Chapter 182: Disguised Crystal Cores
When they left the Qingyuan city base, the ten cores he had given Lin Yimu were of this nature, hoping that Li Qing could have a better chance of survival. Perhaps… they would meet again someday?
“You’re really a treasure chest,” Ning Yuan said, holding the core and turning it over and over. “How should we price this? At least a thousand crystal cores, right? If we sell a few more, we can save some for upgrades.”
Zhuang Mingxu looked at him with a “you’re hopeless” expression. “Lu Xixi is already researching how to purify crystal core energy. If it works, maybe all the major bases will be eager to send crystal cores our way. We won’t have to worry about them being useless.”
“Really? Lu Xixi is that amazing? I didn’t realize,” Ning Yuan said, clearly surprised.
“Young geniuses aren’t just for show,” Zhuang Mingxu said proudly. “But if this thing succeeds, it means we’ll need the strength to protect it.”
“Our abilities should be pretty strong by now, right?” Ning Yuan asked. After all, the level-one ability users at the Qingyuan city base were few and far between.
“That’s just for individuals. When it comes to something that everyone wants, we’ll need enough strength to intimidate everyone,” Zhuang Mingxu said, thinking carefully.
“That’s true,” Ning Yuan agreed.
“Let’s deal with that later,” Zhuang Mingxu said, remembering the current tasks at hand. He turned to Lu Weiyi. “Before we head to the Xiangning city base, we can make a stop at a nearby base and see if we can collect some jade and stone. Your space can’t stay full like this. It’s not a huge problem, but we might miss some valuable resources along the way.”
“Sure,” Lu Weiyi agreed readily.
*
After the unexpected situation on the first day, the next few days were relatively uneventful, mostly just encountering a few more zombies. But familiar creatures were always a bit more reassuring.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, after being out of contact for three days, they finally came across a convoy of vehicles searching for supplies—three trucks and five cars.
Ning Yuan and Xu Sa hurriedly approached the group to strike up a conversation. Once they learned that they weren’t raiding supplies, the group’s attitude improved significantly. They accepted the cigarettes offered to them and didn’t hesitate to share some information.
“Call me Sister Ping. We’re from the nearby Ping’an Safe Zone. It’s currently the largest safe zone around here, just over a hundred kilometers west of this location,” the leader of the group, a woman, said. She was attractive and full-figured, moving with a graceful ease. Her personality seemed carefree and straightforward as she smoked and spoke to them, embodying the role of a big sister.
“If you’re fleeing the disaster, you can come to our safe zone. The management system there is well-organized, and everyone’s living decently.”
She scanned their group, then said, “But you don’t look like refugees. Who’s this clean during a disaster? If you’re not refugees, then no one would be heading to other safe zones at this time.”
Xu Sa chuckled, “We are refugees, actually. Our safe zone was flooded.”
“You’re from the Xiangning City base?” Sister Ping asked.
At the mention of Xiangning City, the expressions of the men and women behind her clearly shifted, and their gazes became less friendly.
“No, we’re still from the Qingyuan City base below Xiangning. Why? Have people from the Xiangning City base come to your place?” Ning Yuan asked.
“Good thing you’re not,” Sister Ping said after taking a drag of her cigarette. “There are people from there, but they didn’t come to our base. They’re numerous and set up their own base nearby.”
“They’re always trying to take our supplies. Damn them! The flood should have just washed them all away,” one woman behind Sister Ping muttered. She was dressed in clothes covered with various nails, making a rattling sound as she moved. She looked like a rebellious young girl. After speaking, she turned to Xu Sa and smiled. “Hey, little brother, why don’t you come to our base and join our team? Sister Ping is the wife of the base leader. Stick with us, and you’ll get the best food and drink.”
“Ha, ha, ha! You’re eyeing the boss, aren’t you?” a man teased.
“Get lost! You’re only allowed to look at beautiful girls, but I can’t even look at a handsome little brother?” The girl, who had just spoken, continued to tease Xu Sa. “Well, what do you think?”
“Joining is out of the question, but we do need to visit your base,” Ning Yuan responded. Given that this base was one of the larger nearby ones, it wasn’t going to be small. He remembered that Zhuang Mingxu had mentioned needing to exchange some jade there.
“Do you already have a destination?” Sister Ping asked.
“To be honest, we’re from the Capital, and we’re heading back home now,” Ning Yuan replied.
“Then why come to our base?” Sister Ping looked at the two of them with confusion, her gaze shifting to the two trucks where no one had yet appeared.
“Our young master likes jade, so he wants to exchange some jade at your base,” Ning Yuan explained.
