Chapter 213: The Bet

The old man's words were full of menace, and he thought Qun Qing would be afraid and compromise.

However, as a player, Qun Qing had nothing to fear.

If she were threatened like this in reality, she would immediately change her tune, but now, “Star Sea” was just a game to her.

Even without any psychological training, players could not be intimidated by personal threats.

"Thank you for popularizing the truth of Star Alliance law; as a new force, we have truly benefited greatly," Qun Qing said calmly.

"But even if we can accept such a result, Mr. Xiu, who is trading with us, probably cannot accept the loss of an uncompleted trade."

The old man narrowed his eyes, shaking his head slightly back and forth.

This was him using body language to express that he was relaxed and that "you can't make me change my mind."

"I believe our New Hope official trade association can certainly reach some agreement with Mr. Xiu happily."

"Oh, so his fist isn't big enough either, is it?"

"You can think of it that way, but I prefer to call it 'not having an advantageous position in negotiations.'"

“Alright. But aren’t you curious who Xiu originally intended to sell these 8 million tons of crude oil to? I suggest you guess based on his connections.”

The old man's head-shaking motion stopped, only to resume after three or four seconds.

After that, he probably finally realized that continuing to act pretentious would look foolish, so he cleared his throat and sat up straight.

"…Who is it?"

Yi Mo Qun Qing: "Ms. Anya has reached a verbal agreement with Mr. Xiu. She is very much looking forward to this batch of goods, and if she suddenly learns that the transaction cannot be completed due to a human factor like a 'system malfunction,' I guess she would be very angry."

The old man's throat twitched.

Qun Qing sighed: "However, as far as I know, she's just a nightclub owner. The trade association shouldn't be afraid of her wrath, right?"

Damn it!

The old man said nothing, as if a switch had been flipped. He stood up, walked mechanically into the hallway, pretended to answer a call, and quickly returned.

"Congratulations! I just received news that our excellent Engineer team had a flash of inspiration and came up with a solution to activate the backup system. Your transaction can resume immediately!"

Qun Qing smiled.

She discovered a major characteristic of these trade association executives.

Cowardly!

Their lives were too precious; they couldn't bear to fight hard.

"That's great; this is a win-win outcome."

"Um, yes," the old man stammered, "Then, please allow me to formally welcome you to New Hope Space Station! Also, a small piece of advice: if you want to get rich here, it's best to choose your partners carefully."

"Of course, we always do that. This time's choice was made about 5 minutes ago."

Qun Qing stood up, giving the other party a meaningful look, letting him understand.

She noted this person for the Executive Officer; if he liked to be a jerk, he would have to pay the corresponding price, otherwise Cangyuan would find it difficult to establish its authority in the Star Alliance.

Soon after, the news of the big merchant Xiu's 3.2 billion cangyuan coin transaction caused a stir in the market, and from this, the notion of "Cangyuan's return" began to spread among foreign exchange investors.

As a former top power for all humanity, the two words "Cangyuan" possessed immense magic. Soon, a large number of speculators began to closely monitor the cangyuan coin's trend, ready to act at any time.

Subsequently, Anya's unexpected move completely ignited irrational behavior in the market.

She purchased 14 billion cangyuan coin.

This move was considered insane. The exchange rate between cangyuan coin and Star Alliance credit points was as high as 1:1, which for an emerging economy almost certainly meant rapid depreciation in the future.

Even for Anya, 14 billion credit points accounted for a large portion of her available cash and leverage. Why did she dare to make such a huge gamble?

Everyone wanted to know the answer.

"Could it be that Her Majesty the Queen, as usual, obtained inside information in advance?"

"You mean this Cangyuan is really the Cangyuan from before the apocalypse!?"

"Impossible, it should just be inheriting some legacy."

"That's still incredible!"

"There's too little information now. Does anyone know where their headquarters are?"

"Found it! From the registration information, it's Li Star at the end of the shipping lane."

"Li Star... sounds a bit familiar. Has someone been mentioning this place a lot recently?"

"Don't say it, it seems so, who was it—"

"It's Galan! Isn't this the place they mentioned in their victory speeches that they've already sent a fleet to attack?!"

“Galan is going to war with Cangyuan? Wow, do these people know about this themselves?”

"They must have heard the rumors of the natives on Li Star calling themselves 'Cangyuan,' but they absolutely don't believe it!"

"Yes! Given Galan's tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong, if there was even a shred of doubt that the enemy's strength surpassed theirs, they would absolutely not send troops!"

For a time, a "rumor" was born and immediately began to spread virally.

