News that the Dragon Turtle had seemingly lost its mind and was buying up "The Starry Night Shells" with great fanfare soon reached the neighboring Pot in the Mountain.
Its fame grew ever greater. This fellow was simply too powerful; its enormous size and overwhelming presence alone were enough to intimidate most civilizations.
As for how it had sold the Snake People a huge pile of The Starry Night Shells, only to buy an even bigger pile and become a hoarder—this erratic, back-and-forth behavior became a joke among the civilizations.
"That fellow might have gone mad."
Since the Dragon Turtle's warehouse contained nothing but The Starry Night Shells, it offered very limited trading value.
So, for the moment, no civilizations went to approach it instead... they were afraid of being forced into a deal, too.
As for why it was stockpiling so many The Starry Night Shells?
That was one of the world's mysteries.
"That Dragon Turtle is utterly detestable! I knew it was a menace. We should find some way to grind its bones to dust and scatter its ashes!" Stone Mama said furiously in the secret room.
The representatives of the other civilizations were also somewhat anxious, constantly using diplomatic channels to gather information.
With an unexpected competitor now in the picture and their arrival at the trading market imminent, everyone's state of mind underwent a subtle change without their noticing.
After all, this enormous initial investment had taken so many civilizations over a hundred years to produce. They could not afford a loss!
"My friends, there is no possibility of an information leak. Otherwise, the civilizations would already be scrambling for The Starry Night Shells instead of laughing at the Dragon Turtle." Zhang Ming sat in the middle of the round-table conference room, his expression calm.
He