Chapter 78 (1/2)

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & juurensha

Suddenly, Bai Jing's pupils shrank. Something inside a permanent shop had caught his attention. Xiao Sa's gaze followed his line of sight, and his expression turned sombre.

“Where did this thing come from?” Bai Jing walked over. His gaze was fixed on something on top of the wooden counter - a sparkling crystal nucleus.

The owner of the stall raised his head listlessly, saw Bai Jing's figure, and immediately straightened up. ”General Xiao—”

Bai Jing frowned; he was very dissatisfied about being ignored. The stall's owner s.h.i.+vered and quickly added, ”These are the goods that a team brought over to sell yesterday.”

“Which team?” Bai Jing asked impa.s.sively as he picked up the crystal nucleus and looked at it carefully. It was a level one zombie's crystal nucleus. If something like this could appear here, it meant that danger was not far away.

The stall owner's expression stiffened. He had clearly taken note of General Xiao's indulgence towards this youth and did not dare neglect him, ”It's from the Hope Team, a small team that just arrived yesterday. They don't have many people and appeared quite miserable. They didn't have many materials on hand. This crystal nucleus is very beautiful - I heard it was taken from a zombie's head. I've never seen its like before, so I brought it out to sell since it's convenient. This thing…”

A thought glimmered in the depths of the stall owner's eyes; if this was something that even General Xiao would be interested in, perhaps he had really discovered a treasure.

“Hope Team? Where did they get the nuclei from?” Bai Jing pondered for a moment, ignoring the owner's inquiring gaze as he mulled over the thought in his heart. Perhaps they could also open a stall and take advantage of the fact that n.o.body knew the role that crystal nuclei would play in order to purchase more.

“I'm not sure about that either. I heard that they escaped from Z Province and planned to go to B City, and are only resting here temporarily. They currently live in Zone C.”

Z Province? Bai Jing looked up at Xiao Sa, wanting to know if he had heard any news from there recently.

Xiao Sa shook his head. Communication wasn't easy now. C City was in the opposite direction from Z Province. They had not heard anything about powerful zombies on the way back.

Bai Jing didn't concern himself overmuch about this matter. Level one zombies may be dangerous to others, but for them, it was precisely what they needed. Just as they were worrying about where to get the nuclei from, someone had taken the initiative to send them over on a silver platter.

“How much for this?” Bai Jing asked calmly. Even the smallest bit counted; he would buy it first and then figure out the rest later. Although the base was in a good position now, they only had a few high-level ability users. Crystal nuclei were essential if they wanted to make any great improvements to the base's strength.

“You can set the price…” The owner hesitated for a moment before finally speaking in a humble tone.

Bai Jing sneered and slid a glance over the stall owner. For him to stay in business despite so few customers meant that he must have some skills. The owner clearly didn't know what the crystal nucleus was, but he used the strategy of retreating in order to advance in order to test him out. Did the stall owner think he was a fool? ”I asked you to set a price, so just set a price. Why are you being so difficult?”

The boss choked. Although he had never seen Bai Jing before, he had heard the rumors in the base. Since he could make General Xiao pamper him, he must be the rich young master from the rumors. He had heard that he was a very wilful master whose every interaction depended upon his mood and not reason; now that they met, he discovered that the young master really lived up to his reputation. He hurriedly spoke again, ”If Young Master Jing likes it, how about trading it for five pounds of rice? Hope Team hasn't had it easy, and they were a mess when they arrived. If it hadn't been that Zone C was set exclusively for ability users, they…”

“All right, we'll do as you suggested.” Bai Jing interrupted him, took out a note, scribbled down a few words, and signed his name, “There, take this. Bring it to the supplies distribution office to redeem it.”

The owner clicked his tongue. His head was covered in black lines. First, he was shocked by Bai Jing's privileges - he could just go and obtain supplies with a slip of paper. Second, he was completely speechless. All he had just received was a signed piece of paper, right? It was really not easy doing business here, but seeing how powerful Jing Sa City was, the owner swallowed down the words he wanted to say and examined the note carefully to make sure there were no problems.

In fact, there was rice in Bai Jing's s.p.a.ce, but it wasn't easy to portion out. He was a lazy person, and one with flair at that. He could clearly use the money he had on hand but insisted on swiping his card. If things could be simple, he naturally would not make it more difficult for himself. In any case, he had w.a.n.g Xuebing behind him and could delegate things like paying the bills to his subordinates.

Xiao Sa laughed indulgently and did not concern himself over the owner's expression, acting as though anything Bai Jing did was simply a matter of course.

After placing the crystal nucleus in his pocket, Bai Jing looked around then turned his gaze back to the owner in astonishment. He suddenly understood why business was so bad here. The temporary stalls mostly traded things like firewood, rice, oil, and salt, while this side of the market carried a broader a.s.sortment of things. There were guns and ammunition, steel knives, and iron rods, in addition to cigarettes, wine, watches, and other seemingly superfluous luxuries.

“You're really not simple.” Bai Jing smiled blandly and casually tossed him a word of praise. Tobacco and alcohol seemed useless, but they were all necessary gifts during prosperous times of peace and at the end of the world. This owner really had vision, and it wasn't clear what he had been involved in before for him to end up with so much weaponry; it probably hadn't been easy.