Chapter 25 - Hot Sales

Professor Li actually said that after Wu Ye left, their living standards plummeted. Qin Wuhua's ability to kill zombies was very potent, but the crystals earnt that weren't spent to help cultivate his ability went straight into bullets and gasoline. He didn't have Wu Ye's cheating way of making money, and Qin Wuhua himself had some other plan.

In addition to this, as soon as Wu Ye left, a new type of zombie was discovered, causing prices in Lan Cheng to soar. Where could he go to be able to purchase enough meat for their three meals a day? Of course, under Qin Wuhua's care, they were still able to eat until they were full.

In the apocalypse, Ji Yun's strength in battle was not high, and he became a nobody struggling in the middle of the lower class people. As such, his awareness for hardship had already been engraved deep in his bones. When he was on duty, he saw the ferocity of the new zombies from afar, and immediately persuaded Qin Wuhua to buy enough food, bullets, spare guns, and gasoline to keep at home. Facts had proven Ji Yun's preparation for a rainy day was not a mistake. The next day, which was just yesterday morning, the price of food in Lan Cheng base doubled and soared. The trading area was in complete chaos, and the small vendors who usually set up stalls outside had disappeared. Only the local stores were still open while being guarded by fully armed base guards.

When food prices soared, it was inevitable that some people would make trouble. Ji Xiang, the man in charge of Lan Cheng base, strongly declared that all troublemakers would be executed and their families would be expelled from Lan Cheng base.

Seeing that the zombie army was about to attack the base, there was only one way out of the base. As such, regardless of how much dissatisfaction the survivors had, they held their grievances in their stomach and queued up to buy food. However, how long could such a high-pressure policy be able to maintain the peaceful and calm environment?

As time went on, there were survivors who became more and more impetuous. Ordinarily, these small disputes and misunderstandings only needed a few words to be settled. With present situation though, they immediately rose into square offs.

Wu Ye had only stood by the window for less than half an hour, but he had already seen several outbreaks of fighting.

Lan Cheng would be very chaotic in near future.

Soon, when the night fell, Yang Qi and Yang Li Na came to visit with their big customer.

The big customer was called Zhou Cang. He was an intermediate second-order ability user with healing ability. Although he was not young, he was famous in Lan Cheng. In the era where medicines were lacking, the healing power of Zhou Cang wasn't popular with the common people. His ability couldn't cure headaches, but it was very effective in healing wounds. Hence he mixed with several strong permanent teams in Lan Cheng, muddling along with wind and water, and made a lot of money in the process. Therefore, he had longed to go to the super base, the Capital, idling around where the level of security is higher.

However, the upper echelon of Lan Cheng had painstakingly used generous conditions to hold onto him all these years so that he had no choice but to stay. Yet now that the rare chance to go up north for free had came, he'd be foolish not to take up the offer. Furthermore, it's through the air route with the highest level of security.

Zhou Cang knew that he had a lot of crystal nuclei, gold, silver, and jewelry in his possession. However, when he got to the Capital, with its high prices, what sort of things could he buy with just this small amount of money? So, knowing that the Capital had sent a special airplane to pick up second-level ability users, he had been thinking of bringing some valuable goods of the past. By chance, at this time, Yang Li Na came to his door and asked him if he wanted to buy cigarettes.

"Young Master Wu, the quantity I want to buy is quite large. Can you give a larger discount on the price?" Zhou Cang's eyes were very sharp. He looked at Wu Ye's white and tender face, his elegant clothes, and figured that he was not inferior to Ji Chong, the son of Ji Xiang, the top person in Lan Cheng. Combined with Yang Qi and Yang Li Na's high praise, and the goods he took out, he was certainly not an ordinary person. Hence, he spoke to him with respectful tone.

Wu Ye is the second in the family, and since the meaning of the second word was not good, most outsiders called him Young Master Wu directly. So, when Zhou Cang called him that, there was no sense of discomfort. He simply accepted it as his due. But, in Zhou Cang's point of view, that was not the case.

"For the sake of Ah Qi's face, I can give you a discount up to 5 crystals at most." There was no need to worry about if he was going to sell the goods, as Wu Ye could see that Zhou Cang really wanted to buy the goods.

