Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland.

Chapter 646: A Profitable Investment

"...What number?" Shi Cha couldn't believe what he heard. "Two hundred and fifty thousand cats per head?"

"Not just one set," Cone replied, "at least twenty-one sets."

After accepting the hospitality of the boss Tang Darui, Shi Cha was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he tried to contact the herdsmen who originally lived here.

Then he offered to buy their beasts of burden.

Unexpectedly, the price offered by the other team leader was quite unreasonable.

"Do you know the market situation?" Shi Cha suppressed his displeasure and said, "Even in Heft, a camel of this age and physique would not cost more than 200,000 Cat coins, and that's only if there is an urgent need for buyers and the Chamber of Commerce has its own power."

In addition, many factors such as price, distance, freight, and feeding costs must also be considered.

Although Shan is a major livestock province, the quality of the pack animals it breeds is also excellent and has a good reputation in other parts of the continent... However, the output is much higher, there is sufficient competition for supply among the tribes, and the animals are sold nearby.

The price of a high-quality beast of burden may not necessarily be much higher than in other places.

If it were in a remote mountainous area or an abandoned ruin like Ai Mine Town, let alone keeping the pack animals intact, even if they were slaughtered and sold for meat pound by pound, the total price would be much higher.

But you ask for hundreds of thousands of coins as soon as you open your mouth.

And they are sold in groups.

Isn't this just raising the price?

Cone smiled. As a member of the Traveler Clan, he had just completed a deal for pack animals not long ago, so he was certainly familiar with the market conditions.

just.

The instructions I received were not to sell the beasts of burden at will.

He easily figured out the other party's psychological price, and by raising it by 20% or 30%, it was enough to repel the other party.

However, Cone did not expect at first that the noble leader of the Chamber of Commerce came to them just to discuss business and negotiate the sale of pack animals.

"Have you ever thought that with the price you mentioned, all these pack animals can be sold even in the lagoon, and they will have to travel for at least three days." Shi Cha was still unwilling to give up. "But if they are sold directly here, we don't have to bother looking for buyers, and it saves a lot of time..."

Cycles and cash flow are king.

"Boss Shi has thought well for us." Cone said slowly, "But can you tell me - why are you so anxious to get these pack animals?"

Hearing this, Shi Cha's heart skipped a beat: "Why should I be in a hurry? I'm doing long-distance business. The larger the caravan, the more pack animals it will need. And I just happened to have the opportunity..."

"Haha, Boss Shi, that's a little dishonest." Cone's mouth curled up. "I'm afraid you're worried that it won't be long before the trade routes between the north and the south are cut off, bandits and wars are rampant... By then, whoever has more transportation capacity in the caravan will be able to escape danger faster and occupy a larger market share."

Even if Shi Cha himself no longer presided over the caravan trade personally, he would stockpile and raise the purchased pack animals, and when the demand for pack animals increased sharply in the future, the price would naturally rise as well.

It will be sold when the time comes.

You can also make a lot of money.

As the saying goes, a duck knows first when the river water warms in spring. Based on his judgment of previous situations, Shi Cha's business sense is indeed sharp.

After hearing this, the anxiety and anger about the price on Shi Cha's face disappeared - this was originally his strategy for bargaining.

Instead.

It's unbelievable on another level.

"I didn't expect you to know this very well." He said, "That's why you chose to come south at this time to do the pack animal business."

Cone did not comment.

But then I heard Shi Cha say, "Who taught you these words?"

"What does Boss Shi mean by this?"

"It can be seen that you have indeed run a pack animal business, and you are indeed a herdsman in Shan... but you have never led a caravan or presided over such a large-scale trade before." Shi Cha looked the trainer up and down, with a hint of sharpness in his eyes. "Maybe ordinary people can't see it, but if you really go on stage, you will be exposed in some small details."

He often goes to business.

What is most needed is the ability to know people.

However, this is just a minor problem. The other party is probably a role like a butler.

Among the chamber of commerce bosses that Shi Cha has met, there are many who do not like to show up in public and only make decisions and plan behind the scenes.