Sister Ping laughed out loud. “Jade? You’re after the jade space, aren’t you? Ha…”
“This really isn’t the case. Our young master’s family used to deal in jade. The old man loves all kinds of fine jade. Since we’re heading back to the Capital, we want to make sure we can please him. As for the space, nowadays, even a stone has been tried in space, right? Any jade you can sell is just the regular stuff,” Ning Yuan quickly fabricated a story. He then mentioned the prices for jade they had gathered previously. “Although it wasn’t a high price, jade is essentially just stone now. It’s more worthwhile to exchange it for food.”
“Since we’ve run into you, Sister Ping, could you help us by making some connections with the major forces in your base? We’ll give you 300 crystal cores as a reward for your help. How about it?” Ning Yuan said. Three hundred crystal cores might not be much for a large team, but it was enough to level up one person a bit.
Making a connection for 300 crystal cores was practically free, and Sister Ping thought for a moment before waving her delicate hand. “No problem. Follow our cars to the base.”
Before meeting the group, Lu Weiyi had already filled the truck with supplies. Following behind them with eight trucks fully loaded didn’t seem out of place.
“Are we going into the base?” Ning Yuan asked after getting back into the truck.
“No. A few of us will go in. The rest stay outside to be on standby in case something happens,” Zhuang Mingxu replied. “We’ll also gather information about the people from the Xiangning City base, then head there directly. No need to detour to the old site.”
The convoy had barely been driving for an hour when they were attacked by zombies. Over a hundred of them rushed toward the convoy, snarling.
“Let’s give them a warning,” Zhuang Mingxu said.
“Antonio, Liu Rui, Ning Yuan, come with me. We’ll quickly deal with the zombies,” Lu Weiyi commanded through the intercom.
The two trucks stopped for a moment, and the four of them swiftly got out. Various abilities were unleashed, and before Sister Ping had even finished organizing the defense, the zombies had all been taken care of. One zombie’s head was smashed against the truck window, and there was an ice spike lodged in the back of its skull. Sister Ping froze for a moment, then saw Ning Yuan’s smiling face behind the truck.
“We’ll still need your help, Sister Ping. How can we let your people do the work? We’ll protect you on this dangerous journey,” Ning Yuan said, his tone friendly.
Sister Ping forced a smile and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Hey, I saw a fire dragon. It’s way stronger than Brother Tao’s fire dragon,” the young girl beside Sister Ping said as the truck started up again. “I also saw a foreigner throw a bunch of throwing knives, didn’t count how many, but he was much stronger than me.”
“Was the one earlier using ice spikes? That should be water-type ability. What about the other one? Did anyone see what kind of ability it was?” Sister Ping asked.
Everyone in the truck glanced at each other and shook their heads. Finally, the driver, Chen Liang, spoke. “I only saw the zombies in front of him fall to the ground. I didn’t notice anything else.”
“Sister Ping… we’re not inviting wolves into the house, are we?” the young girl asked, somewhat scared that she had provoked Xu Sa.
“…Probably just trying to intimidate us. Don’t let your guard down,” Sister Ping murmured as she gazed at the truck following behind them in the rearview mirror. “If they wanted to target our supply trucks, it would be more beneficial for them, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s true,” Xiaomei breathed a sigh of relief. “So, about the jade stones they mentioned? Should we get them for them?”
“Get them. If they want to connect, three hundred crystal cores are easy to earn. Besides, helping them promote it is no big deal. Whoever wants to trade is their business, and it has nothing to do with us,” He Ping said, seeing through it all. “We won’t have any bad intentions. Just cooperate well, and we’ll send them off when the time comes.”
Two hours later, the group arrived at the Peace Base just before nightfall.
“To enter the base, we need to pay with supplies, so not everyone will go in. I’ll stay with these two brothers for three days,” Ning Yuan pointed to Antonio and Xu Sa, and said, “The others will set up camp outside the base. We also need your people to help us promote this, these thirty crystal cores should cover our costs for the three days.”
“Also, transporting the supplies directly for settlement isn’t convenient. This one hundred crystal cores can be considered as a deposit for the supply money. Can you advance the supplies for us, please?” Ning Yuan handed He Ping one hundred and thirty crystal cores.
“Advance?” He Ping frowned. “When will you pay it back?”
“Every afternoon at six, I’ll come out to report, and pay back any debt for that day,” Ning Yuan replied.
He Ping thought for a moment, then took the crystal cores. “Alright.”
“Then, excuse us,” Ning Yuan said as he turned and took the food and any necessary supplies, following He Ping’s group into the base.
“Bro, I have experience with this. Wouldn’t it be more suitable for me to collect them?” Outside the refugee area near the base, they set up a large tent. Lu Xi walked over to Lu Weiyi and asked.
“Your ability isn’t very offensive. If something happens, you’ll be a liability. Xu Sa and Ning Yuan are smooth in handling things, they can manage situations. Antonio has the best ability and can provide combat support,” Lu Weiyi explained quietly, while Zhuang Mingxu smiled lightly beside him.
His boy was growing up, each day becoming more like a mature leader.
