Hedong City seemed to have turned into a stagnant pool, its atmosphere growing more oppressive by the day.
Early the next morning, Father Chen and Mother Chen finally couldn't hold back any longer. They called Chen Shouyi along, borrowed a tricycle, and went to the market to continue stocking up.
Only when they arrived did they discover soldiers standing guard everywhere outside the market, the atmosphere solemn.
Inside, there were pitifully few stalls. And apart from a state-run shop selling grain and oil, where prices hadn't gone up, all the vegetables and meat were exorbitantly expensive—several times more than before the mutation.
"Why is it so expensive? Who can afford this? And it doesn't even look fresh." Mother Chen picked up a Chinese cabbage and asked the price. When she heard it was nine yuan per jin, she clicked her tongue in shock.
"Look, ma'am, it really isn't expensive. I didn't get it wholesale for much less. I'm only making a little money for all my hard work."
"But it's still far too expensive. It costs as much as meat used to."
A vendor said impatiently, "If you want it cheap, go buy it in the suburbs. It's much cheaper there. If you go to the countryside, it's practically free."
Chen Shouyi furrowed his brow. It wasn't easy to live in a big city, especially under the current circumstances.
This mutation hadn't had much impact on agriculture—or at least, it hadn't had much impact yet.
However, Hedong City had a population of over ten million. A huge metropolis of this size had been built on the foundation of modern, efficient logistics. Before the mutation, vegetables and meat from nearby farms could reach the city center in just a few hours, and prices in the suburbs weren't much different from those