Free Web NovelChapter 125: Chapter 119: Shadow Logistics’s First Business
Guan Tong’s current line of thought was simple. There were two ways to transport items. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
One way was to let the Shadow handle everything from start to finish. This meant the Shadow would be responsible for the entire process of pickup and delivery.
The other way required Guan Tong’s personal involvement. For example, he could use his Body Shifting ability. When the Shadow reached the pickup point, he could activate the ability to switch places with it, physically taking or delivering the goods himself. After the 10-second cooldown, he could then swap to the delivery recipient’s location.
No matter what, he would definitely choose the first option.
The second option would turn him into a high-end courier, which was not only inefficient but also dangerous.
If someone set a trap for him and he physically teleported over, he might not even be able to escape.
So, Guan Tong didn’t even consider the second method. The Body Shifting ability was one of his trump cards for survival, and he would never expose it by casually using it for anything other than saving his own life.
Having decided on the first method, the next step was to enhance the Shadow’s resilience.
Resilience, as a form of defense, was actually linked to Guan Tong himself. To enhance it independently, he could only try by adding a word to the Wordless Book.
Ever since the Ascender challenge ended, Guan Tong hadn’t added any words to the first four pages, mainly because he lacked inspiration.
Now that he had created the Ascender’s Home website and decided to develop it into a major source of income, his thinking had to revolve around it.
So, over the next few days, Guan Tong started the long-neglected work of adding a word.
He didn’t beat around the bush. He directly tried adding the word "Resilient" in front of "Sensory, Morphing, Solid, Guan Tong" on the first page.
This word represented resilience and sturdiness.
Guan Tong wanted to use a vague request to see if he could achieve his desired effect.
To complete the test as quickly as possible, he didn’t hesitate to use some of his Psychic Power reserves.
Just three days later, he had finished adding the word.
After it was done, he first summoned a humanoid Shadow, made it solid, and then shot it with the No. 1 Scatter Shot from his Silver Hunter.
"BANG!"
The scatter shot pellets entered the Shadow’s body. Guan Tong frowned slightly at the sight.
’The defense doesn’t seem to have increased. It’s about the same as before...’
He then had the Shadow change from its humanoid form into a Shadow Line and shot it again.
Unexpectedly, the Shadow Line didn’t break.
’Was it too thin to hit, or...?’
Guan Tong went back inside to get a short knife, squatted down, and chopped at the Shadow Line.
Before adding the word, the Shadow Line would have definitely snapped from this blow. Now, however, it took the hit without breaking. The point of impact was just slightly dented inward.
Guan Tong’s eyes lit up. ’It seems adding the word worked!’
He chopped it a few more times and even tried summoning three Living Dead, having them stack on top of it like a pyramid. The Shadow Line still didn’t break.
This resilience was completely beyond his expectations.
’It seems the Wordless Book partially fulfilled my request, only strengthening the Shadow’s resilience in its thin, thread-like state, not its defense when manifested in a humanoid or large-volume form.’
Next, Guan Tong performed a strength test.
He used a Shadow Line as thin as a strand of hair. After making it solid, he had it wrap around a small stone, which it was able to drag. When it wrapped around a larger stone, dragging it became a bit difficult. Anything bigger, and it couldn’t be moved at all.
However, if one loop wasn’t enough, he could use ten. If ten wasn’t enough, he could use a hundred. As long as the line was long enough and he used enough loops, it could eventually be moved.
This preliminarily solved the problem of moving cargo.
But with one problem solved, others arose, the most pressing of which was stealth.
An incorporeal Shadow could slip into any solid object to hide, but a solidified Shadow was inevitably exposed. If the cargo to be transported was in an enclosed room, the Shadow Line would inevitably cause damage to the room when it emerged.
Therefore, at this stage, any transportation was best done outdoors.
Guan Tong thought it over and concluded that simply running simulations in his head wasn’t enough. He needed a real-world test.
He returned to his room and opened the commission section of the Ascender’s Home website.
The previous post from someone wanting to buy the city-issued Anti-Speech Masks was still there, and someone from a city Gathering Point had already replied, offering to sell.
The two had already agreed on a price but didn’t know how to complete the transaction.
Guan Tong pulled them both into a group chat and was the first to send a message.
Site Admin: "Have you two settled the commission details?"
Not long after the message was sent, both of them replied.
Black Stone (Client): "Is that the Site Admin?"
Wind-like Sky (Provider): "It really is the great Site Admin! Why’d you pull us into a group chat?"
Black Stone: "Could it be that the Site Admin has a way to help us complete the transaction?"
Site Admin: "First, tell me the specific details you’ve agreed upon."
Black Stone: "Okay. I have a camp in the wilderness, and we need some officially manufactured Anti-Speech Masks."
Site Admin: "There are only about ten days left until the rule ends. Are you sure you still need them?"
Black Stone: "That’s exactly why we need them! A lot of people in my camp can barely hold it in anymore. Yesterday, someone couldn’t take it and screamed, and... The closer we get to the end, the harder it is to endure!"
Guan Tong nodded. He actually felt the same way. He could only hold on because his personality was relatively calm.
Black Stone: "This guy and I have already worked it out. We’ll pay with Sublimation Coins, 100 Coins per mask. We plan to buy 10."
