including the development of the Tianting space station, outer space exploration, and much more.
Another clash with the Legion would benefit neither the Alliance nor the Enterprise-Alliance-Academy-Legion coalition; it would only drag the painstakingly united survivor factions back into mutual attrition.
Seeing that Chu Guang had no interest whatsoever in meddling in Bolo Province, Velu grew anxious and could not help speaking up.
"I know you worry about the Legion stepping in... but in truth, those Wilante have already stepped in! Aside from active combat units, they are shipping everything they possibly can straight to our borders! And part of that is even traveling along your supply lines!"
Hearing the crucial detail in that sentence, Chu Guang knitted his brows slightly.
"My supply lines?"
Velu lowered his head and said in a heavy voice,
"Precisely... Utilizing your railways, they are transferring a portion of their military stockpiles from Weifu Wasteland to the Falcon Kingdom, circling through the eastern industrial sector of the Great Desert to northwestern Bolo Province, and finally delivering them straight into the hands of the Gray Wolf Army."
Chu Guang stared into his eyes.
"Yet I was told they intended to ship those supplies back to the Legion's homeland."
Velu said immediately,
"They clearly lied to you! They intend to use weapons sent to the front lines under the pretext of 'fighting for the fate of all humanity' to arm the Xilan Empire!"
The military supplies stockpiled in Weifu Wasteland were astronomical, and leaving them there was a headache. Thus, when the Legion requested the use of the Alliance's railways to ship those supplies home, Chu Guang had agreed without hesitation.
After all, "facilitating the return of troops who marched to the front lines after the war's conclusion" was part of the coalition agreement.
He had even discounted the transport capacity consumed by the Legion, splitting the freight costs between both parties.
Now, however, it appeared that Mr. Bannote had pulled a clever trick: once the weapons reached the Legion's sphere of influence, they took a sharp turn on the spot.
If that was truly the case, this was no longer just Mammoth State's problem.
Chu Guang deliberated for two seconds, then nodded.
"...I understand. I will look into the matter. If the information proves accurate, we will provide you with some compensation."
Hearing Chu Guang's reply, Velu tactfully refrained from pressing further, giving a respectful bow.
"Thank you for your understanding... We await your word."
Watching the Mammoth State envoy depart, Chu Guang first placed a call to Lyu Bei, instructing the Guards Corps to verify the situation. He then tracked down Vannus, who was also at the banquet, and recounted what Velu had just disclosed.
Vannus lowered his head in thought for a long while before speaking.
"This sounds like something the civil faction would pull... They must have reached some sort of agreement with the Eastern Legion."
Chu Guang frowned.
"...What little games are they trying to play now?"
Vannus hesitated for a moment, then ventured,
"Could it be... over the space elevator?"
Earlier, the Alliance had floated word at the coalition meeting regarding plans to build a space elevator in the Southern Sea.
The Enterprise was keenly interested, the Academy remained indifferent, and the Legion openly opposed the project, arguing that such matters should not be brought before the coalition while voicing objections to the proposed site.
Chu Guang was actually quite accommodating: whoever wished to participate could participate, and whoever did not could opt out.
In any case, future transport quotas and dividend allocations would be determined by the proportions of capital, labor, and technology contributed during the elevator's construction.
Yet the Legion's representatives remained dissatisfied with such an arrangement, repeatedly challenging the Alliance's foreign minister, Cheng Yan, on a series of issues.
Given the timing, the Legion funneling massive shipments of arms to the empire could very well be an active bid to derail the Alliance's space elevator project.
After all, until the port at Death Coast and the railway connecting Haiya Province were completed, Silver Moon Bay and the Bolo Sea would remain the Alliance's primary and only maritime transport hub for a long time to come.
If someone wanted to cause trouble for the Alliance at this juncture, it was simple enough: just let the flames of war spread from Mammoth State to neighboring Silver Moon Bay.
The two regions were separated by only a few hundred kilometers of open sea, or a single mountain range by land. Executing such a scheme would hardly be difficult.
Furthermore...
It was very much in character for the empire.
Realizing that someone was trying to use his own money to make a mess on his doorstep, Chu Guang's brow twitched. He pulled out his phone and made a second call to Lyu Bei.
"How is the matter I asked you to look into coming along?"
On the other end, Lyu Bei was caught off guard, pausing for two seconds before answering awkwardly,
"...Sir, this might take a bit of time. We are currently contacting our intelligence network inside the Falcon Kingdom. Only they can find out where those weapons went after being unloaded there."
Chu Guang nodded.
"Keep digging... Also, freeze all military supplies slated for transit to the Falcon Kingdom in their warehouses. Don't let them move an inch. If the Legion asks, tell them the military trains suffered a malfunction and require maintenance. Tell them to bring any complaints directly to me."
Receiving the order, Lyu Bei asked no questions, barking out a crisp response.
"Yes, sir!"
Barely five minutes after Chu Guang hung up, the entire railway running from Weifu Wasteland in Jinchuan Province to Biste Town in Sunset Province seemed to have its pause button pressed.
Aside from trains already in transit, which were left unaffected, all munitions currently being dispatched or prepared for dispatch to Biste Town were redirected into nearby warehouses and locked down.
The Alliance would never use its own railways to help the Legion shuttle weapons from one front line to another. Until the matter was thoroughly investigated, those arms would not budge a single step in any direction.
Later that day, Legion Ambassador to the Alliance Myriarch Bannote received word from the quartermaster accompanying the train. He bolted out of bed, seething with rage, and placed a call directly to the Alliance's foreign minister, Cheng Yan—only to receive the blatantly perfunctory reply that "the train had broken down and required maintenance."
The moment Bannote heard that answer, he realized his clever trick had likely been exposed. The Alliance simply had yet to secure ironclad evidence, which was why they had resorted to such a clumsy "tit-for-tat measure."
The munitions the Legion had left at the Weifu Wasteland military base were more than enough to equip thirty myriads, and that was by the standards of the Eastern Legion's regular forces.
At present, less than a sixth of those stockpiles had been successfully transferred, with a massive heap still stranded in Weifu Wasteland and along the Alliance's logistics lines.
Once the Alliance caught wind of the deception, the Legion would have to figure out how to deal with all those weapons on their own.
The mere thought of having to haul away that mountainous stockpile of arms and equipment without relying on the Alliance's railways made Bannote's head feel ready to burst.
Had he known the Alliance would be this sensitive, he would have stockpiled everything inside the Falcon Kingdom first, waiting until every last crate was cleared out of Jinchuan Province before handing them over to the empire!
Yet it was too late for regrets.
All he could do was dash off a telegram to the Falcon Kingdom to destroy as much evidence as possible, while simultaneously contacting Myriarch Lium on the front lines to see if that airship-commanding fellow could help brainstorm a way out.
While the Alliance and the Legion were locked in a dispute over the weapons transport, Mammoth State, sitting right at the center of the vortex, welcomed several guests of peculiar background.
And as it happened, the identities of these guests shared a rather deep history with the Moon Clan Resistance...
Chapter 805