I Want This Land to Change Its Surname to Su

Shila Airport, Mande City, Dongqin Prefecture, Zen Country.

After transferring planes, Su Jie and his group had just disembarked when a wave of heat washed over them.

Zen Country was located in the tropics, and even though autumn had arrived, the temperature remained quite high.

"So this is Zen Country!"

Su Jie surveyed the area around the airport. There weren't many people, and both men and women among the locals wore rather simple clothing.

Most men wore a type of tube skirt and slippers, while women often wore colorful scarves and tied their hair up high and sleek.

As they exited the airport, many drivers soliciting customers immediately swarmed them.

Quite a few people recognized Su Jie and his group as Chinese, and their language immediately shifted to Mandarin, albeit with heavy accents. Still, they could generally understand them.

This was because Zen Country bordered Hua Country, and it had been influenced by its culture since ancient times.

Many locals in Zen Country could speak Mandarin and write Chinese characters. Hua Yuan could even be used directly here and was quite stable, far more useful than the local Zen Coin, which fluctuated heavily in exchange rates.

"Arrange for the employees to go to the hotel first. Yingying and Old Liang will accompany me to the company."

Everyone got into the car, and as it started moving, it headed towards the company on the outskirts of the city.

The driver was talkative and asked, "Going to Lamao District? Are you also here for the timber business?"

"How could you tell?"

"Haha, there are many timber merchants from Hua Country like you. I've driven them many times."

Uncle Driver chuckled, then added a reminder, "But when you do business, don't go too far into the remote areas. Stay around the city. Otherwise, there might be danger."

"Is it very chaotic here?"

"Very chaotic, very chaotic. It's too poor. It can't compare to you people from Hua Country. The average wage is only about four to five hundred Hua Yuan of your country. Without money, people resort to all sorts of crooked ways."

The Uncle Driver's words made Liang Lianjun's leg tremble repeatedly. Thinking of the legends about opium cultivation, scam parks, and organ harvesting in Zen Country, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Don't the local officials do anything?"

"Do something? They just sit there and collect benefits. What can they do? Take this road we're on now, it's full of potholes. It hasn't been repaired in years. All the money was pocketed."

Judging from their brief conversation, it was clear the driver harbored considerable resentment.

At this moment, the car passed a checkpoint where several soldiers holding AKs and wearing green uniforms were stopping cars and collecting fees.

"Don't say anything for a moment."

After a reminder, the driver stopped the car, took out 500 Zen Coins, handed them to a soldier, and spoke a few words in the local dialect before being allowed to pass.

The car started moving again and drove away. Liang Lianjun asked curiously, "Who are those people? Why are they collecting money?"

"Our army here, the Mande United Army. They're collecting vehicle operating fees. All vehicles have to pay, including motorcycles and bicycles."

Uncle Driver gave a wry smile. Fearing Liang Lianjun wouldn't understand, he added, "They're not the government's army, but local armed forces."

Liang Lianjun was speechless. "Setting up checkpoints and charging fees everywhere, they can actually do such things."

Liu Yingying chimed in, "It's very chaotic here in Zen Country. It's a multi-ethnic country with over a hundred ethnic groups, leading to the rise of numerous local warlords with complex relationships. They've been in a semi-independent state for a long time, much like the regional military governors during the late Tang Dynasty."

She had visited Zen Country once before and had some impressions of it, knowing how severely chaotic and fragmented the country was.

During their conversation, the car gradually left the urban area and arrived in front of a vast, continuous warehouse district.

Numerous logs were piled here, some placed outdoors in the open, others stacked inside warehouses. Vehicles transporting logs drove by frequently, kicking up clouds of dust.

This was Lamao District, a timber storage and trading center.

Zen Country was a major timber exporting country, with an annual export volume of millions of tons. This was a pillar industry for Zen Country, and there were countless timber trading centers like this one scattered across the country.

The car continued to drive until it stopped in front of a three-story building.

The building bore the sign of Jinde Di Company, with a row of warehouses behind it.

This was the shell company Liu Yingying had registered in Zen Country according to Su Jie's instructions.

There weren't many employees in the building, only six, all locals. Upon seeing Liu Yingying, they greeted her in slightly broken Mandarin.

"This building and the warehouses behind it have been purchased. The building will be used as an office, and the warehouses behind will be used for timber storage and transit."