Zhou Cang didn't expect the relationship between Wu Ye and Yang Qi to be so close, due to their relationship having a vague superior and subordinate feel to it. He had just inspected the goods from Yang Qi, and the quality was extremely good. With the price offered by Wu Ye, he could at least double it after they were shipped to the Capital. If all went well, there would definitely be no problem to sell a pack for a thousand crystals.

"The total amount of crystal nuclei in my hand is about 30000 crystals."

Wu Ye's ability to calculate mentally was good, "Rounded, for 30000 crystals, I can give you 102 packs of cigarettes."

Zhou Cang's eyes lit up: "I still have a lot of gold and jewelry in my hand."

Wu Ye deliberately made himself look uninterested, shook his head, and refused: "Lan Cheng's recent situation is not good. Once there is a panic, gold and jewels are not as good as the crystal nuclei in terms of value."

Zhou Cang knew this to be the truth. What's more, he was not allowed to carry more than 30 jin of luggage on the plane. He was not allowed to carry more than the amount of gold in his hands.

"Young master Wu, the two of us are frank and straightforward people. We should stop haggling over price. Now, in the market, 5 grams of gold can be converted into 1 crystal. I, meanwhile, will use 10 grams of gold to be converted into 1 crystal. As for the other jewels, how about giving me a discount?"

In apocalypse, gold remained the only government-authorized form of currency. However, while jewelry like jade, pearls, and diamonds could be used as currency, they were not as popular. So, the price for these items were generally something that needed to be negotiated between the buyer and seller. Therefore, these items always experienced great fluctuations in value for every transaction.

"Alright, concerning this, we'll do as you say. While I don't have a lot of goods here, regardless of Ah Qi's face, I can only give you 200 packs in total at most. Now, it's up to you."

The way Wu Ye spoke was very skillful. He not only brought up his relationship with Yang Qi, giving him a lot of face, but also implemented a hunger marketing strategy. At the same time, he also revealed a message that he had stock in his hand, but also that there was not that much.

Zhou Cang was a smart man. After thanking Wu Ye, he asked Yang Qi to accompany him back to help carry things over. During the trip, he didn't stop talking to Yang Qi, trying to worm some information out of him. However, Yang Qi himself didn't know all of Wu Ye's plans, so how could he tell others in detail? Today, Wu Ye had not only given him a way to earn money, but also gave him enough face. Thus, he couldn't be sloppy on behalf of Wu Ye. So, intentionally or otherwise, he revealed that Wu Ye had a rare peak second-order thunder ability user, and an intermediate second-order wind ability user (Qian Xin). As for what Zhou Cang made of the information, that's none of his business.

When Zhou Cang came back from his home carrying the crystal nuclei that he needed to pay, his attitude was even more respectful than before.

Wu Ye didn't know the price of jewelry, so Ji Yun, who had been mixing with Lan Cheng base's local for a long time, helped to evaluate it. Had Ji Yun never been through any of this? He knew the procedure already so the price he offered was fair and reasonable. After the transaction, Zhou Cang was convinced.

"Young master Wu, I still have a few friends who are close to each other. They also want to get some valuable goods to bring to the capital. Do you think you could sell them the rest of your stock evenly?" Zhou Cang held the 20 bags of cigarettes as he opened his mouth to probe for details.

Wu Ye raised his eyelids and said, "There are only 10 left. After tonight, the price may not be the same as it is now."

Zhou Cang licked his dry mouth, heart beating wildly. "I'll let them know right away."

Wu Ye's subordinates were two second-order ability users. Yang Qi and Yan Li Na, this pair of brother and sister, were also second-order ability users, and seemed to have a lot of dealings with him. Surveying the whole Lan Cheng base, the people who managed to reach second-order level were notable figures. So far, there were 120 people who had reached peak second-order level, all of whom were registered with the base lord. Who actually dared to not give the Lan Cheng base lord the knowledge ? In the present crisis, Wu Ye agreed to let his people contribute, combined with the scarce goods he owned, who knew what his circumstances would look like in the future?

"I really don't have much. You and your friends better keep a low profile. I'd like to live a peaceful life."

