Chapter 563
Chapter 563 - 543: Black Market Business
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8 min read
"I’m Lu Ping’an, and I just want to live a peaceful life."
That being said, Lu Ping’an was already bored two days after returning home.
It’s not that he had nothing to do, but...
"There are times when you have so much work and assignments to face that it’s impossible to finish them, and tomorrow is the deadline, and it’s 9 o’clock at night....That’s when you’ll suddenly see everything through and give up on yourself."
Upon returning, Lu Ping’an was entangled in a bunch of trivial matters.
One side of it was schoolwork; having been gone for two months, he had missed important exams, and if he wanted to resume his studies, he would need to go through some procedures.
There were even more trivial matters from his work department. Xia Qin had gone to work from the first day she arrived and had not returned since.
More importantly, and inescapable, were the numerous trivial matters of his small team.
Not to mention, they made so much this time, and they needed to distribute dividends and pay bonuses.
Next, the team’s personnel needs to be arranged, and the stowaway passengers need to be taken care of.
Following that, if someone is willing to collaborate long-term, the cooperation targets and rewards need to be discussed.
And then, with the team having made so much this time, what should they do next? A team of this level isn’t needed for simple security battles on Earth.
As such, maybe they should consider the next hunt.
By the way, when Lu Ping’an proposed the name and function of the Lamplight Grass, a new species fused with purifying organisms, it caused a stir in the magic botany world of the Ancient City. Now, Teacher Wen is waiting at the door every day, urging Lu Ping’an for the report.
That wasn’t even the most troublesome problem.....
"Indeed, managing finances is the most annoying thing..."
Looking at various income and expenses, Lu Ping’an was a bit overwhelmed, especially when he had to pay salaries to others.
There was a problem here. Due to the prohibition of exchanging "credit-points" and "Eastern Country’s coins" in official settings, and the official ban on trading Eastern Country’s coins and supernatural items... In short, the bounty of Lu Ping’an’s group could not be converted to money.
The troublesome part was that the salaries Lu Ping’an had originally promised to his "employees" were calculated in Eastern Country’s coins, and dealing with the situation was difficult.
Such a predicament was not limited to Lu Ping’an’s group. The returning explorers also faced the same situation.
"Though I understand that a massive influx of high-level taboo items in the market might cause a shock to the finance and the market, the feeling of having things but not being able to exchange them for money is quite annoying."
Normally, a Cursers of Lu Ping’an’s rank (Black Iron / Bronze) might not have the chance to come into contact with Rule-level items or knowledge. If they could obtain a Silver-tier Decree item, it could already be considered a family heirloom.
And ninety-nine percent of professionals will remain at this stage forever, exhibiting the preciousness of taboo items and supernatural resources above the Silver-level.
In the Ancient City’s history, there have only been two Rule-level items, and they were laboriously withheld from the warehouses that were supposed to be handed over.
However, now, along with the arrival of the foreign race and the return of the explorers, they naturally brought a great amount of resources and treasures.
On this trip alone, Lu Ping’an actually obtained five Truth-level items, and at least three of them could be considered Rule-level.
If only one or two Rule-level items appeared on the market, they could still be absorbed by Eastern Country’s coins; but what if scores or even more than a hundred appeared at once?
And this is just the beginning, accompanied by various other precious taboo items and supernatural resources. If all of these were converted to Eastern Country’s coins based on their previous value, how much impact would it have on the financial system and the market?
Market chaos might only be the beginning. If they allowed free exchange, it would be equivalent to having a huge pile of money-printing machines, oil tycoons printing money frenziedly, or a certain large country crazily selling its gold reserves to exchange for designated currency. The entire financial system and supernatural market would likely collapse.
Under these circumstances, closing off both ends of currency exchange and limiting the first wave of impact within the scope of "credit-coins" is considered a wise move.
The more supernatural resources are exchanged for credit-coins and union coins, the more it endorses the credit of the new currency. In all aspects, this is the right decision.
"...It’s just that when you become the object of damage to interests, it gets a little annoying."
Among those who actually need to be paid, the majority are Hua senior sister’s fellow villagers. The income from their factory hasn’t stopped, and the output is quite stable.
Although they generously said they could wait or even offer taboo items as collateral, Lu Ping’an, who was also born a commoner, knew that before pursuing power, warmth and food still needed to be sought... A boss who owes wages is really despicable.
"How about taking out another loan..."
He didn’t know how many "Explorer loans" were left, but maybe, with a little more, he could spend a few more months.
Everyone knew that such a ban could not be perfect; there may be leaks and loopholes, and black-market transactions have likely not stopped for a day. The problem was that...
"Cracking down on black-market transactions of Eastern Country’s coins and taboo items/credit-coins is the top priority of the Special Service Team."
This made things difficult for Lu Ping’an. The Special Service Team Three had been patrolling the black market these days, and it would look quite bad if they were caught slipping up or discovered by the authorities.
Moreover, Lu Ping’an had visited the steam factory a couple of times these days, and the market there was quite chaotic...
"What? You’re only giving 50,000 coins for a Truth-level item in your possession? Why don’t you go and rob someone?"
Special agents patrolled the streets of the steam factory with conspicuous swagger. In the face of the current official trend, the black-market traders dared not speak out.
Disguised,Lu Ping’an found a black-market stall and asked about the market price before giving up on the idea of selling anything.
"Taboo items will depreciate" had become a common consensus among people. As more and more of these items appeared on the market, the rare ones would naturally see a collapse in their prices.
But it was unclear how low the future "market price (black market)" would drop and how the new commodity prices (black market) of the various items would be set; no one could say for sure.
Naturally, in a market that was widely anticipated to fall, the dare-to-buy merchants would quite naturally demand much higher prices and try to crush the market.
"We are breaking the law here, see the uniforms outside? I’m taking a risk of being beheaded, at least let me make a little bit."
This black market boss looked quite smug.
"50,000 coins per item? I’ll take as many as you have." Lu Ping’an was almost laughed to tears by the offer.
But then, he shook his head. It wasn’t worth it. It really wasn’t.
After that, he went to a few more places, only two of which dared to offer a price.
Obviously, those who dared to do business at this time had connections and were affiliated with some church or company.
However, the highest offer didn’t exceed 100,000 coins, and the purchase price of most taboo items was less than one percent of the original. The merchants clearly wanted to take advantage of the situation to make a fortune.
Actually, if someone really needed money urgently, they might have been fooled by these merchants.
Doing such a deal could feed someone for several years, and there was no need to worry about any reputation... Black-market dealers didn’t have much of a reputation to begin with.
Lu Ping’an sighed and gave up on the idea of selling in the short term, as it wasn’t worth it.
When he left, he reported the black-market dealers who dared to buy and sell the goods under the guise of a special service team member to vent his frustrations.
— End of Chapter 563 —