Chapter 235
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暖荷 update:2022-08-09 14:28
Most of the people who watched the liveliness around Luo Xun’s team did not focus on the vegetables, but observed the people in silence.
On the outside, they were all dry and clean. Their hands had no marks. Especially the two women and the children were abnormally pale, as if they had not touched the sun. Everyone was rosy and apparently well-fed.
Clothes were clean and all fitted properly, like the ones before the apocalypse and none were embarrassing to wear.
Weapons, although inconspicuous were on hand, even the youngest girl. Not to mention the waist bags seemed to carry something else.
With just those three points, all those who survived the last two years of the apocalypse were able to judge – the people in the stalls were not to be trifled with. Don’t look at them being armed, their clean and neat dress, well-groomed armor, the people must be strong ability users. They also thought that the vegetables and things they were selling were not grown by hand but instead selling and buying in exchange for their backers.
It had to be said that there was a benefit to the underground planting room. Although the lights were on for a long time every day, those busy inside were not tanned.
Plus Luo Xun and the others were always covered up. Although they would try to bask in the sun each day, how would it compare to people working hard in the fields?
What’s more, they were not guarding such a good place where mutant animals came to drink water. They could easily eat meat, fruits, and vegetables. All their work was not in vain, it looked like they would never have to worry about their livelihood.
There were also their clothes. In addition to the ones that Luo Xun bought, the rest were collected or exchanged for points at base. It only ensured that the clothes fit relatively well but because they had been well cared for, they had survived to this day. It was certainly much better than those who struggled to worry about their stomachs each day. Also better than those who fought frequent life-and-death battles which damaged their clothes.
It was such an inexplicable reason, people looked wide eyes at Luo Xun’s team. To bluff this crowd of onlookers that the group of people packing vegetables were master combatants was only silently implied.
Although Luo Xun knew that many people were looking at his group, he did not care much. He left Zhang Yi to stand watch while the others split into two groups – one would sell vegetables while the others would go to the market and see if there was anything useful.
This market was huge, divided into rows of stalls. It was estimated that the organizers at the time would know that sellers would mostly come in cars so there were painted parking spaces set as stalls.
In this way, after parking a car they could open the trunk to show the goods. It was also convenient for the stalls to double as a parking lot. They no longer had to worry about parking problems.
There were about twenty to thirty stalls lining both sides of the path. Shoppers could walk through the entire market by going in a circle.
Luo Xun’s stall was relatively close to the entrance so it would be easier to sell things.
This time, they were not too concerned about selling their own things, they came mainly to buy. If things could not be sold, it would easy to eat, not to mention they also carried a lot of crystal cores which would be more than enough for their needs.
Luo Xun walked back to the entrance and started from the outermost stall and checked around.
No need to be said, there are quite a lot of people selling things. Some were not worth anything and collected from the city ruins. But some were selling handmade supplies, similar to Luo Xun’s metal pots and pans, there were also other straw goods. Some craftsmen used wood to make bowls and even some children’s toys. Some even used dried vines for crafts.
Luo Xun felt those baskets were very practical. He studied them for a while before buying two and continuing shopping with Yan Fei.
After walking around, they found a lot of what they needed. The chambers of commerces from several bases were all involved. Luo Xun’s target was one with large amounts of cloth. There was a coal rich area and cars selling local specialty crops.
First, they inquired about cloth sales. The price was like pulling out teeth, cloth was more expensive than rice, one meter was five crystal cores.
The price was that the vast majority of people, including Luo Xun could only stand aside and watch with no impulse to buy. Five crystal cores for something that looked very thin, made of unknown material and from who knew how long ago. Even if it was of higher quality it would still be expensive.
Luo Xun frowned and whispered to Yan Fei, "The price of this cloth is too expensive, even if we want to buy, we won’t get much with the cores we have on hand." Their team had a lot of crystal cores but they were not rich enough to be ripped off.
Even finished clothes would only cost a dozen crystal cores and would also save on creating costs.
Yan Fei thought for a bit, "Should not buy now. We can wait two days and check again." If everyone thought it was too expensive, the caravan would definitely cut prices before leaving. However Luo Xun and the others did not intend to spend too long here.
Luo Xun turned around and nodded, "There should be exchanges in the future. We have enough cloth at home for now, let’s simply wait and see."
The two made up their minds and leisurely turned to the other stalls.
The ones selling cloth were really expensive, the other stalls were much more pragmatic. For example the coal stalls, although the price was more expensive, the quality was really good. It was much better than cooking with the wood back home. Luo Xun took a look, determined that they had not been soaked in water or something and then bought a full trailer on the spot.
They first brought back the pile of coal, then the pair saw what the other stalls were selling. As Luo Xun thought, some stalls had pre-made clothing, although the numbers were inconsistent but the quality was decent. The price was more cost-effective than the previous stalls.
When the two returned to their stalls, they found that people were waiting in front of them.
Near the car, Li Tie and the others helped load the coal in the car upon learning that Luo Xun was back.
Luo Xun raised his chin and asked, "What’s going on?"
Li Tie smiled, "It seems that there are people who bought our dried vegetables in the past and came to buy some this time."
Han Li helped explain, "Our dried vegetables are hot items. Interested people have confirmed that they should be normal plants."
There were questions of course after all merchants always want the best and each vegetable was not grown the same.
But the Otaku squad did not care about sales. Anyway, they only brought so much stuff. It was no big deal to take back to eat. Anything remaining could even be fed to the mutant animals outside their home.
However there were people who had bought food before wanting to buy. After Luo Xun loaded the coal and turned around, someone in the crowd suddenly waved in greeting.
Luo Xun felt that the man was familiar but did not remember where he had seen the person.
The man approached with an excited look while nudging his companion as they approached.
"Are these your goods? Your group doesn’t sell fresh vegetables?"
Hearing that, Luo Xun also remembered that it was one of their previous buyers. He smiled and nodded, "Fresh vegetables are too hard to take care of. It will be rotten if taken out and not sold in time."
"You haven’t contacted us for months! I thought you stopped selling food."
"Recently, I’ve been out on a mission and things have been busy. There wasn’t enough time." Luo Xun explained. "Are you going to buy dried vegetables?"
"Buy!" Dried vegetables were much easier to store than fresh ones. Especially normal ones that could be eaten even while on tasks. These things tasted normal and were more convenient than fresh vegetables.
With old patrons to take care of, Luo Xun suddenly sold nearly a third of their vegetables and fruit. The rest was robbed clean by others after confirming the authenticity. In the end, only pots, pans, and straw crafts remained on the shelf.