How Yi Yueluxi made money, Fang You wasn't clear, and if he knew, he would just smile.
At most, it was a few hundred tables of dishes and a million Huang Yuan. Xin Huo wasn't too wealthy, compared to national-level powers, a million Huang Yuan was just pocket change. Moreover, they had just received a massive amount of foreign exchange from Lang Hua Country.
He still had to ponder how to spend this money.
Keeping it in hand was impossible. As the wave of the mysterious era surged forward, ordinary currency would become increasingly worthless. The higher currency of the future would inevitably be Gui Jing.
"However, Xin Huo also has many places to spend money. The future plan is to establish multiple Class I branches worldwide, a dozen or so Class II branches, and a number of Class III branches."
In his vision, Class I branches were important bases with secret realm passages.
Currently, the Shuize Prefecture training base, the Pacific training base, Xin Huo village, Ju Huo town, and the Secret Land outpost were all such bases.
Class II branches were important strongholds of Xin Huo, high-level offices, equipped with complete detection equipment, and had Three Awakeners stationed there.
This was merely his imagination. Currently, Xin Huo didn't even have many Triple Awakeners, and they all had their own missions, making it impossible to dispatch them for stationing.
There weren't that many branches needing stationing now.
Class III branches were ordinary offices.
"The construction of these branches alone requires a huge amount of funds. This foreign exchange from Lang Hua Country is not quite enough, and Xin Huo also plans to build several secondary training bases around the world, which will also require a lot of spending."
"There's also the procurement of various materials for the forging department, medicinal herbs for the medical department... The intelligence department also needs money to develop informants, and the daily operations of each base and office."
And so on. Seemingly having just received a massive sum of money, they were still short on funds.
But it didn't matter. This foreign exchange from Lang Hua Country could sustain them for a while. During this time, they could 'shear' the wool from countries like Ri Luo and Bai Xiong.
The transaction with Lang Hua Country was also not over.
A batch of potion weapons had been procured, and they would have to continue buying in the future, right? After buying them, they would have to buy more student training slots, right? After buying all of these, there would still be upgraded versions, high-spec versions, and rare versions, right?
Xin Huo was not wealthy, but money was never a problem.
He, Fang You, didn't care about money.
Being able to obtain valuable intelligence from Yi Yueluxi with ordinary food was, rounding up, getting it for free.
"The City of Falling Stars, the Holy Serpent Society, and other major oases?"
"Small oases have narrow territories, few survivors, and most importantly, they are weak. They can only huddle within the oasis and survive with difficulty, and might be erased from the map any day."
"Major oases, firstly, have larger territories that can support more people. Secondly, they have a sufficient number of strong individuals who can travel far to explore the Guijie and trade with other oasis powers."
These were the fundamentals of survival. Otherwise, just staying within a small oasis, with no additional income, no equipment, no potions, no materials, and nothing, even if the claws of the evil god didn't care, destruction would still be inevitable.
In Fang You's mind, a rough outline of the survival situation of oasis powers began to form.
Of course, this was just Yi Yueluxi's word. If there was an opportunity, he would have to obtain information from other oases.
Besides this, he had also commissioned Sister An to purchase two potion recipes:
White-grade Strength Potion and Green-grade Blood Burning Potion, both of which were combat potions that could temporarily enhance one's combat power.
Especially the Blood Burning Potion, it was effective even on non-humans like him, though its side effects were significant.
"Guijie, shallow layer, deep layer, oasis."
Fang You opened the Guijie Exploration module. On the completely dark map, a few explored areas were shown in a light gray color, spreading out like branching tree limbs towards the depths of Guijie.
Combined with the intelligence obtained from Yi Yueluxi, Xin Huo's exploration of Guijie, and the information he received, Guijie in his eyes was like an interwoven net, gradually becoming clearer.
Entrances to the deep layer had now been discovered in three places.
"The first one was discovered by An Jianyou and the others when they were searching for the Silver Scale Heart Armor. The entrance is located within the Shuize Prefecture in the shallow layer of Guijie, resembling a giant sinkhole spiraling downwards, with crisscrossing caves inside, filled with peculiar and magnificent crystals, leading to an unknown place."
"We have named this area the 'Falling Star Caverns'!"
"The second one is located two hundred kilometers west of the Secret Land in Ao Prefecture. On the boundless desert that appeared in reality, a continuous range of hills suddenly emerged. Following these black hills deeper, one would enter an area that does not overlap with the real world."
"There, mountains stretch endlessly, and a low, strange wind blows, like the sighs of a terrifying existence."
"We have named this area the 'Sighing Mountains'!"
"The third one is located in Yunling Prefecture of the present world. Walking deeper into the White Wood Forest, the trees become increasingly withered and decaying, and the earth becomes dry. Grayish, dead trees stand on the ground like skeletons."
"Continuing northward from here, one can enter a vast area scattered with giant beast skeletons. This area is named the 'Burial Ground'!"
The three regions had vastly different terrains.
