ATPnovel Chapter 63: Shopping!
Chapter 63: Shopping!
Chapter 64: Shopping!
"You really are..."
Taking a breath, Lin Yu gave Su Chen a deep look: "Let's go. The merchants only refresh at fixed times and only appear at the community bulletin board. There are probably already quite a few people gathered there, and it'll be crowded again..."
'
Lin Yu muttered something, and Su Chen casually responded. The two of them walked together toward the community bulletin board.
In the distance, a group of residents could be seen bustling around a vintage truck. The truck's door was open to the side, and a lantern was dimly lit, so dim that even sunlight couldn't penetrate it. The iron frame was covered with a layer of yellowish-brown wooden planks, and many oddly shaped goods were hanging on wire hooks attached to the outer wooden frame.
A man dressed in a black robe stood by the truck, letting dozens of eyes curiously examine the contents of his truck.
A crowd gathered there, simply watching quietly as the mysterious merchant in black robes and his carriage appeared. Many wondered about the owner's origins.
No matter how they looked at him, there was something veiled around the mysterious merchant's face. When their gazes focused on him, all they could see was a bewildering mist. The merchant didn't offer any introductions, only answering questions from potential buyers when someone approached him for information.
"A water purifier costs me 300 survival points? What a rip-off..."
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A man who had just asked the price stared at the mysterious merchant's location, muttering to himself as he stood outside the crowd.
"Take a closer look. These are all items that you can't buy in the Homestead, and they're actually cheaper than in the Homestead."
With her head down, Lin Yu spoke softly, in a voice only Su Chen could hear.
"Hey, isn't this our neighborhood's benefactor?"
"What brings you here today to shop with us ordinary folks?"
"Things here are very expensive... and they cost you personal survival points. If you don't have any, don't embarrass yourself by wandering around here!" a woman said sarcastically.
Lin Yu and Su Chen looked over and saw the woman who had caused trouble during Captain Chen's memorial service.
When she saw Lin Yu and Su Chen also coming to see what the merchants were selling, the woman's eyes narrowed and she started to feel sour.
"What did you say?"
Just as Lin Yu was about to ask the mysterious merchant about something she had her eye on, she heard the little fairy calling out again, and Lin Yu's anger flared up instantly.
"I told you, if you don't have money, don't loiter around here..."
"
*Snap!*
A crisp slap sounded.
Before the fairy could finish her sentence, Lin Yu stepped forward and snatched a large round bag with a snap.
"you!!"
"How...how could you hit me!"
"Where are the temporary management team members?!"
Slapped to the ground, the little fairy covered her face, blood dripping from her mouth. She cried as she spoke, because she could feel that not only was the left side of her face swollen, but several of her teeth had also been knocked out!
"What happened to the temporary management team?"
Lin Yu lowered his voice and drew a small knife from his waist for self-defense.
With a whoosh, Lin Yu's small knife was placed directly against the little fairy's throat.
Suddenly, the fairy fell silent.
But her tears kept falling.
Especially when she felt a warm current flowing down from between her legs, the little fairy trembled and tears welled up even more.
"You started this trouble and then became the temporary management team! Calling them over will only punish you first!" A girl said disdainfully, looking at the fairy's wet dress.
"Yeah! Those two helped our neighborhood solve such a big problem. They just came over like us to see what the mysterious merchant sells. You provoked them first, so you deserved to get beaten up!"
"Yes! Serves him right!"
More and more people around the fairy began to criticize her.
Su Chen was also pinching his nose.
The Witcher's keen sense of smell allowed him to detect a significant amount of virus within the foul, fishy odor he had just experienced.
This little fairy is also a "virgin" biochemical mother.
"You just wait and see!"
While crying, the wolf viciously left behind a threatening remark. The little fairy covered her face in a disheveled state, her chest heaving violently.
There were too many people around, and none of them were on her side. She couldn't do anything about being beaten, so she could only slink away.
"Boss, could you tell us what we have?"
Lin Yu put away the knife, her expression returning to normal, and calmly yet politely asked the mysterious merchant in the black robe.
She didn't recognize many of the props displayed on the cart.
"Of course, of course, distinguished guests!"
The mysterious merchant in the black robe sniffed around, seemingly quite pleased with the scent emanating from Su Chen and Lin Yu. His words were exceptionally warm and friendly.
"Wait, why is this mysterious businessman speaking Chinese?"
Su Chen looked at the mysterious businessman.
Before, from a distance, he couldn't make out the boss's appearance with his Witcher's vision, and now that he's closer, he still has that same hazy feeling!
