In order to make the trick real, that night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Song Kaiji teleported several times and sneaked to several neighboring villages to hide some more seeds, waiting for Shen Yan and the others to find them the next day.
In the past, when Song Kaiji was training his supernatural powers, he could only walk around in the villa, practicing the volume, weight and number of times of carrying items. This time, it was just right to practice the distance.
After a few times, Song Kaiji had a good idea. If he didn't carry anything, he could teleport up to a distance of about 1,000 meters, but only once. After moving over, his energy would be exhausted, and he needed to rest for half an hour and absorb crystal cores before he could teleport again.
But if the distance is 200 to 300 meters, you can teleport two or three times in a short period of time. If you carry a larger object, the number and distance will be reduced.
After a period of practice, and with his ability growing, the maximum amount of items Song Kaiji could carry had increased from one watermelon to two watermelons. Teleportation seemed to have many restrictions, and it consumed a lot of ability, but it was very practical in a critical moment and could save lives.
After delivering seeds several times, Song Kaiji collapsed on the bed. However, he did have some unexpected gains from this trip to the neighboring village: "There seem to be two... factories? Handicraft workshops in the village to the west?" He also did not describe the scale accurately: "It's just a large yard with several machines, it seems they are polishing and carving bracelets or something like that."
The village is called Xiyaotou on the map, which means that there was a kiln in ancient times or during the Republic of China period, and it was used to make things. Maybe the villagers have preserved this craft, and some people are still engaged in related handicrafts today.
"What material is it made of? Do you recognize it?" Hearing about the bracelet, Shen Qing put down the elementary school textbook in his hand and became more alert. He had read a lot of books and knew that due to the different technological developments in the two worlds, the handicrafts that were very common in the end of the world were extremely expensive in his world. For example, glass. In the end of the world, everything had to be packaged in a glass bottle, but in Shen Qing's world, even the county magistrate might not have a glass teacup!
Even if you use the bottom of a beer bottle to cut a pair of bracelets, you can sell them for a very high price in Anping County!
"How would I know about this? But there are several big bags in the room, all of which are jade. You can take them back to the base and ask someone." Song Kaiji yawned: "Maybe Sister Weiwei will recognize it, you can ask her tomorrow. Girls always like these things."
Shen Qing thought to himself, if it was agate, it would be the best, agate is very valuable in Anping County. But it doesn't matter if it's not, just like he said, a pair of bracelets made of beer bottles can be worth a lot, any material taken to Anping County should be a good thing!
The next day they went to Xiyaotou and saw several machines in two connected yards. Inside the machine in one of the yards were many bracelets covered in gray mud.
Shen Yan and his friends searched the house carefully and were very happy to find several packets of seeds, while Shen Qing and Song Kaiji dragged Qu Weiwei around the machines.
Qu Weiwei really knew something: "This should be polished by a machine." She fished out a bracelet from the gray mud, cleaned it in water, and indeed, a white, not very transparent bracelet was revealed: "I don't recognize this material, but it doesn't look like something valuable. Jade produced in Lan Province? Never heard of it?"
She looked at Shen Qing strangely: "Boss likes this thing?"
Although she didn't know it, based on experience, this bracelet in her hand probably wouldn't be sold for more than 200 yuan before the end of the world. After the end of the world, there was even more garbage. It wasn't that no one had come to plunder these villages before, and all the food had been plundered, but this mountain of bracelets was still piled here. Doesn't it just show that they are completely useless and worthless?
Shen Qing couldn't explain it to her, so he could only nod his head and say, "Yeah... I like it. Anyway, there is space, and it's not a problem to take it away. I want to take it back to play with it."
Qu Weiwei suppressed her gaze and looked away. Rich people are willful and can do whatever they want. I don't understand, but I respect them.
