Trading supplies

Chen Ye soon understood the rules of survival in this convoy.

Ordinary people still made up the majority of the convoy.

But their abilities were limited, and they could hardly get their hands on any good supplies, so trading with them for anything worthwhile was difficult.

The only people he could really trade with were the few Sequence Transcendents before him.

The convoy's leader was naturally Chu Che of the Guide Sequence.

Transcendents of this sequence were born leaders.

The convoy's management was as laid-back as Chu Che himself.

Chu Che had only one requirement for running the convoy: fairness.

Whether it was Chu Che or the most ordinary person in the convoy, anyone who wanted supplies had to either go out and find them or offer something of equal value in exchange.

Just like the people Chen Ye had seen slipping into other people's tents that night, they could survive as long as they paid a certain price.

Chen Ye had no objection to that.

In an apocalypse, finding anyone who still upheld the principle of fairness was already rare enough.

It seemed to be a way of welcoming Chen Ye, their newest Sequence Transcendent.

Chu Che, Nana, and the man still recovering from his injuries organized a small supply exchange.

Quite a few people had escaped from Apricot Blossom Town yesterday, and all of them had picked up at least some supplies.

Today's trading event was a perfect opportunity to get the most out of what they had.

There were no special rules for trading, as long as both parties agreed.

The whole event was scheduled to last two hours.

After those two hours, they would have to get back on the road.

For the survivors, who had been constantly on edge, the trading event was undoubtedly like a welcome spring rain. Rare smiles appeared on many faces.

The trunks of several SUVs were all opened.

Their occupants took out all the supplies inside and laid them out.

Chen Ye also took the supplies off his motorcycle and put them on display.

Of course, there was no way he would offer his cigarettes for trade.

Excluding Chen Ye's three-wheeled motorcycle and the few other motorcycles and bicycles in the convoy,

there were four four-wheeled vehicles in total.

Two modified SUVs, a bus, and a car.

Chu Che and Nana each owned one of the modified SUVs.

The bus belonged to the big lug of the Titan Sequence who was still recovering from his injuries.

As for the remaining car, it actually belonged to the rumored female celebrity in the convoy.

Chen Ye got to see her as well.

She was a woman in her early twenties, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt, with long, well-maintained hair.

Even with barely any makeup, her delicate features made her attractive and pleasant to look at.

She looked somewhat familiar, but Chen Ye couldn't put a name to her face.

"Hello, I'm Zhou Lan. Nice to meet you!"

Only when the woman introduced herself did Chen Ye realize who she was.

"I'm Chen Ye. I've seen your work. It's very good!"

"Thank you. I heard you have some women's clothes. Could I take a look?"

The trunks of the two SUVs and the car were all open.

Some expired biscuits and cola took up nearly half the space in Chu Che's trunk.

He wouldn't have to worry about going hungry anytime soon.

Chen Ye even found something in Chu Che's trunk that he had wanted for a long time.

A folding solar charging panel.

It was generally an essential item for hiking enthusiasts who liked venturing into the mountains and forests.

When their phones and cameras ran out of power, they could use the solar panel to recharge them.

If Chen Ye got his hands on it and upgraded it, he could even use it as a power source for an electric vehicle.

Unfortunately, what Chen Ye needed now wasn't electricity, but gasoline.

Chen Ye also found plenty of clothing in Chu Che's trunk, including outdoor jackets, fleece garments, and quick-drying clothes.

Clearly, he had collected them deliberately. In an apocalypse like this, those were the most suitable clothes.

There were also two large cans of gasoline.

Chen Ye found some strange animal pelts in Chu Che's trunk as well.

One blood-red pelt caught his attention.

"I found that pelt when we escaped from Jiang City. I don't know exactly what it does, either. If you're interested, I can let you have it cheap."

"Just give me a sack of rice."

Chen Ye hadn't expected Chu Che to have his eye on his sack of rice.

Trading a sack of rice for a pelt with a completely unknown use was out of the question.

Chen Ye politely declined.

"Tch, cheapskate. Two cartons of Chunghwa cigarettes would do, too!"

"..."

After Chu Che's outrageous demands, Chen Ye had little regard for this unscrupulous leader.

"Cheapskate!"

"What do you want for the gasoline?"

Chen Ye pointed at Chu Che's two large cans of gasoline as he asked.

Chu Che rubbed his chin. "A case of instant noodles, ten Snickers bars, and two and a half kilos of rice!"

Chen Ye considered it, then decided to keep looking.

After all, Chu Che wasn't the only one with gasoline.

Chen Ye went over to the teenage girl Nana's trunk.

The SUV's trunk was spacious, but assorted clothes took up at least a little under half of it.

Most of the food consisted of snacks and instant noodles.

There were also several neatly packaged bags of cured pork, though he had no idea whether they had expired.

There were several handheld game consoles, too.

"Chen Ye, these handhelds are all the latest models. Well? Want one? I can give you a discount. Just give me that sack of flour."

Chen Ye had no interest in handheld consoles. It was the apocalypse. Who had time to play games on those things anymore?

There were also several blades in the vehicle, both long and short.

"I found all these blades in a villa."

"Well? If you want one, I can give you a discount. How about five kilos of flour for that long blade?"

Seeing Chen Ye looking at the long blade, Nana couldn't help pitching it to him.

"Five kilos? Why don't you just rob me?"

"What do you want for your gasoline?"

"Ten kilos of rice!"

Chen Ye said, "..."

Last came the bus's supply area.

The bus had the most supplies.

That was because the supplies there didn't belong solely to the big guy. Plenty belonged to the other people on the bus.

Quite a few people were browsing the bus's stall.

The stall offered all kinds of food, including a rare abundance of canned beef and fish.

There were baseball bats, instant noodles, underwear, toilet paper, and even several Apple laptops.

There was even a whole box of Apple phones.

Chen Ye also spotted an outdoor power bank, the kind designed specifically for camping, with a capacity of two kilowatt-hours.

Chen Ye had seen power banks like that before. Better models cost over ten thousand yuan, and even cheaper ones cost several thousand.

But in an apocalypse like this, even charging them was a problem. Such high-capacity power banks were really little more than decorations.

There were also several rice cookers and microwaves.

Chen Ye did spot something he wanted.

It was a repair tool kit containing screwdrivers, socket bits, wrenches, and more screwdrivers.

When he had upgraded his three-wheeled motorcycle earlier, the system had spent a lot of extra kill points because he lacked the tools to remove the parts himself.

Now that he had been identified as a member of the Mechanic Sequence, how could he do without a repair tool kit?

"Mr. Chen, has this repair tool kit caught your eye?"

"You're of the Mechanic Sequence, Mr. Chen. With this tool kit, you could certainly get twice the results with half the effort."

"If you want it, Mr. Chen, we can give you a discount!"

A balding man in his thirties wearing glasses smiled ingratiatingly.

Chen Ye thought for a moment, then asked, "What do you want for it?"

"Five kilos of rice, or two cases of instant noodles! How does that sound?"