Chapter 49 Sudden Wealth

City of Light-Chasing, Crystal Clan Abandoned District.

"Brother Hou Fei, one of the White Feather Gang's cultivation bases was wiped out by a mysterious faction. A full five apprentice-grade experts and over forty members failed to escape." A tall Crystal Clan woman with a ruby embedded in her forehead hurried into the room, almost crashing into Hou Fei, who was resting.

Initially, Hou Fei intended to scold the Crystal Clan woman, but upon hearing the news, he abruptly jumped to his feet.

"What did you say? A cultivation base of the White Feather Gang was destroyed, and not a single person escaped?" Hou Fei said in disbelief. "That is one of the White Feather Gang's cultivation bases! How could it be that not even a single person managed to get away?"

Hou Fei was extremely familiar with the White Feather Gang, having the most contact with them in the wilderness and frequently coming into friction with them.

Precisely because of these constant clashes, Hou Fei was well aware of how strong the defensive force of a White Feather Gang cultivation base was. Under normal circumstances, at least one intermediate apprentice would be stationed there, and that intermediate apprentice could engage in close combat with a senior apprentice lacking protective gear for a short period of time.

With such an expert stationed there, once an attack by a senior apprentice was detected, even with signal jamming, they would choose to evacuate immediately. With over forty people scattering in different directions, it was extremely difficult to trap and eliminate all of them.

Even a very fast senior apprentice would do well to catch four or five fleeing individuals. To trap and wipe out all forty-plus people, either the attacking side possessed massive manpower and had surrounded the cultivation base in advance, or there were more than a dozen apprentice-grade experts cooperating with dozens of quasi-apprentices. Only then would it be possible to completely clear out everyone inside the White Feather Gang's base.

Regardless of which scenario it was, both were startling pieces of news.

"Yes. Now, members of the White Feather Gang have come to notify us, stating that anyone who can provide a single solid clue will be rewarded with one hundred kilograms of mutant meat and one million credits!" The Crystal Clan woman nodded heavily, looking quite delighted. "Brother Hou Fei, if we can find out which gang did this, then you, Brother Hou Fei, will have a great chance of becoming a quasi-martial artist!"

"It's not as simple as you think. Since the other party could silently wipe out a base of the White Feather Gang, it shows that their strength cannot be underestimated either. If we find out the exact information and hand it over to the White Feather Gang, we will simply be offending that other faction." Hou Fei shook his head, but still instructed, "However, you should still tell everyone to be cautious when going out. Even if you learn any intelligence, do not rush to claim the bounty."

"Understood." The Crystal Clan woman immediately walked out of the room.

"Another gang rising in the wilderness, is it?" Hou Fei watched the woman leave, his gaze turning solemn.

The pie in the wilderness was only so big. Every time a wilderness gang rose, it meant another wilderness gang fell. At that time, other wilderness gangs wouldn't just stand by; they would inevitably get involved, making the wilderness even more dangerous.

Outside the abandoned district's Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

"Xiao Lin, you guys need to pay attention during this period. It is estimated that the wilderness won't be peaceful anymore," Qin牧 said to Lin Qi in a deep and earnest tone. "This time, the White Feather Gang is probably playing for real. One hundred kilograms of mutant meat and one million credits—even those large gangs in the suburbs will have many people tempted to investigate this matter with all their might. It's likely that the faction that destroyed the White Feather Gang's base will be uncovered soon. That mysterious gang is also very powerful, and there will definitely be a massive battle in the wilderness when the time comes. Don't go getting yourselves involved for no reason."

"Rest assured, Brother Qin, we'll be careful," Lin Qi nodded and said with a smile. "We're just a small, humble gang; we certainly won't get mixed up in the struggles of wilderness factions."

"As long as you understand." Qin牧 was quite gratified. His gaze swept over the completely transformed Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the medium-sized transport vehicle and three large tricycles parked inside, and the dozens of players busily moving cargo. He couldn't help but sigh, "I really didn't expect that after just a few days apart, your base not only looks presentable, but its scale has expanded so quickly. It's practically comparable to some ordinary wilderness gangs."

Qin牧 remembered that just a few days ago, the entire Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was in a dilapidated state, lacking even a complete surrounding wall. The interior was drafty on all sides, and the personnel numbered only around ten people.

The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall's surrounding walls had not only been completely repaired, but even the walls of the martial arts hall itself had been restored by fifty to sixty percent. Placed in the abandoned district where ruined buildings were everywhere, this was quite luxurious; the encampments of some major wilderness gangs were no better than this.

However, what was even more astonishing was the personnel and equipment of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Now boasting a scale of thirty people, along with a medium-sized transport vehicle and three large tricycles, this kind of foundation was already comparable to an ordinary wilderness gang in the wild.

"We got lucky, took on a few big orders, and rented a few more vehicles," Lin Qi replied with a smile.

Aside from cultivating blood-essence rice in the wild, the income of wilderness gangs also relied on running transport. After all, many raw materials were located in the wilderness. Numerous corporations and suburban gangs required desperate drifters to accomplish these low-level tasks, making wilderness gangs the best choice.

Possessing a certain degree of strength while being fearless of death allowed them to handle various dirty and tiring jobs, and this income constituted a major revenue stream for wilderness gangs.

