Don’t think that just because I’m older, I don’t understand these matters. Science ultimately leads to theology, and those who constantly tell you to believe in science are often the least scientific themselves.

Alright, now there’s serious business to attend to, not the time for idle chat. Let’s get down to business first. I assume the cargo containers on board are all filled with items for this trade?

After seeing Zachary nod in confirmation, Official Liam continued, "I’ve brought some porters. We’ll proceed with the container trade. Once the porters empty a container, I’ll immediately provide you with the corresponding Mysterious Cores on site, in proportion."

Zachary didn’t hesitate much about Official Liam’s method of trade. Although it meant letting the porters handle the cargo first, since it was a container-by-container settlement, Zachary could reluctantly accept it.

When Official Liam saw that Zachary agreed to his suggestion, he immediately signaled the cargo ship. At that moment, Evelyn Harris arrived on the Wave Rider with the porters, following the chains.

Although the water was relatively calm at the time, it was definitely impossible for the two ships to be fully joined, so the transfer could only rely on pure manpower.

Official Liam had anticipated this, hence why he especially brought so many porters.

The frozen meats in the containers, whether pork, beef, or lamb, were all intact cuts from slaughtered animals, making transportation relatively simple. Though the two ships couldn’t dock side by side, the distance between them was not significant thanks to the chains pulling them closer.

Moreover, because the containers filled with cargo on deck made the Wave Rider sit deep in the water, the porters didn’t even need to move the items to the deck and then transfer them from there.

After carefully gauging the distance between the two ships and estimating their strength, the porters, following a brief discussion, decided to forgo transferring through the Wave Rider’s deck and simply throw the items directly from the containers onto the deck of the cargo ship.

After listening to the porters’ suggestion, Official Liam turned to Zachary and inquired, "If we proceed with the porter’s suggestion, our trade can continue, but the weighing needs to be shifted to my cargo ship."

Zachary surely didn’t quite favor this proposal, as he was the only one on his ship at the moment. If the weighing took place on the other side, he wouldn’t be able to supervise.

So Zachary directly spoke up, "How about this: the slaughtered pig, beef, and lamb meats for this trade are mostly similar in size and weight. Let’s weigh one container of meat first, then take an average, and we’ll trade based on that."

After hearing Zachary’s words, Official Liam hesitated briefly before responding, "That works. However, if there are any significantly differing in volume, we’ll pick those out and calculate them based on their actual weight. Does that sound good to you?"

Zachary didn’t object to Official Liam’s condition and nodded.

Once the two parties had reached a consensus, the porters opened four containers from different areas on Zachary’s cue. These containers held pork, beef, lamb, and prehistoric animal meats.

After weighing each and calculating the average, both parties accepted the average value, and thus the trade officially began.

As it was a trade on a per-item basis, whenever the value of the cargo reached twenty Mysterious Cores, Official Liam took out a stack of Mysterious Cores from the box and handed it directly to Zachary.

Because Official Liam’s porters were highly efficient, the box of Mysterious Cores he initially brought was quickly depleting.

Official Liam arranged for Ethan Harris to fetch another box of Mysterious Cores from the cargo ship. Even though the trade had officially started and the process had been stable thus far, Official Liam preferred to be cautious; he insisted on only bringing one box of Mysterious Cores at a time for safety’s sake.

As the contents of the containers were continuously moved onto the opposing cargo ship by the porters, the draught of the Wave Rider, weighed down by heavy goods, was gradually returning to its normal height.

Had it not been for the Wave Rider being refined into Magical Weapons by Zachary, possessing absolute balance on the water, which cargo ship would unload on one side only? Normally, it’s necessary to unload alternately on both sides to maintain balance on the water.

After the first cargo ship finished loading the goods from one side of the Wave Rider, Official Liam immediately directed another cargo ship to berth on the other side of the Wave Rider.

During the shift change for the stevedores, in the interest of safety, even though the first cargo ship wasn’t fully loaded, Official Liam still directly arranged for it to sail back.

Actually, regarding this transaction, Dong Tianyu didn’t harbor any extra thoughts. Although much was paid, it was like the saying he once heard: when famine comes, as long as the food is sent out, it doesn’t matter if it’s given to the rich or the poor, or whether they already had enough food at that time.

As long as it wasn’t wasted, when someone ate the food you sent, it meant that somewhere else, the food could save one more person.

That’s why, during this transaction, Dong Tianyu had no intention of playing any tricks.

It’s just that Dong Tianyu wanted an honest trade without any tricks, but others might not think the same way. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

When Dong Tianyu performed his routine scan with Divine Sense, he unexpectedly discovered that some people had quietly hidden themselves at the bottom of Wave Rider.

At this moment, they clung to the bottom of Wave Rider like barnacles in the sea, without any other actions.

Seeing those people seemingly waiting quietly for the transaction to end, a harsh light suddenly flickered in Dong Tianyu’s eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

When receiving the Mysterious Core from Official Liam, Dong Tianyu still wore a joyful expression on his face.

By then, several boxes containing Mysterious Cores were piled up beside Dong Tianyu; these were given to him by Official Liam, who saw that Dong Tianyu had no place to store them, and thus presented his own boxes as gifts.

As dusk approached, both Wave Rider and the cargo ship were brightly lit because both Dong Tianyu and Official Liam wanted to conclude the transaction as quickly as possible, without delaying it until the next day.

This desire led Official Liam to recruit many additional laborers from Lakeside Base for the job, which is why there were three containers being loaded at the same time now.

Under this not-so-efficient loading pace, finally, the last container’s contents were carried away by the stevedores.

Seeing this, Official Liam handed the last plate of Mysterious Cores to Dong Tianyu and said, "All done at last. To celebrate Perfection of our deal, come with me, let’s have a good meal at the base."

Upon hearing Official Liam’s invitation, Dong Tianyu made a polite refusal on the surface, but he was very well aware that it was just a courtesy from the other side.

The transaction had just ended, and even a fool wouldn’t immediately go to have dinner at the house of the person they had just traded with, carrying the money they’d just acquired.

Seeing Dong Tianyu’s refusal, Official Liam wasn’t surprised; he had only offered the invitation as a formality. Dong Tianyu’s refusal was expected; if he had accepted, Official Liam would have needed to ’entertain’ him thoroughly.

However, since Dong Tianyu refused, Official Liam didn’t wish to complicate matters and thus bid farewell to Dong Tianyu and left Wave Rider with the others.

Once everyone was back on the cargo ship, Ethan Harris asked with some puzzlement, "Boss, during this transaction, only Dong Tianyu showed up on their side. Shouldn’t we..."

Although Ethan Harris didn’t finish his sentence, Official Liam understood what he was getting at and expressed his thoughts: "Forget it, even though only Dong Tianyu appeared throughout the whole process."

"But don’t forget all the cargo was on the deck. We have no idea what’s below the deck of that ship, and according to the normal proportions of a vessel, the space below that ship’s deck is not small.

Also, don’t forget there was a tower on their deck. Throughout the entire process, it seemed like only Dong Tianyu was present, but can you guarantee there were no snipers in the tower watching us?

Besides, even if we didn’t make a move, there might be others who couldn’t help themselves."