Who said this card is outrageous?

"According to the Adventurers' Guild, the newly discovered resource-type rift is tentatively classified as Level 5. However, considering that a large number of dragon-blooded extraordinary creatures have been confirmed to live inside, I suggest treating it as a Level 6 rift."

He paused here, his gaze lingering on Zhao Chengyuan and Xu Fang's faces for a moment each: "As for how to develop this rift and how to distribute the benefits, we need to finalize the plan today, and everyone can speak freely."

Zhao Chengyuan put down his teacup, making a soft clinking sound: "Then let me say a few words first."

"Although the rift was initially discovered by a few students, they didn't take it seriously. It was only after the Adventurers' Guild's patrol team noticed the anomaly, recorded the coordinates and the stability of the entrance, and entered the rift to make a preliminary record of the distribution of creatures that it was finally confirmed to be a resource-type rift."

Zhao Chengyuan said a lot, but his meaning was very clear: he wanted to prove just how important the role their Adventurers' Guild played in this matter was.

Xu Fang raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, but did not respond.

Zhao Chengyuan then continued, "I'm not saying anyone has to take the lion's share, but the manpower and resources that the Adventurers' Guild invested in the preliminary exploration must not be wasted."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds, then someone spoke.

The speaker was a representative of the city guard: "After receiving the news, the city guard immediately set up a cordon around the entrance to the rift and also sent people to help maintain order."

The meaning is quite clear: if they hadn't been holding things together, the news would have spread long ago.

Moreover, according to the rules, the city guards would naturally receive a share of the benefits for any cracks discovered within the territory of Qi'an City.

Unlike the other two groups who could leave at any time, the city guards were mostly locals and had to steadfastly protect this place.

Xu Fang adjusted her glasses: "The rift was initially discovered because of the exploration course of the University Alliance. Although we didn't investigate it in depth at the time, we made the coordinates and initial records of the rift, which were later used as a reference by the Adventurers' Guild, leading to further in-depth exploration. Therefore, our position is that the University Alliance should enjoy at least one-third of the development share."

Her voice wasn't loud, but she emphasized the word "at least".

Zhao Chengyuan tapped his fingers twice on the table: "One-third of the share? We deployed a full seven exploration teams to explore the rift in the early stages. It took three days just to confirm the energy stability inside the rift, not to mention other subsequent operations!"

"How should these be calculated?"

Zhao Chengyuan stopped laughing, slammed his hand on the table, and the atmosphere of the meeting began to heat up.

Several members of the entourage from different factions in the back row began to whisper among themselves. Zhou Hengyue sat in the main seat without making a sound, simply listening to the back-and-forth exchange of opinions between the two sides.

Occasionally, representatives of the city guards would chime in, but they would only add some minor conditions and would not directly participate in the competition for core shares, appearing quite detached and unconcerned.

The debate lasted for about forty minutes, with everyone proposing various solutions, but they all inevitably considered the interests of their own camp, which prevented them from reaching a consensus.

Finally, Zhou Hengyue tapped on the table, drawing everyone's attention back.

“If we keep arguing like this, we won’t be able to finish in a month.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a weight that calmed people down in this setting. “I’d like to propose a compromise; you might want to listen.”

Silence fell on both sides of the conference table.

At the provincial capital level, the degree of federal control is relatively high, so the city lord, or rather, the city lord's say-so, inevitably becomes more powerful.

In addition, Zhou Hengyue has been quite fair in his work over the years, so people generally trust him.

“If a resource-based fissure is well maintained, it can be continuously developed for at least a hundred years. It cannot be depleted by one or two explorations, so there is no need to set the share for the first round too rigidly.”

Zhou Hengyue pushed the documents in front of him aside, placed a new sheet of paper on the table, and drew a few lines on it with a pen.

"Fifteen exploration teams will be set up, three each from the city guard, the adventurers' guild, and the university alliance, with the remaining six going to the cities under Qi'an City."

Qi'an City certainly has more than six cities under its jurisdiction, so Zhou Hengyue's idea for allocating the quotas is that those with sufficient strength can come alone, while those without sufficient strength should come in teams.

There are only six spots available, so let them negotiate among themselves.

