Chapter 100、How to Crave Strength? Join the Glorious [Talent Exchange] Program!

Yi Bai was stunned.

He then opened the leaderboard and noticed that besides his Level 2 shelter, only a handful of survivors had completed the upgrade to Level 1 shelters. The number wasn't large—just a bit over a hundred.

This meant that the demand for upgrade materials was still huge!

Yi Bai quickly navigated to the talent leaderboard, where he saw his own name still occupying the top spot. But there were also other rankings now, with a total of just over 30 people on the entire talent tier list.

This meant that, in the entire city, only these few individuals had successfully secured a steady channel for acquiring upgrade materials through mission dispatches!

"There's a huge market demand! This could be very profitable!" Yi Bai took a deep breath, trying to calm the excitement swelling in his chest.

To maximize his gains, Yi Bai didn't rush to list the materials he had on hand. Instead, he took his time to gather more information about the trading landscape.

By nightfall, Yi Bai had a clear understanding of the situation.

The three types of upgrade materials corresponded to three different shelter upgrade paths:

Electronic Components: Research and creation-focused sheltersCash: Income-enhancing sheltersRefugee Wood: Defense-oriented shelters

Each shelter type had its own advantages, and the direction of upgrade was highly dependent on the shelter's focus.

In the first round of the apocalypse, Refugee Wood was the most desirable material. Shelters with this focus could resist natural disasters, especially high temperatures. However, now that the first round was over and people had adapted to the heat, the price of Refugee Wood had become the cheapest among the three upgrade materials.

Of course, "cheap" here was relative. When compared to the prices of other tradeable items, the materials were still expensive.

Yi Bai's first instinct was that Electronic Components should be the most expensive, since they were for research-focused shelters, which could develop many useful technologies to survive different types of apocalypses. But to his surprise, Cash was actually the most expensive material!

The price of Cash was about 30 survival points higher than Electronic Components per unit!

That was a huge price difference!

Yi Bai soon learned that, while Electronic Components-based shelters were indeed powerful, they had a very high development cost. Most survivors who had completed this category of shelter upgrades revealed that this type of shelter was more suitable for the later stages of the apocalypse, as it involved huge investments in research, technology projects, and technological rooms, all of which required large amounts of survival points.

In contrast, the Cash-based shelters were far more practical in the early stages. They didn't require as much of an investment to upgrade, and their resource-gathering efficiency was phenomenal. Once upgraded, these shelters could provide significant increases in survival points, upgrade materials, and other essential resources.

Most survivors had realized this, and thus, the demand for Cash skyrocketed, keeping its price high.

"As the second round of the apocalypse progresses, global survivors have started to catch up to me. They've begun to master the acquisition of talents and upgrade materials," Yi Bai muttered to himself. "I've probably got a one-month head start, which is like being ahead by a small version update in a game."

"Can't slack off now. I need to turn this lead into a tangible advantage."

"The materials I have no use for—Cash and Refugee Wood—I've got to sell them all! With demand this high, I need to sell at top prices while I can!"

Yi Bai pondered for a moment and started making the moves. He didn't rush to put everything up for sale at once, though. Instead, he carefully listed Cash and Refugee Wood in batches of 10-15 units each, with fluctuating prices. The reason for this was simple—he didn't want to make his wealth too obvious and draw unnecessary attention.

"People won't guess that all these materials belong to a single person, especially since I haven't even named my shelter yet," Yi Bai thought.

Just as he finished listing his items, a new notification popped up on the screen.

"Your listed items have been purchased! Transaction points and items have been added to your shelter!"

"Your listed items have been purchased! Transaction points and items have been added to your shelter!"

Several messages popped up, and Yi Bai couldn't help but exclaim, "These buyers are fast! Are they monitoring the marketplace 24/7? As soon as I listed, they pounced on it!"

"It's true—there are some big spenders out there."

Yi Bai took a quick look at the transaction details and saw that only the items listed below the market price had been snapped up immediately. The ones listed at regular or higher prices were still available.

"Seems like even the rich can't just spend freely. They're still trying to get a good deal," Yi Bai smirked. "But with demand like this, I should be able to sell off the rest tonight."

"Even if I don't sell everything, I can always lower the price. It's still a win for me as long as I sell for survival points."

Yi Bai reclined back on his sofa, content. Meanwhile, downstairs in the plaza, Jiang Xiaoci was hosting a gathering for the residents of the shelter. She was announcing new rules and policies, including the shelter destruction plan they had discussed earlier.

In her exceptional speech, Jiang Xiaoci painted a picture of the shelter destruction as a brilliant decision from the leader, making it sound like an act of great wisdom and care for the people.

To help the citizens, the leader had decided to implement a Talent Exchange Program, in which shelters with poor talents would be destroyed and their owners would have a chance to try again in the next round of the apocalypse, hoping for better talents!

"What?" some muttered in the crowd. "You're afraid the new talent won't be good? Don't worry! You can keep swapping until you get the talent you want! Once a month, there's always a new chance!"

"Worried about losing your shelter and security in the apocalypse?" Jiang Xiaoci continued. "You don't have to fear! The leader has always protected us. Even without a shelter, we were kept safe in the first round. Danger won't come near us!"

The plan was voluntary, open for anyone to join at any time, with no limits or pressure. The leader had built up so much trust and reputation that most residents were on board.

"I don't care about the top-tier talents," one resident said. "I just want to help the leader save more refugees."

"Exactly! This is all for the greater good. I'm not doing it for power or strength," another added. "I'm just doing my part for the country!"

"I can't believe some people are still hesitating," a third voice piped up. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you're still sitting on the fence?"

As Jiang Xiaoci's passionate speech reached its peak, more and more people were eager to sign up for the Talent Exchange Program. Some simply wanted to improve their abilities, while others were drawn in by the leader's goodwill.

The Talent Exchange Program quickly gained momentum, and many who had been on the fence about it were now eager to join, fearing that if they didn't, they'd be left behind. In this world, even if talents weren't meant to define status, those with better talents always seemed to have a louder voice.

"If everyone else is doing it, then I can't be left behind, right?" one survivor muttered. "I want to get stronger, too. I want to be admired by the women!"

Thus, the Talent Exchange Program became the talk of the town, as Yi Bai realized that his head start wasn't as significant as he'd thought. With more survivors realizing its value, competition was quickly catching up.