Chapter 58: Mountains, Actually, Aren't Worth Much

Chapter 58: Mountains Aren't Actually That Expensive

Finally, the critical moment had arrived!

Xia Qing secretly rubbed her palms against her thighs under the table before solemnly receiving the usage rights certificate for Mountain No. 49 and the two contracts with both hands.

The material, size, and seal of the certificate were identical to her Lordship Certificate; it was clearly authentic. The certificate was marked with precise longitude, latitude, and area. The only difference was that her Land Use Rights and High Slope Use Rights certificates for Territory No. 3 had no expiration date, whereas the usage rights for Mountain No. 49 were valid for one hundred years. Her territory covered 7,500 mu, while the surface area of Mountain No. 49 was 180,000 mu. The names on the two territory use certificates were hers, while Mountain No. 49 belonged to the Azure Dragon Team.

According to the precise coordinates, Mountain No. 49 was twelve kilometers long from east to west and ten kilometers wide from north to south, with a surface area of 120 square kilometers—exactly 180,000 mu. The main peak of Mountain No. 49 stood nearly two thousand meters high, meaning its actual surface area was many times greater than its flat surface area.

She was about to become the master of this mountain for a hundred years. Until she reached the age of 125, the mountain would belong to her?

Despite holding the certificate, Xia Qing still felt no sense of reality. She handed the certificate back to Yang Jin and asked, "Captain Yang, it must have taken a lot of effort to buy this mountain. How many points did it cost you?"

Yang Jin smiled. "We traded materials for it. Converted into points, it was 1.1 million."

How... how much?!!!

Xia Qing's eyes instantly widened.

Yang Jin raised his hand to pour tea for Xia Qing across the small table. Only after the gentle sound of flowing water called the girl's wandering soul back did he continue unhurriedly, "Of those points, 300,000 were the base making things difficult for the Azure Dragon Team. That has nothing to do with you, so the actual price of Mountain No. 49 is 800,000."

Eight hundred thousand... that's still a lot...

At this moment, Xia Qing finally felt an incredibly heavy sense of reality regarding her upcoming ownership of a mountain: she, who was just about to reach a modest level of prosperity, was about to go 800,000 points into debt.

Reading her expression, Yang Jin helped her analyze, "800,000 for a hundred years is 8,000 points a year. That is already very cheap."

Cheap? Xia Qing, who used to earn only five points a day in the construction team, nodded numbly. "Thank you for the reminder, Captain Yang. Shall we sign the contract now?"

Yang Jin smiled. "Brother Luo, please record this with your phone."

The requirement to video record the signing was also Xia Qing's request.

Because she was the weaker party in this transaction, she had to hold video evidence of the Azure Dragon Team selling the mountain to her, in addition to the contract. Otherwise, if the Azure Dragon Team turned hostile and denied the deal later, even if she went to sue them with the contract, everyone in the base would assume she had forged it.

With video evidence, things would be different. If necessary, she could simply release the video and ruin the reputations of the three leaders of the Azure Dragon Team.

Under the recording, Xia Qing signed two copies of the sales contract and the sublease contract, then exchanged contracts with Yang Jin to sign separately. Finally, she held the contracts up to the phone camera.

On her side, it was a signature plus a thumbprint; on the Azure Dragon Team's side, it was the signatures and official seals of Yang Jin, Xie Yu, and Luo Pei. Once the signing was complete, Luo Pei saved the video to a USB drive and handed it to Xia Qing.

With the contracts signed, Xia Qing began negotiating further business with Yang Jin to earn points. "Captain Yang, regarding the price for purchasing edible food from my territory, can we set it according to the market price of the Safe Zone?"

Yang Jin agreed. "That works."

"If you need spring water, how will it be priced?" Spring water was in high demand, and there were no public transaction prices on the market. Xia Qing knew that in order to treat Luo Pei, Yang Jin had once exchanged two crates of pollution-free spring water from the Fire Phoenix of Base Hui-1.

Since it could be traded, there must be a price that could serve as a reference.

"We can refer to the public selling price of the Blazing Fire Team's spring water from Base Hui-1. What do you think?"

Yang Jin's answer was exactly as Xia Qing had expected. She nodded and continued, "Captain Yang, is the quality of my spring water better or is the Blazing Fire Team's better?"

Yang Jin answered directly, "Yours."

The quality of spring water was determined by two main factors: first, the content of "Kill" elements and radioactive elements; second, the content of "Yi" elements and other beneficial elements for the human body. The lower the former and the higher the latter, the more superior the spring water performed in cultivating plants and treating "Kill"-synthesized toxins.

Xia Qing offered a price she could accept. "Since my spring water is of better quality, the price should be higher than the Blazing Fire Team's. However, I don't have the strength of the Blazing Fire Team; I need the Azure Dragon Team's assistance to keep the secret of the spring water. Therefore, my price will be twenty percent lower than the Blazing Fire Team's, and at this stage, I will only trade with the Azure Dragon Team. Is that acceptable?"

Seeing Yang Jin staring at her with those beautiful, soul-capturing eyes, Xia Qing stiffened her face and resolutely resisted the temptation. "That's the price. It can't go any lower!"

If it went any lower, she wouldn't know how many years it would take to pay back the 800,000 points owed to the Azure Dragon Team.

Beauty was indeed tempting, but beauty couldn't bring her a single point or a single grain of food. Between beauty and points, Xia Qing naturally chose the latter without hesitation.

Yang Jin, who had originally intended to trade with Xia Qing at the Blazing Fire Team's price, beamed. "The current price for the Blazing Fire Team's spring water is 180 points per liter. Your price is 144?"

"Correct." Xia Qing lowered her eyes to avoid looking at that dazzling face and took out her phone, preparing to calculate how much 800,000 divided by 144 was.

Before she could start calculating, Yang Jin announced the result directly. "If the entire 800,000 is calculated in spring water, at the current price, it would be 5,555 liters."

5,555 liters? Xia Qing pulled out her phone to calculate.

5,555 liters was her spring's output for twenty-eight days, it was one-third of the amount of water needed to save Luo Pei, it was a mountain...

So, the poison in Luo Pei's body required three Mountain No. 49s to neutralize!

So, the three guns, nine hundred bullets, eight green-light seedlings, and ten security guards Yang Jin had traded to her last time were worth three mountains!

With this comparison, Xia Qing suddenly felt that mountains weren't actually that expensive. 800,000... wasn't exactly a massive debt...

Her back straightened, her shoulders relaxed, and a relieved expression appeared on her face.

The smile in Yang Jin's eyes deepened as he continued the negotiation. "After Brother Luo leaves Territory No. 3, can the Azure Dragon Team exchange 300 liters of spring water with you on the first of every month? If anyone else in the team is poisoned by the 'Kill' toxin, we can discuss the water volume again then."

Xia Qing's spring could produce 300 liters in a single day; Yang Jin exchanging 300 liters a month was a volume she could easily accept. "Fine. If it's for detoxification, the maximum water usage shouldn't exceed what Brother Luo used this time."

Not everyone was worth such a heavy-handed, costly poisoning. Yang Jin nodded. "Of course, it certainly won't exceed Brother Luo's usage. If the vegetables, grain, vegetable seeds, and grain seeds grown in your territory are used for exchange, I hope you can include the Azure Dragon Team as a tradable party."

"Agreed." Xia Qing agreed. Currently, her priority was to keep her identity hidden, and trading with the Azure Dragon Team was the best option.