The Shady Merchant from Boulder City

Chu Guang was in luck; he didn't encounter any difficult dangers along the way. More than that. When he reached the vicinity of Bet Street, he happened to see a caravan from Boulder City unloading cargo at the gate of Bet Street. Old Walter, shotgun slung across his back, stood off to the side puffing on his homemade dry tobacco pipe. Old Charlie was chatting amiably with the caravan leader, while local scavengers hired as extra hands unloaded goods under the watchful eyes of gunmen. The caravan leader went by Boss Li; no one knew his real name. All Chu Guang knew was that he hailed from Boulder City, commanding eight gunmen and roughly twenty mutant yaks. Every so often, he brought his men and beasts to Bet Street to sell supplies and haul away the local "specialties." On the wasteland, especially within urban ruins, vehicles were far less reliable than beasts of burden. Broken-down wrecks and collapsed ruins littered the roads, and because extensive stretches of pavement had gone unmaintained, severe cracks had formed with thick roots bursting through. Most wheeled vehicles simply couldn't move. In comparison, donkeys, oxen, and horses were treasures. Though slow, there was virtually no terrain they couldn't traverse. Best of all, they were cheap and easy to maintain—thirty jin of grass per hundred kilometers. Technology wasn't always dependable, at least not here. Of course, cross-provincial treks were an entirely different story. Chu Guang had once seen a half-track cargo truck mounted with a cannon barrel as thick as a smokestack, radiating a distinctly punk aesthetic. Yet lumbering behemoths like that rarely drove into the city proper. They usually unloaded outside town, traded with the small and medium caravans operating nearby, and moved on once finished. Chu Guang noticed that among the cargo being delivered to Bet Street this time, there was actually a woman wrapped in a long robe. Her hands and feet were shackled, a barcode stamped onto her ankle. Her smooth, pale skin didn't look like that of a wasteland survivor; she looked more like an elf stepping right out of a movie. Or rather, "merchandise" cultivated in a petri dish. "A clone?" Chu Guang had only heard rumors about the slave trade in Boulder City before, but this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes. Still, a "luxury item" like this could probably only be afforded by the mayor himself. Chu Guang didn't approach immediately. Instead, he waited quietly in the shadows of the ruins for the transaction to finish. The "cowboys" were busy and didn't linger. After loading up, Boss Li reached into his coat, fished out several white chips, and tossed them to the assisting scavengers as if shooing away beggars. Then, amidst a shower of groveling gratitude and compliments, he set off down the road with his gunmen, driving the heavily laden mutant yaks ahead of them. Chu Guang trailed behind at a distance, following for two blocks. Just then, the man walking beside Boss Li suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked straight in Chu Guang's direction. Spotted, Chu Guang felt a jolt of surprise. There were at least a hundred meters between them—how on earth had the guy noticed him?! Still, now that his cover was blown, trailing behind was pointless. Chu Guang stepped out from the ruins. First, he raised both hands to show he meant no harm, then carried the black plastic bag forward. Ten meters away, beneath a tilted café signboard, he stopped. For both sides, this was the safest distance. If a fight broke out, the carbon nanotube vest he wore beneath his clothes was enough to buy him at least five seconds to make a break for it. As long as he didn't take a headshot... "I don't mean any harm. I just want to make a deal with you." The man called Boss Li narrowed his eyes and rested his shotgun over his shoulder. "You a scavenger from Bet Street?" "Chu Guang." "I don't care what your name is, and we don't do petty business," the man said, looking at the plastic bag in his hand with amused contempt. "Whatever little scrap you have, you'd better dump it on that old man Charlie of yours." Chu Guang said nothing. He pulled open the plastic bag, revealing the goods inside. The man clearly knew his stuff. The expression on his face froze; he obviously hadn't expected the plastic bag to hold such prime goods instead of junk parts and dead batteries. Chu Guang caught a subtle glint of greed flashing in his eyes. "Where'd you get this?" the man asked. Chu Guang looked at him, deadpan. "A sewer, right next to a mutant leech nest. But even if I told you where it is, would you dare go?" "Just asking. Don't mind me." Reining in the greed in his gaze, the man handed his shotgun to his subordinate and walked over to Chu Guang. "How much do you want for it?" Bet Street's buyback price was one chip per fifty grams, but the true value of this stuff went way beyond that! Chu Guang fell silent for two seconds and decided to take a gamble, naming a price five times higher than Bet Street's recycling station. "There's two thousand grams here. I want two hundred chips!" "Deal." Seeing the man agree readily after barely a pause, Chu Guang instantly realized he had underbid. *Sure enough, what that bastard mayor sells to these merchants is way higher than this!* *These bloodsucking leeches!