Cui Mao said with emotion, "Mr. Zhou, Jin City is very sorry to hear about your company's plight and also admires your courage."

"In this world, there are few who dare to refuse the power of the Mechanical City."

"Making this decision comes with a huge cost."

"The other two cities, 'Mechanical City' and 'Hardware City,' have their own reasons."

"As far as we know, Mechanical City is a city that practices slavery. A large number of semi-civilized beings are sent there as slave laborers, including some mechanical lives sold there... Mechanical City has always refused external inspections and supervision, and has already been sanctioned multiple times, so one more time won't make much difference."

He continued, "Hardware City, on the other hand, is a den of criminals, home to many mechanical life criminals. It also relies on many illegal trades and money laundering activities for revenue, and will not accept external audits and searches."

"Your company is different from them; initially, you were in a honeymoon phase with the Mechanical and Electrical City Group, yet you dared to oppose their technological authority sanctions, doing what many cities want to do but cannot."

The opposite Knight praised, "But indeed, this is something Mr. Zhou would do."

Zhou Yi felt a twitch on his face upon hearing this.

Mechanical City is a city of slavery, Hardware City is even more a gathering place for criminals—no wonder its rating is an absurd B.

Does it mean I am the only one left?

He asked the other party, "Is Jin City also under review?"

"Yes."

Cui Mao looked calm, as if he had grown accustomed to it over time.

Zhou Yi curiously asked, "And what about the Heavenly Kingdom?"

"The Heavenly Kingdom has a special cooperation agreement with the Mechanical City."

Cui Mao said, "Inspections will be carried out there as well, but the method is different from us independent cities. The Heavenly Kingdom's interests align with the Mechanical City; many mechanical lives work for the Heavenly Kingdom. If they have independent time-off, this would also cause significant losses to the Heavenly Kingdom."

Zhou Yi gave an "oh" sound.

Realizing his interest in the matter, Cui Mao added, "In fact, there are individuals and organizations that refuse inspections from the Mechanical City. However, they are either entirely independent mechanical lives, or they are like the Beiyang Region, involved with Star Axis, so the Mechanical City cannot intervene."

"It's only your company that has close ties with the interests of Mechanical City and thus fell out with it."

The official business was over.

Zhou Yi handed him a can of Coca-Cola, "How has your life been in Sand Port City these past two years?"

"Thank you. Life has been a lot easier than before."

The young Knight relaxed a bit, pulled the tab, and took a sip, "The crime rate two years ago wasn't low. Now, theft and assault cases have been cut in half."

"On one hand, it's the city's economic prosperity—everyone's busy earning money and has hope. On the other hand, Big Buddha has had a good effect in soothing people's spirits; it is a truly miraculous Alien."

"In the past two years, besides daily duties, my spare time is spent on exercising and reading, and also... I got married."

Zhou Yi teased, "So you've been busy with your wife, that must have been your main occupation these two years, right?"

Cui Mao smiled sheepishly, "My wife is a good woman, a tailor from Sand Port, a bit older than I am, very kind and upright, and she's always willing to help others."

Zhou Yi nodded, "It's not easy to find someone you like, cherish her."

"Heh heh."

"Wait for me a moment."

Zhou Yi went outside and took a bottle of Jian Nan Chun with a gift box from the storeroom, handing it to Cui Mao.

"Congratulations on your wedding."

Cui Mao quickly waved his hands, "This is too valuable; I can't accept it."

"It's just a gift between friends."

Zhou Yi said, "Keep it, for a happy occasion."

"Well... Thank you."

The two launched into a friendly chat.

The sale of Light Soot Sand will have Yuan Tong and the captain of the third squadron of the Tianjin Knights liaise.

Not until late into the night did Cui Mao say goodbye and leave.

...

Even with the help of Recursive City and the Tianjin Knights, the negative impact of the Mechanical City's sanctions was significant.

The bustling scene at the courier center was no more, with Bone Fish deliverymen often resting in the Dead Sea, and employee wages plummeting.

The halt of production at Coral Port led to the depletion of Jade Soup and Flame Cup stock, and the market has seen many imitations, selling counterfeit goods under the name of Jade City.

Zhou Yi's response was to make Jade Soup and Flame Cup himself, entrusting their production to Lord Sand Sea.

Compared to the Mechanical City, which had specialized in manufacturing for years, Lord Sand Sea's efforts were fraught with hiccups.

It said, "Mr. Zhou, regarding raw materials, the roots of the explosive mushroom provided by Mushroom Forest are sufficient, and I can find a suitable planting sediment zone as well."

"We configured it according to the ratio you gave us before and used the pressing machinery to make sure the dehydrated Jade Soup is small enough, but for some reason, it easily fractures... Maybe the craft still doesn't compare, and it doesn't look very appealing when sold."

"The production volume is another issue. Currently, we are using manual compression, which yields about 100,000 units per day."

Zhou Yi remembered. The sales volume for the first month at Coral Port was 400 million units, producing more than 13.33 million units daily. When it comes to Sand Port, it significantly drops to a fraction of that.

