Chapter 523.2: A Polite Bandit

With that, Kishur finally let out the frustration he’d built up during his trip to Ideal City and relaxed into the couch.

As a final blow, he said slowly, "The best outcome for the New Alliance is to become Boulder Town’s export port and resource zone. In other words, an economic colony. Maybe your New Alliance will live better than those slave owners in the south. But only a little."

Ample Time clapped softly. "Sharp analysis!"

Kishur smiled smugly, sipping his tea. "This is just a personal view. Forgive my arrogance."

Ample Time found himself kind of admiring him, just a little. Calling him an idiot would be slander, but he wasn’t exactly brilliant either. Still, being able to connect debt to trade relations meant his time on the Endpoint Cloud wasn’t wasted.

But he seriously underestimated the damage of losing a little money, and exaggerated the metaphor.

Malvern, for example... If he dared to let his clients ‘lose a little money’, they would probably slaughter his whole family.

As for the New Alliance?

Even if they went bankrupt someday, people would still love that man.

They had started with nothing. No matter how badly things collapsed, it would still be better than the nothing they had before.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

And honestly? Bankruptcy was highly unlikely.

Realistically, most of the New Alliance’s high-end goods came from Ideal City. Camp 101 had already helped the New Alliance’s Daybreak City Industrial Zone reproduce some of the less sophisticated technology locally.

Wastelanders educated in the shelters were very capable. They just lacked a platform before the New Alliance showed up.

Six months ago, the New Alliance may have needed to import good industrial gear from Boulder Town. Now? Even if they stopped imports entirely, they could manage alone. It would just cost more time and resources to backfill what they skipped.

Ample Time didn’t know what the administrator planned next, but he knew the man always had a plan.

Since Kishur wasn’t interested in pennies, Ample Time had no interest in dragging things out. It was time to get to the real point.

"I think you’re absolutely right. As you said, the New Alliance is doomed. So... How can someone catch a ride on this speeding train called Boulder Town?" Ample Time crossed his fingers over his knee and looked at him intently.

Kishur grinned. "That’s easy! We’ve got resources and money, now is the perfect time to expand! The outer city is too Crowded. We need to build another to release surplus labor! We plan to expand Boulder Town by five times! We will encompass everything from Clearspring City’s third ring to the fourth!"

Ample Time nodded thoughtfully. "But that’s going to cost a lot of chips. Building another Great Wall alone would burn an enormous budget, not to mention clearing Mutant Humans, marauders, and maintaining order."

Kishur shook his head with a smile. "You misunderstand, my friend. I’m not stupid enough to grab a massive chunk of land right away. That’s meaningless. I’ll start small. We’ll cordon off a section outside the wall as a satellite city, then expand outward gradually. The militia can handle some of the defense. Those guys are strong enough. The new settlements will expand like modular blocks until they match my blueprint."

Talking about his dream blueprint, Kishur couldn’t stop. He rambled for ages, even about how the outer-outer city residents should address him in the future.

Ample Time endured it for a while, then coughed lightly when the topic veered off into fantasy land. "Anyway, all of this requires a lot of money. I think before we talk about your great plan, we should solve the money problem first."

Kishur’s eyes gleamed. "That’s exactly why I’m here!"

Seeing the eagerness in his gaze, Ample Time smiled. "I have a brilliant idea. Want to hear it?"

The moment Ample Time said the word, a flicker of disappointment flashed in Kishur’s eyes. His interest waned. He wasn’t there for ideas as he had plenty of those. What he wanted was for Ample Time to say something like, "Brother, you got ideas and I got money. Let’s make it big!"

Seeing the shift in mood, Ample Time offered a comforting smile and continued, "Don’t be so quick to give up. I know you want to do something big. And frankly, I don’t have that much money, not even your father could front that kind of capital. But I do have a way to help you make the seed money for it."

Kishur couldn’t help but look at him. "What way?"

Ample Time smiled and continued, "A lot of the inner city nobles are very interested in investing in New Alliance industries, but many of their investments are just blind fumbling. The traps here are no fewer than the opportunities. Instead of letting their chips get swindled by the yokels in the northern suburbs, we might as well help them put their funds to better use. If the chips are used in the right places, they’ll be happy, and we’ll be happy. Everyone wins."

