At the northern gate of the outpost base.
Two men dressed in eccentric wasteland gear, one in front and one behind with a two-headed ox between them, walked up to the north gate and halted.
The man in front held a specialty of Red River Town—a 7mm revolver rifle. Though the muzzle pointed downward, his eyes darted constantly between the wall and their surroundings, on guard against any potential danger.
*This guy is strong!*
That was Chu Guang's first instinct.
As for the man in the rear, it was none other than Merchant Sun, whom Chu Guang had met before.
"Haha, my old friend, we meet again!"
Seeing Chu Guang appear at the gate, the tension on Sun Shiqi's face vanished instantly. Beaming with warm enthusiasm, he threw his arms wide and came forward to greet him.
Chu Guang could smell the stench wafting off him from paces away. Unable to stomach it, he refrained from hugging him and extended his right hand instead.
Sun Shiqi chuckled, unfazed by the awkwardness, readily adjusting his posture to grasp Chu Guang's right hand and give it a vigorous shake.
Then he let go.
"My apologies! I've been traveling for nearly five days and haven't even had time to bathe. Please pardon the embarrassment!"
"It's fine," Chu Guang said, glancing at the man standing beside the two-headed ox before casting an inquiring look at Sun Shiqi. "And this is?"
"He's a gunslinger I hired over in Red River Town to handle my security along the way. There are a few gunslinger guilds over there that honor their word and are very reliable. Most importantly, they know how to avoid clashes with the local marauders... Just taking precautions, mostly! You can just pretend he isn't here!"
A gunslinger guild?
More like reformed marauders who had washed their hands of the trade.
Chu Guang nodded. His gaze lingered for a moment on the bulky two-headed ox, his brow arching slightly with interest.
It seemed the air-dried meat they made was selling well in Red River Town. That previous transaction must have netted this fellow quite a profit, leaving him with enough money not only to stock up on new goods but also to hire a bodyguard.
That was a good thing.
Only a win-win business could last.
"How's the road to Boulder City? Is it easy to travel?" Chu Guang asked casually.
"I didn't go to Boulder City before, so I'm not too clear on the situation there," Sun Shiqi shook his head like a rattle drum. "After leaving your place last time, I stopped by a farm not far from here. As luck would have it, they were very interested in what was left of my cargo, so I traded it for some grain and headed straight back.
"The routes inside the city are far too complicated; the ruins in there are like a maze. I'd rather trek ten kilometers across the wilderness than walk a single li inside the city.
"You've probably noticed it too—this winter is likely to be harsher than previous years. Grain prices in Red River Town are practically skyrocketing. Big shots like mine bosses and slave owners can't stomach that blackish nutrient paste. I'd barely hauled the goods into the trading post before their servants snapped it all up.
"I figured that since it was selling so well, I might as well make another trip before the heavy snow blocks the roads. So I hired a bodyguard and set out, hehe."
"Selling that well? Sounds like I sold it too cheap last time," Chu Guang joked half-seriously.
Realizing he had let himself get carried away, Sun Shiqi cleared his throat hastily and offered an obsequious smile.
"You jest, my lord. Traveling merchants like us do business with our heads tied to our waistbands. We might make a little, but it's really just enough to cover travel expenses and put food on the table."
"All right, cut the sob story. How much you earn is your own business. Just remember to buy a couple more oxen once you've made your fortune, and bring more goods come spring," Chu Guang cut through his nonsense, getting straight to the point. "Where is the stuff I asked for? Did you bring it?"
Sun Shiqi hurried to reply.
"I've got it all! Hehe, don't worry, I would never forget your instructions!"
A mutated two-headed ox often weighed over a ton, with a load capacity of roughly 700 to 900 kilograms. Its mobility across ruins and wilderness terrain was fairly decent, only slightly inferior to a mutant yak.
Aside from the five hundred kilograms of coins, Sun Shiqi had also used his earnings to purchase just under a hundred kilograms of supplies.
Among those with trade value were a bag of yellowish coarse salt weighing around 10 kilograms, ten 7mm revolver rifles, two heavy sacks of ammunition, and other assorted goods.
Although he still had carrying capacity to spare, he had no money left to stock up on more goods.
Under normal circumstances, merchants of modest means would take risks taking detours to scavenge, but at this point in time, doing so was clearly unwise.
While inspecting the ammunition in the sacks, Chu Guang noticed that both heavy bags of cartridges were made entirely of copper.
It seemed Red River Town was hardly short on copper.
However, compared to the stamped casings manufactured in Boulder City, much of the ammunition produced in Red River Town was rolled from sheet copper, leaving visible dents and bulges on the cartridge cases.
No wonder they made semi-automatic revolver rifles with such simple receiver mechanisms.
Any receiver with slightly more precision would probably jam after only a few rounds of this ammo.
Was this the gap between an industrial survivor settlement and a resource-based one?
Tossing the cartridges back into the sack, Chu Guang quietly filed away this intelligence.
"...Well, my lord? Are you satisfied with the goods?"
A fawning smile spread across Sun Shiqi's face.
If possible, he hoped Chu Guang would buy everything.
That way, he could take back even more air-dried meat.
"The weapons, the coarse salt, and those coins—I'll take them all." Chu Guang's gaze landed on the final sack. Peering inside, he found a ginger-yellow powder and asked, "What's in here?"
