Friendship

Although logging off had been delayed for a bit the night before, when the morning sun rose, the White Bear Knights appeared at the entrance to the Petra Fortress bazaar as promised, meeting Old Buma, who had been waiting there for quite some time. Having changed into a clean set of clothes, the old man had cast off his earlier disheveled state. Not only did he look far more spirited, but he finally looked somewhat like a merchant. "Do you intend to trade the goods for coin, or would you prefer bartering?" he asked respectfully, looking at the benefactors approaching him. "I recommend the latter. After all, as you've seen... the desert isn't peaceful right now. Holding onto cash isn't a good idea." Having discussed it with her teammates beforehand, Sisi spoke up. "We need to stay here for a while, so let's exchange it for coin." Old Buma nodded and said nothing more, setting to work scanning the market for buyers capable of taking the batch of goods off their hands. There was no need for ostentatious advertising. Hearing that devil cloth produced in the eastern provinces was available, a crowd of merchants quickly swarmed around. Unable to sit still, Tail and Rou Rou curiously followed along to watch the excitement. Sesame Paste had planned to tag along as well, but a black-and-white cat threw itself at her feet to shamelessly demand affection. Amused and helpless, she squatted down, stroking the fur of the little creature that had already rolled onto its back in comfort. Leaving the task of finding a buyer to Buma, Sisi found a relatively quiet spot nearby to sit down. She opened the newly purchased *Holy Words of the Silver Moon* across her knees and quietly began reading. The status of this book was roughly equivalent to the "Bible" of the Camel Hump Kingdom, and its contents were essentially the local believers' "interpretations" of the teachings of the Spirit of the Desert. If *Oases Beneath the Zhuobar Mountains* explained the local culture and customs from a scholar's perspective, then this "Holy Scripture," recommended by the Academy's researcher, dissected the spiritual core of the locals from a believer's perspective. Sheltered by the Zhuobar Mountains, the Camel Hump Kingdom enjoyed an exceptional geographical advantage that left it almost free from mutant harassment. Its primary threats came almost entirely from the sea. The region was rich in salt, camels, big-horned oxen imported from Poluo Province, as well as a diverse array of fruits and grains. Backwardness coexisted with prosperity here; handicrafts and commerce flourished, the citizen class was relatively wealthy, and some city-states even boasted merchants who owed no allegiance to feudal lords, alongside city lords elected by the burghers. It was precisely because of this that the local attitude toward religion and royalty lacked the reverence shown by subjects of the other four kingdoms. If the Falcon Kingdom was classical militarism, the fallen Honey Badger Kingdom had been an enlightened monarchy, the Golden Lizard Kingdom they hadn't visited was a feudal dynasty devoted to mysticism, and the embattled Lion Kingdom was a feudal dynasty pursuing the path of inner sagehood, then this place resembled a classical republic. The twelve city-states enjoyed high autonomy. Not only were the daily habits of the residents more secularized, but they had even founded a secular "new faith"— Namely, the "Silver Moon Sect." This sect infused the worship of the Spirit of the Desert with animist theories from the southern archipelago, fabricating a "lover" named the Goddess of the Silver Moon for the Spirit of the Desert—who originally possessed neither gender nor spouse—thus injecting a touch of humanity into its divinity. According to the interpretations of the *Holy Words of the Silver Moon*, the Spirit of the Desert was the master of the sands, ruling Sunset Province, and destined to rule the universe. Yet south of the Zhuobar Mountains, Silver Moon Bay—irrigated jointly by rivers and "embankments"—was the realm of the Goddess of the Silver Moon, co-ruled by the two deities. The locals accepted the mainstream sect's apocalyptic doctrines, including tenets like "the world will ultimately be swallowed by yellow sands," but had introduced new perspectives built atop them. For instance, "One day the world will burn out; all the more reason to cherish this final twilight," and "Candlelight can dispel the darkness, and lighting it at dawn can delay the arrival of the end." The former corresponded to the secular notion of carpe diem, while the latter had evolved into a culture of pilgrimage. At the beginning of each month, Camel Hump believers lit a candle at home, faced the Zhuobar Mountains to bow in worship, and recited scripture in prayer. They could even hire three unconverted pagans to perform this duty in their stead, rather than praying daily like believers of the mainstream faith. "...It seems Sunset Province really is huge. Five entirely distinct cultural concepts actually evolved across a single desert." Turning the pages, Sisi muttered softly to herself, while quietly making up her mind to collect more works written during the Wasteland Era on their journey, translate the contents, and organize them onto the