29: Daxia Interstellar Federation

After the core was set up, the next step was to deal with the five large sweet potatoes.

These were good things. If handled properly, the problem of staple food could be solved in the short term.

Sweet potatoes contain abundant carbohydrates, making them suitable as a staple food for energy, and their yield is also quite good. However, they have one drawback: eating too many can cause bloating and flatulence.

He would need to replace them with better seeds in the future.

To plant sweet potatoes, soil was needed. Luo Chen planned to ask in the chat room if anyone had any.

He opened the chat room. After the integration of the four districts, the number of people had reached 17,592.

Through the group announcement in the chat room, Luo Chen learned that the other three integrated districts were ECB1 from Great Xia, EJT0 from Japan, and EAA0 from the Northern Country.

At this moment, patriotic individuals in the group were fiercely debating the rankings on the leaderboard.

Luo Chen didn't have time to argue about such trivial matters. He opened the Trade Center and posted a buying request.

"Soil: 0.1 m3 for 500ml of water, remaining: 10."

Luo Chen didn't know the exact price, so he could only make a rough estimate. If the price was too high, no one would trade, and he would adjust it then.

If the price was too low, he wouldn't lose much anyway, just 10 bottles of water; Boss Luo Chen wasn't short on that.

After posting the trade, with nothing else to do, he curiously opened the newly added regional ranking feature after the merger, wanting to see the current development of the various Train Conductors.

He hadn't had time in the morning, so now was a good time to check.

He clicked it open.

A long list appeared before his eyes, with the top three highlighted in special colors, making them particularly conspicuous.

"Train Number: ECB11111; Train Level: 12 - Bronze; Number of Vice Train Captains: 6; Number of Carriages: 26; Overall Score: 3750."

"Train Number: ECB08888; Train Level: 12 - Bronze; Number of Vice Train Captains: 4; Number of Carriages: 18; Overall Score: 2605."

"Train Number: EAA00075; Train Level: 12 - Bronze; Number of Vice Train Captains: 3; Number of Carriages: 18; Overall Score: 2590."

... "Train Number: ECB05240; Train Level: 5 - Bronze; Number of Vice Train Captains: 3; Number of Carriages: 14; Overall Score: 4210."

He actually ranked eighth?

But it was acceptable. After all, others were already level 12, while he was still stuck at level 5. Ranking eighth was most likely due to his overall score pulling him up.

Just who was this ECB11111, leading by such a significant margin?

Opening his friends list, Luo Chen decided to ask Qin Mengyue.

"Do you know who is first on the leaderboard?"

Soon, Qin Mengyue replied, "I know. It's someone from the official side. They are currently trying to rally other Great Xia Train Conductors to form an alliance. Haven't they contacted you?"

"No!" Luo Chen was startled, not expecting the officials to start forming a united front so quickly.

He then thought about it for a moment and wasn't too surprised. Given the officials' usual behavior, there was no way they wouldn't re-establish their influence in a new place; he just hadn't expected it to be so fast.

"Check your private messages. You're ranked eighth; there's no way they wouldn't try to win you over."

Luo Chen clicked on his private messages, and a flood of information suddenly popped up. There were girls wanting to warm his bed, promotions for used outfits, and even people claiming their cats could do backflips.

Luo Chen was speechless. What did he care if their cats could do backflips?

The most disgusting one was a black man who claimed he was especially good at picking up soap, which scared Luo Chen into immediately blacklisting him.

Finally, among a jumble of chaotic private chats, Luo Chen found a private message from Train Conductor ECB11111. Judging by the profile picture, it seemed to be the Prefect of the Great Xia capital, the Fourth Prince of the Great Xia Empire's monarch.

"Respected Train Conductor ECB05240, I am Train Conductor Xia Liang of ECB11111, and I sincerely invite you to join our Great Xia official organization — the Great Xia Interstellar Federation."

Luo Chen read it but didn't reply, directly clicking to exit. His current life was good, and he didn't want to return to a life of dependence.

However, he was somewhat curious about Qin Mengyue's opinion. Returning to Qin Mengyue's chat window, Luo Chen edited a message and replied, "I saw it! What do you think?"

"What do I think? What else can I think? Are you willing to be managed? Are you willing to hand over the resources you worked hard to obtain?" Qin Mengyue sent a series of questions, clearly stating her stance.

"Hmm! It seems you're not willing either." Luo Chen also didn't reply directly.

"While we won't join them, we can try to cooperate with them. After all, we are all part of Great Xia. Even if our ideas differ, we shouldn't attack each other."

For merchants, profit is paramount. As long as the profit is great enough, they can even cooperate with devils.

"At their current speed, it won't be long before they form a powerful force. If we don't form an alliance, we are very likely to be swallowed up by them," Luo Chen expressed his concern.

Currently, his Train Level was low. If he didn't rally more people as a shield, he would very likely be swallowed up in the end.

If it came to that, he might not even get a share of the passengers.

Thinking of this, Luo Chen felt a sense of urgency for the first time.

"You don't have to worry so much about that. Those people are only good at shouting slogans. If you really ask them to hand over resources, they'd be the first to refuse."

Qin Mengyue was not as pessimistic as Luo Chen, but she also didn't want to see the Great Xia Interstellar Federation grow stronger.

Once most Train Conductors were attracted to the Great Xia Interstellar Federation, it would inevitably reduce her clientele. Without a large number of clients, her business would not be able to continue.

"I have already established a Great Xia Trade Alliance. Three people from the top twenty on the leaderboard have already joined. If you are willing, you can also join."

"My alliance is relatively loose. The development of alliance members does not interfere with each other, so you don't have to worry about the alliance interfering with you. The only thing to do is to unite to resist the annexation of other forces."

Looking at the invitation sent by Qin Mengyue, Luo Chen was a bit dumbfounded. Just now she was talking about cooperation, and now she had formed an alliance.

Luo Chen remembered that Qin Mengyue knew a lot of information he didn't, and wondered if she would share it with alliance members: "Will you share some of the information you know?"

"I will share some information with other alliance members from time to time, but there is a price. Alliance members must complete their material transactions through me first."

"Alright!" After a brief thought, Luo Chen agreed. Not having to obey unified management perfectly aligned with his ideas.

"I'll pull you into the group chat. There's no limit to how many messages you can send in there, so you can speak freely."

"What new feature is a group chat?"

"Group chat creation becomes available when the Train reaches level ten. It doesn't have much use."

Luo Chen exited the chat, and a 'Great Xia Trade Alliance' group chat appeared in the side panel, showing 1138 members.

He hadn't expected Qin Mengyue to gather a group of over a thousand people so quickly.

He entered the group chat.

"Welcome Boss Luo Chen!" * N

"Welcome Great God Luo Chen!" * N

Xiao Langxue: "Great God, Great God, next time we meet, please take me in! I'm light and soft, easy to push over, and I can cook and make noodles. I can do anything, please!"

A string of welcoming praises for him echoed in the chat group. Even various forbidden words were sent out; if it weren't for the censorship system, who knows how many jaws would have dropped.

Watching these people praise him, the corners of Luo Chen's mouth unconsciously curved upwards.

Although he understood that these people were just casually flattering him. In the past on Blue Star, if someone achieved even a little success online, they could be praised as a boss or a great god... But this feeling of being surrounded and praised indeed allowed him to experience immense emotional value, and his mood improved considerably.

However, while Great Xia people liked to flatter, what they were most keen on was 'praise to kill'. It was fine to be happy and enjoy it for a bit, but if he took it seriously, he wouldn't even know how he died.