105: Dominating the rankings, a decision made by the Chinese government.

Lin Han was somewhat disappointed when she learned that Huang Chen had left her behind to handle affairs.

However, she quickly laughed it off.

She had never relied on beauty or strength to stay by Huang Chen's side, let alone enter his center of power.

Therefore, doing her job well and making herself indispensable to Huang Chen was her best path forward.

As Huang Chen and the others departed, Lin Han immediately transferred 9,800 out of the 10,000 inner members from the Forbidden City headquarters.

Subsequently, five core personnel were paired with ten members of the Womens Army, each leading 100 people to conquer the corresponding Satellite Cities.

The original structure of the Womens Army was ten people per squad, led by a squad leader.

Normally, combat commands within the squad were relayed up and down by the squad leader.

Compared to the Forbidden City core members personally trained by Huang Chen, the Womens Army was significantly stronger in both combat experience and coordination.

Therefore, Lin Han simply merged the five Forbidden City core members from each group into the Womens Army squads, with everyone under the unified command of the squad leader.

In any case, these people would only stay in the Satellite Cities temporarily; once the Forbidden City truly got on track, most of them would be transferred back.

After all, as core combat power, these individuals would follow Huang Chen on future campaigns, so they couldn't be permanently disbanded.

Once the 98 teams were formed, they each headed toward a Satellite City.

Transporting over ten thousand people twice cost more than twenty thousand gold coins.

This made Lin Han feel a sharp pang of distress.

It must be known that the purchasing power of a single gold coin on the market was currently quite substantial.

One gold coin could pay for 50 days of stay in an ordinary inn in the main city,

one gold coin could buy you the service of a woman you wouldn't have dared to dream of before the Star Abyss descended, for over ten days,

one gold coin could even buy a human life!

Even a piece of Level 40 Black Iron equipment, which was rarely seen on the market, cost roughly one gold coin.

Fortunately, once the garrisons in the 99 Satellite Cities were secured, the one-year advance rent according to the agreement with the Myriad Treasures Tower would amount to about 12 million gold coins.

Once this money arrived, the Forbidden City would have temporarily solved its funding shortage crisis.

"Sigh!"

Lin Han let out a sigh,

"We're still too short on money!"

Not to mention the hundred million gold coins needed for building the city, just cultivating Trial Takers specializing in life skills was a huge expense.

After finalizing the arrangements for conquering the Satellite Cities, Lin Han sent a friend request to Tie Weiguo, recommended by Tie Shengnan.

At this moment, Tie Weiguo was still in the conference room discussing Forbidden City matters with the high-level executives.

Tie Weiguo, who was listening to various opinions, suddenly received a friend request and casually clicked it open.

"Forbidden City! Xie Chunyan's deputy?"

He quickly clicked 'Accept,' and then Tie Weiguo received a message from Lin Han.

[Lin Han: Chief Tie, hello!]

[Tie Weiguo: Hello!]

[Lin Han: Our Guild Master asked me to inquire if you need equipment? We have a batch of decommissioned equipment here. If Chief Tie takes the entire batch, we can offer a discounted price.]

[Tie Weiguo: A batch? Roughly how many pieces?]

[Lin Han: 17,821 pieces of Level 35 Black Iron, Bronze, and Silver equipment; 28,974 pieces of Level 40 Black, Bronze, Silver, and Gold equipment, primarily Bronze and Silver. Uh... that's roughly the total.]

Tie Weiguo did not reply immediately after reading the message.

Instead, he looked up and said, "Everyone, the Forbidden City just contacted me. They want to sell a batch of equipment."

As soon as Tie Weiguo finished speaking, someone immediately asked, "Selling equipment? What level of equipment? And how much quantity?"

Tie Weiguo replied, "The lowest is Level 35 Black Iron, and the highest is Level 40 Gold. The quantity is roughly forty to fifty thousand pieces!"

As soon as Tie Weiguo's words fell, everyone began discussing animatedly.

"What? Forty to fifty thousand pieces?"

