Chen Yuan noticed that the other man had spotted him at a glance and guessed he had been waiting by the entrance the whole time. "Sorry. I should have arrived earlier, but I suddenly ran into a pack of Tiger Mastiff Dogs on the way and got delayed. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine, it's fine. I haven't been waiting long." By now, Zhou Jie had completely lost his earlier unease, because he had noticed the many materials hanging from Chen Yuan's backpack. Several of them looked very familiar—valuable parts taken from Beast General Level Monsters.
My intuition was right. This young man really is an expert. With that thought, Zhou Jie's smile became even more sincere. Hearing Chen Yuan mention a beast pack, he immediately asked with concern, "Tiger Mastiff Dogs? Those are notorious pack-dwelling Monsters. You weren't hurt, were you?"
Chen Yuan shook his head. "I'm fine. I was just delayed for a while."
After a pause, he continued, "I told you over the phone this morning that I had a batch of Monster materials to sell."
"Yes, sir. A VIP room has already been prepared for you, so you can rest first." Zhou Jie took out a VIP room key card and handed it to Chen Yuan, smiling as he said, "I've also prepared the equipment for appraising the materials. Once you've rested, we can examine them together."
Chen Yuan nodded. Indeed, after living rough for over a month, he was already filthy.
But since the other man had waited for him all morning, he felt it would be rude to keep him waiting any longer. He had planned to finish the business first before resting.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Jie had been so considerate and had arranged a room for him in advance. Chen Yuan could not help but sigh. Perhaps that was why Zhou Jie had become the North District Manager.
"Then wait a little longer. We'll begin the appraisal in an hour," Chen Yuan said.
"No problem." Zhou Jie smiled.
Chen Yuan then carried his large bag of materials into the resting area and followed the address on the card to find the VIP room.
To his surprise, the so-called VIP room was actually a two-story detached villa.
Impressed by the attentive service, Chen Yuan pushed open the door and went inside. He first placed the backpack full of materials on the living room floor, then headed straight for the bathroom.
A whole row of varied clothes hung on the rack outside the bathroom, clearly prepared with great care.
Although Chen Yuan knew this was meant to win his favor so they could profit from the upcoming transaction, the thoughtful arrangements genuinely made him feel comfortable.
Chen Yuan entered the bathroom and spent half an hour thoroughly washing up. After drying himself, he picked out a white casual outfit from the rack and changed into it.
Afterward, he called Zhou Jie and told him he could come over for the transaction.
Less than a minute later, there was a knock at the door. Chen Yuan opened it and saw Zhou Jie standing outside with a black briefcase in hand.
"You got here fast," Chen Yuan said. "Come in. The stuff is in the living room."
"I live next door," Zhou Jie explained with a smile.
The two entered the living room. Chen Yuan opened his enormous backpack and took out the contents one by one, arranging them across the floor.
"Shall I begin?" Zhou Jie had already opened the black briefcase and taken out a set of testing equipment.
When Chen Yuan nodded, Zhou Jie picked up a scanner and carefully swept it over the materials on the floor. At the same time, the screen of a laptop-like device beside him began displaying all kinds of data about the materials.
Time slowly passed. As Zhou Jie identified more and more Monster materials, his shock continued to deepen.
He discovered that among the hundred-plus materials before him, not one was from a Beast Soldier Level Monster. There were not even any Elementary Beast General Level materials.
Of the hundred-plus materials before him, the lowest were all from Intermediate Beast Generals, and quite a few came from Advanced Beast Generals.
Just how many Monsters did this guest hunt? They're all Beast Generals, and the lowest are Intermediate Beast Generals. Zhou Jie was secretly stunned. Could it be that his backpack couldn't hold any more, so he threw away all the materials below the Intermediate level?
One had to know that the man had only entered the Wilderness Zone for a month, and he had been alone.
If it were a team, someone would usually be specifically responsible for locating Monsters, making them far more efficient than a lone person.
Yet even a fully equipped War General Level squad would find it difficult to hunt so many Monsters in a month, because people still needed rest.
Don't tell me he never slept and slaughtered Monsters from dawn until night? The thought flashed through Zhou Jie's mind, and he immediately found it absurd. How could that be possible?
Martial Artists were not made of steel. They could not fight continuously for twenty-four hours a day. They had to rest.
Shaking his head inwardly, Zhou Jie put aside his stray thoughts and continued the testing with full concentration.
An hour later.
"Sir, aside from the materials you asked not to have counted, all the other Monster materials have been fully assessed."
"You have a total of 178 types of materials, including 130 Intermediate Beast General Level materials and 48 Advanced Beast General materials."
Zhou Jie calculated the total based on the materials list on the screen, then looked up. "After calculation, the total purchase price for the Intermediate Beast General materials is 3.093 billion, while the Advanced Beast General materials come to 4.376 billion, for a total of 7.469 billion."
"I'll round it up for you. How about 7.5 billion for the entire batch?" Zhou Jie asked Chen Yuan with a smile.
Chen Yuan carefully examined the quote Zhou Jie had given him and silently calculated for a moment before suddenly saying, "Isn't that a little low? As I recall, even the cheapest materials from an Intermediate Beast General Level Monster should be worth over ten million."
"But quite a few materials on your list are priced below that."
"Sir, here's the thing." Zhou Jie's expression did not change, and he showed no sign of panic as he explained with a smile, "I don't know where you got that information, but it is definitely outdated."
"The minimum price of ten million for Intermediate Beast General materials that you mentioned was the market rate twenty years ago."
Zhou Jie explained, "Nowadays, because Earthlings trade frequently with other planets, many materials are not in short supply."
"Our HR Alliance doesn't purchase these Monster materials to make equipment. We sell them to other planets as a type of Earth specialty."
"So the current market no longer depends on the material's intrinsic quality, but on its rarity."
"The rarer the material, the higher our purchase price. On the other hand, materials from common Monsters may fetch lower prices even if their quality is better."
"Of course, there is a limit to how low they can go." Zhou Jie added with a smile, "The market is the same worldwide now. Compared to the rates you mentioned, the average purchase price of War General Level Monster materials has dropped by roughly 50%."
"For Beast Soldier Level materials, the drop exceeds 70%."
"Commander Rank Monsters are somewhat rarer, so their prices can still remain at around 70% to 80% of their previous levels."
"As for King Level Monsters, their prices have not dropped at all. They've actually risen."
As he spoke, Zhou Jie sent Chen Yuan a website link showing the approximate purchase prices of various materials. "This is our internal purchasing website. Compare it yourself, and you'll see just how favorable my offer is."
Chen Yuan opened the website on his Communication Watch and took a look. The domain name really did belong to the HR Alliance. After comparing the purchase prices listed for the materials, he found that Zhou Jie had not lied to him.
At the prices listed on the website, it would already be quite good if Chen Yuan could sell these materials for seven billion.
It could only be said that Zhou Jie perhaps had his own private sales channels, which was why he dared to buy them at above-market prices.
Chen Yuan nodded. "No problem. Let's go with that."
"Alright. Shall I transfer the money to you, or would you prefer an unregistered bank card?" Zhou Jie asked.
"Not yet." Chen Yuan pointed at the final batch of Monster materials. "Appraise those first and see how much they're worth."
"Oh, and only inspect the scale armor and the horn. Ignore the other two."
"Alright." Zhou Jie nodded, then walked over with the testing equipment.
In truth, he had already been curious about what kind of materials needed to be appraised separately.
When the scanner finished its scan, Zhou Jie looked at the information on the screen and immediately sucked in a sharp breath, his face full of shock.
"Over... Overlord Level?"
Before you continue