The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

Leila scooped up a handful of cool river water, splashed it out, and drank it. "So this is what real water is like!"

I feel like I can never drink that kind of water that's been filtered thousands of times again.

After playing around for a while, the grandfather and grandson continued their tireless journey forward.

When they got tired, they would lie down on the lawn and look up to see large, fluffy clouds drifting slowly across the blue sky.

Occasionally, a few spaceships can be seen streaking across the sky.

"How big is this place? It feels like we could never walk through it all." Lyra rubbed her aching feet and said the same thing countless times.

“It feels like a real planet, it has a curve!” Hollis commented.

However, seeing some spaceships that had flown to a certain altitude but were unable to leave, he felt somewhat uncertain.

But no matter what, looking at every flower and blade of grass here, he felt endless emotions.

"It would be nice to be buried here after I die."

"Grandpa, what are you talking about dying for? You're probably living longer than me!"

Leila couldn't stand the old man's discouraging words. After glancing at her bank balance, she suddenly stood up and said confidently, "Grandpa, why don't we just stay here!"

"what?

"That won't do; if we get caught, we'll definitely be deported."

"Hmph, who said we should sneak around? I'm going to buy a piece of land here!"

“Buy? Is that even possible?” Hollis frowned.

“It will definitely work!” Leila patted her chest and smiled confidently. “You didn’t see how sinister Li Ying’s smile was back then.”

"The Cybertronian civilization created a landscape of mountains and rivers, clearly using it as a pretext for real estate development!"

"You'll see then, they're definitely going to sell land, otherwise they wouldn't be so ambitious as to call themselves the Central District of the City of a Thousand Stars!"

Chapter 214 Buying and Selling

"What?! You're selling 100 square meters for 100 million?!" The harsh roar made the alloy windows of the exchange vibrate.

The burly, green-skinned miner slammed his large, fan-shaped hand down on the reception table, causing the interstellar mug on the corner of the table to bounce up half an inch with a "clatter," spilling brown energy drinks all over the table.

"Damn it! Why don't you just rob it!"

He had saved up less than 300 million yuan in his life, and was thinking of buying a small plot of land of 100 square meters to build a holiday home when he heard the price. He almost fainted when he heard the price.

Li Ying slowly brushed her fingertips along the edge of the table, showing no sign of anger, and her face still held that gentle smile.

After the other party finished shouting, he slowly said, "Boss, you've been looking around here for most of the day."

It should be clear that this 100 square meters is genuine, untouched land.

Basking in the real sun, stepping on fresh earth, even the scent of grass and trees in the wind is real—can you find another place like this in the City of a Thousand Stars?

He picked up the remaining half-full glass of drink, took a sip, and shrugged, saying, "This is the price set by Cybertron; there's nothing I can do about it."

"Don't be fooled by its size; it's a rare find even in the city."

Of course, if you, as the boss, are having cash flow problems, you can actually choose a more cost-effective method: renting annually is much more economical than buying the property.

We also accept items as collateral here, such as some of the technologies and techniques of your civilization.

Or you can take out a loan to buy it, boss; we guarantee you a great price.

As she finished speaking, Li Ying's eyes crinkled slightly, and her previous gentle politeness vanished instantly, replaced by the calculating look of a shrewd merchant waiting to snag a treasure; her cunning was written all over her face.

Upon hearing this, the crowd waiting outside the reception room erupted in a frenzy, the buzzing of their discussions nearly lifting the roof off.

Many small vendors who came hoping to find a bargain immediately got angry.

A three-eyed homeless vendor swung his sleeves and walked out the door, spitting as he went: "Damn, what a lousy land price!"

I bought a street-front shop with a helipad in another district for less than two million!

"Isn't this just a patch of grassy land? One hundred square meters for one hundred million?"

"Even robbery isn't this ruthless! The Cybertronians are treating us like lambs to the slaughter!"

"Damn it, whoever wants to buy it can buy it, I'm not playing along!"

Immediately, others chimed in, and a group of small business owners who had come hoping to get lucky poured out, cursing and saying, "This price is not for ordinary people like us." In no time, more than half of them had left.

However, while many people left, there were also those who had saved up their entire lives and wanted to settle down.

A young captain who had been running interstellar transport for forty years clutched a card containing eighty million star coins—his life savings—his face turning red.

"Sigh, eighty square meters is enough for a family. We can always do more long-distance driving in the future..."

After making up his mind, he said, pulling his backpack and squeezing through.

Seeing Li Ying's cunning and shrewish demeanor made him grit his teeth in hatred, but he couldn't move his feet.

Of course, besides those who buy land to settle down, there's no shortage of shrewd and wealthy tycoons who have already calculated this carefully.

The City of a Thousand Stars has three billion people, excluding those who are strange or odd and who do not submit to the land.

That's a market with over a billion people.

Moreover, most of these people were born in Xingcheng and have lived on metal surfaces since birth, never even stepping on real soil.

Putting aside other businesses, just for this breath of fresh, natural air, you can make money doing anything.

"Hey hey hey..."

