CHAPTER 313: CHAPTER 313: PRINCIPLES UNIFIED

Lin Yi carefully examined Leia’s list.

It listed a large amount of food she needed, as well as the number of Energy Cores she wanted to recharge.

"There’s no problem with what you want, I’ll get it sorted as soon as possible."

"And... what about the office? You mentioned you have an office in Lille."

"If these three camps merge into one, I will set up one here.

If I only set up for you, the other two factions will be very upset, and you might end up fighting among yourselves."

"Alright, I understand..." Leia said thoughtfully as she twirled her hair with her finger.

After thinking for a while, she realized the other party was completely right. Lainer would definitely not tolerate inequality.

"If we’re done here..." Lin Yi waved a hand, and one of Immanuel’s assistants appeared.

He was a small, sharp-looking man with a bit of a beer belly, whose gaze seemed more like a scan than a simple observation.

For him, people seemed to be just piles of information, he could determine someone’s needs with just a glance and offer the appropriate products.

"Geoffroy, he’ll do business with you."

"Got it, Corina, you and Hein take over from here." Leia looked at her assistants.

Corina nodded, greeted Geoffroy, and then took him somewhere.

"Alright, now it’s just the two of us, and we’ve finished our business..."

Leia let her hair down and undid a few buttons on her shirt, her fullness almost bursting out.

"Whew... I hate business attire, it’s suffocating." She muttered, fanning herself with a notebook, trying to cool down.

Then she gave Lin Yi a sly glance, licked her lips, and said, "Care for a drink?"

"...Don’t you ever do anything other than drink and seduce men?!"

Just now she was a professional businesswoman, and now suddenly a needy bimbo.

"Nope." Leia replied with a smile, then sensually leaned toward him.

"My shoulders are so sore... Seriously? You’re such a prude... Ugh... Let me tell you, being a good leader isn’t easy. It’s stressful, constantly dealing with various issues, and countless sleepless nights...

Yes, I drink, and I flirt with men, and you know what? You’re exactly my type!"

"You’re too dangerous." Lin Yi shook his head, and Leia laughed until tears came out.

"...Every man who rejects me says that."

"They’re all smart people."

"I like smart people..."

"Calm down, you go set up the Vending Machine, and then you can show me around the city."

Leia nodded.

Lin Yi teleported to his laptop, deciding to check his emails first.

He had too many unread emails...

[Response regarding the Vending Machine]

Your second Vending Machine has met the necessary conditions and can be upgraded to Second Level.

"...Hmm, Tatiana mentioned they’re having trouble dealing with animals, meaning they’ve been fighting animals and obtaining Energy Cores."

All the Vending Machines can be upgraded to the next level, and he immediately called Immanuel over to discuss which products they should sell.

While waiting for Immanuel, Lin Yi began checking his other accumulated emails.

[Response regarding receiving survivors]

survivors have agreed to your conditions and entered the Shelter, gaining 1640 Experience Points.

[Response regarding receiving survivors]

survivors have agreed to your conditions and entered the Shelter, gaining 138850 Experience Points.

[Response regarding receiving survivors]

survivors have agreed to your conditions and entered the Shelter, gaining 7090 Experience Points.

[Response regarding receiving items (miscellaneous)]

The Shelter received a new military vehicle, new minerals, and various items related to culture and daily life.

[Your Shelter gained 64980 Experience Points]

[Your Vending Machine]:

First Vending Machine, balance: 7391300

Third Vending Machine, balance: 3010000

Fourth Vending Machine, balance: 1100000

Fifth Vending Machine, balance: 0

Ninth Vending Machine, balance: 3075000

Tenth Vending Machine, not activated

Eleventh Vending Machine, not activated

"All good news! The Shelter’s balance has reached 28025171! We’ve almost recouped the Gold Coins spent upgrading the Harpoon!

And soon there’s another batch of fuel to sell, and the money from providing services is increasing, and..."

Lin Yi started flipping through his phone and found a new report on the offices across the Tilian Planet.

"...Cargo transportation: nearly 400,000 Gold Coins,

charging Energy Cores and Energy Weapons: nearly 600,000 Gold Coins.

...I still have two other fortresses to go to!"

Just as Lin Yi upgraded all the Vending Machines and activated two new ones, Immanuel arrived.

After a brief conversation, they decided to reorganize the transaction-related parts of Lin Yi’s business.

Immanuel would take charge of management, but he was already in charge of production affairs, so he would appoint two separate people to be responsible for trading and production.

These four would all report to him.

They also decided to carefully analyze the products they purchase, adopting Leia’s idea of changing the selection of goods based on different days of the week.

This way, they could learn which products were in high demand, and the Second Level Vending Machine had two more slots for selling goods and three more slots for purchasing goods.

