Survival Game: Call Me an Honest Businessman

Li Zhi: [Fushan is on Yuling Avenue.]

She sent a message to Ying telepathically while politely smiling at Fushan.

Fu Shan didn't come over, and Li Zhi didn't plan to go over either.

Shadow replied quickly: [Which direction? My sprite can't see.]

Li Zhi: [This needs 10 more messages.]

Shadow: [Add Add Add]

Li Zhi adjusted the hood of his cloak, his finger casually pointing in a certain direction.

Shadow: [It seems he's gone.]

Li Zhi: [It seems like everyone else can't see her, only I can.]

Shadow: [My Whispering Spirit can usually see through illusions, but she's S-rank now, so if she deliberately doesn't let anyone notice, she really can't. However, she's very likely here at the trade fair specifically for you.]

Li Zhi: [I think so too.]

While chatting with Ying, she also kept talking, discussing with Duan who among the merchants of Yuling Avenue was most suitable to become a shareholder of the exchange.

Li Zhi discovered that although manipulating clones was extremely mentally taxing, it wasn't without its benefits.

At least now she feels that when she multitasks, her mind is clearer than before, as if two systems are running simultaneously without interfering with each other.

Duan: "If we can really get the dragons to become one of our shareholders, our exchange will definitely attract more merchants and races, and it will also make everyone trust us more. However, the dragons rarely cooperate with others. They always go it alone, and even when they are in groups, they will only be with the dragons of their own clan."

Li Zhi: "I think I might have a way."

Forging: "What method?"

Li Zhi: "We need to keep this a secret right now. Our most important task is to find a way to persuade Mingchun to agree to let us establish the exchange in Shengying City... To be honest, I think Mingchun has a pretty good opinion of me, but she seems to have a lot of opinions about Celia. I don't know why."

Duan: "I know!"

"If I had to pick the most hated member of the Forging Clan, it would definitely be Celia. And it's not just me; many races hate her. Why do you think she became a Level 11 merchant? It's because she's always conning people. Back then, Akiko and Kage had just come of age and were tricked by Celia!"

Duan became quite animated when talking about this: "Back then, she said something about forming an adventure team, leading a group of young people from higher races to search for the treasure left behind by the Apocalypse Clan. Just think about it, the treasure of the Apocalypse Clan, who wouldn't want to find it?"

"Celia swore that she was certain the treasure was hidden somewhere, but that she needed to collect one of the four maps to create a key, and that one of the keys was with the Forging Clan, which she had stolen."

"Everyone was young, and the key did indeed have the spiritual fluctuations of the Apocalypse Clan, so everyone believed it. However, traveling across the four continents requires a visa, and not everyone can get a visa. Celia was only level 4 at the time. If she wanted to travel in the city, she would have to reach level 8. But as you know, a profession requires experience and accumulation, and you also have to do professional quests."

Li Zhi nodded repeatedly, his expression focused and serious.

Even Wu Yin and the three mechanical race members listened attentively, all with expressions of waiting for Duan to continue speaking.

This gave Duan a great sense of accomplishment. She coughed twice, took out a small ball, and the ball turned into a table and chairs when it landed. Li Zhi immediately took out drinks, snacks and fruits from his inventory.

She sat down naturally, and Duan immediately sat down as well: "But those young people are all the best of the higher races, including Mingchun and Ying. They awakened their professions and talents at a very young age, so they are all doing their best to help Celia level up as quickly as possible."

"This includes asking people from other groups for help, threatening them to help her generate revenue, spending their own money to buy things from her stores, hiring shills to buy different things from different stores, and helping her drum up business everywhere, etc..."

Duan's tone was full of envy: "Anyway, Celia reached level 8 within two years, making her the fastest professional merchant to reach level 8 in a thousand years, even three years faster than her teacher Lilia!"

Li Zhi was speechless with astonishment.

She really didn't expect that.

Celia just seems to be a little greedy, a little shrewd, a little cold-blooded, a little domineering, a little racist, a little opportunistic, a little pretentious, a little class-discriminating, a little relentless in achieving her goals, a little gossipy, a little bullying, a little racially worshipful, and a little scheming...

But overall, she's still a rather prim and proper old lady.

Who knew she was so bold and agile when she was young!

—A story that made all the rich second-generation kids in the entire Tianqi Continent wish me the pinnacle of my career?

Li Zhi didn't even dare to dream of such a thing!

Forging: "Celia can travel to all four regions once she reaches level 8, which means she can take the young people who helped her to search for treasure. So, under the guise of finding key fragments, she led this group of young people to travel across the four continents, doing quests along the way. Those people also developed feelings for her and naturally helped her. So, when she had traveled to all four continents, she directly raised her level to job level 10."

"At that time, she was the youngest level 10 professional in the entire Tianqi Continent."

"Not just businessmen, but all professions."

"She has become the most watched young generation."

"And then the problem arises: we've traversed the entire Apocalypse Continent, and we should have collected all the keys, but where is the treasure?"

"Yeah, where's the treasure?"

A childish voice came from the side, and Li Zhi turned his head to look.

A tiny creature with a three-body head and two chubby, short arms, holding a milk bottle in one hand and a strawberry in the other, its hands and face covered in juice from eating.

"This fruit is delicious, I like it, are there any more?"

Noticing Li Zhi's gaze, the child turned his head.

Li Zhi removed the two small bags from her head, silently took out strawberries and yellow peaches he had prepared for Celia, and turned to look at Duan again.

The child also turned his head.

Duan didn't even notice that someone else had come.

She took a sip of water and continued, "While everyone's attention was focused on this issue, Celia disappeared. When she reappeared, three months later, she said that the treasure was in the time projection of the edge layer, and no one could obtain it unless they gained the approval of the Apocalypse Clan."

Machine Race: "But after the Starborn left the Apocalypse Continent, the Edge Layer was sealed off. How can she be sure the treasure is in the Edge Layer?"

Forging: "So no one believed what Celia said. Her friends from back then gradually parted ways with her, and some even became enemies. Mingchun and Ying of Holy Shadow City also became estranged from her because of this incident. Since then, Celia has been stationed at the aerial fortress and Black Iron Port on the Emerald Mountains for many years."