"Kaelen."
"Acquisition invitation. Release the news, acquire 5,000 copies in the first batch. You decide the price, and after the acquisition, assess the quantity and urgency provided by intending traders."
"You understand what I mean."
In the projection—
Kaelen stood with her hands clasped in the wasteland of the city-state, listening intently to Chen Yu's instructions.
"Understood."
After Chen Yu finished speaking, Kaelen nodded slightly.
"Limited acquisition is possible. We can lower the price in batches, which will also make those who intend to wait and see nervous. City Lord, don't worry, I'll handle it well."
Having a capable deputy was indeed good.
Chen Yu didn't need to elaborate; Kaelen understood his intentions.
Limited price acquisition.
In essence, it was a reasonable price reduction, and it also allowed him to gauge the price limits in the holders' minds, thus maximizing profits.
"I trust you with this matter."
Chen Yu nodded slightly, then noticed that Kaelen seemed to have something to say but hesitated.
"Is there something you want to say?"
"Uh..." Kaelen hesitated for a moment after being asked by Chen Yu. Before she could speak, a pretty figure appeared in the projection.
Ilia.
It was evident that Ilia in the projection was somewhat annoyed, her delicate nose wrinkled with many folds.
"Brother Chen Yu, why did you leave me and run off?" Ilia said with a frown, her face full of irritation. "I just found out you actually went out. Why didn't you take me with you on such a fun outing?"
"Who said it was an outing? I went to hunt monsters."
"Then I want to go too."
"It's too dangerous, and it's for your own good," Chen Yu said softly to comfort her. "You are the Third Princess of the Mermaid Kingdom. If anything happens to you, do you think I'll be able to live in the underground world? You should obediently stay in the city-state; it's big enough for you to play in. Besides, the city-state is still under construction, and it's quite interesting. You can also participate in it."
"If you want me to do manual labor, just say so. Although I'm stupid, I'm not incurably so."
Ilia pouted, wrinkling her nose.
"Hahaha, you little thing," Chen Yu chuckled. Ilia raised her eyebrows and pouted, "Then when you come back from this trip, you have to bring me back something fun."
"Okay~"
"Hee hee hee, Brother Chen Yu is the best."
Seeing that Ilia finally smiled, Chen Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
Logically speaking—
Chen Yu initially took Ilia in because he felt pity for her wandering alone and didn't want anything to happen to such a cute girl. Of course, he also had the idea of extorting a sum of money from the Mermaid Kingdom. As time passed and his horizons broadened.
He increasingly felt that this was not feasible.
Extortion?
What right did he have to extort the Mermaid Kingdom? At most, he could forge a good relationship with them.
And—
Ilia was definitely a hot potato.
She was too precious.
If anything were to happen to her, in his territory, the problem would be serious. If the Mermaid King was a reasonable person, he might forgive, but he would still harbor resentment.
If he wasn't reasonable, Chen Yu would be finished.
Even if nothing happened to Ilia, Chen Yu still had to serve her well. What if this princess became unhappy and said a few words to the Mermaid King?
Hiss!
The consequences were unimaginable!
"Kaelen, have Er Gou and the others keep a close eye on Ilia. Make sure nothing happens to her, not even a scratch or a bump." Chen Yu's eyes were filled with gravity. Kaelen also understood and nodded. "Don't worry, City Lord. I've always been reminding them about this, and I'll keep a closer eye on her myself."
"Thank you for your hard work."
After a few more simple instructions, the general content was to ensure the city's defenses and not to delay the city's construction.
Chen Yu had millions of funds left in the camp.
He estimated it would be enough.
He wouldn't be traveling for too long. If all the money was spent and he still hadn't encountered any monsters, he would simply give up.
Hunting monsters was just a whim.
It wasn't important.
Chen Yu stretched lazily and then looked at the demon girl and Sona.
"How is it, have you mapped out a route?"
"We've pretty much mapped it out," the demon girl said, raising her eyebrows with an indignant look. "You're something else, actually ordering both of us around."
"Hey, it's no big deal for friends to help each other,"
Chen Yu said with a smile and a shrug.
His words in the regional channel were very effective. The moment he posted the message, he received countless coordinates of monster habitats.
To Chen Yu's surprise—
There were as many as thousands of them.
This meant that among the underground survivors, almost one in every four people would encounter a monster, which was quite a high probability.
Considering this was the outer perimeter!
The appearance of such a large number of monsters in areas taken over by beasts was already exaggerated.
What was more interesting was Fan Da Bing.
He was among the clue providers, and he alone provided thirty coordinate information, even marking their danger levels.
Chen Yu wasn't surprised by such meticulousness.
People who were organized in life often had such habits.
What surprised Chen Yu was Fan Da Bing's luck.
Since entering the underground world, Chen Yu could be considered one of the top explorers in terms of the number of underground areas he had explored, yet he hadn't encountered a single monster habitat.
He had encountered thirty of them, and likely more.
Was he unlucky?
In fact, he was truly unlucky.
At the beginning of entering the underground world, when everything was unfamiliar and he had no self-preservation abilities, encountering monsters was almost a death sentence.
But—
If one were to say he was unlucky, the fact that he had encountered monsters more than thirty times and was still alive was astonishing.
Wasn't it outrageous?!
So many survivors had died at the hands of monsters. Those who could survive after encountering them were already blessed. Fan Da Bing had encountered dozens of them and was still safe and sound.
This made Chen Yu unable to determine whether his luck was good or bad.
He was truly a mysterious youth!
"Hey~"
"Master, stop gazing at the sky. Your diligent servants have already planned the route for you. Do you want to take a look?"
The demon girl's low, sinister whisper reached him.
Chen Yu subconsciously turned his head to look at her, and seeing her reluctant face, he grinned.
"Thank you for your hard work, my loyal servant. There's no need to look it over; I still trust your loyalty to me. It's enough for you to guide me."
"Tch~"
The demon girl pouted, while Sona whispered softly.
"Is this really okay? Some of these coordinates might be fake, or they might be high-danger level monsters. Just probing them one by one like this..."
"Hey, what's the big deal?"
Fake information, or dangerous information, Chen Yu could understand all of this.
There were bound to be bad people among the crowd.
There were definitely people in the underground world who disliked him and wished him dead. Disseminating fake and dangerous information was within Chen Yu's acceptance.
"Having the coordinates is enough. We're not actually going to hunt down all the monsters."
"Aren't we trying to test my magic strength?"
"That's true too." Sona smiled slightly after hearing this and let go of her worries. The demon girl beside her also whispered, "We should probably set off soon; the sky will be dark if we delay any longer."
Chen Yu didn't want to delay any further. He waved his hand.
"Let's go!"
The sunset's glow fell on the ground like a curtain, illuminating the backs of Chen Yu and the others. Their elongated shadows swayed on the ground, but it was not difficult to sense the brave and spirited aura behind those shadows.
Monsters?
Tremble, monsters of the underground world!
The magic genius has arrived!