Sun Shiqi chuckled and said, "Bug meal! Ground from dried mutant yellow-fronted huntsman spiders. Rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—mainly used as fertilizer!"
Chu Guang nodded in comprehension.
Fertilizer—that had to be something Brown Farm wanted. He hadn't started farming here yet, so he had no use for it.
However, this did give him an idea.
From what the players said, there were large deposits of guano stone by the lake. Perhaps he could try producing fertilizer and selling it to Brown Farm.
Just then, Sun Shiqi suddenly remembered something. He walked over to the two-headed ox, opened a leather pack hanging from it, and produced a glass jar.
The mouth of the jar was sealed with a cork stopper pierced with tiny ventilation holes. Inside sat a fist-sized ant, twitching its visible limbs and antennae—quite a creepy sight.
Gazing at the jar with interest for a moment, Chu Guang asked, "Is this that ironback ant?"
Sun Shiqi smiled and said, "That's right! We usually use them for feed or other purposes. Someone happened to be selling them at the trading post, so I bought a jar."
After turning the jar over in his hands for a moment, Chu Guang looked at Sun Shiqi. "How much?"
Sun Shiqi waved his hands frantically. "No, no, no, my friend, you misunderstand! This is a gift for you—no charge."
"Oh? Then thank you."
Chu Guang certainly wouldn't turn down something free, decisively accepting the gift.
As for a return gift?
Out of the question.
Allowing this fellow to do business with him was already the greatest grace he could bestow.
Seeing Chu Guang accept the gift, Sun Shiqi broke into a wide grin.
"You're very welcome! Gaining your friendship is my honor... Look, it's getting late. Shall we discuss the details of the trade?"
Chu Guang nodded, uttering a single word.
"Proceed."
...
Unlike merchants hailing from Boulder City, itinerant traders from other regions largely refused to recognize chips as currency; they either had their own currencies or lacked currency altogether.
Thus, inter-regional trade was generally conducted via barter, and no fixed "market price" existed.
Although he had accepted a gift symbolizing friendship from Sun Shiqi, friendship couldn't put food on the table. When it came to haggling, Chu Guang made no concessions out of sentiment.
What a joke.
Who had thicker skin than a salesman?
The 500 kilograms of coins were still traded at the previously agreed rate: 4 kilograms of air-dried meat per 100 kilograms of coins, totaling 20 kilograms of air-dried meat.
Chu Guang had always been a man of his word; he had no intention of going back on an agreement, nor was there any need to.
Both parties pleasantly reached a consensus.
However, the pleasant part ended right there.
Minutes earlier, Sun Shiqi had naively assumed this man before him was easy to deal with—until the lunatic proposal of "3 kilograms of air-dried meat for 1 kilogram of salt" tumbled from the man's lips.
"I'm sorry, did I mishear...? Perhaps you meant one jin?"
Having fully anticipated his reaction, Chu Guang said impassively, "You heard correctly. I said one kilogram—one kilogram of coarse salt."
"That's impossible!"
Sun Shiqi cried out almost by reflex, his previous deference vanishing as he argued indignantly to stand his ground:
"You must be joking! The smoked meat you make here is only baked and air-dried without any curing at all. There's no way it's worth that price!"
"Oh?"
Seeing that Chu Guang remained unmoved, Sun Shiqi took a deep breath and continued in a softer tone:
"All right, you're not a merchant after all, so perhaps you don't know the going rates... Let's do the math. If I transport these 10 kilograms of coarse salt to Boulder City, every 100 grams can fetch at least 1 chip!"
Chu Guang didn't say a word.
In fact, he had never even been to Boulder City. He only knew that for the yellowish, bitter coarse salt consumed only by the poor, Old Leech on Bet Street charged 2 chips per 100 grams—double the price, as expected.
But what did that matter?
Old Leech marked up grain prices by three times!
Debating market prices on the wasteland was completely meaningless.
Moistening his dry throat, Sun Shiqi continued:
"One hundred chips! If I trade those chips for electrical appliances, industrial goods, and daily necessities to take to Brown Farm, I could get at least 300 kilograms of green wheat! And if I traded that grain for smoked meat, getting 60 to 75 kilograms would be reasonable.
"So the lowest price I can accept is 60 kilograms—that is, 1 kilogram of salt for 6 kilograms of smoked meat! For the sake of our friendship... 59 kilograms! That is the lowest offer I can accept!
"And my biggest concession!"
Sun Shiqi felt he had laid out the reasoning as clearly and simply as possible.
Even if these hamsters holed up in a vault had never done business on the wasteland, they ought to understand his difficulties to some extent.
Yet after listening to his blabber, Chu Guang merely smiled.
There was one thing he got right.
He truly wasn't a merchant.
If someone truly viewed him as such, their vision was far too narrow.
But to think he didn't understand trade?
Heh.
"Everything you said is correct."
A look of delight flashed across Sun Shiqi's face.
Yet within a second, Chu Guang's next words froze the joy on his face.
"...Then why don't you, my friend?"
Smiling at this friend who had come from afar, Chu Guang said softly, "What I mean is, if you want to trade me 300 kilograms of green wheat for 59 kilograms of smoked meat, that's not something I'd turn down either."
Chapter 60