91: Chapter 91 Caravan

For a moment, the players in the canteen were in an uproar.

Heisi's eyes lit up:

"See that! This is a proper quest officially sanctioned by the devs! Recruiting people in the wilderness, 50 points per person—isn't that much better than running trade routes?"

Legend of Lu Shi, however, was dismissive of the plan to find natives in the wilderness:

"You guys are playing small ball; it's a lot of effort for little reward."

He pinched his chin, his eyes flashing with a merchant's cunning:

"I have a way to combine trading with recruitment. I guarantee we can make a big score! Do you dare to do it?"

Heisi leaned in: "Tell me more."

The two whispered together for a long time. A moment later, Heisi suddenly slapped the table, his face full of excitement: "Do it! We have to do it!"

At the same time.

It wasn't just these two solo players; the major legions were also planning to trade in the south. Although it wasn't related to the quest, it was related to money.

At the base, ikun True Fan, the legion leader of the [Galactic Empire Stormtroopers], was directing several lifestyle players to load crates of goods onto tracked vehicles.

Naturally, the population recruitment quest was ignored by these large guilds.

In their eyes, this kind of thankless job that only gave 50 points per person was clearly meant for newbies.

"Shu Shu, are the trade goods for Shahe Town ready?" ikun turned and asked.

Beside him, [Shushu Failed the Exam] patted his chest:

"Don't worry, boss! Ten wagons of goods, all luxury specialties from our camp. I also specifically picked several combat brothers above level 10 to be responsible for the escort."

Shu Shu was the player with the best gothic in the legion; although he wasn't very bright, there were no other choices.

ikun nodded:

"Remember our mission. Don't go for that flashy recruitment stuff. We only want rare weapons, heavy firepower equipment, and special wasteland resources! Also, get a clearer picture of the power distribution in that Shahe Town for me."

"Got it! Let's go!"

Accompanied by the roar of engines.

The heavy trade caravan led by Shushu Failed the Exam set out from Shelter in a grand manner, heading toward Shahe Town in the south.

Amidst the swirling yellow sand, ten tracked transport vehicles mounted with heavy armor plates pulled a long trail of dust across the wasteland.

[Shushu Failed the Exam] sat in the passenger seat of the lead vehicle, his head poking out of the window, holding a pair of binoculars.

"Shahe Town is just ahead. Brothers, keep your weapon safeties on; don't misfire. We're here to do business today, not to massacre the town."

Shu Shu reminded them in the team channel.

Several fully armed combat players over level 10 sat in the truck beds, nodding one after another.

The outline of Shahe Town gradually became clear through the wind and sand.

At the city gate, the guards saw the armed personnel and drew their weapons; this situation was completely different from when Mudslide arrived.

Seeing the tall Shu Shu jump down from the vehicle, the guards were first stunned, then showed expressions of disgust and vigilance.

"Stop!!" The lead guard raised his gun and shouted.

Shu Shu wasn't angry.

He chuckled, pulled a piece of Purified Jerky wrapped in oil paper from his waist, and tossed it over.

The guard instinctively caught it.

The oil paper unfurled, and a rich meaty aroma instantly filled his nostrils.

In Shahe Town, where people could only eat nutritional paste and mutant bugs every day, this kind of pure meat was a lethal temptation.

The guard's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.

He looked up, glanced at the ten guards in the truck bed behind who wore sophisticated armor and had murderous eyes, and his attitude immediately softened.

"Each vehicle pays one liter of water as an entry fee." The guard stuffed the jerky into his shirt and cleared the way.

The caravan successfully entered Shahe Town.

The inside of the town was incredibly crowded.

Shu Shu was in no mood for sightseeing. He led the caravan, asking for directions along the way, and finally arrived at an open space in the center of Shahe Town—the local trade zone.

The environment here was slightly better, with several multi-story buildings made of stone bricks around.

With a wave of Shu Shu's hand, the players nimbly opened the truck beds and set up stalls in the open space.

When the first barrel of pure water, filtered by Shelter's underground water purifier, was uncapped, the crystal-clear surface reflected the sunlight. The entire noisy trade zone went silent for a second.

Then, the crowd erupted!

"Pure water! Pure water without the smell of radiation!"

"And jerky! It's real beast meat!"

"Look at that! Is that a painting?"

Several local merchants squeezed to the front of the stalls.

Their eyes went wide as they looked at the paintings hanging on the players' stalls.

They were oil paintings of Earth's landscapes, painted on mutant beast hides with wasteland dyes by a player who was an art major.

For these wastelanders who had only seen yellow sand and scrap metal their whole lives, these colorful works of art held a lethal attraction.

A merchant with a big belly, wearing a faded silk coat, squeezed through the crowd.

He glanced at the barrel of pure water, cleared his throat, and put on a reluctant expression.

"The water is clean enough. How about this: I'll give you five Old Batteries for this barrel of water. I'll take the jerky too, and give you two polished iron knives."

Shu Shu was stunned.

Although he hadn't done business in the wasteland, he had played plenty of online games with trading systems on Earth.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Shu Shu cursed back directly in low gothic.

"My barrel of water could buy a life out there! You're trying to fool me with five lousy batteries? Get lost, get lost!"

