169: Chapter 169 A Lucky Accident

The atmosphere within the palace suddenly became oppressive. After a stretch of heavy silence, Bai Ming was the first to break it.

"Since the situation is so critical, I think you should hold off on the treatment for now, Commander Zhou Huai. Otherwise, just as you recover from your injuries, you might be sent off by the Domain Master for a gambling match."

"Let's leave this place of trouble together. As long as we have divine power points in hand, we can just go to another Star Domain for treatment. Even if it's a bit more expensive, it's better than being severely injured again, or worse..."

Upon hearing this, a bitter smile appeared on Commander Zhou Huai's face.

"I didn't realize the situation had deteriorated to this extent before. It was only after news of my potential recovery spread that my former colleagues mentioned it to me. As for leaving? The entire Star Domain has been locked down from the inside by the Domain Master; entry is allowed, but exit is forbidden."

"Except for those with a direct order from the Domain Master, even second or third-tier Lower-tier Gods need a valid reason to leave. As for us Intermediate Gods, even in our disabled state, it is very difficult to leave."

Hearing that the Star Domain had actually been sealed off by the Domain Master, Zhang Qi became anxious. The situation hadn't fully spread yet, but if everyone found out, there was no guarantee the Star Domain wouldn't descend into chaos.

Severely injured as he was, the last thing he wanted was to be in a chaotic environment. Who knew if some malicious person might covet his divine body!

Compared to the possibility of becoming someone else's Artifact Refining Materials, he would rather sign this Death Contract!

"Commander Zhou Huai, what do you think is the deal with this Group Owner? Could there be some hidden issues with this Death Contract that we don't know about?"

With the situation taking a sudden turn, Zhang Qi could only plan ahead. Regardless, restoring his strength was the right move.

Given the current circumstances, he had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils...

Watching the two men staring fixedly at him, Commander Zhou Huai let out a heavy sigh. He then recounted his entire experience of meeting the Group Owner.

"That is the specific situation. You're asking me now if this Death Contract might have issues? It's a Death Contract—what do you think?"

"At any rate, I have already agreed upon the necessary precautions with the Group Owner in the Death Contract. As long as I don't violate those conditions, as for the rest... I can't afford to worry about it."

"After all, in our current situation, if we want to fully recover, we either risk our lives executing dangerous missions or sell ourselves to someone who can afford the price. At least for now, this unknown Group Owner hasn't shown any malice. As for the future?"

"Who can predict the future? Even those powerful beings who Cultivate the Dao of Fate and Time can barely catch a glimpse of the future. In our situation, we can only take it one step at a time."

How could Zhang Qi and Bai Ming not know this? The reason they wanted to ask in person was perhaps just to give themselves an excuse...

Anping County had recently experienced a sudden upheaval. The opening of over a thousand new shops by the Fang Family seemed to be a signal, and soon, all the major shops and commercial firms in the county tacitly launched massive promotional events.

Whether it was discounts, spending thresholds for savings, buy-ten-get-one-free offers, or special rewards for loyal customers—it was a blooming display of sales that instantly emptied the wallets of the ordinary people and rogue gods in the county.

Resources they had never been willing to buy in previous years were now being bought to their heart's content. After all, everyone knew how to do the math; this was much cheaper than the lowest prices online.

And the quality was guaranteed. If they didn't buy now, what if the promotion was gone tomorrow?

Didn't those merchants advertising the sales say it? Last three days, last week, clearing inventory! Regardless of whether it was true or not, the prices were genuinely cheap.

The various powerful families and factions only received an ambiguous answer from the mouth of that old fox, Patriarch Fang Hong: "Do not force things in any matter."

Was this telling them to wash their necks and wait for death? How arrogant! They were established families and factions that had stood for thousands of years; they weren't easily intimidated!

They truly did not believe that the person behind the Fang Family could contend with all of them single-handedly! Wasn't it just a price war?

At worst, they would just earn a little less, while the person behind the Fang Family wouldn't be making a single faith point in profit!

They refused to believe that the other side could keep working for free for long!

As the price war escalated, the ordinary people and rogue gods in the county felt for the first time that their faith points and divine power points were not enough to spend.

Although they had never had enough before, this feeling was... different.

The cheap goods were clearly right there, but their faith points and divine power points were already spent. That feeling... it was something else!

Lin Xiao was also constantly monitoring the development of the situation. Whenever other families matched the prices of the Fang Family, he immediately had the Fang Family lower them further!

Within a few days, he had driven the prices down to the cost price!

One must know that the merchants selling resources online, even individual ones, had to account for costs and platform taxes when selling.

But the Fang Family at this moment had even cut out the taxes. It was purely the cost price! Once it reached this point, Lin Xiao didn't have the Fang Family lower the prices any further, regardless of whether the other families did.

On this day, Lin Xiao was observing his Believers' Cultivate as usual, then checking on the progress of the commercial war. He ended up receiving messages from Number Three and Number Four in the group.

With the same words at the same time, both expressed a desire to sign a Death Contract with him. However, the contract terms had to be the same as Number One (Commander Zhou Huai).

Lin Xiao naturally didn't know about the situation in the Xuanxu Star Region and thought that he had finally broken through the deadlock. He assumed there would be more and more Intermediate God subordinates in the future!

He naturally agreed to both of their requests.

After all, he was recruiting these Intermediate Gods partly for the settlements, and partly as a precaution.

As long as he didn't face any unsolvable danger, he would just keep these Intermediate Gods. He wouldn't waste these precious resources carelessly.

With the previous experience, Lin Xiao made sure to have enough divine power points this time. He didn't use all his divine power points just to buy Spirit Puppets.

Moreover, with the commercial war starting these past few days, his daily settlements had increased by tens of millions. Of course, that wasn't the main thing.

The most important thing was Commander Zhou Huai!

On his own, just in divine power points alone, he had boosted Lin Xiao by a full hundred million!

Not to mention those high-tier resources. With the settlements from two Intermediate Gods in hand, Lin Xiao also discovered an interesting phenomenon.

It seemed that within the Divine Kingdom of an Intermediate God, there were always the main Materials for building a temple.

Shi Mu had two types of purple and one type of green construction resources, while Commander Zhou Huai, perhaps because he was poor, only had three types of ordinary white construction resources in his Divine Kingdom—the basic models that Magistrate Mei Fang had introduced before.

However, he only found it interesting and didn't delve deeper. He just assumed these resources were rare and easy to sell.

He didn't know that this stuff was an essential promotion Material for an Intermediate God.

After all, it had been introduced before that all the power and authority of an Intermediate God came from the temple. Naturally, the promotion of an Intermediate God was inseparable from the expansion and upgrading of the temple.

However, these matters had little to do with Lin Xiao at this moment.

He was currently happy about having acquired two more Intermediate God subordinates. Because of the information asymmetry, Lin Xiao made a wrong judgment, believing that he had completely opened up the circle of Intermediate Gods.

Next, he should be harvesting Intermediate Gods like crazy!

Therefore, he immediately gave instructions to the three of them, telling them to bring more Intermediate Gods in similar situations into the group.

Although Lin Xiao had made a misjudgment due to the information asymmetry, it unexpectedly aligned perfectly with the current situation in the Xuanxu Star Region.