Chapter 212: Mall, Battlefield!

Ranqilaile! Not long after leaving “Purgatory,” the Affairs Officer from the Promotion and Management Bureau barely suppressed the corners of his mouth, his eyes gleaming with a sly light, as he turned to Qun Qing opposite him.

“Um, let me just confirm one last time. Your ‘cangyuan coin’ accepts an initial exchange rate of 1:1 with Star Alliance Credits, correct?”

“Yes. You’ve already informed me many times, and I’ve confirmed it many times.”

Qun Qing was expressionless.

“Indeed! After the exchange rate takes effect, according to New Hope’s agreement to promote trade development, you can immediately exchange Star Alliance Credits, specifically one-fifth of the trade volume.

“Besides that, you can also unlimitedly release ‘cangyuan coin’ into the foreign exchange market. My personal suggestion is to print as much as possible, and throw in as much as you can!

“That way, even if you don’t generate trade, there will still be people who want to speculate on ‘cangyuan coin’! Look, you have high-quality mineral resources. Such an emerging economy is definitely a ‘BRIC’ that everyone pays close attention to and expects!”

Qun Qing glanced at him.

What the heck is a BRIC? It’s clearly fatty meat, right?

She felt that in his eyes, her identity had already transcended from “barbarian” and devolved into pure idiocy.

Alright, alright, we’ll see in the end who is more idiotic.

“Okay, thank you.”

Haha, idiot!

The Affairs Officer couldn’t hold back and let out a joyful hum.

You group of barbarians who just gained spaceflight capability, what right do you have to exchange at a 1:1 ratio for Star Alliance Credits!

I just said things like labor equality casually, and you actually believe it!?

A 1:1 foreign exchange rate, how dare you?

You stupid woman, do you know you’ve already buried your own economy? So stupid, so easy to fool! Oh yeah, I’m getting promoted!

Qun Qing also couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Kid, cherish your last day working at the Affairs Bureau.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?” The Affairs Officer was extremely puzzled by this hint of a smile.

“Nothing, just suddenly thought of something happy,” Qun Qing calmly tidied her hair, “Are the procedures done?”

“Oh, it’s all set, look!”

The Affairs Officer turned his computer screen to show Qun Qing.

Qun Qing remained vigilant and didn’t fully trust what was displayed on the screen. She contacted several small players who were already waiting at the port’s foreign exchange office until all of them sent confirmation that cangyuan coin foreign exchange trading was now possible.

“Alright, then I’d like to apply for an exchange of 640 million Credits, using our electronic cryptocurrency.”

“What are you talking about, big sister?” The Affairs Officer quickly waved his hand.

“No, no, no, no! You completely didn’t understand just now, I wasted my breath. You have no trade right now! No trade means you can’t exchange a single coin, do you understand?”

Qun Qing stared at him and said, “Our goods are already clearing customs.”

“What? What goods? How much?”

“A total of 8 million tons of crude oil, sold to Mr. Xiu from the wealth key merchant fleet at a price of 400 cangyuan coin per ton. As we speak, Mr. Xiu is already purchasing the 3.2 billion cangyuan coin we put on the foreign exchange market.”

Of course, these 3.2 billion Credits would immediately return to Xiu’s hands, nominally used to pay off the “debt” for his four warships and a series of military supplies.

The previous transactions between Cang Yuan and wealth key were essentially barter.

The reason for this extra step, this left-hand-to-right-hand transfer, was also one of the conditions Lu Yuan had previously agreed upon with Xiu, targeting that foreign exchange policy cleverly set up to expand the influence of Star Alliance Credits!

Cang Yuan’s methods were completely legal and compliant.

“This is a genuine 3.2 billion trade volume, hurry up.”

Qun Qing crossed her legs, urging him.

How could that be—

The Affairs Officer stood in a daze for a full ten seconds, instinctively refusing to believe what he was hearing.

After coming to his senses, he quickly checked on his computer and then his vision went black.

No! Wealth Key had actually docked in the port area, fully loaded with crude oil, and the wealthy merchant Xiu had indeed just completed a foreign exchange transaction worth 3.2 billion Credits!

“No, that’s impossible? Wealth Key is one of the Star Alliance merchant ships with the largest single cargo capacity and the highest freight costs. How could the crude oil you produce possibly afford the shipping fees?”

