Chapter 432 – Zero Wing’s First Step

There were over a dozen service counters in the Star Lake Real Estate Center. Usually, hardly any of these counters would see any people waiting in line. At this time, however, every counter had a long line of people waiting in front of it, and these people were all representatives of the city’s various corporations and powerful families.

Sure enough, they all came running here.

Shi Feng wasn’t particularly surprised when he saw the situation in the real estate center.

The city battle had just concluded, so the various corporations and powerful families must have gained a huge harvest of contribution points. So, it was only natural they would spend these points on purchasing real estate. After all, now that the city had gained an extra set of fuel, the city’s population was bound to increase, and so would the value of the city’s real estate.

Apart from commercial real estate, the various corporations and powerful families also made the city’s training centers and guild buildings their primary objectives. Star Lake City had constructed these properties specifically for the various powers to rent, and they came with living quarters and a place to train. So, if a power were to rent these properties, it would no longer have to cover its members’ living and training expenses.

However, as Star Lake City had limited space, it could only construct a limited number of these training centers and guild buildings. If a power wished to develop in a particular city, it would have to do its best to rent as many training centers and guild buildings as possible. Meanwhile, the more of these properties a power owned, the more appealing it would be to up-and-coming talents.

This was also the reason the various corporations and God’s Domain powers were frantically collecting city contribution points in the various cities.

It should be known that every city in the Greater World was linked to several dozen human civilizations. This made them a gathering place for these civilizations’ geniuses. If a power wished to develop well in God’s Domain, it was crucial to continuously bring in fresh blood. However, the geniuses of just one civilization were far from enough for a power to achieve great success in the Greater God’s Domain. Hence, the real estate of the various cities became a primary target for the various powers.

…

Shi Feng!

Standing among the people waiting in line, Chen Qilin gnashed his teeth when he saw Shi Feng entering the hall.

Chen Qilin suffered a massive loss because of Shi Feng’s performance in the city battle.

Firstly, since he had failed to do anything about Zero Wing, the Divine Seal Saint’s promise to him was naturally null and void.

Secondly, because the Tier 5 battle teams he led had lost in the city battle, the contribution points he ended up receiving were much lower than expected. This resulted in the Dawn Light Corporation having to spend nearly half of its liquid assets to purchase contribution points, and this outcome caused his position in the line of succession to fall by a lot.

Yet, despite his losses, there was nothing Chen Qilin could do to take revenge on Shi Feng.

Because Shi Feng had obtained the most contribution points from the city battle, Star Lake City’s various corporations and powerful families were now eagerly trying to befriend him. Not to mention, Shi Feng’s performance, or more specifically, Zero Wing’s performance during the city battle, had refreshed the various corporations’ and powerful families’ opinions of Zero Wing.

Firstly, there was Cheng Xin, a Swordsman capable of going toe to toe with Reckless Knight. Then, there was Amber Soul, a Swordsman capable of defeating Reckless Knight. Moreover, both had accomplished their respective feats while experiencing a delay in their movements.

So long as Zero Wing could continue inviting these two people to help it, they would become a weapon of mass destruction for Zero Wing in city battles. There would also be nothing the Paimon Conglomerate’s Divine Seal Saint could do about it.

…

Apart from Chen Qilin, the representatives of the other corporations and powerful families also noticed Shi Feng’s arrival. However, unlike Chen Qilin, these other representatives did not react begrudgingly to seeing Shi Feng. Instead, they took the initiative to greet him, all of them looking to befriend him.

However, Shi Feng didn’t stop to chat with these representatives. After briefly responding to their greetings, he left Hidden Soul to chat with them. Meanwhile, he made his way to the counter with the shortest line and began to wait for his turn.

…

“Hello, Mr. Shi. Here is the list of every training center and guild building available for rent in the city,” the beautiful receptionist behind the counter said as she offered an electronic tablet to Shi Feng. “If you fancy any real estate, you simply need to write a bid for it and wait for the announcement next week. Then, you’ll know if you’ve won your bid.”

“Okay.” Shi Feng accepted the tablet and quickly scanned through it.

Every city in the Greater World handled its real estate via silent auctions. Every interested bidder would write the amount of contribution points they were willing to pay as an upfront cost, and the winner would be announced at a later date. Then, the winner would need to pay a fixed rent in Star Coins plus the contribution points they had put down for their bid.

Such an auction system added a factor of uncertainty to the bidding process. This would put a bidder’s capital and judgment to the test. At the same time, a silent auction system could prevent malicious competition and allow weaker powers to survive in the various cities.

It looks like Star Lake’s City Lord isn’t clueless about running his city… Not only has the rent been increased, but even the three largest training centers and guild buildings in the city center have been made available. This will quickly let the city recollect the contribution points it has just distributed…

Shi Feng couldn’t help but be astonished when he was done browsing the list.

The training centers and guild buildings in Star Lake City could be divided into three size categories: small, medium, and large.

Among them, small training centers and guild buildings allowed up to 200 people to be exempted from paying the monthly city contributions, medium ones allowed up to 400 people, and large ones allowed up to 1,000 people.

Meanwhile, although the city center housed the richest energy in the city, there was limited space in the city center. Hence, there were only twelve large-sized training centers and guild buildings in the city center. Excluding the nine that have already been rented out, there were only three remaining. Before today, the city had never put these three properties up for rent, so this was a rare opportunity to acquire them.

…

[Sector 14 Large Training Center]

Facilities: 50 Basic Simulation Combat Rooms, 10 Intermediate Simulation Combat Rooms, 3 Advanced Simulation Combat Rooms.

Accommodations: 900 Basic Quarters, 100 Advanced Quarters, and 10 Special Quarters.

Annual Rent: 80,000,000 Star Coins

Starting Bid: 2,200,000 contribution points

…

[Sector 35 Large Guild Building]

Facilities: 2 Large Training Grounds, 10 Medium Training Grounds, 30 Small Training Grounds, 30 Basic Simulation Combat Rooms, 5 Intermediate Simulation Combat Rooms, and 1 Advanced Simulation Combat Rooms.

Accommodations: 900 Basic Quarters, 100 Advanced Quarters, and 5 Special Quarters

Annual Rent: 95,000,000 Star Coins

Starting Bid: 2,400,000 contribution points

…

[Sector 78 Large Training Center]

Facilities: 50 Basic Simulation Combat Rooms, 10 Intermediate Simulation Combat Rooms, and 5 Advanced Simulation Combat Rooms.

Accommodations: 900 Basic Quarters, 100 Advanced Quarters, 15 Special Quarters.

Annual Rent: 104,000,000 Star Coins

Starting Bid: 3,000,000 contribution points