The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH236

Chapter 236 — The Peddlers

The crowd gathered around the Otaku Team’s stall for the spectacle spent most of their energy observing Luo Xun and his companions, rather than focusing on the vegetables.

On the surface, Luo Xun and his team were all meticulously clean. Their hands didn’t seem to bear major calluses; this was especially true for the two ladies and the children, who were exceptionally fair-skinned without a trace of the weathered appearance typical of long, grueling hours beneath a blistering sun. Everyone looked radiant, visibly well-fed and healthy.

Regarding their attire, their clothes were completely clean, fit exceptionally well, and consisted entirely of tailored, regular clothing from before the apocalypse, showing zero embarrassing signs of being tattered or exposed.

As for weapons, though unassuming, every single member wore a compact folding crossbow strapped to their wrist—even the youngest little girl—not to mention that the waistlines of the others were noticeably bulging, suggesting they carried alternative gear as well.

Relying purely on these three markers, anyone who had struggled through the apocalypse for two years could easily deduce—the people at this stall were not to be messed with, and would likely be exceptionally difficult to cross. Although they carried weapons, judging by their neat, clean clothing and pampered complexions, there was a high probability that every member of this squad was a superpower user, and the faction backing them was bound to possess excellent strength. It was highly possible that the vegetables and fruits they were liquidating right now weren’t even cultivated by their own hands; they were merely representing the organization behind them to sell goods and barter for resources.

It had to be said that cultivating crops in a subterranean planting space carried this exact hidden perk; although the lights remained on to irrigate the fields for prolonged hours daily, none of the labor hands working inside would ever get sunburnt.

Furthermore, Luo Xun and the team had enclosed their above-ground spaces within a glass greenhouse. Although they did their best to catch some sun daily, did standing by a window frame behind glass panels to soak up the sun look anything like the weathered, exhausted appearance of labor hands struggling in open fields daily?

Crucially, since they currently guarded such an excellent coordinate, mutated animals scrambled to drink water and comfortably nest near their perimeter, allowing them to gorge on fresh meats daily without any hassle, rounded out by a continuous harvest of fresh fruits and vegetables. Naturally, every single one of them was nourished to look white and tender, appearing exceptionally pampered as if they had never known a day of anxiety over basic survival.

And as for those clothes—aside from Luo Xun’s personal apparel, which had been purchased in massive bulk before the world ended—the remaining items had been gathered during post-apocalyptic scavenger runs or exchanged with merit points earned inside the base. This merely guaranteed that the garments fit them relatively well, but because the clothes had been preserved in completely pristine condition, they had managed to endure until now. Compared to the refugees struggling beneath the poverty line who had to worry about filling their bellies daily, they were naturally in a vastly superior tier, and compared to veterans who emerged from countless life-and-death brawls with clothes riddled with massive tears and holes, they were visibly a cut above.

It was precisely this jumble of arbitrary factors that left Luo Xun and the team radiating an exceptionally powerful and bad-ass aura. They handily bluffed these hardened veterans circulating through the market, and the group who had been packing fresh greens inside their planting rooms just before setting out was seamlessly mistaken for a squad of professional combat elites—which was truly a rather speechless development.

Although Luo Xun was well aware that a great number of passing shoppers were evaluating his column, he didn’t pay it much mind. Leaving Zhang Su behind to watch the stall, he divided the remaining crew into two halves; one faction stayed to manage the sales, while the alternative team headed out to explore the market to see if they could locate items they required.

This marketplace was monstrously huge, neatly partitioned line by line into individual stall spaces. The designers had likely realized early on that the absolute majority of merchants entering to liquidate or exchange goods would arrive in vehicles, so the designated “stalls” were framed using individual parking spaces.

This way, once a merchant pulled into their slot, they could simply throw open their rear containers to expose their cargo for the public to evaluate, making loading and unloading exceptionally convenient. This layout handily combined the functionalities of a stall and a parking space, sparing the merchants from having to solve alternative vehicle storage issues, which was remarkably practical.