"Items or skills?"
Su Chen thought to himself, but in this short time, he still couldn't figure out why.
"Here you go!"
"Beautiful customer."
The mysterious merchant took out a light blue, irregularly shaped crystal, about 10 centimeters long.
Under the sunlight, the crystal emitted several dazzling rays of light, with a pale blue luster that seemed to flow gently with the mysterious merchant's movements, as if it were liquid.
"This is really good stuff!"
"This tiny thing, no bigger than the palm of your hand, can hold 60 cubic meters of water. And what's more, it has a little trick."
"
The mysterious merchant lowered his voice, speaking in a hushed tone only Su Chen and Lin Yu could hear, and whispered mysteriously, "Through a secret method, this little thing can purify polluted water!"
"Not only that, it can be consumed directly after activation. If you have the resources, you can also use it to irrigate pollution-free crops and dilute polluted soil. In short, this stuff is absolutely great value for money, highly recommended!"
"Now it only costs 300 survival points!"
"Look—look—, if you don't like that, there's also sun-dried wheat!"
After setting down the crystal that emitted a pale blue glow, the mysterious merchant carefully took out a bag of wheat seeds wrapped in coarse cloth from the iron hook hanging on the wall of the truck.
"Let me tell you!"
"This stuff has a very long history! It's made from ancient, unpolluted wheat seeds through special cultivation, and it only needs pure water and a tiny bit of sunlight to grow."
"And what's more! I don't need to explain what the wheat grains from this thing are good for. After grinding them into flour, you can make noodles, buns, and bread—whatever staple food you want!"
"Its straw can be used as fuel, the completely pollution-free kind!"
The mysterious merchant, gesturing wildly, spoke as he produced one strange, unusual item after another that was not found in his homeland.
Take, for example, the cream he has in his hand right now.
According to the mysterious merchant, it is made with unpolluted animal fat and a secret herbal formula. Simply apply a thin layer to the skin to form a protective film that can resist the corrosive spores and trace toxins in the mist.
Lin Yu was very curious, and the mysterious merchant seized the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot. He even took out a brand new box of cream and placed it in Lin Yu's palm, waiting for her to gently apply a layer. Lin Yu thought it was pretty good, so she directly asked the mysterious merchant for two boxes.
Before long, Lin Yu stood still. As she confirmed the transaction pop-up window that appeared in front of her, the mysterious merchant kindly placed two boxes of cream in Lin Yu's palm, afraid that she might change her mind.
"One box contains 80 survival points"
"Two boxes would cost 160."
"That woman Lin Yu is really rich and powerful," Su Chen thought to himself.
Seeing her buy two boxes of the cream he thought was only so-so without even blinking, Su Chen suddenly felt...
Women's money is still too easy to earn!
Immediately afterwards, the mysterious businessman pulled out a bunch of props from the truck.
There were things like the Mist Compass, the Instant Teleportation Scroll, the Demon Voice Machine, and a bunch of other random things.
Mist Compass: A pointer made of pure crystal. The direction the pointer points to is not affected by demonic magnetic fields and can accurately point to the nearest uncontaminated resource points, ancient ruins, and safe zones.
After hearing the boss's general introduction to the Mist Compass, Su Chen pointed at it.
"How many survival points do you have?"
Holding several items in his hands, the mysterious merchant was about to take something new when he heard Su Chen speak, and he turned around.
"This is the Mist Compass."
"How many survival points?"
Su Chen asked again.
This thing works quite well, much better than a compass, and he was somewhat tempted.
"Mist Compass, 3500 points."
"How much?!" Before Su Chen could even speak, Lin Yu couldn't hold back any longer.
While the previous items were interesting, the prices were reasonable, not the kind that would seem outrageous at first glance.
But Lin Yu simply couldn't accept the price of this Mist Compass.
"Great value for money, sir! All the goods here are genuine, and the prices are accurate. But if you really want them, I can secretly give you a discount!"
The mysterious merchant lowered his voice, and in an instant, Su Chen's desire to buy vanished.
The high price was one thing, but judging from the mysterious merchant's demeanor, Su Chen was somewhat skeptical of him.
"I was just asking, I didn't say I wanted to buy it."
Su Chen spoke coldly, pointing at the mysterious merchant.
"Alright then, I'll continue introducing the following items to you."
"Wait a minute, is there any way to directly let us know this product information?"
Lin Yu interrupted.
She was a little confused after listening to the mysterious merchant's recommendations.
"Sure, you can see it yourself if you wish!"
The mysterious merchant snapped his fingers, and in an instant, all the previously hidden information about the product's attributes was revealed.
