Chapter 835: Industry Chain

“Xuan Wu has Bu Mie and Wang You……” Qi Xia muttered to himself, “and Zhu Que can float in the sky. This floating should be……”

“Zhu Que is Zhi Kong,” Chen Jun Nan said. “I once participated in Da Pang Tu's game with a guy named Wu Shi San. Although I didn't see him use his ability, that person indeed said his own ability is Zhi Kong.”

The more everyone thought about it, the more something seemed off.

“Qing Long also has Jian Mo,” Qi Xia added. “The person ranked nineteenth in Mao is Jian Mo.”

“Ah!” Qin Ding Dong exclaimed, turning to look at Chen Jun Nan. “That's right… Is there anyone in Mao who can control plant growth?”

“Huh? I'm not really sure about that……” Chen Jun Nan replied.

Qiao Jia Jin murmured to himself, “Feng Chang, Ning Shi Ba, is the already deceased Star Maiden.”

Qi Xia nodded and interjected, “And there's Mao Mu, Liu Er Shi Yi.”

“Damn… There really is?” Chen Jun Nan was stunned for a moment, then looked at Qin Ding Dong. “Why did you suddenly ask about that, Dong Jie?”

“That dead snake!” Qin Ding Dong said. “When that old geezer Tian She showed up, he wrapped us up with a bunch of vine-like roots. If someone in Mao has a similar Echo, then it's probably spot on! A lot of the powerful abilities in the upper levels come from Mao.”

What struck Qi Xia as the most absurd wasn't that members of Mao had Echos like the Tian Ji level, but that Mao's leader, Qian Wu, like Tian Long, also possessed Shuang Sheng Hua.

There was also the “giantized” Tai Yang from his own dream… All these abilities turned out to come from Mao.

“From this perspective, Xiao Chu's side didn't contribute much; Mao contributed way more,” Chen Jun Nan said. “Xiao Chu has a guy named Jin Yuan Xun around him, who has an ability called Yue Qian, allowing him to move to wherever his heart desires. A lot of people in the upper levels must have copied that ability, but it seems no one else did. Even though there are many Echo users in Tian Tang Kou, the people above don't seem to like using their abilities.”

“Jin Yuan Xun's Yue Qian……” Qi Xia once again zeroed in on the key point.

Yue Qian should be the most important ability for all the higher-ups; he had seen similar abilities on many people before.

“Could Xiao Qian Dou be lying……?” Chen Jun Nan said hesitantly. “Old Qi, it looks like we can't trust him either……”

“I don't think so.” Qi Xia shook his head. “We were all at the scene when Qian Wu killed Tian Ma. His movements were clean and decisive, and his eyes showed a readiness to die. He and his two brothers met a tragic end right there after killing Tian Ma. If he were in cahoots with all the Tian Ji… that behavior just doesn't make sense.”

“Then why is that?” Chen Jun Nan asked.

Qi Xia lowered his head, stroking his chin as he carefully pondered the matter.

If Tian Tang Kou and Mao were both providing eyeballs to Sheng Xiao, it couldn't be a one-sided deal. After all, these two organizations wouldn't be afraid of any single Di Ji, nor could they be threatened by them. There had to be some kind of transaction involved.

So, what did Tian Tang Kou and Mao need?

Qi Xia quickly thought back to the welcoming party when everyone first joined Tian Tang Kou—an organization that had existed for years, not only with beer and food but also continuously producing various other food resources.

Thinking about it in the simplest and most direct way, Chu Tian Qiu collected corpses and extracted eyeballs just to trade with Sheng Xiao for survival resources to keep Tian Tang Kou running.

After all, it was an organization started by scattered individuals, and when Jin Yuan Xun recruited people, his bargaining chip was “we have food.”

For many people who had lost their memories, a steady supply of “food” was almost the most important thing. Joining Tian Tang Kou meant they could “survive.”

So, Chu Tian Qiu had probably traded eyeballs with Di Long for food. He wasn't lying; he really did make a deal with Di Long.

In that case, both sides got what they needed, exchanging things they no longer required for essential resources. It saved a lot of search time and was a reasonable transaction without any other complications.

If that made sense for Tian Tang Kou, what about Mao?

The strange part was that Wang Ba in Mao had Ju Hua, even able to enlarge a single grain of rice by tens of thousands of times. Here, they didn't need to worry about nutritional balance; as long as it filled the stomach, it was fine. So, theoretically, Mao didn't lack food.

Moreover, Mao's structure was very different from Tian Tang Kou's. They were well-trained mercenaries with exceptional team unity, and food shortages wouldn't cause the whole group to fall apart. So, Qian Wu probably wasn't asking Sheng Xiao for survival resources.

Thinking about it this way, things got a bit weird.

Mao got less than Tian Tang Kou but handed over more powerful eyeballs. What was their purpose?

“Wait a minute……”

Qi Xia stroked his chin again, feeling like he had pieced the whole thing together.

“Mao…… Why are they so united……?”

He sensed he might have been in a blind spot. Qian Wu probably wasn't deceiving him but was deceiving all the other members of the Mao team.

Though he didn't want to admit it, everyone in the Land of Doom was theoretically unable to meet outside; they were all isolated in their own worlds.

If that was the case, how could Mao collect “rewards” from other participants?

The reason all the people in Mao stayed with Mao and remained united without fear of death was simply to earn wealth for their families. But how could they verify that their families in the future actually received that wealth?

Combining Qin Ding Dong and Chu Tian Qiu's situations, Qi Xia felt a bold idea emerging.

What Qian Wu exchanged for was probably—“modified memories.”

With that thought, everything made sense.

The families of Mao's members really did receive rewards—at least in their memories.

These people's families became wealthy in the future, and other Mao team members from future timelines could verify it for them.

As long as everyone's memories were slightly altered and the story unified, a perfect lie would hold up within Mao.

They would become more and more united, and their reputation would grow. Others would learn about Mao's existence and bring more money and tasks.

The more missions Mao carried out, the more Echo eyeballs they would produce, turning it into a strange industrial chain.