"City Lord."
"As you instructed, I’ve collected 500 and sent them to you."
In the private message box.
Kailin had been ordered to acquire exploration invitation letters from the city-state. Chen Yu had initially just been trying it out, never expecting that trading would actually work.
In less than five minutes, he had received 500 copies.
Clicking on the gifting page.
Ding.
You have received a gift from Kailin.
Exploration Invitation Letter +500.
Chen Yu didn't collect too many at once. Although invitation letters could be traded, he wasn't sure if those bought from others could be used.
Moreover—
Even if they could be used, invitation letters had time limits.
If he had too many, he wouldn't be able to use them all.
After receiving the invitation letters, Chen Yu immediately checked his remaining exploration attempts.
506.
"Holy cow, they actually work!"
Seeing the number of exploration attempts, Chen Yu was stunned.
This was probably a loophole, right?
The invitation letters weren't bound to the holder. If others also acquired invitation letters, wouldn't they also have more than 10 exploration attempts?
This must not be exposed.
Perhaps someone in the underground world had already discovered this, but the fact that it hadn't been revealed meant that they were also hiding this information.
Chen Yu certainly wouldn't break this tacit understanding.
After a moment of thought, he directly made a video call to Kailin.
"City Lord."
Almost instantly, a projection of Kailin appeared on his wristband.
At this moment, she was in a wilderness, with no one else in sight. She knew very well that their identities as City Lord and her should not be known to outsiders.
"Kailin, the matter of acquiring invitation letters cannot be made public."
"Ah?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Yu saw Kailin freeze, and then a look of panic appeared in her eyes. wp.kanshu.net
"Could it be that many people already know?" Chen Yu frowned. "Didn't we only collect 500 copies? That's only for 50 people."
"They spread it too fast."
Kailin in the projection mumbled, her lips moving.
"I intended to acquire them on a small scale and took them elsewhere. But when they encountered other outsiders, they mentioned the matter of acquiring exploration invitation letters, and soon everyone knew."
This was truly terrible.
He hadn't foreseen this situation in advance.
Arriving in the underground world, a strange environment, survivors would instinctively see other survivors as companions and share any information.
Perhaps there were some who were more selfish among them.
But—
In reality, such people were still a minority.
Even without many people, word of mouth could spread from one to ten, and ten to a hundred. By then, even those who wanted to keep it secret would disseminate the information when they saw that it couldn't be kept hidden anymore.
Chen Yu clicked on the regional chat page.
"Hey, I've got big news for you all. The City Lord of the city-state we went to is acquiring exploration invitation letters, buying them for 10 copper coins~"
"Is there such a thing?"
"10 copper coins, is copper coins the currency of the underground world? How much does that equate to in our resource points?"
"Is the City Lord still buying? I want to sell some too, 5 copper coins is fine. I can never use these exploration invitation letters, they're all wasted."
"Me too, me too!"
"I don't know, the City Lord only collected 500 copies. I don't know if she'll collect more. We're all waiting now. Selling 10 invitation letters is more than our daily wages."
"If she's still collecting, be sure to tell us."
...
The news had already spread. The entire region knew about the acquisition of invitation letters.
It couldn't be contained anymore.
"Heh~"
Chen Yu chuckled as he looked at the scrolling chat page.
This might not be a bad thing.
The survivors in the underground world knowing that invitation letters could be traded would inevitably disrupt the interests of those who acquired them privately. Perhaps the prices offered by those private acquirers were not low.
According to Chen Yu's calculations.
Currently, the survivors in the underground world could stably earn over 3000 a day.
An income of 3 silver coins.
Converted, that was an income of 30 copper coins per ticket.
Chen Yu was quite puzzled as to why the natives of the underground world would rather work for dozens of copper coins a day than explore outside.
They had no exploration limits, so their survival rate should be higher compared to outsiders.
It was possible that the natives also sought stability. Although exploring outside offered higher rewards, it was also very dangerous.
They preferred to choose stable jobs.
Those who could calculate the exploration revenue would not acquire them at a price higher than 3000 resource points. If nothing unexpected happened, they would likely acquire them around 1500 resource points.
This equated to 150 copper coins, or 15 copper coins per copy.
However—
Here comes the key point.
Survivors were not aware of the ratio between survival points and copper coins like Chen Yu was. When Chen Yu offered 10 copper coins, they would be more inclined towards Chen Yu's offer.
It was very simple.
Chen Yu was offering underground currency, and survivors knew very well that they would eventually integrate into life in the underground world. Therefore, currency held more appeal for them.
Furthermore, not knowing the exchange rate, they might also believe that copper coins were more valuable.
City-state acquisition versus individual acquisition.
They would definitely lean towards the city-state's acquisition.
It was like shopping. Would you rather buy from a large platform or from a small advertisement on the street? Would you rather buy products from an unknown workshop or products endorsed by celebrities?
The choice was obvious!
"Kailin."
Chen Yu spoke to the projection as he withdrew from the regional chat box.
"Do you think 10 copper coins is a lot?"
"It's a lot!" Kailin understood instantly and said, "I think even 5 copper coins, or 3 copper coins, might be enough to acquire invitation letters from them. City Lord, do you need me to handle this? I can try."
"No rush."
Chen Yu smiled and shook his head. Let me contact some clients first.
"Understood." Kailin nodded seriously. Then Chen Yu murmured, "You can release some news in the city and prepare to continue the acquisition. Also, try to probe their bottom line regarding the price."
"Yes."
"Go ahead."
After ending the video call, Chen Yu couldn't help but smile.
The rich always get richer.
Chen Yu didn't believe it before, but now he was completely convinced.
The higher one stands, the more intelligence, resources, and connections one possesses, leading to more opportunities compared to others.
Just like now, the exposure of the invitation letter acquisition was a terrible thing.
Chen Yu could still turn it around.
If done well, it could even become a profitable industry for him, a highly profitable industry where earnings were extremely easy to come by.
With a slight smile, Chen Yu opened his friend list again.
Clicking on a familiar name, he immediately sent a video invitation without a word.
"Hello~"
"Hello, big spender, I missed you."