However, combined with the intelligence from Yi Yueluxi, Fang You was 80% sure that the Black Stone Alliance was in the Falling Star Caverns.
As for more, he naturally didn't know.
Currently, Xin Huo's exploration of the 'deep layer regions' was still limited to the doorstep.
But with more visits, they would eventually be able to venture deeper.
He organized and summarized the information. "It's time to update the textbooks for the 'General Knowledge of Guijie' course."
...
Lang Hua Country,
Anderson and others, carrying this batch of precious potions, quickly returned to the headquarters of the Super Combat Department.
They did not directly distribute the potions but proceeded directly to the Mysterious Research Department under the Super Combat Department. The accompanying old professor was a pharmaceutical expert and was already impatient.
Sampling, testing, analyzing.
Lang Hua Country possessed world-class ritual equipment and was at the forefront of research into mysterious materials and Awakeners. Now, with this batch of potions as a reference, it should not be difficult to replicate them!
The replicated potions could not be openly sold, but even if they could only be used secretly, they would save the Super Combat Department countless funds and enhance their technological points in mysterious potionology.
Such important potions definitely could not be continuously purchased from Xin Huo.
They had to master them themselves!
"How is it, Professor? Can we replicate these potions?"
The white-haired professor glanced at him and waved his hand dismissively, telling Anderson to stand back.
"The experiments have just begun. What do you want me to tell you?"
"If you have nothing to do, go busy yourselves. I will inform you when there are results."
"Roughly? Do you have confidence? This is very important," Anderson asked.
The professor pondered for a moment, "I can't guarantee it yet, but based on my experience and our technological reserves, replication is not difficult, it just requires time."
"This process could take one to two years if slow, or yield results in half a year or a few months if fast."
Half a year! Anderson could accept this timeframe.
Their Super Combat Department could wait. After half a year, they would possess their own special potion technology and be at the forefront of the new era.
The potions purchased from Xin Huo were indeed very expensive, but as long as these potions were converted into their own, it would be a massive profit.
An absolute windfall!
Anderson was overjoyed. He would undoubtedly leave a significant mark in the history of Lang Hua Country.
With a cheerful mood, Anderson returned to his office, gazing at Lang Hua City, which was undergoing post-disaster reconstruction.
The city was dilapidated, and the shouts of people protesting could still be heard.
But none of this could affect his good mood. In a few days, the decline of Lang Hua Country would be completely reversed.
At the same time,
Ri Luo Country, Night Watcher Department.
"Have you found any traces of the mysterious organization?"
Yule, the 'Bishop' and one of the high-ranking officials of the Night Watchers, asked in a deep voice.
The young Night Watcher in front of him shook his head and then nodded. "We have collected various clues in Fog Capital, but we still cannot find the whereabouts of those mysterious powerful individuals, as if they appeared out of thin air and disappeared out of thin air."
"However, we discovered that the people from the Lang Hua Super Combat Department took special action this morning."
"Special action?"
"The Minister of the Super Combat Department, Anderson, Deputy Minister Katrina, and several core powerhouses made a secret trip. It was very clandestine. We wouldn't have discovered it otherwise, but by chance, our agent in Windhelm City caught a glimpse of it, and we can basically confirm it!"
Yule's eyes widened slightly, and a grave expression appeared on his face.
This matter was indeed strange. The internal environment of Lang Hua Country was chaotic, and Lang Hua City had suffered heavy losses. At this time, why would Minister Anderson travel far away? And with Katrina at that.
These two people belonged to different consortiums and factions, and they didn't get along well.
Their leaving together was already not very logical, and it was a secret departure.
There might be a big secret hidden here.
Could it be related to the mysterious organization?
Yule pondered for a moment and said, "Dispatch more personnel to Windhelm City. Also, closely monitor the changes in Lang Hua Country during this period."
...
Xin Huo, Pacific Training Base.
From one of the buildings, several rookies carried out unsealed cardboard boxes one after another.
"What are you guys doing?"
Ye Luo, who was passing by, asked an old friend.
Yu Baibai, who was quite chubby, said, "We've received the task of moving textbooks. I only managed to grab this by using the speed of a virgin for twenty years. Damn, there are too few tasks I can take."
He looked at Ye Luo with a hint of envy.
This ordinary fellow villager was actually an Awakener. Awakeners had many more tasks they could take within the training base. Just moving bricks could earn a lot of contribution points in a day.
Alas, why did the brick-moving task have a prerequisite of Physique 2.0 or above?
This was too difficult for him, a fat man!
Yu Baibai puffed out his chest and held up the large cardboard box. "I heard these are new textbooks. I didn't expect to have to study so much cultural knowledge after coming to this training base."
"Not only do we have to learn, but our textbooks are also increasing day by day. I heard from the senior students that there were only three books in the beginning, and now there are seven... oh no, eight."
"I finally graduated, and I still have to memorize knowledge points one by one. It's too difficult."
A group of people chattered.