The fat merchant wasn't angry at being cursed at; instead, he sneered:

"Outsider, don't have such a short fuse. Take a walk around this market and see who else besides me dares to buy your stuff."

After saying that, the fat merchant backed into the crowd and disappeared.

Shu Shu didn't believe it.

He left a few players to guard the stalls and took the remaining jerky and paintings to visit several of the most prosperous-looking shops in the trade zone.

The first one was a blacksmith shop that specialized in reselling weapons. "This painting is nice. I'll trade you five homemade firearms without ammo for it." The owner didn't even look up.

The second was an armor shop. "The jerky can stay. I'll give you two rusty Heart-guard Plates, no more."

The third... the fourth...

After walking around for a full hour, Shu Shu's face grew darker and darker.

He discovered a strange phenomenon.

All the shop owners, before making an offer, would intentionally or unintentionally look up at the tallest three-story Stone Building in the center of the trade zone.

Every time someone on the second-floor balcony of the Stone Building made a secret gesture, the prices offered by these owners would become utterly ridiculous.

Some even flatly refused to trade.

Shu Shu returned to the stall and kicked a tire.

"Damn it, we've been played," Shu Shu said through gritted teeth in the team channel.

"What's wrong, Brother Shu?" a combat player approached.

"This shitty town's market is a monopolized scripted zone!"

Shu Shu cursed.

"The vendors here have long since colluded. There must be a large guild or a powerful family controlling the market behind the scenes! They're all lowballing us in unison, wanting to devour our goods like fat sheep!"

Hearing this, the combat player immediately flew into a rage.

He cocked his gun with a snap, his eyes fiercely scanning the peeping vendors around them:

"Fuck! They dare to scam us? Brother Shu, we have guns and cannons; let's just rob them! Let's take down that Stone Building!"

The other players also responded, each one rubbing their hands in excitement.

In their eyes, this wasn't doing business; this was clearly an unraided bandit dungeon!

"Everyone, put your guns down!"

Shu Shu quickly stopped these warmongers, roaring in a low voice, "Use your brains, will you? There are only eleven of us! There are at least several thousand armed personnel in this town, and there are heavy machine guns on the walls!"

"If we really start a fight, the worst that happens to us is dying and waiting for the respawn timer at the base. But these ten wagons of top-tier water and jerky will be dropped for them! We'll even lose the vehicles! The boss will definitely skin us alive!"

Hearing that they would lose their equipment and vehicles, the players immediately calmed down.

"Then what? We just let them take it for free?" the player asked unwillingly.

A trace of cunning flashed in Shu Shu's eyes. He sneered and turned to look at the three-story Stone Building.

"Suffering a loss is a blessing. We'll take the hit on today's deal."

Shu Shu strode to the center of the market and shouted to the surrounding vendors:

"Fine! I'll admit you're tough! One price: I'll trade all ten wagons of goods for cesium fuel! Whoever gives the most fuel, I'll trade with them!"

Ten minutes later.

The fat merchant with the big belly appeared again.

His Behind followed over a dozen thugs with rifles.

"Outsider, you are a smart man." The fat merchant waved his hand triumphantly.

His men pushed over six half-old iron barrels containing pungent cesium fuel.

Trading ten wagons of pure water and Purified Jerky, more precious than gold, for a mere six barrels of fuel used for flamethrowers.

This was no longer selling cheap; this was outright robbery!

The players were so angry their back teeth were about to shatter.

"Load them up!" Shu Shu ordered expressionlessly.

The exchange of goods was completed.

Looking at the clear water and exquisite paintings, the fat merchant smiled so much his eyes were almost slits.

He looked at Shu Shu with contempt: "If you have good stuff in the future, remember to come to Shahe Town again. We will always give you the best price."

Shu Shu didn't reply.

He jumped into the passenger seat and slammed the car door shut.

" withdraw!"

The caravan turned around and drove out of the gates of Shahe Town amidst ridicule and greedy gazes.

On the wasteland.

The atmosphere in the vehicle was terrifyingly oppressive.

The ten combat players held their guns, no one speaking, all suppressed with a belly full of fire.

"Why the long faces? Is it a funeral?"

Shu Shu, sitting in the front, suddenly burst out laughing and turned to look at his brothers.

"Brother Shu, you can still laugh? We took a massive loss this time! How are we going to explain this to Boss ikun?" a player said gloomily.

Shu Shu pulled out his pv terminal from his shirt; on a canvas app, it was densely covered with simple map lines and red dots.

"Loss? Loss my ass!"

Shu Shu's eyes were cold.

"These six barrels of fuel are our entry fee! When I was playing the fool and walking around town, did you think I was really bargaining?"

Shu Shu tossed the panel to the players in the back.

"Look closely. This is the defensive layout of Shahe Town. These red dots are their ammo depots. Here is the coordinate of that bullshit Stone Building. And the blind spots for the heavy machine guns on the walls—I've marked every single one of them!"

The players leaned in to look, and their eyes instantly lit up. The previous dejection vanished.

Shu Shu sneered and lit a cigarette rolled from Psych-leaf.

"Monopolizing the market? Oppressing outsiders? These reckless NPCs have no idea who they've messed with."

"Today we came to do business. In the future..."

Shu Shu exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

"Once we hand over this intel and wait for an opportunity, I'm going to make them spit it all back out, with interest!"