Chapter 223 Exclusively published on Jinjiang: Expensive Crystal Core

There weren't enough sofas in the living room, so everyone sat on their own chairs, filling the living room to the brim.

Lu Xuan treated them to a lot of fruits and snacks. Knowing that they were interested in his travel experiences, he gave a detailed account of the several gathering places he had visited.

After speaking for about half an hour, he said, "These are all relatively large gathering places for disaster victims. In fact, I passed through many smaller gathering places along the way, and there may be even more surviving disaster victims in areas I haven't been to."

Lu Xuan looked at the young people and some middle-aged people in the village who were still enjoying the story, and said, "If you are interested in doing business, you can visit these small gathering places."

Xiong Mao said casually, "It's already a miracle that the disaster victims in this small place have survived this long. They probably don't have anything good to offer us to earn, right?"

Chen Rong's eyes lit up, and he came up with an idea: "Lu Xuan has never been to those small places, so we can go there and build greenhouses for them."

Although greenhouse materials are expensive, the yield of mutant crops is high, so the profits are still considerable.

Lu Xuan shook his head. "The capital is already preparing to gradually retake the cities that have lost contact with the people. It's impossible for the capital to leave all the work of winning people's hearts to us, such as building greenhouses and providing large amounts of food for the disaster victims."

He could do it because he was the one who provided the greenhouse, and the resources he controlled gave him enough confidence.

The villagers of Yunlu Village are different.

Lu Xuan said, "If nothing unexpected happens, I will directly deal with the capital for the bulk of the greenhouse transactions, and then the imperial court will step in to build greenhouses for the surviving towns."

Li Tie was somewhat skeptical: "It's impossible for the people in Beijing to visit every place in such a short time, right? If they don't go to provide assistance, are the disaster victims going to go hungry?"

"That's why it's necessary for you to do business at this time. Trade them essential supplies such as nutrients and salt to ensure their basic survival, and you can also provide some seeds."

They just said they wouldn't build large-scale greenhouses, but they didn't say they wouldn't let the disaster victims farm.

When it's hot, even without a greenhouse, using inexpensive dry ice to control the temperature of the ground can achieve the same cooling effect.

Even if production continues to decline, half of what is left would be enough to ensure that the disaster victims would not have to worry about starving to death for a long time.

If the capital city still hasn't sent support by the time the even more unbearable cold season arrives, then the capital city will have nothing to say if they build a few acres of heated housing for the disaster victims.

"As for what else can be traded besides essential items like nutrients, salt, and sugar, you can consider that yourselves."

Chen Rong rubbed his hands and chuckled twice: "Speaking of which, we've been thinking about this a lot lately."

Zhang Chengming nodded in agreement: "What we worried about most when dealing with the disaster last year must have been the same for other disaster victims. As long as we help them solve these problems, that's enough."

Wu Yang continued, "The hottest season is coming soon. We'll sell bio-clothing to the wealthy disaster victims, and ice packs to those who aren't so well-off. We can also sell ice that we stockpiled during the coldest season. If there isn't enough water nearby, we can sell water directly to them."

The disaster victims cannot easily leave their homes too far away, and the underground fissures also hinder their progress.

They are different; they can simply go to the large lake where winter fishing takes place, collect large quantities of water, and then transport it to various gathering places.

Nutrients, salt, and sugar need to be purchased from Lu Xuan, which won't be cheap. However, the lake water is inexhaustible for them, requiring no investment whatsoever, making it a risk-free and highly profitable venture.

In addition, they also have a lot of supplies that they can't finish eating, which they can take the opportunity to sell.

only……

Li Tie was somewhat worried, "Large gathering places may still have some rules and won't easily allow businessmen to enter, but life is tough in small places, so it's probably very dangerous."

Didn't so many people from Huo Family Army's camp encounter numerous robbers on their way here?

Not all disaster victims are as well-fed as they are, or as well as the people in the Jiangnan region. When people are really starving, they are capable of anything.

Lu Xuan does not deny this point, saying, "Risk and opportunity are equal."

It's impossible to only think about making money without being willing to take any risks.

With alloy crossbows and energy guns, and the ability to use hypnotic bullets for area attacks, the risks can be minimized.

However, considering situations where weapons cannot be used for some reason, or are inconvenient to use, a different approach is needed.

As the saying goes, one must be strong to forge iron.

Lu Xuan took out a bag of crystal cores, explained their uses to everyone present, and even let them try one.

"If your ability level could be raised further, no amount of conspiracy or scheming would be able to harm you."

