A two-story wooden house facing due north, measuring 210 square meters – property number 3b210, priced at 71 gold coins and 40 silver coins...
The two single-story wooden houses on the west side, each with an area of 80 square meters -- number 3a80, price: 36 gold coins and 80 silver coins...
The two-story wooden hut that Zhang Tie used as a laboratory on the east side, with an area of 90 square meters -- number 3b90, costs 30 gold coins plus 60 silver coins...
Besides this, Zhang Tie also ordered a lot of things from Lange, clearly indicating his intention to settle down and pioneer in the wilderness. (A Baidu search for "wooden cabin" shows a complete set of simple modular furniture, various daily necessities, and a whole bunch of bottles and jars. Even Lange didn't know what Zhang Tie intended to use many of these items for. However, since Zhang Tie had placed the order, Lange was happy to note it down; such a large customer was rare. Their trading company could satisfy any needs of Prospector.)
In addition, Zhang Tie ordered four Prospector wild plant seed planting kits, two Prospector pioneer tool kits, a level-two metal processing platform, 2 tons of Rice, 2 tons of flour, 1 ton of dried meat and milk, and 1 ton of other foods that can be preserved for a long time, as well as dried fruit and canned goods.
All the items Zhang Tie ordered eventually turned into a string of numbers resembling wooden houses on Lange's form. After rounding down the change by more than ten silver coins, Zhang Tie ended up paying 237 gold coins for this purchase.
"Do you have any special requests?" Seeing Zhang Tie readily pay the bill, Mr. Lange's smile became even more enthusiastic.
"No single package of any of these items can exceed 500 kilograms!" This was Zhang Tie's requirement. "The heaviest materials should ideally be manageable by two or three people! If we're building a log cabin, we don't have enough manpower."
"No problem, don't worry about that. Considering the ease of transportation for Prospector in the wild, the maximum weight of any single packing item is 418 kilograms. Given enough time, any house can be assembled by a single person. Any other questions?"
"How long will it take you to prepare these things and deliver them to my warehouse in Black Flame City?"
We'll ship the first batch of goods to your warehouse in one hour!
"Okay, then I'll wait for you to bring the goods over at the warehouse!"
Mr. Lange, beaming, took the order and the gold coins Zhang Tie paid and left. In this era, the circulating gold coins of the human race all used standardized minting specifications. All gold coins had a constant weight of 25 grams and a standard 24k pure gold content. Forty gold coins weighed one kilogram, and the amount Zhang Tie had just paid was approximately six kilograms in his hand—quite heavy. No wonder Mr. Lange was grinning from ear to ear. This was no small deal.
This was the biggest transaction Zhang Tie had ever experienced in his life. The thought of spending over 200 of these gleaming gold coins issued by Golden Roc Bank and emblazoned with the image of a roc filled Zhang Tie with excitement, making him break out in a sweat.
Mr. Lange went out, and the bank clerk who had just served Zhang Tie came in with a briefcase. "Besides the 237 gold coins you paid at your request, there are 4763 gold coins here. You can count them!"
Counting wasn't difficult, as the gold coins were neatly packaged in bundles of 40. Zhang Tie counted them and there were exactly 119 bundles and 3 coins. They weighed about 120 kilograms in his hand. This weight was nothing to Zhang Tie now; it posed no problem at all.
"This bag of gold coins is a gift from us, because you just withdrew a large sum of cash from us. If needed, we can send a car to escort you to your designated location within Black Flame City!"
Zhang Tie glanced at the unassuming bag in his hand. The 120 kilograms of gold coins looked heavy, but actually didn't take up much volume; they were barely noticeable inside. So Zhang Tie shook his head, "No need..."
Golden Roc Bank makes very thoughtful arrangements for all customers who come here to conduct business and withdraw cash. This thoughtfulness is reflected in some details. For example, the handbag that the bank gave Zhang Tie for withdrawing cash was a very ordinary, unassuming metal tool bag without any markings. It could easily hold 120 kilograms of goods. When he carried the bag in his hand, no one would guess that it contained a huge sum of 4,763 gold coins.
As Zhang Tie was about to leave, the young bank employee arranged for Zhang Tie to exit the bank lobby through another door in the service area. This way, those who had seen Zhang Tie enter the service area empty-handed would no longer see Zhang Tie leaving with a package, which indirectly ensured Zhang Tie's safety.
After leaving Golden Roc Bank and slinging the over 120-kilogram bag over his shoulder, Zhang Tie walked lightly away from Mingguang Street. He arrived at the bus stop, boarded a shuttle bus, and arrived at another bustling area of Black Flame City in about twenty minutes.
Generally speaking, the upper-class people from Mingguang Street rarely come here. A casual outfit and leather boots in the shops on Mingguang Street might be a luxury item that they could only afford if they worked hard for a year without eating or drinking.
