Guo Fei especially wanted to complain that Chen Jianguo was a real miser, but he could only sigh and quote a price that made him feel embarrassed for Chen Jianguo: “Twenty-five mutated fruits for awakening abilities, and twenty-five mutated fruits for enhancing abilities.”

“Damn, he’s gone crazy, daring to ask for such a price,” Nan Muran said, her brows twitching as she heard the quote. Her usually gentle voice involuntarily raised in volume.

Si Ye, standing to the side, also felt that Chen Jianguo’s price was a bit too much.

Chen Jianguo didn’t know that Nan Muran and her group had big trees and pink mutated fruits on hand.

So, he was estimating the stock in Nan Muran’s possession based on the quantity of fruits that Han Yingting and his group brought back. After calculations, the five trees they had produced a total of 138 mutated fruits.

However, out of those 138 fruits, he was asking for fifty—over 30% of the total.

Guo Fei looked at Nan Muran, who was holding back her laughter.

Just from the tone of her voice, he could tell that Chen Jianguo had once again hit a brick wall and was likely going to step on his own foot: “He just made an offer. He doesn’t want to negotiate with me. He said he wants to wait for you to return.”

“Negotiate with me? Does he think I’m easy to talk to? That I can be fooled? Is he stupid?” Nan Muran said, extremely displeased. “I won’t negotiate with him. Tell him twenty at most. If we can make the deal, then fine. If not, we’ll just move our shop to another base. Don’t forget, I went to the Lan City Safe Base last time, and that Young Master Zhou over there is not bad.”

That afternoon, after arranging everything, Nan Muran and her group set off for the hillside villa.

When Chen Jianguo and Han Yingting’s group learned they were returning, they immediately came over, but they were still a step too slow.

Upon hearing Guo Fei’s recounting, Chen Jianguo’s usually stiff face twitched involuntarily: “Twenty? You’ve directly cut it by sixty percent.”

Fifty fruits was a bit too much, but wasn’t twenty a bit too few?

Han Yingting, hearing this, subconsciously exchanged looks with the others—Fifteen, Cheng Cheng, and Xiang Ximo—feeling that the price Chen Jianguo offered was already quite shocking, and that Nan Muran had been generous not to directly explode.

“Isn’t the price the point, Captain Chen?” Guo Fei leisurely sipped his tea and reminded them. “The point now is, if you don’t make a deal, she’ll just move the shop to the Lan City Safe Base. She also said Young Master Zhou there is a good person.”

Without hesitation, Cheng Cheng added, “Young Master Zhou probably sees Nan Muran as an idol and will likely just give her a place to set up her shop.”

“Indeed,” Han Yingting nodded.

Chen Jianguo glared angrily at Cheng Cheng and Han Yingting, wondering if these two idiots even knew which way to turn their elbows.

Then he turned to Guo Fei: “What’s good about the Lan City Safe Base? It would be much better to set up a shop right outside our own door. Later, we can just open a branch there.”

“Who told you to ask for such a crazy price—fifty mutated fruits? Your own people fought tooth and nail to get a few, and you dare ask for fifty,” Guo Fei shot straight and hit hard.

“I was just thinking it’s so difficult, right?” Chen Jianguo felt his hair almost turning white with worry. “Brother, can you help me out here? Twenty is too little. Can we at least add a bit more?”

“Muran has always been someone who sticks to her word. Besides, that place is just sitting there empty, so it’ll be fine as it is. It’s not like anyone in this base can afford the price you’re asking for,” Guo Fei gave him no face at all. The two had been working together for a while, and since they respected each other, there was no need for pretense.

Chen Jianguo sighed and sat down. “There are too few abilities in the military. Recently, the teams have been facing large zombie hordes, and once they enter extreme cold areas, the situation becomes more complicated. I’m really at my wit’s end.”

“Then you should really let Muran open that shop,” Guo Fei, who understood the situation at the base, suggested.

As a member of the West City Safe Base, Guo Fei also wanted things to improve and become safer, but not at the expense of Muran’s interests.

“What do you mean?” Chen Jianguo asked, curious.

Guo Fei explained that the store Nan Muran wanted to open would offer something of value.

“‘Qihuoju,’ sounds a bit old-fashioned. Is she going to sell high-level crystal cores and mutated fruits there?” Chen Jianguo suddenly felt hopeful.

“What do you think? Since the apocalypse began, whatever is most precious is what Qihuoju will have. Trading and exchanging will all be possible there,” Guo Fei calculated in his head. The most important customer for Qihuoju had to be locked in.

Chen Jianguo stared at Guo Fei for a long time before it clicked: this guy was clearly on Nan Muran’s side. “Alright, you’re still closest to your sister.”

“She’s like a sister to me,” Guo Fei admitted frankly.

“Fine, we’ll go with her price. But I want fifteen mutated fruits for awakening abilities and five for enhancing abilities,” Chen Jianguo thought about Nan Muran opening Qihuoju and began to consider what the military could exchange with her.

“Deal.”

When Nan Muran and her group returned to the hillside villa, the vast open space outside was filled with barking dogs, howling wolves, and blurry shadows as figures moved at incredible speeds.

They didn’t even have time to pay attention to them.

“What’s going on here?” Eagle looked at the front of the villa, where the wolf pack, led by Xuan Yue, and the dog pack, led by Tank, were in disarray, his pupils widening as he marveled at the scene.

Nan Muran, seeing the chaos in front of the villa, felt a headache coming on from all the fur flying around.

Si Ye glanced outside and smiled lightly. “Don’t mind them, it’s all part of figuring out the pecking order.”

Nan Muran understood the situation and, with no intention of stopping it, got out of the car and walked straight into the villa, ignoring the battle outside.

“Has Muran returned?” Bai Mei looked at Nan Muran with warmth in her eyes.

“Sister Mei.” Nan Muran was about to approach Bai Mei when a grey-white shadow suddenly flew into her arms—soft and warm.

Big Fu: “Meow, why are you so late?”

Nan Muran reached out to pet the little guy’s head, looking at its now 80+ centimeter form. “When did you grow so big?”

“I don’t know what happened, it’s just been growing,” Bai Mei said with a laugh.

The others followed Nan Muran inside. Xiao Qi Jin, seeing the luxurious and meticulously decorated villa, started feeling uncomfortable and restrained.

Eagle immediately sensed his unease. “Sister Nan, where will Xiao Qi Jin stay?”

“Either the first or the third floor is fine,” Nan Muran turned back to look at him, reaching out to pat his shoulder. “Don’t be nervous. From now on, just treat this place like your own home. This is Sister Mei, and this little rascal is Big Fu. The ones fighting outside are Tank, Tianlang, and the others—you’ll get to know them all soon enough.”