Island Purchase Plan

"There's a lot of amethyst in the mine; we'll have to make several trips," Zijin changed the subject. "I'm paying Fletcher one silver coin per kilogram; he's practically ready to empty the entire island."

They had no shortage of money, and they didn't mind using a small amount to pique Fletcher's enthusiasm.

"I have a problem." Su Ming was flipping through a stack of documents he had "obtained" from the mining area. "I quite like this island, but my current capabilities aren't enough to defend it."

Brown Gold Island's remote location and abundant coal reserves represent the possibility and convenience of building some primary production lines.

There is no agriculture here, and land is occupied at will. The island's desolate economic ecology also provides a reasonable amount of idle population, making it an ideal location for industrial development.

Leaving aside the long-term prospects, in the near term, if crude oil could be obtained from the Naga Clan, it could be transported here for processing. This implies the possibility of gas turbines, which could be a precursor to future plans for modernized weapons relying on electricity.

Understanding Su Ming's intentions, Zijin pondered for a moment.

"Buying this island is simple; a desolate mining island whose owner died a violent death won't cost much," Zijin said. "I can arrange for the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce to take it over."

"I agree with everything else, but the island's owner cannot die a violent death," Su Ming said, raising his hand to stop Zijin. "Fletcher is useful."

Su Ming displayed Brown Gold Island's financial report, which showed total liabilities of 200,000 gold coins.

"Is this dilapidated island really worth that much money?!" Zijin exclaimed in surprise. "How could goblins lend out such a large sum? They're already insolvent!"

She immediately ordered the port staff to summon the deputy supervisor, Kilian, to inquire about the details, only to be told that he was in a remote production area supervising operations. The task of delivering a thousand tons of high-quality coal within three days had put the entire mine under overload.

"Then call the clerk over." Zijin changed his target. As the person in charge of internal affairs in the mining area, the clerk should also be aware of the relevant situation.

The clerk's expression changed, but he dared not disobey and hurriedly retreated to search for the person.

Before long, a young girl in a plain-colored long dress came running up. She was about to bow when she suddenly realized that she was still wearing the work sleeves. She hurriedly took them off before lifting her skirt and bowing.

"Greetings, Your Excellencies!" the girl said, her voice slightly breathless. "I am Younier, the scribe here."

Su Ming quickly sized up Younier. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her palms were covered with thin calluses, and her bare arms were covered with small scratches and abrasions. There were no signs of physical training, and he could not sense any Psionic Power fluctuations. She was clearly just an ordinary human girl.

Su Ming and Zijin exchanged a glance, understanding each other's judgment.

What alerted the two was Younier's demeanor. Despite her face being covered in soot and her hair being disheveled, the girl's bearing and manners were very proper, giving her a sense of competence that seemed incongruous with her still-childish face.

This person stands out from the crowd on the mining island, and is certainly not an ordinary worker.

"What's your surname?" Su Ming asked. He hadn't overlooked the detail that Younier hadn't mentioned her surname during her self-introduction.

"My name is Lores, sir." Seeing she couldn't hide it any longer, Younier answered directly, "My father is none other than the island lord Fletcher."

I am the eldest daughter.

That makes sense, Su Ming thought to himself. Given Brown Gold Island's dire situation, it's only natural that its children would help manage it.

"Miss Lores," he said, waving the financial forms in his hand, "I'd like to know more about Brown Gold Island's debt."

"You may call me Younier, sir." Younier bowed again. "Thank you for your help, and thank you all for your kindness!"

"No need to be polite, we've already received payment," Su Ming said.

"That meager reward is no way to repay your kindness," Younier said, before beginning to explain the details of the debt.

The process was not unexpected. The Goblin Chamber of Commerce lent out 100,000 gold coins eight years ago, with the agreement to repay in quarterly installments.

However, Brown Gold Island's business was in such poor condition that it repeatedly defaulted on payments. With interest compounding and penalties added, even though Fletcher had repaid a total of 120,000 gold coins, his remaining debt had more than doubled.

Su Ming found this scene very familiar. "The goblins' methods of 'collecting debts' are probably not very friendly, are they?"

"Yes!" Younier readily admitted, "If we dare to abandon the island and run away, our whole family will be hunted down by the bounty mercenaries."

The island will be taken over by goblins, and all property will be confiscated to pay off debts.

"It's not a chase, little girl," Zijin corrected. "It's a capture, to sell you into slavery or something. Goblins are very frugal."