Limit-level apprentices like Qin牧 would usually take on some transport escort jobs as well, but the level of the transported goods was very high, commissioned exclusively by major suburban gangs. Ordinary wilderness gangs weren't even qualified to take them.

"Keep up the good work!" Qin牧 patted Lin Qi on the shoulder. "Once you have a certain level of strength, I can introduce quite a few good gigs on my end."

"Then many thanks, Brother Qin." Hearing this, Lin Qi was pleasantly surprised.

Initially, he had been somewhat worried about how the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would increase its income in the future. After all, compared to players whose demand for various resources was growing daily, the meager money from underground cultivation and ore hauling wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

After seeing Qin牧 off, Lin Qi immediately urged the players to hurry up and unload the spoils from the vehicles.

This kept Lin Qi busy until the late hours of the night before he could truly calculate the harvest from this wipeout and the corresponding rewards for all the players.

"The White Feather Gang is truly wealthy; no wonder they could casually put up a reward of one million credits." Lin Qi looked at the itemized list in his small notebook, filled with emotion.

From this loot alone, putting aside the various miscellaneous items, the cash acquired exceeded two hundred thousand credits. He had no idea what the White Feather Gang intended to do keeping so much money in a safe, but now it all belonged to him.

This money, combined with the cash already in his hands, brought the total amount to 600,000 credits, which should barely be enough to fully repair the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

Additionally, the biggest harvest was the three vehicles. Among them, the medium-sized vintage transport vehicle had the highest value, with secondhand models on the market worth over three hundred thousand. Although useless against wilderness mutants, it could withstand attacks from apprentice-grade experts.

Luo Qi had already inspected all of them, and none of the three vehicles had any issues; they could be used freely.

After all, there were too many such vintage cars in the wilderness. The major gangs constantly robbed each other, making them no different from public property. There was no need to install a tracker; if you had the ability, you just snatched it outright.

Apart from the three vehicles, the next most precious items were the twenty weapons and twenty sets of armor previously crafted by the Azure Bird Gang.

These were A5-grade weapons and A4-grade armor that the Azure Bird Gang had spent a large sum of money having Luo Qi forge for their gang captains, with a total value exceeding three hundred thousand. Unfortunately, these A5-grade weapons were uniformly long spears, with no other types of weapons included. However, the A4-grade armor allowed Lin Qi to save a massive amount of money.

On the market, protective gear of the same grade was much more expensive than weapons.

A4-grade protective gear could be considered standard equipment for junior apprentices, normally capable of resisting attacks from junior apprentices.

Although A4-grade armor didn't seem particularly useful in the face of Luo WuShang and the others' black steel arrows, if the White Feather Gang's captains hadn't worn A4-grade armor, they would have been utterly incapable of suppressing Luo WuShang and Zhang Qingwei when joining forces. Protective gear frequently turned fatal wounds into severe ones, or even minor injuries, allowing for much freer combat.

Combined with the weapons and equipment looted from the White Feather Gang members—over sixty long spears, more than thirty compound bows, over three hundred arrows, and a total of over thirty sets of A4-grade armor—they could now fully arm all players.

However, compared to these vehicles, weapons, and equipment, Lin Qi's focus remained on the food and power equipment recorded in his notebook.

"As expected of a White Feather Gang cultivation base: three large generators. As long as enough energy ore is mined underground, it's enough to normally supply electricity for three martial arts halls. The inventory includes 454.8 kilograms of mature blood-essence rice, 3,522.5 kilograms of immature blood-essence rice, and 23,549 blood-essence rice seeds."

"With this wave, selling the mature blood-essence rice, selling the immature blood-essence rice to players to consume and accelerate their physical fitness improvements, and not needing to buy blood-essence rice seeds for quite a long time—this really saves a lot of trouble."

Looking at the supplies in his small notebook, Lin Qi suddenly realized that not only would he no longer need to purchase food for the players, but he could also make a massive profit from them while accelerating their physical fitness progression. It was truly killing three birds with one stone.

Immature blood-essence rice was indeed much inferior to mature blood-essence rice in providing blood-qi, but it was still far superior to synthesized food.

Of course, the immature blood-essence rice sold to players would be much cheaper than what he acquired from them, priced at 10 contribution points per ten grams of immature blood-essence rice.

However, considering that players would privately consume blood-essence rice, future acquisitions of blood-essence rice would grant contribution rewards in addition to points. Knowing the value of contributions, the players would surely still choose to sell the mature blood-essence rice to him.

"It seems I'll need to establish distinct tiers for contributions later, giving high-contribution players higher statuses, such as inner-disciple and elite-disciple identities, granting them higher privileges within the martial arts hall, like a 5% or 10% discount on future contribution expenditures." Lin Qi thought to himself, deciding this was an excellent method to harvest players.

Not only would it motivate players to actively earn contributions, but it would also give them a greater sense of achievement—truly killing two birds with one stone.

Status and prestige!

Which player could ever resist these two things?

"Hmm? A martial-artist-grade palm technique?"

Lin Qi looked at the tightly wrapped, thick book inside the White Feather Gang's safe. When he saw the five large characters "Martial-Artist-Grade Palm Technique" printed on the cover, he was utterly astonished.

He never expected that a mere White Feather Gang would possess a martial-artist-grade martial art, something extremely rare even among the many prominent families in the City of Light-Chasing.