“Mr. Affairs Officer, you don’t seem to understand oil extraction very well.”

Qun Qing sneered, savoring her moment of victory.

“Then I’ll give you a free lesson. Our oil comes from artesian wells; just stick a pipe into the ground, and the oil will flow out continuously. Furthermore, we have nuclear-powered factories, and a complete set of automated production lines and all raw materials for producing crude oil storage and transportation equipment. The cost can naturally be kept very low. All things considered, even including the initial construction investment, the cost per ton of crude oil is only about 50 cangyuan coin.

“Oh, no, it’s 50 Star Alliance Credits now.”

The last sentence, like a sharp knife, pierced the heart of the Affairs Officer, who had been cheering just a minute ago.

It’s over, I’ve caused a huge disaster...

A cost of 50 Credits, even if transported by warp-speed merchant ships, the lowest acceptable ex-factory price would be around 330 Credits. This is a market-disrupting price, what a joke!

Visible beads of sweat appeared on the Affairs Officer’s forehead.

Qun Qing was right; he simply didn’t understand oil extraction. This “rare commodity” was something even few people had seen, let alone deeply researched.

He instinctively thought that the cost of crude oil extraction was only 30 to 40 percent lower than that of solid methane on cold minor planets, which is around 600 Credits.

For emerging forces with low technology, it would even be higher!

But now...

Exchanging 640 million Credits was a minor matter. The key problem was that he had, without any vigilance, released a carbon element trade monster into the Star Alliance.

This was a serious work error! It would severely damage the interests of companies mining methane ice on minor planets!

Companies capable of interstellar colonization and development are ruthless. Apollo is a typical example among them. When that happens, on whom will they vent their anger?

Whom will they literally skin alive?

That’s a difficult question to guess.

“Please wait a moment! I still need to confirm with the senior management of the Space Station Chamber of Commerce!”

He said “confirm,” but he really meant “call for help.”

A moment later, an elegantly dressed old man pushed open the door. He was a New Hope First-Class Citizen.

“Supervisor!” The Affairs Officer rushed up, “I can still fix this, we can—”

“Leave New Hope as soon as possible,” the old man interrupted him roughly, his tone extremely cold, “Go to a sufficiently remote star system and never come back.”

The Affairs Officer’s mouth opened and closed, but he ultimately couldn’t finish his sentence, only nodding blankly.

“I understand.”

“Hmm, do be careful on your journey.”

The old man gave him a meaningful look.

The Affairs Officer shivered all over. He wasn’t so clueless as to misunderstand that look.

The Chamber of Commerce was distancing itself from him, “suggesting” he go on a vacation.

However, he would ninety-nine percent likely be kidnapped and imprisoned on the way by bounty hunters secretly hired by the Chamber of Commerce. After that, depending on the situation, the Chamber of Commerce would execute him at an appropriate time or hand him over to those enraged mining company bosses, allowing them to torture and murder him.

In the post-apocalyptic era, these were very common ways to apologize.

The Star Alliance might “pretend” to be civilized in many places, but the underlying logic was definitely the cruel law of the jungle.

The Affairs Officer bolted, not begging for mercy, knowing it was meaningless and would only waste time.

Right now, he could only grasp at that one percent chance of survival.

The old man didn’t even bother to look, sitting down opposite Qun Qing, in the chair that originally belonged to the Affairs Officer.

“Madam, I regret to inform you that our system is currently experiencing an irreparable technical malfunction. Your foreign exchange transaction will be temporarily terminated, with no set recovery time. We—”

Qun Qing raised a hand, signaling him not to continue.

That’s enough! I’ve seen too many of these things.

When they think they can profit, their attitude is incredibly enthusiastic, but when it’s time to bear difficulties and risks, the system suddenly breaks down completely.

“Sir, before I came here, I had already familiarized myself with New Hope’s regulations and kept a record. What you are doing is illegal.”

“Heh heh, ah—”

The old man let out two low laughs, his pupils reflecting a fierce glare.

“It is indeed illegal, but in this post-apocalyptic era, the status of law is actually very subtle, or rather, awkward. It won’t make your fist bigger, nor will it make your opponent’s fist smaller.”