Pure, Flawless Breeding Stock

The shopkeeper immediately nodded rapidly, sniffling nonstop as though trying to catch the scent of the cigarette.

"Go on, customer. What do you want to trade for? I'll tell you everything I know."

Shen Feng nodded and glanced around the shop. There was indeed a chaotic assortment of junk, most of it dug out of ruined towns by miners.

There was even an old mountain motorcycle hanging on the wall, apparently being used as decoration.

Shen Feng's eyes lit up. He asked, "Can that motorcycle still run?"

The shopkeeper immediately put on the face of a crooked merchant. "Customer, that's the most valuable item in my shop. It's worth far more than even a legendary cigarette..."

Firefly immediately cut him off. "Oh, please. Didn't I haul that piece of junk back last year? It doesn't work at all. Even the wheels are broken."

The shopkeeper said somewhat awkwardly, "Even so, it's a memento of prehistoric civilization. It definitely counts as a treasure."

"A treasure, my ass. Go look in those half-mined ruins—these things are everywhere... You were the one who said that back then," Firefly grumbled.

Shen Feng gave a low chuckle and asked, "Do you have gasoline here? Gasoline is... a liquid that makes cars run. It has a pungent smell..."

Before he could finish, Firefly and the shopkeeper were both staring at him strangely.

Then the shopkeeper pulled an old cola bottle from beneath the battered counter. It was filled with a yellow liquid, and a strong smell of gasoline wafted out.

The purity was a little low, and there were some impurities, but it should still work.

Tilting his head, the shopkeeper asked, "Outsider, did you come from some very barren place? We have plenty of gasoline here. We trade for it from the Crow Tribe dozens of miles away... Of course, there are no cars in our town. We use it for lighting."

The Crow Tribe?

Shen Feng's heart stirred. It seemed the remnants of civilization in this world were more intact than he had expected. At the very least, vehicles still existed, and they could even refine oil.

Only newly refined fuel could have lasted until now.

"I'll take that wreck."

"Three cigarettes." The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes.

"Three cigarettes? For a broken motorcycle that can't even run? Are you robbing him?" Firefly shouted indignantly.

Without changing expression, Shen Feng said, "One cigarette at most. It's useless anyway. And you'll throw in that bottle of fuel."

The shopkeeper scoffed. "Outsider, you're not thinking of fixing that thing, are you? Give up on that. Even the best mechanic in town couldn't repair it. People from the Crow Tribe came to look at it before, and they couldn't do anything either."

Shen Feng remained impassive. "One cigarette, plus this money. Otherwise, I'm leaving."

As he spoke, he tossed out the bottle caps he had taken from the wasteland bandits.

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth. "Fine. One cigarette it is. What else do you want?"

Before long, Shen Feng and Firefly continued haggling. For half a pack of cigarettes, he bought a pile of things including the old motorcycle, along with quite a few metal parts he had spotted in the shop.

Plus two bottles of groundwater and some dried rat meat.

Firefly also sold the supermarket clearance flyer she had found, trading it for a full eight hundred bottle caps and instantly becoming a little rich girl.

Loaded down with their haul, the two returned. Shen Feng directly found an abandoned house in a corner of Nameless Town and moved in.

There were plenty of houses like this. As long as one paid taxes to the mayor, they could move right in and receive the protection of the town's security force.

To Shen Feng's disappointment, the shopkeeper knew nothing about any of the questions he wanted to ask.

When it came to the nuclear warhead, the shopkeeper had even tried to make up a story, claiming it was an egg laid by the God of East Wind. He had tried to fool Shen Feng, but Shen Feng saw through him easily.

In the end, the shopkeeper had no choice but to admit that perhaps only the mayor knew about such things, since he was the oldest person around.

After helping Shen Feng put away all the battered junk, Firefly said excitedly, "Shen Feng, thanks for this time. Even though you tied me up, you're a good person! I have money now, so I'm treating you to a meal! Come on, let's go to the restaurant!"

Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed Shen Feng by the arm and dragged him outside.

The two soon arrived at a building in the center of Nameless Town, with a sign reading "Nameless Restaurant" hanging above it.

Leading Shen Feng inside, Firefly plopped down onto a chair that was nothing but an iron frame and slapped the table. "Boss, two potatoes, four cockroach cakes, two roasted rats, and a plate of dried earthworms! Oh, and a bottle of freshly drawn well water!"

The restaurant owner and chef were the same person. He built a fire nearby and began roasting potatoes and rats, teasing her as he worked.

"Firefly got rich, huh? What treasure did you dig up?"

With a grin, Firefly said, "I dug up a piece of paper covered in divine language, with an image of a god on it too. Aren't a lot of big tribes collecting those?"

Several diners nearby immediately cried out in surprise.

"That's incredibly lucky! That'll be enough to last you through three winters... if you can keep reincarnating."

"Being a miner is better. Way better than growing potatoes or raising cockroaches."

"Tsk, tsk. Why can't I ever dig up anything good..."

The food was served quickly, since there was not much to prepare.

The potatoes had simply been roasted after being smeared with rat oil. The cockroach cakes seemed to be made from ground-up cockroaches. The dried earthworms had been washed, baked dry, and sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt.

Firefly did not care about any of that. She picked up a potato and began wolfing it down, saying through mouthfuls, "It's not as good as the food you gave me, but it won't kill you, so it's already pretty good. Hurry up and eat."

Shen Feng picked up a cockroach cake and examined it before taking a bite. Surprisingly, it was not too bad. After all, the cockroaches had been completely ground up, leaving only protein behind.

He had long prepared himself mentally for food in the wasteland. Honestly, things were already many times better than he had imagined.

Still, the taste was far too bland. With no oil and barely any salt, it could hardly be called delicious.

Shen Feng rummaged through his backpack for a while, then pulled out a bottle of Lao Gan Ma. After unscrewing the lid, he set it on the table.

Using chopsticks made from twigs, he picked up a chopstickful and placed it on a golden-brown roasted potato. One bite, and it tasted far better.

The aroma of chili oil spread through the room, immediately drawing a chorus of swallowing.

"What the hell is that? It smells incredible!"

"Could it be... the legendary seasoning?"

"It looks like the chili peppers from ancient myths! It has to be! It must be that!"

"There's even a portrait on the bottle, and divine language too. Is this a sacred relic from ancient times? Is the woman in that picture a goddess?"

The people around them murmured among themselves, drooling as they looked at Shen Feng with reverence.

Who exactly was this outsider? He possessed so many treasures.

Could he be one of the people of Peach Haven, from Peach Haven itself?

In the corner, Scar and his group were eating cockroach cakes, their eyes filled with greed. They could barely restrain themselves.

"Scar, aren't we the protectors of Nameless Town? Why won't the mayor let us rob that outsider?"

A burly man said viciously.

Scar gave a cold snort. "What the mayor wants is order and taxes. Why would he care whether we live or die..."

A hunchbacked subordinate beside him said fiercely, "I think it's time we changed mayors too... If it weren't for that Holy Gun in his hands..."

Scar lightly raised a hand and stared at Shen Feng in the distance. In a low voice, he said, "Keep it down. Haven't you noticed? That outsider doesn't seem to have any mutations on his body at all... Do you think he might be breeding stock? I heard the Crow Tribe is looking for pure, flawless breeding stock..."