At 6 pm, Freedom City ended its day.

Despite that, the long queue in front of the entrance to the Fire Exchange was still as long and massive as a dragon.

However, at the insistence of the city guards, as well as Turner loudly announcing their closing for the evening, everyone had no choice but to disperse.

Among these people were some who wished to continue exchanging, full of smiles as they carried goodies worth dozens or even hundreds of contribution points.

On the other hand, some people were carrying just a few ordinary items worth several contribution points, their expressions full of regret.

Since the time had been allocated reasonably, almost everyone who had been in line had been able to participate in the blind box lottery. Those who had lined up early were even able to draw three rounds.

The result of this was that Su Mo, who was standing on the street corner, basically did not catch sight of a few individuals who were cursing and complaining.

Most of the people were clustered together in discussion. They were excited and got along extremely harmoniously.

It was obvious that the Fire Exchange’s first trading event was a great success!

“Although this Demon clan appears to be astute, and all of them are good lurkers in the game, they don’t know that the free items are the most expensive ones!

“If it weren’t for the fact that I haven’t the time or the intention to continue with this operation, these people would have been naturally eliminated by the New World if there had been a 180-day promotion.

“Now, however, they don’t need to know too much since someone is paying for them.”

After waiting until everyone on the street had all but cleared the place, leaving only dust and some garbage on the ground, Su Mo sighed and made his way out from the street corner area.

The market’s long-term operational stability required not only internal coordination but also a steady flow of external resources.

Without external resources, no matter how the insiders played their hands, they would still be battling within one framework. The final outcome would still see the resources returning to the hands of the people at the top.

A natural disaster was on the way.

These ordinary Demon clan individuals were still obsessed with trading in the market, thinking about how to make more money off their peers and improve their lot in life.

If they kept this up, in the long run, they would lose their external competitiveness.

When that happened, the only thing that awaited them was death!

This was also one of the main reasons why the city guards wanted to take back the authority for determining prices and unifying the market.

They wanted ordinary individuals from the Demon clan to go out and bring resources back from other territories so there could be continuous replenishment internally.

These individuals should be accumulating capital for themselves instead of constant in-fighting that consumed their internal resources with no limits.

Walking through the slightly disorderly streets, Su Mo noticed the mercenaries looking like they wanted to cry out in surprise and delight when they saw him. He gently lifted a finger to his lips, motioning for them to be silent.

After that, he lightly stepped into the room.

In just a glance, Su Mo saw Turner who was sitting at the counter, his concentration fully focused on the account book.

“Hey!”

With malicious amusement, Su Mo went up behind Turner and heartily clapped him on the back.

The latter naturally jumped with fright.

However, after discovering that it was Su Mo, he gave a cry of delight.

“Oh goodness, Harl, where have you been? I almost keeled over worrying, you know…

“We’re rich! We really struck gold today!”

Holding the account book in one hand, Turner’s eyes were full of unconcealed ecstasy.

Wealth was truly a moving experience.

For people who were used to being poor, suddenly receiving a small sum of money could leave them joyful for several days, what more such a huge amount of money coming into their account.

“Oh? How much did we earn in membership fees?”

Su Mo picked up the account book with interest and began looking through it.

Unlike Turner, Su Mo was not really bothered about the number of contribution points; he did not see this as an asset in the least.

After all, anyone who had experienced a financial crisis on Earth would essentially understand what the consequences would be if any currency did not have corresponding physical goods.

In fact, these contribution points were practically the equivalent of the infamous Bitcoin back on Earth.

They existed as a currency that was issued for the sole purpose of convenience in transactions within a territory. Whoever possessed the authority to determine prices would also possess the right to print money.

The 10,000 contribution points they got today might be a number that ordinary people could not achieve in a lifetime.

They could use these points in the exchanges to buy a lot of rare equipment and templates to expand their abilities.

However, during a crisis, 10,000 contribution points might only possess the purchasing power of several dozen contribution points.

The moment the currency depreciated, items without substantive value might plummet more than a thousand times in just one or two hours, let alone overnight.

“Well, we earned a total of… 225,000 contribution points!

“200,000 over points is an amount we would never have been able to earn within our lifetime. These people are really willing to throw money away like madmen for such a small bit of something!”

Considering Freedom City’s population, the proportionate number of those who were “filthy rich” was pitifully few.

After all, if one wanted to earn a large sum of money within such a short time, they would have to be either born intelligent or adept at seizing opportunities.

If not, they would have to be incredibly lucky to be able to obtain a major opportunity that few ordinary individuals would encounter.

However, the difference was that this ratio was only based on the hundreds of thousands of people in Freedom City.

