NOVEL NEXT Chapter 506: Harvest
"Yuan Force is unwilling to lend to me, yet you claim sincerity?"
Tao Yu, holding the captive's collar, swayed it violently, his face filled with raging fury.
"Mr. Eight-Armed Vajra, your excuse is too far-fetched. Asking me for a loan to cover the communication cost of Yuan Force is obviously an attempt on my life..."
The shadow now adopted the demeanor of a dead pig not fearing boiling water.
Even death wouldn't compel him to yield Yuan Force to his enemy!
"I really have no money!"
In anger, Tao Yu hurled the man to the ground, killing him instantly, then the shadows spread and disintegrated the body.
Once again, he had completed a Dream Spirit Contact to verify the intelligence.
He found that the discrepancy with what the other party had said wasn't significant.
Afterward, he began to inspect some of the spoils of war.
Apart from some miscellaneous items, there were three that Tao Yu found somewhat useful.
[Sword of Light and Shadow]: Can be activated by spiritual power to emit a brilliant sword light; the size and strength of the sword light can be adjusted with spiritual power up to a threshold limit; can absorb thirty thousand Yuan Force.
[Phantom Cloak]: Wearing it grants high detection immunity, it provides immunity from physical attacks within a certain threshold, and the wearer can float in the air by consuming spiritual power; can absorb seventeen thousand Yuan Force.
[Gravity Shackles Scroll]: Activated by spiritual power, allows one-time use of "Gravity Shackles" to restrain an enemy; can absorb three thousand Yuan Force.
The Sword of Light and Shadow could generate sword light tens of meters long to slay sandworms and was indeed a fine Yuan Force artifact.
Even for the current Tao Yu, it was useful.
Perhaps it could even be stimulated with Black Mud.
It was a rather convenient method of energy conversion.
It was how Foreman had made his name.
The Phantom Cloak was among the rare devices allowing flight. Although Tao Yu already possessed the ability to fly, the item's value was no less significant than that of the Sword of Light and Shadow; both could potentially reach a million-level Yuan Force.
As for the magic scroll, although it was a one-time-use item, judging by the strength of the scroll that the previous fellow had used to escape, it should also be formidable.
For a Pioneer of a certain strength level, it could save lives or kill enemies at critical moments.
Among other miscellaneous items, Tao Yu took out the sandworm's scales, directly using them as an absorption medium for Yuan Force.
Perhaps due to the sandworm's habit of eating anything, the contamination in the scales was chaotic and lacked any Skill information; however, likely due to their massive size, these sandworm scales had accrued approximately fifty or sixty thousand Yuan Force for Tao Yu.
"This communication area isn't a deployment zone, but the prices are sufficient enough."
Since Baron Harkonnen had already been captured and the Foreman people had taken control of the scene, with Paul and his subordinates managing, Tao Yu really didn't need to worry.
Having dealt with those two individuals and gained more Yuan Force, he took out the cross-boundary communicator and started to contact the young heiress.
"I've returned, had some gains. I'm currently in Desert World 01, facing a minor situation. It seems someone is trying to incite the Harkonnen Family to launch an attack."
Tao Yu kept it brief.
Soon, he received a reply from the young heiress,
"You're back quickly; I thought it might take longer. Someone wants to buy intelligence on that world; you decide whether to sell or not. We've also noticed some signs of what you mentioned, but can only defend passively..." Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire
The young heiress seemed somewhat helpless as well, possibly having detected traces from somewhere else.
Or perhaps they had simply encountered similar troubles and crises before but had resolved them.
After all, it seemed that the Suns' top powerhouses were covertly fishing in this area.
Much like how she and her group had an absolute advantage in strength before, many matters still posed restrictions.
Having great strength could solve many problems, but they couldn't personally handle everything and were not omnipresent.
As the scope of the New Development Zone grew, even though they had arranged for descendants of Floating City to oversee, they still couldn't ensure complete security.
As the portal opened and reinforcements arrived, they also inevitably faced the presence of lurking malefactors.
"How is the production of Spice going? Has it been affected?"
The young heiress sent another inquiry.
They had always opted for more gentle trading methods, not only because their side was indeed strong but also because they worried about impacting the spice production.
"There's a grandson of Baron Harkonnen here; it should be possible to integrate. This time I want a bit more."
Tao Yu now faced quite a significant gap in Yuan Force, and having improved his abilities, his confidence had also gradually solidified.
"It looks like you've gained quite a bit. I need to thoroughly check. If you're confident, how about half? How does that sound? If it's too much pressure, we can reduce it a bit more."
The rich lady's arm was still twisting quite markedly, but she still emphasized whether he could handle it.
Granting half the shares could likely cause considerable dissatisfaction within the Suns, and if the outer world found out, without sufficient strength to guard it, those coming to 'beg' would not be few!
Even though Tao Yu was now in the State Capital, it was unlikely he could completely avoid it.
The more benefits taken, the more troubles naturally followed.
"Half the shares should not be a problem."
Tao Yu simply pondered for a moment before sending back the message.
The rich young lady believed his words since his performance crossing the grey mist had been quite impressive.
Even if that attack had limitations, the essence of it wouldn't change.
If, as he said, he gained something this time in the independent world, then from the rich lady's perspective, it should also be just barely manageable.
If not, just temporarily hand over some additional shares as protection.
At most, it would mean no risk to his life, perhaps just some physical torment…
…
After remotely coordinating some follow-up arrangements with the rich lady, Tao Yu also began to understand the reception situation from Paul.
Baron Harkonnen had been captured; two heirs were dead, and Paul was his grandson.
This sort of noble lineage was still not too troubling.
Either extinguish or choose one's own grandson.
This did not seem like a very difficult choice!
Being able to pass on the inheritance so smoothly also made Kazekage Rasa of the Fourth Generation exhale in relief.
This situation was the best, without making things too difficult for them.
The Village Hidden by Sand had some insights on knowing the times…
…
"The refined spice is right here, two thousand one hundred seventy-seven kilograms."
Paul personally took Tao Yu to the sealed spice warehouse.
And nearby, there were tens of tons of crude spice.
Tao Yu was quite satisfied as he looked at his spoils, then he inquired,
"How long will it take to refine all these? And how fast is the current mining rate?"
"Approximately two hundred kilograms can be refined in a month. Now that the Foreman people do not interfere, the mining and refining rate can keep up. Collection can still increase, but it's hard to accelerate refining."
Even maintaining the current capacity was at least a few million Yuan Force in income per month, half of it making at least two to three million!
Moreover, both spice mining and refining still had potential for expansion.
It was often attacked by Foreman people in the past, now not being attacked, it was completely promising to scale up.
Unfortunately, mining spice itself is a bit like desert gold panning, requiring huge machinery to sift the raw spice from a large amount of sand.
Those engineering machines were extremely large, and after plunging into the Abyss, the Harkonnen Family had already lost the ability to produce them.
Even if the neighboring World of Avatar attempted imitation, the production cycle for such massive engineering equipment was considerably long.
And adjustments would also need to be made based on different rules from both worlds.
Many aircrafts from the World of Avatar, after leaving, often broke down; some of the parts involving 'black technology' had to be removed, only using traditional technology parts for trial.
So, expansion in the short term was not possible, it more so represented future potential…