"How does the Forbidden City have so much high-level equipment?"

"According to intelligence, Huang Chen led Chief Tie's granddaughter's corps to conquer a Level 50 Diamond-rank lair. In that case, it's not surprising that the Forbidden City has so much equipment."

...After about ten seconds, Tie Weiguo cleared his throat twice, and the room immediately quieted down.

"Everyone, let's discuss whether we should take this batch of equipment from the Forbidden City," Tie Weiguo said. "My opinion is that Huang Chen and his Forbidden City have fully demonstrated strength that is not inferior to the Official Faction, and may even be far superior."

"This is the first trade deal they have sought with us. I believe it is better to proceed."

Hearing this, everyone nodded. Following the analysis and discussion of the intelligence gathered that morning,

the Forbidden City was definitely a force the Official Faction couldn't afford to provoke. Since this was the case, the Official Faction certainly needed to foster good relations with the Forbidden City at this stage.

And initiating trade between the two parties was definitely the best way to deepen their relationship.

However, some people raised differing opinions.

A middle-aged man frowned and said, "Currently, the average level of our military is only in the 30s, and the vast majority haven't even reached Level 35. If we take this batch of equipment, it might sit in the warehouse for a long time... This is not conducive to the efficient use of our funds!"

Tie Weiguo frowned, admitting that the middle-aged man's opinion was quite reasonable.

Although the items were good, if they were purchased but couldn't be used immediately, they were useless!

"How about we negotiate with the Forbidden City to buy them later?"

The middle-aged man offered his suggestion again.

Just as Tie Weiguo opened his mouth to reply,

a massive light screen appeared in the sky once more.

And this time, a full eight announcements appeared consecutively:

[Congratulations to Chen Yichun of the Huaxia Clan for being the third person to reach Level 50.]

[Reward: bone structure +5 for the entire Huaxia Clan.]

[Reward: Chen Yichun's bone structure +10.]

[Congratulations to Xia Qing of the Huaxia Clan for being the fourth person to reach Level 50.]

[Reward: bone structure +2 for the entire Huaxia Clan.]

[Reward: Xia Qing's bone structure +5.]

[...Congratulations to Tie Shengnan of the Huaxia Clan for being the ninth person to reach Level 50.]

[Reward: bone structure +2 for the entire Huaxia Clan.]

[Reward: Tie Shengnan's bone structure +5.]

[Congratulations to Lan Ling of the Huaxia Clan for being the tenth person to reach Level 50.]

[Reward: bone structure +2 for the entire Huaxia Clan.]

[Reward: Lan Ling's bone structure +5.]

...The sudden announcements caused Tie Weiguo and the others to look at each other, their expressions filled with shock.

They stared in disbelief at the names of Tie Shengnan and Lan Ling.

In just one day, two people who were under Level 40 were brought into the top ten across the entire Abyss!

The level caps restricting the Huaxia Clan seemed utterly insignificant in front of Huang Chen.

The power of the Forbidden City surpassed imagination!

"As long as their asking price isn't too outrageous..."

Tie Weiguo paused, then continued with a resolute expression, "We must complete this transaction!"

"Understood!"

The dozen or so people present, surprisingly, all nodded seriously this time... Vermilion Bird Clan.

Feng Wu and Phoenix Flying Phoenix had just returned to the main city and were preparing to establish the Vermilion Bird Guild.

Seeing the Star Abyss announcements, the two exchanged glances and both let out a deep breath.

Just barely,

just barely!

The result seemed unexpected, yet entirely reasonable.

"Wu'er!"

Phoenix Flying Phoenix looked at Feng Wu and said seriously, "After the passage opens, you must find Huang Chen before anyone else from the High Martial Worlds, no matter the cost, and make him accept the assistance of our Vermilion Bird Clan!"

"I believe that with your current perfect Phoenix Body, you will definitely be able to secure a place for the Vermilion Bird Clan..."

[Slept until late afternoon, woke up and am having terrible writer's block!! The chapter scheduled for 12 AM might not be finished, please forgive me!!!]