Even a small proportion of hundreds of thousands of people would equal to hundreds and almost thousands of individuals.

Among these people, there would naturally be many who understood the depreciation of the currency they had on hand.

That was why it was not surprising that the Fire Exchange—which was the first to roll out a membership charge—was easily able to gather its first round of gullible individuals for its stocks.

“220, 00 points—I had thought I could have 3, maybe 5 million. It’s a pity.

“Let’s do this then—first thing tomorrow morning, leave 10,000 points and exchange the rest of the contribution points for materials… Yes, try and get more of the materials that we use extensively on a daily basis.

“Oh yes, do buy some imported products, but don’t buy them at a premium!”

Su Mo gave these instructions after reading through all the entries in the account book and making an assessment of the pressure they would face the next day in the exchange.

“Exchange 200,000 points?”

“Yes, leave only 10,000 as activity funds and exchange the rest!”

Turner did not raise any objections to Su Mo’s decision this time; he merely swallowed hard before giving an abrupt nod.

However, after opening the panel for his mark, he hesitated and stammered, “But our loan…”

“The loan? We’ve already come this far, and you’re still anxious about that. Don’t worry, someone’s already helped us pay it off. We can get the Level 5 thorned ent card tomorrow!”

Despite hearing that, Turner was still honestly worried about their loan.

Su Mo was so startled he burst out laughing involuntarily.

After such a long time since gaining sentience, the game had discovered the errors in its method of letting people in.

Those it had let in previously were “fools” whose IQ fluctuated around 60 points and who talked incessantly every day about eating or killing.

Since foreign races like that were very easy to control, it was not worried about them scheming.

In terms of efficiency, however…

It was practically maddening!

Each time before the disaster, these foreign races would wrestle with humans and try their best to get rid of the other party to gain more territory.

By the time the disaster happened, the internal struggle between these parties would have already exhausted whatever the foreign races had saved. This inevitably resulted in poor performance during the disaster; it was also impossible for them to gain any sort of authority.

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Now that the game’s conscience had discovered this, the living beings who arrived after this could be considered a lot more “advanced”.

At the very least, even creatures with definite social structures could be seen everywhere.

If this could be maintained, it would slowly erase the old impression of foreign races being bloodthirsty and desirous of conquering others by force and violence.

If there were more honest individuals like Turner, humans might even agree to cooperate with them to fight against disasters and live peacefully in this world.

“Alright, I’ll do as you say, I’ll do as you say!”

The moment he heard that the loan had been paid off, Turner shivered, and his entire body could not stop trembling.

As for the other mercenaries with sharp ears, although they were heavily disguised, one could still observe their excitement from the nuances of their actions.

Without anyone being aware of what was happening, it took only two days for things to be the same as they had been for Hope Village at the very beginning.

Su Mo’s power and influence had begun to manifest unawares once more.

Wherever he was, everyone would feel constrained no matter what they were doing, but once he left, they would be all fired up.

With regards to this, Su Mo could only secretly shake his head. He set down the account book and walked to the back room.

‘It’s a pity that the basin genuinely can’t do without me at the moment. If I stay here in Freedom City, I could certainly get more resources and benefits.

‘Without a military force, however, the moment the city guards found out that I had funneled internal resources to the outside world, they would recall all their resources and support in the best-case scenario.At worst, they might start a war directly with the basin.

‘The basin is now economically and culturally backward. They won’t be able to handle it if a war starts. If they recklessly try to bring trouble down upon themselves, I’m afraid there would be a massive calamity.

‘If I want the Fire Exchange to deny the basin, either I gain martial prowess that terrifies others in this city, or else I have no option but to…”

‘Forcibly take over!’

Su Mo went back to his room and sat down. As he cleared the table of things that he wished to take back with him, his mind was going through what he had observed in the daytime.

At any given time, one’s own territory was the most essential thing.

No matter how well one progressed in someone else’s territory, only that territory would benefit from it.

In the two days that Su Mo had been away from the basin, despite saying that he did not really miss the place much, he had already begun wishing he could go back.

Currently, the initial stages of the infrastructure construction at the basin had just begun.

If they could lay down a good foundation at this stage, they would certainly save a lot of unnecessary expenditure in the days to come.

As for this Freedom City belonging to the Demon clan, Su Mo’s idea was extremely bold.

So far, there was no definite information to prove Shi Ren’s identity, or how many people knew him.

It did not really matter, however.

Based on these people’s performances in the daytime, the main body of Hope City, the top 10 exchanges, and the city guards certainly did not know that Shi Ren was the territory lord.

It would not help if the others knew either under these circumstances!

What Su Mo wanted to do now is to take advantage of this blind spot in their knowledge.

