Chapter 457: Preparations

Li Mochen not only provided the creative ideas and the overall framework of the formation for this 'animal trap' targeting a certain lady, but also undertook the array design of the most core part. Anthony was responsible for the peripheral secondary parts, then broke down the remaining work into a dozen portions, assigning them to the alchemists under him and those precision engineering laboratories.

Originally, this richest man was not very reassured about Li Mochen's level of magical rune arrangement. But there was no way around it—after all, this was something Li Mochen had designed, and he was the one who understood it best. Only Li Mochen knew most clearly what functions this device needed, what effects it needed to achieve, and how to realize them. So having him handle the core components was the most time-saving and labor-saving approach.

However, contrary to his expectations, although the array Li Mochen designed was not outstanding, it achieved logical self-consistency without any structural bugs.

Anthony only needed to make slight improvements and optimizations on this basis, taking less than an hour in total.

The two worked together, and with the resources Anthony commanded, it took less than three days. The device had already produced a sample, and the subsequent test results were very satisfactory.

What frustrated Li Mochen was that this richest man and his employees seemed to have no concept of 'energy consumption' and 'cost,' nor did they care about them at all.

Thus, this device was not only astonishingly expensive to manufacture but also incredibly wasteful in operation.

It was estimated that after the improved official version came out, their total investment would reach as high as 2.2 billion gold shields, enough to build a state-of-the-art cruiser or construct a seven-story magic tower. And the various magic stones and materials needed to start it for an hour were comparable to the magic tower array in Atlanta City, that is, 40 million gold shields per hour.

Anthony, however, disagreed and instead looked at Li Mochen with a surprised expression.

“A-Mo, that’s the Night Ruler! The most troublesome legend in this world; her real combat power can make even lesser gods give way. For her, even if we invest not just one billion but a hundred billion gold shields, it would be worth it, as long as we can actually catch that guy. And now, we’ve already seen hope.”

Upon hearing this, Li Mochen couldn’t help rolling his eyes. This guy’s overt and covert assets amounted to several trillion gold shields, so he could indeed afford not to care about such small change. But Li Mochen’s assets were less than a fraction of the latter’s, so he had to lament the waste.

This was also because he had been used to poverty in the Primordial Dome Realm; under resource scarcity, they would try to utilize every material and every wisp of spiritual energy to the utmost, so he really couldn’t stand these people’s extravagance.

“You know, A-Mo, I’m now itching to invest another few billion gold shields to ensure absolute safety.”

Saying this, Anthony’s expression shifted again: “Emm~ Should we temporarily hire a demigod or a magic envoy? I feel a bit uneasy.”

Li Mochen immediately refused: “Anthony, if you plan to hire a demigod, I’m personally happy to see it, but the resulting expenses will be borne by yourself, OK? I’ll only cover my current thirty percent share; I won’t invest any more. I think the money and power I’ve invested are already sufficient.”

“Fine!”

Anthony seemed to see through Li Mochen’s embarrassment and shook his head slightly: “I’ll cover the expenses this time. But A-Mo, you need to work harder to earn money; you can’t always take advantage of me like this.”

At this moment, Li Mochen wished he could pull out his Dragon Might and shoot this richest man dead with one shot.

Fortunately, two days later, the Alliance Wing fleet arriving at White Deer Port in the Antoria Continent brought him a profit of over 700 million gold shields, slightly comforting his wounded heart.

Of the various goods he brought this time, except for the portion given to the Church of the Nature Goddess, the rest were snapped up by twenty-seven hunting groups of the ‘Eastern Antoria Continent Alliance’ camp. This far exceeded the quota that Alexandra Candela had initially given him, and the goodwill was self-evident.

Li Mochen was not surprised by the attitude of these hunting groups; he had already demonstrated his strength in the Battle of the Adrian Islands. For a powerful supplier like him, any force in the Antoria Continent had to curry favor.

The members of the Eastern Antoria Continent Alliance also seemed unwilling for the heavy weapons he brought to fall into the hands of their opponents. This was another heavy bargaining chip; Guangmo Industries’ heavy weapons were well-reputed and popular everywhere, but they rarely flowed into the Antoria Continent.

This was due to the joint suppression and attack on Guangmo Industries by several military-industrial conglomerates, so few transport fleets dared to bring Guangmo Industries’ products to Antoria for sale, as it would greatly increase their chances of encountering pirates.

But Li Mochen had no such concerns; for a force with two demigod-level powers, there was no need to worry.

Thus, even if only to swallow the tanks, armored vehicles, and missiles in Li Mochen’s hands, these hunting groups of the ‘Eastern Antoria Continent Alliance’ had to accept the various materials he brought at the most favorable prices.

In fact, the leaders of these hunting groups personally came in the following days, forcing Li Mochen to bring Angela and Hazel to attend several banquets in White Deer Port, just to deal with these future partners and discuss various cooperation matters.

After several consecutive days of socializing and secret discussions, the Alliance Wing fleet took away various magical energy materials from them totaling 2.7 billion gold shields.

—Calculated at the current Antoria magical materials maritime trade yield of at least 200%, after returning to the American Federation, they could make a profit of 5 billion gold shields from this cargo.

It is worth mentioning that 45% of this belonged to Li Mochen personally.

This was not due to unfairness on his part or because other ship owners were reluctant to invest, but because only Li Mochen could obtain the top-tier magical energy materials from these hunting groups. What these large hunting groups truly valued was Li Mochen personally; the small ship owners of the fleet were not in their eyes.

This made Li Mochen’s face glow, and he began to look forward to the income when the fleet returned to the American Federation.

It was estimated that the Alliance Wing fleet could make three to four round trips on this trade route between the Antoria Continent and America in a year, bringing a huge gross profit of 15 billion to 20 billion gold shields to the fleet.

So his escort force still needed to expand; more magical energy professionals and sailors had to be recruited.

Li Mochen’s ideal situation was that the security force of the Alliance Wing fleet could ensure the fleet’s safety even when he was unavailable.

This would require at least two to three mid-to-low-rank legends to be stationed, along with thirty high-level outlaws, four to five quasi-legends, and a combat force of over two thousand people.

Only with such strength could the fleet be guaranteed to remain safe under any circumstances.

However, an escort force of this scale would also be a money-devouring beast, reducing his annual net profit to around 3 billion.

After the trade on the Antoria Continent ended, Li Mochen took Angela and Hazel to have fun here for a few days, and then, after White Thomas arrived, he again took the plane provided by Anthony to return to America.

This legendary second-level magical hunter and Yule Clementine would take his place in the Alliance Wing fleet for the coming period, protecting the safety of the fleet and the cargo.