Devouring the Starry Sky: The Grand Dao's Inquiry
Chapter 40

Value of the Haul

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25d ago

The Golden Spear Squad stepped out of the elevator and found themselves facing an enormous lounge.

The lounge alone covered nearly three to four hundred square meters. At the moment, several people were seated on the sofas, waiting to be received by Manager Fang inside.

Yet they saw Xia Zhi and the other three being led straight toward Manager Fang's office by the woman surnamed Liu, without needing to wait.

As they entered the office, they found it decorated in a crystal-clear style. The entire floor beneath their feet was made of tempered glass, and several small fish swam lazily through the stream below.

What luxury, Xia Zhi thought.

Seeing them enter, a bald, round-faced Old Man greeted them with a beaming smile.

"Qin Feng, looks like you made quite a haul this time."

His gaze fell upon the bulging combat backpacks behind the four of them, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Come, sit over here. Let's talk sitting down."

The group sat facing one another on the nearby sofas. After the woman surnamed Liu served them tea, she closed the door and left.

"So, what goods have you brought this time? Take them out and let me see."

The round-faced Old Man smiled. "Your squad hasn't contacted me for months."

"Old Fang, you know you've got a big appetite. If it weren't good stuff, we wouldn't have come to you."

Qin Feng grinned. "You're a big manager who receives plenty of warrior squads, but I doubt you've ever seen a haul like this one. Today, we'll broaden your horizons."

As he spoke, Qin Feng gave the others a look. It was clear that after returning to the base city, his entire body had relaxed.

Liu Yan smiled at Qin Feng, set her backpack by her feet, and pulled out the pelt of the Shadow Moon Demon Wolf.

Spread flat across the floor, the pelt looked like a flattened Shadow Moon Demon Wolf. One could vaguely still sense the savage, domineering aura of a Lord-level wolf king.

"Shadow Moon Demon Wolf!" Manager Fang shot to his feet in shock.

"Qin Feng, now that's quite a score! This Shadow Moon Demon Wolf was Lord level, wasn't it?"

"Even a warrior who'd entered the War God level would generally have a hard time capturing and killing one."

Lord-level monsters ruled over their territories and commanded countless monster subordinates. Even a War God-level expert needed meticulous planning—and luck—to hunt one.

If a Shadow Moon Demon Wolf truly chose to flee, the speed of a Lord-level monster was simply astonishing.

"Goodness, just this wolf pelt alone means you've struck it rich this time!"

Manager Fang's eyes gleamed. The fur of top-tier monsters was among the finest clothing materials in elite circles throughout the world, and its price was exorbitant.

"We're only getting started! Old Fang, don't be in such a hurry!"

Qin Feng laughed. "Take everything out!"

"Stop dawdling and get it all out already!" Manager Fang urged with a smile.

Xu Kui, Liu Yan, and Xia Zhi exchanged smiles, then began taking monster materials out of their backpacks one piece at a time.

Tiger pelts, bear pelts, bear paws, unusual eyeballs, sharp claws, fangs, bear gallbladders, tiger bones...

"Good heavens."

Manager Fang stared dumbfounded as they pulled out one material after another. The floor of his more than two-hundred-square-meter office was nearly covered.

Though he had not tested them yet, the trained eye he had developed over so many years told him that none of these materials were ordinary.

"Wait a moment." Manager Fang immediately ran toward his desk.

He swiftly took a combination safe from the bookshelf behind the desk, carried it back over, and pulled out a set of precision instruments.

After entering the password and activating the equipment, a red beam immediately emerged from its top and shone over the materials on the floor.

Lines of data instantly appeared on the instrument's small screen. Manager Fang watched the data with a grave expression while entering information through the virtual keyboard. As more and more data appeared, his breathing grew increasingly rapid, and his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"These materials, these materials..."

After a long while, Manager Fang finally said in disbelief, "These materials are all from Lord-level monsters? Earth Bear Lord, Ice Crystal White Tiger, Crimson Flame Giant Lizard, Shadow Moon Demon Wolf? My God, how did you manage this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Feng smiled. "Just good luck! We ran into Lord-level monsters fighting each other, and they all died, letting us pick up a huge bargain!"

"Good luck? How good would that luck have to be?"

It took Manager Fang quite a while to calm down. "Some of these materials are badly damaged. How about this—name your price!"

The Golden Spear Squad exchanged glances, and Qin Feng gave Xia Zhi a meaningful look.

Xia Zhi smiled and asked, "Manager Fang, if you were to name the price, what do you think would be appropriate?"

The several Lord-level monsters had fought fiercely, and each had suffered damage to varying degrees. The Ice Crystal White Tiger and Crimson Flame Giant Lizard, which had died first, had even had more than half their corpses eaten, leaving behind only some remaining materials.

