Game: Civilization Paradise

Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Market Manipulation

"Get online. I’ll tell you in person."

Xiaopang told Long Ming to get online.

"Alright!"

Long Ming reached over, picked up the helmet beside him, and put it on.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in Starry City.

Just then, Xiaopang came rushing over and said to Long Ming.

"You’re finally here."

"What happened?"

"I was buying up potions, and everything was going great! But then, out of nowhere, it seemed like someone started competing with me. The prices have been driven way up."

"Let me see... 12,000?"

Long Ming immediately opened the marketplace, searched the "Fast-Acting Healing Potions" category, and discovered the price had been pushed to 12,000.

"Yeah. So what do we do now? Should we keep buying?"

Xiaopang looked uncertainly at Long Ming.

A glint in his eye, Long Ming immediately listed 1,000 potions at 11,000 each.

Soon, after a few dozen of his potions were bought, other scattered listings started to appear below his for 10,900, 10,800, and so on.

These were potions being sold by casual players.

Long Ming continued to undercut the price, listing another 1,000 potions for 10,000 Uni-Coins each. Before long, casual players eager to sell started listing their potions for just over 9,000.

"Hey, the price is coming down!"

Xiaopang said excitedly.

"Mhm."

Long Ming nodded slightly.

「Star Tower City Center」

Inside a large building constructed from white rock, its outer walls adorned with intricate carvings and fitted with stained-glass windows, a man with short golden hair and an androgynous face sat leisurely in an armchair. He wore a loose-fitting robe and a red gemstone ring.

Projected in front of him were numerous screens, each displaying a different video call.

"Our recent materials acquisition has been progressing quite smoothly. We’ve essentially met all our targets, however..."

Kang Ang was in high spirits as he summarized their recent work for the members of the Jinglan Trading Group.

Just then, an elderly man in a black tuxedo with graying hair and a stiff expression walked over, respectfully interrupting Kang Ang.

"Young Master, the one competing with us for the potion category has started suppressing the price."

"Interesting."

Kang Ang snapped his fingers.

SWISH!

A new projection appeared before him, displaying the marketplace screen for Civilization Paradise.

Kang Ang took one look and said.

"Glen, buy up all his stock."

"Yes!"

Glen relayed the instruction.

The next second, all the potions Long Ming had listed—both the 10,000 and 11,000 Uni-Coin batches—were completely bought out. The scattered, lower-priced potions, however, were left untouched.

「Inside Starry City」

Long Ming’s brow furrowed slightly when he saw this.

Xiaopang, who was beside him, froze for a moment before speaking.

"They’re starting to buy us out."

"Then let them. I want to see just how much they can buy."

Long Ming coolly raised his wristband. He began listing potions in batches of 1,000, priced at 9,000 Uni-Coins each, and posted three batches.

The moment he listed them, they were instantly bought out.

Seeing this, Long Ming posted another five batches, but the other party bought each one the moment it was listed.

Xiaopang grew anxious watching this and quickly said to Long Ming.

"Boss, stop listing them! If you keep this up, all our work will have been for nothing. If we just stop competing with them, supply is so high right now that the price will naturally fall on its own after a while."

"If you want to monopolize a category, you have to be ready to fight anyone who tries to interfere to the bitter end. Otherwise, what’s the point of being in this business? Besides, our average cost is only a little over 8,000. I won’t lose money selling at 9,000. The worst that can happen is that I won’t make much of a profit."

At this, Long Ming checked his inventory. He still had 21,020 potions left.

He set aside 10,000 potions and listed the remaining 11,020.

Just then, Glen saw the marketplace refresh with a massive number of potions and reported to Kang Ang.

"Young Master, they’ve started dumping a large amount of stock."

"Buy it all. I want to see just how much he’s got!"

Kang Ang ordered without a moment’s hesitation.

"Yes!"

Glen immediately relayed the command.

Soon enough, all the potions Long Ming had listed in the marketplace were gone.

Long Ming fell silent. He hadn’t expected his opponent to be so bold.

Xiaopang’s eye twitched, and he hurriedly tried to persuade Long Ming.

"Boss, let’s stop messing with them. We’ve got cash, and the market is in a slump right now. Everything’s dropping in price. There’s no need to fight them to the death over this one category. We can totally buy the dip on something else."

"’You’re oversimplifying things,’" Long Ming said, poking Xiaopang on the forehead as he explained. "’It’s true we could cast a wider net, but then we wouldn’t have control over the pricing. Besides, are you so sure other items aren’t being manipulated by someone else?’"

"Then what do we do?"

"We’ll deal."

Long Ming took a deep breath, composed himself, and replied with a smile. Then, he logged out of the game.

Meanwhile, Kang Ang, seeing that his opponent wasn’t listing any more goods, said with a laugh.

"So that’s all he had."

"Young Master Kang Ang is right. He really overestimated himself."

.....

The trading group members on the various calls laughed and chimed in.

"Let’s not worry about these gnats. Let’s get back to the meeting."

Kang Ang didn’t give the little interruption another thought.

...

「His apartment bedroom」

Long Ming took off the helmet, got up, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

BUZZ BUZZ~

Just then, his phone, which was sitting by the bed, began to vibrate.

Long Ming’s brow furrowed slightly. He rinsed his mouth and walked out of the bathroom.

He was a bit surprised when he picked up his phone and saw the caller ID. He’d thought it would be Xiaopang, but it was actually Xiaoqi. He answered the call.

"Hey, Xiaoqi."

"Long Ming, are you home?"

Xiaoqi asked cheerfully.

"Yeah, I am. What’s up?"

"Johnny and the others are here in the Lower City District."

"You’re in the Lower City District?"

Long Ming was very surprised to hear this.

"What, not happy to see us?"

"That’s not it. It’s just that the Lower City District is a mess right now. Why would you come here at a time like this?"

"We know it’s a mess, but we came here to get something done."

"Get what done?"

"We came to buy some daily necessities."

Xiaoqi told him openly.

"Wait! Why are you buying necessities in the Lower City District? Don’t you guys have plenty of that stuff in the Upper City District?"

"Who says we have plenty? Only the big shots have plenty. How could people like us in the middle rungs not be short on things?"

"Even so, the Upper City District has its own plantations. Why don’t you buy from them?"

"The output from those is nowhere near enough!"

"Alright."

"Are you free today? Want to come shopping with us?"

"Alright, sure."

Long Ming thought for a moment before agreeing.

"Wait for us. We’ll be downstairs in a minute."

With that, Xiaoqi hung up.

Long Ming quickly changed his clothes and hurried downstairs to wait by the street.

「A few minutes later.」

A small pink sedan drove up and stopped in front of Long Ming. A moment later, the window rolled down.

"Mr. Long Ming, get in the passenger seat."

Xiaoqi called out to Long Ming.

"Alright."

Long Ming pulled open the car door and got in.

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