Chapter 157 - 124: Chen Xing

Chapter 157: Chapter 124: Chen Xing

With Zhou Qian’s assurance, Huai Yu felt at ease.

She took out her little notebook, carefully pondering what she needed to buy. Seeing that it was about time, she finally headed out to meet Uncle Zaozi at the entrance of the Red Victory Trading Market.

Uncle Zaozi arrived precisely at 9:00 a.m. Overnight, his bruised and swollen face from yesterday had puffed up even more. The bruising had spread, making the colors look far more horrifying than the day before, almost as if someone had smashed a soy sauce bottle on his face. One of his eyes was narrowed into a slit, completely unable to open no matter how hard he tried.

If Huai Yu took even one more glance, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back her laughter. Fortunately, she only took a quick peek before swiftly turning her head away, sparing Uncle Zaozi’s fragile ego.

However, even though she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, he was more than ready to poke at hers.

"Ah, that meal was way too filling... Little Yu, have you had breakfast yet? You know, seeing you stand in front of me yesterday, I was so moved! I was even planning to invite you over to my place for a meal.

"My wife is the best wife in the world! The buns she made were absolutely delicious! But look at you..."

He clicked his tongue in pity as he spoke. "If you hadn’t said we weren’t close later on, I would’ve treated you, wouldn’t I?

"By the way, what did you have for breakfast?"

Huai Yu pursed her lips and smiled.

"I was a bit rushed this morning, so I just threw something together. Fried rice with diced bamboo shoots and pork cracklings, paired with stir-fried soybean sprouts... It was just alright. Probably not as tasty as your buns."

It was a good thing Uncle Zaozi’s face was already a colorful canvas of bruises; otherwise, Huai Yu would have seen him turn red and green from embarrassment.

His morning buns were stuffed with wild vegetables and only a tiny bit of lard. With a Mutant Value of 11, it was already considered a luxurious breakfast. But listening to what Huai Yu said, and recalling the taste of the bamboo shoots she had brought out before... No matter how you looked at it, her meal definitely tasted better than something with a Mutant Value of 11, right?

Uncle Zaozi suddenly felt a stifling tightness in his chest.

Meanwhile, Huai Yu asked curiously, "Uncle Zaozi, are we going to the highway intersection first, or to Sister Xingxing’s place?"

Sister Xingxing—how sweet she made it sound!

"Naturally, we’re going to Chen Xing’s place first." Uncle Zaozi replied grumpily. "The highway intersection is right there. It’s not going to run away, so we can go anytime. But Chen Xing is usually out and about. It’s rare for her to be back, and since the two of you seem to hit it off, it’d be a huge loss if you don’t take this chance to buy a few more things from her.

"By the way, what do you want to buy?"

Uncle Zaozi pondered. Explorers usually had a wide variety of good stuff on them in all sorts of qualities. If Huai Yu knew how to pick, she might actually score something great.

As they spoke, the two had already boarded the bus heading to Baisao Road. Once seated, Huai Yu pulled the little notebook out of her satchel.

"I want to buy a large water vat, another vat for pickled vegetables, and preferably a few more jars for kimchi... I wonder if they sell large rice vats..."

It wasn’t that she couldn’t buy a decent water storage tank at the Trading Market, but the weather was about to get hot. Water stored in modern plastic tanks bred bacteria easily. What she really needed was an old-fashioned, large earthen vat. They were perfect for storing water, keeping it cool and naturally antibacterial.

As for a large rice vat... honestly, buying another water vat would serve the same purpose. It was just to figure out a place to store Ke Taichiro’s pellets. The little guy worked far too hard. It could accumulate a small basin’s worth in just a day, and Huai Yu had no idea how to store them. Thinking about the universal rule of keeping things in a "cool and dry" place, the answer led her right back to getting yet another vat.

Then there were the kimchi jars. With summer approaching, nothing would last long. If things weren’t sun-dried, they could only be pickled.

She flipped back and forth through her notebook, and every page was filled with "vats, vats, vats." This made Uncle Zaozi go, "PFFT, PFFT," as he burst into chuckles before giving Huai Yu a thumbs-up.

"Good, good, good! Just buy these. Stick to this list!"

The bus rattled and swayed for over half an hour before finally arriving at Baisao Road. Huai Yu was entirely unfamiliar with the urban district, so she could only follow Uncle Zaozi as they fumbled their way along. Eventually, they caught sight of a dilapidated residential compound—Bihai Pearl.

Building A05 was the compound’s commercial complex. The entire row consisted of vacant storefronts. A05 stood awkwardly in the middle, its storefront sign bearing several large characters painted in red—Star River Exploration Collection Company.

Overall, it perfectly matched the current post-apocalyptic aesthetic of devastation and pending reconstruction.

When the two walked through the door, Chen Xing was leaning back in a computer chair with her long legs propped up on the desk, engrossed in a fierce virtual battle on her handheld game console. Hearing someone enter, she only lifted her eyelids slightly before quickly refocusing. "Hold on, hold on. Let me finish this round."

Huai Yu took the opportunity to observe the spacious, empty shop. There were only about three to five people inside. They were either lounging on beanbags or lying in recliners. Some were reading books or e-readers, others were similarly playing on their own game consoles, and one person was even snoring soundly in a corner. As for this so-called company, aside from the sofas, chairs, and desks, there was basically nothing for sale. From the inside out, the entire place radiated the word "perfunctory."

Uncle Zaozi knew Huai Yu lacked worldly experience, so he took her for a stroll near the entrance to look around, explaining as they walked:

"For a well-known Explorer team like theirs, any good items they find are usually claimed in advance by pre-arranged clients the moment they pass the highway security checkpoint.

"Some odds and ends might be sold off to familiar merchants—like Boss Tang of Huaxia Gold. He often buys high-quality goods from various Explorer teams. He pays generously and is straightforward, so many teams are willing to save their good finds for him."

Meanwhile, Huai Yu walked in a circle, her eyes glued straight to the game console in Chen Xing’s hands. She had seen a red-and-blue game console just like that in Boss Tang’s hands before. Since everyone loved them so much, they had to be incredibly fun, right? It was just that her pockets had been empty back then, so she hadn’t even dared to dream about it.

But now that she was here—even though she still wouldn’t dare buy one—asking about it couldn’t hurt, right? Out of sheer curiosity, she inquired, "If there’s no electricity, wouldn’t this be useless if I bought it?"

Uncle Zaozi, however, was unfazed. "If there’s no power, just buy a generator! You can get a diesel generator for 5,000 points. You’d have to buy diesel regularly afterward, but everyday electricity use would be much more convenient."

Just as he was speaking, Chen Xing seemed to have finished her round. She placed the console on the desk and addressed Huai Yu:

"If you don’t need it urgently, there’s no rush to buy a generator. I heard from the higher-ups that once everyone’s daily lives are back on track, they’re going to restart infrastructure construction.

"The first thing is road repairs—that should be fast. Our previous roads weren’t bad to begin with; they’ve just gotten a bit torn up from all the chaos in recent years. After that comes water and electricity.

"Right now, very few households in the urban district have power, and even for those that do, the electricity rates are so absurdly high that no one wants to use it. Many factory machines actually survived the years of natural disasters, but nobody can afford to run them right now. Over time, that’s definitely going to have an impact... So, just wait a little longer."

Huai Yu, however, grew distressed. Because she had no idea whether the road repairs and utility installations would ever reach the Rose Corridor.

Just like how she only needed to buy very ordinary items, yet because there was no delivery service, her only hope now rested on Chen Xing, who actually had a vehicle.