17: Chapter 17 Chief Trading Officer

"We're going to be rich!"

Su Qingxue let out a low gasp and grabbed Fang Che's arm, her eyes behind her lenses shining frighteningly bright as she stared intently at the blood-and-tear-stained trading information on the public channel.

"Fang Che, look! Ten units of wood for a loaf of bread! Fifteen units of iron for a bottle of water! These people are starving to the point of madness; they have no idea about the importance of materials! This is a massive business opportunity!"

"The trading ratios are extremely skewed."

Her voice trembled with excitement: "We can use the excess food you obtained from your Critical Hit to trade for materials to upgrade the Train!"

"We can use the excess food and water you obtained from your Critical Hit to trade for upgrade materials that other Trains treat as worthless trash, but are vital to us!"

"Who is going to do the trading?" He raised the most crucial question. "We cannot expose our true situation. Once others know we have such an abundance of supplies that we can trade them freely, we might encounter other teams at the next station, and by then, we could become everyone's target."

That's right, this requires skill and camouflage.

The person executing this plan must be an excellent "actor."

She needs to play the role of a weak, pitiful, and near-collapse survivor, using the most humble posture to solicit sympathy or stir up the other party's sense of superiority, thereby completing this crazy "resource harvest" inadvertently.

Who is up to the task?

As a teacher, Teacher Qin Bing couldn't bring herself to do it.

Su Qingxue herself was too rational and strong-willed to act out that pitiful, delicate feeling.

Jiang Ning? With her explosive temper, it would be a miracle if she didn't end up fighting someone.

Fang Che's gaze slowly swept across the girls in the carriage who were laughing and chatting.

His gaze passed over Jiang Ning, who was testing her strength against someone, passed over Lin Xinyi, who was looking at others with disdain, and passed over those ordinary girls gathered in groups of two or three...

Finally, his gaze settled on a corner.

There, the art committee member Gu Nanzhi was surrounded by a few girls.

She was wearing a clean T-shirt and long pants, yet she still appeared slender and frail, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

She held a set of folded spare clothes in her hands and, in a gentle and slightly timid tone, softly said to the girl beside her: "Jiajia, I saw that you didn't manage to grab any pants that fit earlier. I have a pair here, it seems to be one size smaller, do you want to try it? You are taller than me, it will definitely look good on you..."

The girl named Jiajia, who had once sarcastically mocked Gu Nanzhi out of jealousy at the beginning, was now blushing furiously from her words and accepted them somewhat embarrassedly.

Gu Nanzhi gave her a shallow, grateful smile, her watery eyes seeming to hold a pool of clear spring water, pure and innocent.

It had to be her.

In Fang Che's mind, images instantly surfaced from their college days: this art committee member skillfully maneuvering among the boys in various situations, using the most innocent expressions and the most considerate words to make countless people run errands for her and fight over her.

In peacetime, this behavior would be called—a "green tea bitch."

But now, this top-tier ability to camouflage and manipulate emotions was exactly the "talent" they needed most.

"I think Gu Nanzhi can handle the important task of trading supplies for our team."

"Her?" Lin Xinyi was the first to scoff, her voice filled with undisguised disdain and jealousy. "Classmate Fang Che, are you mistaken? Let her go? What can she do? Besides crying and acting pitiful, what else does she know how to do?"

Many girls who were close to Lin Xinyi also chimed in, their gazes toward Gu Nanzhi filled with suspicion and contempt.

Even Su Qingxue and Teacher Qin Bing showed expressions of surprise.

They had completely not expected Fang Che to make such an appointment.

Under everyone's gaze, Gu Nanzhi herself was stunned, her beautiful eyes quickly welling up with tears, as if she had suffered a great shock and grievance.

But her reaction was extremely fast.

After just a second of astonishment, she immediately put down the things in her hand, walked out from the crowd, and quickly came before Fang Che.

She didn't look at anyone, just tilted her tear-streaked face up, looking at Fang Che with a voice that sounded like she was about to weep, yet was incredibly firm.

"Classmate Fang Che... I... I don't know if I can do it well..." Her voice trembled with a crying tone, as if she were about to burst into tears the next second. "I... I'm very clumsy..."

"But! Thank you for your trust! I... I will definitely! I will do my best, and I will absolutely not let you down!"

After finishing, she bowed deeply toward Fang Che.

"Go find someone to take our excess food, water, and clothing for trading; just handle the ratios as you see fit," Fang Che said calmly.

"Okay!"

She sent her first message on the chaotic public channel:

[Train CN-177 - Gu Nanzhi: U-um... excuse me... does anyone need clothes? Our... our Train is almost done for, the monsters... the monsters' claws have been scratching the windows... I want to use our last bit of supplies to trade for just a little bit of wood to reinforce them... is that okay? Wuwu... (crying)]

This message, filled with the aura of a "little white rabbit," was instantly drowned out by countless blood-red distress messages.

But Gu Nanzhi was not in a hurry at all.

She just waited quietly like that.

Ten minutes later, she copied, pasted, and sent it again in an even more pitiful tone.

Another ten minutes passed, and she sent it again.

Just when some girls in the carriage were starting to get impatient, feeling that she was doing useless work.

"Beep."

With a soft sound, a private message popped up.

The sender's ID was [Wang Meng].

[Wang Meng: Little sister, how are you trading the clothes?]

[Gu Nanzhi: Ah! B-big brother, hello! I... I don't know how to trade either, our captain... he was killed by monsters while trying to grab these clothes... wuwuwu... there are only a few girls left on our Train now...]

[Wang Meng: Stop sniveling! Get to the point! How much wood for one set?]

[Gu Nanzhi: W-wood? We... we have 2 sets of clothes now... big brother, you decide... can we trade for 50 units of wood? We just want to nail up the windows...]

On the other side of the screen, in a crowded and dirty carriage, a burly, bald man with a face full of flab looked at this message, a contemptuous smile appearing on his face.

2 sets of clothes for 50 units of wood? This silly girl.

[Wang Meng: Deal! It's a deal! I'll give you 10 extra units, consider it big brother taking pity on you!]

[Gu Nanzhi: Ah! Really? Thank you, big brother! You are such a good person! Wuwuwu...]

The notification sound for a successful trade rang out.

Gu Nanzhi looked at the 60 extra units of wood in the warehouse, her expression not changing in the slightest.

She immediately sent another message, the tone filled with cautious probing and tearful fawning.

[Gu Nanzhi: Big brother... do you have a lot of materials? We... we still have a little food, it was all traded for with our captain's life... if you need it all, I... I can make the decision to sell it all to you cheaply... we just want to survive...]

In the carriage, all the girls held their breath, watching Gu Nanzhi sitting there alone, as the notification sound of successful trades kept ringing on her personal terminal.