No

This in itself was nothing, but the thing people feared most was comparison.

【Don't Want to Work】: Mr. Crow, 60 Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards is certainly not a small amount. However, since you have asked, we are naturally willing to pay this price.

Cheng Shuili remained calm; the other party's next message arrived quickly.

【Don't Want to Work】: Regarding intelligence trading, we have always believed that information has a price. Especially intelligence with a 100% accuracy rate like yours, 60 shards is completely worth it.

Cheng Shuili's fingers tapped lightly on the screen.

This “Don't Want to Work” spoke in a watertight manner, neither showing impatience nor failing to flatter the value of her information. Compared to that Chen Qingshan who only knew how to say “make it cheaper,” he was clearly much harder to deal with.

But when it came to trading, Cheng Shuili preferred dealing with this kind of person.

After all, hearing a couple of nice words was better than that other guy who immediately whipped out his vegetable-market bargaining knife, wasn't it?

Cheng Shuili pretended not to understand what the other party was implying and replied directly.

【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Then let's trade. Give me the shards first.

【Don't Want to Work】: Of course. But before that, may I ask you a question? Our organization is willing to pay an additional 5 shards as a consultation fee.

A consultation fee, huh?

Cheng Shuili knew this must be a stepping stone for another request. However, why not just earn the consultation fee?

【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Go ahead and ask.

【Don't Want to Work】: Do you have a special, long-term source for obtaining information? If so, we would very much like to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with you.

Cheng Shuili narrowed her eyes. This question was asked with a high level of skill; it both probed for her hidden cards and threw out the bait of long-term cooperation.

She pondered for a moment and decided to respond with a mix of truth and falsehood.

【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: I naturally have channels, but I cannot disclose what they are. As for long-term cooperation... that depends on your sincerity.

【Don't Want to Work】: Understood. As for sincerity, I have a proposal: we are willing to pay a fixed monthly rate of 100 Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards in exchange for all priority intelligence you provide.

Cheng Shuili almost jumped out of her seat.

Are you trying to send off a beggar?

Just knowing what this week's disaster is already cost 60 game coins!

There are at least four disasters in a month! And they only offer 100? They were squeezing the price way too hard!

Although Glory only gave a few blueprints, could an individual be the same as an organization? That was just one person! This was for so many people!

It was a huge loss.

Cheng Shuili narrowed her eyes, intending to fiercely reject this insincere guy, when the other party sent another message.

【Don't Want to Work】: Of course, this is just the base condition; we can discuss the specifics. We are very sincere, and you can propose any reasonable requirement, such as vehicle cards or blueprints; all of those are fine.

A baseline of 25 Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards per week?

Cheng Shuili raised an eyebrow slightly. This condition was actually not bad, but since this “Don't Want to Work” split it into two parts to tell her, wasn't he just trying to test her attitude?

Cheng Shuili's attitude... Cheng Shuili's attitude was: No!

They talked nicely now, saying she could ask for anything, but once she actually made a request later, the other party would surely say “we don't have this” or “that is in short supply,” and in the end, they would pick through everything until there was nothing left that Cheng Shuili wanted.

If Cheng Shuili refused to trade then, the other party would just bring up this long-term deal from today again.

Could Cheng Shuili allow herself to take such a loss?

【Angry Crow Takes Flight】: Trading is all about flexibility. Since you said everything is negotiable, you must understand this principle. We can talk about future trades later. If you have no objections to today's trade, just send over the Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards. It doesn't matter if this trade doesn't go through today; it won't hurt our friendly relations.

When this message appeared in the organization's group chat.

Some of the old stubborn members felt like their molars were about to shatter.

“This Crow is truly a tough nut to crack!”

“She won't budge an inch!”

“I've never seen anyone do business like this; isn't she afraid we won't buy?”

“We stated our needs from the start and have already been held by the throat; of course she isn't afraid.”

Yes, of course she wasn't afraid.

“Don't Want to Work” was truly helpless at this moment. He had gone through such a large circle with the intention of long-term cooperation, but more than that, it was actually to press down the price of today's trade.

As long as Crow agreed...

Think about it, once they were long-term partners, even the future ones only required 25 Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards, so how could it be appropriate to charge 60 for this one?

“Don't Want to Work” really had no other options, so he messaged Zhu Xuan to explain the situation.

Zhu Xuan had been watching the whole time, and at this moment, he was truly silent.

He had thought Crow would be difficult to talk to, but nobody had mentioned that this person was this difficult to talk to!

Chen Qingshan had been cold-shouldered for trying to bargain directly, and “Don't Want to Work” had circled such a large path here only to end up right back at the starting point.

Sometimes he really wanted to see if Crow belonged to the year of the “Rooster,” otherwise why was she so stingy? She wouldn't retreat even one step!

Zhu Xuan sighed. His silent contest with Chen Qingshan was, in fact, a draw.

The fact that Crow could sell information on natural disasters meant that this disaster was real, so that question counted as a win for Chen Qingshan. Secondly, there was the bargaining; that could barely be considered a win for Zhu Xuan, but he knew for a fact that his victory was hollow.

Zhu Xuan sighed and gathered opinions from the others in the group.

Most were in agreement, and the few stubborn ones who refused couldn't do anything about it. The minority had to follow the majority, and the deal was reached.

The moment Zhu Xuan received the information, he realized how correct today's decision had been.

He immediately made the news public in the group and issued arrangements: “Notify everyone immediately to concentrate on collecting all food, especially high-calorie and shelf-stable items. At the same time, send people to the regional channel to purchase them; the price can be 20% higher than usual.”

“Yes!”

Chen Qingshan felt a bit dissatisfied, but seeing the two parties' trading process, he clearly understood where he had fallen short. He had never been interested in that position to begin with, and after failing once, he had developed a psychological shadow.

But who told him to stand out so prominently? His uncles and elders all looked at him as if they had seen hope.

Chen Qingshan sighed again. Actually, Crow not choosing to trade with him could be considered a good thing.

He thought for a moment and sent a thank-you message to Crow.

【Qingshan Trek】: Thank you.

Cheng Shuili looked at this message with a strange expression. Thank her for what? Was he being sarcastic?

Cheng Shuili placed her hands on the keyboard, and a line of unfriendly text was already typed out, but her gaze inadvertently fell on the part where Chen Qingshan emphasized that he was truly twenty-eight this year, so she silently deleted that line of text.

This guy had always been weird, but his heart was sincere.

Perhaps Cheng Shuili just wasn't on the same wavelength as him.

Cheng Shuili laid out the 60 Vehicle Upgrade Material Shards she had just received, and adding them to the 136 shards she already had, she now had a total of 196.

Finally, she was barely at two-thirds.