If he could seize the opportunity and kill Shi Ren, he could then use the system to decode Shi Ren’s mark and successfully obtain his position as lord of the Demon clan.

At present, there would not be any gods arriving.

As long as the mark was present, others would not be able to discover what had happened.

Together with the possibility that memory information might be provided after decoding the mark, this move was completely feasible.

When the time came, at a critical moment when no one was the wiser, the whole of Freedom City would discover that Harl, the ordinary boss of the Fire Exchange, was actually the territory lord of their home!

The trade route of the basin would also be able to take advantage of this opportunity to enter Freedom City.

‘The plan is entirely feasible. Even if there are some minor flaws, that can be fixed by collecting more and more information.

‘We need to find a way to strengthen the basin’s military prowess and battle lines. As long as someone can come to my aid, there wouldn’t be a problem even if the plan is exposed!’

Currently, the 5000-plus survival points were not enough to upgrade to the second wave of virtual reality.

Considering that the living beings in the Demon clan were a mixed bag, deceiving all of them meant that one would not only have to collect information on each of them one by one, it would also require forking out some exorbitant “funds”.

Su Mo immediately ruled out wits.

In this instance, the only thing left was military force!

It was fortunate, however, that while the situation in Freedom City was tense, there would be no issues making it through the first disaster.

As far as this powerful city was concerned, everyone would be able to weather the blizzard safely as long as they paid about one-tenth of their supplies.

This was why Su Mo had not been in a hurry to leave the area after packing up his belongings. Instead, he waited till the mercenaries had prepared their meals before leisurely making his way to the hall.

There were 6 tables and 20 people.

After striking it rich, everyone’s dinner was finally no longer the gruel that tasted only of salt; instead, it was replaced with a slightly more colorful hodgepodge.

Since the meal was limited by the cooking skills of two reformed mercenaries, there were no overall great changes in terms of taste for this culinary hodgepodge. However, there was at least an additional different flavor to the food.

It was different from the “delicious” meals that they had tasted in the antique buildings that afternoon.

Everyone wolfed down their meals this time, and Su Mo was no exception. He put down his spoon only after having had two large bowls of food.

“By the way, Turner, I may have to leave tomorrow. I’ll be gone for about two to three days this round. I’ll leave everything to you during this time. You have to stand your ground and make sure there’s no trouble!”

After watching the mercenaries take away the rice tub for washing, Su Mo called Turner over to the secluded area in the back hall and began giving out orders one by one.

Turner was involuntarily startled when he heard what Su Mo had to say. “Two to three days? Alone?”

Su Mo nodded.

“F*ck, Harl, are you crazy?

“No, that won’t do. It’s too dangerous for you to go out alone!

“As of now, you—no, we only have auxiliary careers still, not to mention we’re dwarves. Our combat effectiveness is practically negligible when we go into the field. Wouldn’t it be tantamount to a death sentence the moment we don’t have the mercenaries’ protection?

“What’s more, we robbed Alec of more than 10,000 contribution points’ worth of items. He certainly won’t give up so easily. What if he’s outside…”

Turner uttered an expletive, which was rare for him, and his expression betrayed unconcealed startlement.

However, after seeing the determination on Su Mo’s face and his steadfast headshake, Turner immediately relented and tried another tack.

“Why don’t you wait a bit… wait till tomorrow when our Level 5 ent card comes back? Then we’ll spend 50,000 points to upgrade your mark. It wouldn’t be too late for you to leave after loading the ent card.

“Although the Level 5 ent card is only at approximately 60% integrity, it’s not something that a Level 4 like Alec can compete with!”

In the inheritance left to them by their parents, the Level 5 thorned ent was their shared legacy.

The reasons why it could not be used previously were that firstly, they did not have enough contribution points to upgrade the mark for loading. Secondly, since there was only one template, the other person would just have to watch while the other person loaded it.

Now, however, after hearing what Turner had to say, Su Mo could not help feeling a sense of warmth in his heart.

“Don’t worry, Turner. I’m absolutely certain it’ll be all right. Besides, we don’t need this Level 5 card yet.

“You should always remember that when the city guards work together with us, it’s not because of our talents or the so-called conflict between ourselves and Alec.

“They do so only because we’re weak and easy to control.

“The moment the auxiliary careers for dwarves are abolished and we become powerful, they’ll restrict us just like the 10 major exchanges!”

The nature of such things was always difficult to accept.

Seeing that Turner had finally stopped trying to persuade him, Su Mo stood up and patted him on the shoulder in a brotherly fashion.

“If Alec doesn’t come looking for me, I’ll let him live, but if he does dare to pursue me…

“The wilderness will be the scene of his death!”