Chapter 107: Xiangshui Town’s Trouble

Over the next few days, Liu Heming continued to work hard on his knife-making. Every day, he called out to the System once, which became a usual habit, but the System’s reply was still that it was upgrading.

His skills finally improved greatly. That day, he planned to make both knives in one go, then have John help him with the Quenching and Tempering. The two pots had already been shaped with John’s help, and only some small details needed finishing.

If he could not handle these small problems, he might as well give up on forging iron in the future.

While he was making the Kitchen Knives, John continued to press the iron pots. The molds had a limited lifespan, and it would be a waste not to use them, so it was better to finish everything at once to avoid trouble later.

“George, what’s wrong? Why do you look so upset?” Liu Heming looked up and saw George standing there with a gloomy expression.

“Ah, the thing we were worried about finally happened. The State Government has decided to put our Xiangshui Town up for auction,” George sighed, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep puff.

“Auction? No way, how is that possible? This is a whole Town!” Liu Heming asked in surprise.

“Dexter, forgive me for not telling you the truth before. The truth is, our Town has been relying on support from the State Government to keep going until now,” George said with a pained look.

“In recent years, the weather has gotten worse, and the State Government has finally decided to give up on our Town. They plan to sell it to real estate investors. Maybe in the future, Xiangshui Town will become a production base for some big company.”

“But don’t worry, your Ranch won’t be sold along with it. They will only sell the Land under the Town’s control. And since you own some shares in the Town, you’ll still get some money if it’s sold.”

“No, no, George, are you feeling okay today? Are you sure you’re not talking nonsense?” Liu Heming shook his head.

“Dexter, this kind of situation is actually quite normal. If it weren’t for Xiangshui Town’s past prosperity, which brought a lot of tax revenue to the State Government, the Town might have been auctioned off long ago,” John said, lighting a cigarette as well.

“In fact, many Towns have been auctioned off in recent years, and it has happened in many states. The main reason is that the number of residents in small towns has decreased—some moved to big cities for opportunities, and others suffered from disasters, like the drought that has troubled us here.”

“For the State Government, small towns like this are a burden. If they are handed over to good developers, maybe the Town can be revived, and the State Government can get more tax revenue.”

“But I still don’t think this is good. What if the companies that come here for industrial development cause pollution? What will happen to our lives?” Liu Heming frowned.

“Dexter, we don’t want this either, but there’s no way for us to guarantee that Xiangshui Town can escape the drought. As for pollution, you don’t need to worry. Montana takes this very seriously, and even if some companies build factories here, they will have to meet environmental standards.”

Liu Heming felt frustrated because he had big plans. He wanted to own all the Land in Xiangshui Town someday and develop his farming and ranching business.

He had the System. Although the test results for the Finger Sweet Potato weren’t out yet, he was confident it was a good Sweet Potato. Once he completed more tasks and got more rewards, making money would be easy.

But now, George told him the Town was going to be auctioned. If they hadn’t looked so serious, he would have thought they were joking.

He understood what John meant. Basically, Xiangshui Town not only failed to create any value for Montana but also occasionally needed financial support from the state.

Even if he were in charge, he would probably think about selling Xiangshui Town. For the state’s overall development, it was a good solution.

There was a simple way to make quick money: he could become someone who got paid to move. If a big company took a liking to this area and his Ranch was part of their plan, that would be great.

If he didn’t have the System, he would have been very happy—this was a shortcut to getting rich overnight. But he did have the System, and there was that lake the System made when it landed. This was a big problem.

He didn’t believe the lake was just an ordinary one. He had a feeling the System’s upgrade would bring huge changes, not just to the System itself, but also to his Ranch.

“George, is there any way to save our Town?” Liu Heming asked after thinking for a while.

George shook his head. “It’s very difficult. A few years ago, there was a similar proposal, but at that time, Xiangshui Town still had nearly a hundred households, so we managed to hold on. How many people live in Xiangshui Town now? And even the ones who remain might not want to save the Town like we do.”

“Is there really no way at all?” Liu Heming asked helplessly.

“There is a way, but it would require a lot of money and involve big risks,” John chimed in.

“We could raise money and take out a Loan to buy the entire Town ourselves. However, if we do that, we won’t get any more support from the State Government, and we’d have to pay for maintaining all the facilities ourselves.”

“For Xiangshui Town, that would be a huge expense. Even if we could gather enough money to buy the Town, we probably wouldn’t have enough for the upkeep. We might all go bankrupt before long.”

Liu Heming gave a bitter smile. John’s method was indeed simple and straightforward—just change the buyer to the people of Xiangshui Town.

He knew that with the financial situation of the current residents, it would be hard to buy Xiangshui Town. It seemed John was thinking of Sasha.

But even if Sasha’s family wanted to buy the whole Town, it wouldn’t be easy. The Land area of Xiangshui Town was too big. Even if it was sold for a price as low as that of Chinese Cabbage, the transaction would still easily be over ten million US Dollars.

Sasha’s family were not billionaires, and even if they were, what use would buying this Land be? With over ten million dollars, they could invest in something much better.

It seemed Xiangshui Town had truly reached a dead end.