Chapter 326: The Beginning of Inter-Universal Trade.

After Lian Cheng felt that sudden surge of happiness, he looked strangely at the tequila in his hand before taking another sip.

But this time, there was no sudden surge of happiness.

’Hmm... strange. Nah... whatever. It must have just been a feeling I had when I tasted something new.’

He shrugged it off and stopped thinking too much about it.

Then he looked at Wei Chen, who was sitting beside him at the bar.

"So... you called me here from my office. Do you need anything? I’m kinda busy lately, you know. My division has a lot of commissions coming in from the Underworld," Lian Cheng said as he took another sip of tequila.

"Want to try vodka?" Wei Chen asked as he took out a crystal-clear bottle designed to look like a piece of clear jewelry.

"Spit it out already. Don’t try to coax me with these... strange wines," Lian Cheng pressed.

"Yeah, about that... you know that because we can’t permanently seal the portal to the Otherworld, we’ve now come into contact with them through the gate we built, right?" Wei Chen started.

"Of course I know that. I’m the one who built that gate, remember?" Lian Cheng said.

"I know. The thing is, we’ve started receiving some trade requests from the other side. And they seem to want to come over here to explore. For example, these wines are products from the other side." Wei Chen gestured toward the tequila and vodka bottles.

Lian Cheng paused. He frowned as he thought about it.

"I... still don’t see why this is my responsibility. I’m not a diplomat, you know that, right?"

"I know, but you are our inventor! Our brain! I mean... if the talks go through and a trade agreement is established, I don’t think a single gate would be enough to transport all the goods. So..."

As Wei Chen tried to explain, Lian Cheng finally caught on to his point.

"I see... You mean you want me to build another gate, or maybe go to the other side and see if I can build something to help transport goods instead of using the gate as the main transportation channel, right?"

"Exactly!" Wei Chen pointed at Lian Cheng with an ’Aha!’ expression.

"Hmm... I really do need to go to the other side and see how things work. I can’t give you an answer right now." Lian Cheng muttered as he thought about the solution.

"Fine. I’ll go with you to the other side. So, was this trading with the Otherworlders sanctioned by the Underworld Lord?" he asked.

"Not yet. I plan to go to the other side first and see what it’s like. Then I’ll write a report for him to decide how we should proceed, you know, the goods, the scale, and everything else," Wei Chen said.

"I see..." Lian Cheng nodded. "So, does the other side have anything interesting besides these wines? I heard that the other side doesn’t have spiritual qi. I don’t think the products there are going to become popular here."

"That’s true. They don’t have spiritual qi, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything that might interest us," Wei Chen said.

"Okay. Just tell me the date in advance. I need to clear my schedule," Lian Cheng agreed.

"No problem. I’ll call you after I have the date," Wei Chen agreed.

Lian Cheng stood up and said goodbye to Wei Chen before walking out of the lounge toward the teleportation room to return to his office in the Underworld. As the director himself, he had a lot of things to take care of.

After Lian Cheng left, Wei Chen’s smile receded as his face grew solemn.

It was the truth that they had started a small trade with the Otherworld. He was the one taking care of it and regulating it, as he didn’t want anything to happen to his old home.

Even though he had reincarnated and become a person of this side, those distant memories still affected him, and he still had some sentiment left for that place after all.

He didn’t want some idiot young master from this side to go to the Otherworld and cause trouble. Because from what he had gathered over the past few months, a creature from this side had already gone to the Otherworld and caused trouble.

Fortunately, the laws of the Otherworld were different from those of this side.

After consulting with Ms. Youqi, it seemed that the Flood Dragon that had gone to the Otherworld had been at the peak of the Void Refining Realm and was about to reach the Great Ascension Realm.

The realm where it would shed its mundane form and become a full-fledged dragon!

It seemed that the laws of the Otherworld had caused this Flood Dragon to become a lot weaker, forcing it to become an entity that was within the realm of possibility according to the standards of the Otherworld.

From what he had gathered from that reporter, Sarah Corner, she said that the government seemed to have already dissected the Flood Dragon and had already devised many applications for the resources they could obtain from it.

Wei Chen just hoped that the folks from the Otherworld wouldn’t go completely batshit crazy and come here to ’liberate’ the natives of this side and introduce liberty and democracy.

If that were the case, he would definitely beat the shit out of whoever came up with this suicidal idea. He would even beat them until they forgot their own mama, so they could forget this kind of idea permanently.

Things on this side had just started to calm down. He hoped the people from the Otherworld would show some... restraint regarding the resources of this side and wouldn’t come here trying to introduce democracy.

— Meanwhile - The other side —

Sarah Corner had returned along with the expedition group that had gone to the other side, the place they called the Cultivation World.

That place was like it had just jumped out of a Chinese cultivation novel. They had a strange element called spiritual qi. She had stayed there for a few months and seen many things. The world was so vast that the people of that world had even needed to invent aircraft equipped with warp drives, just like in a sci-fi novel!

But those were made using arrays and spiritual qi, a type of science that no scientist from this side could understand!

The resources there were abundant. The air was fresh, and the water was also clear and refreshing. It literally had water as clear as glass.

She heard that the water from that side and the water from this side were vastly different, like comparing a chimpanzee to a human! Of course, the water from that side was the human.

And she was sure that by now, all those reports and the evidence of the resources from the Otherworld would have already reached the White House.

She just hoped that this would not become the fuse that started an inter-universal war. After all, the Geneva Treaty had not taken effect in the Otherworld.

But... the other side was the one that controlled the gate. Maybe this side couldn’t do anything other than send representatives, traders, and some scientists to the Otherworld?

And the Otherworld was the home turf of those god-like people. Maybe she was thinking too much about it. No one would be stupid enough to start a war through a small portal.

Sarah thought to herself and shrugged.

....

Within the Oval Office, President Jonah Crump sat behind the large desk, his expression serious as several folders and reports lay spread across it.

Around the room sat several high-ranking generals, the National Security Advisor, and a group of scientists who had spent the past few weeks studying the reports brought back by the expedition team from the Otherworld.

Everyone in the room had gathered here for the same reason.

The Otherworld.

More specifically, the resources they had discovered in the Otherworld.

According to the reports, there were several theories about the Otherworld, the new element called spiritual energy, and the new discoveries and plants they had brought back from the Otherworld. Even a bottle of simple water was extraordinary. It was purer than anything they had ever seen on Earth.

The scientists had already confirmed that many of the materials brought back from the Otherworld possessed properties that could potentially revolutionize several fields of technology and medicine.

But the reports also contained something far more concerning.

Namely... the people of the Otherworld. Or... the natives there.

Cultivators capable of feats that seemed completely impossible according to modern science.

Flying, destroying mountains with their bare hands, and wielding swords that could divide the earth and cut the sky. Their power was so immense that even a single man could potentially destroy an entire army from this world!

A walking apocalypse!

The room remained silent for several seconds before President Crump finally spoke.

"So... let me get this straight. A high-ranking cultivator there could easily destroy our country?"

"Isn’t this too much?" the president asked as he tossed the report toward the scientist who had gone to the other side, Dr. Hampton.