The transportation convoy stopped at a mountain pass, about two or three kilometers from the gates of Linyuan City.

Once the convoy came to a halt.

Lin Ziming pressed his index finger to his earpiece and listened for a moment, then said to everyone:

"Everyone, pack your things and get off the vehicle."

After saying this, he suddenly thought of something else and turned to Wang Qiang:

"Hey, your carriage has arrived."

Wang Qiang, having just packed up her snacks and ready to disembark, was stunned: "?"

Since the group's vehicle was in the latter half of the convoy, as soon as they got off, they saw a large group of people busy transporting goods.

Then shifting their view forward, Wang Qiang finally understood what Lin Ziming meant:

With the help of the high beams illuminating the way, several 'carriages' were clearly visible at the front of the convoy.

The 'carriage' part of these 'carriages'—that is, the rear half of the vehicle—was not much different from ancient vehicles on Earth.

Two wooden wheels supported by an axle, with a large carriage mounted on top.

But as for the 'horse' in front...

Although they also had four legs, these creatures had lizard-like heads, their eyes were silver-white without visible pupils, and their shoulder bones slightly protruded outward.

"These are a common type of draft animal in the Damo Realm, called Yi Qi. If they have the chance to break through the first rank, their shoulder bone protrusions will evolve into flight-capable wings."

Lin Ziming introduced this creature to everyone, then pointed at Wei Qiangsheng, who was interacting with several people ahead:

"Linyuan City is a renowned transfer station nearby, so the Wei Mansion set up a small business in the city to mainly gather information and accommodate trade delegations from Chixian City; it only needs to break even, with no profitability requirement."

Ma Ning, being the oldest in the group, naturally thought of similar structures from a certain period in Huaxia: "Isn't this just like a guesthouse somewhere in town, similar to those embassy offices in the Imperial Capital?"

Lin Ziming gave Ma Ning an odd look, as his initial thought was indeed about guesthouses as well.

Could it be that his psychological age was already similar to Ma Ning's?

He then cleared his throat twice, trying hard to appear serious:

"Alright then, for safety reasons, our transport will temporarily stop here. Everyone, take a rest in place.

Comrade Xiao Wang and Teacher Chao Hong, please assist Professor Ma and be careful in the dark, lest he falls."

He then scanned the accompanying personnel and finally waved someone over:

"Comrade Wu Fan, come with me to help unload the goods."

That's right, Wu Fan.

In the initial plan, the command center decided that in addition to the four trade delegates, a six-person accompanying team would also be added to the trade delegation.

Among them, four were confirmed: Lin Ziming, Wang Qiang, Ma Ning, and Dai Chaohong.

The remaining two were initially planned to be two life assistants, but after repeated deliberations by the command center, Wu Fan was included in the accompanying list.

Adding Wu Fan was not to catch any protagonist aura but rather from a translation perspective.

After all, should the rabbits decide to roam on their own, calling Wei Niandong might not always be appropriate.

So, a local tool... um, a local translator, would be very useful at this point.

Wu Fan's language skills had progressed rapidly during this period, and now he could fluently rap the "Big Bowl of Wide Noodles."

In addition, his overall performance had been quite good lately, leading the command center to eventually decide to add him to the trade delegation list.

Upon hearing Lin Ziming's call, Wu Fan responded and quickly walked forward.

These days of heavy lifting had made him much stronger, and after activating his spiritual energy, his physical fitness had improved somewhat too. It was only right to step up and help at this time.

The two then went to where the security team was, lifting boxes of 'Spiritless Detonator Talismans' together with a few others.

The sarcastic comment about why this Xianxia world didn't have Levitation Technique, due to the distance, unfortunately went unheard.

After more than half an hour, all goods from both the Wei Mansion and Huaxia were loaded onto the carriages.

As the Wei Mansion had limited business capacity within Linyuan City's trade associations, only... three vehicles remained after loading the goods.

Lin Ziming and Wei Qiangsheng discussed things, arranging for the noblewomen and elderly in the trade delegation (mostly accountants) to ride the carriages, while the rest proceeded on foot to Linyuan City.

Forty minutes later, under the guidance of Wei Qiangsheng, the group reached an area.

This area was about five hundred meters from the city gate, flat and seemingly suitable for large vehicle landings.

Upon their arrival, they found several hundred people already stationed there with goods.

The people were distinctly clustered around several bonfires, larger groups numbering over a hundred, smaller ones just over twenty.

Some were chatting or eating and drinking, with a few sitting with eyes closed in meditation.

Clearly, each bonfire represented a trade caravan.

The head of each caravan was typically a cultivator above the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer, with excellent night vision.

