69novels Chapter 348 Digital Life and Transactions
Chapter 348 Digital Life and Transactions
Chapter 348 Digital Life and Transactions
The sudden "opening" of the human-like head startled everyone present.
As the one who was directly hit and whose head was causing an abnormal reaction, Tang Zijun frowned instantly, her expression becoming extremely serious.
Grilando behind her and the merchant opposite her might not have noticed, but Tang Zijun saw it clearly: the moment the head opened its eyes, a green glow emanated from its pupils.
Although it disappeared quickly, Tang Zijun still managed to detect it.
It was not ordinary fluorescence, nor was it light generated by special energy or magic. Instead, it was a light source composed of countless tiny green numbers arranged in a row.
Coupled with the other person's empty, lifeless eyes and stiff face, an unbelievable thought entered Tang Zijun's mind.
"Digital Life..."
As Grelando was staring in astonishment at the human head on the table, she heard Tang Zijun's soft murmur, and a sudden thought struck her.
"Sir, do you recognize this thing?"
"It's hard to say, I'm not entirely sure either." Tang Zijun stared at this creation, which was at least ten years ahead of the technology level of the real world, with a gloomy look on her face. Her expression was somewhat complicated.
In the past, Tang Zijun would have been surprised to see this thing, but not particularly strange. After all, he had encountered many things and had seen all sorts of bizarre things.
But after someone impersonated Tan Zhixin and called her, Tang Zijun now instinctively feels some wariness towards the power of technology.
Moreover, this thing looks distinctly different from the medieval art style of the dream world. If it's not a creation of the gods of the Void Realm, then there's only one possibility.
My gaze lingered on the female android's head for a moment. Before the android could finish speaking, it fell silent again. It was obvious that it had probably run out of energy.
I just don't know what kind of energy she uses, is it electricity, solar energy, or nuclear energy or something like that? "Hey, are you buying it or not?"
Just then, the merchant, having come to his senses, couldn't help but speak up.
He was startled by the thing's sudden speech, because it hadn't reacted at all since it came into his hands. Apart from looking like a person and being quite well-made, it had nothing unusual about it.
He had initially thought it was an object belonging to some deity and planned to take it to the front lines of the river region to sell for a good price. However, after examination by some alchemists and church heralds, it turned out that the object did not possess any extraordinary power, magic, divine power, or life force.
In this situation, no one would spend a lot of money to buy a useless ornament, no matter how well it is made. In the context of the War of the Gods, it is equivalent to garbage if it has no profit.
Of course, there were alchemists who wanted to buy it, take it apart, and study it, but the prices they offered were far below what the merchants expected. So, the thing just sat there gathering dust for more than half a year.
He thought this thing would end up being a liability, but unexpectedly, this guy of unknown origin in front of him inexplicably awakened this head.
This is something that even alchemists and church heralds cannot do!
After the initial surprise, a greedy glint appeared in the vendor's eyes. He rubbed his hands together with a smile and began to speak.
"You two, as you see, this isn't some useless dead head; it's alive! It can talk! Have you ever seen a talking head before? No, right? Let me tell you, this is the only one of its kind. It's a creation blessed by the gods, an incomparably sacred being!"
"If she were a creation blessed by God, she should be enshrined in the church hall, not placed on your stall."
Seeing the other party's reaction, Grelando understood that this guy was preparing to raise the price, so she said coldly.
"Furthermore, any creation associated with divine power must be tested before entering the river front. The fact that you were able to bring her here to sell instead of having her taken away by the church proves that she doesn't possess any divine power at all. Since she doesn't have any divine power, what makes you claim that she is a creation blessed by the gods?"
"What do you know, you mercenary?" The merchant's face stiffened, then he spoke up. "Have you ever seen a creation blessed by the gods?"
Have you ever seen such an exquisitely crafted, lifelike alchemical head?
"I've never seen a divine creation or a similar alchemical head, but I've seen plenty of merchants like you who spout nonsense to inflate prices."
"You think I'm overcharging?" The vendor sneered, as if he'd heard a hilarious joke. "Do you know how valuable this thing is? It's a creation of the gods! It's evidence of the gods creating humankind!"
"You'd better not say things like that, and don't let the elves hear you, or you might end up in a terrible situation," Grilando said, pursing her lips.
"I'm afraid of those pointy-eared people? I'd say that even if they stood right in front of me. That's proof that the gods created humanity; humanity was the first race they created!"
"Okay, okay, let's stop for a moment."
