Chapter 44

Eight O’Clock

“N-no, that won’t be necessary,” the big man stammered, avoiding Pade’s gaze and looking down at the Julian grass. “But we could buy some of this. What’s the price?”

Pade casually named a price. “100 credits per bundle. Universal credits only.”

After Chen Shan’s explanation, he understood that universal credits were more valuable!

It was a steep price, but for bandits who lived by robbing and didn’t like the trouble of gathering firewood, it was acceptable.

Pade added, “We still have to pay you guys the toll later, and I don’t exactly look like a wealthy person, right? So, buy more to help me out with the toll. Otherwise, I might just have to keep selling here in your area.”

Please don’t. That guy doesn’t look like he’s the type to sell quietly for toll money—almost every bandit around thought the same.

But he did make a good point. Whatever money he earned would come back to them as tolls. They wouldn’t get it all back, of course, but they’d get a portion, right?

Thinking this way, the bandits made up their minds. One by one, they left their “shops” to come over, not to sell but to buy.

Business was booming, and Pade had to call for help from Juan.

He bundled the grass hastily, with each bundle being roughly put together. But the bandits didn’t seem to mind the details; they chatted with him as they did business.

“What do you usually burn?” Pade asked one of the men buying grass.

“We burn Kohlrabi blocks. It burns for a long time but is expensive. If we hadn’t just raided a convoy with some, we’d be freezing.” This man, seemingly sensitive to the cold, bought five bundles straight away.

“What does kela look like?” Juan asked, looking up from tying up the Julian grass.

He was curious about things he hadn’t heard of before.

“Like this,” the man replied, taking a small, clear bottle from his pocket. Inside was a red, solid block burning quietly without a flame—or perhaps the flame was concealed within—looking warm and safe.

“Wow! Looks pretty good!” Peide exclaimed, as he examined the item. Having grown up in the climate-controlled environment of Eden, he really had no idea how they kept the temperature stable on the outside.

“Do you want it? If so, I’ll sell it to you for just five extra bundles of grass,” the man said, not bothering to put the glass bottle away, instead trying to pitch it directly to him.

“No thanks. I have plenty of grass myself. Why would I buy this?” Peide refused outright.

“Fair enough,” the man replied, slipping the bottle back into his coat before taking his grass and leaving.

Peide moved on to the next customer. While he was busily adding to his earnings, Chen Shan was concerned about the situation at the vehicles after he left.

Following closely behind Hu Xuan, Chen Shan felt a bit uneasy, though he kept his expression neutral.

Among the convoy, Hu Xuan had selected four people to accompany him—two were from his original team, and the other two were chosen from the convoy members. These were people he had briefly traveled with on a previous scouting trip, so he trusted their abilities somewhat. Moreover, bringing them along was also a way to keep things transparent, as they were discussing a significant toll fee.

Hu Xuan, who frequently went on missions, had a sharp eye for such matters.

Now, he was seated on a couch negotiating with the head of the “Paradise” base, who sat opposite him.

This was a big business opportunity for the base, and the leader, a stocky man in his thirties about the same height as Chen Shan, happened to be free and had decided to handle it himself. Although the leader had a muscular frame, he had likely risen to his position as a warlord through more than brute force; Hu Xuan remembered seeing his wanted poster in the past but couldn’t recall the details. However, as they didn’t intend to fight, it didn’t seem critical to know the man’s abilities.

“10,000 points per person is too high. As far as I know, the toll was never this much before,” Hu Xuan rejected the man’s steep demand outright.

“Heh, I heard you’re on a mission with a big group of people crossing the bridge. They don’t know the toll rate, do they? Why not just pass on my price to them and… you know the rest.” The Paradise base leader smirked, rubbing his fingers together in a suggestive manner.

Hu Xuan gestured toward the four people standing behind him. “Impossible. Not all of them are my people. The others wouldn’t just let me handle it alone for something this big.”

This was a lie; they hadn’t actually thought to assign anyone to supervise Hu Xuan. Chen Shan kept a straight face as he thought about this.

“Then…” The Paradise leader’s eyes darted around, and he slowly made a slashing motion across his neck. “Kill the ones who aren’t yours, say I did it, and tell them the toll’s 10,000 points.”

Even though the man was sitting far away, Chen Shan could almost feel a chilling breeze at his neck as if the hand gesture was directed at him.

Chen Shan’s heart tightened, but then he heard Hu Xuan refuse calmly, “Not possible. In all my missions, I don’t pull things like that.”

“I make money, but only what was agreed on,” Hu Xuan stated firmly, staring the man down.

The leader shrugged after a long pause, seemingly conceding. “Fine, looks like doing business with you isn’t going to be easy.”

“Then, 7,000 points,” he offered.

