Zero Wing City's City Lord's Mansion stood in the center of the city like a towering mountain. Tall walls surrounded the mansion, and the City Lord's Mansion was protected by a magic array. Aside from the main entrance, outsiders couldn't enter the mansion.
Meanwhile, the NPCs guarding the mansion's entrance were all Level 150, Tier 2 guards. They were also protected by a magic array. No matter how many players entered the mansion, they would die.
When Shifeng led Youlan into the first-floor hall of the City Lord's Mansion, they were greeted by the sight of several hundred NPC merchants.
When Youlan saw this scene, she couldn't help but be stunned.
Although she didn't have a deep understanding of NPC merchants, she knew that they were similar to the wandering merchants in towns. Only, unlike wandering merchants, NPC merchants were much more stable. They wouldn't disappear one day, and they could provide players with a steady supply of rare items.
Normally, a town would be impressive if it had 20 or 30 wandering merchants. Even Underworld's main development town only had 40 or so wandering merchants.
Yet, there were several hundred of them before her …
However, what Youlan didn't know was that there were very few NPC merchants in the city right now. Shiuse Qiangwei had long since rejected the 1-star NPC merchants. Now, only 2-star and 3-star NPC merchants remained in the hall.
"Guild Leader, you're finally here." Shiuse Qiangwei breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shifeng enter the hall. "If you had taken any longer, these two 3-star NPC merchants would've left."
"What are their requirements for garrisoning?" Shi Feng asked.
Every NPC merchant that wished to set up shop in a Guild City had their own conditions. These conditions weren't something players could simply agree to. They also had to consider their own capabilities.
"One of them wants a complete tax exemption and a Shop on the street of the City Lord's Mansion. The other wants a large warehouse and a Shop on the street of the City Lord's Mansion," Shiuse Qiangwei explained.
"How ruthless." Shifeng could not help but frown.
The City Lord's Mansion was the absolute center of a city. The land it occupied was extremely limited. NPC merchants' Shops generally occupied a lot of space. Moreover, the land sold to NPC merchants could not be recycled. In other words, the land sold to NPC merchants would be forever abandoned without receiving a single cent.
The tax exemption was the monthly fee these NPC merchants had to pay. The fee would depend on the Shop's rank. This was one of the main sources of income for a city.
Needless to say, a Small Warehouse would cost 3,000 Gold to construct, while a Large Warehouse would cost at least 10,000 Gold. The Warehouse itself was not a problem. The problem was that it occupied a lot of space. Moreover, the Warehouse could not be located too far from a Shop. Doing so would be a waste of land.
He had to admit that the asking price of these two 3-star NPC Merchants was very high.
"Is there no room for negotiation?" Shifeng looked at Shiuse Qiangwei and asked.
In God's Domain, the higher an NPC's status was, the more intelligent they would be. For example, the conditions set by NPC merchants could be changed.
"I've already said a lot. These two NPC merchants are adamant about these two conditions." Shiuse Qiangwei was also helpless about this situation. He had already said everything he could, but the two NPC merchants were adamant about their conditions. He could not be moved at all.
"Can you let me try?" Youlan, who stood beside Shi Feng, asked softly.
"You?" Aqua Rose glanced at Youlan, who wore a Black Cloak. Previously, she felt that Youlan looked quite familiar. However, after taking a closer look, she suddenly recalled Youlan's identity. Curiously, she asked, "Aren't you the manager of Underworld's trading company? Why are you here? "
She still had some impression of Youlan. She was definitely a strong woman. Not only had she managed Overwhelming Smile's trading firm until it was second only to Candlelight, but she also possessed excellent combat power.
"I invited her. Youlan is already a member of our Guild," Shifeng explained.
Shiuse Qiangwei's mouth twitched when he heard Shifeng's words. He then looked at Shifeng in disbelief.
Who was Youlan?
Based on her understanding, Youlan was someone who would soon be promoted to the upper echelons of Underworld. Meanwhile, Underworld was an extraordinary organization. In terms of strength and potential, it was much stronger than ordinary first-rate Guilds. Underworld also had plenty of funds backing it. As long as Underworld nurtured enough experts, it would definitely become a super-first-rate Guild in the future.
