Friends Are Friends, Business Is Business

Seeing Jiang Zeyan's stance, Xiao Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then it's settled. We can discuss the details later. I need to take my leave first as I have some business to attend to, and I'll come back to you later."

After saying that, Xiao Yu left that area.

What Xiao Yu needed to do was to find Qin Shiyue and settle this matter first. After all, this matter still needed to be discussed with Song of the Ocean. Since it involved one of their studios, it was necessary to confirm things. Moreover, it was also necessary to discuss the distribution of the benefits related to this permanent battlefield. After all, this permanent battlefield was something he had fought for, something Xiao Yu had obtained by exchanging a divine artifact. Naturally, he couldn't just give Song of the Ocean half of the benefits for free. At the very least, he had to make them pay some price to compensate him.

After exiting the game's official chat room and returning to the login screen, Xiao Yu immediately contacted Qin Shiyue.

Xiao Yu: Hey, got a moment to talk?

Qin Shiyue: What's the matter?

Xiao Yu: This is a very important matter, concerning whether your studio can grow bigger and stronger in the future.

Qin Shiyue: I'll be right there. I'll finish explaining things here and then come out. Please wait in my private meeting room for a while. The login password is 4654654.

Xiao Yu agreed, but thought to himself, "Damn, how come everyone has a meeting room? Looks like I'll have to buy one too. After all, I'm the head of a gathering place now, it's really unreasonable that we don't even have a place to meet online."

There are already quite a few players in the Immortals, but they don't have very close connections yet. If the Lost Island is to be developed in the future, player cooperation will be essential, so it will be necessary to create a place for gatherings.

As he pondered this, he pulled up the login screen, searched for Qin Shiyue's reception room, entered the login password, and a flash of white light appeared before his eyes. He found himself in a beautiful oriental garden. It was surprising that Qin Shiyue was such an elegant person. Moreover, it seemed that this reception room was probably not cheap, perhaps even more expensive than Angmar's luxurious reception room.

Xiao Yu walked alone in the garden, admiring the beautiful scenery around him, until he heard Qin Shiyue's voice.

"I'm here. Come to the pavilion in the middle of the lake. I'll be waiting for you here. Just keep walking straight ahead and you'll get there."

As Xiao Yu walked along, he soon arrived at a lakeside, where a long corridor led to the center of the lake.

Before him lay a clear lake. The sky was overcast, and rain fell incessantly, its droplets tinkling in the water and pattering against the roof of the long corridor. Xiao Yu walked along the arched wooden corridor until he reached the middle of the lake, where he heard beautiful music. There, in a pavilion, sat a beautiful woman in Hanfu, gracefully playing the zither while gazing at the rainy scene on the lake. It was none other than Qin Shiyue.

"Good evening," Xiao Yu said as he sat down on a stone bench. It was a bit strange that he said this, because it still looked like daytime in the reception room.

"Good evening. What's up? Is there something you need?" Qin Shiyue put down her zither, picked up a teapot from the stone table beside her, and poured a cup for Xiao Yu.

Sipping hot tea in the light drizzle is quite classy.

"Of course," Xiao Yu nodded, taking the teacup, "It's something very important."

He took a sip of tea and asked casually, "Do you know what a permanent battlefield is?"

"Of course I know," Qin Shiyue nodded. "So this matter is related to the permanent battlefield."

"That's right. I recently obtained permanent battlefield creation permissions. You should know how much profit this involves, right? And Lost Island happens to be a place to create permanent battlefields. I plan to establish this battlefield in Lost City. Considering we've cooperated before, how about I count you in?"

"Oh, thank you so much, you're so generous," Qin Shiyue said gratefully.

Xiao Yu hurriedly waved his hand. "Hey, don't thank me yet. I haven't finished speaking. I can't just give you half of this permanent battlefield access for nothing. You know, I got this access by exchanging a divine artifact; it's priceless."

Qin Shiyue asked calmly, "So, what do you want?"

Xiao Yu smiled slightly, "It's simple. I want half of the profits you gain around the battlefield on Lost Island."

Upon hearing this, a hint of helplessness flashed in Qin Shiyue's eyes. She did not answer immediately, but pondered for a moment.

"No, that's not right." She suddenly seemed to realize something.

"What's wrong?"

