Chapter 1211
Chapter 1211 - 1197: Chaos Begins
1,389 words
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7 min read
Good news, many acquaintances, friends, and our own people are still alive.
Bad news, after so many years without Lu Ping’an as their mainstay, most people have pursued their own paths, and now they’re not together, and even, not on the same continent.
Of course, with the gates reopening and the arrival of human reinforcements, those who received the news should come over to join up... but ten years had gone by, and it was normal for them to have reasons that kept them from leaving.
"Take it slowly, no rush, the situation is indeed somewhat beyond expectations..."
At least, one piece of good news was that the Rebirth Commerce had been running steadily in this world.
Actually, if someone mentioned the Chamber of Commerce without any other qualifier, they were referring to Rebirth Commerce.
What had they done?
The same things that Lu Ping’an had done when he was still around.
Conducting trade in one split city after another, they not only brought profit but also hope and peace... if the other party was unwilling to embrace peace, they would actively offer it to them.
The Chamber was a neutral force, and most of the time it stuck to its old trade, but it was known as the Ark of Redemption also because many times they would undertake thankless tasks.
"Pirates are always a big problem, especially those Lava Clan pirates without strongholds..."
These guys were strong, had resolute fighting wills, and lacked moral constraints; they relished in raising their butcher knives against "non-kin" life forms.
So, when they needed supplies or even just for the sake of revenge, they could easily massacre a city... unfortunately, due to various reasons, such small groups of defeated Stray Soldiers were numerous and troublesome, yet always caused great harm to the public.
After all, most cities were still city-states, each responsible for its own, struggling alone against the Lava pirates with their solid ships and powerful cannons was indeed quite distressing.
And for a while, the Holy Ship Commerce Association specifically pursued these defeated troops, especially after being commissioned by other small and medium-sized towns.
Similarly, there were various actions like disaster relief, evacuation of disaster victims, resisting invasions by superior forces—obviously thankless tasks.
At the same time, what drew more attention was that all their services were not free.
"Everything has a price, there is nothing that cannot be traded," was the motto of their Chamber, and all "service recipients" would receive their bills afterward and must repay them.
However, they wouldn’t force people into a corner like those unscrupulous merchants; they offered various "money-making" channels, and following the indicated route for development, there were generally no problems.
They had professional logistics and production teams, and were particularly good at investing in industry, agricultural manufacturing, and mining; often after a period of research and refinement, they could come up with a "long-term investment profits for debt repayment" cooperation agreement, even able to plan out a five-year or ten-year development plan for your town.
One could say that after such initiatives, after a few years, not to mention debt, often a small village could turn into a town, a town finding its own routes of development.
Of course, during this process, they also adhered to their principle of "everything is exchangeable," and would take away items of equivalent value, including services, human resources, minerals, long-term leases, but this empowering approach brought even more benefits, to the extent that some people wished their cities would suffer a disaster so that they could come and replan its development.
Also, because of this almost obsessive pursuit of "long-term mutual benefits," which outsiders even regarded as "too charitable," they earned the reputation of the "Holy Ship Commerce Association."
"I just knew it..."
Lu Ping’an smiled and didn’t say much.
Perhaps letting ’I’ take the helm, the Chamber would naturally develop in this way, and a complete system of logistics, industry, and agricultural development had always been the biggest chip for Rebirth Commerce.
And to get it up and running, naturally required one new "city project" after another... This snowballing management approach had been in the plans all along, only it had not been executed for a long time; looking at it now, they had done very well.
Always insisting on "equivalent exchange" could minimize a lot of trouble and the likelihood of being morally hijacked... willing to help if possible, and straightforwardly rejecting if not.
"If you are unable to pay, we can offer you the opportunity to work off your debt."
"If there are no profitable industries nearby, the Logistics Team could even try to create one."
"This is the rebuilding of a city, but within this process, it’s also the rebuilding of civilization, only this time it’s inlaid with far too many elements characteristic of humanity."
"Because of their existence, our Long Hand Clan has developed quite the favorable impression of humanity...."
This statement was somewhat exaggerated, as within any ethnic group there are good and bad individuals, and adults need to learn to judge each person individually before determining if they’re good or bad. However, the existence of the Ark of Redemption truly did raise the overall favorable impression of the ethnic group by several percentage points, providing a good impression at first sight... This was quite preposterous.
Lu Ping’an smiled and nodded without revealing his relationship with the Chamber of Commerce.
"So, does the Chamber also have its own sphere of influence?"
"....Well, it’s hard to say if it counts as a sphere of influence. Most of their people are on the Ark, traveling around. The places they leave often have ’branch stores,’ but in reality, it’s mainly operated by the Long Hand Clan themselves. They aren’t the kind, you know, that kind...."
Zhao Zhaochuan trailed off halfway through, struggling for words due to his limited vocabulary.
"Military organization? The kind that seizes territory?"
"Exactly, exactly, that’s what I meant. Other forces are all fighting over territory, but they seem to have no interest in that at all. They seem to be more interested in saving lives and making money, but not particularly greedy...."
Although spoken lightly, Lu Ping’an knew the difficulty of this, to become a neutral faction, you are either of no value to attract others, or you possess the power to threaten other powers. Clearly, the armed forces of the Chamber of Commerce had grown considerably over the years.
"....Xue En has become quite famous. It seems the security team frequently makes appearances."
Every familiar name, along with their activities, allowed Lu Ping’an to breathe a sigh of relief.
At least, he hadn’t heard news of anyone’s death yet, and most hadn’t changed their original intentions.
But Lu Ping’an still hadn’t planned on meeting up with the others....
"Let’s just wait and see."
Observing the storm starting to pick up outside, Lu Ping’an decided he could slack off for a couple of days first.
This wasn’t because he had already "rested" for a month or so and truly didn’t care, but because he was waiting.
Waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Exotic Races, waiting for the recommencement of the battles.
Waiting for the entry of our reinforcements, and for their new plans.
Waiting for the enigmatic Big Shots, who had previously agreed to prepare a "generous gift" for the contending sides.
Waiting for the situation to become clearer, rather than jumping straight into the eye of the storm and becoming cannon fodder.
With Lu Ping’an’s current capabilities and status, his appearance would spread rapidly among the Informed-person, followed by a highly likely chance of being drawn into the vortex’s center... And if you consider the current popularity and strength of the Chamber of Commerce, that was nearly a certainty.
"Wait then, see who loses patience first...."
Lu Ping’an knew that many people had prepared their own "plans," they couldn’t wait, they would throw everything into this new "casino" all in one go.
So, Lu Ping’an wanted to watch the situation, he had already prepared to wait for a month or more.
The outcome? It only took three days before someone couldn’t wait anymore.
— End of Chapter 1211 —