He was just a little curious - he had traveled through both places and had just returned from North United City, so he was able to detect the wind direction in advance and have the opportunity to make use of this information gap. However, when he just stayed in this wild inn, he met someone who had the same knowledge and insights as him.

The tamer in front of him was not the one in charge.

Then there must be an expert behind the scenes giving advice.

Cone did not refute, nor did he reveal any more information, which Shi Cha considered as his tacit agreement.

He turned and left.

"Boss Shi, are you no longer insisting? If your guess comes true, even at our current price, you will still make a profit, right?"

"That's not much."

Shi Cha didn't even turn his head.

This is a risky investment with great uncertainty. If the situation does not develop as he expected, an expensive beast of burden that he bought carelessly may end up in a waste of money.

The premium for the Kaicoin offered by the other party is too high.

Instead of earning the hard-earned fees from reselling, it is better to find other animal traders.

Shi Cha believed it.

After all, there are only a few people as sharp and decisive as the other party's boss behind the scenes.

Sometimes the people you work with are too smart.

It's not a good thing either.

……

……

into the night.

"Master, the deal was not concluded?"

An old man lifted the curtain and walked in slowly with an oil lamp in his hand.

He was the old warrior from before, but he was not a mercenary recruited by Shi Cha in North United City. Instead, he was an existence loyal to the Shi family from the very beginning and was a hooded guard of the previous generation.

He is also the only one left.

In terms of blood relationship, he is Shi Cha's uncle.

"Yeah." Shi Cha nodded, "This time I don't really want them to go the same way as me."

If the other party's destination is also Kaiton City, doesn't it mean that once they get there, they will be in direct competition with us?
Now that the agreed time has arrived, the herdsmen have already set out from the Skeleton Station and are heading towards the depression lagoon.

However, Shi Cha’s caravan did not move in immediately. Firstly, the drifters needed to tidy up the barracks, and secondly, they had to leave some buffer space for the herdsmen and merchants.

This can be regarded as the tacit understanding and rules between different teams when they meet and coexist in the wasteland.

"In that case..." After hearing Shi Cha's words, the old warrior suddenly stretched out his other hand and slashed down, "Why... not?"

When he did this, his body was extremely steady, not at all like an old man of his age. The oil lamp in his other hand did not tremble at all, and even the flame was pointing straight up.

The light reflected in Shi Cha's eyes: "This is the territory of the technology hunters."

"Master, you have spent so much money to hire so many wandering warriors, and they haven't tried their hand yet." The old man lowered his eyes, "And those people are now halfway. If they act fast enough, even the Tech Hunters won't be able to react."

"Besides, even if the depression lagoon is aware of it."

The old man made a circle and gestured.

Round coins.

"…You know, there is a way to solve it."

"let me think again."

"Master, what else is there to think about? Others may not know, but we have known their history since the day we joined the guild - buying is not as good as selling, selling is not as good as robbing. Without a profitable business, how can we make a fortune?"

"If you really want to revive the Shi family, the current wealth is far from enough. Once you return to Kaidun City, not to mention purchasing property, even managing the family will cost a lot of money."

After hearing these words, Shi Cha fell completely silent. Of course he knew all these things.

Seeing his expression, the old man took the opportunity to chase him: "If we don't make a decision now, it will be difficult to catch up with them when they go far away, and the probability of being discovered by the technological hunters will also be getting higher and higher, and it will be even more difficult to hide..."

"That's enough." Shi Cha waved his hand, "Uncle, you don't need to persuade me."

"This matter ends here."

"you……"

"I have never experienced the so-called glory of the Shi family like you, and I don't know what a true aristocratic family is. In my memory, the Shi family is that old house. Except for the entrance hall for receiving guests, the other rooms are so dilapidated that there is no one and no time to repair them... Even the guest rooms are more luxurious and spacious than the master bedroom, because my parents have to entertain those 'big shots' from above, and they can't lose the face of the sword-bearing nobles in front of them."

