176: Chamber of Commerce Establishment

Shen Xiaochuan pushed open the door to the Main Hall, and the wind blew in from outside. Without stopping, he walked directly to the large table in the middle of the council chamber. A resource distribution map was spread out on the table, with the location of the Star Ore circled in red, and "42,000 tons" written next to it.

He looked at this number, and two seconds later, he tapped his finger lightly on the table.

"Carl." He looked toward the doorway.

Carl quickly walked in, holding a stack of papers. His brows were furrowed, as if he had just finished dealing with something.

He placed the papers on the table and said, "It's not just the task from Qingfeng City; the System has just refreshed with five new trade tasks. Besides the Star Ore, there's also a demand for Spirit Wheat seeds and defensive rune stones, all with decent profit margins."

Shen Xiaochuan frowned. "The problem is we don't have anyone specifically in charge of trade. Having me personally check tasks and accept orders every time is too slow. Now that we have more and more resources, if we only rely on selling goods to earn gold coins, when will we ever save up enough money?"

Carl nodded. "Are you thinking of establishing a chamber of commerce?"

"Yes." Shen Xiaochuan pointed to the map. "It's not about just setting up a random stall, but formally establishing an organization responsible for negotiating prices, transporting goods, and collecting payments. From now on, all transactions will go through this channel, so I won't have to watch every single order."

Carl thought for a moment. "How about Bill Gail? He was the former leader of the Northern Territory caravan. After his team disbanded, he came to join us three months ago and has been working in warehouse dispatch. He's good with accounts and has dealt with merchants from the outer territories."

Shen Xiaochuan nodded. "Fine, make him the president. You're in charge of organizing it; get the personnel finalized by noon tomorrow. Select the candidates from our existing Believers, prioritizing those with experience. Also, prepare a permanent caravan equipped with guards, transport vehicles, and communicators, and have them set off for Qingfeng City tomorrow to negotiate the first batch of supplies."

"Understood." Carl took notes on a few points. "Should we give it a name?"

Shen Xiaochuan said, "Just call it 'Skydome Chamber of Commerce'. It's simple, and anyone who hears it will know who it belongs to."

Carl smiled. "Alright, that's what we'll do."

He turned to leave.

"Wait." Shen Xiaochuan called him back. "Don't make it too complicated. At the beginning, only do five things: know what others want, check if we have it, negotiate the price, go through the process, and collect payment and distribute profits. Don't set other rules yet; just get the goods shipped out first."

"Got it." Carl nodded. "Fast, steady, accurate."

"Right." Shen Xiaochuan sat down and rubbed his forehead. "What I lack most right now isn't things, but liquid gold coins. As long as the money starts moving, everything else will be easy to handle."

After Carl left, Shen Xiaochuan didn't move, sitting there looking at the map. The sky gradually grew dark, and the lights in the distant Industrial Zone began to light up one by one. The hammering sounds from the Forging Workshop were still ringing, but they had already slowed down.

Just as he was about to stand up to stretch his shoulders, the door was pushed open again.

This time, Lolia walked in. She was wearing old work clothes, her hair tied neatly, holding a thick notebook in one hand and carrying a small cloth bag in the other.

"Lord Shen." She stood at the doorway, her voice soft. "You said we would continue talking about physics tonight."

"Right, I almost forgot." Shen Xiaochuan stood up and pulled out a chair. "Come, sit here. Tonight we'll talk about the application of energy conversion. I've compiled some data on the steam engine thermal efficiency problem you asked about last time."

Lolia nodded, placed the notebook on the table, and opened it; it was filled with writing and sketches. She took out a charcoal pencil and waited quietly.

Just as Shen Xiaochuan was about to speak, a fragrance wafted from the direction of the kitchen, and Lilith poked her head out.

"It's stewed," she said. "Exotic beast meat. I used a new method, slow-roasting at low temperature for two hours, and added Star-Veined Vine powder to remove the gamey smell."

"Just put it on the table," Shen Xiaochuan said. "We'll eat in a bit."

