Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

Chapter 102.1: Lord Yang's Intentions

A hundred meters of curtain fabric priced at 240 yuan (2.4 yuan per meter) was sold to Rex at a 20% discount, which was 800 copper coins, or 0.8 gold coins.

The gold coins in this world were impure, and their purity varied depending on the minting nation or individual integrity. Most had a gold content ranging from around 60% to 70%, and if calculated at the minimum, 0.8 gold coins equated to at least 4 grams of pure gold.

240 yuan for 4 grams of pure gold was a deal too good to pass up.

The plastic crockery bought at the one yuan per piece wholesale price (basic designs without any prints; crockery with prints cost 10 to 20 cents more) was five copper coins for two pieces. With some calculations, this meant that 1000 yuan worth of plastic crockery fetched 2500 copper coins or 2.5 gold coins. After refining, that would be at least 15 grams of gold by Earth standards.

The cost and profit margins of sewing kits and buttons were comparable to the plastic crockery.

Towels brought in a tidy sum as well. A 2000-yuan bulk purchase of towels could be exchanged for a return of about 30 grams of gold.

And adding the new products supplied by the prison enterprises, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yang Qiu could potentially bleed the Rhine Kingdom's gold reserve dry if he solely focused on making money.

But, of course, Yang Qiu wouldn't let making money interfere with more important matters; that would be putting the cart before the horse. However, to expand the imprint matrix and increase the number of earth player anchor points, money was an absolute necessity.

Yang Qiu didn't have the time or skill to engage in the trifles of money-making, so he would just let his tools handle it.

Seeing Rex perplexed, Yang Qiu asked with a slight smile, "What's gotten you confused, Rex?"

Rex suddenly snapped out of it and glanced at the list of goods and prices on the contract. Voice trembling, he asked, "I-I don't quite understand, Yang. Are you suggesting… that I be a merchant?"

"Of course not. I'm merely providing you with a means to generate funds, which would allow you to more confidently shape Weisshem according to your ideal vision," replied Yang Qiu. "You won't be able to achieve anything without money, especially after announcing the abolition of the population tax and the portion of agricultural taxes that belonged to you."

Rex's face flushed red, and he turned away discreetly…

Without first consulting Yang, Rex had indeed posted the tax abolishment notice, driven by his personal agenda. He was also well aware of how naive and idealistic this "policy" was and feared that he wouldn't have the courage to stand his ground should Yang oppose it.

It would be one thing if Yang chastised him. However, Yang's tolerant attitude towards Rex's willfulness made the latter utterly embarrassed.

"I like idealists." Yang Qiu wiped away his smile and adopted a serious tone. "Conspirators and ambitious individuals might have their own unique charms and would more likely emerge victors. But in my opinion, whether it is a conspirator or an ambitious fellow, the victories they achieve are merely small-scale and far from the essence of triumph.

"And this is the main reason why I chose you." Yang Qiu gazed at Rex like an elder smiling at a talented junior. "Idealists may be farthest from victory, yet they are the closest to true triumph. What changes would a young idealist full of enthusiasm like you bring to Weisshem? That is something I'm very eager to find out."

Rex subconsciously sat a little straighter and pondered earnestly for a bit before replying, "I… can't promise anything. I can only say that I will do my best."

The young warrior set the contract aside, stood up, and bowed. "Thank you… for giving me this opportunity to prove myself."

It wasn't a big deal for Yang to appoint Rex as the nominal lord of Weisshem. If Yang could put him in power, he could just as easily kick him out.

In essence, this so-called lord of Weisshem was no different from an ordinary employee in a typical company; Yang simply needed someone to be present.

Granting him the sales rights to these mysterious goods was the real delegation of power and trust—anyone selling these products would undoubtedly make a fortune, and the combination of wealth and power could foster ambitious aspirations.

Yang Qiu smiled and nodded, then shook his head as he eyed Rex with a profound gaze. "You've already proven yourself, Rex. What you need is to find a path that aligns with your ideals."

Rex stood upright and met Yang Qiu's penetrating gaze with firm resolve. "I will, Yang."

Rex's ideal was to surpass his viscount father. When he had no opportunity and couldn't find a way to achieve his dreams, he could only aimlessly pursue strength, risking himself when he had inadequate experience and insufficient mental preparation.

Now, Yang Qiu had presented him with such an opportunity. Rex finally had the capital to compete with his father, and his fervent enthusiasm was only natural.

Yang Qiu nodded and, with a smile, gestured for Rex to sign his name on the contract.

He hadn't handed over such a lucrative business opportunity to Rex on impulse. Just as he said, he had assessed Rex, who had indeed proven himself, which led to the contract being presented.

After all, ideals were something anyone could possess. It was just a matter of setting one's heart and moving one's lips.