Shi Cha recalled his childhood filled with cobwebs and flying ashes, with the sun leaking through the broken tiles, casting beams of light.

"But in fact, everyone knows the real situation in our family. Those guests will be a little restrained in front of you, but they are unbridled in front of the children - they just forget that children of seven or eight years old are already fully capable of understanding what they say and remembering things."

Or maybe, they know.

Just don't care at all.

Because any discerning person can see that the Shi family can no longer survive to the next generation.

The final situation of a ruined noble family will not be much better than that of ordinary civilians - because the latter no longer have much money to make, but the former at least have the inheritance of their ancestors, which is like a rotten corpse waiting to be divided.

Hearing Shi Cha's words, the old man's body trembled slightly, but it was because of anger.

Undoubtedly, as a former hooded guard, he felt extremely ashamed to see his master's family fall into the current state.

It's hard to blame.

"Uncle, I don't mean to blame you." Shi Cha looked at him, his tone no longer addressing a subject, but addressing him as a junior to an elder as he did in the past, "I am very grateful that you did not choose my brother. I am not as adventurous as he is. Without your help and protection, I would not have been able to make it to North United City alive, and I would not be where I am today."

"It's just that you're still a little too eager..."

Having said this, Shi Cha stopped talking, as if he realized that he had said something wrong.

But his implication was also very clear.

Unlike him, the young head of the family, this uncle is old and has experienced the process of Shi family's rise and fall. The gap is huge.

Even more unforgettable.

And more importantly, after returning from this trip, Shi Cha was confident that he could slowly run the business in Kaidun City and gradually revive the family's industry and status...but considering the life span of his uncle Shi En, he probably wouldn't be able to wait that long.

Shi Cha didn't know Shi En's exact age. Ever since he could remember, he had always looked very old. As a hooded guard, he might have been supporting this family since his grandfather's generation.

But no matter how strong he was originally, he couldn't be as strong as their general Tian Xinlizheng who was guarding Kaidun City. His body functions would eventually expire.

If we don’t see the revival of the Shi family.

It will be an eternal regret for him.

"But I don't want to take the risk." Shi Cha suppressed a sigh in his heart and said, "If there is anything I learned from the president... it is that when you reach a certain level, stable growth is more important than huge profits. Otherwise, the Merchant Guild would not want to whitewash and cover up its early experiences."

Any illegal activities will eventually come to ashore.

The real way to make money is always within the rules - because they can make the rules.

You see someone making a fortune.

But they didn't realize that apart from the one who succeeded, there were more people who had fallen into the abyss.

Shi Cha couldn't help but think of his younger brother Shi Yuan, who failed in his fight for inheritance rights and somehow hooked up with a slave trader from the Southern Hunter Gang.

It is said that he is going to the Kingdom of Shak to enjoy the benefits of the new policy.

But in reality, most of them were engaged in the slave trade.

This is certainly a very profitable business, and it is also legal in South United City, but in the Shak Kingdom... Shi Cha knows his brother's character. If he has really become rich and successful, there is no way he will not return home to show off.

It is even possible that he will decide to fight for the position of head of the family again.

Now, there is no news.

Shi Cha was not interested in knowing what the other party's final outcome was. He just signaled the old man to withdraw and called the other hired warriors: "Get ready, go to the post station to have a good rest for a night, and then discuss the next plan..."

Unexpectedly, after hearing his voice, the usually respectful old warrior Shi En did not move.

The lights flickered and the figures moved.

"Huh?" Seeing him still standing in front of him, Shi Cha raised his head in confusion. At this moment, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

According to his instructions, several warriors would guard his tent.

Shi Cha did not deliberately conceal the voice of his last words. With their strength, they could definitely hear the order. Even without his uncle conveying it, they should have come over and waited by now.

"...Where are they?"

The former hooded guard, now an old warrior, raised his head and met Shi Cha's gaze. In his cloudy pupils, there was a light flickering, not knowing whether it was from a lamp or something else, which made him feel cold in his heart.

Then heard:

"I'm sorry... 'Master'."

"They have already started."

(End of this chapter)