Currently, these lines of stalls numbered roughly twenty to thirty, and the slots along both sides of each lane faced one another. If a shopper stepped inside to browse, they merely had to weave through the lanes in a zigzag pattern to complete a comprehensive circuit of the entire market.

Luo Xun’s stall was positioned relatively deep inside, but many shoppers explicitly refrained from browsing right from the main entrance, choosing instead to wander forward from the absolute rear, which perfectly accommodated their sales.

On this trip, Luo Xun and the team didn’t particularly care whether their inventory liquidated completely. Their primary objective in visiting the market was to purchase goods; if their cargo didn’t sell, they could always fall back on direct bartering. Not to mention, they carried a massive reserve of raw crystals, meaning they possessed more than enough funds to secure whatever supplies they required.

Luo Xun and Yan Fei walked back toward the main entrance, beginning their circuit from the outermost lane to evaluate the stalls one by one.

True to form, the number of merchants who had gathered to liquidate goods was substantial. Some sold loose, inexpensive fragments of junk salvaged from the urban ruins, while others liquidated hand-crafted daily necessities. Items analogous to the metal pots, bowls, and woven straw goods Luo Xun’s team had brought were visible here as well. A few craftsmen used harvested timber to assemble wooden bowls, basins, and washboards, and there were even a few children’s toys on display, along with storage baskets woven out of anonymous dried vines.

Luo Xun evaluated that those woven baskets were remarkably practical, standing to inspect their craftsmanship for a good while before purchasing two units and letting Yan Fei sling them over his back to continue browsing.

Taking a turn like this, they indeed managed to locate a fair number of items they required. The various major bases had systematically thrown their weight into participating in this trade fair; exactly as Luo Xun and his team had targeted, the base boasting an immense hoard of textiles had arrived, and another base flanking a major coal mining sector had hauled in massive volumes of coal, rounded out by various vehicle beds showcasing native regional crops.

Luo Xun first ran an inquiry at the trucks liquidating the textiles, and the pricing caused him to suck in a breath through his teeth—currently, fabric wasn’t liquidated by the bolt; merchants sold it strictly by the meter, a single meter commanding five level-one crystals.

This overhead caused the vast majority of shoppers—including Luo Xun—to merely stand to the side as spectators, harboring absolutely zero inclination to step forward to purchase. Five crystals for a single meter, and that was for a fabric that looked exceptionally thin, made of some anonymous material, and had sat stashed for who knew how long! The options boasting slightly superior quality were even more outrageously expensive!

After watching for a brief moment, Luo Xun frowned and pulled away from the crowd, whispering a discussion with Yan Fei: “The overhead for this fabric is far too expensive. Even if we choose to buy it, the crystals we brought along won’t necessarily be able to secure much yardage.” The crystals stored at their home were immensely abundant, but no matter how wealthy they were, they had zero intention of acting like absolute suckers.

Currently, even completely finished, ready-to-wear garments could be secured for barely ten or so level-one crystals apiece, which handily spared them the labor costs of tailoring.

Yan Fei pondered for a brief moment. “If worse comes to worst, we can hold off on purchasing for now. We can wait a couple of days to evaluate how the dynamics shift.” If the entire market disdained the pricing and refused to buy, this commercial column would inevitably slash their overhead to liquidate the stock before departing. It was just that Luo Xun and the team hadn’t originally intended to linger here for too long.

Luo Xun’s eyes darted around, and he nodded, lowering his voice: “A trade marketplace of this tier is bound to be hosted again in the future. The fabric currently stored at our home is perfectly sufficient to sustain us for a fair duration; it’s just that the reserve isn’t exceptionally abundant. Let’s simply hold off and see.”

The couple finalized their strategy, comfortably loosening their minds to browse the alternative stalls.

While the stalls liquidating textiles were truly exorbitant, alternative merchants were vastly more practical. Take the coal stalls, for instance; although the overhead was slightly premium compared to pre-apocalyptic standards, the absolute quality of their coal was phenomenal. Utilizing this substance to kindle a fire and cook dinner was bound to deliver a vastly superior output than the wood logs they harvested from the wild. Luo Xun and Yan Fei completed a thorough inspection, verifying that the coal hadn’t suffered water logging or degradation, and promptly purchased a full trailer bed on the spot.

