Chapter 102: The Peculiar Black Market and the Development Plan
Ye Hai was slightly taken aback.
“Religion?”
“What’s that about?”
Qiao shrugged helplessly. “Some strange sect called the Shesha Cult!”
“It seems they worship some kind of snake…”
“I’ve seen too many snake-shaped totems in the Timberwood Forest black market.”
Raising an eyebrow, Ye Hai said, “Let it be. Religion is often a spiritual refuge for people in times of hardship.”
“We don’t need to pay much attention to it.”
“Let’s set up camp twenty kilometers south of Timberwood Forest!”
“According to Javier’s calculations, the laboratory of Karan Bio-Genetics Company lies within roughly a hundred-kilometer radius.”
“What an infuriatingly broad area.”
“We’ve just arrived; it’s best to avoid any conflicts for now.”
“First, we need to understand the customs and situation in this area.”
“As for notable figures in the Timberwood Forest black market?”
Qiao pondered briefly before answering, “We’ve only had limited contact, but we found out that the Shesha Cult has a very mysterious leader whom most followers have never seen in person!”
“Usually, the cult is led by four major patriarchs…”
“They are Blue Patriarch Qi Beishan, Red Patriarch Baran, Black Patriarch Lukar, and White Patriarch Li Ya!”
“Each commands tens of thousands of followers and their own armed forces.”
“The four patriarchs’ powers are evenly matched, but their relationships are far from harmonious!”
“There’s also a faction in the Timberwood Forest black market called the Dusa Resistance…”
“I haven’t met any of their members, just heard some rumors.”
“Apparently, they are a military force opposing the Shesha Cult, but most people don’t know why the hostility exists.”
“In short, the Timberwood Forest black market is a chaotic place.”
“Under the Shesha Cult’s facade, it seems peaceful, but in reality, they fight openly and covertly.”
“The leaders here are far tougher than those taboo figures in the Pilate black market.”
“At least they command well-equipped armed forces.”
Ye Hai curled his lip, curious.
“Well-equipped armed forces?”
“How well-equipped can the forces on Zombie Star really be?”
Qiao chuckled. “From what I observed in the black market, every soldier under their command is armed with energy weapons.”
“I even heard they have heavy firepower.”
Hearing this, Ye Hai grew even more astonished.
Using energy weapons on a large scale in Zombie Star—are these people courting death?
Ye Hai knew all too well the nature of the mutants.
Indiscriminate use of energy weapons on Zombie Star would only bring endless disaster.
Seeing Ye Hai’s puzzled expression, Qiao clearly understood what he was thinking and said,
“According to what we’ve gathered, within a hundred kilometers of Timberwood Forest, using energy weapons won’t attract the attention of mutants…”
“At first, I couldn’t believe it either.”
“The zombie virus’s sensitivity to energy and radiation comes from the virus’s own traits!”
“It’s not like starships using jamming techniques to deceive radar!”
“Energy discharges are real and tangible!”
“Radar can be technically fooled, but mutants cannot.”
“Like the device Xiaolin used—a much more powerful energy emitter to attract mutants, making them completely ignore the energy bursts in the Pilate black market battle…”
“That method is not only extremely costly…”
“But also lasts only a very short time.”
“According to Xiaolin, such a device costs as much as several starships for just a few dozen minutes… it’s truly burning money.”
“The people in Timberwood Forest’s black market obviously don’t have such financial strength.”
“In short, this place reeks of mystery and strangeness.”
After hearing the intelligence Qiao brought over these days from the Timberwood Forest black market, Ye Hai fell silent.
He had originally thought leading the Pilate black market crew southward would be like a fierce dragon crossing a river.
But suddenly he realized that the river was not full of slackers, but a school of fierce dragons.
Although Ye Hai now commanded a professional army of five hundred men,
and more than half of the nearly four thousand men under him could pick up guns and fight at any moment,
plus thousands of biochemical weapons in three bio-fortresses—combat capability far surpassing that of the former corpse hunters by at least tenfold,
even so, if they truly faced a group of fanatics wielding heavy firepower without restraint,
the battle might be won, but the losses would be devastating.
Ye Hai had no intention of letting the foundation he had just built be destroyed so easily.
“We are currently about twenty kilometers from the Timberwood Forest black market…”
“A relatively safe distance.”
“Let’s observe for a while.”
“Winter will arrive in about a month.”
“Winter on Zombie Star is not easy to endure!”
“If they don’t come looking for trouble, so be it.”
“After all, our main target is the secret laboratory of Karan Bio-Genetics Company.”
“We have no conflicting interests with these religious fanatics.”
“If they dare to make a move against us…”
“I’ll make sure their followers change allegiance.”
Hearing this, Qiao’s interest piqued.
“So you’re planning to create a religion yourself, then use our resources to attract followers?”
With no prior experience in religion, Qiao was clearly intrigued by Ye Hai’s idea.
Ye Hai shook his head and replied,
“Not for now.”
“My people aren’t fully integrated yet, and overall combat effectiveness hasn’t reached the limits of our technology.”
“So I don’t intend to recruit newcomers.”
“At least, I want to fully utilize the existing personnel and have them generate sufficient benefits before considering expansion.”
“The corpse hunter organization currently survives only by the virus a few of us produce, just enough to cover basic needs!”
“That’s not a healthy operational model.”
“We don’t have endless technology to trade for resources.”
Qiao sighed helplessly. “Let these survivors be self-sufficient?”
“I don’t know how you plan to do that… There aren’t enough jobs on Zombie Star for so many people!”
Ye Hai smiled faintly. “There will be.”
“The timber quality in Timberwood Forest far exceeds that of the Pilate black market…”
“In winter, they can’t harvest.”
“But we can.”
Qiao’s eyes lit up immediately.
“Liana!”
Ye Hai nodded. “Exactly.”
“She’s a real treasure!”
“With her, Zombie Star is full of free labor.”
“No competition in winter either.”
Qiao grew excited.
“In winter, we can stockpile large amounts of timber… When the alien merchants arrive in spring, we’ll sell it all to them and make a killing!”
Ye Hai wagged a finger teasingly in front of Qiao.
Grinning, he said, “Sell raw materials?”
“No, Qiao!”
“You have to know the profits from raw materials are never as lucrative as from art pieces!”
Qiao was completely confused.
“Art pieces?”
Ye Hai chuckled softly and glanced toward the nearby group building the camp.
“Though with current technology, any sculpture can be easily carved by machines!”
“But art…”
“Must be created by human hands to be recognized!”
“In any era, art pieces are the coveted treasures of the upper class!”
“Luckily, among the four thousand people we brought…”
“There are two nine-star master sculptors renowned throughout the Leviathan galaxy!”
“After twenty years of silence, works by nine-star artists appear once again in the Leviathan galaxy…”
“Crafted from the rarest Timberwood on Zombie Star…”
“Qiao! How much do you think something like that is worth?”