Chapter 277: Drought World 5
The merchant realized that this girl was very cunning.
However, her two blessings just now had touched his heart.
“This trading market was set up by the Water Source Company; it’s the most legitimate trading area.”
“In this situation, there are still companies?”
Zhu Shen’s focus was inexplicably off, but Chu Yian felt it made sense. Right, it had been dry for over two years, the country was gone, and there were still companies?
“Didn’t you hear the first two words clearly? Water Source Company.”
The merchant waved his hand and said, “All the water we drink now comes from the Water Source Company, which extracts it from underground with special equipment. The Water Source Company controls the lifeline of everyone’s survival and has its own armed forces. Have you seen the movie Resident Evil? It’s similar to the Umbrella Corporation in that.”
He was quite good at analogies.
Chu Yian and Zhu Shen exchanged glances.
“The trading market is much larger than these small street markets around here, and it has more complete goods, but correspondingly, they are more expensive. If you walk two more li from here, you can find it.”
The merchant pointed the way for the two, so they could smoothly find the trading market.
The market, enclosed by iron sheets, separated it from other areas, and there were people guarding the entrances and exits.
The men guarding the entrances and exits were burly, and large black water tanks were placed beside them. “To enter the trading market, each person needs to pay 100ml of water as an admission fee.”
It cost money to get in, no wonder there were so many small street markets outside, even with the existence of a trading market.
Chu Yian and Zhu Shen had already drunk the water they exchanged last time, but they had just gotten 5500ml from the merchant. With enough water in hand, the two spent 200ml of water to enter.
Inside were various stalls, selling many more items than the small street markets outside.
They were also a bit more expensive than outside.
Chu Yian saw a place selling salt, with a displayed price of 2g of salt for 150ml of water, but when she asked about the buy-back price, it was still 2g of salt for 100ml of water.
The profit margin was very clear.
The two found a shop that specialized in buying, then successively took out the items they had found:
1 pack of chocolate was exchanged for 1100ml of water, half a pack of flattened cigarettes for 4000ml of water, a lighter for 1500ml of water, the remaining bread for 3000ml of water, large watermelons were actually bought here too, 2 large watermelons for 40000ml of water; this was the most expensive item she sold.
As for the salt, she didn’t exchange it, because here an anti-inflammatory pill could sell for the exorbitant price of 1000ml of water, and salt could barely substitute for that use.
And at this point, the water they had saved up was already 49600ml.
Calculated at a daily drinking volume of 1500ml per person, this was roughly enough water for them for 16 days.
Today was the fourth day of the game, which meant that in the remaining 12 days, they still needed to get 10 days’ worth of drinking water. Chu Yian didn’t rush to leave; she browsed the market, preparing to buy some tools.
The underground of the city was too dark, so lighting tools had to be prepared.
Chu Yian first wanted to buy a flashlight, but unexpectedly, a flashlight cost 2000ml of water. This wasn’t even the expensive part, because batteries cost 5000ml of water per pair.
They simply couldn’t afford it.
After weighing their options, they chose a relatively cheaper, primitive tool—a torch.
According to the boss’s introduction, one such torch could burn for about two hours and cost 500ml of water. Poverty left them no other choice, so Chu Yian haggled and bought two torches for 950ml of water.
Just as she was about to look at other things, she suddenly felt a gaze.
She instinctively turned her head to look behind her, and in the dense crowd, she saw a familiar face standing by the roadside—Lu Qingyuan.
He was wearing a black trench coat, and the black shirt underneath subtly revealed his chest muscles, leaving no doubt about the hidden power beneath his clothes. His outstanding appearance and cold, noble temperament made him stand out remarkably among the ordinary people.
He saw her.
Lu Qingyuan didn’t know why he was standing there, then waiting as if he had done so many times before. Waiting for the unfamiliar girl in front to run up to him and try to strike up a conversation with clumsy, old-fashioned words.
Their gazes met, and Chu Yian quickly looked away.
“Zhu Shen, let’s go.”
Zhu Tianguang was enjoying browsing, but he didn’t expect Chu Yian to suddenly tell him to leave.
He hadn’t even fully registered it before he was pulled away. It felt as if something was chasing them, and Zhu Shen’s newly bought shoes almost fell off.
Across the street, a young man dressed as an assistant hurried back.
“Boss, the news about the water purchase limit has been communicated to the person in charge.”
The young man reported the situation to his superior, but found that the other party was distracted. He also glanced in that direction, seeing nothing worth paying attention to. “Boss, boss?”
“Mm, I know.”
Lu Qingyuan responded indifferently and turned to leave.
The young man didn’t know what had happened, but he clearly felt that his superior was in a bad mood.
On the other side, Zhu Tianguang, who had already rushed out of the trading market, took two breaths. “Big Chu, why did we come out so fast?”
The two of them had paid 200ml of water to get in; if they didn’t browse for four hours, they wouldn’t break even.
“One must know how to refuse temptation.”
Chu Yian said righteously, “Although we now have enough water for more than ten days, it’s still not enough. We need to increase income and reduce expenditure; other things can be bought in the small street markets.”
Zhu Tianguang didn’t doubt her and even thought that Big Chu was indeed someone who knew how to manage finances.
Today’s expenses:
2 torches: 950ml water;
2 pairs of shoes: 1200ml water;
2 black brick biscuits: water;
1 shovel: 400ml water.
Today, the two drank 3000ml of water.
Current total expenditure: 6850ml water, remaining: 42750ml water.
To continue exploring the city’s underground treasures, they invested a lot in the early stages. The two therefore didn’t waste any more time, rushing towards the city ruins before dark.
“Big Chu!”
Zhu Shen called out to her just as they were about to reach the broken bridge, “What if we run into that group of people again?”
Current robbers would even snatch a pair of shoes.
And they had tricked those robbers with a treasure chest.
Zhu Tianguang felt that if they encountered them again, these people wouldn’t let them off easily.
“If we run into them again, then you run faster, and I’ll play dirty.”
Chu Yian whispered, “Be confident, we’re the bosses because we have guns.”
These simple words gave him ample security. Zhu Shen was almost always weak and humble in every round of the game; he rarely had such an opportunity to be so overbearing.
