Chapter 671
Chapter 671 - 651: Small Business
1,502 words
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8 min read
"I thought I was coming here to farm, but it turned out to be a war, and one with no way out. The earliest flight is not until a month later..."
At this moment, many people remembered why the leader of the camp had said to them when they arrived, "This is your worst possible time, but it’s good for us."
Many people complained, and they had reason to, especially the "mortals."
Professionals were different. Even the weakest of them started as first-tier professionals, and they were accustomed to fighting and battling. As professional warriors, they were prepared to face any battlefield.
However, for the mortal support staff and researchers, they had signed "work agreements" and were not prepared to face risks. In particular, during the first wave of unexpected attacks, the majority of the casualties were these ordinary people.
Helplessly, the leaders of the camp had to use every possible persuasion and even increased wages to stabilize the situation... But it did not mean that the camp’s operation was back on track.
A large number of ordinary people fell, not because of attacks or injuries, but "food poisoning"... The local food and water sources contained bacteria that were not suitable for ordinary human digestion systems.
This was an accident, but it also revealed the inexperience of the ancient city’s organizers.
Among the first batch of explorers, 99% were professionals, so such adaptability issues were not a problem for them. In contrast, for fragile mortals, bacteria and viruses were as unstoppable as aliens.
Healers became busy, but the results were limited. Most of their quick-acting healing methods could not be used on ordinary people due to pollution erosion.
Essentially, it was nothing more than modern times’ soil and water incompatibility. Given some time, healers/doctors could easily find treatment methods. If most ordinary people were in good condition, they could also easily get through this adaptation period.
However, they had traveled for two days in high temperatures and dehydration before immediately starting to work overtime... It was already lucky that they didn’t die on the spot.
At this time, Lu Ping’an naturally took action... Reducing the disease to one-third or one-sixth of its original strength would allow the body’s immune system to cope with it.
His unreasonable rule system abilities quickly gained him fame in the camp.
In his observation, this exploration team was indeed unreliable... Most of them were going on a long journey for the first time, and it might also be their last.
Lu Ping’an’s small team unknowingly disbanded and merged into the camp.
They built connections with people around them and gathered information while searching for the next key target.
"How’s the ’Nutrient No. 2’ potion?"
"...Not bad, the No. 3 version will be ready in a few days, and its effectiveness can be increased by another 30%."
The benefits of exploring the Exotic Realm were always uncertain, but if you have a few specialist teams with you, the gains become more consistent.
In the past few days, Lu Ping’an and his team found a "plant fertilizer" that could accelerate plant growth at high speeds, similar to a magic potion... Note that it accelerates the growth of plants, not magic plants, and ordinary crops can also benefit from it.
Lu Ping’an himself planted rice seeds in the local soil. After successfully growing the crops, he tested the fertilizer’s effect. The growth rate increased significantly, and it would take some time to know the exact harvest time, but when wheat and rice grew visibly faster, everyone could see the value of this "fertilizer."
It should be noted that Lu Ping’an’s "grain seeds" in his courtyard were actually contaminated plants. Although they were zero-order, low-level magic plants, long-term consumption could harm ordinary people, especially those who grew up in low-pollution environments.
Only genuine, harmless crops could be grown using traditional methods... These gains were undoubtedly unexpected surprises.
However, the raw materials for this "Nutrient No. 2" potion were challenging to obtain...
"Are we directly buying ’Black Ash’ without any other team noticing?"
"A few teams followed suit and bought some, but only in small quantities... They probably won’t notice or care too much in the short term. After all, that stuff is everywhere, and 100 bucks per ton can only be considered as a simple collection labor fee."
Black Ash refers to the black ashes left behind after the burning of the great forest.
This was discovered by Professor Wen and his team, as the ashes left by burnt plants, the ashes of grass and trees after a fire, are great soil fertility enhancers on Earth.
They just collected and used it, found the effect to be exceptionally good, and then further intensified their research.
"There may be a special kind of growth essence in it, which is the reason for the enormous size of the giant trees. It’s really surprising that this growth essence hasn’t disappeared even after being burned into ashes."
Both Lu Ping’an’s decision to bring the research team and the local entrepreneur’s decision to bring in "experts" were correct.
In an unknown primitive world, more professional experts are needed to transform unfamiliar creatures and environments into valuable resources.
"Today’s collection of black ashes is reduced by half. Do we need to raise the purchase price?"
Someone asked a question, considering the production conditions, it might be relatively difficult to get a hold of black ashes.
Quite a few were collected on the first day, mainly because some people didn’t dare to go far, but didn’t want to waste time in the camp... Ordinary people and low-level professionals were forbidden from leaving the camp too far before the surrounding Grey Edge Tribe squads were cleaned up.
These collection tasks, if using the rented camp vehicles and equipment, could earn a bit of money.
But obviously, this purchase price has already caused many people to lose their motivation to work.
In this regard, Lu Ping’an handed the task to Miss Lululu, who had initially proposed a purchase price of 1000 per ton. Now that everyone had no motivation, her forecast was right... This price was too low, basically equivalent to pure labor money, which was still the labor price on Earth.
Hearing this, Lu Ping’an laughed.
You might know the labor market, but you really don’t understand human nature... If you offer a high price, rest assured many people would focus on researching this and maybe soon find out its effectiveness since it doesn’t involve high technology.
Maybe someone is already researching it. If a second purchaser appears in the market, the more you rush to buy, the less you can acquire at this time...
"No, change the purchase price tomorrow to 50 per ton, and then say we’re almost done collecting and won’t be collecting for many more days."
At this moment, Miss Lululu was taken aback and then couldn’t help but laugh and cry.
She is not stupid. She thought about it from her perspective and guessed what would happen tomorrow.
"Tomorrow will be very busy..."
As long as it’s related to time and quantity limitations and the countdown, many people will gradually lose their sanity.
In Lu Ping’an’s view, lowering the price at this time should be more motivating than raising it... After all, many people are here to make money. Now there’s no work, so they might as well seize the opportunity to pick up some easy money before the opportunity disappears.
Lu Ping’an thought about it and then added another sentence.
"We need to come up with a plausible excuse, and at the same time mislead potential competitors... Let Xue En and his team go out for a walk and spread some rumors that ’collecting black ashes is an unofficial commission from the authorities for a public welfare project, cleaning up the surroundings of the campsite, and showing stability in exchange for employment.’"
This reasoning might be a bit far-fetched, but it seems plausible on the surface.
"Won’t they find out the truth if they ask the authorities? The people from the authorities are busy with all sorts of things nowadays."
"Well, although rumors may stop with the wise, most people are too lazy to think for themselves, let alone take the initiative to spend time verifying the rumors. Even if someone really does so... Would he actively tell the majority of people in the camp that it’s just a rumor? And even if he does, can the rumor be debunked as quickly as it’s spread?"
Lu Ping’an shrugged, as long as the reason is passable, that’s enough.
"Besides, I didn’t expect to keep it a secret for long, just to confuse any existing competitors and delay them for a few days or even several days... As long as we have enough time to fill our warehouse, that’s enough.".
— End of Chapter 671 —