"While permanent battlefield access is valuable, I feel it's still lacking compared to an immediately usable artifact. Personally, I wouldn't trade an artifact for permanent battlefield access. Besides, only the game developers can grant you battlefield access; they contacted you first, wanting to trade. But why did they contact you? Clearly, they want to reclaim the artifact. In other words, you have no choice but to trade—because the game developers want to reclaim the artifact, and the permanent battlefield access is your condition for doing so!"

Xiao Yu was taken aback. He hadn't expected Qin Shiyue to be so perceptive, deducing the truth of the matter so quickly.

Now that he'd been exposed, there was no need for him to hide it anymore. He nodded and said, "That's right, it's exactly as you said. But even if the game developers asked me to trade, this battlefield access is still priceless."

Qin Shiyue shook her head. "That's all predicated on the battlefield even opening up. The problem now is that there are only two factions on Lost Island: the Song of the Ocean and the Immortals. In other words, you and I are natural partners. Even if I refuse, I don't think you can find anyone more suitable. After all, the Yartera City is still under the control of the Song of the Ocean. In other words, you have no choice but to cooperate with us. In fact, in a sense, bringing us into this battlefield is us helping you out."

"Of course, I can't just take advantage of you for nothing. Two hundred thousand, I'll give you two hundred thousand to buy half of the battlefield access for the Horde, what do you say?"

Xiao Yu laughed upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Two hundred thousand? You're kidding me. This girl is really good at making things up, making it seem like she's helping me out."

"Why are you laughing?"

"What I'm laughing at is that you're far too naive. You'll try to force me into submission by coming up with some dubious arguments. Yes, there are only two organizations on the Lost Island, but who says I have to find partners on the island? I can advertise on the forums. I think many monster organizations are willing to pay a huge price for this permanent battlefield access, and I happen to know a few such monster forces."

"Moreover, it's clear who's strong and who's weak on the Lost Island now. If you don't cooperate with me, I can simply send troops to take down Yartera City. I don't even need to take action myself. As long as I reach an agreement with other monster organizations to lend a little help when they send troops, I don't think you can hold Yartera City."

Xiao Yu's threat was quite clear, and Qin Shiyue was taken aback. "Are you really that ruthless? Aren't you and Liu Xiaoyu friends? How can you be so heartless towards a friend?"

Xiao Yu shrugged. "Hey, friends are friends, business is business. We can't mix the two. Besides, I'm giving you this opportunity to cooperate precisely because of our friendship. But if you don't want to seize it, then it's none of my business."

Qin Shiyue sighed. She really hadn't expected Xiao Yu to be so resolute. In her opinion, they were at least acquaintances, so there shouldn't be any need to break off relations. Little did she know that Xiao Yu was now a terminally ill patient and didn't have so many scruples.

"Alright, how about this? I'll offer 500,000 to buy the battlefield access to this Horde."

"One million." Xiao Yu immediately doubled the price. He could tell that Qin Shiyue was definitely a tycoon. Last time, he only sold those six Hydra nests for 120,000, and afterwards he felt that he had sold them too cheaply. This time, he would not be easily fooled.

Qin Shiyue's face showed a troubled expression. "To be honest, I can indeed come up with one million, but that would mean all of our studio's funds would be used up. If we want to develop Yartera City, we will definitely need a large amount of capital, so could you make it a little cheaper?"

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Really? You guys always acted like you were rich, why are you suddenly crying poor?" Actually, he wasn't really sure how much to sell it for.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "If the money isn't enough, we can use people to pay it off."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shiyue's face immediately showed a hint of embarrassment. Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Oh no, could it be a misunderstanding?"

"Oh dear, that's not what I meant. What I meant was, the deal is 500,000, but you need to sign an agreement that Song of the Ocean must do everything in your power to help me whenever I need it in the future."

Qin Shiyue was taken aback. This promise was quite grand—to help you with all her might? But what exactly did she mean by "all her might"?

She couldn't bear to refuse, though. "It's possible, but there's a condition: it must not threaten the survival of this studio."

Xiao Yu nodded. "Of course. If I were to ask you for help, it would most likely be to help me fight. At most, a few people would die, but it wouldn't be worth risking your studio's destruction. So, is it a deal?"

Qin Shiyue nodded, then shook her head. "That'll have to wait until I see the battlefield access."

Xiao Yu said, "That's not a problem, come with me."

The two left Qin Shiyue's reception room and soon arrived at the official reception room of the Sky World.