Shi Ming didn’t imdiately accept the pending contact requests.
He went to the washroom attached to the captain’s quarters, took a cold shower, then poured himself a glass of his prized red wine. Only then did he sit down at his desk, pick up his communicator, and accept all the friend requests one by one.
In a re twenty minutes, another dozen or so inquiries had popped up.
Most of these people had seen Shi Ming’s sales notice more than an hour ago and had sent their requests imdiately. Due to the one-hour communication delay, they were only just now appearing on his communicator. To make things easier, each person had included an opening ssage.
As Shi Ming accepted the requests, he glanced over their opening ssages—
"Mr. Stone, would you be willing to sell its blood?..."
"Mr. Stone, did you kill this A-rank sea beast yourself? The crew of the *Apocalypse* is interested in purchasing it. We’d also like to invite you aboard as our guest. We’ve discovered the coordinates of an unknown A-rank sea beast and hope we can hunt it together..."
"Mr. Stone, 350 Pure Do Crystals for 50 liters of its blood."
"Hello, the Pharaoh Research Institute would like to purchase the sea beast’s carcass. As you ntioned, it has no blood, so our budget is 30 Pure Do Crystals, with so flexibility depending on its condition..."
"We are the Northern Research Institute, affiliated with the General-level Wandering Ship *Ice Bear*, under Katyusha’s command. This Glacier Dragon is extrely rare, and we hope you will sell it to us... If you have retained any of its blood, we are willing to purchase it at a premium, in addition to offering the friendship of our institute and the *Ice Bear*..."
"Communication is difficult. One price: 40 Pure Do Crystals. We can arrange for pickup."
In the Wandering Era, communication was extrely inefficient. Therefore, most inquirers stated their needs and offers upfront in their opening ssages.
At the sa ti, practically every one of them made an offer of friendship.
An Awakened capable of hunting A-rank sea beasts might not an much to a major power like Lighthouse or the Twelve Stars. However, second- and third-rate factions accounted for 90% of the powers on the Endless Ocean. For them, winning over a powerful A-rank Awakened, gaining his friendship, or even just acquiring his private contact information was a guaranteed win.
Moreover, even though Shi Ming had stated clearly in his notice that the sea beast did not contain the blood needed for awakenings,
many still asked if he would sell so of the A-rank sea beast’s blood.
In their eyes, a Glacier Dragon of that size was bound to have so blood to spare.
In contrast, only twenty to thirty percent were actually interested in the carcass itself.
Furthermore, most of them were research institutions affiliated with General- or King-level Wandering Ships.
’The highest offer right now is from the Northern Research Institute.’
’The Northern Research Institute is affiliated with Big Ivan’s *Ice Bear*. They’re permanently stationed in the Endless Ice Sea, researching the sea beasts of the polar regions. To them, even this Glacier Dragon is rare. Unfortunately, their offer requires a bonus of 1000 milliliters of energy-rich blood... and I don’t have a single drop. I can’t et their terms.’
’The second-highest offer is... Michael... but I’d have to travel to the Great Western Sea Region for the trade.’
’Forget it. They’re part of the group that has a bounty on the Silver ship, No. 23333. Selling to them would be worse than selling to that guy who offered 40 and can handle his own pickup!’
After reviewing all the ssages, he didn’t make an imdiate decision.
It was still early, and a rare commodity was worth holding onto. He would naturally have to compare the offers and sell to the highest bidder.
Besides, after seeing so many offers, he now had a better estimate of the carcass’s value and a price point in mind. If he played his cards right, he could probably drive the price up by another 10 to 20 percent.
...
...
...
Aboard the *Chuiyan*.
The devastatingly handso and charismatic "playboy," Reinhardt, arrived at his private lounge area on the deck. He sported a stylish, side-parted hairstyle and wore loose shorts and a shirt.
"Has Jinshan responded to our request?"
"And did we get our hands on that pirated copy of *A Compendium of Marvels of the Endless Sea Region*?"
He asked his assistant, sinking into a folding chair and accepting a glass of golden beer.