Yet, instead of becoming one of the upper echelons of a super-first-rate Guild, Youlan had come to the beleaguered Ling YI Society.
Youlan truly could not understand what methods Shifeng had used to accomplish this.
"Alright, I'll leave this matter to you, then," Shifeng immediately agreed to Youlan's suggestion.
In any case, it did not matter if he gave it a try.
Currently, Ling Yi City's foundation was still too weak. Just the fact that it had managed to attract 3-star NPC merchants was already surprising. Naturally, these two 3-star NPC merchants' conditions were not low.
"Mhm, I'll do my best." Youlan nodded. She then looked at Shiuse Qiangwei and asked, "Can I borrow some information on Ling Yi City?"
"This …" Shiuse Qiangwei hesitated.
Ling Yi City's information was a core secret. He could not allow others to view it so easily.
"It's fine. Let her have a look. In any case, she's already a core member of the Guild. This information won't be kept a secret forever," Shifeng said.
Currently, Ling Yi City had only recently been constructed. There were no secrets in the city. It did not matter if Youlan looked at the information.
Seeing that Shifeng had agreed, Shiuse Qiangwei immediately pulled up the information on Ling Yi City for Youlan to view.
A short moment later, Youlan closed the displayed information. She then took a deep breath and entered the reception room to negotiate with the two 3-star NPC merchants.
Meanwhile, Shifeng began to select the 2-star NPC merchants he needed.
Although Ling Yi City's merchants sold a wide variety of items, there were bound to be some that sold the same items. Since these NPCs sold the same items, they naturally had to select the merchants with lower requirements. As for the NPC merchants with higher requirements that sold duplicate items, they naturally had to reject them. After all, space in Ling Yi City was limited. They also needed a large amount of land to construct other Advanced Buildings. They could not afford to waste the land on such items.
In less than ten minutes, Shifeng had selected 63 2-star NPC merchants. Not only did these NPC merchants not sell duplicate items, but they also had lower requirements. They could be distributed throughout Ling Yi City. Hence, Shifeng did not have to worry about players concentrating in the city's central district. He also did not have to worry that these NPC merchants would move to remote areas due to the merchants' Shops.
Shortly after Shifeng and Shiuse Qiangwei decided on the locations of the 2-star NPC merchants' Shops, Youlan walked out of the reception room.
"Guild Leader, these are the two NPC merchants' conditions." Youlan then took out two contracts and handed them to Shifeng.
"What? They …" Shiuse Qiangwei, who stood beside Youlan, was astonished when she saw the contracts Youlan had taken out.
The two NPCs that she had failed to persuade had actually relented.
Although they still had to set up a Shop in the City Lord's Mansion, they would no longer be exempt from all taxes, only by half. They had also changed their requirement for a Large Warehouse to a Small Warehouse.
"I've already tried my best to lower the conditions. However, these two NPC merchants believe that Ling Yi City is not competitive right now, so I can't completely exempt them from the additional conditions," Youlan said, a little embarrassed.
"Youlan, could your subclass be a merchant?" After giving it some thought, Shiuse Qiangwei could only think of one possibility. Only the merchant subclass had such an ability. However, she had tried to convince the merchant players in her Guild to try it out, but to no avail.
"Mhm. I just got promoted to 3-star Merchant." Youlan nodded.
"3-star Merchant?" Shiuse Qiangwei was speechless when she heard Youlan's words. She really did not know how Shifeng had managed to recruit Youlan into the Ling Yi Society.
Currently, the strongest merchant in the Guild was still some distance away from becoming a 2-star Merchant. Most likely, only Super Guilds had 2-star Merchants. Meanwhile, the higher a Merchant's star rank was, the better they would be able to negotiate with NPCs. Whether it was the Guild's development or the Shop's, the higher a Merchant's star rank was.
"Guild Leader, you really are amazing. You actually managed to poach a 3-star Merchant from Underworld. If Underworld finds out about this, they'll definitely fight us to the death," Shiuse Qiangwei whispered to Xiang Shifeng.
However, what Shiuse Qiangwei did not know was that, aside from Underworld, the Blackwater Consortium behind Underworld was also furious.
Just as Shifeng signed the two 3-star NPC merchants, the sound of a system notification reached his ears.
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