"That's really shady!" Su Ming exclaimed.

[You're right, Fletcher really can't die.] Zijin said, [His ability to repay debts is limited, and the goblins are only restraining themselves from exploiting him. If the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce really buys him out, the insatiable goblins will definitely re-"calculate" the debts and get involved in the affairs of Brown Gold Island, and then things will get complicated!]

[Therefore, we need to keep Fletcher in the open. We'll secretly acquire actual control of the island by agreeing to cover the installment payments.] Su Ming said.

****

Younier took a notebook from her skirt pocket. "My lords, please allow me to report on the production situation."

"Keep it brief," Su Ming gestured.

Younier was also very decisive, "Currently, the coal mine has resumed production in three vertical shafts, with a raw coal loading rate of twelve trucks per hour. We expect to complete the delivery of all coal by noon on the fourth day."

Su Ming nodded. Although it was a little later than the three days Fletcher had promised, given the mine's production level,

That's already a very good speed; there's no need to be overly critical.

The two inquired about some specific details of Younier's Brown Gold Island and discussed their next steps.

Fletcher couldn't refuse the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce's offer. This way, the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce could first upgrade the infrastructure on Brown Gold Island, such as roads and ports, build the factories needed for Su Ming's production line, and renovate the coal mines. Once the White Triangle dealt with the Blue Sea Tanggu Dragon Carrier, they could openly occupy the area.

All that's needed is to put on a show where the bully White Triangle forcibly buys the island from the pitiful Xiaobai Jade Sea Merchant Association at a low price.

With the apparent change of ownership, the issue of the goblin creditor is no longer a problem. With Truth and Belladonna in hand, it's up to them who will come looking for whom to collect the debt.

[Wait a minute!] Zijin quickly realized, [In this way, we've actually saved Fletcher from a predicament! I'll deal with him one by one later.]

Two toddlers, around three or four years old, suddenly ran over and hugged Younier's legs, peeking out from behind her.

"Elder sister!"

"Elder sister!

As the voices of children announcing the birth of a boy and a girl rang out simultaneously, the girl's face turned deathly pale, and she frantically grabbed the two little ones.

Su Ming sighed and waved for her to leave. Younier hurriedly picked up one of them in each hand and hastily took her leave.

After running quite a distance, the faint sound of a hushed reprimand could be heard.

"Let Fletcher live," Su Ming said to Zijin. "Having so many children, it must have been quite an achievement."

"That's Yin Zhixin," Zijin pouted. "He provoked us first!"

"We could try a different method of punishment."

Zijin's eyes darted around, and she quickly came up with a good idea. "Alright, I'll teach them a lesson then." She conceded and continued discussing the Brown Gold Island plan. "I'll arrange for the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce to send a team to oversee all affairs on Brown Gold Island. We'll take over these people directly and establish the ' Sea King Su Ming ' Merchant Guild."

Su Ming raised an eyebrow. "I think I heard you casually slip in a hilariously wicked merchant guild name."

"The name is a small matter," Zijin argued. "You named the ship last time, this time it's my turn."

"Really?" Su Ming said helplessly, then realized something was off. "I named the Hundred Triangle?"

"Of course!" Zijin declared confidently, "How could someone who hates geometry like me possibly name something like a triangle!"

The girl shook her head, blinked at Su Ming, her clear, autumn-water-like eyes like the tip of a warm knife.

Su Ming surrendered instantly.

Then came the details of the island's infrastructure layout. Zijin patted Su Ming on the shoulder, encouraging him, and then went to study the amethyst while humming a song.

Su Ming knew absolutely nothing about civil engineering, but sometimes things you don't understand are easier to solve.

"[Miao Xin, help me find a planning and design institute.]" he quickly contacted.

****

Seeing that Zijin had found something useful, Su Ming also decided to visit Fletcher's warehouse. He brought a mineral handbook that had been transferred from Earth and toured Fletcher's warehouse.

The minerals on Brown Gold Island are generally classified as iron-type copper deposits, mainly consisting of pyrite and chalcopyrite, with various other minerals as byproducts, including amethyst.

However, the usable elements within have already been developed by the otherworld, such as galena. Su Ming uses very little lead; the 10 he purchased...

The 0 kilograms of lead ingots are still not used up.

"Anything else?" Su Ming asked Fletcher, clearly dissatisfied. "After all these years of hard work, don't you have any good collections?"

