Chapter 164: Scouring the Battlefield and Returning (Part 1)
After confirming their intent to cooperate, Lei Yiming immediately signed a simple cooperative agreement with Luo Xiaotai.
To be honest, this cooperation agreement doesn't carry much legal weight.
After all, this was a one-time deal agreed upon on the fly.
Signing a contract just made it seem a bit more formal, since, after all, the rabbits liked their ceremonies, especially those dealing with external relations.
Subsequently, both parties agreed in this contract:
Initially, Party A, Luo Xiaotai, would use the family's beast training technique as capital to cover 30,000 Spirit Stones, plus 20,000 Spirit Stones in cash, to purchase 25,000 beast carcasses at a price of 2 Spirit Stones per piece—the exact numbers might change due to practical circumstances since the rabbits were still cleaning the battlefield.
The contract takes effect immediately.
Party A: Luo Xiaotai.
Party B: Signed by... Lighthouse Commerce Association.
After both parties signed the agreement.
Luo Xiaotai hurriedly took Luo Feng and Luo Yurong back to Dingxing City, ready to collect the cultivation technique jade slips and prepare for the personnel mobilization for transportation.
Meanwhile, Longxing River and others returned to the dense forest to command the final stage of the battlefield cleanup operations.
The transport of the double-headed oxen was undertaken by the logistics support department and the motorized unit, the process referring to express sorting—they're quite robust in the Damo Realm, no need to worry as long as they're not dead.
The collection of beast carcasses was led by Patriarch Wei from the Wei Mansion along with Wei Fan, completed in cooperation with many warriors who had cleared out the beasts.
The two of them carried two medium-large Spatial Bags belonging to the Wei Mansion and the rabbits, sweeping all the way through the forest.
Wei Fan was responsible for storing higher-ranked beasts and well-preserved lower-ranked beast carcasses.
To be honest, more than 300 cubic meters of space can't fit that much; many people's apartment space is bigger than that.
But this efficiency is certainly better than pure manpower, able to store twenty to thirty beasts at once.
Patriarch Wei was responsible for storing the less complete beast carcasses. Compared to the rabbits' small capacities, the Wei Mansion's Spatial Bag could store over sixty beasts at a time.
Simultaneously, the logistics department specially arranged two drones to follow their actions.
Each time Patriarch Wei's Spatial Bag filled up, it would be picked up by a drone and sent to an open area to be emptied by Wei Qiangsheng and others.
The emptied bags would be sent back, and the two could use this interval to classify the beasts' ranks and completeness.
Moreover, since over twenty thousand beasts were eliminated on the plains along the main attack direction, a massive number of beast carcasses were scattered there—this is why Major General Man let the beasts charge for over thirty seconds in the first place; it wasn't for extreme maneuvers but to consolidate the beasts' bodies into the open areas as much as possible.
Therefore, even without heavy industrial equipment like excavators assisting, the post-battle cleanup speed wasn't slow at all.
Five hours later, the battlefield was completely cleared—the time limit for the rabbits' heavy synthetic brigade to clean up after eliminating an imaginary enemy division in the forest conditions was three hours, which included tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with 50% damage, so ten hours to clean up the beasts was perfectly reasonable.
Among this batch of beast carcasses.
The precious third-grade beasts and well-preserved high-grade beast materials were sealed by the rabbits.
While the broken low-grade beast carcasses were categorized differently, undergoing simple disinfection and preservation with DCW antibacterial solution to at least prevent a stench from spreading.
Subsequently, Longxing River reported this situation to the commander-in-chief as the first commander on the battlefield and received a satisfactory response from them.
About an hour later.
Bo Binghui, responsible for reconnaissance around the battlefield, suddenly sent a message:
Several thousand people have been discovered on the west side of Xiaolianzi Mountain's main peak, carrying a substantial amount of Damo Realm's handmade vehicles, slowly moving towards the dense forest.
Sure enough, ten minutes later.
Everyone first heard a relatively clear tremor from the ground, and then they saw the sight of this group within their vision.
Two quarters later.
These several thousand people stopped at a clearing one kilometer outside the dense forest, and Luo Xiaotai flew over, accompanied by Luo Feng, Luo Yurong, and two other elders.
After landing, Luo Xiaotai first cupped his hands towards Lei Yiming and said:
"Steward Lei, sorry for keeping you waiting."
"Not at all, we've just finished cleaning the battlefield ourselves."
