Chapter 145: Hunting
When you have absolute strength, you can thrive anywhere.
While Xia Lu Nong and his companions sold fish at the market, they encountered no trouble—not even the usual thugs asking for protection fees dared to approach them.
After selling all the fish, they returned to the hotel to take stock and realized they had made quite a profit.
Yan Xi Nian laid out the goods and black gold coins they had earned and thoughtfully said, “For experts like us, earning resources here is much faster and easier than at our base.”
Xia Huo Qu replied calmly, “That’s only natural. Our base has a limited population and a tiny market. It’s impossible to sustain many merchants.”
Yan Xi Nian patted the black gold coins in his hands and said, “Looks like it won’t be easy to build a large base ourselves.”
Xia Lu Nong, however, was more concerned about something else. “Brother, with the resources and black gold coins we’ve earned, how many seeds can we trade for?”
Xia Huo Qu replied, “We’ll check the market tomorrow and find out. We still have more fish, so we can sell another batch. We can go outside and pretend to fish, then unload the fish into the truck at night. We should be able to pull this off for a few days without raising suspicion.”
Yan Xi Nian agreed, “That works. Our supplies are well-hidden. We can drive out under the pretense of fishing during the day and load up the truck when we return at night. As long as we don’t do it too often, no one should catch on.”
Xia Lu Nong sighed, “I don’t mind the plan, but if we go out fishing every day, it feels like the amount of resources we’ll have to hand over will be massive.”
Even the local residents found the entry fees to Black Gold Base hard to bear. Although they were relatively well-off, paying those fees still stung.
“Well, we can save on accommodation costs,” Xia Huo Qu said. “We’ve seen enough of Black Gold Base. Starting tomorrow, we’ll stay with Xiong An Tian and his group again.”
Everyone agreed with the plan.
After taking stock of their resources, they ate some takeout fried rice and went to bed to rest up for the next day.
Xia Lu Nong usually slept soundly and wasn’t particular about where he slept. However, that night, he was awakened in the middle of the night by noise outside.
Surprised, Xia Lu Nong lifted his head and locked eyes with Kong Zhi.
Outside, they could hear the sounds of cars, street vendors, and people chatting—almost like it was daytime.
Kong Zhi got up, pulled the curtains aside, and looked out the window.
Xia Lu Nong quickly got out of bed to join him.
They soon realized that beneath the streetlights, a row of stalls had been set up.
Many fully or partially beastified people were moving between the stalls, and the night market appeared even livelier than during the day.
“What’s going on? Do they only set up their stalls at night?” Xia Lu Nong found it hard to believe. “Don’t they need to sleep?”
Kong Zhi looked at a leopard-man on the street and said, “It looks like most of the people out there are nocturnal beast-shaped beastmen.”
Xia Lu Nong, reminded by this observation, also noticed, “Are they giving in to their beastly instincts?”
“Probably,” Kong Zhi said. “If they are nocturnal beastmen, they would gain more strength at night, so it’s not surprising they’d be more active after dark.”
“No, I still find this strange,” Xia Lu Nong murmured. “It feels like they’re abandoning human civilization and fully transitioning into a beastman culture.”
The two stood by the window for a while in silence.
Xia Lu Nong started to feel cold, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the weather or the unsettling scene below.
Kong Zhi reached over, pulled a coat around Xia Lu Nong, and asked, “Since we’re awake, do you want to go down and see what they’re selling?”
Taking a deep breath, Xia Lu Nong replied, “Let’s go. Let’s check it out.”
The soundproofing in their room wasn’t great, and Xia Lu Nong guessed that his brother had also been woken up. After getting dressed, he decided to knock on his brother’s door.
He knocked softly, planning to stop if there was no response, but to his surprise, the door opened immediately.
His brother and Yan Xi Nian were fully dressed and ready. “Bring everything with you. We’re going down to take a look.”
Xia Lu Nong hurried back to grab his huge backpack, and then he and Kong Zhi joined the others as they headed outside.
At some point, snow had started falling, light flakes dancing under the streetlights and lightly covering the road.
The snow didn’t seem to affect the vendors’ business at all. The stalls were neatly set up, and many Black Gold Base patrol officers were on duty, their presence even more noticeable than during the day.
The four of them walked down the street.
The stalls sold all sorts of items, and people negotiated prices directly with the vendors.
Xia Lu Nong soon noticed that many of the people outside the base didn’t accept black gold coins. They only traded goods.
In a low voice, Xia Lu Nong told Kong Zhi, “I think the Black Gold Base is the main city, and the people living around it are like a secondary city, forming a protective ring around the base.”
“Maybe,” Kong Zhi replied. “As a base grows, it naturally expands outward, though I didn’t expect Black Gold Base to grow this quickly.”
There were many stalls, but they only browsed the ones that interested them.
Before long, they spotted seeds from the Black Gold Base being sold at one of the street stalls.
The most common seeds were for seasonal vegetables like radishes, cabbage, bok choy, and rapeseed.
These seeds were expensive, and every vendor claimed that they were the latest varieties produced by the Black Gold Base.
Yan Xi Nian led them to a vendor who seemed more straightforward and motioned for Xia Lu Nong to take a look.
