24: The value of luncheon meat

After passing the checkpoint, the two parked the car and walked for a long time before reaching the entrance of the exhibition hall lobby.

Pan Han once again sighed, this place is truly enormous.

There were four fully armed soldierss at the lobby entrance. Cheng Xiao showed her pass, and after a quick check, they were allowed in.

Upon entering, they found themselves in a vast, open hall. It stretched as far as the eye could see, easily 800 meters long and several hundred meters wide.

The trading center was roughly divided into four sections: Weapons, Food, Medicine/Evolution Potion, and Miscellaneous.

"Why are there so many people?" Pan Han looked at the various stalls, large and small, and the constant flow of people.

"It’s not about coming early, but coming at the right time. Today is the quarterly trade festival. Everyone who can come from nearby has basically come."

"Good heavens! Have you ever set up a stall here?"

"No, we were just barely surviving before, we didn't have anything to exchange."

"How can one set up a stall?"

"Simple, just pay 10 cockroach cakes. This market is mainly for people to exchange goods normally, but during the quarterly trade festival, there will be an auction."

"Is it safe?"

"Relatively safe. Captain Duan and his men manage it very strictly. Those who default on debts or breach trade agreements are all killed. So no one dares to double-cross here."

"That's good then."

"What is usually auctioned at the auction?"

"Evolution Potion, heavy weapons, slaves, and the like."

"Let's browse first."

"Okay, Qin Laoda."

After learning more, Pan Han decided to just look around casually first.

Cheng Xiao first went to rent an electric scooter with a small basket at the back. Otherwise, if they bought heavy weapons, the two of them wouldn't be able to carry them.

The weapon zone covered over 100,000 square meters, with an estimated 300 stalls of varying sizes. The shouts of vendors rose and fell, and Pan Han's interest immediately piqued.

"Young hero, come and see our rifles! Buy a gun and get bullets free!"

"Come, come, come, look at our military knives, purely handmade, extremely sharp, killing zombies is like slicing melons and dicing vegetables! Come, don't miss it if you pass by."

"Just dug out a grenade launcher, anyone want it? Last one!"

"Individual rocket launcher!"

...

The dazzling array of weapons made Pan Han scratch his head, wanting every single one.

Cheng Xiao said nothing, she just accompanied Pan Han as he browsed. Before they came, Qin Zhong had already generally instructed them on what equipment to buy first, so now it was just for Pan Han to feast his eyes.

"By the way, what should we buy to take back that's most suitable?" Pan Han asked.

"Heavy machine guns, individual rocket launchers. Qin Laoda instructed us to buy these two first."

"What do you plan to use to buy them? Cockroach cakes, or luncheon meat?"

"Let's use luncheon meat first. Test the price."

Having decided on their plan, the two headed straight for a machine gun stall.

The owner of this stall was a bald middle-aged man, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a camouflage uniform. He looked quite fierce.

"Boss!" Cheng Xiao greeted.

"Hmm, two of you, buying machine guns?" The boss said coldly.

"Yes, we'd like to see heavy machine guns."

"Here, take a look at this one. 7.62mm, fires full-power rifle rounds, 750 rounds per minute rate of fire, 1000-meter range, belt-fed, quick barrel change."

Cheng Xiao remained noncommittal, took the machine gun, and began to inspect it.

Pan Han had only one word in his heart: Buy!

"Not enough power!" Cheng Xiao immediately put the gun down.

"Hmph, little girl, quite bold. Look at this one, a 12.7mm."

Cheng Xiao took the machine gun again. The heavy machine gun was very heavy, and Cheng Xiao struggled to hold it.

Seeing the situation, Pan Han lent a hand and took it over.

This was his first time touching a heavy machine gun; he couldn't hold it steady and almost dropped it.

"If you break it, you have to buy it!" the boss said.

Pan Han glanced at him, but didn't respond.

"This one's good, what's the price?"

"2000 cockroach cakes. Comes with 100 rounds of ammunition."

"100 rounds aren't enough. We need to buy several more boxes."

"A box of 200 rounds of ammunition is 200 cockroach cakes. Not sold individually, if you buy, buy a whole box."

"Qin Laoda, let's discuss this," Cheng Xiao whispered to Pan Han.

"Mhm."

"Let's buy this one first."

"Ask him if he accepts other supplies," Pan Han said, handing a box of luncheon meat to Cheng Xiao.

"Boss, take a look at this, is it enough?" Cheng Xiao didn't waste words and directly handed the luncheon meat to the boss.

The bald boss took the luncheon meat, felt it carefully, and then weighed it in his hand.

"Oh, this is rare, is it real or fake?"

Cheng Xiao looked at Pan Han, and Pan Han nodded to Cheng Xiao.

Cheng Xiao drew her military knife and helped the boss open the can.

The bald boss held the luncheon meat, sniffed it, and immediately became intoxicated, tears uncontrollably flowing from the corners of his mouth.

"The stuff is good stuff, but unfortunately, one can is not enough," the boss seemed to understand the rules well, not asking what he shouldn't.

"You name a price?"

"Two boxes of this stuff for one machine gun and 400 rounds of ammunition."

"600 rounds of ammunition." Cheng Xiao began to bargain.

"500 rounds."

"Deal."

Pan Han mentally calculated that two boxes of luncheon meat were equivalent to 2800 cockroach cakes, so one box was about 1400.

The boss helped them load the weapons and ammunition into the car, and Cheng Xiao drove straight to the rocket launcher stall.

There were many rocket launcher stalls; these things had been heavily stocked before the apocalypse.

Cheng Xiao spotted a stall and pulled over.

The stall owner was a middle-aged woman, blind in one eye, which was covered by a black patch.

"Boss, we'd like to see rocket launchers."

"Customer, please take your pick. I have a lot of stock here: anti-armor, dedicated anti-tank, and even individual anti-aircraft missiles."

The middle-aged woman was much more enthusiastic; seeing customers, she busily began introducing her wares.

"Is this thing powerful?" Pan Han asked.

"handsome, I won't lie to you, these goods can hit the sky, hit the ground, and hit the air in between. Are they powerful? There's nothing they can't solve with one shot, and if there is, then just fire another one!" The middle-aged woman praised her own goods.

"Boss, how much are these selling for?" Cheng Xiao asked.

"These are ordinary ones, the launch tube can be reused, 500 per shot, launch tube is free; these are anti-tank, 2000 per shot; these are anti-aircraft, 2500 per shot."

"We only need the ordinary ones, 20 of them."

"That would be 10,000 cockroach cakes."

"Please look at this." Cheng Xiao handed over another box of luncheon meat.

"Oh my goodness, you actually have this stuff!" The middle-aged woman was greatly surprised.

"Don't ask too many questions," Cheng Xiao retorted, and at the same time, opened the luncheon meat to let the other party verify its authenticity.

The middle-aged woman, smelling the scent, became intoxicated, and couldn't help but pick out a small piece, put it in her mouth, and slowly chewed it.

"Five boxes of luncheon meat cans!" The middle-aged woman finally gave her price.

Pan Han calculated, and the exchange rate was similar to what the machine gun stall had offered.

He nodded to Cheng Xiao, and Cheng Xiao, without further ado, completed the transaction.

The two loaded all 20 rocket launchers into the car's basket. Cheng Xiao reported to Qin Laoda that they were ready to return.

"Finished??" Pan Han hadn't had enough fun yet.

"Yes."

"Why not buy some anti-personnel mines? We could set up a minefield around our community, how about that?"

Cheng Xiao secretly smiled. Who said only women liked to shop?