Su Chen looked at the "highly recommended" product that the mysterious merchant had brought out at the beginning.
【Pure Crystal Water】
"The name you chose is quite strange."
"This is 300 survival points, right? Wrap it up for me."
Su Chen pointed to the irregular crystal that the mysterious merchant had put away. The mysterious merchant immediately put down his goods and hurriedly took out a small leather bag to wrap the crystal.
At the same time, a semi-transparent pop-up appeared in Su Chen's line of sight.
A mysterious merchant is initiating a transaction with you.
[Item for trade: 1 bottle of Pure Crystal Water]
[Price: 300 Survival Points (This will be automatically deducted upon confirmation of the transaction. If there are insufficient Survival Points for the transaction, the transaction will fail.)]
[Transaction Status: Yes/No]
"Yes."
With Su Chen's confirmation, the mysterious merchant rubbed his hands together and quickly handed the wrapped pure crystal water to Su Chen.
Then, Su Chen saw a rather old kraft paper roll inside the truck.
In an instant, detailed information about the scroll appeared in a pop-up window in front of him.
[Instant Teleportation Scroll: A scroll made with spatial magic and pure energy. Once torn open, the spatial magic sealed within the scroll will be guided by the pure energy, instantly teleporting you back to your base. It is an emergency survival tool when encountering danger in the mist.]
Price: 6000 Survival Points
"This is good stuff."
Su Chen groaned inwardly, but when he looked at the 2749 survival points he had left after buying the [Pure Crystal Water], he felt a little helpless and disappointed.
can not afford!
I still can't afford it!
Su Chen felt that such a simple and direct life-saving item could be obtained for 6000 points was worthwhile, but the price was just too high.
Even with the rewards from the previous BOSS battle, his survival points of just over 3000 are still far from enough.
"I'll take both of these."
Lin Yu pointed to several places inside the cargo compartment, and the mysterious merchant immediately began to move.
Following the direction Lin Yu pointed, Su Chen discovered that in addition to those strange props, the mysterious merchant also sold some cards.
"This woman, and that young woman, probably have enough survival points to buy this scroll."
Lin Yu, needless to say, had harvested a lot of survival points in her homestead before, and her current spending power further proves Su Chen's conjecture.
And that young woman...
Although there was no direct reason, Su Chen just felt that she had so many ways to survive!
Su Chen continued reading, looking at the pile of cards that the mysterious merchant had just pulled out.
[Resource Doubling Card: Within 1 hour of activation, the amount of uncontaminated resources collected by the player is doubled.]
Price: 1000 Survival Points
"nice one."
Su Chen thought to himself that the mysterious merchant was indeed selling very good products.
The resource doubling card has a simple and straightforward effect, making it ideal for large-scale resource gathering.
As Su Chen continued reading, he noticed several other images.
[Random Card Pack: Open to randomly obtain 1-3 cards of different types, with a very low chance of obtaining rare cards]
Price: 800 Survival Points
[Purification Card: Upon activation, immediately removes all negative status effects from the player, granting the player a layer of purification. During the purification period: subsequent negative status effects on the player are reduced by 20%, and the duration of negative status effects is reduced by 20%.]
Price: 1500 Survival Points
[Group Wind Speed Card: When activated, it adds a "Wind Speed" status effect to up to 4 people around the player. During the duration of the Wind Speed status: the player and those affected by the Wind Speed have a +20% movement speed and a -20% stamina cost. The duration is up to 600 seconds.]
Price: 3000 Survival Points
[Fire Enchantment Card: Upon activation, grants the player's currently held weapon a temporary enchantment. Under the temporary enchantment: The player's weapon deals +10 fire damage and has a 10% chance to inflict burn damage on the target upon attack (Burn: reduces the player's maximum current health by 1% per second).]
Damage is doubled against plants (duration: 3 seconds); duration: 300 seconds.
Price: 1500 Survival Points
Goodness.
Su Chen sighed inwardly.
These things are good, and there are a few that he really wants, but the prices are just too outrageous and beyond his current means.
"That's about enough. Anyway, the merchant's goods will upgrade as the homestead level increases, right?"
Lin Yu held several items and glanced at Su Chen, who seemed somewhat hesitant.
"How dare you say that to me?"
"These are all things I need!"
Lin Yu smiled, completely ignoring the somewhat dazed mysterious businessman beside her.
"What about these? Bosses, would you like to take another look?"
After carefully selecting a few items, the mysterious boss, seeing that the big order was about to fall through, hurriedly took out a row of new props.
