Chapter 21: Fishing Across the ‘Network Cable’
After seeing Azba’s quote, Su Xiao realized the active ore in his hands was far from enough.
“This gladiator’s price is 7 units. Not interested? It’s an investment.”
The 7 units Azba mentioned referred to 700 kilograms of active ore. For a major merchant like him, transactions were calculated using the unit system established by the three major vassal forces.
Su Xiao had no interest in buying a single pig-headed gladiator. 700 kilograms of active ore could buy 350 prime adult male pig-heads. Once things settled down, many of those 350 could be turned into combat power.
Even at 2 kilograms of active ore per adult male pig-head, Su Xiao still felt it was expensive. As for female pig-heads at 1 kilogram each, since they were engaged in weaving or livestock farming, their physiques were far inferior to the males who spent years mining.
The rock layer encasing active ore was harder than many metals. After years of mining, the strength and endurance of male pig-heads were self-evident.
With Azba leading the way, Su Xiao wandered through the underground market for a while before thinking: why not buy some “defective goods”—those pig-heads who were unruly during mining? The more disobedient they were, the more rebellious spirit they had.
Most vassal mine owners were reluctant to kill such pig-heads. In fact, 99% of mine owners couldn’t bear to kill them—not out of mercy, but because pig-heads were bought with active ore. Killing or crippling them meant property loss.
When Su Xiao raised this request, Azba’s expression turned cold. Even his enthusiasm toward the intermediary, Kaiser, cooled. He asked in a mocking tone:
“My friend, what do you want that kind of pig-head for? Breeding?”
“Exactly.”
“Oh? This… is no joke.”
Azba, who had been all smiles moments ago, now removed his small round sunglasses, his eyelids drooping. Though he was a dwarf, his expression clearly said: “Plant, look me in the eye.”
“I don’t know how the Life Factory raises pig-heads. In my view, pig-head gladiators should be trained from childhood, not grown inside a factory.”
“Hah, you professionals dare to try anything. Not afraid of the Tribunal investigating?”
Azba’s face immediately broke into a grin, and his hand returned to Kaiser’s shoulder. Clearly, this was a man who could flip his mood faster than flipping a book.
“Plenty of people down south do this. They get penalty notices from the Tribunal every year. But I have to admit, gladiators raised from childhood do have better overall qualities. But this business…”
Azba put on a helpless expression, and Kaiser immediately spoke up.
“My friend, you’re selling defective male pig-heads to Kukulin, and female pig-heads to me. You’re dealing with two parties. Whether we have private deals between us is none of your concern. Even if the Tribunal investigates, it won’t trace back to you. Am I right?”
Kaiser grinned slyly, with a hint of lewdness.
“Well… that’s tricky, but…”
“We’re buying at least 4,000 pig-heads or more.”
Kaiser’s shot of adrenaline made Azba put his small round sunglasses back on. He cleared his throat solemnly and shouted:
“Hey, you! Have the East Warehouse dispatch carts and prepare for loading.”
Azba raised a hand to one of his subordinates, a bald burly man who jogged off to handle things.
“I don’t have too many defectives, but not too few either. A total of six thousand three hundred…” Azba paused to think. Due to years of heavy drinking, his memory wasn’t great. He continued, “Anyway, there are over 6,300. Fixed price, 100 units.”
Azba demanded 10,000 kilograms of active ore, but Su Xiao only had 4,561. Fortunately, Azba was shooting high, and there was room to negotiate.
Su Xiao gave Kaiser a look. Kaiser quietly used his Arbiter’s Mark to establish an audio link with Su Xiao. This function could be activated for free within 10 meters.
Su Xiao offered a purchase price of 4,000 kilograms of active ore, leaving Kaiser to negotiate. If Kaiser could haggle it down to 3,000, he’d net 1,000. Down to 2,000, he’d split the profit. If he could trick Azba into giving them away, all 4,000 kilograms would be Kaiser’s.
This was how Su Xiao and Kaiser always worked. Getting a lower price was Kaiser’s skill, and the saved ore rightfully belonged to him.
Kaiser slung his left arm around Azba’s shoulder and pulled out a slightly chipped POS machine with his right hand. He was going to settle accounts with Azba.
Half an hour later, Kaiser wore a sly grin, and Azba beamed with satisfaction. Both sides had gotten what they wanted.
At the cost of 4,000 kilograms of active ore, Su Xiao acquired 6,359 pig-heads. These pig-heads were useless at everything but excelled at fighting each other. As gladiators, they were too unruly for anyone to dare train.
Su Xiao liked these top-tier brawlers. They loved causing trouble? They loved forming gangs? Perfect! Once they reached the Borderlands and established a stable base, these troublemakers wouldn’t be able to avoid fighting.
By then, not only would they fight, but they’d also be given weapons—just with different enemies.
Didn’t want to do that? That was fine too. Su Xiao would calculate their purchase cost, transport cost, and share of underground vein ownership. Pig-heads unwilling to follow orders would go to the underground mines and dig a set amount of active ore to pay off their debts. After that, they could leave, go wherever they wanted. Su Xiao could use the ore they dug to buy more pig-heads.
As for those unwilling to even dig ore to repay debts, Amu would publicly chop off their pig heads with the Dragonheart Axe—beheading as a warning to others.
From start to finish, Su Xiao understood one thing: he was trading and cooperating with the pig-heads. He wouldn’t give them favors for free, didn’t need their gratitude, and certainly didn’t want to be seen as a savior.
Large iron cages filled with pig-heads were loaded onto carts. True to their reputation as troublemakers, the cages rattled and banged from the inside as the pig-heads pounded against them.
Su Xiao paused to watch for a moment before following Azba deeper into the underground market to buy female pig-heads.
These female pig-heads would serve two purposes: motivating the males to strive upward and working inside the fortress. They’d handle the pig-heads’ food, fortress cleaning, laundry, drying, and other chores.
Since they were meant to boost morale, they should at least be somewhat pleasant to look at. Su Xiao, Baha, and Kaiser spent half a day selecting before finally picking one passable female pig-head from the crowd. Dorothy, sitting on a cage behind them chewing bubble gum, nodded in approval of their taste.
Aesthetics varied between races. Su Xiao had one of Azba’s subordinates bring over ten pig-head gladiators. Since Su Xiao was now a mid-tier client, the subordinate eagerly complied.
After the ten gladiators were brought over, Baha had them evaluate that female pig-head. The result: all ten hesitated for a moment before unanimously agreeing—she was really ugly.
Sure enough, cross-racial aesthetics differed. Male pig-heads preferred females with sturdy builds and big, round faces.
Su Xiao, Kaiser, and Baha fully adopted the ten gladiators’ advice and selected based on that standard. After picking over three hundred, they found it too time-consuming and left the rest to chance.
When Su Xiao’s active ore was down to 81 kilograms, he had bought 500 female pig-heads.
His assets had taken a big hit, but it was worth it. His total pig-head force had reached 11,420. With this foundation, he could develop the Borderlands.
Once there, he’d have free time to figure out how to drag Molei and Yueshitu out. As for how, the Apocalypse Paradise world contact platform for this world was already open. As long as Su Xiao prepared a fake name, he could post in it.
The contact platform was like posting online. Su Xiao’s plan was to fish for information through “online posts” and then engage in a real-life PK with Molei and Yueshitu offline.