Even though he didn’t quite understand how everyone would win, a look of interest appeared in Kishur’s eyes. "Oh? Like what?"

Ample Time took a sip of tea and replied calmly. "Do you still remember CR?"

Kishur nodded hard. "Of course! My old man is always trying to get me to save more of them!"

Ample Time explained patiently, "We can emulate CR's technology and launch an entirely new form of credit currency! It would be issued based on creditworthiness, following a decentralized philosophy, allowing every holder to benefit equally. This currency would be intangible, but absolutely safe and reliable... The technology and quantum servers of the shelter would safeguard it!"

Kishur’s eyes lit up as he jumped off the sofa in excitement.

The idea was way more stylish than building apartments for the poor!

"Brother! We're thinking on the same wavelength! I was already considering releasing a more advanced and efficient currency in the new outer city to show those bumpkins what real money looks like. But... It’s useless if only we recognize it. This new currency needs broad acceptance, and that requires significant startup capital. There’s no way my father would lend me that much."

If possible, he still hoped his successful buddy would pitch in a little.

But... How was that possible? Ample Time wasn’t stupid.

Ample Time laughed and stood up from the sofa, patting his cheapskate buddy on the shoulder like an old friend.

"My friend, my good brother, you don’t know how valuable your name is! And you're not alone, you’ve got me, your good brother, helping out. We both studied advanced knowledge in Ideal City and agree that Boulder Town is the future of Clearspring City, no, of the entire River Valley Province! If my plan goes well, you won’t need to spend a single chip to raise the capital you need."

Kishur swallowed nervously and looked at him with excitement. "What should I do?"

Ample Time gave him a confident look. "It’s not hard. I’ll teach you step by step."

...

The two conspired in the study for nearly two hours, and eventually settled on the name of the new virtual currency, S Coin.

Like CR, the credit currency would be anchored on the total credit of all holders.

The higher the combined credit and the greater the number of participants in the circulation market, the more robust its value.

And the price of each S Coin would be determined through bidding!

While many details still needed refining, Kishur was full of confidence in the new form of currency.

If worthless silver coins could trick people out of their chips, then why not his credit currency?

To show his sincerity, he became the first participant of the S Coin Trading Center. He used one white chip to purchase one S Coin from Ample Time and stored it in his S Coin wallet.

The transaction would be recorded in the ledger later.

The initial issuance included 1,000,000 S Coins, with each party holding 500,000. The wallet would accrue interest at 0.1% daily, growing into 1.36 million S Coins in a year.

Their type of currency had no complex contracts. The only way to acquire one was to purchase it directly from another holder.

Today, one could spend one chip for one S Coin, and tomorrow it would become 1.001 S Coins. Do nothing, and they would earn 0.001 chips passively. Wasn’t that exciting?

If one S Coin rose to two chips, then it would be even more thrilling!

As for losses?

It was impossible.

It was an investment endorsed by the second son of the president of Boulder Town Bank! Would the bigwigs let the value of S Coins fall?

Besides, the purpose of launching the currency was to raise funds for the New Outer City Project!

No matter how one looked at it, it was a guaranteed win-win venture!

Watching Ample Time stuff the chip into his pocket, Kishur suddenly asked in doubt, "Wouldn’t a 1:1 exchange rate be too low?"

He planned to make S Coin the official currency of the new outer city. If it equaled a chip in value, wasn’t it just the same thing?

Ample Time smiled and reassured him, "A low starting rate isn’t a bad thing. That way, participants feel like they’re making a profit."

"'Feel like?!" Kishur glared at him. "Our business plan is going to shake all of Boulder Town!"

Ample Time held back a laugh and coughed. "No need to shout. Your great brother here still has to host a welcome banquet for you."

Kishur politely declined his hospitality and said energetically, "Time is money!"

Though Ample Time wanted to treat him to a meal as thanks, he saw the eagerness in Kishur’s eyes to get to work and gave up on the idea, courteously walking him to the door.

Indeed.

Watching a bunch of clueless survivors goofing around in the northern suburbs couldn't compare to having fun with his bros.