Curious, Xia Lu Nong grabbed a handful of seeds and examined them.
He could feel the intense vitality within the seeds, but the energy seemed unbalanced. He suspected that once these seeds grew into plants, they wouldn’t be able to produce viable offspring.
Yan Xi Nian noticed Xia Lu Nong’s expression and immediately knew what he was thinking. “You want them?”
“Yeah,” Xia Lu Nong replied. “But we should first see how much these seeds cost. If they’re too expensive, forget it.”
The vendor, noticing their interest, enthusiastically said, “Don’t worry, my seeds are some of the cheapest in the entire base. If you find seeds cheaper than mine, come back, and I’ll give you a refund!”
Yan Xi Nian smiled. “You say that now, but after we leave, who knows if we’ll find you here again.”
The vendor laughed. “Oh, I won’t be going anywhere. I’m trying to build up a regular customer base, so I won’t be moving easily. How about this—name your price, and if it’s reasonable, we can trade.”
Yan Xi Nian replied, “You should name a price first. If it’s too high, we’ll check out other vendors.”
Initially, the vendor thought he could overcharge them based on their appearance, but seeing Yan Xi Nian’s confident demeanor and expression, he realized that probably wouldn’t work. So, he offered a fair price.
Xia Lu Nong and his companions had already asked around about the prices of seeds while selling their fish earlier. Hearing the vendor’s price now, they knew it was reasonable, so they nodded and traded for 500 seeds of each type.
Surprised by their willingness, the vendor even threw in five extra pepper seeds. “Once spring comes, you can start growing pepper plants. These peppers are of excellent quality. If you’re interested, you can take some of these seeds back too.”
Xia Lu Nong took the pepper seeds and examined them, immediately sensing that their vitality was much weaker compared to the cabbage seeds and others.
It seemed that the pepper seeds had been stored for a while, and their life force had weakened over time.
He accepted the seeds without saying anything and had no intention of buying more.
The vendor, disappointed by his lack of interest, said nothing more and simply invited them to return next time.
Xia Lu Nong and his group didn’t plan on collecting all the seeds from the small street stalls. After their purchase, they continued browsing.
In addition to the street vendors, the market and stores they had visited during the day were still open.
While the stores’ decor was rather rough, the items they sold were of high quality.
They found a variety of weapons and even scientific testing instruments in some shops.
However, these items were incredibly expensive. With the resources they had on hand, they could only afford a few things.
After browsing, Yan Xi Nian said, “We have plenty of time. Let’s wait until we’re ready to leave the base before making any trades.”
Xia Lu Nong, however, couldn’t help but glance longingly at a testing instrument.
It was priced at 1,600 black gold coins—an amount that seemed out of reach for them.
Even if they pooled all their resources, they could only just manage to buy it.
Kong Zhi patted Xia Lu Nong on the back, signaling for him to move on.
They continued browsing.
As they ventured into a dimly lit area, they noticed several men and women standing outside various doors, all quite attractive.
Xia Lu Nong took one glance and immediately understood what kind of business they were in, quickly averting his eyes.
His flustered expression drew some light laughter from the onlookers.
Kong Zhi stepped forward, shielding him, and gave the people in the shadows a warning glance.
The laughter quickly died down, and the figures retreated into the darkness.
Xia Lu Nong sighed and continued walking, carrying his backpack.
For those with plenty of resources, Black Gold Base was probably a paradise, where anything could be traded for. But for those without enough resources, this place wasn’t as wonderful.
People without sufficient goods had to find ways to earn their food and pay taxes to avoid being expelled from the base. If they were kicked out, they would need to gather even more resources to get back in.
Job opportunities inside the base seemed limited, and it wasn’t easy for ordinary people to establish themselves here.
For those unable to find enough resources to sustain themselves outside, life inside the base would likely be even harder.
After wandering around, they realized there wasn’t much they could do about the social situation. With that, they returned to the hotel in a somber mood and went to sleep.
The next morning, the four of them woke up well-rested, checked out of the hotel, and drove their truck out of the base.
As they were leaving, one of the guards reminded them that they would have to pay entry fees again if they returned.
They all acknowledged the warning.
After leaving the base, they headed back to where they had stayed before and went to find Xiong An Tian.
Xiong An Tian was out gathering supplies, but Mai Dong was still there.
Mai Dong had been injured the day before. He had treated the wound but was still resting and didn’t seem able to move around easily.
Noticing the blood-stained bandage on Mai Dong’s leg, Xia Lu Nong couldn’t help but ask, “How did you get hurt?”
“I was bitten by a wild animal. It’s nothing serious. I have strong regenerative abilities, so I’ll be fine in a couple of days.” After pouring them some water, Mai Dong asked, “Why are you back so soon? Did you get everything you wanted?”
Yan Xi Nian replied, “We used up most of our supplies. We plan to go hunting for a couple of days before returning to the base. Do you know where there are a lot of wild animals nearby?”
Mai Dong smiled faintly, his face still pale. “There are wild animals everywhere. Black Gold Base is such a large place that the beasts see us as their food reserves. You can hunt anywhere.”
