"Boss, Mr. Zhang has requested an increase in shipments. He's already transferred the advance payment. What do you think?"
A female secretary in a professional suit asked softly, looking at the young man sitting on the sofa.
The young man, looking at his phone screen, said slowly, "Refund him the money and tell him we don't have enough raw materials to ship. We'll have to wait until next month."
"That..." the female secretary said hesitantly,
"But boss, I see we still have thousands of tons of iron ore in the warehouse. With our production capacity, we can process it all within a month."
This was the third month the female secretary had been employed at Xingfeng Mining.
Xingfeng Mining primarily processes minerals, purchasing various ores, refining them into metals, and then selling them.
Such mineral processing plants are numerous in the mountain city.
When applying for the job, the secretary had assumed the boss would be a middle-aged, greasy man.
After all, when it came to the mining industry, that kind of boss was the first thing she imagined.
But after applying, she discovered that her boss was actually a handsome man in his early twenties.
According to information she had gathered from colleagues.
Xingfeng Mining's investment reached tens of millions, which made her think Chen Feng was a second-generation tycoon.
She wasn't optimistic about businesses founded by such wealthy second-generations.
Most of these businesses wouldn't last long, inevitably closing down due to losses.
And Chen Feng was in the mining industry, so everyone knew how complex it was.
But the reality was unexpected: in just three months, Xingfeng Mining, thanks to its specially processed metal, was flooded with orders.
The boss even patented the metal, calling it Yanyang Iron.
Yanyang Iron's excellent strength and toughness made it highly sought after in various industrial fields, including automotive.
Chen Feng looked up at his secretary and said, "Just do as I say. Don't worry about anything else."
"Okay, boss," the secretary said, not daring to say anything else, and then left the office.
Chen Feng glanced at the content on his phone, his expression slightly grim.
It wasn't that he didn't want to take on more orders and make more money, but some profits couldn't be made too conspicuously.
That was the 50th trending search on Weibo at the moment.
[A new Huaren car and a semi-trailer truck collided on the highway. The damage to the Huaren car was only 10%, and the four people on board are not in any danger of death.]
There were thousands of comments under this trending search.
Many people were discussing the rise of domestic brands.
Some were also discussing the metal used in the Huaren car's body.
Undoubtedly, the new Huaren car's body was forged from Yanyang Iron.
"If this continues, I'll definitely be noticed by the higher-ups. I must prepare early,"
Chen Feng muttered to himself.
He then left the office and went to a warehouse in the factory where iron ore was stored.
After ensuring that no one was around, Chen Feng entered the code on the door and entered the room.
The room was over 100 square meters, and the walls were covered with dozens of various scrolls.
There was also a circular conveyor belt, one end of which connected to the warehouse outside.
The other end was extremely strange: it was connected to a scroll.
The scroll was four meters long and one meter wide.
It depicted a landscape and a small town, sketched in simple brushstrokes.
Looking at the scroll before him, Chen Feng felt a deep emotion.
This was the scroll he had obtained a year ago. It had a special function: it could connect to another world.
On the other side of the scroll lay a world resembling ancient China.
Initially, Chen Feng simply acquired small items from the scroll world and brought them to the modern world to sell. He then traded modern goods back to the scroll world, engaging in a resale business.
This led to his considerable savings.
However, as he slowly explored the scroll world, Chen Feng discovered that it was far more complex than he had imagined.
That world not only housed warriors, but also, according to legend, immortals.
Ever since learning this, Chen Feng had been treading on thin ice.
He chose not to continue wandering around the Scroll World, but instead began to develop his business step by step.
With the money he amassed from trading, he established a small sect in the Scroll World, called the Xingfeng Sect.
The Xingfeng Sect's operations were simple: they hired mortals from the Scroll World to mine ore, transporting the ore from the Scroll World to the modern world. The ore was then processed and sold in modern factories to generate revenue.
Flame Sun Stone was already the most common metal in the Scroll World, specifically used to forge weapons for warriors.
Even though he had deliberately added many other substances to the Flame Sun Stone, the resulting Flame Sun Iron was still stronger and more flexible than most metals on the market.
Chen Feng was certain that his Flame Sun Iron would soon attract the attention of the state.
After all, he mined and processed it from an alien world, not from modern mines.
If the state discovered he had unearthed this special metal, he would surely be arrested.
The dozen or so scrolls on the wall were all purchased by him as a cover-up.
If just one scroll were placed in a factory warehouse, it might attract attention, but having more than a dozen would be more reasonable.
After all, he could claim to have collected a few because he loved calligraphy and painting.
Chen Feng reached out and touched the scroll.
Ripples soon appeared on it, like water ripples.
After a dizzying moment, Chen Feng emerged into a secret chamber.
This was deep within an abandoned mine in the Xingfeng Gate of the scroll world.
Chen Feng had constructed a secret chamber here.
The Yanyang Stone mined from the mine would be brought here, then transported to the modern world via a teleportation channel.
For this purpose, Chen Feng had also built a conveyor belt within the abandoned mine, specifically to transport the ore.
The secret chamber also contained a small generator.
Although the chamber was rather rudimentary, his meticulous construction had given him a suitable abode in this world.
He couldn't live the life of reading by lamplight, as the ancients did.
After checking that no one had entered the secret chamber, Chen Feng closed the teleportation channel.
The scroll's teleportation channel was fixed.
He had first arrived in this world through the scroll, having emerged from this abandoned mine.
As long as he closed the passage, neither the modern world nor this side would notice anything unusual.
Chen Feng had tried, and only he could open the passage; no matter how much others studied the scroll, it was useless.
Exiting the mine, he found a dozen muscular men in tight uniforms, swords slung at their waists, guarding the entrance.
Seeing Chen Feng emerge, they all saluted.
"Greetings, Master!"
These men were warriors recruited by the Xingfeng Sect.
With money, one could still recruit low-level warriors in this world.
"Has anything unusual happened recently?" Chen Feng inquired.
Having traveled back and forth between the two worlds, Chen Feng was cut off from information.
The leading warrior reported,
"Master, the second-in-command of the Black Wind Stronghold came yesterday to inform us that we must pay a sufficient tribute of five thousand taels of silver before we can resume mining in the Hengduan Mountains."
Chen Feng's Xingfeng Sect was located in the Hengduan Mountains of Yue State, a region dotted with numerous sects of varying sizes.
Every region of Yue State had its most powerful force, either bandits or sects.
The closest to the Xingfeng Sect was the Black Wind Stronghold.
The entire Hengduan Mountains fell under the jurisdiction of the Black Wind Village.
Small sects within the Hengduan Mountains had to pay tribute to the Black Wind Village every month.
Only by paying sufficient tribute could they freely exploit the resources of the Hengduan Mountains.
Chen Feng frowned slightly. He had already paid 3,000 taels of silver to the Black Wind Village when he came here three months ago.
According to the Black Wind Village's rules, he only needed to pay 100 taels per month.
Now, the Black Wind Village had sent someone to demand 5,000 taels.
There was definitely something fishy going on.
(End of this chapter)