Wilson, a director of a certain biotechnology group, slapped out his black gold card, immediately deducted 10 billion star coins, and signed the document directly, pointing to the riverbank.

The people around him gasped in surprise, but he didn't bother to explain.

Haha, with such good land, he could easily build his own city.

The profits will be far more than just tens of billions...

On the other hand, the big boss of the Shi clan, who cultivates rare medicinal herbs, directly decided to lease several mountain valleys.

While the drugs produced by artificial capsules are highly effective, they are also quite expensive.

Hehe, and even if the medicinal herbs grown on the land have the same effects, the price they sell for can be hundreds or thousands of times higher.

Many shrewd people who saw this business opportunity were pondering what they could sell on a piece of land where the sun and moon circulate.

What kind of gimmick can bring more benefits?

Driven by profit, small business owners with limited capital recognized the value of the central region and chose to cooperate, pooling their money to rent several areas to do business.

Hehehe, once the infrastructure is built, they can make a steady income from the continuous flow of customers.

Three small vendors who had been squatting by the roadside watching wild rabbits for a long time were now getting together to do their accounts.

Quill, who sells fresh fruit, was calculating rent on his personal terminal: "I just counted, and nearly 100,000 people have walked in this morning alone."

"Renting this grove of trees by the river and turning it into an open-air picnic spot is definitely better than me setting up a street stall in another district."

"Yes, and the price should be doubled, otherwise it would be a waste of such a good environment."

The three of them laughed and joked as they paid the money together. Of course, after signing the contract, they immediately ran back to the west to pack up their business.

Damn it, why would they even bother staying in that dilapidated and crowded food street?!

There are many people, but they can't make much money!

Sometimes you even encounter a group of unruly thugs who start a brawl in the street. No wonder you can't do business!

It's different here, although the Cybertronians are a bit strict about the rules in the center.

However, the areas designated for sale were meticulously planned in advance, without any carelessness.

They weren't blindly selling land; they had already clearly demarcated the entire central region like a well-established city-state.

If you want to open a shop and do business, go to a pre-designated core business district;

If you want to set up an open-air dining area or a specialty market, just go to the reserved food street or themed area;

If you want to buy land, build a house, settle down, and retire, go to a quiet residential area that is isolated from the hustle and bustle.

For medicinal herb cultivation and specialized breeding, large, open cultivation areas far from residential areas have been reserved, clearly defining their functions.

Not only are their functions clearly defined, but they have also taken into account the differences in habits among different races, and have deliberately grouped races with similar survival needs into the same area.

Ordinary carbon-based species, which require oxygen-rich and normal temperatures, cluster in the flat plains of the central region. Silicon-based and stone-based species, which require high-gravity hard rock surfaces, are relegated to the bedrock zone of the western mountains. Plant species, which prefer high-humidity and dense forest environments, take over the rainforests of the eastern river valleys. Underground species, which are afraid of light and prefer darkness, leave behind the continuous shady areas on the northern slopes...

Even the energy-based races that rely on radiation for energy have designated a shallow radiation valley in the far south, and energy isolation membranes have been set up in advance to protect the boundaries of the region.

This division not only eliminates the trouble of fighting over territory, but also prevents conflicts arising from differences in racial customs.

As for the construction... hehe, naturally we'll keep the profits within the family, and the construction team will be from within the multi-party consortium!

Otherwise, if we let the aliens build one here and one there, the style will be inconsistent, and it will be a disaster for the city and a hodgepodge!

Standing beside the giant holographic planning map, Li Ying looked at the areas marked in red and the rented land that had turned yellow...

His face immediately broke into that signature shrewd businessman's smile, "You get what you pay for!"

"If you want land in the city center, the price will naturally fluctuate..."

Just as they were seeing off a group of people, who were grumbling and cursing, an alien hiding his head and tail, wrapped in a gray robe, walked in.

His hood was pulled down so low that not even half of his face was visible, and he was tightly hiding a locked metal box in his arms.

When he reached the office, he raised his hand, which was wrapped in sleeves, and his voice was so low and hoarse that only Li Ying, who was very close, could hear him clearly: "I have a question... do you really accept technology as payment for land here?"

I have a 'Low-Energy Planetary Protective Shield Generation Technology' here. How large a piece of land could it cover?

Li Ying raised an eyebrow, tapping her fingertips on the table as she slowly asked, "What's the special use of this technology?"

The gray-robed man shrank further into the shadows and leaned closer to explain in a low voice: "The planetary shields currently used by the Alliance consume the same amount of energy in one day as a warp ship makes three interstellar journeys. This technology has modified the core algorithm, reducing energy consumption to 30% of the original, and it is also directly compatible with existing equipment without needing to replace the core hardware."

Upon hearing this, Li Ying's eyes lit up immediately. Their real purpose in selling the soil was to find a bargain.

Surprisingly, someone actually put it up for trade!

In an instant, his previously nonchalant, shrewd businessman's smile transformed into one of enthusiasm, and he quickly moved around the desk.

"Haha, this... alien brother, I'll have someone take you to the backyard right now."

We have a dedicated technical testing lab there; our technicians will assess the value of the technology you bring.