Zhang Chengming, Xiong Mao, and the others felt the power of the first-level crystal core merging into their bodies, and when they looked at the pile of colorful, glittering things lying on the coffee table, their eyes widened in disbelief.

"This is good stuff!"

With a treasure like this, what's there to be afraid of if you encounter danger when you go out? Just go and take care of it!

Chen Rong asked impatiently, "How do I exchange these crystal cores? Are they expensive?"

Lu Xuan said, "Level 1 crystal cores weigh 20 jin of mutated grains, Level 2 crystal cores weigh 100 jin, and Level 3 crystal cores weigh 500 jin."

The price of a Level 1 Crystal Core in the streamer's shop is 1,000 points, Level 2 is 5,000 points, and Level 3 is 30,000 points.

The current inventory of crystal cores is relatively small, and it is not easy to replenish them at any time. Lu Xuan's asking price is not low.

Li Tuo subconsciously remarked, "It's quite cheap."

As soon as he finished speaking, he received several speechless looks from those around him.

"It's pretty cheap?" Li Tuo said subconsciously, only to receive several speechless looks in return.

"Cheap? What's so cheap about it!"

Xiong Mao rolled his eyes. "Didn't you hear Lu Xuan say that low-level crystal cores are mainly used to replenish energy?"

If they are stuck at the peak of level two and only need a level three crystal core to upgrade, then spending 500 kilograms of mutated grain to become a level three ability user is indeed very cheap.

The problem is that they had only reached level two when the beast attack ended.

How long did it take them to go from level one to level two?

Several months.

Based on the characteristics of the superpowers that Lu Xuan told them, it would only take longer to go from level two to level three.

Even with the aid of crystal cores, let's say it takes at least a month.

Based on the intensity of the beast attack and the total energy of the level-one crystal cores they just sensed, they might need to use about ten crystal cores a day.

In other words, it's two hundred catties of grain.

We need 6,000 jin a month.

Each family here may not receive 6,000 catties of grain each time they harvest from the fields.

They used to think that there was so much grain that they couldn't finish it all and could save it to buy a house.

If their daily expenses include an extra crystal core... then they're doomed, instantly going from well-off to abject poverty, or even back into debt.

After being reminded by several quick-thinking people, Li Tuo's expression changed.

"Wow! Now that you mention it, this stuff is really expensive!"

The others nodded in agreement.

It's expensive, isn't it?

The viewers in the live stream couldn't help but feel envious.

[If you think it's too expensive, give it to us! I don't think it's expensive!]

[Exactly! We're overjoyed to have items that can level us up, who cares about spending money? We can always take out a loan!]

The Star Alliance's pursuit of becoming stronger is far more intense than that of the ancient people. In their view, doing everything possible to improve their strength is the most important thing.

With the power, why worry about not being able to earn back the money spent on buying superpowers?

Besides, low-level crystal cores are already considered cheap. These ancient people think they are expensive because they have never seen the price of high-level crystal cores.

Lu Xuan deeply agreed.

Although he hasn't yet found out the price of level 4 or higher crystal cores, he has roughly guessed the specific price by testing the audience's opinions.

Level 4: 100,000 points; Level 5: 1 million points; Level 6: 10 million points; Level 7: 100 million points; Level 8: 1 billion points.

Lu Xuan wants to upgrade, and what he needs is an eighth-level crystal core. To replenish his energy, he needs at least a fifth-level crystal core. Anything else is just a drop in the ocean.

Compared to the fact that it might cost him millions or even tens of millions of points to replenish his ability, others only need to spend ten or twenty thousand points, which is really a bargain.

When Lu Xuan estimated the cost, he missed his life in the apocalypse for the first time.

At least back then, the crystal cores you obtained were all free as long as you were strong enough.

Zhang Chengming and others thought it was too expensive, but they couldn't completely misunderstand the price.

How could something that makes you stronger be cheap?

Besides, isn't this exactly the kind of business I'm going to do?

The goods earned from business can be used to offset the cost of crystal cores, which avoids touching the materials used to buy a house at home.

Not all the people who came to the Lu family today were determined to go out and do business.

Young people are mostly willing to go out and explore, to see the sights of the world, but middle-aged people prefer stability, believing that they are already well-off and have enough resources to live a comfortable life without having to do anything extra.

The appearance of the crystal nucleus, however, changed their minds.

Everyone else is making progress, but you're standing still—isn't that regressing?

Especially if you are the only one in the family who has awakened a superpower while the younger generation hasn't, you won't be able to set a good example for them, and your children won't be able to hold their heads up in the village in the future.

It's just doing business. As long as you have enough resources, even the dumbest person can do it!