Seeing the new arrivals led by Wei Qiangsheng under the torchlight, two or three people holding wine sacks soon approached.

Wei Qiangsheng first exchanged lively greetings with them, but as he returned to Lin Ziming's side, his smile quickly vanished:

"Colonel Lin, I have asked around.

The flying ship will arrive in a few hours, so we can find a spot to rest for a while first.

This time, including us, a total of seven merchant caravans came, six less than last time, and the leaders of several teams have changed.

Also... do you see the group of people in the front right? It's a caravan formed by the alliance of two cities, which is very rare.

It seems that everyone suffered great losses from this beast tide; I hope this information is useful to you."

Lin Ziming nodded and thanked Wei Qiangsheng:

"Thank you, Brother Qiangsheng, please arrange for everyone to rest."

After Wei Qiangsheng left, Lin Ziming quietly found the chief responsible for the trade group, Mu Ge:

"Director Mu, please come with me."

Mu Ge, thirty-five years old, was formerly the second director of the Department of International Trade Relations of the Ministry of Commerce and came to the Damo Realm together with Shi Zehong.

They walked to a secluded area.

Lin Ziming recounted the information Wei Qiangsheng had gathered and then asked, "Director Mu, what do you think?"

"This is good news."

Mu Ge raised his sharp eyebrows and answered without hesitation:

"Seeing the caravan formed by two cities, we can see that there is a certain risk in this long-distance trade—this also aligns with the assessment made by the headquarters before our departure.

Therefore, the cities that did not come here either lost all their people and cities or lacked strong healthy cultivators to lead, resulting in them being unable to send caravans to mitigate their losses by selling demon beast materials.

Considering the distances between cities in the Damo Realm, I believe that apart from a few cities with exceptionally close relations,

most cities that cannot organize caravans will not entrust their goods to other cities for sale; the distance between cities is one factor, and who can guarantee that they will receive money after entrusting the sale to someone else.

Therefore, I believe that a significant portion of the cities chose to temporarily store their goods this time, waiting for the next opportunity to sell.

Colonel Lin, do you know what this means?"

As he said this, Mu Ge stared intently at Lin Ziming, raising an index finger:

"This means the quantity of raw materials from the demon beasts in this trade will be significantly reduced and the prices are likely to soar, which is extremely beneficial news for the Wei Mansion.

As for us... the more injuries and deaths cultivators suffer in the beast tide, the greater their demand for talismans.

Our small items are cheap and practical; do you think they will be popular?

Additionally...

The Yang Family in Ziqiong City, being the main family of the flying ships, must have already received the news of the caravan reductions.

But the other families or shops in the city's market may not realize this yet—or might not have anticipated such a severe shortage of raw materials this time.

After all, their information channels are limited, plus the Yang Family's network is not yet fully established, so it's unlikely they'd kindly inform them.

So at least initially, other merchant families within Ziqiong City might not react properly—this timeframe might be short, maybe three to five hours or even just an hour, but there is definitely such a time gap.

Even many caravans heading to Ziqiong City might not realize this, especially in areas not so severely affected by the beast tide, since not everyone has a commercial instinct.

So...

If we can make good use of this information gap, at least trailing the Yang Family to catch some leftovers, I believe there's definitely room for maneuver.

After all, we have the entire Huaxia think tank behind us!"

After quietly listening to this, Lin Ziming's expression also became serious: "Director Mu, your analysis makes a lot of sense, I'll immediately report this situation to the headquarters!"

Immediately, the two quickly parted, Mu Ge went to inform the rest of the trade members about this information, while Lin Ziming swiftly reported the situation to the headquarters.

Upon receiving this news.

The headquarters immediately showed an attentive attitude, Lin Li stated during a call that they would quickly send Yan Shaohua back to Modu to report the situation... well, not just to Modu for a jab... I mean, to report the situation.

After hanging up the communication, Lin Ziming let out a heavy sigh.

If Mu Ge's idea is feasible, then this is tantamount to speculative bottom-fishing in another world, and conservatively speaking, earning a few thousand Spirit Stones should not be difficult.

Of course, executing it still requires some skill, as no one knows how long this news will take to spread.

Then Lin Ziming put away the communication device and turned around to assist with personnel arrangements.

At this point, it's beyond his ability to handle alone.

.......

Three hours later, the last caravan arrived.

The number of caravans for this journey was finally set at eight.

According to Wei Qiangsheng he said:

'Among last year's thirteen merchant caravans, five couldn't make it... five really couldn't make it...'

Another two hours passed.

A gigantic object pierced through the clouds, flying in from a distance.

The flying ship has arrived!

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