The gap in production efficiency is indeed huge.

Lord Sand Sea also mentioned, "The current quantity is definitely not enough, but I am expanding the workforce. As long as we increase the number of workers, we can boost the output. We only have 10 people working right now, but my plan is to expand by 100 times, to recruit 1,000 workers and purchase a few more relevant machines. This way, even though we can't match Coral Port, we can still produce several million units a day."

"In terms of the Flame Cup, the Light Imprint Devices capable of radiating can be purchased, but precise operation is rather difficult, and Obsidian is not easy to produce and acquire. Thus, I boldly made an adjustment and switched to a material that's easier to produce for the container."

He presented the new model of the Flame Cup.

Now, it has completely turned into a sand pot.

Zhou Yi found the new model more practical than the previous one, with the only flaw being its larger size.

"By firing sand to make stone pots, it's cheaper than Obsidian and easier to manipulate."

"The challenging part is still the pricing issue."

Lord Sand Sea said with a wry smile, "The production cost of our Jade Soup is 20 mushrooms, which is double that of Coral Port. The market price can't be lower than 30 mushrooms, otherwise there'll be hardly any profit."

"The cost of the Flame Cup is also not low. Its pricing must be increased to at least 2,000 mushrooms, which is 20 copper coins."

Zhou Yi showed understanding: "We adjust according to the actual situation. Our focus is on providing value for money, but we can't operate at a loss either."

"Mr. Zhou, I have quite the confidence in our products."

"Despite the price of Jade Soup being set at 30 mushrooms, it's still an extremely cheap and nutritionally rich food. The Flame Cup likewise is an indispensable tool for staying warm in the winter and for daily cooking or boiling water."

Lord Sand Sea continued, "But with such a price increase, it might take some time for buyers to accept it. Another issue is our transportation channels, which need to be gradually opened up. After the sanctions, our ships can no longer dock at the Mechanical and Electrical City ports, and in some places, we need to take a much longer route."

Zhou Yi nodded, "These are the challenges we must face. We'll slowly explore and try; there's no rush."

...

The comprehensive sanctions against Mechanical City continue to spread their effects.

Previously, many Professionals were considering joining the company, and were in contact with various department heads. However, after the announcement, this group almost disappeared.

Foreign mechanical life forms also steer clear of this place.

Da Vinci had originally negotiated with a Mechanical Doctor and a nurse, both of whom declined the job offers because of the sanctions.

It was only through Feng Ying that Zhou Yi became aware of this.

Coupled with that, the overall exports from the Development Alliance, including transportation, are blocked by the Mechanical City ports. Ports refuse ships carrying the company's goods.

The magnitude of this blow leads many organizations that trade with the Development Alliance to waver. Previously established trading partners also began looking for alternative suppliers.

Not only are existing channels reducing, but new developments are also beset with difficulties.

Zhou Yi felt some irritations over this.

He made a resolute decision.

If no ships are willing to transport, then we'll do it ourselves!

Since the order volume at the delivery center is low now, we'll let the deliverymen do the door-to-door delivery.

Qian Su wholeheartedly agreed with this.

She said, "Our Bone Fish deliverymen currently have a decent carrying capacity. In the Dead Sea, carrying 300 kilograms of cargo is no problem. Three deliverymen are equivalent to a small transport ship."

"Currently, we have 85 deliverymen, and based on their carrying capacity, they equate to 27 small transport ships and are much faster than the ships."

Zhou Yi immediately approved: "That settles it. We'll deliver directly to the door and make money on the transport costs as well!"

And so, the delivery center became busy once again.

The pain from the sanctions imposed by Mechanical City continues.

However, just one week later, there was an unexpected turn of events.

The cause was the unusually extended period of high temperatures this summer, with many regions experiencing little rainfall, severe damage to agricultural crops, and a large number of urban residents became sick and injured due to the scorching heat. It became extremely difficult to work outside.

Then.

The value-for-money refrigeration boxes became a coveted item sought after by all during this summer.

The Steel Refining Lord reported happily, "Mr. Zhou, last month, we sold 60,000 refrigeration boxes and 4.71 million cooling coal blocks!!! The total revenue was 246 Light Seeds, with a net profit of 148 Light Seeds."

"This month, we have already received prepayments for over 190,000 refrigeration boxes and more than 20 million cooling coal blocks. In addition, there are also large orders for custom cold storage and freeze storage facilities."

"As long as the refrigeration boxes are sold, there will be a continuous need for cooling coal to keep them running, and our core cooling coal sales volume will continue to rise! To reduce local consumption, I bought coal from other areas as a supplement to avoid over-extraction of local minerals."

"We are currently overwhelmed by the workload here! I've just urgently purchased three mechanical devices and am in the process of massively recruiting."

This was a silver lining amidst the spate of bad news.

"Mr. Zhou, there's also a special buyer who wants to place a large order... but the identity is rather unusual."

Zhou Yi felt a sense of relief, "Who? The rebels or a Pillage Group?"

"Neither."

Duke Beidu said, "It's from the 'Warlord' series of Weapon Hunters."

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