"Captain, Jinshan has responded. They’ve sent over all the information on Wandering Ship No. 23333—size, appearance, specific details, battle damage, information about the previous captain, and so on. We’ve compiled the intel into a file for your review."
"Oh? That was fast. Doesn’t sound like them at all!"
"Also, we’ve acquired a digital version of *A Compendium of Marvels of the Endless Sea Region*. It’s not encrypted, so the seller takes no responsibility for the information’s authenticity. But based on their track record, its estimated reliability is 78%."
"Acceptable."
Reinhardt took the file his assistant had prepared.
He first carefully reviewed the intel from Jinshan, committing it to mory.
As the captain of a rchant vessel, he had more than one source of information.
Not long ago, he had obtained another piece of intel through one of his flings in the Black Society: the reason Yan Dao Lin of the Black Society had been temporarily dismissed was because his subordinate, Great Wilderness, had lost one of their important artifacts. The Black Society’s First Governor had been so enraged that he’d executed Great Wilderness on the spot. As Great Wilderness’s superior, Yan Dao Lin was dismissed as collateral damage.
’Issuing a bounty while also dismissing a key commander?’
The two events seed unrelated, but to him, the coincidence was too close to ignore.
His Awakened ability, "Heart of Weaving," didn’t just let him effortlessly capture the hearts of won; it also endowed him with a logic sensitive to the faintest clues and most obscure connections.
’Interesting.’
’Let’s see...’
’Could it be? Great Wilderness lost so treasure, and it ended up on Ship No. 23333? So the Black Society asked the Golden Pagoda Organization to help locate the ship. The Golden Pagoda Organization then contacted Michael’s navigator, and they went with the Black Society’s Awakened to retrieve the treasure, only for both of them to end up dead... Is that why there’s a joint bounty for 2,000 Pure Do Crystals?’
’And the fact that you can get 200 Pure Do Crystals just for providing information suggests that Jinshan is more interested in gathering intel than anything else,’ he mused.
Originally, he’d found it strange. When it ca to finding a ship, didn’t Lighthouse have that incredibly efficient navigator?
Why go the long way around and post such a massive bounty?
It seed the navigator really was dead.
Heh. Connecting the dots between these events led to so new discoveries and theories.
He was just missing the most crucial piece of the puzzle.
For now, he still had no real leads.
He put down the file and picked up the pirated copy of *A Compendium of Marvels of the Endless Sea Region (Vol. 2)*.
He couldn’t afford the official version, which made the pirated copy all the more cost-effective.
He was fascinated by information about treasures and artifacts, so he read it carefully, word by word.
’101, Treasure Compass?’
’I think Kate Xi ntioned this one. It’s currently at Lighthouse Headquarters... Supposedly, out of so humanitarian spirit, Lighthouse allows other factions to borrow it, for a hefty fee, of course...’
Kate Xi was another of his lovers.
He road the seas, relying on his abilities, looks, emotional intelligence, worldly experience, and certain unique charms to win countless lovers.
He was, so to speak, the male version of "Old Germany’s courtesan, the Wild Rose of the Endless Sea."
’102, Jade-Capped Snow...’
’103, Polar Ice Bear’s Heart. A Polar Ice Bear, just an A-rank sea beast, can let soone awaken an S-rank ability? Seriously? That’s ridiculous. But because it’s so ridiculous, it almost makes it more believable.’
’I should keep an eye out for that.’
’Still, the problem with pirated intel is that it’s often seventy percent truth and thirty percent lies. You can’t trust it completely.’
’108, Map of the Endless Sea. Tsk, an ability this broken is only ranked 108? Unbelievable. With sothing like this, how could you not get rich? If you ask , this treasure should be in the top 50, at least!’
’109, Calm Sea Pearl...’
’110, Undefeated Pillar... Hmm, this one’s good.’
In just over ten minutes, he finished reading the entire docunt.
"Such incredible treasures!"
Reinhardt put down the docunt, still wanting more, his gaze drifting off into the far distance.
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