Zhou Yi made his way to the Pier and discovered that Duke Beidu's navy mechanized ship had already docked at the shore.

"Good news, Mr. Zhou."

Duke Beidu's voice was filled with joy: "After the war ended, I went to various places searching for sales channels for Mushroom Houses. As the chaotic winter has just ended, many places require reconstruction and repair, and now is the perfect time."

"In the locations I visited and negotiated with, four regions have expressed a strong interest and confirmed their intent to purchase Mushroom Houses from us."

"They are Glass Castle with a population of 80,000, Cotton and Hemp Land with 70,000 permanent residents, Tree Monster Territory with 40,000 inhabitants, and Fanyun City with a population of 37,000. Altogether, that's a total of 240,000 people, all potential buyers."

Zhou Yi remarked: "You really work efficiently."

"It's only right; after all, Shell City also gets a cut from the sales of the Mushroom Houses."

Duke Beidu continued: "However, there is another region where there's a significant dispute, and I cannot make the decision alone. I need to consult your opinion."

"Shuanghe Region also wants to make a bulk purchase of Mushroom Houses. What do you think about this..."

Zhou Yi immediately replied: "Sell, why not sell? The war has already ended, and there's no difference between clients. The Shuanghe Region has a population of 650,000, which has great potential."

Duke Beidu appeared relieved: "If you agree, then I'll formally discuss the transaction of Mushroom Houses with them."

"There's another important issue at present regarding how to set the prices, which I'm unsure about."

While the two were discussing,

Bone Man Sun Chonglai finally arrived.

"Chairman, Lord Duke Beidu, I'm late, my apologies."

Today, he wore a plaid long-sleeved shirt, wide-leg pants, and leather boots, with a denim scarf tied around his neck.

Still dressed meticulously.

"You've arrived just in time."

Duke Beidu said: "Tell Mr. Zhou about the technological updates; the Mushroom Houses now are quite different from before."

Bone Man chuckled: "Chairman, there was a noticeable drawback with the Mushroom Houses before—that is, the issue of security against theft."

"After repeated testing, we have now found a set of solutions."

"Just plant the giant mushrooms and wait for 2 months, and their fiber layer will become thick and dense, making it difficult to enter from below. Only the cap part is more delicate, where one can enter again, but that's situated high up, and it takes a rope ladder to climb up."

"Then we found a type of spiky thorn indigenous to Shell City and began to cultivate it in large quantities. When it's wrapped around the surface of the giant mushrooms, it creates a natural wall of thorns, making it impossible for thieves to climb."

Zhou Yi said: "This method is good, simple and effective."

"Chairman, the residents of the Mushroom Houses in Shell City also reported another problem — the issue of excrement separation and waste management."

Bone Man went on to explain: "While giant mushrooms can digest and absorb many substances as fertilizers, if waste is discarded inside, the rotting smell of excrement and residual trash is hard to quickly eliminate and lingers for a long time. So considering practical needs, we took inspiration from Jade City to make improvements."

Sun Chonglai looked around and pointed to a giant mushroom not far away: "Look, that's what our upgraded Mushroom House looks like."

Zhou Yi saw there was a smaller giant mushroom beneath the larger one, only about two meters tall.

He instantly understood: "A toilet?"

"Yes! Chairman. This was also inspired by the combination of large and small, tall and short Mushroom Houses from the wartime period. After a giant mushroom grows, it is cut and propagated to add another one next to it. Due to lack of nutrients, its growth is suppressed, something we call a side shoot."

Bone Man said happily: "That side shoot next to it is specifically for defecation, no need to worry about the wind and rain. The feces can either be collected as fertilizer or directly absorbed by the giant mushroom. In fact, they are one and the same."

"The side shoot system also gives the Mushroom House more room for expansion."

"For instance, we can create a side shoot as a warehouse, or directly transform it into a shop, making an opening to sell goods to the public."

"To ensure the stability of the side shoot, we will lay down a mycelium mat. The mat stabilizes the living environment and allows the giant mushroom's mycelium, which acts as roots, to expand further and become even more robust."

Zhou Yi nodded as he listened.

This series of improvements made the Mushroom House more and more like a building suitable for long-term residence.

"Our next direction is towards greater comfort and complementary upgrades."

Bone Man spoke incessantly: "Chairman, we are currently selecting various mushroom species from other places; some have fragrances, some can repel insects, some can dehumidify... these are all things we plan to work on next."

Zhou Yi was very satisfied.

Sun Chonglai concluded the technical report and then Duke Beidu spoke again.

"Mr. Zhou, I will continue with the matter of selling Mushroom Houses."

"Originally, the cheapest houses in each town were underground holes, but they were in poor condition and prone to various diseases. The price of houses on the ground varies by region, but generally, the price of the most ordinary houses is about half of the local inhabitants' annual income."

