Chapter 944: Chapter 374: Expertise Direction (Requesting Double Monthly Tickets)

The venue for the exchange meeting was not far from Qu Shilin’s villa; it was just a few minutes’ drive away.

Wang Tao was somewhat interested in this exchange meeting, as he had been at Changhe Base for quite a while and seemed to have never participated in such an event.

The venue for the exchange meeting was quite large, with two floors in total.

The first floor was the trading hall. The second floor was the exchange hall, which was the place where various forces sought to invest in the few major powers.

“There are so many people!”

Upon entering the first-floor hall, Wang Tao was a bit surprised.

At a glance, it looked like a vegetable market bustling with morning discounts, with the entrance to the hall blocked and impassable.

Qu Shilin led Wang Tao through a VIP channel on the side, and took the opportunity to explain:

“Because trading at this exchange meeting isn’t taxed, it has attracted a lot of people.”

“I see.”

Wang Tao nodded.

The operation of Changhe Base was mainly dependent on tax revenue. Aside from the black market and private transactions that were not taxed, regular transactions were taxable.

Trades that incurred taxes were legitimate and recognized by the City Hall, which served as a form of protection. Trades without tax did not have such security. Therefore, it was only natural that the non-taxed, City Hall-recognized trades at the exchange meeting would attract a crowd.

However, after a brief glance, Wang Tao didn’t see anything of particular interest. There were just ordinary materials, medicines, weapon equipment, compressed food, etc. Clearly, these items were of no use to Wang Tao.

As for the monster eggs and special materials he had imagined, not one was in sight.

At most, he saw someone selling a Fourth Level Night Demon Heart, priced at 1.2 million, outrageously expensive. A crowd was discussing it, but not only was there no buyer, there wasn’t even anyone haggling…

Wang Tao’s notion of snatching a bargain instantly vanished.

“Shall we go in and have a look?”

After arriving, Qu Shilin felt a bit eager looking at the lively booths.

“Let’s not, I don’t think there’s anything good, going would just be a waste of time.”

Wang Tao shook his head.

“Uh… okay then, let’s go directly upstairs.”

Qu Shilin trusted Wang Tao’s judgment. If Wang Tao said there was nothing good, then most likely there wasn’t. Even if there was, she might not be able to recognize it with her ability, so it was better to not waste time.

There was a security check when going upstairs, requiring identity verification.

“This is to prevent people from causing deliberate trouble. Only those with a certain level of strength can go up,”

Qu Shilin explained.

This strength did not refer to personal ability, but financial power. Simply put: only the wealthy could participate in the event, and the poor should play elsewhere.

Upstairs wasn’t as chaotic, and there were far fewer people, though “few” was relative to the downstairs–the place was actually still quite crowded. The rich were indeed numerous!

There were separate exhibition halls here, each representing a major force.

If you were interested in investing in a certain force, you would go directly to the corresponding hall.

However, this wasn’t as easy as just offering money or resources to invest in one. While individuals were choosing which major force to invest in, those forces were also choosing them. This was actually a process of mutual selection, somewhat reminiscent of a job fair…

There was also an exhibition hall representing the City Hall officials–were they here to oversee?

“This looks quite formal!”

“City Hall places great importance on this matter. They have strictly prohibited any private profiteering or deliberate deception of partners… When exploring the Cave later on, City Hall will dispatch personnel to oversee, ensuring that the major forces report their findings truthfully…”

Hearing Qu Shilin’s explanation, Wang Tao was quite surprised.

He had previously thought that these major forces only allowed financial investment, not personnel contributions, which meant a lot of room for manipulation. If someone intended to deceive their partners, there might be no way to stop it, and it could even go unnoticed.

But unexpectedly, City Hall had spoken up and would personally send people to supervise! This changed the situation entirely–if there were any deceitful acts now, it would be going against the entire base…

After thinking about it some more, Wang Tao found it reasonable.

If this had not been officially announced, that would’ve been one thing. But now that it was public and looking for partners, this would certainly attract a lot of investment!

If scandals about deception arose, the major forces would certainly lose their reputations, but City Hall would not escape blame either.

Since City Hall was the official authority of Changhe Base, if such incidents occurred, the public would definitely demand an explanation. It would be difficult for City Hall, as offending the major forces was undesirable, but angering the public was even worse. If they wanted to avoid upsetting either side, chaos would likely ensue, possibly leading to unfavorable consequences.

What City Hall needed was stability. They could not allow conflicts within the city, so it was better to be directly involved now and set the rules in place. If problems arose later, they could be resolved according to the rules.

With City Hall’s endorsement, the major forces would earn more public trust and attract more investment…

Therefore, as long as you were serious about doing business and seeking investment, it was preferable to have City Hall’s involvement. If anyone opposed City Hall’s participation, wouldn’t that indicate they had something to hide?

Once City Hall got involved, they certainly wouldn’t be doing it for nothing. Without mentioning anything else, taxes would likely be collected–even a small amount would bring in revenue.