forum. After all, this was lore that the damned game developers had painstakingly concocted. It would be a crying shame if nobody noticed it. Moreover, she always had a feeling. What she was doing might reconnect the cultural lifeline of this world that had been severed by war and radioactive fallout. Although it didn't yield silver coins or contribution points, acting solely as a heartless quest-grinder in such a deeply realized open-world game felt like a waste. She could just treat it as an amateur hobby. Though the bazaar was noisy, the commotion didn't disrupt her reading. The bargaining dragged on until roughly noon. Very few traveling merchants could produce so much cash in one go, and the White Bear Knights were unwilling to barter. Old Buma talked until his throat was parched under the awning, finally landing a buyer capable of swallowing the entire lot. This merchant was short and somewhat dark-skinned. Judging by his heavily warped accent, he clearly hailed from Poluo Province to the southwest. He intended to take these fine silks and quirky commodities back to his homeland. That included the black and white stockings. These wondrous chemical industrial products fascinated him immensely. There was only a single fly in the ointment— "Why are there only black and white?" he asked, looking puzzled. Tail was taken aback. "Eh? Aren't they pretty?" "It's not that they aren't pretty," the merchant stroked his chin in thought. "Do you lack dyes where you come from? Why not consider dyeing them in all sorts of colors..." Closing her book and rising from the carpet, Sisi wore a rather subtle expression. "That would look quite ugly." Multicolored stockings... Whether in reality or in the game, she had no desire to try them, though Tail beside her wore a contemplative look. Hopefully she wasn't seriously considering it. The merchant smiled sheepishly. "Well, whatever works. I'm very satisfied with your goods... Let me calculate: how about five million gold camel coins?" Hearing the figure of five million, Tail gasped, quickly turning to Rou Rou beside her and whispering, "Five million... what does that even mean?" Rou Rou whispered back, "No idea! But an ox here only costs three or four thousand..." Tail was instantly stunned, her eyes shining. "Holy crap! Over a thousand oxen! Rou Rou, let's become cattle herders from now on!" Rou Rou refused without hesitation. "No way! We're the White Bear Knights, herding cows is way too humiliating! And we agreed you'd become the president of the Mercenary Guild! A-Wei, have you forgotten your dream?!" Tail scratched the back of her head. "Um... it's a tough choice." Cuddling the cat, Sesame Paste smiled bashfully. "Haha..." Bargaining fell to Sisi. Among all of them, her Human Alliance language was the best; not only could she handle basic communication, but she could even grasp obscure and difficult words. Though her level couldn't match veterans who entered the game during the "ancient era" like Yaya or Tengteng, when it came to language proficiency, she had reached Tier 1—nearly on par with that certain fellow who was one step away from marrying a 2D anime girl. After a round of hard bargaining, the batch of goods was ultimately settled at a price of ten million gold camel coins. Even though the fellow put on a look as though his wallet had been completely sucked dry, Sisi could sense a smug, hidden grin lurking behind that dejected expression. As for the other members of the White Bear Knights, they were thoroughly immersed in the joy of a mission accomplished. Especially upon hearing that goods worth hundreds of thousands of silver coins had been traded for enough gold camel coins to buy more than three thousand oxen, Tail and Rou Rou's eyes virtually turned the color of silver coins. At an average price of five thousand silver coins per ox... Fifteen million silver coins?! Tail clenched her fist in excitement. "Holy crap! Sisi! We're rich!" Rou Rou shouted enthusiastically as well, "Ohoho! I'm going to commission an exoskeleton from the Administrator just like Scavenger's!" "This is just... incredible." Sesame Paste was completely dazed, nearly dropping the cat in her arms. Sisi watched her companions with a curving smile. "Not quite filthy rich, but we did make a little profit... By the way, A-Wei, and Rou Rou, remember not to brag on the forum, okay?" Tail and Rou Rou nodded almost simultaneously. "Mm-hmm!" "Don't worry! I'll keep an eye on this Tail!" Seeing how readily the two agreed, Sisi felt even more uneasy instead. To be fair, however, the profit wasn't actually that outrageous. Running trade caravans across the wasteland was hardest not in the bargaining, but in transporting the cargo back safely. Even if over a thousand oxen could be driven back to Shuang Mao Ranch without the slightest loss, after deducting feed, fresh water, hired hands, the livestock's natural weight loss along the trek, and market supply-and-demand fluctuations, netting half of that fifteen million would already be remarkable. Furthermore, considering the ranch's capacity limits and the risks buried in the transit cycle, this method couldn't serve as a stable, long-term money-maker. Those factories churning out bricks, cement, steel, planes, tanks, and artillery