"Because the consumption of food and fuel is high each year, the ordinary people in the towns do not have much savings and usually need several years to save enough money to buy a house."

"Mr. Zhou, my idea is that the pricing for Mushroom Houses should not be too high either. Set the price around the annual income of the local people. After the integration, our supporting facilities are now very good, providing a huge advantage over ordinary houses."

It continued, "I plan to offer two different types of housing."

"The first type is ready-built, that is, we create Mushroom Houses in selected areas. After two months when they are mature, we sell them to the locals, allowing residents to move in immediately."

"The second type is pre-sale housing, which can be a bit cheaper. The advantage is that buyers can choose the location, but the downside is that without specialized technicians overseeing, they might not grow as expected."

"What do you think?"

Zhou Yi thought it over carefully.

He said, "Don't make it so expensive, we should use the company's people-friendly pricing strategy. Our cost for Mushroom Houses is not high, and the most important thing now is to make sure that most people can afford a Mushroom House."

"We should not only be cheaper than the market housing, but also less expensive. Price them based on the average local income of three months, ensuring we have a broader audience and more residents."

Duke Beidu hesitated a bit, "Isn't that a bit too cheap? Although the cost is low, a lot of resources were consumed in the research and development of Mushroom Forest, and this is also the company's proprietary technology."

"Think long-term."

Zhou Yi advised, "We are making a mass-market product. Let everyone live in Mushroom Houses first, and then the architectural type of Mushroom House will spread, right? Our advantage now is to quickly expand our influence, to bring Mushroom Houses to thousands of households."

"Based on this foundation, we can then develop more varieties later on. Improved Mushroom Houses, Mushroom House quadrangles, Mushroom House villas focus on comfortable living and higher quality."

"People must first get used to and utilize Mushroom Houses, then they will gradually consider upgrading to better, more advanced products. In the future, we will have a steady stream of buyers, and it will be difficult for other professionals to compete with us in this regard."

Duke Beidu paused, "So that's what you're thinking. Indeed, if we view this as an industry, housing is indeed a basic building that every region needs."

Bone Man Sun Chonglai agreed strongly, "The chairman is right; Mushroom Houses are just the beginning. There will be new mushroom facilities and tools to follow, cheap and practical, making them more acceptable to everyone."

"I understand."

Duke Beidu said, "So, the price of a regular Mushroom House would be between 6000 and 9000 mushrooms."

Zhou Yi said, "Adjust according to local conditions as appropriate."

...

Not long after this negotiation, orders began to flow in like snowflakes.

The first order came from the south's Tree Monster Territory. Tree Monster Lead directly ordered 200 Mushroom Houses, 50 ready-built and 150 pre-sale. The local area is inhabited by Tree Monsters that produce a large amount of wood and the soil is also very suitable for growing mushrooms.

The second order was for 240 Mushroom Houses from Cotton and Hemp Land.

Then came 175 Mushroom Houses from Fanyun City, and 320 Mushroom Houses from Glass Castle.

The Shuanghe Region even purchased 700 Mushroom Houses, planning to settle them outside the core of Shuanghe City to provide low-cost housing to local residents who could not afford housing.

However, all regions were purchasing in a centralized manner, forbidding the Development Alliance from selling Mushroom Houses directly to the locals.

The reason was simple.

"Those sea lords fear that Mushroom Houses will impact the local housing industry, leading to unemployment among stone workers and laborers in construction. Because the price of Mushroom Houses is too low, it could cause the prices of city houses to decrease, sparking panic among merchants and related professionals."

Duke Beidu also felt helpless mentioning this.

"By the time Mushroom Houses reach the hands of the residents, the price will also be higher than our initial pricing. But even so, they are still much cheaper than traditional wooden houses and stone houses."

"Fortunately, Sun Chonglai helped train a group of human architects for Mushroom Houses, who have now mastered the skills of cultivation and maintenance, only needing slices from Mushroom Forest. The people from Shell City will be able to go directly to the destination to complete the cultivation and installation."

"The latest list has already been sent to Red Kestrel, and we have now sold 1741 Mushroom Houses, with a total income of 13,057,021 mushrooms, which is equivalent to 13 Light Seeds. Although it's not much, it's a very good start, and the Five Regions are still placing a large number of additional orders."

It continued, "Also, Heavenly Kingdom is very interested in Mushroom Houses and they have ordered 3000 in the first phase."

Wasteland Development Company's newly-established real estate, is currently in good shape and widely praised.

Duke Beidu's vision and operational capabilities are also excellent.

Zhou Yi can now be completely at ease.

And at the beginning of this summer, Building No. 8 awoke.

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