"No problem. I promise they won't say anything."

After a while, Zhou Cang's friends all came directly, carrying the crystal nuclei, gold, and other things required to purchase cigarettes.

Second young master Wu 'couldn't bear' their attempt at coaxing and pestering. In the end, he sold them 15 bags of cigarettes in total.

Wu Ye never expected that the fake cigarettes he brought would be so easily sold out, leaving only 10 bags left.

"Rich, rich!" Wu Ye held the canvas bag stuffed with gold and jewels. He was so happy that he rolled around on the bed. Meanwhile, Qin Wuhua kept an eye on him, worried that he would fall off of the bed.

Just tonight's transaction alone had netted him not only valuable gold, but even priceless jade. When he got back to HuaXia and sold all of these golds, he could earn millions. Furthermore, amongst the jewels traded, there was a palm-sized sheepskin jade pendant. From the first sight, it was obvious that it's an old object. And, for any antique shop or jewelry shop, it was easily a treasure. Even if it's sold through an underground channel, it could be sold for at least a million. And Wu Ye had managed to complete the transaction with some fake goods from Zhonghua. It was all thanks to his extensive experiences, otherwise, he'd certainly have let the cat out of the bag.

"Emma, acting cool is a motherf***ing art. This time, it's thanks to you and Qian Xin that I can suppress the gathering." Wu Ye knew that his low strength was a major fault. Furthermore, he's pretty worried about Lan Cheng's upcoming crisis. So, he decided, when he had raised enough points, he'd unlock the primary gene-chain.

Besides, no matter what the reason, the most uncomfortable thing for second young master Wu was the fact that as the boss, his strength was too far apart from his younger brother. Irrespective of whether the younger brother would have a second heart or not, he would still lose face if he remained like this.

Qin Wuhua usually saw Wu Ye acting aloof in front of people, but behind that, when he's alone with him, he immediately revealed his simple-minded nature just like a child. His unguarded behavior in front of him made him feel all soft and warm inside. For the first time, he thought that he really didn't want other people to see this type of foolish looking Wu Ye.

He couldn't help but reach out and rubbed Wu Ye's messy hair, a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. "You're the eldest brother, and this is all what we should do."

Wu Ye was a little unhappy at this and he patted Qin Wuhua's hand. He felt that his tone was similar to coaxing little children, and there was a feeling that his 'majesty of the eldest brother' had been affronted.

However, Wu Ye himself didn't realize that he didn't hide his mind in front of Qin Wuhau. Of course, since many times Qin Wuhua acted as his 'second', Wu Ye subconsciously felt no need to be wary.

Qin Wuhua regretfully took back his hand before he sternly said, "You absolutely can't tell anyone else that you can shuttle between two worlds."

Wu Ye put the canvas bag aside, scratched his hair, and said, "I'm not a fool. You're the only one who knows my secret. If someone else finds out, I'll ask for your account!"

'You're the only one who knows'. It was just eight short words, but for a few seconds Qin Wuhua was shocked.

"You can rest assured. Even if I die, I won't tell your secret to a third person."

"Don't be so serious. You make me feel embarrassed. If someone threatens to kill you, and you're forced to betray me, I won't blame you." At worst, we could just move to another place. As long as he had saved enough for gene repair solution, he wouldn't return to this man eat man world.

Qin Wuhua didn't speak, but Wu Ye saw the unswerving determination in his eyes. Under the dim yellow light, he couldn't help but notice Qin Wuhua's face, with its distinct edges and deep outlines making him look particularly handsome.

[TN: Kyaa! Are you finally falling Wu Ye? Are you? Are you? Are you?]

Mom, I'm so jealous!

Second young master Wu thought that when he went back to the zombie's world, and made a lot of money, he would certainly be too excited to sleep at night. However, the truth was different. Just after five minutes of light being turned off, he had successfully met with Zhou daren. And, half an hour later, his hands and feet would act without any sense of shame and wrap themselves around a warm 'object'.

Qin Wuhua had no 'choice' but to circle his hand on Wu Ye's back. The warmth that was transmitted to the palm of his hand was soothing. Thus, he who hadn't been able to sleep these past three nights, suddenly felt sleepy.