95: Chapter 95: Shipment Impasse Breaks Down, Military Enters the Scene

The evening of the second day after the transmission talisman was sent out, Commander Tie Zhan's reply arrived.

It was not Commander Tie Zhan himself who came. The reply only contained two lines: "Read. Three days later, Manager Wei will arrive at the port to inspect the goods. This person is a logistics procurement representative for Zhenhai Fortress; he can be trusted."

After reading it, Lu Changyuan handed the transmission talisman to Su Qingli.

"Prepare yourself. The comparison records for the two batches of purification liquid, the data from each test, and the list of raw ingredients for the formula—transcribe all of them."

Su Qingli took the transmission talisman and glanced at it. "Who is Manager Wei?"

"One of Commander Tie Zhan's men. He handles procurement."

"Compared to Jubao Pavilion—"

"It's different." Lu Changyuan interrupted her. "When Manager Zhou came, he brought a mouth. When Manager Wei comes, he will be looking at the goods."

On the third day, just past noon.

A grey-hulled speedboat appeared at the end of the channel to the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island. The speedboat was not large—even shorter than Blue Moon Island's own patrol spirit boat—and the hull bore no merchant markings, flying only a small passage flag from Zhenhai Fortress. It had a very shallow draft and moved quickly; from the moment it appeared in view until it docked, it took no more than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

The gangplank was lowered. A middle-aged man wearing a grey cloth long gown walked down.

He was about forty-something, with no expression on his face. The grey cloth long gown on his body was clean, the cuffs worn white but without a single wrinkle. Tied at his waist was a copper military medallion, the design almost identical to Lu Changyuan's, only the characters on it were different—Logistics Procurement, rather than Deputy Envoy. Behind him followed two young clerks, each clutching a thick, blank book.

Lu Changyuan waited for him at the Pier.

"Manager Wei."

"Deputy Envoy Lu." Manager Wei cupped his hands in greeting. Without any pleasantries, his gaze shifted from Lu Changyuan to the direction of the warehouse behind the Pier. "Where are the goods?"

"Lords Mansion living room. Look at the records first."

"Let's go."

Manager Wei walked quickly. On the path from the Outer Port Pier to the Lords Mansion, he did not ask any questions about the island—he didn't ask about the population, the spirit fields, or the throughput of the Pier. His attention was focused on only one thing: whether the efficacy of that batch of purification liquid could meet the standard to be included on the military supply list.

Lords Mansion living room. Chen Mo had already spread out the comparison records of the two batches of purification liquid on the table. It wasn't just three or five pages—it was a thick stack. Every page was recorded item by item according to date, batch, formula, liquid output, quality rating, and measured data for three types of uses. The detailed data for the first pot of eighty-seven small bottles and the comparison data for the second batch of one hundred and twenty small bottles were all perfectly clear.

Once Manager Wei sat down, he did not stand up again. He flipped through page by page, reading every single one. He stopped when he reached a certain page—it was Chen Mo's recorded wound purification test: taking a sea hare contaminated by low-grade Devilish Qi, after applying the purification liquid to the edge of the wound, the time for the Devilish Qi to recede was one incense stick's duration. The control group, treated only with purification powder, required two hours.

"How many times was this tested?"

"Five times." Chen Mo said. "Three times successful, once the effect was halved—that was because the wound was too deep and the liquid didn't seep in properly. Once ineffective—that used the earliest batch of the formula, where the ratio of old sand was too high."

Manager Wei made a note in his book.

"What about other uses?"

"Talisman enhancement was tested eight times." Chen Mo flipped to another page. "Old thunder-pattern talisman paper soaked in purification liquid sees its Evil-warding Talisman effect increased by twenty to thirty percent. When used mixed with purification powder, the purification speed doubles."

"Are there any ineffective cases?"

"Yes. It is useless against Devilish Qi contamination that has already seeped into the bone marrow. For wounds left by high-grade devil-transformed sea beasts, it can only slow the spread, not cure it completely."

Manager Wei did not show a disappointed expression. He closed the record book.

"Go to the Trial Workshop. I want to see the entire process of one pot from inputting materials to extracting the liquid."

In the underground stone chamber, the array pot was already burning. Chen Mo, accompanied by two apprentices—a fifteen-year-old boy and a woman in her forties—stood in front of the pot. The boy was responsible for recording the wood shavings, the woman was responsible for sealing the spirit threads, and Chen Mo himself watched the heat. The base liquid for the third batch had already been simmering in the pot for two days, and it was now in the final stage.

Manager Wei stood by the pot, watching from beginning to end.

He did not speak. He simply used a thin jade stick to dip into the liquid in the pot at three different time points, held it under his nose to smell, and then made a few notes in his book. The first note was made after the materials were added—the liquid was still greyish-white, with the bitter taste at its strongest. The second note was made in the middle—the liquid began to turn a light cyan, the bitter taste weakened, and the cooling sensation strengthened. The third note was made before taking it out of the pot—the color of the liquid stabilized to a light cyan, and the speed at which it coated the wall of the vessel was a beat slower than water.

"Stop." Manager Wei raised his hand.

Chen Mo turned to look at him.

"That's enough." Manager Wei said. "Take it out."

The liquid flowed out from the jade faucet at the bottom of the array pot, pouring into rows of small jade bottles. A total of one hundred and seventeen bottles were filled—three fewer than the second batch, but the quality of each bottle was almost exactly the same. Manager Wei randomly picked up three bottles, looked at the color against a night-luminescent stone, and pulled out the stopper to smell them.

Then he put the bottles back.

"Deputy Envoy Lu. Let's discuss the price."

Lords Mansion living room. The tea had already been brewed—bitter algae tea produced locally on Blue Moon Island. It was not fine tea, but it had a clean, bitter taste that unexpectedly paired well with the scent of the purification liquid.