“Still too high. 2,000 points,” Hu Xuan countered, mentioning the price he knew from the past.

“No way. That’s from years ago; prices have gone up since,” the leader responded, raising his hand as he returned the price to 5,000 points.

“Too expensive. 3,000 points.”

“3,500 points,” the leader proposed again, expecting more rounds of negotiation. But unexpectedly—

“Deal,” Hu Xuan agreed.

Then—

“3,500 points per adult, but for children under 16 and seniors over 60, it’s 1,000 points each,” Hu Xuan added a new condition to his agreement.

“What? Really bringing kids along, huh?” The Paradise base leader hadn’t anticipated this.

In a post-apocalyptic world, older adults and children, while sometimes tough, were generally seen as burdens compared to able-bodied adults. Few people took them along on missions, even for important tasks.

“No choice, it’s part of the mission,” Hu Xuan replied without batting an eye.

“Well, you’re a decent guy. I’d like to do business with you in the future. For the sake of potential partnerships, I’ll agree to your terms,” the leader conceded.

“One last condition,” Hu Xuan continued, still not getting up.

“Oh?” The leader raised an eyebrow.

“Payment after crossing the bridge,” Hu Xuan said, holding his gaze.

The leader chuckled. “Experienced negotiator, I see. Alright, I agree.”

With a wave, he dismissed Hu Xuan.

Only then did Hu Xuan quickly lead the four people out.

“We could have negotiated further. Their business isn’t doing well; we might have gotten the old rates,” one of them remarked.

“But we’re out of time,” Hu Xuan muttered softly.

Another reason for his last condition was that there was a chance the base might not even last until they crossed the bridge. If they were unlucky, they might not have to pay at all.

With that thought, Hu Xuan quickened his pace.

Returning swiftly to the convoy, they were relieved to find that no conflicts had arisen with the locals. Following the guide sent by the base leader, they began to move toward the bridge. It seemed that Paradise’s “bridge business” was indeed suffering lately; the queue was shorter than Hu Xuan had seen before. Nonetheless, as the only road linking both sides, there was still some traffic. Counting the vehicles ahead, Hu Xuan silently prayed that they could get across quickly.

“Another one passed! Just one more! After the eleven cars ahead go through, it will finally be their convoy’s turn.”

Compared to Hu Xuan, who was at the front of the convoy, Chen Shan was feeling much more anxious. He was sharper than his appearance suggested, and as soon as Hu Xuan made his proposal, he realized what Hu Xuan was concerned about. To be honest, he hadn’t been that worried initially. But seeing someone as capable as Hu Xuan so cautious made him uneasy.

Leaning out of the window, he counted the vehicles behind them.

“One, two… Seriously? They’re actually fourth from last! Are we really this far back? This is bad…”

He thought this while fending off an attack from the Komira flower.

“Good heavens, why does this flower bite so hard? It almost tore through my hat!” Chen Shan grumbled as he returned to his seat in the carriage.

“Of course! Didn’t you see? That flower just bit through someone’s gun barrel! The guy said he could shoot seven of us with that gun!” Unlike his anxious brother, Ahai was thrilled, eagerly recounting everything that had just happened to him.

Learning about the recent commotion, Chen Shan felt both a sense of fear and relief. He patted Peide on the shoulder, saying gratefully, “Buddy, I knew I could count on you.”

“Thanks.”

“Luckily, I made quite a few points. With what I had before, I’ve got enough for me and Juan’s toll,” Peide replied, shrugging off Chen Shan’s hand.

Chen Shan looked at him in awe. “Speaking of which, you’re really something. Not only did you sell your goods in a den of robbers, but you even managed to sell them to those very robbers at a high price. Even if it had been me back there, I couldn’t have done what you did…”

Seeing Chen Shan’s hand reaching toward his shoulder again, Peide quickly shifted closer to Juan, ignoring him.

“3,500 points…” Feng Ruixuan’s grandfather sighed softly, looking at his grandson and seeming to come to a decision. Wang He’s sister was also in a similar predicament.

Unlike Chen Shan, who was resourceful, their savings could only afford to send one family member across the bridge…

“Ahem. If any of you are a bit short on points, I can lend you some. Just pay me back when we reach the new base,” the doctor offered after noticing their situation.

The two glanced at him gratefully.

The doctor waved them off, checking his watch, then muttered, “It’s almost 8 p.m.”

Hearing him, the two were startled, and everyone in the carriage except Juan and Peide froze.

8 p.m…

In the post-apocalypse, people had gained a lot of experience. One important lesson was this:

Try not to go out at 8 p.m., as that’s when zombies start becoming the most active.

Tick, tick… The hands of the large clock hanging on the tallest building in the base crept toward eight. The hour hand reached the “8,” and, finally, both the minute and second hands landed on twelve.

It was 8 o’clock.