"I've already portioned it out." Lilith walked in with a tray and set down three bowls of meat. "One bowl each; it won't taste good if it gets cold."

The meat shimmered with a faint golden light, the cut was fine, and it was steaming. Lolia lowered her head to smell it, and her eyes lit up.

"It smells so good," she said.

The three of them didn't say much and started eating.

Halfway through the meal, footsteps were heard outside, followed by the door being pushed open.

Qiao Yao stood at the doorway, entering with the night wind, her shoulders slightly damp with dew.

"Am I interrupting?" She glanced at the bowls on the table. "You're eating."

"It's fine." Shen Xiaochuan put down his chopsticks. "Sit down and talk."

Qiao Yao pulled up a chair and sat down, speaking directly. "I just finished reading the second batch of mineral reports from the Thunder Crystal caves; the quality is good. But I have a new idea."

Shen Xiaochuan wiped his mouth. "Go ahead."

"I've marked out a plot of land in the Star Spirit Forest and want to build a batch of small villas." Qiao Yao took out blueprints and spread them open. "There are 1,539 units in total. Each one isn't large, but they need to have independent water sources, defensive array bases, and teleportation nodes. Can you take this on?"

Shen Xiaochuan picked up the blueprints and looked at them; the structure was simple and the standards were uniform, suitable for mass construction.

"What about the construction timeline?"

"The faster the better. The first batch of 300 units must be delivered within a month."

"The price?"

"150,000 gold coins per unit." Qiao Yao looked at him. "Cash settlement, with a 30% deposit upfront."

Shen Xiaochuan didn't agree immediately, turning to look at the panoramic view of the Divine Kingdom on the wall. The Star Spirit Forest wasn't far from Skydome City, and there was an existing transport route in between.

He calculated: over 1,500 units, 150,000 each, for a total profit of over 230 million gold coins. Even just counting the deposit, he could immediately receive over 69 million.

This money would be enough to support the construction for the next three months.

"Fine." He said. "I'll dispatch the engineering team there tomorrow to start laying the foundations. For Materials, we'll use a mix of local stone and crushed Thunder Crystal; it dries fast. The workers will work in shifts, 24 hours a day without stopping."

Qiao Yao's lips curled slightly. "Efficiency is still as high as ever."

"You don't just want houses." Shen Xiaochuan looked at her. "This land is close to the depths of the forest; you must have another purpose for choosing this location."

Qiao Yao smiled. "Smart. But I can't say too much right now. You just handle the construction; I'll arrange the rest."

"Fine." Shen Xiaochuan nodded. "But I'm warning you, I'll send patrol teams during construction. I can guarantee safety, but don't let me catch you doing anything dangerous."

"Rest assured." Qiao Yao put away the blueprints. "I just want to find a stable place for my people to settle down."

She stood up after saying this and walked toward the door, turning back just before leaving. "The deposit will arrive tomorrow morning."

After the door closed, the room was quiet for a few seconds.

Lolia lowered her head and chewed on the meat, whispering, "Over 1,500 units... how much foundation digging is that going to be?"

"It's not much for her." Shen Xiaochuan took a sip of soup. "She has resources and connections, she just hadn't found a reliable builder before. We have people, technology, and an organization now; it's the perfect collaboration."

Lilith cleared the empty bowls. "Does that mean we'll have big orders every day from now on?"

"As long as we do a good job, there will only be more and more orders." Shen Xiaochuan stood up and walked to the window to open the curtain.

In the distance, the Forging Workshop's stone monument was still lit, its runes slowly flickering. He knew that from tomorrow on, the pace of Skydome City would change again.

It would no longer be as simple as mining, forging, and upgrading.

It would be about turning these things into commodities that could be sold and exchanged for gold coins.

He turned around and saw that Lolia had already opened her notebook, holding her charcoal pencil, her eyes bright.

"Continue?" He asked.

"Mm." She nodded. "You haven't finished explaining the thermal energy conversion rate issue yet."

Shen Xiaochuan walked back to the table, picked up a pen, and drew a simple diagram on the paper.

"Alright, let's continue."