Chapter 532 - 342: Heart Towards the Light (6)

Based on this stat alone, Zhao Chi would have to pay 26.71 Gold Coins each month.

But after harvesting those 22 plots of farmland, Zhao Chi had Gu Yan plant them with pasture grass.

As a result, his Agriculture stat plummeted. It has now dropped to 80 points, meaning he only needs to pay 0.8 Gold Coins per month.

His Industry stat is 262, Commerce is 26, Wealth is 7168, and Military is 1061. Added together, that’s 8597 points, requiring a payment of nearly 86 Gold Coins.

That’s way too high.

The main reason is that his Wealth Index is too high.

After all, every woman has four pieces of Super-Improved Fashion, which shot the Wealth stat way up.

But even if he had to pay 86 Gold Coins a month, Zhao Chi could afford it.

Besides, he was willing to pay the World-breaking Army.

But more importantly, doing so would indirectly expose information about Zhao Chi.

After all, this territory information was also confidential.

’In that case, forget it. I won’t consider the first option.’

If he went with the second option, Peach Blossom Village, currently a Medium-sized Village, would only have to pay a fixed rate of 20 Gold Coins per month.

Small villages paid 10 Gold Coins per month, and large villages paid 50 Gold Coins per month.

So for Zhao Chi, the second option was more cost-effective no matter how you looked at it.

"Zhao Chi, which one are you choosing?" Su Qin asked in a low voice.

"The second option. What about you?"

"I have to choose the first option, otherwise I’d be paying way too much."

Zhao Chi did a quick mental calculation and realized she was right.

Su Qin had a Medium-sized Town. If she went with the second option, she would have to pay 200 Gold Coins per month.

That was far too much for her.

Su Qin’s Medium-sized Town was relatively weak, much weaker than the more powerful ones.

So for her, it was more cost-effective to pay proportionally according to the first option.

The five stats for Su Qin’s territory added up to 9177 points, so she would only have to pay 91.77 Gold Coins a month—less than half of 200 Gold Coins.

This was much more cost-effective for Su Qin.

Zhao Chi quickly chose the second option.

Su Qin chose the first.

This way, the Lords no longer had to pay a wide variety of miscellaneous taxes. They could simply choose the option that suited them best and pay monthly. It was very simple and fast.

And without all the miscellaneous taxes, Lords could trade more frequently and more easily purchase the supplies they needed.

Of course, this only applied to the Lords.

Non-Lord residents had a different set of rules, which Zhao Chi didn’t care about.

The second important matter:

The Magical Beast Quota Issue

The World-breaking Army was a rebel force. Originally nomadic, they never had to bear any Magical Beast quotas.

But now that they had occupied Jiaoya Town and were using its Array, they had no choice but to accept a Magical Beast quota.

Otherwise, the Magical Beasts would break out from Jiaoya Town first.

However, the Alien Race had now used some unknown method to transfer a large number of Magical Beasts to Central Zone 9 to attack the nobles who were desperately holding on there.

This led to a decrease in the number of Magical Beasts in other locations, making them easier to deal with than before.

The final announcement stated that Village Level Lords would not have to fight Magical Beasts.

Town Level Lords, on the other hand, were assigned a quota of 100 to 500 Basic Level Magical Beasts.

Zhao Chi still had no quota, while Su Qin’s was set at 200 Basic Level Magical Beasts—exactly half of her previous quota.

The other Lords’ quotas weren’t high either.

Zhao Shizhang, Zhao Qizong, and others still had to eliminate Super High Level Magical Beasts, but it was much easier than before.

This way, the Lords’ losses would be reduced, allowing them to build up a great deal of combat power.

The World-breaking Army wasn’t the Alien Race.

The Alien Race needed to restrict the development of the Lords; they didn’t want the Lords to become too strong.

In fact, they didn’t dare let the Lords get too strong.

The Lu Yi Family and the Cao Feng Family had been weakened by the Alien Race precisely because they had grown too powerful.

The Zhao Chi family, on the other hand, was so weak that Xiao Ning and Muchang both felt they could be controlled, so they weren’t weakened any further.

But the World-breaking Army was different.

Not only did they not need to restrict the Lords’ development, but they actually needed the Lords to be stronger.

Because the stronger the Lords became, the stronger the World-breaking Army would become as well.

Su Qin was very happy.

"Zhao Chi, I felt like I was dragging you down before, but now that I only have a quota of 200, I can handle it myself. You don’t have to trouble yourself with coming over every day anymore."

Zhao Chi smiled. "With only 200, I think you can win without taking any losses."

Su Qin nodded. "Mm, if they’re just Skeletons or Goblins, I can definitely win without any losses. But if I run into Ogres or something like that, I might still lose a few units."

"So I don’t have to come help you fight every day anymore?"

Su Qin nodded. "Yes, you don’t have to. But if you want to come, I’d welcome you, of course."

Zhao Chi shook his head. "No need. Two hundred is easy for you. It’s a good chance for you to build up your strength, so I won’t get in your way. If you run into any troublesome Magical Beasts, you can call me for backup."

"Okay! But... you won’t start visiting less often, will you?"

"I won’t."

"Mm, I don’t need you to come every day, but you have to visit at least once every few days."

"Don’t worry."

"That... Lu Yi... what’s her relationship with you?"

"Huh? Lu Yi? Why are you bringing her up?"

"Her family background is pretty good, isn’t it?"

"Her family background is good, yes, but the Lu Family has also suffered huge losses recently... Why do you care about her? There’s nothing going on between us."

"Is that so? But from the way I saw her looking at you yesterday, it didn’t seem that way."

"What kind of look was she giving me?"

"She seems to know you pretty well, right?"

Zhao Chi nodded and quietly told her about how Lu Yi used to tutor him.

He also made it clear that there was really nothing more between him and Lu Yi.

Su Qin smiled. "That’s not what I meant. I was just saying—she has a good family background, she’s good-looking, and she seems pretty sharp. She seems like a good match for you. If you married her, wouldn’t her family be able to help you out?"

"Don’t!" Zhao Chi stopped her. "This conversation is over! I really have no interest in Lu Yi."

Su Qin didn’t know the full details of Zhao Chi’s background.

But she knew that the Lu Family was stronger than the Zhao Family. If Zhao Chi married Lu Yi, he might be able to obtain more resources than he currently had.

Zhao Chi refused flatly.

"Listen. Let’s talk about something else."

"Oh..." Su Qin nodded.