Chapter 1462: Locals_2

This Dark Dimension Space wasn’t originally on Old Tan; after Old Tan got hit with the mark, the Dark Dimension Space ran over to him by itself and sucked the Copper Coin inside.

This process is hard to wrap your head around—is this a Craftsmanship Method, or some other means?

Li Banfeng spun the Copper Coin between his fingertips; this thing really needed to be handed over to his wife for a good study.

The high-rise, the Copper Coin, the Dark Dimension Space… Mr. Kong Fang can do more than fight; his Technique use is downright unusual.

…

Tan Jinxiao woke up and stared at the Copper Coin in Li Banfeng’s hand, blurting, “This is the mark?”

Li Banfeng gave a slight nod.

Tan Jinxiao took the Copper Coin and looked it over, his hand trembling a bit.

He’d thought he’d never shake this mark for the rest of his life; he never expected there’d actually be a day someone could pull this thing out.

“Seventh Master, can I just toss this…?” Tan Jinxiao didn’t dare hold it too long; he was afraid the Copper Coin would burrow back into his body—he was truly scared of it now.

“Don’t throw it, I still have use for it.” Li Banfeng put the Copper Coin away.

“Seventh Master, I’ve got quite a few Brothers who’ve got marks on them too, could you…” Tan Jinxiao knew this couldn’t be easy; he felt awkward bringing it up. He got halfway through and wanted to swallow the words back down.

Li Banfeng nodded and said, “I can help them get the marks out, but we’ve got to pick the right time. We can’t let them know about this, or word will definitely get back to the Boss’s ears.”

Tan Jinxiao nodded again and again. He trusted his own Brothers, but something this big—if even one person slipped up, the news would leak.

He was restless sitting in front of Li Banfeng; he had no idea how to express his gratitude.

Give a kowtow?

Seventh Master doesn’t allow kneeling, doesn’t allow kowtowing.

Invite Seventh Master out for a drink?

How could a single drink repay something like this?

Or should I just…

Tan Jinxiao still hadn’t figured it out when he saw Li Banfeng walking off with the Copper Coin. “Keep careful track of the Boss’s movements. The moment you hear anything, let me know.”

…

They waited a full three days, and there was no movement from the Boss’s side—he didn’t come to the Human Market.

Tan Jinxiao also felt this was off: “That’s weird. Did the Boss have a change of temperament? He’s basically emptied out the whole Human Market, and he still doesn’t show his face?”

“But I figure he can’t hold back too long. The Human Market’s the most profitable place—he definitely won’t let go of this business. Let’s wait two more days.”

Li Banfeng glanced at the tracks on the road. “No more waiting. We go straight to the Earth Market.”

The rails had been empty for a whole day now; no Little Train had come to pick up goods today.

That meant the Boss had already made his move—he’d cut off the economic lifeline of the Human Market.

If they couldn’t ship, the factories would have no income source. The factories would go under, and the workers’ livelihoods would be gone.

As for Zhu Yugu’s vault, there really was quite a bit of money in there; just paying out cash could hold things up for a while.

Maybe wait a bit longer?

They really couldn’t wait.

The vault could prop up the flow of money, but it couldn’t prop up people’s hearts. Quite a few bosses were already standing at the factory gates together with their workers, craning their necks waiting for the Little Train to show up.

Tan Jinxiao was a bit torn. “Seventh Master, it’s not that I’m chickening out; I just want to sound a reminder. Can we maybe not go to the Earth Market yet, and go to the Sea City first?”

“Why not go to the Earth Market?”

“The Leader over at the Earth Market, Bai Miaosheng—that guy’s hard to deal with. You must’ve heard of him. That Taoist Sect of Farming Cultivation up Above the Clouds has almost become monsters by now; they can grow just about anything. And the people living in the Earth Market don’t dare go up against the Boss. Their livelihoods are all clutched in the Boss’s hand. We’ve got to take the Sea City first, then we can fight out a way to live for the Earth Market.”

Li Banfeng didn’t quite catch what Tan Jinxiao meant, and Tan Jinxiao couldn’t really explain it clearly either. “Seventh Master, let’s go to the Sea City together and take a look—you’ll understand.”

The Sea City wasn’t exactly close to the Human Market; there was a stretch of road in between cut off by the Earth Market. The road was packed with earth-hauling ox carts and horse carts, jammed so tight you could barely move.

Anywhere else, Li Banfeng would’ve taken a detour long ago, but the Underground City was a special place. The road from the Earth Market to the Sea City mostly ran through narrow tunnels in the mountain, with no detours to take.

Li Banfeng looked at the drivers of the carts; judging from their clothes, they should all be farmers.

That fit what Li Banfeng expected. The Human Market lives off human labor, so most of the residents are workers. The Earth Market lives off the land, so it stands to reason that its residents are farmers.

But what were these farmers doing hauling so much earth to the Sea City?

“They’re going to trade earth,” Tan Jinxiao explained. “The dirt in the Earth Market is all scraped out from between the Stone cracks. Planting light seeds in it is passable; planting no-light seeds, the fertility isn’t enough.”

Light seeds refer to normal crops—in Outside Provinces terms, plants that grow using photosynthesis.

No-light seeds, some don’t do photosynthesis at all, some do a special kind of photosynthesis, different from plants in the traditional sense.

The plants that grow in the New Land are no-light seeds. Their growth depends on the land’s fertility. The so-called fertility isn’t quite the same as in Outside Provinces; as for the exact difference, not many people can explain it clearly.

Tan Jinxiao pointed at the earth-hauling wagons. “This dirt’s been planted in for a year—it’s been squeezed dry. Isn’t it already early spring? The land-tillers have to hurry up and swap the soil, or nothing will grow in the fields next year.”

Where did they go to trade soil?

Li Banfeng was just about to ask clearly when he suddenly heard Xiao Yeci say, “Benefactor, that donkey’s eating coal!”

The donkey Xiao Yeci mentioned wasn’t far from Li Banfeng: gray fur, long ears, big face. From the looks of it, it really was a donkey.

The old Han driving the donkey shoveled a scoop of coal out of a burlap sack on the cart and held it up to the donkey’s mouth.

The donkey chewed and ate it, and after it finished, it went “mm-ah, mm-ah” and brayed several times.