Chapter 7
“h.e.l.lo, Sir. May I know what you need?”
In the Coribo Encalve Exchange Center, two robots were having a conversation. One of them was a synthetic humanoid under Li Wenyuan’s control, while the other was a service robot.
“Can the value of the goods be appraised here?”
“Of course, and we don’t charge you any appraisal fees. If you’d like, you can go to the appraisal room on the second floor.”
…
With the help of the service robot, Li Wenyuan soon found the appraisal room and successfully got a spot.
The so-called appraisal room was actually a huge automated piece of equipment. Countless people were sitting while placing the samples they wanted to appraise into a large box before their seats.
The automated equipment would store the item in a confined s.p.a.ce for a scan, then display the results on a screen that only the person in the spot could see.
This saved Li Wenyuan a lot of effort. He took out the metal sample rescued from the crashed cargo s.p.a.cecraft and put it into the appraisal room.
The results of the appraisal were displayed in an instant.
[Appraised item: Morton-standard strengthened alloy]
[Introduction: An alloy produced in the Morton Galaxy. One of the most inferior metal products.]
[Market price (estimated): 0.1 energy coin per ton]
“As expected, it’s trash…” Li Wenyuan couldn’t help but sigh when he saw the result. The alloy in the cargo s.p.a.cecraft couldn’t even be sold for an old frigate.
He didn’t give up. After that, he had the synthetic humanoid take out the second item.
It was a weapon that looked like a gun, but the muzzle of the gun was in the shape of a horn. This was something that he had obtained from the pirate leader. It seemed to be a level-2 civilization weapon or something of the sort.
[Appraised item: Mini interference device (level 2)]
[Introduction: An individual interference wave transmitter produced by a level 2 civilization, outdated.]
[Market price (estimated): 100 energy coins]
“…In the end, this is also trash…” The item that Li Wenyuan had high hopes for was also identified as trash, which made him quite sad.
‘The technological blueprint of a level two civilization I saw just now can be sold for 600000 energy coins, so I thought this gun would be about the same… It seems that I was too naive.”
Disheartened, the synthetic humanoid took out the third item to be appraised. It was the mysterious metal that was cut off from the wall near his “body”.
“Hopefully those pirates have better judgment…” He had no choice but to throw the mysterious metal sample into the appraisal box.
But this time, the appraisal took a long time.
“…What’s taking so long? It can’t be because it’s too trashy to be appraised, right?” Li Wenyuan, who had been waiting, immediately feel his heart turn cold.
Then, the results of the appraisal slowly appeared in front of his eyes.
[Appraised item: Living metal]
[Introduction: An extremely precious strategic metal resource. There are no subst.i.tutes for living metals as the key parts of some projects. It was once thought that it could only be formed naturally under extremely harsh conditions. Currently, only a few mysterious civilizations have fixed distribution channels. Most of the living metals on the market come from the exploration of various lost planets by interstellar adventurers.]
[Market price: 200000 energy coins per kilogram]
[Living metal extraction technology buyout price: Face-to-face negotiation.]
[Note: h.e.l.lo, friend. I am the person in charge of this trade enclave. I’m very surprised to see real living metal here. Are you interested in talking to us face-to-face? We’re very willing to offer you a price that you’re satisfied with.]
[If you agree, please don’t leave the appraisal room for the time being. We will arrange for someone to take you to our VIP room.]
This unexpected surprise made Li Wenyuan very happy. He really didn’t expect his “clothes” to be worth so much money.
For a moment, he had the urge to strip off all his “clothes” and sell them as start-up funds.
However, this idea was quickly dispelled. From the introduction, the living metal was an extremely important resource. If it was circulated in large quant.i.ties in the market in a short period, he, the seller, would definitely be discovered. At that time, the location where his main body was would be in danger.
“But if I only sell a little, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
He was in urgent need of start-up funds to repair his mother planet. Otherwise, he would not have chosen to take the risk.
As such, according to the notes, Li Wenyuan had the synthetic humanoid stay where it was and arranged for the other synthetic humanoids to wander around the exchange center in search of the resources they needed.
Not long after, a group of special people came up to the second floor where the appraisal room was.
It was a group of robots. They had a silvery-white reflective surface, and every movement of their metal limbs was in sync. Their eye cameras were also constantly rotating, and soon, they locked onto the position of the synthetic humanoid.
Following this, they walked over and said in a very standard mechanical voice, “The welcoming sub-unit is in place. The deviation value is 2.99%. The connection signal is normal. Accessible at any time. Destination, 125th floor. Route planning is complete.”
“…” Their inexplicable words stunned Li Wenyuan, who was controlling the synthetic humanoid. He almost didn’t understand what they meant.
“Does that mean they want me to go to the 125th floor?” He controlled the synthetic humanoid to take the elevator to the 125th floor.
The controller behind the robots was also puzzled.
“Hmm? Isn’t this the trend in the artificial intelligence civilization? Is this AI not interested in this style? Oh no, I didn’t manage to get a good impression. My salary is going to be deducted…” The controller lamented that his poor salary would be deducted again.
However, this had nothing to do with Li Wenyuan. He easily took the elevator to the 125th floor.
This was the VIP room, and only those who were considered “partners” by the Coribo Trading Company could come here. Li Wenyuan had become one of them today.
As soon as the elevator door opened, an alien came up to welcome him.
The alien had a pair of large fan-like ears, and his protruding cheeks were covered in hair and a beard. His dark eyes flickered with the keen sense of a merchant.
The part of his body below the chest was replaced by mechanical prosthetics and covered with bionic skin. Although he had covered himself with clothes, with the powerful scanning ability of the synthetic humanoid, Li Wenyuan could still detect that at least two-thirds of the alien’s body was mechanical.
“h.e.l.lo, my friend. I’m the person in charge here, just call me Blenning. May I know how to address you?” The manager greeted Li Wenyuan with great enthusiasm.
Only then did Li Wenyuan remember that he had never considered the issue of a name.
After a slight hesitation, Li Wenyuan decided to use the “code name” he told Lilian before to address himself.
“I am… The Administrator.”
The Administrator?
This special word stunned Brian, and his eyes quickly revealed a look of realization.
Then, his expression immediately became serious. With a wave of his hand, the surrounding environment changed from a VIP room to a conference hall.
It turned out that the previous scene was a projection, and this conference hall was the original appearance of the place.
After that, he changed his previous enthusiastic expression and said in a very formal and deep voice, “I understand. I know that the AI civilization has never liked to beat around the bush, so I’ll be direct.”
“This time, I will be the diplomatic amba.s.sador of Coribo. On behalf of the Coribo Trading Company, I would like to purchase all the living metals in your hands in the form of trade between civilizations. I will buy as much as you have. You may state your requirements, and I will do my best to satisfy them.”
After he spoke, several blurry projections appeared in the conference hall. They seemed to be high-level personnel of Coribo, who had come to discuss the deal.
Li Wenyuan, who was in the virtual world, frowned. After some thought, he controlled the synthetic humanoid and said, “… The process has been arranged.”