Back inside the Grand Blood Palace on Planet 50, the live broadcast screen showing World 40’s Central Exchange Bank was filled from edge to edge with steaming golden mountains of five-pound Meat-Potatoes.
On the screen, Hong Ling was standing on top of a buried silver flagship waving her two kitchen cleavers, shouting at Lord Silver-Tongue: “You still have 200 billion notes left! Bring more ships in forty-five minutes or pay storage rent!”
CRACK!
Blood-Moon Monarch’s iron grip crushed the armrest of his beast-skull throne into bone powder.
“One hundred and fifty million tons poured out of the sky in a single hour... and he still has twenty wormhole chutes full of grain waiting in the clouds?!” Blood-Moon Monarch’s chest rose and fell like a giant bellows, his red eyes blazing with disbelief. “How did a desert brat turn forty-five barren mining worlds into an endless food factory?!”
Down at the foot of the steps, the skinny planetary general wiped cold sweat from his forehead. “Your Majesty, Lord Silver-Tongue just sent an emergency voice transmission! In order to get his one thousand cargo ships light enough to take off and escape impoundment, he had to sign away the remaining 200 billion Jin-Notes as an ‘Early Unloading & Forklift Service Fee’ to that man with the round spectacles, Abacus Su! Our thousand ships are limping back toward World 46 right now with 100 million tons of potatoes, and the citizens on Pei Xuan’s forty-five worlds are trusting the green paper money more…
