Chương 702: Misjudging the World Tree.

After half a year, Darius looked at the progress of his merchant empire and was dissatisfied. He had been trying to see what wares were prohibited in the Empire to sell, and even took out stock from his own merchant starship. However, because they were still in the first year, he didn't dare be too blatant. At most, he had sold some explicit content that the Golden Sap Empire lacked. A secretary stood by Darius's side and read a few reports to him. After a bit, he asked.

"Lord Darius, should we start introducing drugs? I've noticed that there is absolutely no source for them, even among bandits." Darius paused, confused.

"None? I saw a Poppy Sylvan the other day walking down the street. They are usually experts when it comes to these wares, and creating a small yet profitable business using their natural spores is not hard." The secretary shook his head.

"We've checked in detail, and I can only say that the Golden Sap Society's entertainment circle is relatively pure. There are some brothels here and there, and you can find a few casinos. However, nothing holds big economic control. The bigger industries are businesses that take part in equipment, science research, primary resources, food, and services like delivery, clothes, and restaurants." Darius tilted his head slightly.

"I thought that the markets for illegal items were too hidden, so we failed to encounter it. However, it seems the reason we failed was that it simply didn't exist. Are all these people saints?"

"Not at all." The secretary, having worked with Darius for a long time, chuckled and passed a few documents.

"We've tried a small-scale sale of… interesting wares. We did so in a remote town, and because of their lack of access, people quickly fell for the scheme. We even sold corrupt-type weapons that helped tremendously with hunting at the cost of some lifespan and such." Darius relaxed when he heard his words.

"As expected, greed is not something you can eliminate regardless of how you run a society." While he pondered, he spoke lightly to the secretary.

"Alright, how are the primary ingredients developing?"

"I think we have enough stock to start selling. Moreover, we managed to buy a few shops in the same area to create a hidden market. We only need to make sure that it spreads to people who won't report it quickly."

"What about the Big Lady? Did she react in any way when we did our tests?"

"Nothing." The secretary sneered.

"She, like many of her species, is as nonchalant as ever." Darius smirked.

"Good. Then, start setting up the shops." He thought to himself, quite confident.

'As long as I don't touch the World Tree's bottom line for control and act on low-class people, the World Tree will probably mark my actions as part of "Life's Cycle" and just ignore me. The main thing I need to maintain is balance between profits for both sides. After all, for a World Tree, what is a small little parasite? It's something worth ignoring.' Liu Shu observed the entire conversation and pondered, curious.

'How long will they remain undercover with me giving a heads-up? Also, I wonder who will, from my population, dare try these dangerous things.' The testing place that the secretary spoke about was naturally under Liu Shu's supervision. Those who "fell for the scheme" were townspeople with not very good personalities. The explorers who bought those cursed weapons that sucked lifespan were also part-time bandits.

After all, the merchant alliance wouldn't dare touch honest, good citizens in case they attracted the authorities.

'While I've read about how dangerous these things are… I have not really seen them in action.' Liu Shu was honestly curious. Before she took over, there were plenty of underhanded markets. Later, due to the ants' constant surveillance and her actively nipping the bad grass in the bud, it became almost impossible for Darius-like businessmen to develop anything. While pondering, she also noticed that Virelya had also spread quite widely across several cities.

Her intelligence network was working tirelessly, and with a few experts in the field who far surpassed locals, she was able to open her business very quickly. The information she sold from competitors included information about Darius, Selene, Aurelius, and Cassian's merchant fleets, among many others, quickly racking up profits and being the most successful among all of them. Her <Shade Book> "shops" were visited often, and all worked perfectly.

"Only…" Liu Shu squinted.

"She is starting to become a bit too bold." Virelya, not knowing that she was being watched, asked her own secretary.

"Have you prepared for the kidnapping of Luniere?" The secretary nodded, but she asked, a bit confused.

"Lady Virelya, while I will follow your tactics… isn't it a bit too bold to kidnap the daughter-in-law of the Big Lady?" Virelya waved her hand dismissively.

"We are not going to hurt her in any way. She is the wife of Sylvia, the eldest <Sylphaith> daughter of the Big Lady. This woman's talent and beauty are basically matchless among those of her same generation. We also know that, while she helps Sylvia with her floristry, she has some extra work in the government as a personal secretary to her mother-in-law, Harmonixa." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Virelya leaned back and spoke lightly.

"We take her for a bit, ask her a few basic questions, and then release her untouched. Those few questions will be able to set us apart from anyone who wants to set up an information network." The secretary nodded.

"What if the Wo—ahem, Big Lady notices and punishes us?"

"As long as nothing happens, we can always ask for forgiveness and say that we won't do it again. If the Big Lady were a bit more involved in society, we might've needed to use our secrecy treasures. But with her being so aloof, what do we need to fear? Half a year, and we've seen absolutely zero movement from the Big Lady." Liu Shu, hearing everything, smiled coldly.