Fletcher quickly bowed and said, "No, no, you know my financial situation. I only have some ores from other places in my collection, nothing valuable, nothing to your liking."

"Take me to see it."

Fletcher's collection room wasn't secluded; it was just a small hut next to the warehouse. Fletcher opened the door, revealing hundreds of different kinds of mineral specimens piled inside.

Looking at the atlas in his hand, Su Ming quickly found something useful: sphalerite!

This is a valuable item! He quickly inquired about the origin of the ore and learned that it came from a mountain range on the Dwarf Continent.

****

Su Ming brought the sphalerite back to the White Triangle, found Zijin, and began to break down and extract the ore. Following purification and distillation...

Su Ming finally obtained the data he wanted from the spectrometer.

"Confirmed to contain germanium!" Su Ming exclaimed excitedly, "We've finally found the source of these two materials!"

Zijin inquired about the content shown in the spectral analysis, then analyzed the extraction process and calculated that the abundance of both minerals was less than one ten-thousandth, or even lower.

"Such a low concentration must be troublesome, right?" the scholar asked, frowning.

"This concentration is normal for rare elements," Su Ming said. "My usage is also not large."

However, it is indeed a problem. If elements need to be extracted from tens of tons of ore to balance the materials during the transmission, it will put great pressure on Su Ming's Magic Power and cause waste, seriously hindering the expansion of the equipment scale.

Moreover, the raw ore is mixed with a large number of impurities and gangue. The beneficiation process alone requires multiple steps.

Simply spending money isn't impossible, but the results are far too minimal.

Su Ming pondered a solution. Having witnessed the vast industrial system of the Earth, he knew he couldn't possibly do everything himself and manage every single step.

Therefore, the best approach is to utilize the productivity of this other world.

****

An hour later, Su Ming found Beianqi and handed her a copy of "Hot-Dip Galvanizing Process".

"Zinc can be used like this?" Beianqi flipped through the booklet, her eyes lighting up.

In the common understanding of the other world, zinc is a metal with low hardness, brittleness when heated, and extremely poor mechanical properties. However, Su Ming's manual explains that by applying it to steel through appropriate processes, a dense oxide protective layer can be formed, significantly improving the steel's rust and corrosion resistance.

"Are you planning to sell this technology?" Beianqi asked, flipping through the manual.

Su Ming shook his head. "I need a byproduct extracted from sphalerite."

The content of gallium and germanium associated with zinc sphalerite is extremely low. Su Ming took the initiative to provide the technology in order to support the establishment of a zinc industry chain in this other world.

Countless workers and capital will join in the mining, beneficiation, and smelting of zinc. He will then extract the byproducts of gallium and germanium, a process that is infinitely faster than starting from scratch himself.

Beianqi didn't mind that Su Ming was just hitchhiking. The paint technology in this other world was outdated, so this surface treatment technology was a godsend.

"The Dwarven Guild will definitely offer a price to buy it," said Beianqi. "I'll negotiate the specific amount with them."

"Using gallium-containing extracts as a deduction is also acceptable," Su Ming said. "I'll leave the rest to you."

Beianqi gave an OK sign.

****

With most of the tasks completed, Su Ming asked the people at the mine for a map of Brown Gold Island. He invited Zijin to go up on the island to explore the déjà vu issue he had initially felt.

Having spent the last few days traveling to and from the island's edge, the two had become familiar with the surrounding scenery and decided to venture deeper into the interior. They first went to the island's highest point, where they could overlook the entire island.

Brown Gold Island is quite large, with one side even lacking a coastline. The soil in most areas is poor, and vegetation is sparse.

The entire island looks like a brown lump of mud. Crops are scarce here, and food is mainly supplied from outside.

"Let's go take a look over there?" Zijin pointed in the direction of the miners' living area, where a large number of dilapidated houses stood.

"Hmm." Su Ming nodded. He felt something was attracting him from there, a faint but persistent sensation.

They first went to find Qiluo and had the unicorn cast Ignore Spell on them. This spell was very effective; as the two walked on the island, the residents passing by ignored them. Only when someone passed by would they unconsciously walk around them.

Walking to a cave in the center of the residential area, Su Ming consulted the map and said, "This is an abandoned old mine, which was completely mined out decades ago."

There were no further markings on the map, but looking through the opening, it was a typical sloping well, extending downwards along the slope, its depth unknown. Near the entrance, residents had dug many horizontal tunnels, using them as cellars for storage or as living quarters.