Qin Ziwen sighed softly. ’I wonder when I’ll finally get my hands on the Heart of the World.’
Based on the pattern of how I’d obtained Cards before, the underwater city ruins from the last map probably counted as a material for the Abyssal Ruins Card.
So, will this map have a Heart of the World?
’I can tell how rare this material is just from its name.’
"My Lord." Jia Liangcai hurried over.
"Have the Ant-men left?"
Jia Liangcai said, "My Lord, they’ve all left. The volume of our next trade should be even larger. Their visit this time was likely to test the waters."
Qin Ziwen gave a slight smile. "Then let them take their time testing us."
We have what they want, and the Ant-men will always have a need for it.
"Has Du Yu departed?" Qin Ziwen asked offhandedly.
"He has already departed."
"Good."
Jia Liangcai asked, "My Lord, are you planning to subjugate these Insect Men?"
Qin Ziwen nodded. "I’ve had the thought, but I’m still considering it. These Insect Men don’t seem particularly rare to me. There are two ways to go about subjugating them. One is to bring them into our Gated Community. The other is to establish a remote colony, returning to this world periodically to harvest resources. If we need to fight, we could hire the Insect Men and use them as mercenaries."
Qin Ziwen glanced at him. "Why aren’t you saying anything?"
Jia Liangcai bowed. "It seems my Lord has already come to a conclusion."
At his words, Qin Ziwen chuckled. "Who says I’ve already come to a conclusion? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just that for now, I don’t see much value in subjugating these Insect Men. The Gated Community’s population is already quite large.
Supporting another group of Insect Men would put a huge strain on our logistics.
The Fishmen can breathe underwater, supplementing our aquatic combat forces.
While these Insect Men are physically capable—stronger than ordinary people—their strength is limited. Functionally, they overlap with the humans in our Gated Community.
The Insect Men we’ve encountered so far don’t offer much value."
Only after Qin Ziwen finished did Jia Liangcai voice his agreement. "My Lord’s words are wise. The Fishmen have their special buildings; perhaps these Insect Men have something similar. If their buildings are useful, then they could play a role. In that case, subjugating and maintaining a few wouldn’t be out of the question."
’Insect Men buildings... I wonder if that Sky-Net Weaving Field counts, assuming there are Spider-men among the Insect Men.’ Qin Ziwen’s thoughts began to wander.
Reining in his thoughts, Qin Ziwen nodded. "There’s no rush. Let’s wait and see. Only the Ant-men have shown up today; we still don’t know the stance of the other Insect Man races."
...
「Grand Fortune Restaurant.」
Since opening its doors, it had become the most popular building in the community, second only to the Martial Arts Arena.
The Grand Fortune Restaurant currently offered two dining options.
The first was to provide your own ingredients, which the restaurant’s kitchen would then prepare for you.
The second was to order directly from the Grand Fortune Restaurant’s menu, which was more expensive.
What truly drew people in wasn’t the food, but the restaurant’s special effect: Gathering Fortune.
After dining at the restaurant, patrons would be blessed with a short-term boost to their luck.
After more than a dozen people tested it in batches, the effects of Gathering Fortune were finally verified.
First, the effect lasted longer than expected, for nearly six hours in total.
Second, the effect wasn’t constant. If one were to measure luck as a standard quantity, dining at the Grand Fortune Restaurant would cause a significant short-term increase in that value. The magnitude of this boost was directly proportional to the rarity of the ingredients used in the meal.
The rarer and more high-end the ingredients, the greater the boost to one’s luck.
Qin Ziwen had heard about their testing method; it was simple and crude.
Someone had conducted a detailed test by flipping a coin. The rules were brutally simple: heads you win a pound of grain, tails you lose a pound.
To ensure the test was authentic and not skewed by other factors, Jia Liangcai paid for the grain himself, exchanging his own contribution points for it at the warehouse. Qin Ziwu, Cao Biansheng, Zhao Pu, and others participated in the test.
Before dining, after a thousand coin flips, the ratio of heads was stable at around fifty percent.
But after dining at the Grand Fortune Restaurant, another thousand flips saw the total proportion of heads soar to anywhere between sixty and ninety percent!
More importantly, they recorded the order of each flip. They discovered that heads were heavily concentrated in the first few hundred tosses. The further they went, the lower the proportion of heads became, proving that the luck was gradually being consumed with use.
For further verification, they raised the reward to three pounds of grain for landing on heads.
They found that while the overall percentage of heads dropped significantly, the initial peak still occurred. Furthermore, the total amount of grain won in the end remained within a roughly consistent range.
This confirmed their theory: luck had a roughly fixed "total amount."
The greater the potential gain from a wager, the more "good fortune" was consumed.
Besides coin flips, the luck boost could also be triggered during events like hunting expeditions, studying in the Hundred Schools Book Tower, and daily training.
As word of mouth spread, the restaurant gained more and more regular customers.
Zhang Bo, grinning from ear to ear, carried two jars of wine and set them on the counter. He spoke to the old man sitting behind it, "Liu San, you folks mentioned last time that you were looking for different types of wine. Take a look at this—sugarcane wine, freshly brewed in my own distillery."
"Sugarcane wine? You can make wine from sugarcane?" Liu San stood up. Lord Jia had said they could accept any type of wine that wasn’t already on the rosewood cabinet in the main hall.
And this sugarcane wine was certainly not there. He lifted one of the jars; it was an ordinary clay pot, and looked quite new.
He removed the lid, revealing a yellowish-green liquid inside.
He took a sniff and caught the grassy, sweet aroma of sugarcane.
Zhang Bo said, "I brought two jars. You can have a taste."
Liu San thought for a moment, then took a small bowl and a wine ladle from under the counter. He dipped the ladle into the jar and drew out half a measure.
Pouring it into the bowl, Liu San raised it and took a small sip.
The initial taste was sweet, like drinking a cup of concentrated sugarcane juice.
As the liquid went down his throat, it carried a slight spiciness. Once the wine settled in his stomach, a faint, sour aftertaste lingered in his mouth.
The taste was surprisingly good.
Perhaps because he was getting on in years, Liu San had a sweet tooth, and this sugarcane wine was right up his alley.
"This’ll do."
When he saw Liu San nod, Zhang Bo couldn’t stop smiling. Ever since he’d started growing sugarcane, Zhang Bo had been racking his brain for ways to make money from it.
Besides making brown sugar, this sugarcane wine was his latest experiment.
As long as he could get it featured at the wildly popular Grand Fortune Restaurant, he was sure it would sell.
He was confident that under the current circumstances, his sugarcane wine would be a huge hit!
Best of all, it was fast to make!
It was ready to drink in just three days!
Its optimal drinking window was between five and seven days.
Brewed to order, sold on the spot.
A short cycle and a quick return on investment—it was perfect for him.
Zhang Bo thanked Liu San profusely. "Thank you so much, Liu San. I’ve already set some aside for the Chairman and Lord Jia. Please, you keep this opened jar."
Liu San shook his head repeatedly. "I can’t accept this. How much is it? Just sell it to me."
Zhang Bo was about to speak when a clamor from the main entrance of the Grand Fortune Restaurant drowned out his voice.
"BANG!"
"Help!"
"Run! Raiders are here!"
"Hahahaha! To think there’s a restaurant here! Looks like they’re loaded!"
...
...