'How could I move? One needs to be patient or they'll scare the snake away.' She shook her head, her eyes slightly disdainful.

"I thought their methods would be slightly better than this. However, even if I didn't intervene from start to finish, they are bound to fail. As long as I don't share my blessings with them, they are… extremely disadvantaged in long-term conflicts." Locals had already started researching and absorbing many of the technologies that Cassian and the others were using to gain customers.

They even combined them with their profound knowledge of how the Golden Sap Empire did things, and were advancing by leaps and bounds. These people who were so easily suppressing everyone didn't even notice that a silent vine had started climbing up their legs. Soon, the vine would latch strongly enough to pull them down from their thrones.

"Alright. Of the five main merchants, three of them will eventually break the rules, giving me an excuse to mess with them." These three were Darius, Cassian, and Virelya. They could've chosen to abide by the rules. However, their strategies that worked on so many other empires were naturally not something Liu Shu appreciated. Meanwhile, Selene and Aurelius were spreading in two directions.

Selene, using high-level people and powerful beasts with space attributes she had tamed, was setting up transportation and warehouse businesses that were extremely popular. Imagine placing a basket in your city, and someone from another continent being able to retrieve it through spatial formations just a few minutes later. Among all five, Selene's business was the monster that Liu Shu saw as absolutely terrifying.

It was raw, competitive ideas and competent leadership with a clear structure and ability of expansion and marketing. Even if Liu Shu involved herself in the battle against Selene's methods, she was not sure if she would be able to compete without leaving all her side projects on pause for a while. Meanwhile, Aurelius was more silent in his expansion, but extremely deadly.

With his company's methods to handle bureaucratic matters, diplomacy, and host meetings while acting as mediators, it was such that, after using his services, everything else just felt lacking and clunky. His business was not flashy, but it struck the landing and latched onto the foundation with vise-like claws. Moreover, Aurelius and his people, to ensure perfect service, had completely adapted to local laws, making Liu Shu have nothing but appreciation for him and his people.

In all honesty, she just didn't want to compete and left him to do as he pleased! That's how much Liu Shu liked the way Aurelius did things.

"Selene's technologies are quite ahead of ours, but with time, she will find some competition. Moreover, without my buffs, she might eventually fade into obscurity." Of course, Liu Shu was not going to hold back her buffs from the aliens indefinitely. She was holding them back because she wanted to see just how much of a difference they made.

In the ambit where she found it clearest to see the difference in competence, it was between the "normal" people from these merchant ships and the "normal" people from her own Empire. When both sides competed in the same work office, her people felt more like machines than living people. Their efficiency, comprehension, adaptability, and ability to work and have epiphanies were worlds apart. This was one thing that startled all 28 merchant fleets.

If their management didn't have some biases toward "their own," many of the positions in the lowest echelons of their businesses would've already been swallowed by locals. Liu Shu smirked as she saw the managers struggle not to choose locals instead of their own.

'Purposely blocking advancement… Hehe. It seems that this rule is the hardest to fulfill, even among Selene and Aurelius's businesses.'

"Baby, can you come here for a second?" Liu Shu blinked and quickly moved her consciousness into Flor's office. She looked at her fairy mother and saw her pondering with furrowed eyebrows about something.

"Mom! I am here. What do you need?" Seeing the root appear and coil around her arm, Flor's slightly tense eyebrows relaxed as a doting look appeared in her eyes.

"Nothing too important, baby. Only, I wanted to know if I should act on this." Liu Shu glanced at the documents and a flash of surprise appeared in her eyes. It was information on the people preparing to kidnap Luniere!

"Wow! You actually managed to catch them before they acted. You are so cool, Mommy!" The root wagged back and forth like a tail, showing adoration for Flor's ability to discover it. Hearing her words, Flor blinked and asked, curious.

"You knew about it?"

"How could I not?" Liu Shu asked back with a giggle.

"Then…" Flor was slightly confused. Liu Shu smiled.

"You discovered it yourself without my help. So, naturally, you can act on it. If you want to kill, kill. If you want to capture back, do that. If you want to sanction them, do that as well. You have full rein on the consequences. After all, you discovered it entirely by yourself." She added with bubbling excitement.

"Hehehe. I am so proud of you, Mommy!" Flor chuckled faintly and nodded.

"Alright, since you said that, I guess we can act as planned."

"Yeah!" Flor sighed softly and asked, curious.

"There is no one in danger, right?" Liu Shu pondered, her mind going toward Darius's intentions.

"Not… yet."

"Not yet, eh?" Flor hummed and nodded.

"Alright, I'll be careful. Now go. Your mom is about to be so busy that I will have to skip my alone time with Ignatia!" The annoyance in her tone made Liu Shu giggle, and then she went to continue with her own matters while keeping an eye on everything.