They needed to conduct detailed analysis to determine what to buy: Energy Cores, empty Energy Cores, empty bracelets...

and possibly outdated System Equipment.

They can upgrade and then sell them.

According to the deal between him and Leia, this could be very profitable. A single transaction might yield only a trivial profit, but on a global scale, it could make a lot of money!

"I’ll leave the rest to you. I have... a city tour to attend."

"Have fun, boss. I’ll cast my magic, don’t worry!"

The satisfied old man said, sitting down in front of the laptop, as Lin Yi had allowed him to use the vending machine application.

The Governor was slightly miffed when he saw Lin Yi appear again.

"You’ve been gone a long time!"

"Something important came up; the vending machine has been installed and is operational."

"I saw it and have already begun purchasing food from you, thank you."

"Do you want to take me around the city, or...?"

"The car is ready."

Lin Yi toured the city in an armored officer’s vehicle, accompanied by a charming young woman and a squad of soldiers.

As before, Cologne is overpopulated.

Of course, not the entire city, just the part hidden behind the walls.

People still looked so hungry, dirty, and filled with despair.

"Your people don’t look very well."

"They keep pouring in; what can I do, drive them out?

So I let them all in, and now there’s not enough food to go around... and not much work either.

But I’ve started planning to build a factory to process wheat into grain.

So the situation should improve soon..."

Leia’s voice gradually lowered.

She felt ashamed for having Lin Yi see her people in such a plight.

"Where did you get your food before?"

"Well... we have three food sources: the river, the wild and mutated pets multiplying wildly in the southeast, and the main source of food: the biomass factory.

But... there was a problem with this factory."

"A problem?"

"You should ask Lainer, okay? I’m a bit embarrassed..."

Leia said, looking out the window with a pained expression—hunger, disease, decay...

"You should buy some of my spring water for those patients. I can’t guarantee it’ll cure them right away, but it will make them feel better.

It’s not ordinary water; you can drink it too, and your magic value will recover faster, wounds will heal faster, skin will become smoother, and other such benefits."

"Are you saying my skin is not good?!"

The woman retorted, but before Lin Yi could respond, she burst into laughter.

"Sorry, just kidding, whenever women say that, you men always look so silly!"

"Women..."

"I’m not some little girl, but a young and very beautiful woman!"

The young and very beautiful woman spoke, glancing with pride at the supplier.

"Yes, yes... do you fish in the river?"

"There are all kinds of fish in the river. Of course, they are all mutated, but they still taste good.

However, it’s sometimes easier to take out a horde of zombies than to catch a bunch of those delicious fish..."

Leia guided Lin Yi through her military facilities, workshops, and several small factories used for metal smelting and making zombie trap components.

Cologne also manufactures swords, shields, and other basic weapons, which aren’t system equipment, just ordinary weapons for civilian volunteers to use.

The city also produces clothes, repairs equipment, and even makes devices similar to alarm systems.

Some industrial facilities lie on the other side of the inner wall, but they have their own walls and are heavily guarded.

Cologne’s main feature is its port, docks, and a large number of ships, particularly yachts and cargo ships.

The river is wide enough to accommodate U.S. naval vessels, but there is no trade between them.

The sole reason for utilizing this river is to provide emergency aid during large-scale zombie tide invasions like the one in Brussels.

"I mean... you don’t actually need all those refugees, right?"

"Of course not... why? Are you thinking of taking them?" Leia asked with a sly smile.

"No, but I need pilots, programmers, telecom experts... all kinds of people."

"So you need skilled people..."

The blonde woman said, earnestly considering the current situation.

"I can give you some people, but of course, I have to keep a few for myself."

"If you can help, for every person willing to leave with me, I’ll give you a hundred pounds of food."

"What if they have family?"

"If they’re willing to go, I’ll give you a hundred pounds of food for each family member as well."

"You don’t need dockworkers, do you? I have a lot here... look at your face! I’m joking!"

After a brief negotiation, they reached a consensus in principle but left the specifics for their assistants to handle.

Through this tour, the port and docks of Cologne left the deepest impression on Lin Yi.

They have great potential utility.

But unfortunately, it was getting late, so Lin Yi quickly wrapped up all matters and declined Leia’s request for him to stay, leaving Cologne.

On the way to Dusseldorf, he received a message.

Flame Skill Book analysis completed.

A copy of the skill has been added to the store.

Price: 1000 Gold Coins.

Lin Yi returned to the shelter immediately; he did not have the laboratory analyze a new skill but upgraded the laboratory instead.

It costs five million Gold Coins to upgrade to Second Level, while a First Level laboratory is only worth five hundred thousand Gold Coins...