“Each team shall have no more than six people, and two of them must be at the fourth rank to lead the team. The remaining four shall be lower-rank extraordinary beings,” Zhou Hengyue continued. “The exploration period shall be one week. After the exploration ends, the allocation of the next exploration shall be determined based on the total value of the extraordinary materials brought back by each team.”

He paused, glancing at Xu Fang and Zhao Chengyuan: "To be fair, the total share of Qi'an City's three major forces will not exceed ten teams, with the remainder left to the subordinate cities."

Zhao Chengyuan and Xu Fang exchanged a glance, knowing that the other was trying to win people over.

However, continuing this commotion won't do them any good. After all, they can't really stab each other in the back and become enemies.

Moreover, if this attracts people from higher levels, this hard-won resource-based loophole will end up being taken by others for free.

“I have no objection,” Zhao Chengyuan said first, his tone more relaxed than before. “The Adventurers’ Guild can accept this proposal.”

Xu Fang was silent for a few seconds, then closed the notebook in front of her: "A university alliance is also acceptable."

The city guard representatives had even less objection.

Chapter 230 Team Formation

"In that case, let's settle on this for now, but we'll have to see how this operation goes."

Zhou Hengyue didn't make any definitive statements, since the specific details of the rift hadn't been fully investigated yet, and no one could guarantee that there wouldn't be any problems.

Sending people in rashly would be ideal if they returned with a full load, but if something went wrong, the losses would be far beyond what any single power could bear.

To put it bluntly, the reason his proposal was accepted by everyone was not only because the way of distributing benefits was relatively reasonable, with everyone contributing their efforts and ultimately receiving more for more work; it was also because he brought in other cities in the southeastern province to share the risks, and incidentally, he could also gain some fame.

In the end, they'll still get the lion's share.

However, the most important point is that Qi'an City, as the provincial capital, has high-ranking extraordinary beings stationed here year-round. Whether it is the leader of the city guard or the president of the adventurers' guild, they are actually just the nominal heads of the matter.

The higher-ranking superhumans don't usually get involved, but if a major problem arises, they will definitely step in to handle it.

When that time comes, Zhao Chengyuan and the others in charge will definitely not have a good time!

Given the gravity of the matter, Zhou Hengyue and his team directly used ultra-long-distance communication to inform the heads of major cities of the meeting's contents, ordering them to assemble their teams within a month and bring their personnel to the provincial capital.

Faced with such a tremendous opportunity, the small and medium-sized cities in the southeastern province certainly wouldn't refuse; they were all overjoyed.

The strongest enemy is only a fourth-tier resource-type rift, which has never been explored before. A week is enough time to obtain a considerable amount of loot inside.

It might not mean much to the provincial capital, but for these subordinate cities, every piece of mid-level extraordinary resource could mean gaining a new fourth- or even fifth-level extraordinary individual!

This can further enhance the city's overall combat capabilities.

In the extraordinary era, no matter how many methods one has, they are ultimately no match for a true extraordinary individual.

……

At the Binhai City Hall, Zhong Huaiyuan was discussing with two other people who would be sent to the provincial capital.

Although the city was recently embroiled in trouble by the guys from the Eye of Truth, resulting in the loss of several fourth-tier transcendents, the city's overall condition was not significantly affected by the strong foundation and the presence of several purple cards left behind by Zhang Che.

Moreover, the recently discovered resources in the sea have given the city the possibility of further development!

The problem is that development takes time and cannot be achieved overnight. Right now, every mid-level extraordinary combatant in Binhai City is so powerful that they would want to use them in two. Sending any of them to the provincial capital could cause the taut string to snap immediately.

But it's impossible not to send someone over. Putting aside the fact that it's a mandatory requirement from the provincial capital, the fact that there's an undeveloped level 5 resource-type rift alone makes it necessary for them to make this trip.

Even if it delays things in Binhai City!

"If all else fails, let's find another city to team up with. Didn't the higher-ups say that's allowed?" Xue Yan suggested.

"If we team up, the opposing team will at least have a mid-level transcendent, right? Our pressure will be reduced by half immediately."

“I agree!” Luo Tongzheng opened his eyes. “With those treasures in the sea as a safety net, we don’t need to go all out on this exploration. We just need to ensure a certain level of profit.”

Even if we split it 50/50, we won't lose out!