* In his heart, Chu Guang gave the mayor and all his ancestors an earful of curses, wishing him total impotence for the night. "Let's be friends. I'm Liszt." The man extended his right hand, wiping away his earlier arrogance, a smile dawning on his face. "I rarely do business directly with scavengers, but you're an exception... You've piqued my interest." Neither servile nor arrogant, Chu Guang shook his hand. "Thanks. Name's Chu Guang." "I know. You mentioned it earlier." Releasing his grip, Liszt stared at Chu Guang and continued, "First off, I hope our little transaction today doesn't reach the ears of that old man Charlie." Chu Guang replied, "He won't know, of course. I'm not looking for trouble either." "Haha, you're a smart guy." Pleased with Chu Guang's response, Liszt nodded with a smile and went on, "I can pay you the two hundred chips right now, but... since you'll be spending them on supplies anyway, why not buy straight from me? That saves a middleman from skimming off the top. I have some leftover goods here—I can give you twenty percent off. How about it?" Chu Guang didn't buy that nonsense about a twenty percent discount for a second; after all, there was no way he could know what the goods on those yaks sold for back in Boulder City. Still, as long as it was cheaper than Bet Street, he had no reason to refuse. "I need weapons. Got any?" "Of course. What kind do you want?" "Guns." "Guns, huh?" Liszt rubbed his chin. "How about a 9mm bolt-action pipe rifle? Only two hundred chips, and I'll throw in thirty rounds of ammunition for free. Extra ammo is one chip per round—a downright fair price." "With the twenty percent off?" "This is already discounted. If that's too rich for your blood, I have cheaper options, like a pipe pistol for a hundred chips. Five-millimeter caliber. Works great against marauders, though I wouldn't recommend it against mutants." *Already discounted, my foot.* *Like hell I believe you!* Chu Guang stared at him and said, "One 9mm bolt-action pipe rifle plus sixty rounds of ammo. On top of that, I want twenty... no, twenty-five chips to buy food and other supplies." Looking at Liszt, who merely shrugged with indifference, Chu Guang pressed on in a serious tone, "There's way more than two kilos of mushrooms in that mutant leech nest, but I could only harvest near the edge... Do you get what I'm saying?" "You want me to invest in you?" Liszt looked at Chu Guang with intrigue. "Fascinating." Unfazed, Chu Guang replied, "Why not? I bet even at this price, you're still turning a massive profit. And if you agree, the shipment I bring next time will be ten times what you see today! Aren't you tempted?" Liszt was indeed tempted. Frankly, it really was a solid proposal. Hauling these two kilograms of Blue Parasol mushrooms back to Boulder City could easily fetch enough for ten bolt-action pipe rifles, let alone one. These bumpkins out in the boondocks had no clue what radiation blockers and anti-radiation drugs meant to folks living in the city. The real treasures were all tucked away near those nuclear craters! "Normally, very few people manage to pry chips out of my hands." Liszt signaled to his assistant with a glance, gesturing for him to fetch a pipe rifle and sixty rounds of ammo from one of the nearby mutant yaks. "You're an exception." Counting out twenty-five white chips from his pocket, Liszt handed them over to Chu Guang along with the gear. "Twenty kilos of Blue Parasol mushrooms, was it? Consider this an investment. I'll await your news. "I'll be back here once more at the end of the month, and if nothing goes wrong, it'll probably be my last trip this year. "I hope to see you then." Mutant leeches. No one wanted to mess with those things. God only knew how many of those disgusting bugs crawled inside their nests, and worst of all, ordinary piercing firepower was utterly useless against them. Their horrific regenerative power and vitality meant that even if sliced clean in two, they could split into two new living entities after brief writhing—let alone punching a few holes through them. As for fire... Leaving aside whether they would even ignite, burning them would scorch all the valuable loot along with them. The cost entirely outweighed any gain. "By the way, for twenty kilos of Blue Parasol mushrooms, I'll credit you two thousand chips. You can place an order directly with me—no need to pick through Bet Street's leftovers," Liszt offered, watching Chu Guang fiddle with his new weapon. Chu Guang paused his inspection and looked up at him. "How do I know what you have in stock?" Liszt snapped his fingers. Taking the cue, the man beside him handed over a square tablet computer. "Pictures are on there. Swipe left and right to browse... If you know how to use it, I won't waste breath explaining. I guarantee the quality of these goods is fine, but I don't guarantee the physical items will look identical to the pictures." Taking the tablet, Chu Guang gave it a quick glance and found quite a few good items listed. In particular, he spotted the very thing he needed most. "Decided yet?" Liszt urged as he watched Chu Guang browsing. "Decided," Chu Guang said, returning the tablet as he looked at him. "A ten-kilowatt wood-fired generator, and a KV-1 powered exoskeleton." "You have good taste. The KV-1 might be a base model, but it's the most durable of the bunch. But what do you need a generator for? If you're worried about running out of juice, you'd be better off buying a few extra batteries. I offer trade-in replacements—dirt cheap." Generators didn't come cheap; a single unit cost 1,200 chips. In contrast, the KV-1 powered exoskeleton was only 800 chips, and a matching chemical battery ran a mere 150 chips. No matter how expensive swapping batteries got, it wouldn't come close to over a thousand chips. Besides, once he bought the thing, where was he going to put it? An exoskeleton could be worn beneath clothes, but a generator was far beyond what an ordinary scavenger could ever afford or keep. Seeing through Liszt's reservations, Chu Guang said, "Don't worry. I won't be bringing it back to Bet Street." "Just asking off the cuff. How you deal with it is your business. Even if you tell people you bought it from me, I won't admit it, and you'll be the one in trouble." Liszt shrugged and glanced at the fading light in the sky. "It's getting late. Until next time." Chu Guang called after him, "Wait, I wanted to ask—do the items I just ordered get that twenty percent discount?" Liszt laughed heartily and waved a hand without looking back. "The price you saw *was* the discounted price." Chu Guang: "...%¥#¥%" *Damn you to hell!* *Just you wait—see how I fleece you swindlers later!* Watching the caravan fade into the distance, Chu Guang turned and stalked away with a dark face.