"When entering the city, you must first pay 10% of the goods as entry tax."
Shen Rui looked at an avenue with a distant fence in front of it. Inside was the strange city. There was a simple wooden gate on the avenue.
He watched a leader of the caravan bargaining with the two wolf monsters guarding the city gate, and finally handed over a truck's cargo before being able to drive into the city.
He sat in one of the trucks and asked the driver next to him:
"The cost of entering the city is so high?"
"It's okay, they don't calculate the specific value of the goods. We just use large-volume, low-value goods to make up the total," the driver said nonchalantly, "The goods in that truck look like a lot, but in fact they are less than ours." One thousandth of the total value of the caravan.”
"Oh, then why don't you trade outside and have to go into the city to trade?" Shen Rui then asked.
"No, Mr. Shen, this is a weird territory. If you don't go into the city to trade, you will be caught or eaten directly, or made into slaves. The risk is too great. Moreover, they have a keen sense of smell and want to avoid the patrols in the city. , basically impossible." The driver answered while driving carefully.
"However, I heard that some large caravans can open up the upper-level links in the city and can trade outside the city without paying any taxes." He continued.
"Haha, it seems they learned from us very quickly." Shen Rui shook his head.
"Yes, if they weren't completely different in appearance and shape, they would be people wearing monster skins." The driver sighed.
The caravan of hundreds of trucks entered the city and headed west along the road.
Shen Rui looked out the window and saw that the ground was full of sewage, garbage, and monsters running past from time to time.
This is normal. If it was really clean, Shen Rui would be shocked.
"These weird cities are not as good as our castles, but they have one advantage." The driver said mysteriously, as if he was also a chatterbox.
"What's the benefit?" Shen Rui asked.
"Wherever you go, you won't see a beggar." The driver revealed the answer.
"That's normal, because most monsters have no mercy." Shen Rui nodded.
The truck continued to drive bumpily, and all the strange things on the road had their eyes shining, and they all looked towards the tightly wrapped truck body.
"It looks like there will be carjacking..." Shen Rui reminded him when he saw this.
"It doesn't matter, they don't dare to do this, because these goods are scented with buyers before they enter the city. No matter how greedy they are, they don't dare to touch them. From this point of view, they are much better than us humans," the driver explained. .
"It's really eye-opening. These are all accumulated trading skills." Shen Rui praised.
"There are a lot of tips. In short, as long as you find a way to do business with these monsters, it is easy to make a fortune. After all, although they know how to buy low and sell high, they don't know the prices of many goods. And as long as you ingratiate yourself with a leader, It will open up a large market." The driver continued.
Shen Rui recalled the Wolf City he had visited and compared the many things that happened there with what he saw before him.
There are many human-like shops in Wolf City, as well as patrols to maintain order, and there are also bullies who bully the market.
On both sides of the road, some handicraft factories began to appear, mainly processing furs and drying meat. The workers inside were strange monsters that could stand upright and free their two front paws, such as bears.
However, Shen Rui soon noticed a phenomenon. There were some strange things that were doing delicate work, such as the monsters that controlled the machines. They all had human-like hands, as if they had grown out of thin air.
"Those are all deformities. Who knows how they were born? They look really disgusting." Seeing Shen Rui's interest, the driver explained immediately.
"No, that's the hand of shadow." Shen Rui shook his head. With his eyesight and knowledge, he could certainly tell the difference.
"Hand of Shadows? Could it be those guys who did it? We people still don't know about it, and we don't dare to ask around." The driver said in shock.
"Yes, we seem to have a truce with the aberrations and unite to deal with the shadows. In fact, the other party's tentacles have already penetrated into the production and life of these aberrations. No wonder they are willing to give up the frontal battlefield." Shen Rui suddenly felt that this trip Much gain.
It is difficult to have a real understanding of this information without going there and just looking at some shared intelligence materials.
The driver didn't say anything. After all, given his status, it was not his turn to say anything about things that only these big shots could worry about.
Shen Rui continued to look around and saw that this strange city was much more developed than Wolf City because it had begun to have industries that only humans could have.
Although most of them are primary processing industries, such as iron smelting, carpentry, food processing, etc., it is undeniable that they will greatly improve Yigui's living and production standards.
"The truce has lasted for a long time, it is really possible for them to develop." Shen Rui sighed.
"These monsters are very smart. A few days ago, I heard that they wanted to import our high-end lathes, but the bosses refused. There was almost a stalemate over this." The driver then mentioned one thing.
Shen Rui nodded silently, and then he saw another building that shocked him.
I saw a school in front of me!
Near this school, the roads are much cleaner, and there are many weirdos in half-uniforms patrolling.
Those who come in and out of the school are all monsters with shadow hands, mainly wolves, bears, and eagles.
As the truck passed by, it slowed down again.
Shen Rui took a surprised look and looked over from the school gate. He saw a dozen large bungalows inside. The roofs were very high, about seven or eight meters tall, and there were many different signs hanging on them.
There are some humans walking around on campus.
"They actually started to engage in education. It's really impressive." Shen Rui said in a complicated tone.
"Yes, these monsters are all like monkeys. What's even more hateful is that there are many human teachers teaching them, and all of them are rapists!" the driver said indignantly.
He believes that trade with aberrations is about extracting and exploiting aberrations to enhance his own strength, unlike these guys who understand how to enhance the strength of the other side.
"There are ways to use this. Different things in education have different effects," Shen Rui said, "But from this point of view, it is a bit difficult to stop the development of aberrations."
"Yes, for more than a year, every time I drive here, they will change, almost every day, and more and more things are sold to us. They respect the strong and have good obedience. , with strict rules, easy management, and no moral pressure, their factories are real sweatshops." The driver sighed.
While the two were talking, the motorcade slowed down slowly and began to stop in front of a large market surrounded by wooden fences.
The place was bustling with people and animals. Shen Rui looked up and saw that two avenues simply divided the market into four major areas.
The infrastructure of this market is much better. It is paved with cement and has a large number of strange monsters patrolling it.
The truck caravan entered the market after talking to the gatekeeper of the market and stopped in the southwest area.