This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 60 The Money Sender Has Arrived

Chapter 60: Chapter 60 The Money Sender Has Arrived

Outpost Base’s north gate.

Two fashionably dressed men, one in front and one behind, sandwiched a double-headed cow between them as they walked up to the north gate and stopped.

The one in the front held a 7mm revolver rifle, a specialty of Red River Town. Although the barrel pointed downward, his eyes constantly roamed over the enclosing wall and the surroundings, vigilant for potential dangers.

This man was strong!

That was Chu Guang’s first intuition.

As for the one standing behind, he was the very merchant Mr. Sun whom Chu Guang had encountered before.

"Haha, my old friend, we meet again!"

Upon seeing Chu Guang at the gate, Sun Shiqi’s nervous expression instantly vanished, and he opened his arms enthusiastically, walking up to greet him.

Chu Guang could smell the odor wafting from him from a distance and, unable to bear it, did not embrace him; instead, he extended his right hand.

Sun Shiqi chuckled, not embarrassed, and smoothly changed his approach to grasp Chu Guang’s right hand and gave it a hearty shake, then let go.

"Sorry, I’ve been on the road for almost five days and haven’t had the chance to take a bath. I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you!"

"No worries," Chu Guang glanced at the men standing beside the double-headed cow and cast an inquiring look at Sun Shiqi, "and who is this?"

"He’s the gunman I hired back in Red River Town, responsible for my safety along the way. There are a few trustworthy mercenary guilds in Red River Town, the people are reliable, and most importantly, they know how to avoid conflicts with the local Looters... For safety’s sake, just pretend he’s not here!"

Mercenary guild?

Likely just Looters who had washed their hands of their past deeds.

Chu Guang nodded, his gaze lingering on the double-headed cow, whose large frame had caught his interest, his eyebrows lifting in an intrigued arch.

It seemed their dried meat was selling well in Red River Town; the last deal must have made this fellow a tidy profit. Not only had he money to stock up on new goods, but he’d also hired a bodyguard.

That was a good sign.

Businesses that benefit both parties can last a long time.

"How’s the road to Giant Stone City? Is it passable?" Chu Guang asked casually.

"I didn’t go to Giant Stone City, so I’m not sure about the situation there," Sun Shiqi shook his head like a rattle, "After I left here last time, I visited a farm not far from here. By great luck, they were very interested in the remainder of my goods; I traded with them for some food and headed back."

"The city streets are too complicated; the ruins inside are like a maze. I’d rather walk ten kilometers in the Wasteland than a single mile in the city."

"You must have felt it too; this winter is probably going to be tougher than usual. The price of grain in Red River Town is skyrocketing; those big shots like mine owners and slave owners can’t stomach those dark, gritty nutrient pastes. My goods practically flew off the shelves at the trading station, snatched up by their servants almost immediately after arrival."

"I figured since it was selling so well, why not make another trip before the heavy snow blocks the roads? So I hired a bodyguard and set off, hehe."

"Selling that well? It looks like I sold it too cheap last time," Chu Guang said half-jokingly.

Realizing he was getting carried away with his success, Sun Shiqi quickly coughed and said with a forced laugh.

"You jest, my lord. We itinerant merchants bet our lives on our waistbands; we say we make some profit, but it’s really just enough to cover the trip and get by."

"Enough with the sob story. How much you earn is your own skill. Just remember, when you have the money, buy a couple more cows. Bring more goods next spring," Chu Guang cut through the nonsense and went straight to the point, "Do you have the items I asked for? Did you bring them?"

Sun Shiqi hastily said,

"I’ve brought them all! Hehe, don’t worry, I definitely won’t forget your orders!"

After mutation, a Double-headed Cow often weighed over a ton, with a carrying capacity of roughly between 700 to 900 kilograms. It had quite good mobility in both the ruins and wild terrains, slightly inferior to the mutated yak.

Apart from the 500 kilograms of coins, Sun Shiqi had also used the money he earned to purchase less than a hundred kilograms of supplies.

Among these were items of trade value, including a bag of dull yellow coarse salt that appeared to be around 10 kilograms. There were also 10 revolvers with a 7mm caliber, as well as two large bags of heavy bullets, and so on.

Although he still had some carrying capacity left, he had no extra money to buy more goods.

Under normal circumstances, traders without much wealth would take the risk of detouring to scavenge, but at this point in time, it obviously wasn’t the right thing to do.

While checking the bullets stored in the burlap bags, Chu Guang noticed that these two large bags of bullets were all made of copper?

It seemed that Red River Town didn’t lack copper.

However, compared to the die-pressed casings produced by Giant Stone City, many of the bullets from Red River Town were rolled from copper sheets, with visible dents and bumps on the casings.

No wonder they made these simply structured, semi-automatic revolvers.

A slightly more precise mechanism would probably jam after just a few shots with this kind of ammunition.

Is this the gap between industrial-type Survivor Bases and resource-type Survivor Bases?

Tossing the bullets he was holding back into the bag, Chu Guang silently noted down this intelligence.

"...How about it, sir? Are you satisfied with these goods?"

Sun Shiqi’s face bore a flattering smile.

If possible, he hoped that Chu Guang would buy all of these items.

That way, he could also bring back more dried meat.

"I’ll take all the weapons and coarse salt, and those coins," Chu Guang’s gaze fell on the last bag. He glanced at it and found some turmeric-colored powder inside, then asked, "What’s in here?"