【Anya confirmed the true strength of Cangyuan Future Technology, knew in advance that they would win the war, and therefore bought a large amount of cangyuan coin in advance, waiting to profit】

Military success almost certainly leads to currency appreciation.

This was a "rumor" that made everyone unable to remain calm. When it severely stirred market sentiment, whether it was true or false no longer mattered.

Onlookers could no longer hold back. Following Anya, they bought large quantities of Cangyuan's electronic cryptocurrency. Who cared if it was real? Just buy some and hold it for now!

At the same time, due to the sudden risk of major military setbacks, a large amount of Galan coin was urgently dumped on the market, like a rat crossing the street.

Only 24 hours after cangyuan coin appeared on the Star Alliance stage, its exchange rate against Star Alliance credit points did not fall but rose, from 1 to 1.03.

The exchange rate of Galan coin against Star Alliance credit points fell, from 0.062 to 0.061.

Except for New Hope, Star Alliance credit points have not completely replaced the currencies issued by various factions themselves; they were merely an "international currency" established to facilitate trade and economic cooperation between nations. The exchange rate between them and various faction currencies usually reflects that faction's economic outlook and political stability.

In this regard, Galan was particularly concerned with appearances.

They were a first-tier Star Alliance power, a constantly winning military force, and a continuously soaring economy. Currency depreciation was simply unacceptable!

Inside New Hope, Galan diplomats successively received superluminal communications from their homeworld, then jumped off the brocade-decorated victory podium with bewildered expressions.

"What's going on? How come we're working so hard here, and the Galan coin still depreciated? What are those idiots back home doing?"

The diplomatic team could not continue to win big.

They received orders directly from Prime Minister Nadi himself to use every possible means to mobilize their high-ranking citizens and Star Alliance wealthy merchants to claim Galan coin.

They also had to promise them that the upcoming war would definitely be won, hoping to stabilize the exchange rate through this method.

These diplomats changed their mission. Instead of giving victory speeches, they began to gather media, frantically belittling Cangyuan and questioning that this "so-called Cangyuan" had absolutely no connection to the legendary cosmic mega-enterprise from before the apocalypse.

They were completely a bunch of liars!

Thus, a grand gamble, accompanied by a rare spectacle of gossip and drama within the Star Alliance over several years or even more than a decade, grandly commenced.

Those who sided with cangyuan coin and those who stuck with Galan coin each thought the other was a complete idiot, and neither could convince the other.

They waited anxiously and with great interest for the final outcome.

The punitive action of the Apollo-Galan joint fleet thus saw its attention increase tenfold or more; the heat contributed by a foreign exchange storm in just three days surpassed the total work output of the Galan victory propaganda team over the past month.

However, Cangyuan did not expend any extra effort for this. The players at the center of the storm were very calm. They routinely set up shop in the rented warehouse and, following the latest exchange rate, converted into 650 million credit points almost for free.

Immediately afterward, players routinely flocked to major merchants and shipyards to purchase various civilian equipment for Cangyuan's space industry development.

At this point, Xiu was the first to visit, presenting a gift full of cooperative sincerity.

An exclusive supplier list!

According to this list, Cangyuan's procurement could save at least 10% of funds. In addition, Xiu also shared some small tips.

For example, if one wanted to purchase used civilian spacecraft, buying the hull, engine, and reactor separately and then transporting them home for assembly could save an additional 20 to 40 percent.

After mastering the tricks, a large number of orders were completed. The Cangyuan branch purchased 20 used asteroid mining ships for the headquarters at a super low average price of 12 million credit points per ship.

In addition, there were four cargo ships with a load capacity of 20,000 tons, totaling 110 million.

Three fast shuttles for transporting personnel, with plans to later install warp engines for both scientific exploration and mapping, totaling 70 million.

And finally, the main event: a gas giant work platform, somewhat like a 20th-century offshore oil rig, capable of hovering at the top of a gas planet's atmosphere, using long pipes extending deep into the atmosphere to collect gas and refine nuclear fuel gas from it.

The existence of black technology scanners prevented players from purchasing defective products. Although all were second-hand goods, their quality and lifespan were top-notch among used items.

Cangyuan now would not temporarily halt its expansion due to the approaching war.

After these goods were purchased, they were all loaded into the Wealth Key's enormous cargo hold. Xiu hired a reliable mercenary fleet clan, which immediately set off for Li Star to receive its second batch of crude oil, expected to arrive on the third day after the fleet battle.

On the same day, all technology on Li Star was temporarily sealed, research work ceased, and two "Qinling" ships left the dry dock one after another. A large number of combat-oriented players were recalled from Emerald Star and began adaptive training for the upcoming large-scale event.