Alien world

Chapter 1856, Page 489: Monster
The far north has been hit by blizzards twice a month, each lasting two weeks.

The slanting wind and snow howled, turning the world into a gray sketch.

The jagged rocks are outlined in shapes, like a gargoyle outside a ratman camp.

Its sharp claws tore through the rocks, making it stand like a statue among the stones, while its smooth, black gem-like eyes looked down at the large house in the center of the camp.

The demons never let their guard down against the ratmen.

Allies? To demons, the only difference between enemies and allies is that one is an enemy. The other is not an enemy for the time being.

The Sixth Legion under the Succubus Queen was somewhat more disciplined, but still wild and untamed. They couldn't even stop killing each other, so how could they possibly respect their allies?
Outside the ratman camp lay countless gargoyle statues covered in snow, but inside the large house, a ritual unnoticed by the demons was underway.

The hall was filled with flickering fluorescent green light. The high priest stood in front of the statue of the Great Horned Rat, his leaping shadow almost filling the statue behind him.

The gray-haired rats knelt in the hall, their cold, obscure rat-human language filled with prayers:

Whose body is covered with hair?

Whose sharp corners are growing upwards?
When rivers turn green, the sun grows cold, when mountains wither, and the earth is scarred.
When life is sacrificed, when stars fall to earth.

When lakes become evil energy, when oceans turn into whirlpools.
The great horned rat will awaken.

The great horned rat will awaken.

The great horned rat will awaken!

……

Gulu...Gulu...

The black mole struggled painfully on the experimental table, its body emitting a series of gurgling sounds like water being licked.

"It hurts...it hurts so much...I don't want it anymore, please..."

The childish screams echoed in the alchemy room. Cathy clenched her fists, her face full of reluctance.

"Aunt Lilith, can you ease Jerry's pain?"

“It’s already reducing its pain,” Lilith said, continuing to cast healing spells. “Otherwise, it would have fainted from the pain.”

Cathy's eyes lit up: "Can we make Jerry pass out?"

"Yes, but the evolutionary process is irreversible. Without consciousness, Jerry cannot control the direction of evolution and will transform according to his physical instincts."

In the past, the transformation of deformed rats among the rat people followed this path, and the resulting rat kings were all kinds of strange and wonderful.

Annan and Jerry themselves both wanted to choose how to evolve, so they could only remain conscious.

"What do you mean?" But Cathy didn't understand.

Ivana, who was assisting, said, "I think this is how the Tower Spirit said, 'If you're not lucid, you'll become a monster.'"

"Oh~"

Cathy suddenly realized, and seeing him constantly crying out in pain and refusing to give up despite his gritted teeth, she encouraged him in her own way: "Hang in there, Jerry! If you keep going, I'll make you a Grand Marshal!"

"I'll even have Annan's dad film an episode of Tom and Jerry for you!"

Despite Cathy's cries, Jerry continued to beg for mercy, but he no longer mentioned giving up.

……

War, in essence, is a contest of strength between two sides, or more superficially, wealth. Free City's foundation is a weakness, so it must compensate for this by leveraging its strengths and compensating for its weaknesses elsewhere.

For example, money.

With money, nothing is a problem. Take the Principality of Keating, for example, which is much weaker than the Kingdom of Dimon, but has persisted for just as long.

Logically, with the signing of the Golden Covenant, Liberty City's future looks promising, and it should attract more capital—but in fact, deposits have actually decreased.

Capital is risk-averse. The Golden Covenant benefits Liberty City, but it also makes the wealthy see the risks, causing them to withdraw. However, some wealthy individuals decided to place their bets, resulting in both increased selling and buying, leading to only a slight overall decline.

However, both sides were worried that it would be unsafe to keep their money in Liberty City.

Ingrid's solution was to have Liberty City fly up and circle around, reinforcing depositors' understanding that "Liberty City is a floating city, and you can escape when necessary."

At this point, Voice of Freedom revealed the trade cooperation between Free City and the Principality of Keating, which helped stabilize the situation.

"The treasury currently holds 75 million gold nars in savings. At an annual interest rate of 5%, it will pay 3.8 million gold nars in interest annually. However, we use this money to expand the commercial street, invest in goods, and purchase minerals, which will generate a profit of 23% to 28%. Even after deducting necessary expenses, the return will not be less than 15%."

"Therefore, for every 1 gold nar deposited by a depositor in the savings bank, it is equivalent to us making a net profit of 10 silver coins."

A 10% profit margin is equivalent to the profits of many shops. The total annual profit even rivals that of Magic Image.

Unlike the magical images that serve as cultural propaganda, the savings bank is only associated with money, and it has great potential.

Therefore, Ingrid delegated most of the Treasury’s affairs to the Deputy Minister and her deputy, focusing all her energy on the Savings Bank, and asked Annan if he had any ideas.

Annan did have some ideas: he planned to issue a special batch of certificates of deposit.

For example, collaborations with Magic Image, collaborations with popular singers, collaborations with Tom and Jerry... followed by the release of autographed, special, and collector's editions... and even silver and gold certificates of deposit that signify status and require a one-time deposit of a certain amount...

"We need to learn how to package it. A piece of parchment is only worth the price of parchment, but how much does a signed piece of parchment cost? How much does a piece of parchment carrying love cost? 648 copper coins, that's just the qualification. If you want to buy it, there's no market for it."

Ingrid made a note of it, intending to issue it at an opportune moment.

Annan reassured her that he had even better ways to make money.

Ingrid's reaction was to take out her notebook. Annan was pleased with her attitude and continued, "When we really need money, we can always use credit as our trump card."

"Credit?"

"That's right. All our transactions now are based on 'exchanging present money for present goods,' so why be fixated on only making money in the present?"
Annan said meaningfully, "Why can't we make money in the future?"

"For example, there is someone we know has a bright future, but he is temporarily short of money. At this time, we step forward and offer to provide some financial assistance to make his path smoother. In return, he only needs to repay within a specified period and pay a small amount of interest; he does not need to bear any risk."

Ingrid was undoubtedly a genius—she was a year younger than Olmedo, but she was Olmedo's second-in-command in Breeze City, and after arriving in Free City, she single-handedly took charge of the Treasury.

But ultimately, they are limited by their perspective, or rather, they do not yet have a clear understanding of what capital is.

Besides making merchants sell the noose that strangled them, it also makes people willingly become its slaves.

This thing is the source of chaos... In some ways, what Annam and the bards said wasn't without merit.

Ingrid stopped writing and suddenly uttered a single word: "Monster."

"what?"

"You have created an unstoppable monster."

(End of this chapter)