But when it came time to determine the number of participants, the village chief actually restricted the number.

Li Tie sternly asked, "If everyone's leaving, who's going to guard the village?"

Are we going to keep the city's protective shield on forever? We can't squander public resources like this.

Seeing that everyone's enthusiasm for business had been ignited by the crystal cores, Li Tie waved his hand and said, "Let's draw lots. We'll go out in two batches. While one batch goes out, the other batch will stay in the village to hunt and protect the surrounding area. We'll switch them up when the first batch comes back."

Li Tie also limited the time he could go out each time.

"You must be back in seven to eight days at most!"

This way, even if no one is approved within a month, they can go out twice, increasing their chances of earning supplies.

How many gathering places they can visit in seven or eight days depends entirely on their own abilities.

The lottery results came out quickly.

Among the first group of people, Lu Xuan was familiar with Zhang Chengming, Xiong Mao, Wu Yang, and Lei Yan.

Chen Rong, the Li brothers, Liu Chun, Wei Dayong, Ye Lin, and others were assigned to the second batch.

There were a total of fifty people participating in the lottery, with twenty-five people in each batch.

To ensure mutual support, those going out should form teams of at least two people, with any extra person joining one of the teams. Each team should have at least one person with superpowers.

Lu Xuan had bought a lot of flying machines to farm achievements, and he would buy one or two more when there were big discounts.

I've accumulated more than twenty units so far, and I'll be giving twelve of them out to business people to rent.

As for the destination, Lu Xuan had marked the coordinates of all the large and small gathering places he passed through when he went out this time, exported the data, and let others choose for themselves.

If you don't want to choose from the existing coordinates, you can choose any direction and go to whatever gathering place you come across.

To avoid mutual interference, the chosen gathering places should be as far apart as possible. Large gathering places can accommodate two more groups, while small gathering places only require one group.

Once the specific location of the gathering place is determined, it is possible to decide what goods to prepare in addition to essential survival supplies based on the surrounding environment.

In addition to the items they usually use from the system store, Lu Xuan also brought out a batch of convenience foods such as instant noodles and compressed biscuits, in quantities almost unlimited.

Everyone looked on with surprise.

Zhang Chengming asked, "Is this something you just got from the gods? Food? Is it good?"

Lu Xuan didn't answer directly, but instead gave each of them a pack of compressed biscuits.

Everyone unpacked and tasted it, and found that although the texture was a bit dry, it was delicious, somewhat like a pastry, and the flavor was very rich.

"Mine is scallion flavored."

"Mine has a rich milky flavor."

"Mine is date flavored."

"Haha, mine is pretty good, it tastes like meat."

The compressed biscuits in the livestream store come in a wide variety of flavors, numbering in the dozens, and they are also more filling.

Even for a superhuman with an increased appetite, a small pack of compressed biscuits, about the size of a palm, would give them a slight feeling of fullness after eating one pack and drinking a cup of tea.

Moreover, these compressed biscuits are also highly nutritious, and in many ways they are not much worse than nutritional supplements.

It even comes in more flavors than nutritional supplements!

Everyone who has tried compressed biscuits raves about them.

But the most amazing thing is definitely instant noodles.

Lu Xuan took out several pots and cooked several different flavors of instant noodles for them on the spot.

When the domineering aromas of sour and spicy, pickled cabbage, seafood, and tomato beef brisket filled the living room, the villagers were all astonished.

After actually tasting it, I was even more amazed.

"Oh my god, this noodle dish tastes good too!"

"The texture is also very special, unlike any noodles I've ever had before."

"It smells so good! This pickled cabbage flavor is really strong!"

"The key is that it's convenient. You don't need to prepare the food in advance. Just put two or three packets of seasoning in and cook for a while. It's so convenient when you're out and about."

Several large pots of instant noodles were devoured in the blink of an eye by dozens of young men. The speed was so fast that the viewers in the live stream didn't even get a couple of bites.

[Is he a reincarnation of a starving ghost? He eats so fast!]

Fortunately, the Lu family also had instant noodles for dinner last night, so they were somewhat satisfied.

[Don't worry, the villagers will definitely be eating here often lately. Let the streamer take us to freeload!]

[...then it would be better to let the streamer eat a few more meals.]

Li Tie let out a burp, wiped his mouth, and said, "This instant noodle tastes pretty good, let's stock up on some!"

Upon hearing this, the others quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, yes! My family wants some too. Sold by the case? Then I'll take ten cases, no, twenty cases!"

"My family needs thirty boxes! And all of them should be different flavors!"