might not have high return on equity, but the Alliance's demand for their products was virtually limitless. Those were the real money-printing machines. Many Tier 0 and Tier 1 players had already stopped disclosing their earnings on the forum. Although there was no direct evidence, Sisi conservatively estimated that their held assets were worth no less than a hundred million, or perhaps something even more staggering. It was just that they hadn't extracted the profits as "cash" through dividends... ... The two parties rented a warehouse to complete the handover of the goods and count the gold coins. Looking at the crates of gold coins on the ground, the merchant dusted off his hands in satisfaction, turned to Sisi's group, and smiled. "Seeing as you've let me turn a profit, I'll offer a word of advice. No matter what business brought you here, I suggest you quickly convert these gold camel coins into dinars or other stable stores of value." Tail tilted her head. "Why?" "Once the Legion marches over, this money will become scrap paper... Just look at the people in the refugee camps and slums. Their pockets are stuffed with gold lion coins and gold badger coins, yet they can't even buy a single loaf of bread. I hear that in Silver Moon Bay, plenty of wealthy merchants are exchanging gold camel coins for dinars or ships heading out to sea." Doing business on someone else's turf after all, the traveling merchant didn't speak too bluntly, cutting his words short once the point was made. The Honey Badger Kingdom had fallen within a week, and the Lion Kingdom had lost half its territory. Compared to the Falcon Kingdom backed by the Legion, these ancient kingdoms were on an entirely different level in terms of equipment and military doctrine. In his eyes, Sunset Province was essentially finished. The Camel Hump Kingdom would likely meet the same fate as the Falcon Kingdom—bowing its head to the Legion and adopting the dinar as legal tender. "Then... what about trading them for gold?" Sesame Paste asked softly. "Gold..." The merchant shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it." Though quite a few local factions across the wasteland minted coins from gold, the awkward reality was that gold itself wasn't particularly valuable. There were many deep-seated reasons for this: vast quantities of gold mined from space had been left behind by the Era of Prosperity, total social production was far below the aggregate value of existing precious metals, and the cultural landscape of the Wasteland Era lacked the expectation that "tomorrow will be better" and any yearning for a good life... The biggest difference between the wasteland and ordinary troubled times was that people in troubled times never truly doubted that the chaos was temporary and would end sooner or later. For people on the wasteland, however, few expected a dead civilization to be resurrected. Thus, what was valuable on the wasteland had never been precious metals, but confidence—a thing far more precious than gold. A currency lacking confidence would quickly become worthless. As for force, productivity, technology, culture, and other value-adding factors, while they also determined a currency's value, they were merely superficial elements. The merchant looked at Sisi, assuming she understood the meaning behind his words. He tipped his hat in farewell. "...Thank you once again, generous and beautiful lady. Your goods have brought my journey to the east to a perfect conclusion. I also earnestly urge you to leave this troubled place before it's too late." "Thank you for the advice. I'll keep it in mind." Without commenting on his warning, Sisi waved goodbye to the merchant. Watching the customer walk away, Old Buma beside them finally couldn't hold back a curse. "Petra Fortress will never surrender to the Legion! We're not like those cowards!" Tail chimed in with full enthusiasm, "Oh! Of course! As long as we build Petra, everything will be fine!" Old Buma didn't understand what she meant, but he could tell it was praise for his homeland, and his indignant face broke into a broad grin. Rou Rou couldn't resist retorting, "A-Wei, you're playing the wrong game." Watching the secretly delighted figure disappear around the street corner, Sisi looked at the camel-stamped coin in her hand, then glanced back at the stuffed crates behind them. After pondering for a moment, she turned toward Old Buma. "I plan to open a money exchange. Refugees fleeing here from the Lion Kingdom can exchange their gold lion coins for gold camel coins with us... By the way, are private individuals allowed to run money houses here?" This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment whim. It was just that the merchant's words had revealed a new business opportunity. "Well... nobody has ever said it's forbidden," Old Buma, who had been grinning happily, froze and hurriedly tried to dissuade her. "Exchanging this money for gold lion coins? What do you want gold lion coins for?" Sisi: "Is it not allowed?" Old Buma said, caught between laughter and tears, "It—it's not a matter of whether it's allowed... The Lion Kingdom is on the verge of destruction! Their currency will soon be worthless!" Emotionally, he believed Petra Fortress could never fall, but