The only problem was that most people blurred the lines between ideals and daydreams.

Take the dream of entering Tsinghua or Peking University as an example. For the studious student who studied hard each day, and even felt ashamed spending five minutes on a mobile game, that would be an ideal.

Meanwhile, for the underachiever who spent the entire day playing mobile games, chatting with girls on QQ, and who would never make it to the top three in class, entering Tsinghua or Peking University was just daydreaming.

In short, only those who could sustain continuous effort toward their ideals and, to an extent, abandon low-level interests were qualified to talk about ideals.

Rex had never demonstrated ruling ability and, in terms of intelligence and tactics, wasn't as cunning as Tuttle or Finley.

However, after being thrust into the position of lord, Rex hadn't reveled in his superiority or rushed to flaunt his authority. Even though there were hundreds of young men and women, each with their own allures, willing to comply with his every request, Rex didn't arrogantly regard these beauties as his personal property.

This was the fundamental reason why Rex won Yang Qiu's trust.

Those who made the aforementioned first mistake were people that were essentially blind to their true position and unclear about their own abilities; fools that mistook others' charity for their own strength, revealing their own shortcomings in the process, and would never accomplish anything.

Those who made the second mistake were even worse—such people who easily succumbed to primal instincts were nothing more than lower life forms that were mere hosts for their reproductive organs. Yang Qiu had no use for such trash.

Even if Rex couldn't meet his expectations, at least he wouldn't be all that bad as long as he could avoid these two troublesome pitfalls.

On this end, Yang Qiu needed to put in some effort to motivate Rex and encourage the young man to steadfastly pursue his ideals… though elsewhere, dealing with Ji Tang and those other "national team personnel" didn't require that much effort; he could just issue a "system announcement" and be done with it.

Zhao Zhenzhen, who had been busy helping Ji Tang the whole day, heard the chime of a notification. She brought up the panel and fell silent once more.

"Sis Zhao?" Ji Tang looked back at her.

The two of them were currently overseeing the reconstruction of buildings along the southern end of the main street, near the town gate. After the notice for hiring daily wage workers was posted in the morning (OtherWorld time), the townspeople showed great enthusiasm, and hundreds gathered in just a short while. Ji Tang didn't waste any time; he immediately had the clerks act as translators and recruited all those willing to work as temporary laborers. In just half a day's work, they had already torn down the messy partitions in two bars and were now working on the third.

Zhao Zhenzhen looked around, and seeing that no clerks who could understand them were nearby, she pulled Ji Tang aside and recounted the contents of the new announcement she had just received.

After hearing this, Ji Tang's skeleton face seemed to go rigid…

"This fellow… How lazy can he be!" Ji Tang couldn't help but complain. "Is he expecting us to do everything for him?!"

If the previous system prompts had indicated to the national team that they would need to solve the issue of gaining funding to win over the townsfolk themselves, this announcement now seemed like the revealing of forbidding intent.

Lord Yang had directly sent Zhao Zhenzhen, the head of the undead merchant association branch, a list of goods. On this list were products including instant noodles, pickled products, pastries, candies, and other ready-to-eat items that had been impacted by the advent of food delivery apps. There were also various spices such as salt, chili, peppercorns, garlic, cardamom, and even the popular Lao Ga Ma thirteen-spice mix!

The branch head, Zhao Zhenzhen, could accept the goods first and pay later, but Lord Yang only accepted payment in gold coins!

Others might be oblivious to where Lord Yang got these goods, but definitely not Ji Tang and Zhao Zhenzhen!

When calculating the retail price of these foods on Earth and converting it via OtherWorld's exchange rate… Ji Tang had the urge to label Lord Yang as a scummy profiteer!

The manipulator behind the scenes of this "game" must be in dire need of money judging by how Lord Yang was moving these expired and off-shelf products into the "game."

Acting as a dimensional profiteer was fine; that was because of his skill. But how could he, as a profiteer, only do the work of transporting the stuff and leave everything else to others?!

Zhao Zhenzhen wasn't in any hurry to express her opinion. After pondering for some time, she mused, "Lord Yang's… intentions are rather suspect."

"Isn't he just forcing us to be his tools for making him money?" Ji Tang was irritably exasperated.

"No." Zhao Zhenzhen shook her head, her dark eye sockets seemingly lighting up. "What I mean is, he knows exactly who we are, yet he let us obtain the mayor seat, encouraged us to interact with the natives, and gave us the opportunity to acquire a large amount of local currency through business.

"This completely unguarded attitude, combined with the 'target's' slippery tactics in the real world… it makes me think." Zhao Zhenzhen, pausing for a moment, eyed Ji Tang in a strange manner. "More importantly, he wants you to work with Rex."