Chapter 1820 - 936: Coming and Going

For most people, whether the night felt long or short, it rushed past just like that. The next day arrived, the sun rose again, and when it lit up New Spring's new district, the Hai Zhou Science and Technology Expo, rebuilt on Phase II of the Wanli Industrial Park, officially opened.

They had never seen this town so noisy and bustling before. Even the road outside the town was jammed solid, to the point that the junkers who'd spent years tucked away in barren mountains and wilderness actually felt a bit dizzy from all the people…

Up in the sky, the shadow of Flying Airships snaked past from time to time, and direct-line buses from Cliff City and Tide City were running back and forth nonstop.

Even as far away as New Spring, countless digital and industrial product enthusiasts from Central City still flocked in. By just the first morning alone, over twenty thousand visitors had already entered the park.

At the same time, once scenes from the venue started appearing online, Messenger Logistics' two-days-one-night Hai Zhou Science and Technology Expo travel package began selling continuously in Cliff City and Tide City.

According to the Paradise System's estimates, by the time the five-day-long tech expo closed, the number of visitors received—even under the most conservative forecast—would at least exceed a hundred thousand!

Even if more than half of them were junkers rushing in from the Wilderness just to watch the show, that still counted as a massive success.

You have to understand, originally everyone was throwing in real silver with the mindset of "even if we lose money, we make some noise." Worst case, just treat it as a big team-building event. At least you're picking a side and showing a united front.

But then, on just the very first day of opening—barely even half a morning—the Desert Market sales channels that had just been opened up started firing on all cylinders.

From the moment the gates opened, the major chambers of commerce and channel partners from Thousand Islands and Central Earth, holding their brochures, launched a storm-style buying spree—everything from digital products, chemical derivatives, all kinds of vehicles, down to food, medicine, textiles, and so on and so forth…

The Phase I logistics warehouse in Wanli Industrial Park, which had just been filled, had already been emptied by more than half. What was left was only stuck because of export procedures and tariffs on bulk goods, still in various rounds of negotiation and tug-of-war. The rate of reaching deals was unbelievably high, and the cumulative transaction volume was shooting up like a rocket.

And it wasn't just the opening-day sales that the Southeast Commerce Alliance had specially prepared for today. On top of that came even more chambers of commerce buyers who'd rushed here on the rumor mill to "eat the first crab," as well as delegations from various city-states!

Representatives who had long been used to sky-high prices now looked at the cost-level purchase prices, shut their eyes and tapped zero after zero without even blinking.

They were grinning so wide they couldn't close their legs.

Cheap—this was really cheap. So cheap that even if they marked it up by thirty percent after taking it back, it would still count as an all-time low!

No more middlemen!

In the past, a TV produced in Yunzhou—smuggled grey goods even—from Yunzhou to Hai Province, from the Federation to Thousand Islands, had to pass through at least five or six pairs of hands.

After layers upon layers of rake-offs from Desert Market stalls, chambers of commerce, and city-states all over, by the time it was placed in a Seven Cities flagship store, a seventy-percent markup was considered you having connections; doubling the price was often the "normal, good value" outcome… To the extent that Ji Jue's knockoff weaponry only doubled the price and that already counted as dimensionality reduction against the middlemen!

Now, with the Desert Market's internal elections concluded, and under Chen Xingzhou's call, the Southeast Commerce Alliance—which had upgraded itself from manufacturers to channels and then to a platform—kicked over the old ecosystem where everyone fenced off their own turf as kings, and instantly a vigorous, everything-competing-to-grow kind of scene exploded into view.

As for the other side, the Hanhai Alliance, which had made a big show of thunder and shouted about a hundred-billion investment but still hadn't finished integrating anything—aside from impotent rage, all they could do was bite their handkerchiefs, stab little dolls, and draw curse circles.

It was only just past ten o'clock. Inside the expo grounds, people were already streaming like rivers between the eleven exhibition halls converted from large warehouses.

Under all kinds of sci-fi-flavored decorations and displays, giant screens kept looping promotional videos of the participating products and manufacturers.

On the base of the huge sea-wave sculpture at the entrance, the words "Building the Future Stars of Technology" reflected the gradually burning sunlight, glittering as if they were shining with their own light.

At the other end of the park, on a Flying Airship that had just landed, one middle-aged man—distinctly different from his traveling companions in suits and ties—stepped out carrying a backpack. Unshaven and sloppily dressed, he had a Yunzhou Chonghui Group staff badge hanging on his chest, and there were mud spots on his pants.

He took off his sunglasses, and sure enough, it was Shi Ran—once a driver in Zhonghui Group's extreme rally races, and also the deputy Minister of the R&D department.

He looked around at the scene before him, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"Not bad at all."

The last time he came, he was representing Zhonghui Industry in signing a shared patent agreement on lightweight prosthetics with Coast, and this place was still a pile of ruins and mud. Now, in just over a year, he almost didn't recognize it. Just from looking at what was in front of him, he could've sworn he was in Central City.

Even if this was only the splendor of a festival, something that might not be repeated later, it was still enough to leave people thoroughly shocked.

"Ha, Fourth Bro!"

He spotted a figure on the helipad, walked over, and gave his brother a warm hug, while conveniently rubbing the grime off his fingers onto the back of the other's high-end suit and patting him hard. "We've only been apart a few months, how'd you get this skinny?"

"Can you at least try to look human?"

Shi Long let out a sigh, helpless. "I told you to wear formal clothes, so how do you still show up looking like this? You're clowning around all day long—if you want to embarrass yourself, fine, but at least try to consider Zhonghui's image, okay?"