Manager Wei did not touch the teacup.

"Let me state the conclusion first." He took a blank military procurement contract from his sleeve and spread it on the table. "Your two batches of goods meet the procurement standard for Low Grade purification-type military supplies at Zhenhai Fortress. The formula is still being optimized, but the direction is correct. The raw materials are limited by the thunder bamboo yield, so large-scale production is currently not possible—but that is not a problem. What Zhenhai Fortress lacks right now is a reliable source that can stably produce small batches."

He pointed to the blank column on the contract.

"The terms are as follows: based on the current monthly output of one hundred and twenty small bottles, Zhenhai Fortress will take the entire production every month. Forty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones per bottle. No long-term contract, a three-month trial supply. After three months, we will renegotiate the price based on the actual usage results."

Chen Mo gasped beside them.

Forty-five.

The price Jubao Pavilion offered last time wasn't even half of this.

"No exclusivity required?" Lu Changyuan asked.

"None required. You can sell to others." Manager Wei said. "But there is one condition—you cannot sell to the hostile forces of Zhenhai Fortress. The definition of this scope will be clearly written in the contract."

"What about the formula?"

"We don't want it. Military procurement doesn't ask about formulas; we only look at efficacy and supply capability. What raw materials you use, what heat, what people you use to make it—that is your business. I only care about inspecting the goods after each batch arrives—if it meets the standard, we accept it; if not, we return it."

Lu Changyuan picked up the contract and read it from beginning to end.

The terms were very clean. There were no traps, no hidden clauses, and no vague wording like "to be adjusted after mutual negotiation." A three-month trial supply, with renegotiation upon expiration. In the entire practice of military procurement in the Zhenhai defense zone, this was already considered an extremely favorable condition.

"Sign."

Lu Changyuan took up a pen and stamped the contract.

Manager Wei also stamped his own copy. In duplicate, with each holding one. Done.

Chen Mo stood by for a while, finally unable to hold back, and said in a low voice: "Forty-five per bottle. The appropriate range I calculated before was forty to fifty—when Deputy Commander Tie Zhan's man comes to offer a price, he starts right at the middle."

When Manager Wei heard the three words "Deputy Commander Tie Zhan," he did not react. He put the copy of the contract belonging to Zhenhai Fortress into his sleeve and then stood up.

"Deputy Envoy Lu. Deputy Commander Tie Zhan also had a message for me to convey."

"Please speak."

"The acceptance note for this batch of goods will be sent to the Command Headquarters together with the next batch of war damage compensation for Xuangui Island. The two matters will be handled as one—Deputy Commander Tie Zhan said, you understand his meaning."

Lu Changyuan nodded.

He understood. Commander Tie Zhan was telling him: do not stop this line of purification liquid. Once military procurement enters the formal process, there will be a smoother channel to use for subsequent war damage supplies, material allocation, and even personnel mobilization. This was not just a business of forty-five per bottle.

When they saw Manager Wei off, the sun was already slanting westward. The grey-hulled speedboat left the Pier, dragging a shallow white wake from its stern, and soon disappeared at the end of the Outer Port channel.

Lu Changyuan stood by the Pier and handed the signed contract to Su Qingli.

"Record it. One batch per month, calculated at one hundred and twenty bottles—monthly income of five thousand four hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones. That's sixty-five thousand in a year."

Su Qingli took the contract and lowered her head to calculate.

"Enough to buy three months' worth of rations. Not enough to support nearly ten thousand people."

"No rush." Lu Changyuan said. "Three-month trial supply. If we renew after three months, the price will change. And—" He turned his head to look at the deep blue water beneath the Outer Port Pier. "purification liquid is not the only thing Blue Moon Island can sell. The sea area purified by the Starlight Coral can support shellfish farms, fish schools, and seaweed. The iron-thorn vines can be cut for ship keels in three years. The jade ears can verify the yield per mu after one season of harvesting. Jade shellfish can be harvested for three to five layers of cold jade marrow per year."

"The substrate hasn't matured yet."

"Correct. The substrate has started to grow."

As his voice faded, a very slight vibration suddenly came from his chest.

He took the black turtle egg from his chest.

The pale golden patterns on the eggshell were flowing faster than they had in the past few days. The pulse in his palm was significantly stronger than it had been in the morning—not a gradual increase, but a jump in speed. It was as if it had been waiting for a certain signal, and then that signal had suddenly drawn near.

Lu Changyuan pressed his entire palm against the eggshell.

Cold. Deep. Dark.

Three words flooded into his mind simultaneously. And this time, there was an additional instinct—direction. Northwest. Crystal clear.

He opened his eyes.

"Uncle Hu."

"I'm here."

"Tomorrow, take fifty Sword Ray Cavalry. Come with me to Cold Dragon Abyss."

Lu Hu was already touching the hilt of his sword.

"Not waiting anymore?"

"Not waiting." Lu Changyuan put the egg back into his chest. "It is urging me."

Su Qingli glanced at him from the side. She did not say "be careful"—having followed him for so long, she knew that when the Young Lord made such decisions, he did not need those two words. She simply closed the account book and said: "Leng Feng and I will be on the island. Have the cavalry bring enough dry rations and Evil-warding Talismans—that fog is not ordinary sea fog; it is unclear what is in the cold gale fog."

"Understood."

The sea breeze blew over. On the surface of the cold water channel on the north side of the Outer Port Pier, a very faint ripple was spreading outwards from the edge of the reef wall—that was the trace of the Starlight Coral mother branch extending its tentacles underwater. Thirty zhang a year, it had only just begun, but it had already started to move.

Lu Changyuan turned and walked in the direction of the Pier.

Lu Hu had already started counting the heads of the cavalry.