the neighboring Lion Kingdom was another story. Once the City of Abundance fell, the kingdom's doom would only be a matter of time. Sisi nodded, thought it over for a moment, and said, "Then... let's exchange at a rate of six to one." Six gold lion coins for one gold camel coin. Though not enough to allow those poor souls to live as comfortably as they had back home, it would at least keep them from starving to death. Hearing that exchange rate, Old Buma smiled wryly. Six to one... Even at six hundred to one, what you bought would still be a pile of trash... Tail tilted her head and looked at Sisi. "Wait, weren't we going to buy cows to take back?" "Yes, that was the plan, but as long as we win this war and drive the Legion out of Sunset Province, we'll be able to buy even more cows to bring home..." Her eyes shone with excitement. Halfway through her sentence, however, Sisi suddenly thought of something and cut herself off. "Ah, right. How about we distribute our shares first?" "Distribute shares?" Rou Rou tilted her head. "Why right here?" Sisi pondered for a moment, calming down as she spoke. "Mm... just to be safe. Investments carry risks, and I can't guarantee my judgment is completely correct." Even the most meticulous plan carried the risk of running into accidents. If it succeeded, the returns would naturally be delightful, but if it failed, they might lose not just money, but something far more precious than wealth—their friendship. These crates of gold camel coins represented virtually all the assets the group had accumulated since the server opened, including most of the spoils from their previous dungeon. If they lost it, half a year of hard work would go down the drain. She trusted that her companions weren't the type to value profits above all else, which was precisely why she loved hanging out with them. Yet she remained clearheaded. A clearheaded person found it hard to convince herself to wager on the probabilities of human nature. Moreover, even if her companions forgave her mistake, she would find it hard to forgive herself for letting everyone's efforts come to naught. She admitted she wasn't as brave as others thought. There weren't many things she feared. Except taking the blame... "If that nuke really destroys the embankment, we might lose money even if we win. If you're worried about losing your principal—" "Don't say such distant things." A sudden feeling of warmth wrapped around her shoulders. Just a second ago, Sisi had been analyzing things with cool composure, but an unexpected flush rushed into her cheeks, leaving her mouth open and speechless. Hugging her shoulders from behind, her cat ears twitching, Sesame Paste leaned close to her face and spoke with a cheerful voice: "I actually know. Sisi always thinks through so much, and you're super reliable when thinking calmly. Even though in real life I'm just an ordinary teacher, and my gaming skills are average—nowhere near as amazing as the rest of you—we're partners... Please believe in us a little more!" "If you have a plan, just tell us. Don't carry such a heavy psychological burden; go ahead and do it boldly!" "Exactly!" Rou Rou, whose eyes had been shining for a while, raised a paw and said excitedly, "I don't really get it, but it sounds super impressive!" She wasn't a hardcore top-tier player either. When playing games, she insta-locked support; even after building tank items, she still liked hiding behind the carry. She was timid yet hooked on playing, and when she lost, her itch to play only grew. When playing King of Glory, she had to recruit randoms in world chat, because dragging down strangers was always better than ruining things for friends. Even now, she didn't understand why the operator had chosen her, or how she had been lucky enough to roll a mutant character with "insane starting stats." Yet that wasn't the luckiest thing. In her mind, the luckiest thing was meeting a group of companions who never minded her clumsiness and were willing to grow alongside her. Even when incidents happened like "the main tank got frightened and fled, leaving the team without a frontline," everyone never blamed her for playing poorly; instead, they patiently encouraged her, helping her adjust gear and develop new strategies... It was so wonderful to have met them. Tail also raised her hand with boundless energy. "Oh! If nobody has any objections, Tail agrees too! But we have to set aside the treasure-hunting budget, okay? We promised to explore the ruins, so don't spend all our living expenses!" Rou Rou gave her a sideways glance and scoffed, "Nobody would do that except you, all right?" "Holy crap!!" Mocked by Rou Rou, Tail wore a deeply wounded expression, though it was clearly just banter between friends. Looking at the friends supporting her, a touch of emotion welled up in Sisi's eyes. All the explanations rushing to the tip of her tongue ultimately condensed into three words. "Thank you..." "Told you, don't be so distant." Releasing Sisi's shoulders, Sesame Paste scooped up the cat she had set down, smiling sheepishly as she asked, "By the way, do we have a plan for the Lost Valley ruins?" With a confident smile returning to her face, Sisi spoke in a serious tone. "I was just about to bring that up."