Liu Yingying gave a brief introduction, then said to Su Jie, "All the procedures are complete now. We await your instructions."

"There's nothing else. Let's go get the goods," Su Jie said with a smile. Liang Lianjun, standing nearby, immediately perked up. He had been waiting for the logs Su Jie had promised for a long time.

The next day.

In an empty clearing, Su Jie took out the ancient mirror and secretly returned to the Tianyuan World. He found the logs he had cut near the Black Market, then transferred them from the ancient mirror to Blue Star for the convoy to pick up. Su Jie completed the entire process quickly because he noticed disciples were tracking him again. He had to quickly blend into the Black Market crowd to hide, then enter a room to shake off his pursuers.

The quantity of logs was greater than before. Su Jie had been bored in the Tianyuan World and had done a lot of indiscriminate logging.

When all these logs were moved into the Jinde Di warehouse, Liang Lianjun was so moved he almost shed tears.

"Sandalwood, Golden Silk Nanmu, Huanghuali, Golden Camphor."

He clearly called out the type of each log, his fingers trembling slightly as he stroked the logs piled in the warehouse.

The value of these raw logs alone is over a billion, and if made into furniture, the price would double.

"President Su, when do we start shipping? Once Tianyuan Home Furnishings in China gets this batch of raw logs, they can become famous overnight."

Liang Lianjun's face was flushed. Once this batch of raw logs returned to China, the popularity of Tianyuan Home Furnishings was foreseeable.

Su Jie turned to Liu Yingying and said, "Yingying, have Jinde Di Company contact an international air cargo company. Ship all these raw logs back to the country."

"By air? That's quite expensive."

"It's fine, we're not short on shipping fees. Time is more important."

Generally speaking, raw logs are transported by sea and land. Air transport is too expensive, but Su Jie's raw logs had no cost to begin with, so a mere million or so in shipping fees was nothing.

Liu Yingying nodded in agreement and turned to make arrangements.

In the following days, the entire Jinde Di Company operated at full capacity.

Contacting international air cargo companies, clearing customs in China, pre-disinfecting and trimming the logs, and so on.

It wasn't until the logs were loaded onto five cargo planes and flown to China that the matter finally concluded.

Liang Lianjun also returned to China, working overtime to oversee the production and sale of furniture made from these precious timbers.

Su Jie did not return. Instead, he registered a new company locally, named Jie Ke Biological Development Company.

"How much money is left in the company's account?"

In the Boss's office, Su Jie asked his secretary.

"5.5 million Hua currency remaining."

Liu Yingying replied without hesitation.

This was all the liquid capital they had before the batch of timber was sold.

"It's a bit low, but it should be enough for the initial phase."

Su Jie stroked his chin and turned around.

On the wall behind him hung a map of Mande City and its surrounding towns. This area was inhabited by three different ethnic groups, with a population of about 700,000.

Mande City belonged to Dongqin Province, which had a population of about 3.5 million.

"Let's start here for now. Yingying, have the employees of Jie Ke Biology go to the countryside for promotion. Launch the first plan: Jie Ke Company will purchase various poisonous insects in large quantities, buying them from locals without limit. Get them all to go into the mountains to catch insects."

Liu Yingying nodded, then looked at Su Jie's retreating back and couldn't help but ask, "Su Jie, what exactly are we doing this for?"

She knew Su Jie owned an insect farm, but she didn't know why he came to Zen Country to open a new insect farming company.

"You think I'm really just here to raise insects?"

"Aren't you?"

"That's only one aspect."

Su Jie chuckled, picked up a pen, drew a circle on the map of Mande City, and said slowly, "This is just the beginning. Next, I will do only one thing: I will make the Mande City region change its name to Su in the future and become my private kingdom."

Ah!

Liu Yingying's heart almost stopped. Her bright eyes widened, and she was speechless for a long time, unsure whether to call Su Jie's idea wishful thinking or overly ambitious.

Su Jie's gaze did not waver. He simply waved his hand and said, "You don't need to worry about it. Go and do your work."

After Liu Yingying left, Su Jie touched the Thousand-Hand Centipede that had emerged from his collar and muttered to himself, "Don't rush. Soon, very soon, this will be your paradise. Our Gu worm kingdom will grandly open on this land."