Lei Yiming smiled, exchanging pleasantries with him, as one would expect in such interactions.
The two elders behind Luo Xiaotai were likely senior members of the Luo Family, probably at the Qi Cultivation Seventh or Eighth Layers, looking quite aged.
They didn't show any surprising expressions upon seeing their Patriarch being courteous to ordinary people, indicating that Luo Xiaotai must have detailed the situation to them fairly comprehensively.
After a round of mutual commercial flattery.
Luo Xiaotai suddenly raised his head and discreetly glanced at a tent not far away.
As a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm Sixth Layer, he could clearly sense that inside the tent were two Foundation Establishment cultivators and several other high-level Qi Cultivation individuals.
However, these two Foundation Establishment cultivators didn't seem very advanced, appearing to be at the third or fourth layer at most.
It seemed that besides those so-called Core Formation Realm offerings, it was the Lighthouse Commerce Association's representatives near the dense forest in the tent.
As for why they didn't show themselves, they had probably sustained injuries in battle and were using their presence merely to bolster their side's air of authority.
At this, Luo Xiaotai couldn't help but feel the Lighthouse Commerce Association was a bit too sensitive.
He had seen a second-tier beast being blasted apart before his very eyes, more convincing than anything else.
But Luo Xiaotai didn't realize that, although he thought this way, he inexplicably relaxed a bit.
On the other side.
Luo Xiaotai's supposedly concealed actions were actually captured from all angles by the micro-cameras on Lei Yiming and others, being dissected frame by frame in the commander-in-chief's meeting room.
"In the span of one second, Luo Xiaotai's gaze wandered over seven frames, followed by a 26% variation in pupil distance, and a 33% contraction in pupil size, indicating a state of contemplation. According to the micro-expression expert group's analysis, at this moment he was likely feeling a mix of slight disdain for not trusting 'Lighthouse Commerce Association', and a slight relief upon sensing Foundation Establishment Cultivators."
Listening to the information coming through his earpiece from the commander-in-chief.
Lei Yiming silently mourned for half a second for the poor Luo Xiaotai, whose metaphorical pants were about to be pulled down.
The two Foundation Establishment cultivators Luo Xiaotai had sensed were, naturally, Patriarch Wei of Wei Mansion and Wei Shudu.
Their presence was to provide credibility to what Lei Yiming had previously said, as it always seemed awkward not to see any cultivators after a long discussion.
At the same time, this approach slightly inflated Luo Xiaotai's confidence, preventing him from being overly tense.
This mindset is considered the ideal mindset for Party A in trade psychology, the theory outlined in the trade ministry's publication, "Management Psychology."
As for why the two cultivators from the Wei Mansion didn't show themselves, it was obviously for confidentiality reasons.
Although Dingxing City and Chixian City were four hundred miles apart, the likelihood of their paths crossing wasn't high at all—at least Patriarch Wei didn't know Luo Xiaotai, only knew of him in name.
Yet, considering confidentiality, the commander-in-chief decided it would be best for the two Foundation Establishment cultivators to remain concealed for the time being.
They didn't expect the Lighthouse Commerce Association's facade to last ten years or more, but given the rabbits' current time crunch, even dragging out another day would be beneficial.
Under normal circumstances.
As long as the means of returning to the city were executed properly, the Lighthouse Commerce Association's narrative could likely cover for over half a year or a year before the uninformed Celestial Fate City discovers the truth.
Not fearing exposure is overstating it, as Celestial Fate City hosts several Core Formation cultivators only.
But staying hidden would surely involve fewer issues than stepping into the spotlight—after all, the rabbits were accustomed to discretion for longevity.
Regarding Ziqiong City possibly discovering the truth earlier, this was because their information channels were stronger than Celestial Fate City's. At least the authenticity of the Lighthouse Commerce Association's facade could be easily seen through.
If Yang Bolin was quick-witted enough, he might directly suspect Chixian City or the Taoshu Commerce Association of machinations.
However, given the mountainous distance between Ziqiong City and Chixian City, combined with how they're currently in a honeymoon phase, Yang Bolin wouldn't be foolish enough to publicly announce the news.
Plus, as the rabbits had already sold them the Type 67 Joy Stick, there wasn't much intention of concealing things.
In some sense, this could be considered a standard strategy of forming distant alliances while attacking close ones.
.....
Note:
I recommend a new book from Wang Zijun, Lao Wang's giant "Zhen", which is worth checking out. Both the writing and the plot are outstanding, with a spectacular opening.
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