Chapter 17: Mutation Value 11
Contribution points, contribution points! It’s almost impossible to move forward without contribution points.
Huai Yu silently walked forward, holding a bucket, while observing the stalls on both sides.
Maybe it’s because it’s afternoon, but there aren’t many stalls along the roadside, and it’s hard to tell where the flow of people is larger. However, she did spot some stalls selling vegetable seedlings.
But… they were expensive, with chili seedlings priced at 10 points per plant.
There were also stalls selling fruits—winter jujubes. They looked fresh, but unfortunately, few people showed interest. A burlap sack was spread on the ground as a mat, with a small pile of jujubes on top. Next to it, there was a certificate—
[Mutation Value: 23]
Hiss!
Huai Yu walked over and curiously asked, “Are these jujubes tasty?”
“Very tasty! My relatives personally picked them in the wasteland, of course they’re delicious! If you don’t believe me, buy a little and try it out, it’s only 5 contribution points per pound!”
“Really?” Huai Yu picked up one of the winter jujubes and examined it from all sides, not noticing anything unusual compared to a regular one.
The seller was still actively persuading, “Try a pound! These winter jujubes are very nutritious. A few years ago, one pound would cost thirty to forty!”
Huai Yu nodded, “Can I try one?”
The seller’s face tightened. “No, no. It’s hard enough to harvest this many. How much do you think they weigh? No tasting. Don’t worry, they’re definitely delicious! If they’re not, I’ll refund you a pound!”
“Well…” Huai Yu hesitated and looked at him. “How about you try one? You eat one and let me see?”
The seller hesitated for a moment, then finally extended his hand. “Alright! You’re quite cautious—”
He finished speaking and bit into a jujube, looking very pleased. “I told you, these jujubes are good… Mmm… Hiss… Mmm… No, not bad…”
His face twisted in discomfort, his features contorted, and his expression turned grim. His tongue seemed ready to curl out, and seeing this, Huai Yu frowned, pulling her neck back, and her double chin almost appeared.
Ah…
She looked at the certificate again—[Mutation Value: 23]—and then back at the pile of jujubes, which seemed to be going unsold. At this moment, she quietly stood up.
She thought the seller would stop her, but instead, as soon as he saw her get up to leave, he quickly spat the jujube out of his mouth. He then threw the half-eaten jujube far away and sighed in relief.
Huai Yu: …
At this point, she had a new understanding of how bad the jujubes tasted.
After a moment of thought, she turned around and asked, “If I come back to buy your jujubes, can you tell me where I can sell these pine nuts?”
“Ah?” The man across from her froze.
After a moment, he waved his hand. “Forget it, I’m not selling them anymore. These things taste awful—worse than poop, even dogs won’t eat them…”
He switched between several metaphors, clearly affected by the taste.
But he still pointed Huai Yu in the right direction. “Nuts, huh? Only the rich eat those. It’s hard to sell them on a stall… Hey, see that Summer Country Gold store up ahead? They sell luxury goods there. Go ask them.”
Huai Yu looked up at the shiny sign hanging high and obediently thanked him before carrying her bag and bucket and walking forward again.
Finally, when she arrived at Summer Country Gold, she found that the huge gold specialty store no longer sold gold or luxury goods. Instead, it was selling…
Game consoles, game cartridges, fishing rods, cameras, phones, and makeup kits.
Among them, a set of lipsticks displayed in a glass cabinet was priced at 273 contribution points, with a black barcode printed with the production date—
Clearly, it was from six years ago.
“Are you interested in this set, beautiful?”
The chubby boss waddled over like a penguin and began to speak eloquently:
“I’m telling you, our products have the best quality in the entire Flower City! Look at the date, so fresh! You won’t find anything like this outside, nothing under 8 years old!”
He did notice the clothes Huai Yu was wearing, but in this day and age, clothes could mean anything. Just because someone’s clothes were a bit worn didn’t mean they weren’t important, so he was especially sincere.
Huai Yu was silent for a moment, not knowing what the lipstick from six years ago would look like once applied.
But it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t afford it anyway, so she politely asked:
“I’m not here to buy, I want to sell something. Do you accept dried fruits?”
She handed over the inspection certificate: “Mutation Value 11.”
The chubby boss was about to refuse, but quickly changed his mind: “Mutation Value 11? Oh, that’s some good stuff! Let me see what it is. If it’s sunflower seeds, they’re actually not cheap right now…”
Huai Yu opened the grass cover on the bucket, revealing a pile of pine cones.
The chubby boss looked disappointed: “Is this all there is?”
Pine cones took up a lot of space, and after the pine nuts were extracted, there wouldn’t be much left.
Huai Yu looked at him expectantly. “What price can you offer for these?”
The chubby boss opened his mouth, then glanced at Huai Yu’s frail appearance. He suddenly smiled:
“Girl, are you selling this for your family? I’m telling you, Old Tang buys anything good, and I’m an honest guy! Don’t worry, I’ll offer a good price for these pine nuts—if you have anything good at home in the future, just bring it over!”
In this world, picking pine cones wasn’t something a fragile girl could do, especially with a mutation value of only 11.
Old Tang had always done business with a long-term perspective, and now, under Huai Yu’s hopeful gaze, he gave a price:
“These pine cones aren’t peeled and are a bit small, but since it’s your first time doing business, let’s be friends. I’ll offer you a high price of one point each. How does that sound?”
For comparison, the Mutated Plant Defense Army priced 11 large pine cones at 50 points, averaging over 4 points each.
These pine cones were less than half the size of those from before…
Huai Yu weakly asked, “Can I get two points each? I’ll come back again. My brother… I mean, our family’s things are really good.”
Boss Tang raised an eyebrow, then pretended to be hesitant, sighing dramatically before finally gritting his teeth.
“Alright! Two points each, let’s be friends! Can I try two pieces first?”
Huai Yu nodded.
Boss Tang casually grabbed a pine cone and began peeling the pine nuts. Meanwhile, Huai Yu opened her coat bundle and took out the small pine cones one by one—
“One, two, three…”
There were 65 in the bundle.
Then there were 39 in the bucket.
She silently calculated—it was worth 208 points!
Looking at Boss Tang, there was no longer the painful expression on his face. Instead, he took another pine cone and began peeling the nuts, his face filled with satisfaction.
Ah, how long has it been since I ate such delicious pine nuts!
Huai Yu also quietly sighed with relief.
The price was fair on both sides, and business could only thrive when both parties were satisfied. She was alone, and for now, she didn’t want to attract attention by setting up a stall to collect points.
She then took the red bucket and said, “There are also some apricot pits, peanuts, and the rest are pine nuts.”
“What price can you offer for this?”