【The Talking Mushroom: A quirky mushroom that seems to be able to communicate with the future. It often talks to itself at midnight because it sees strange things, but it has a bad temper and sometimes has strange and wicked tastes.】
[Effect: Provides a vague prediction, with a 20% chance of being a lie]
Price: 1500 Survival Points
"A 20% probability of lying, or a vague prediction..."
95
Su Chen was speechless, but he continued watching anyway.
[Lucky Dice: A die mixed with "lucky herbs," but because its maker had ulterior motives, the die's effect deviated somewhat from its original purpose.]
[Effect: After throwing, it will bring the user one positive/negative event within a short period of time (an odd number will bring good luck and trigger a positive event, while an even number will have the opposite effect)]
Price: 1000 Survival Points
[Demon Voice Machine: An impromptu creation by some unknown person. Although it looks rudimentary, it can transmit broadcasts from a polluted dimension.]
[Effect: Occasionally reveals the boss's weaknesses]
[Price: 2000 Survival Points]
[Merchant's Self-Portrait: A mysterious merchant's masterpiece during a long journey! But for some reason, the quantity of goods hasn't decreased much.]
[Effect: After purchase, all items will be discounted by 5% on the next visit of the Mysterious Merchant, up to a maximum of three stacks]
Price: 500 Survival Points
"Accumulated discount coupons?"
nice one!
Looking at the dark, indistinct scroll that was impossible to identify, Su Chen understood why the product description stated that the quantity of this item had not decreased significantly.
What can you tell from this?
Even a self-portrait, such a big, dark one, could scare people if hung on the door in the middle of the night.
"Give me three self-portraits."
Su Chen pointed to the dark, indistinct scroll, somewhat exasperated.
This is the kind of situation where it's unavoidable.
"You have excellent taste, sir!"
The voice suddenly rose a few decibels, and Lin Yu also saw the self-portrait, but her expression was somewhat speechless.
After deducting the survival points, the mysterious merchant was visibly excited: "Would you two like anything else? Perhaps you could look around some more and consider it!"
"I'll take the lucky dice," Su Chen said.
He doesn't have many survival points left.
With the transaction completed, Su Chen now has 249 survival points left, which is ridiculously low.
Holding a bunch of things, Lin Yu looked at the pitifully few props in Su Chen's hands and couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
"Could it be that buying those merchants' self-portraits contains some hidden clues or conditions I don't know about?"
Su Chen remained silent.
He wanted to buy it, but unfortunately he was short of money, so he had to give up this time.
I'll need to spend some time collecting more survival points in the future, just in case.
Su Chen thought to himself.
"You can't possibly skip that town, can you?" Lin Yu said. "Why don't you team up with me? I can't say I can be of great help, but at least I won't hold you back."
Her voice was firm and confident, stemming from her confidence in her own abilities.
Su Chen stood there for a moment, thinking.
Indeed, teaming up with Lin Yu is better than being an ordinary person or that mysterious young woman.
It's not good to always be alone.
"Okay, when do we set off?" Su Chen nodded.
"Let's meet at noon, after lunch, around 1 p.m. I'll be waiting for you at the community bulletin board."
"kindness."
Squeezing through the crowd, Su Chen and Lin Yu returned laden with their purchases. The mysterious merchant watched them leave, unable to suppress his regret.
Approaching time.
Su Chen had already packed up. He glanced at the incubation room and saw that there were less than 10 hours left. He went downstairs and set off with Lin Yu, who was already waiting on the notice board.
The two figures had only taken a couple of steps when the text on the notice board behind them changed.
[Notice Board of Xingfu Community]
[Number of residents in the community: 2684]
【
.】
The number of people in the community has decreased compared to before.
at the same time.
The 6th floor of Building 13.
The baby girl on the bed slowly opened her eyes.
Click.
A deity statue and incense burner hang on the living room wall, and the burning incense stick inside breaks off automatically.
Immediately, dark red things began to wriggle on the walls of the room, densely packed together, approaching the bed and the baby.
"Damn it... my physical body..."
A hint of gloom appeared on the little girl's face, completely out of character for her age. Her delicate hands trembled slightly as she gently moved towards the broken incense stick on the wall.
A drop of crystal-clear blood fell from her fingertip onto the zither. Before long, the flame that had been extinguished reappeared, and the crease was connected by the blood. It slowly recovered to its original state.
The girl's face was contorted with pain as she glanced in the direction of the West Gate.
"Ha...they're all dead..."
99
The girl was breathing heavily, a sinister glint flashing in her eyes.
In the surrounding rooms, flesh and blood were rolling.