WebNovels

Chapter 120 - I Know You're Eager, But Hold On

As Shen Qin and his group entered, the attendees all greeted them warmly. Everyone knew that Shen Qin, Dawn Winery, and the Knights of Favonius formed a tight-knit alliance, making each of them worth befriending.

Keqing, as the official representative from Liyue, received no such attention. Unbothered, she took a seat beside Xu from the Feiyun Commerce Guild.

"Yuheng," Xu greeted respectfully before asking, "Will the Liyue's Qixing be participating in this collaboration with Shen Qin?"

"Uncertain. I don't even know what this conference is about yet."

Shen Qin took the central seat at the conference table, flanked by Albedo and Lisa. Beside him where Diluc and Jean sat, while the rest arranged themselves casually.

The Knights' largest conference room which is half the size of a basketball court at roughly 200 square meters, featured a hollow-square table with ample open space in the center.

"Ahem, quiet please. Take your seats. We're about to begin." Shen Qin spoke into the microphone on the table. Once the room settled, he continued, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending the inaugural Joint Commercial Investment Conference."

"Many of you must be wondering, 'What exactly is this conference about? Shen Qin invited us but didn't explain!' I know you're eager but please hold on."

"Some well-informed attendees may already know about the recent surge in Adventurers' Guild commissions at Stormterror's Lair. Nearly every Mondstadt adventurer rushed there, and I was the one who posted those commissions."

While some had dug deep into this intel, others only knew the rumors and were shocked to learn Shen Qin was behind it. They began speculating intensely about his motives, until Shen Qin spared them the trouble.

"First, an announcement: The Knights of Favonius have leased Stormterror's Lair to me for fifty years. I now hold full usage rights!"

The room erupted in stunned silence. Disbelieving eyes turned to Jean for confirmation.

"Indeed, the Knight of Favonius have granted him the rights for the Old Mondstadt." Jean nodded, activating her smart bracelet. A massive holographic lease agreement materialized above the conference table.

Though holograms were still novel in Teyvat, the attendees barely reacted to the technology, they'd grown accustomed to the Knights' smart devices. Their focus remained glued to the document's contents, which clearly granted Shen Qin half a century of exclusive access to all resources within the ruins. The Knights' official seal and Jean's signature left no room for doubt.

A collective gasp sucked all the air from the room. Their minor contribution to Teyvat's global warming.

The sharper minds immediately connected the dots: First the Knights cleared the ruins of monsters, then adventurers swarmed for surveys. Was Shen Qin planning to exploit the untapped riches hidden there?

This could be monumental.

Stormterror's Lair, long avoided due to monster infestations, had even deterred most adventurers. The Knights never pursued large-scale development either, daunted by the ancient ruins' complexity.

Over centuries, minerals, flora, and fauna accumulated untouched within the ruins—a fortune waiting to be claimed. Now that Shen Qin controlled it, accessing those resources required his cooperation.

Their hungry eyes locked onto him.

Shen Qin remained unflappable. "I know you have questions, but before I answer, please watch this short presentation."

'Holographic projection?' Some noted the unfamiliar term.

With a tap on his bracelet, the curtains drew shut automatically, plunging the room into darkness as the lights dimmed completely.

Nervous murmurs arose until a melodic soundtrack began, and a hologram of Stormterror's Lair materialized at the room's center. Every whisper died instantly.

By the projection's faint glow, wide-eyed faces stared in awe. This wasn't a flat screen image, it was a fully three-dimensional recreation, viewable from every angle as if physically present.

'Is this a hologram?!'

But their fascination soon shifted to the content.

The ruins in the projection bore little resemblance to the familiar wasteland, though the basin's topography remained recognizable. Thick layers of ice and snow covered the landscape.

As time lapsed, a towering spire rose at the basin's heart. The ice melted, and the camera cut between shots of archaic structures and elevated walkways materializing from the ground.

The audience understood, this was Old Mondstadt's history. Decarabian erecting his tower, the wind walls shielding citizens from storms.

The music swelled triumphantly as the city flourished before their eyes. The hyper-realistic hologram made them feel like firsthand witnesses to ancient history.

Drums joined the score as six spectral figures raised defiant fists. The crowd almost heard the rebels' war cries as flames engulfed the city.

Percussion and soaring melodies crescendo, until a thunderous crash silenced everything. The tower shattered.

The revolutionaries overthrew Decarabian, and Mondstadt's people stepped into freedom under open skies.

Time accelerated. Under mournful strings, buildings crumbled, walkways collapsed in clouds of dust, and nature reclaimed the abandoned homeland.

Soon, it became the Stormterror's Lair they knew.

The hologram now displayed the ruins' current state—yet confusion replaced awe.

While the stunning visual recap of 3,000 years of history impressed them, how did this relate to today's conference?

More Chapters