The Earth Bear Lord and Shadow Moon Demon Wolf were relatively intact, though they too had suffered varying degrees of damage.

Only undamaged materials could be utilized to their fullest extent and fetch the highest prices.

Before coming here, the Golden Spear Squad had estimated the value of this batch of materials. However, without professional instruments to measure them, they could not determine an exact figure.

But Xia Zhi had already made up his mind. They were selling them anyway. Even if they were dissatisfied with Old Fang's offer, they could at least get an accurate valuation before finding someone else to sell to. As long as it was no lower than this price, it would do.

"How about this? These materials are indeed excellent. Ten billion Huaxia Coin!" After taking a deep breath and weighing it over and over, Manager Fang named his price directly.

Even he rarely handled deals this large. But if he secured this haul, this year's performance alone would be enough to earn him a promotion.

"Old Fang, that price is a little low, isn't it?"

Qin Feng frowned. "An entry-level Lord-level monster generally goes for five hundred million to one billion. Mid-level Lord-level monsters go for five to ten billion, and we have four of them. Yet you're only offering ten billion?"

"Qin Feng, those prices are for intact Lord-level monster corpses."

Manager Fang gave a bitter smile. "The Earth Bear Lord's corpse materials are worth around eight billion. The Shadow Moon Demon Wolf is relatively intact, so I'm offering one billion. For the remaining materials from the Ice Crystal White Tiger and Crimson Flame Giant Lizard, I'll offer one billion combined. That makes ten billion in total. It really isn't a small amount."

Xia Zhi chuckled inwardly at the sight.

Manager Fang's offer of ten billion had already exceeded everyone's expectations.

Qin Feng was saying this only to push the price a little higher. After all, in a deal worth nearly ten billion, even a few more digits could mean hundreds of millions—an amount equal to the lifetime savings of an ordinary warrior.

"How about this, Manager Fang." Seeing that he had fallen silent, Xia Zhi stood and said, "Add this in, and give us a price we'll be satisfied with."

"Otherwise, I imagine there's more than one person in this HR Alliance mall building who can handle a deal worth tens of billions, right?"

As he spoke, he opened the backpack beside him, which had remained unopened at his feet. Inside was the Young bear cub of the Earth Bear Lord.

Xia Zhi had even poked several holes in the backpack with a throwing knife to allow air in, so the Young bear cub would not suffocate.

"This is?"

Manager Fang stared at Xia Zhi in delighted surprise. "A Young bear cub of a Lord-level Earth Bear Lord?"

Xia Zhi nodded. "That's right. With this Young bear cub included, how much can you offer, Manager Fang?"

"Last year, an auction in Europe sold a cub of a mid-level Lord-level Ice Snow Explosive Bear. The final price was fifteen billion Huaxia Coin."

"But that was an auction price..."

Manager Fang sat there in thought, his fingers trembling unconsciously as calculations raced through his mind.

"Twenty-three billion!" Manager Fang finally said.

Beside them, Liu Yan and Xu Kui bit down hard on their lips, afraid they would be unable to stop themselves from crying out and disrupt the negotiations between Xia Zhi, Qin Feng, and Manager Fang.

Now that they had heard the price had reached twenty-three billion, their breathing grew ever more rapid.

Xia Zhi and Qin Feng exchanged smiles, then said to Manager Fang, "Fine, that price works."

"You really are ruthless." Manager Fang sighed as he processed the transfer.

"All right, Old Fang. The moment we got back, you were the first person we came to." Qin Feng laughed. "I haven't spread word of this to anyone else."

"You had good luck, and my luck today isn't bad either!" Manager Fang revealed a faint smile.

At that moment, Xia Zhi received a balance change notification on his communication watch. His account had received twenty-three billion Huaxia Coin.

"All right, little brother, the money has arrived! If you have deals like this in the future, make sure you look after me." Manager Fang smiled.

"Sure," Xia Zhi agreed. "Please keep this confidential for us, Manager Fang."

"Don't worry. Qin Feng knows Old Fang's reputation." Manager Fang assured them repeatedly.

The Golden Spear Squad then took their leave. They rode the elevator to the building's second-floor ultra-luxurious restaurant and directly booked the largest private room.

After entering the private room and closing the door, muffled cheers that could no longer be contained could faintly be heard from within the well-soundproofed room.

Thanks to Unrestrained Dreams and Aspirations for the donation~ Thanks to Ice Fire Dance 1982 for donating again!!

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Many other readers support me every day as well, and I'm deeply moved! Thank you for being here! This is my first time trying to write an online novel. With all your support, I feel especially fortunate. My sincere thanks! I write part-time, and two updates a day take more than four hours, so I truly have no way to add extra chapters as thanks. I can only thank you all here! My sincere thanks!

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