Here, outside the south gate of Black Flame City, is the Black Flame City Animal Trading Market, a trading place for various animals located Black Flame City, which was spontaneously organized by the citizens of Black Flame City decades ago.
Compared to the flea market next to the train station, this animal market was a completely different kind of bustling place.
The trading place for various animals was located in a banyan grove next to the southern city wall of Black Flame City. In the clearings within the grove, various animals were displayed in cages and boxes. The makeshift stalls lined up one after another, creating a lively scene. The barking of various animals, especially dogs, echoed throughout the street. Unlike Mingguang Street, which was filled with the fragrance of roses and lilacs, the most prevalent smell here was the stench of animal urine and excrement.
Important figures disdain such unclean places, but Zhang Tie, who came here, strolled around with great interest.
Cats and dogs are the most common pets here, along with various kinds of birds. Some strange animals captured from Black Flame City are also here, such as raccoons, monkeys, and wolf cubs. Other animals are brought here purely to satisfy the strange curiosity and quirks of a small group of people in Black Flame City, such as snakes, lizards, spiders, rats, beetles, and various mutated creatures.
There are also many horses and cattle here; the trading area for these two animals is a relatively large, independent area.
A large portion of the farmers and Prospector in the farms Black Flame City rely on this Animal Trading Market for their livelihood.
Gold Wolf captured from the Crescent Prairie were also brought here in cages for trade and sale. Several notice boards in this market displayed bounty offers. No matter what animal you needed or what goods you had, you could post a bounty for just one silver coin. Anyone interested would contact you.
Several local bullies from Black Flame City were responsible for maintaining order in this market area, managing a few information boards, and making a little money from it.
Black Flame City doesn't have a zoo, so this place is practically half a zoo for Black Flame City. Before working at Tang De's general store, Zhang Tie used to enjoy coming here often on weekends. His childhood dream was to own a dog, but his father thought dogs would be too dirty at home and would affect the family's rice wine business. So Zhang Tie's dream has remained unfulfilled to this day.
Even though Zhang Tie is carrying over 100 kilograms of gold, Zhang Tie realizes that his childhood dream seems impossible to realize. Buying a dog is easy, but he probably won't have time to take care of it. Whether he abandons the dog in his apartment or somewhere else, it seems irresponsible of him to do so.
After wandering around for a while, Zhang Tie arrived at a spot in the banyan forest. This place was a favorite among Prospector and farmers who settled in the wild, because the things sold here always brought joy and sweetness. You only needed to invest a small amount of money at once, and you didn't need to take care of it much. In the future, endless sweetness awaited you.
They're selling bees here.
Because many plants within the Castle of Black Iron have already flowered, or will flower in the future, they need insect pollination to bear fruit...
Because Zhang Tie wanted to see if he could bring in a large number of animals at once... and also because Zhang Tie had a small ambition: to continue the mutation and evolution of an animal...
After much deliberation, Zhang Tie realized that bringing a swarm of bees to Castle of Black Iron would satisfy all three requirements at once.
The bees sold here are quite different from those of professional beekeepers. Professional Beehive use relatively complex movable-frame Beehive, while the Beehive sold here are simply cylindrical hives, perfect for lazy beekeepers. These cylindrical Beehive are made entirely from sawn pine Beehive that are as thick as a person's embrace. After the pine logs are sawn open and hollowed out, and after some simple processing and treatment, a few sturdy wooden strips are fixed to the hollowed-out parts of the trunk, creating the simplest cylindrical grid Beehive. From the outside, these Beehive look exactly like tree stumps or wine barrels. They can be placed anywhere in the wild or hung under the eaves. During the flowering season, honey can be harvested every few months to half a year. The honey harvesting efficiency is not high, but it is very convenient.
For farmers or Prospector living in Black Flame City, simply hanging one of these things under the eaves of their houses, setting up a Beehive, and raising a swarm of bees would ensure their families never lacked sweets. If they got a couple more, they could even make a little money from it. It was truly a one-time investment with lifelong benefits.
Each Beehive already contained a swarm of bees, a honeycomb the size of a bowl, and a queen bee. After only a casual glance, Zhang Tie bought a Beehive that was even larger than a wine barrel. The total price, including the Beehive and the bees, was 16 silver coins. Zhang Tie paid 17 silver coins and asked the bee seller to deliver the Beehive he had bought to the warehouse he had reserved in Black Flame City an hour later.
To transport this Beehive to Black Flame City, all you need to do is hire a tricycle. The trip might not even cost 30 copper coins. Seeing that Zhang Tie had given him an extra silver coin, the bee seller was very happy and also gave Zhang Tie a set of honey-harvesting tools and a veil to cover his face.
After finishing all this, Zhang Tie wanted to leave and return to the city, but unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance at the Animal Trading Market — Samira...