Seeing that the topic was about to be steered in an even more far-fetched direction, Tang Zijun quickly interrupted.
He then looked at the vendor. "Enough with the nonsense, just tell me how much this costs."
"Great, straightforward!" the merchant grinned. "Hehehe, I love doing business with noble gentlemen like you... I would never have sold this before, but the situation is different now, so... 100,000 gold coins will do."
"One hundred thousand!?"
Upon hearing this, Grelando immediately flew into a rage.
Yes, she was really furious; Tang Zijun could clearly see that her hair was even sticking up.
"Why don't you just rob someone? Ten thousand gold coins! Even the lords on the river front can't come up with that much money!"
"You can't say that," the vendor waved his hand, then added with a smile. "I know the price is a bit high, but business is all about negotiation, right?"
Tang Zijun crossed her arms. "Go on."
"Hehe, sir, I know you like this stuff, but 100,000 gold coins is a bit outrageous. Even if you gave it to me, I wouldn't be able to take it out of the store," the merchant licked his yellow teeth and said in a low voice.
"How about this? If you can bring me something worth 100,000 gold coins, I'll sell you this man's head. What do you say?"
"Something equivalent to gold coins?" Tang Zijun frowned slightly.
The merchant's smile widened. "Food, equipment, slaves, medicine... anything is fine. I'm not that picky."
"My lady..." Seeing that Tang Zijun seemed somewhat interested, Grelando couldn't help but tug at Tang Zijun's sleeve.
"You'd better think this through, there's only one of this in the whole world," the vendor warned.
"Alright, then 100,000 gold coins it is," Tang Zijun said. "But don't get excited yet. It will take me a while to transport such a large sum of money over. How do I know if you'll sell it to someone else?"
"Don't worry, the God of Commerce is watching over us, and the scales of justice will always protect the interests of both sides."
Upon hearing this, Tang Zijun did not speak, but silently looked at Grelando beside her.
"It's true, my lord. Once the contract is signed, the transaction is binding. No one dares to deceive the gods." After a pause, Gloriand continued, "Moreover, the contract with the God of Merchants is still protected by divine power to this day..."
The merchant understood Grelando's unspoken meaning perfectly, and he chuckled. "This mercenary lady is right. The God of Merchants is still alive, so the contract's effect will continue. What do you say?"
"Alright, it's settled then."
With Grelando's assurance, Tang Zijun didn't think much of it.
Before long, the two parties signed a contract on an old piece of parchment. Tang Zijun would exchange 100,000 gold coins or items of equivalent value for this strange human head.
The merchant was quite happy. Although the deal wasn't finalized immediately, once the contract was signed, the thing was practically going to be sold soon.
Because the contract specifies a timeframe, he wasn't worried about Tang Zijun dragging it out. After all, it was a contract with the gods, and the consequences of fooling the gods were very serious.
What he didn't know was that Tang Zijun, after signing the contract, was wondering how the God of Merchants would deal with her if she violated it.
Once they were away from the shop, Gloriand couldn't help but whisper, "My lady, although I know that thing is no ordinary object, isn't 100,000 gold coins a bit...?"
"Don't worry, money is not a problem for me, and I wasn't prepared to pay anyway."
"Not paying?" Gloriam was taken aback, then opened her mouth. "My lord, although murder and robbery are not uncommon here, you did sign a contract, which is blessed by divine power."
"Who said I was going to kill and rob? I'm such a peace-loving person." Tang Zijun rolled her eyes.
"So you're planning to exchange goods of equal value with him?"
"Mm." Tang Zijun nodded slightly.
In fact, Tang Zijun did consider paying with gold coins at first. Whether it was using Katie's train to move some gold bars through the reverse passage, or finding a toy factory to make 100,000 toy coins that were the same as the gold coins in this world, and then turning them into gold herself, it was a very simple matter. Moreover, Tang Zijun believed that the Magic Supervision Bureau would not refuse her proposal and would strongly support her.
However, after thinking it over, Tang Zijun gave up on this option.
Compared to gold coins, what the river front lacks more is food. With 100,000 gold coins worth of food flooding the river front market, the entire city-state is expected to have no food shortages for a long time to come.
As for the merchant, he couldn't possibly keep all the grain he took for himself; in the end, he would have to give it back to the people living here, which would bring down the price of grain.
By then, even if he doesn't want to, there's nothing he can do.
In this environment, either he'll suffer losses and earn less, or the lords and church healers on the river front should teach him a lesson...