Take My Wallet

This was a Waste Mine Society that Dennison Henry had never seen before. He could never have imagined that in just the one month he had been away, such earth-shaking changes could have taken place.

He was a merchant from Trash Town. In the past, he would come to purchase the ore produced by the Waste Mine Society, then transport it to Trash Town for primary processing into usable pig iron before selling it off.

He had heard previously that a group of raiders had set their sights on the Waste Mine Society. He had assumed the Waste Mine Society was finished, silently offering a prayer for those poor people while lamenting the loss of a cheap resource import site that would cost him a bit of profit.

But unexpectedly, the Waste Mine Society had not only survived, but had actually received help from the Planetary Governor.

If this wasn't a blessing in disguise, what was?

At the Waste Mine Society, Henry saw rows of factory buildings and towering smelting furnaces belching white smoke, representing the power of industry.

He saw the residential area built nearby; it was mealtime, and he could see cooking smoke rising. The food the residents of the Waste Mine Society were eating was actually better than what people had back in his hometown of Trash Town.

He also saw the guards on duty—soldiers wearing combat uniforms with bulletproof plate vests, their left eyes uniformly replaced with mechanical implants that glowed with a cold blue light. They were clearly elite Servitors.

His expression was taken in entirely by Patel, who stood beside him.

The look of surprise on his "old friend" gave Patel a deep sense of satisfaction.

He loved seeing others surprised; it made him confirm from the bottom of his heart just how correct it had been to fully accept the Governor and become a subject of the Lord Governor.

He patted Henry on the shoulder and said, "Don't just stand there, let's go. There are even more good things to see."

Withdrawing his gaze, Henry turned to Patel: "You guys... is the Lord Governor really that generous?"

Patel's expression was devout: "Yes, and this is only the beginning. I firmly believe that under the rule of the Lord Governor, our lives will only get better and better! Honestly, why don't you go back and talk to your bosses, and have them join the Governor's command sooner rather than later?"

At the mention of this topic, Henry calmed down a bit: "We are already under the Governor's rule; we are also members of The Alliance."

Patel could hear the perfunctory tone in his voice.

He was a little disappointed. He genuinely felt that Trash Town could join in and contribute to the Governor's cause.

Of course, he also knew that his old friend Henry was just an ordinary merchant in Trash Town, and his status was nothing special. Trash Town had a population of over a hundred thousand and was a large-scale settlement. The ones who called the shots there were people known as "Agents." These Agents, both large and small, determined the direction of the entire Trash Town.

Henry was just a merchant, still struggling to even qualify as the lowest-ranking Agent; he had no say in Trash Town.

Patel simply hoped that Henry could go back and persuade those Agents.

But it seemed he had been too naive.

Those Agents made their money from raw materials and energy, from scavengers and adventurers, and were fat and greedy—how could they easily let that go?

Unless they saw the majesty of the Lord Governor with their own eyes.

Putting those thoughts aside, a smile returned to Patel's face.

He pulled Henry along and showed him some more good things.

It was the finished Alloy Plasteel produced by the Waste Mine Society.

Seeing the neatly stacked Plasteel, Henry was once again dumbfounded.

"This... is Alloy Plasteel? You guys can actually produce this stuff?"

He truly hadn't expected this.

Looking at those smelting furnaces earlier, he had thought that producing steel at most would be impressive enough. He had already been calculating that transporting raw materials from Trash Town, having them produced by the Waste Mine Society, and then shipping them to Revival City for sale would be much more profitable than just reselling mineral resources.

But what was unexpected was that the Waste Mine Society wasn't producing mere steel, but Alloy Plasteel!

This material had performance far superior to steel! Depending on the formula, it could exhibit high compressive and tensile strength, or possess great malleability.

From a merchant's perspective, its selling price would naturally be higher than steel, but not by an exorbitant amount. The main issue was that manufacturers—whether using Alloy Plasteel for weaponry, mechanical manufacturing, or construction materials—were very sensitive to costs for the many low-end product lines with high demand. If the cost of Alloy Plasteel were much higher than steel, people would rather continue using cheap steel.

Of course, if there were some Alloy Plasteel with very special performance characteristics, it would certainly be valuable for specific implements, such as better gun barrels or more robust mechanical structures, and could be used in high-value-added production, fetching a particularly high price.

But even if ordinary Alloy Plasteel couldn't be sold at a premium, as long as there was a reasonable pricing strategy, there would be no shortage of buyers.

At the same time, it currently seemed that there were very few factions in the entire wasteland capable of producing Alloy Plasteel. Perhaps Blackbird Heavy Industries had the capability, but their production capacity was barely enough for their own consumption; he had never seen them sell this material to outsiders.

From this perspective, the Alloy Plasteel produced by the Waste Mine Society could almost be considered a unique business.

Beyond making money, this represented immense influence.

Dennison Henry couldn't wait any longer!

"How much for these? Sell them to me!" he said, rubbing his hands together.

"Don't be in such a hurry." Patel laughed and led Henry to another location.

Here, there were finished products made from Alloy Plasteel—individual armor vests and helmets.

Patel introduced them proudly: "Look at these things. A Pipe Rifle shot at them will leave nothing more than a mark!"

After saying this, fearing Henry wouldn't believe him, he actually pulled out a Pipe Rifle.

This thing looked crude, but it was a very common firearm in the wasteland. A simple iron pipe tied to a wooden handle with a basic firing mechanism, it could fire gunpowder bullets. Because there was no craftsmanship to speak of, its power was mysterious, and its accuracy even more so. A well-made one might be passable, but a poorly made one was just a noisy fire poker; whether it hit the target was entirely up to fate.

The Waste Mine Society had hundreds of these guns, seized from the bandits after the "Prisoner-Dead" were annihilated. The Lord Governor didn't care for such junk and gave them to the residents as self-defense weapons.

The armor vest was placed on a target. Patel pulled the bolt and fired a dozen shots at it from a distance of over ten meters.

When he was finished, Henry stepped up to take a look.

There were bullet marks, but none had been able to penetrate the individual vest. The target behind it had been shaken a bit, but it was indeed undamaged.

This level of defense was already enough.

Henry even tried it on himself and found that the weight was well within an acceptable range. Alloy Plasteel was capable of maintaining sufficient strength and toughness while still ensuring a lightweight profile.

This thing was a lethal weapon in the wasteland. As long as one was equipped with such a set, the Pipe Rifle, the most common weapon in the wasteland, would truly become nothing more than a fire poker.

He could already imagine how enthusiastically this type of tactical vest would be sought after by the scavengers and adventurers in Trash Town.

This was all money!

"Say no more! I'll buy it! Take my wallet!"