As long as the current model in Binhai City doesn't cause any problems, they should be able to enter a stable development period within two months at most.

By this time next year, Binhai City will have undergone a complete transformation, and it won't be too late to take back what we've lost then.

Zhong Huaiyuan didn't speak, but judging from his expression, he clearly agreed with the other two's suggestion.

As for the candidate cities for cooperation, Xue Yan had already had an idea: "I plan to team up with Hezhou City."

The reason is simple: although Hezhou City was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to rise, it has not yet truly digested it. Its overall strength is still at the bottom in the entire Southeast Province, and it is impossible for it to form a team on its own.

Now that Binhai City, a recognized powerhouse, is willing to extend an olive branch to them, the other party will most likely not refuse.

And then, most importantly, trust!

Normally, if the other party in a collaboration is too strong, the weaker party will inevitably worry about being persecuted by the stronger party or becoming cannon fodder. Therefore, even if they want to form a team, they will prefer cities with similar strength to themselves.

However, Binhai City and Hezhou City are exceptions because they share a special foundation of trust—Zhang Che!

If we bring him into the exploration team, then the people in Hezhou won't have to worry about being bullied or used as cannon fodder.

"The mayor sent word the day before yesterday that Zhang Che has arrived in the provincial capital." Zhong Huaiyuan tapped the table, a hint of joy on his face. "With him here, we can feel a little more at ease."

No one knows what will happen during this exploration of the new fissure; it could be a fruitful return or a complete annihilation.

However, in order to secure a quota for the team next year, Binhai City cannot afford to be perfunctory.

“Oh right, I remember the mayor’s son and that young lady from the public security bureau, their names were…” Luo Tongzheng paused for a moment, but quickly remembered, “Oh, her name was Ruan Ruoshi.”

"Those two kids are Zhang Che's friends, and they are quite talented. Let's choose them for the lower-level extraordinary team."

As for the remaining two spots, Xue Yan suggested giving them to Hezhou City and not to Binhai City.

This is to show our sincerity in cooperating. Moreover, Binhai City is short of manpower everywhere. Let alone sending people out, they would rather grab people from the city. Where would we find extra manpower?

Anyway, with Zhang Che, that guy who can take on three fourth-tier superhumans single-handedly, there shouldn't be any problems.

The matter was settled after discussion among the three. The next step was to contact the people in Hezhou City and convey their decision to Zhang Che through Yu Xingye, asking him to take on the mission.

……

"...That's roughly how it is. Big brother, are you interested?" Fu Xing explained the general situation to Zhang Che while picking up a piece of succulent braised pork from the table with his chopsticks and stuffing it into his mouth. Then, as he chewed, he added:

“My dad said that if you agree, you can keep 10% of what you get from exploring the rift.”

A few days ago, Fu Xing kept insisting on hosting a welcome dinner for Zhang Che. Seeing that he was so thoughtful, the latter did not refuse. He also took out a lot of the leftover red-toothed pork and specially found someone in the city to cook it into several delicacies.

After professional processing, these meats not only become more delicious, but their extraordinary energy is also more easily absorbed by the human body.

Chapter 231 With spear in hand, [Fire-Breathing Dragon]!

"That sounds pretty good, and there's even a chance of encountering a dragonborn, which is exactly what I need." After a quick consideration, Zhang Che readily agreed.

Fu Xing was naturally even happier. After all, with his good brother by his side, even if there were some weird things in that rift, at least he wouldn't have to worry about being in any danger.

The team consists of six people. The three candidates from Binhai City have been confirmed. As for Hezhou City, Pan Tingting will definitely be one of them, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

So now we're still missing one fourth-tier and one third-tier transcendent being, and we don't know how Zhu Yunge and the others will arrange the selection.

However, the distance is too far now, and Zhang Che has no way to contact Hezhou City, so he can only wait patiently, hoping that the people there can come to the provincial capital as soon as possible.

……

The new rift disrupted Zhang Che's plans somewhat. He had originally intended to learn how to create fourth-tier purple cards from the provincial adventurers' guild through Grandpa Yun's introduction.

But now there's clearly not enough time.

Previously, Zhang Che spent nearly two months learning how to make purple cards of the first to third tiers before he could barely master it.