Hauling this mountain of coal back first, the two checked out what alternative merchandise the flanking stalls showcased along the way. Exactly as Luo Xun had deduced, a few stalls showcased finished garments; although the sizing was incomplete, the clothes were completely tailored, and a portion boasted remarkably decent quality, the pricing vastly more cost-effective than those initial textile trucks.

By the time the two returned to the perimeter of their own stall, they discovered that the crowd swarming their counter had grown substantially denser.

Exchanging a quick glance, they circuited from the rear to draw near their trucks. Seeing Luo Xun and Yan Fei return, Li Tie and the guys hurriedly stepped up to help shift the coal into the cargo containers.

Luo Xun tilted his chin, pointing toward the crowded counter. “What’s the story over there?”

Li Tie let out a couple of low chuckles. “It seems a few survivors who used to purchase our dried vegetable packs back when we resided inside the base happened to be browsing the market. The moment they stepped up to buy, alternative shoppers rapidly swarmed to follow their lead.”

Han Li hurriedly stepped up to clarify: “Plus, the vegetable samples we rehydrated have fully opened up. Interested shoppers conducted a thorough inspection, and a few veterans who recognize clean greens verified that they appear to be normal, non-mutated vegetation.”

Doubts and challenges naturally existed; after all, the items a merchant showcased as samples were bound to be the absolute finest pick of the batch, and it was impossible for every single vegetable to grow identically.

However, the members of the Otaku Team were completely unperturbed—buy it or leave it, the volume of cargo they had hauled out on this run was limited anyway. If smart shoppers recognized the quality and cleared the counter, that was fine; worse case scenario, they would simply cart the greens back to consume themselves, or use them to feed the quails. Even if their household couldn’t internally digest the volume, they housed an immense density of mutated wildlife right outside their base gates!

Nevertheless, having old patrons who had purchased their greens inside the base show up truly accelerated their sales velocity. Luo Xun and Yan Fei finished loading the coal into the containers, and by the time they turned back around, someone amidst the swarming crowd suddenly waved a hand to greet Luo Xun.

Freezing for a split second, Luo Xun evaluated that the individual looked highly familiar, but he couldn’t immediately recall where they had crossed paths.

The man, however, looked intensely excited, turning to point Luo Xun out to his companions while saying something, before the group forcefully squeezed through the press to reach the front of the counter.

“Are these greens cultivated by your household? Your family stopped selling fresh vegetables?”

Hearing these specific words, Luo Xun instantly snapped out of it, recognizing the man as a procurement officer for a certain independent squad that had conducted business with him previously. Smiling, he nodded to him. “Fresh greens are far too difficult to preserve properly. If we haul them out and fail to liquidate the stock immediately, leaving them out for too long means they’ll completely rot past redemption.”

“Your family hasn’t initiated contact with us for several months! I honestly assumed your household had stopped selling vegetables entirely.”

“We’ve been venturing out to execute field missions lately, so things have been intensely busy. It wasn’t until right now that we finally carved out some time to set up a stall.” Luo Xun explained with a smile, before asking, “Does your squad intend to purchase dried vegetable packs?”

“We’ll take them!” Dried vegetable packs possessed a shelf life that was vastly superior to ordinary fresh greens. This was especially true for packs containing authentic, pure greens that had been sun-dried, meaning their squad could easily consume them even when they ventured outside to execute long-distance missions. These supplies handily conserved cargo space while delivering excellent flavor, making them vastly more practical than fresh vegetables.

Backed by the patronage of their old client, nearly one-third of the dried vegetable packs and melons the Otaku Team had hauled out were instantly cleared, and the remaining stock was rapidly snapped up amidst a frantic scramble by alternative shoppers who had verified the authenticity of the greens. By the conclusion of the frenzy, the entire earth counter was left holding nothing but a loose pile of metal pots, basins, and woven straw crafts.

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