Survival Game: Call Me an Honest Businessman

Shadow: [Guess who bought your information?]

Li Zhi was reading the chat in Dongqi, pondering whether he really should write another book, when he saw a message from Ying.

Li Zhi: [I was just having a money-making idea when your message interrupted me. Give me 1 gold.]

Shadow: [Have you gone mad for the top spot on the racial wealth ranking?]

Li Zhi: [You don't understand. I always feel it's not stable enough. Every little bit helps.]

Shadow: [Are you just targeting me to make money?]

Li Zhi: [I've also contacted Celia, and the Beast Alliance. Speaking of which, the Beast Alliance still owes me money. The IOU is considered an asset in the Apocalypse Continent, right?]

Shadow: [Count.]

Li Zhi's eyebrows twitched slightly. He sent an invitation to Yin Su without leaving a message.

Hopefully, the Wolf King will see this and be sensible enough to send her the extra interest.

Shadow: [Do you want to know who bought your information?]

Li Zhi: [I don't want to know. Too many people are buying my information. Do I have to get to know them all?]

Shadow: [Yi.]

Li Zhi was indeed surprised for a moment when he saw those two words.

Shadow: [Her personal guards came in person, not only buying the video of you and Celia arguing, but also buying the official wealth ranking of your new race.]

Li Zhi frowned slightly, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

Li Zhi: [Did she ask you about the second and third place scores?]

Shadow: [She bought detailed information on the top five predicted picks.]

Li Zhi's heart sank slightly.

She almost forgot that the biggest challenge for her to maintain her position at the top of the racial wealth list was not how much wealth she had, but how much wealth those who didn't want her to be number one were willing to contribute.

Given Yi's ruthless nature in achieving his goals, he was willing to use any means necessary.

They might actually spend millions of dollars just to knock her off the top of the wealth list.

Li Zhi: [Do you know how much wealth Yi possessed?]

Ying: [Yi's total assets exceed 100 million gold, but the assets she can freely take out are probably around 20 million gold coins.]

Li Zhi: [Do you think there's any possibility that she would casually give the second-place winner several million gold coins just to get revenge on me?]

Although she felt her speculation was outrageous, she also thought that it wasn't impossible for Yi to really go crazy.

Shadow: [Based on my understanding of her, it's highly likely.]

Li Zhi closed his eyes.

If the rankings really did change because of Yi's intervention, then no matter how much she schemed, it wouldn't be as easy as the Celestial Dragons casually dismissing her.

Shadow: [However, Yi is an 8th-level merchant after all. Given her personality, she would never give money to a lower race, much less engage in a losing business. So even if she were to give money, there would definitely be conditions attached.]

Li Zhi: [But few people could refuse such a sum of money and the top spot on the racial wealth list.]

To be fair, if Li Zhi were to place her second or third, he wasn't sure if he could refuse Yi's request.

Even if Yi's conditions are outrageous, in the asset system of the Tianqi Continent, in order to truly include property in a person's total assets, that money must not include "liabilities," "repayments," "debts," etc.

In other words, the money given is a gift, and it is something you actually receive in your hands.

However, if Yi really gave someone millions of gold coins just to vent his anger, Li Zhi would be powerless to reverse the situation in the day and a half before the rankings were revealed.

Shadow: [At least you're number one on the lord rankings.]

Li Zhi did not reply.

Many ideas for breaking the deadlock flashed through her mind, but she rejected them all one by one.

After using Apocalypse Dust to set up her scheme for so long, she only earned two million gold coins.

If there really were a way to easily earn tens of millions of gold coins, she would have done it long ago.

How can we stop Yi from giving money to others?

This is simply not possible.

Even if Li Zhi could get Yu Linghuang to intervene, or even bring Chong out, Yi's money is still her own money. She can transfer it with a flick of her finger. Would Yu Linghuang really do anything to her?

Li Zhi took a deep breath and felt a dull ache in his temples.

Her goal has always been the wealth ranking. Although she later considered giving up the wealth ranking in order to get the rewards of the lord ranking, she would not have thought of the way to find the seniors of the Starry Sky Corridor to join the Never Forget the Danger if it weren't for her ambition to win the championship on both rankings.

I originally thought that by increasing the potential of my territory without spending a single penny, I could still maintain my position at the top of the wealth list.

As a result, Yi only needed to make a slight move to render all her efforts over such a long period of time futile.

But on what grounds?

Just because Yi is the sister of the Feather Spirit Emperor?

Just because she was born an A-level?

He clearly only got to level 8 because of his older sister...

As the thoughts that popped into his mind became more and more scattered and extended, Li Zhi instantly came to his senses.

Comparing oneself to unchangeable objective facts to comfort oneself and make one's powerlessness seem more reasonable is the most time-consuming and self-destructive form of emotional venting.

This kind of venting is completely useless.

On the contrary, it will reinforce the victim and loser mentality.

Objective facts cannot be changed, but subjective conditions can be addressed by seeking new solutions.

Li Zhi suppressed his anger.

He twirled the gold coin between his fingers, using this distraction to dilute his overly intense emotions.

Only when her breathing became steady did she grasp the gold coin between her fingers.

Li Zhi looked at the surging waterfall.

The sky is reflected on the water, as blue as the ocean. The boundary between the sky and the sea is repeatedly shattered and reassembled by the violent currents. Only a withered leaf floating on the water, after being turned over many times, is like a sailing ship, being propelled forward with determination.

Ocean, ships, storms, shipwrecks...

—The Dutch East India Company.

When the name came to mind, a thought that had long existed but lacked the right conditions quickly sprouted, grew rapidly, and expanded in my heart.

The violent crashing of the water, combined with the deafening pounding of her heart, created a stirring symphony.

A method to increase one's net worth a hundredfold again.

—She really does have one.