149: Chapter 149 The Schemes and Contests of Three Women
"Not many," Di Zhenzhen shook her head.
"Why?" Yun Zhuo asked subconsciously, "Is the road difficult to travel?"
In his subconscious, he still held the idea that to get rich, one must first build roads.
Di Zhenzhen thought for a moment, "Maybe because it's too far, and there are no resources around here. The only times so many people come at once are when we were attacked in Nun Village before, or now that a new space has appeared in the Abandoned Well."
Indeed, looking at the map, although Summit City could serve as a bridgehead outside the Third Sentry Tower.
It was a necessary passage for everyone going to the wilderness for adventure or as Gold Farmers.
But because it was so high up and there was only one road up and down the mountain, it was more like an isolated island.
Plus, there were no resources on the mountain. Instead of struggling to climb up, it was better to just set up camp at the foot of the mountain.
Looking at the geographical location, it had the conditions for building a town.
But there had to be something to draw people up.
For example, daily necessities, food, drinks, entertainment, a black market, and most importantly, safety—living here without fear.
As for safety, Qiu Min and the Su Family had already laid the foundation; all the Pathogen Mother Bodies in the city had been captured, and not a single Mutated Beast could be seen in the entire Summit City.
Compared to camping at the foot of the mountain, there was no need to worry about being eaten by Mutated Beasts here.
With Nun Village's cyber bodhisattva presiding over it, if Nun Village maintained order, he believed no troublemakers would dare to cause a scene.
"Xiao Zhuo, what are you thinking?" Di Zhenzhen looked at him in confusion.
Her address of "Xiao Zhuo" made The two Su sisters subconsciously frown, feeling as if someone was stealing their property.
One should know that before this, "Xiao Zhuo" was their exclusive name for Yun Zhuo.
When the two sisters' gazes simultaneously turned toward Di Zhenzhen...
This thirty-year-old stoic beauty lowered her head guiltily.
She couldn't help it; falling in love for the first time, she had encountered someone like Yun Zhuo who didn't lack girlfriends—she was no match for him.
As for rationality, that was something to be considered only after the honeymoon phase.
In her first love phase, she was like a drowning person, and Yun Zhuo was that piece of driftwood she desperately wanted to grab.
As for whether this would make her look pathetic or embarrassed, she couldn't care less.
At most, she just felt the guilt of being a third wheel like she did now.
As for the fourth, currently only Su Qingyuan has confirmed a relationship with Xiao Zhuo; it wasn't certain yet whether she or Su Qingtang would be the fourth.
Thinking of this, she plucked up her courage, looked up, and puffed out her chest.
It was mainly the second action; this was her trump card because she knew Xiao Zhuo liked it.
The next moment, Little Teacher Su subconsciously hugged Yun Zhuo's arm tightly.
She didn't need to play any trump cards; her relationship with Yun Zhuo was her greatest hole card.
The elder sister could only grit her teeth on the side.
Because her trump card couldn't be shown here; she had a well-deserved reason to become Xiao Zhuo's Main Battle WarPrincess, but she couldn't.
Because her younger sister was his Main Battle WarPrincess, she couldn't steal her sister's spotlight.
Yun Zhuo hadn't noticed yet that the three women around him had already concluded a silent contest in the blink of an eye.
Di Zhenzhen won slightly, while Teacher Su grabbed an absolute defense item and tied with her.
The most anxious one was the elder sister, Su Qingtang, who had lost the advantage of timing, location, and people, losing the first round.
Yun Zhuo was still looking at the abandoned city in front of him, "Sister Zhenzhen, don't you think it's a bit of a waste for this city to be left in ruins like this?"
"A waste?"
"Yeah, I heard Sister Su say before that if you want to build a city in a place, there's a mandatory prerequisite: you must eliminate the Pathogen Mother Body in that area to prevent the regeneration of Mutated Beasts.
This condition has already been completed for us.
Nun Village also possesses absolute power in this place."
"You want to build a city here?" Di Zhenzhen looked at Yun Zhuo in surprise, "That's a massive project. With just our few people, is it possible?"
The two Su sisters were also seriously considering this issue.
Teacher Su said, "Why did you suddenly think of building a city?"
She recalled that their purpose for coming this time was just to deal with Su Zixing and remain neutral between Xiao Zhuo and her parents.
In the end, Xiao Zhuo still had to return to school to take the freshman assessment and continue with university.
Why did Xiao Zhuo suddenly think of building a city here?
Yun Zhuo smiled, "Because I'm poor, and the Federation's control over resources is too strict. Without a noble status, many necessary materials are unobtainable.
For example, purple essence stones; it's no longer a question of whether they can be bought, but that their use is prohibited.
Also, if I'm just a commoner, how would your parents agree to let you marry me?"
As he spoke, Yun Zhuo flicked her chin, his eyes full of playfulness.
Teacher Su spat, "Bah, stop being so improper."
Having said that, she obediently leaned against his shoulder.
Elder Teacher Su said seriously, "Xiao Zhuo, if a city can be successfully built here, the above problems can indeed be solved. And I just thought about it; the location of Summit City is indeed suitable for building a city.
But building a city might not be as easy as you think."
"Let's hear it."
"Building a city requires funds; two billion can at most build a framework.
Then there's the city defense. The Goddess Statue in Nun Village can only cover the whole city, not outside the city. Once hit by a Beast Tide, except for Nun Village, other places would be hard to say.
To ensure safety within the city, every city builds sentry towers outside. With sentry towers, you need people to man them, which means you'll need an army.
Of course, these can all be solved with money, but there are things money can't solve, namely the support of the aristocratic clans and the Federation's permits.
Xiao Zhuo, you know building a city can make money, and naturally, others know it too.
When construction starts, those people won't say anything.
But once it starts making a profit, those people will get jealous, and they'll have a legitimate reason, saying your city is an illegal construction.
Speaking of illegal construction, that brings us to permits. The Federation is ultimately composed of the Twelve Great Cities, which means the Twelve Families.
This place falls under the sphere of influence of Tianding City. To get a building permit, you need the approval of Tianding City, which means after all that circling around, we're back where we started.
In the end, our Su Family still has to nod, or more accurately, my eldest uncle has to nod."
"So much trouble?" Yun Zhuo had been in the wild for so long that he forgot this wasn't the end of the world but the Kindling Federation, where order had already been established by the Twelve Families.
Not wanting to dampen Yun Zhuo's spirits, Elder Teacher Su quickly added, "Actually, if you want to make money, there's no need to build a city. Just making Nun Village a bit larger and building a small town would be the same."
"A small town?" Yun Zhuo was startled; this coincided perfectly with his own thoughts. Seeing that Sister Su knew quite a bit, he wanted to hear her opinion.
"Yes." Elder Teacher Su nodded, "Using that crossroads outside the village as a reference, manage one kilometer in each direction—north, south, east, and west. That would be a four-square-kilometer town.
As long as the permanent population is kept under thirty thousand, it won't attract a Beast Tide.
The direction for making money would mainly target the floating population.
We first build a Type B or Type C farm to solve the food and drink problems for fifty to a hundred thousand people, first attracting passing Adventurers and Gold Farmers to camp here.
Once the news spreads and more people come, merchants will naturally come to run hotels, taverns, and casinos. At that point, the land will become valuable.
Initially, we can choose to lease it to lower the merchants' operating costs, and then increase the rent step by step according to the development situation.
When the rent reaches a tipping point, we then choose to sell; we'll be able to sell at a high price then.
We can also collect taxes, and we can operate these venues ourselves to gain revenue, plus the revenue from the farm.
This way, even if the place isn't large, as long as the foot traffic is high, we can still make money."