"My family wants fifty boxes! Mostly seafood and tomato beef brisket flavor, the rest are up to you."

Whether they sell it or not is another matter; they'll definitely stock up on enough noodles for their own families first, since these are so delicious.

After buying enough for our own family, we bought extra, including compressed biscuits.

Li Tie said, "Alright, we've discussed everything that needed to be discussed. Go back and make your preparations."

Someone asked, "When exactly do we depart?"

One of the ability users who was just one step away from reaching level two said, "I want to wait until I reach level two before setting off, so I'll have more confidence."

Other ability users in similar situations nodded in agreement.

Zhang Chengming then said, "We haven't seen any aircraft before, so we need to familiarize ourselves with them a little, right?"

After a moment's thought, Li Tie said, "The crops in the fields will be harvested in a few days. We can harvest this batch of crops and then sell a portion to the disaster victims. We'll set the departure time for the first day of the hottest season after we harvest the crops, which is seven days from now."

“The disaster victims in the settlements that Lu Xuan has not visited may not believe your claim that the catastrophe will last for many years. Going there after the start of the hottest season will save you the trouble of explaining.”

If they can't advance to level two within seven days of having the crystal core, then it's their own fault for not being good enough.

·

Over the next few days, every household was busy preparing for their departure.

Learning to pilot aircraft, diligently absorbing crystal core energy, practicing marksmanship, settling things at home... In short, there are many things to keep me busy with.

Aside from occasionally needing to tell others about the precautions and techniques for working with disaster victims, Lu Xuan would first ripen the fruit trees that had missed the first harvest, then sell half of the fruit to merchants at a 'wholesale price,' and keep the rest for himself to sell next time.

After that, I spent most of my time cultivating the newly acquired fruits and bamboo, and optimizing them through mutation.

On the third day after Lu Xuan returned home, Huo Tiankuo called and asked him to take care of the situation at the First and Second Camps. Then, he set off for the Northwest with the city guards of the capital.

Two days later.

Harvest from the village's greenhouses.

The village's grain production has basically stabilized. Lu Xuan received 100,000 jin, and each household in the village received 4,000 to 7,000 jin.

Lu Xuan did not collect the grain this time, and the village did not stockpile it as housing supplies. Instead, the majority of the grain was given to people who went into business.

Lu Xuan also traded a batch of lotus roots, which were harvested at almost the same time, to them, and kept the rest to sell next time he went out.

Two days later, most of the level one ability users who were trying to level up successfully broke through.

The villagers gathered at the village entrance, and their relatives repeatedly gave their sons/husbands who were going out to do business various instructions and precautions.

Su Ying reminded the excited Xiong Mao: "After we get out, don't always act tough and cause trouble. Try to earn more supplies. Our family has two ability users, and we need quite a few crystal cores."

Xiong Mao patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry! I'll definitely earn enough supplies for you to buy crystal cores. If I find anything rare or valuable, I'll bring it back for you too."

Xiong Dabao next to him: "..." Am I superfluous again?

The neighboring house is farther away.

Ye Ping and Lu Qing each emphasized to their husbands that safety comes first.

Ye Ping said, "Earning resources is important, but it's nothing compared to your life. Don't be careless just because you have superpowers and weapons."

Lu Qing said, "There are only two of you. Many ants can kill an elephant. If hundreds or thousands of disaster victims attack you, run if you should. If all else fails, call Ah Xuan and ask him to come and rescue you."

Zhang Chengming and Lei Yan nodded in agreement, indicating that they understood.

Lu Xuan had actually given Lei Yan a single-person protective shield, but Lu Qing was worried about him and insisted on giving him a lot of instructions, so he wouldn't deliberately discourage him.

Li Yue wasn't worried that Wu Yang would act impulsively, but the two had only been married for two months and were still newlyweds. The sudden separation made them both a little reluctant.

The two stared at each other in silence, their sticky gazes almost forming a string of threads.

A moment later, Wu Yang gently tucked a strand of hair behind Li Yue's ear and whispered, "Before we come back, you should go back to your parents' house to stay."

He and his father were among the first batch of people selected to leave. After they left, Li Yue was left all alone at home.

Although the village was safe, he was still a little worried.

Li Yue hummed in agreement, then took his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'll wait for you to come back."

Wu Yang glanced at her with restraint, then said, "Okay."

The group lingered for almost fifteen minutes before finally separating at Li Tie's urging. With reluctance and worry, they watched the able-bodied men board the aircraft and disappear from sight.

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Author's Note: Thanks to "Changyushan" for throwing a landmine. (Time of throw: 2025-06-03 08:20:37)