Free Web NovelChapter 39: Chapter 21: The Advancing Qian Duoduo
After finishing the plan, Lin Yu submitted the proposal to the Urban Planning Bureau for them to refine.
"Chenxi, for today, help me oversee the work here. Also, see if you can find anyone suitable for a supervisor position. If you do, bring them to me tomorrow for a look."
"Also, have them finish refining this plan tonight and bring it to me tomorrow as well. If there are no issues, we’ll start construction immediately." ƒrēewebnovel.com
"Heh, I don’t know what those guys behind me are on, but their prosperity is almost catching up to mine. We can’t let them surpass us in the end."
"As you command, my Lord!"
After receiving her orders, Chenxi ran into the planning bureau to get busy. She had already been with Lin Yu for a long time today, and she still had work to do at the library. Now, with the planning bureau’s affairs added on, it seemed she wouldn’t have time for the Training Camp today.
After parting with Chenxi, Lin Yu walked toward the Lord’s Mansion alone, stopping for lunch at the canteen in the elven settlement along the way.
After lunch, Lin Yu sucked his teeth. He felt the meal was a little bland.
’There’s still not enough meat!!’
He’d been back in the territory for nearly half a month. Besides the occasional barbecue, he was eating all sorts of fruits. Though they were delicious, eating like this every day just wasn’t sustainable.
Fortunately, Chenxi had started bringing him food. For the sake of his own appetite, Lin Yu had given Chenxi some recipes. Unexpectedly, she actually managed to find substitute ingredients in the territory and made a lot of delicious dishes. Aside from the lack of meat, there were no other problems.
There was indeed plenty of meat in the territory’s warehouse, but whenever Lin Yu remembered that the territory’s carnivorous animals had been eating vegetarian for several years, he couldn’t bring himself to eat their reserve rations.
On top of that, to save money, the meat Lin Yu had bought was on the cheaper side. While edible, the taste was truly hard to describe.
’I should check the market to see if there’s a solution for the meat problem. While I’m at it, I’ll check the chat channel to see what the other lords are up to,’ Lin Yu thought.
Lin Yu went to the crown of the World Tree, found a good spot to sit, and connected to the heart of his domain.
[World Chat Channel (789654)]
Ding Dong: "Buying land plots for a high price! Buying land plots for a high price! PM me if interested."
Yun Qihao: "Buying wood for a high price. PM me if interested."
Yun Qihao: "Buying land plots for a high price. PM me if interested."
Qian Duoduo: "10,000 Gold Coins per land plot, buying unlimited!!! Just post it on the market, I’ll buy instantly!"
Qian Duoduo: "Buying buildings with high prosperity for a high price. PM me if interested!"
Qian Duoduo: "Buying resources for a high price, 1.2 points for 1000 units. That’s a better exchange rate than the points store!"
Ding Dong: "Lord Qian, leave some scraps for the rest of us! You’re already second on the leaderboard!!" freeweɓnøvel.com
Qian Duoduo: "Just 300,000 prosperity to go. First place will be mine!! (•̀ᴗ•́)و̑̑"
Ding Dong: "Alright, my lord, you go first. I’ll start buying after you’re done."
Liao Minsun: "Selling all kinds of resources. 2 points for 1000 units, or 20 Gold Coins for 1000 units."
...
The chat channel was as lively as ever. A few days ago, everyone was still buying Elemental Cores, but now the focus was mainly on land plots and various resources.
But...
’What are land plots?’
Lin Yu saw a term he’d never seen before. It seemed ’land plots’ were a hot commodity everyone was trying to buy, but few were selling.
Lin Yu started scrolling back through the chat history. After filtering out a massive number of trade messages, he found the answer in the chat logs from a few days ago.
At that time, he had been busy arranging for his subjects to drink from the Spring of Life and helping teach the beasts about to undergo their tribulations how to build Faraday Cages.
On that day, most lords in the chat channel were still busy acquiring Elemental Cores when a lord named Wang Fu suddenly posted a screenshot of an item.
[Name]: Territory Land Plot
[Description]: Increases territory area by one square kilometer upon use.
A simple name and a simple description, but it set off a storm in the chat channel.
Under a barrage of frantic questions, Wang Fu stated that he was currently short on points and hoped everyone could support his tournament career.
In the end, everyone in the chat channel pitched in—some 100 points, some 1,000—crowdfunding 100,000 points for him. Only then did he privately message them the source of the land plots.
It turned out that in the wilderness, more than 10 kilometers from a territory, there were special treasure chests. These chests were guarded by ten level-20 Extraordinary Life forms, and there was a chance to get a land plot from them.
Of course, Lin Yu gleaned this information from the chat logs of the following days.
It was after this information got out that the rankings on the prosperity leaderboard began to change rapidly.
Initially, everyone’s prosperity grew slowly, mainly because their limited territory size meant they couldn’t just keep building. Buildings couldn’t be stacked, so they felt stuck. Plus, Lin Yu’s absurd 1,000,000+ prosperity put him so far ahead in first place that most people lost their motivation.
The moment ’land plots’ appeared, everyone saw a glimmer of hope. In the first few days, Lin Yu had barely constructed any new buildings, and his prosperity had only increased by a mere 10,000. This made everyone think that the person in first place had run out of tricks and was incapable of any further major increases in prosperity.
Many lords felt they now had a chance to climb the leaderboard. They were no longer as laid-back as before and went all out, constructing all sorts of buildings.
In the market, everyone scrambled to buy buildings with high prosperity, regardless of their utility. Buildings that required few materials, occupied a small area, and offered high prosperity sold for sky-high prices, regardless of any actual practical use.
Qian Duoduo was originally ranked tenth. Ever since the news about ’land plots’ came out, he became extremely active, sweeping the market for building blueprints and land plots. Afterward, he fully leveraged his own advantages, buying up land plots, blueprints, and resources on a massive scale in the chat channel.
In less than 5 days, he had pushed his prosperity to 1,000,000, landing him in second place. The person in third place trailed behind with 700,000 prosperity.
From the looks of it, Qian Duoduo was preparing to make a run for first place.
Seeing everyone so fired up about construction, Lin Yu suddenly felt a bit reluctant to crush their enthusiasm.
’For your own good, when the plans are delivered tomorrow, I’ll have them hold off on completing the buildings. They can pause just before they’re finished and then complete them all at once on the final day.’
’Hmm... this isn’t some twisted game. I’m doing this to make you all take construction seriously.’
At this thought, the corners of Lin Yu’s mouth couldn’t help but curl up.
Lin Yu: "Hey everyone, my village just got internet, so I’m only now hearing about these ’land plot’ things. Anyone willing to sell one to me cheap so I can see what all the fuss is about?!"
Lin Yu shouted this out in the chat channel, announcing his return, then went to the market to search for a suitable building that could solve his territory’s meat problem.