Sun Shiqi answered with a hehe laugh,

"Insect powder! Made from dried and ground mutated yellow-browed high-legged spiders, rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, mainly used as fertilizer!"

Chu Guang nodded, indicating he understood.

As fertilizer, that should be something the Brown Farmstead wants. He hasn’t started farming here yet, so he doesn’t need this stuff.

But this did give him an idea.

He had heard from players that there were large amounts of Bird Feces Stone by the lake; maybe he could try making some fertilizer to sell to Brown Farmstead.

At that moment, Sun Shiqi suddenly remembered something and walked over to the side of the Double-headed Cow. He opened a leather wrap hanging there and took out a glass bottle.

The mouth of the glass bottle was stuffed with a cork, and the cork was pierced with some small holes for ventilation. Inside the bottle, a fist-sized ant was packed, swaying its visibly large limbs and antennae, looking quite unsettling.

Chu Guang stared at the bottle with interest for a while, then asked,

"Is this the Iron Back Ant?"

Sun Shiqi said with a smile,

"Exactly! We usually use it for feed or something else. Someone at the trading post happened to be selling it, so I bought a bottle."

After playing with the bottle for a while, Chu Guang looked at Sun Shiqi and asked,

"How much?"

Sun Shiqi waved his hands, saying,

"No, no, no, my friend, you misunderstand. This is a gift I am giving to you, free of charge."

"Oh? Then thank you."

Chu Guang naturally wouldn’t refuse such a good deal and decisively accepted the gift.

As for a return gift?

It was out of the question.

Allowing this guy to do business with him was already the greatest favor.

Seeing that Chu Guang accepted the gift, Sun Shiqi’s face was filled with a smile.

"You’re welcome, it is my honor to have your friendship... Look, it’s getting late, shall we talk about the details of the trade?"

Chu Guang nodded and said just one word,

"Sure."

...

Unlike the merchants from Giant Stone City, most of these itinerant traders from other regions didn’t recognize chips as money, they either had their own currency or simply did without money at all.

Therefore, in general, when conducting inter-regional trades, people bartered goods, and there wasn’t a fixed "price."

Although he had received a gift symbolizing friendship from Sun Shiqi, after all, friendship couldn’t be eaten. During the bargaining, Chu Guang didn’t consider personal ties at all and didn’t give any concessions.

Are you kidding?

Who could be more thick-skinned than salespeople?

The 500 kilograms of coins were still priced according to the previous agreement, 100 kilograms for 4 kilograms of dried meat, totaling 20 kilograms of dried meat.

Chu Guang had always been a man of his word; he didn’t intend to go back on an agreed deal, especially as there was no need.

Both parties happily came to a consensus.

However, the happy part ended there.

Just a few minutes earlier, Sun Shiqi had naïvely thought that the man before him was easy to talk to, until this man blurted out the ridiculous proposal of "3 kilograms of dried meat for 1 kilogram of salt."

"Sorry, did I hear you wrong... perhaps you said 1 pound?"

Chu Guang replied unflinchingly, as he had expected this reaction,

"You heard me correctly. I said 1 kilogram, 1 kilogram of coarse salt."

"That’s impossible!"

Sun Shiqi almost reflexively exclaimed, his previous subservience replaced by indignant argument,

"You must be joking! The smoked meat here is made with baking and drying techniques, it hasn’t been cured at all, it can’t be worth that much!"

"Oh?"

Seeing that Chu Guang was still unmoved, Sun Shiqi took a deep breath and continued in a more conciliatory tone,

"Alright, you’re not a merchant after all, you might not understand the market... Let’s do some calculations. If I were to take these 10 kilograms of coarse salt to Giant Stone City, for every 100 grams, I could get at least one point in chips!"

Chu Guang didn’t respond.

He hadn’t actually been to Giant Stone City and only knew that the coarse salt, which was wax-yellow with a bitter taste and only consumed by poor people, cost 2 chips per 100g at Old Leech’s on Bet Street, expectedly double the price.

But what did it matter?

Old Leech had tripled the price of grain!

Discussing prices in the Wasteland was pointless.

Wetting his dry throat, Sun Shiqi continued,

"100 points in chips! If I trade these chips for electronics, industrial products, or daily essentials at Brown Farm, I could get at least 300 kilograms of green wheat. If I were to trade this grain for smoked meat, it would have to be at least 60 to 75 kilograms to be fair."

"So the lowest price I can accept is 60 kilograms, which means 1 kilogram of salt for 6 kilograms of smoked meat! For the sake of our friendship... 59 kilograms, that’s the lowest I can go!"

"And that’s my biggest concession!"

Sun Shiqi felt he had made his case as simple and clear as possible.

Even if these hoarders sheltered in the refuge hadn’t traded in the Wasteland, they should at least be able to understand his "hardships."

However, after listening to his spiel, Chu Guang just smiled.

Sun Shiqi was right about one thing.

He was certainly no merchant.

If someone saw him that way, that was far too small-minded.

But to think he didn’t understand business?

Heh.

"You are right."

Sun Shiqi’s expression brightened.

But before he had a second to enjoy it, Chu Guang’s next words made the happy expression freeze on his face,

"...So, my friend, why don’t you do it?"

Looking at his long-traveled friend with a smile, Chu Guang said softly,

"What I mean is, if you want to trade 300 kilograms of green wheat for 59 kilograms of smoked meat, I’m not opposed."

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