Wind-like Sky: "That’s right. In my Gathering Point, everyone was issued one mask, but over the past few days, several people accidentally made a sound and got ’ganked.’ A few others couldn’t take it and offed themselves. Their masks are just sitting around, so I collected them. The officials aren’t going to collect them anyway, so why not sell them for some Sublimation Coins?"
’So that’s how it is...’
After reading their descriptions, Guan Tong understood the situation.
Wind-like Sky: "But there’s no way to handle the transport. I definitely can’t leave the city. Forget leaving the city, if I even leave the Gathering Point and go outside, I might get questioned if a drone captures my face! A buddy of mine went for a stroll earlier and got a harsh lecture from the officials who came to his door. They said it’s best not to go out during the rule period."
Black Stone: "Since you pulled us into a group chat, Site Admin, does that mean you have a way to help us complete the transaction?"
Site Admin: "I can help you, but it’s a paid service. I’ll need to charge a transportation fee."
Black Stone: "No problem, that’s only fair. We can’t expect the Site Admin to help for free."
Wind-like Sky: "I agree too. But how will the service fee be charged?"
Guan Tong thought for a moment and decided to charge based on a percentage of the transaction value.
A flat fee, regardless of how high or low, or even a tiered pricing system based on transaction value, would be too troublesome and could lead to user dissatisfaction later on.
Taking a fixed percentage was the fairest way.
Site Admin: "I’ll take a 10% commission on the transaction value. Each party pays 5%. Or, if you both agree, one party can bear the full 10%."
Wind-like Sky: "A ten percent transportation fee?! Holy crap, Site Admin, you’re a real shark!"
Guan Tong read this and typed his reply without a change in expression.
Site Admin: "How am I a shark? This isn’t easy for me either. Maintaining the website and providing long-distance transportation both have high costs."
Black Stone: "I can accept 10%. It’s a bit high, but it’s understandable. After all, for the Site Admin to be able to enter the city and transport goods out under wartime management conditions, not to mention the risk, it must require a huge effort."
Wind-like Sky: "Then I guess I have to accept it... Can’t be helped. You’re the only one with this ability, Site Admin, so you deserve to make the money!"
Site Admin: "100 Coins per mask, and you’re trading 10, so the transaction value is 1,000 Coins. 10% of that is 100 Coins. Each of you will be responsible for 50. Is that okay?"
Wind-like Sky: "No problem."
Black Stone: "No problem. But how do we make the trade exactly? We’ll have to add each other as friends on the terminal, right?"
Site Admin: "Send me your numerical IDs."
Wind-like Sky: "Great Site Admin, why don’t you send us your ID instead? Heh heh, afraid of exposing your identity?"
Adding a friend on the terminal required one party to know the other’s numerical ID.
You would enter the other person’s numerical ID to add them. After they were added, as long as you didn’t proactively make it public, the other person couldn’t see your own numerical ID, Psychic Power, or other private information. All they would see was a nickname—but since Guan Tong was planning to do business through the website, he’d definitely have to change his original nickname.
Likewise, the other person only revealed their numerical ID. Other details would also remain hidden unless they chose to make them public.
If you didn’t even want to reveal your numerical ID, you’d have the other person give you theirs, not the other way around.
As the Site Admin, Guan Tong would of course be the one asking for users’ IDs, not the other way around. That would be completely backward.
Black Stone: "No problem, I’ll send it to you in a private message, Site Admin."
Wind-like Sky: "I sent a PM too."
Both of them sent their numerical IDs to Guan Tong via private message on the forum.
Guan Tong didn’t add them immediately. Instead, he first opened his personal terminal and changed his nickname.
Although many people on the forum suspected that he, the Site Admin, was Shadow himself, it was all just speculation. There was no real proof.
If he added them as friends and they saw that the Site Admin’s nickname was "Shadow," it would be no different from admitting it himself.
Guan Tong thought for a moment and directly changed his nickname to "Ascender’s Home Site Admin."
That’s right. As a proper site admin, he should spare no effort in advertising his own website.
He then used the numerical IDs to add them both as friends.
Since he hadn’t set his information to public, neither of them could see anything besides his nickname.
Site Admin: "Friend requests sent. Now send me your locations. Not a general location, preferably with detailed coordinates."
The two then privately messaged Guan Tong their locations.
Wind-like Sky was in Lipu City, about three hundred kilometers from Guan Tong’s location on Mingdao Mountain.
The coordinates Black Stone sent were for a location over two hundred kilometers away from him as well.
Neither place was close, but they weren’t too far either.
Guan Tong then confirmed the type of Gathering Point Wind-like Sky was in and learned that he was in a hospital.
Guan Tong opened a satellite map on his computer, found the hospital, looked at it from various angles, and then chose a "pickup location."
It was a hospital window ledge. He told Wind-like Sky to pack up the masks, place them on the window ledge, and leave the window open. This way, the Shadow Line could climb up the wall and retrieve the items without damaging the building.
However, the route from the city entrance to the hospital had to be planned carefully. Guan Tong didn’t want his delivery process to be spotted by official patrol cars or drones, as that could attract attention and cause trouble.
He then began to study the map route with more focus than when he was preparing for his college entrance exams.
This was the first job for his "Shadow Logistics." Although the 100 Sublimation Coin transportation fee was a drop in the bucket for him, now with a net worth of several hundred thousand, if this process could be proven to work, it represented a future income worth millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions. It had to be taken seriously.