In the other courtyard, Qu Weiwei was much more interested. Next door was the bracelet cutting. They also found some raw stones in the backyard, which were also collected by Shen Qing. In the other courtyard, there was carving. Some bracelet cores were carved into pendants, and some bracelets with defects were carved into various patterns to avoid the defects.
"Wow, I like this!" Qu Weiwei was not very interested in cheap bracelets, but she was different about cute bracelets. She took several bracelets and rings carved into cat paws, bunnies, and foxes and put them in her arms, looking at Shen Qing eagerly: "Boss, give me these, I like them!"
She suddenly understood Shen Qing. The bracelet carved into the shape of a cat's paw and a rabbit was also a beautiful piece of worthless trash. It was worthless in the end times, but she still wanted it when she saw it!
The boss just has poor aesthetic taste. Qu Weiwei sighed, it turns out that only when you are in the situation can you truly empathize with it!
Shen Qing also made one to look at. The cat's paw was carved in a cute way, and the small peach heart on the palm was carved out, which was extremely delicate. However, he had never seen this kind of pattern in Anping County. According to his experience of learning from Ruyifang, the world over there was more focused on meaning. The popular patterns were auspicious clouds, Ruyi, and even bats. He really hadn't seen many cute ones.
Maybe it wouldn't be able to sell it for much? Although Shen Qing liked it very much, he gave it to Qu Weiwei reluctantly just by looking at her eager look.
Qu Weiwei was very happy, holding the bracelets one by one and gesturing: "This is my ring." She tried it on her hand, and took it off after a while, fearing that it would be bumped while killing zombies. "I can't wear this, give it back to Lele to try, and if Lele can't wear it, give it to Nannan..." She fiddled with it happily for a while, then remembered something and said to Shen Qing: "Boss, if you like these, why don't we go to the small commodity wholesale market on the way back? It's on the way anyway, and maybe the small commodity wholesale market will have better quality than here."
Shen Qing was stunned: "Small commodity wholesale market?" He didn't know what that place was, but Song Kaiji slapped his forehead and said: "That's right, I didn't think of it before."
Shen Qing didn't ask any more questions after hearing this: "Let's see how much time we have. We can go and have a look if we have enough time. The main thing is to see if it's dangerous or not."
"What's so dangerous about that?" Qu Weiwei gathered the cute bracelets and asked Song Kaiji to help her pack them. They were now very good at using the iron cage tactics, and after her wood-type ability mutated, the barrier made of vines could be plated with a layer of metal, making it safer. Qu Weiwei even felt that after her and Tang Wenjie's abilities were improved by two levels, they would no longer need to cooperate with each other, and could work independently and take turns to work.
Or after the team expands further, they can each lead a team.
Shen Qing nodded randomly and stopped discussing this topic with Qu Weiwei. At noon, they had some lunch at Xiyaotou, took a nap, and prepared to return in the afternoon.
During nap time, Shen Qing and Song Kaiji were alone, and Song Kaiji told him in detail about the small commodity wholesale market.
They had actually passed by it on the way here. Of course, it was not the huge small commodity wholesale market like the one in Urumqi that was famous all over the country, but Hongcheng's own small commodity wholesale market. There should be one or two such markets in every city, or at least in every province.
This market is quite old. Before e-commerce developed, cities and counties across the province where Hongcheng is located came here to purchase goods. There is also a large green shed around the small commodity wholesale market, which is filled with wholesale clothing stalls and a large number of one-yuan stores, two-yuan stores, and ten-yuan stores.
But after the rise of e-commerce, this place has become a little dilapidated. However, some shops were smart enough to join the e-commerce army early on, and they also used this place as a warehouse, so some of them have survived.
"They sell everything. My mother's second aunt used to run a stationery store. When I was a child, my aunt brought me here to buy goods and play." Song Kaiji recalled his childhood: "Toys, bags, stationery, jewelry... they all sell them. I remember my mother bought a big box of earrings, with pearls and diamonds, for only five yuan. The clothes sold next to it were also super cheap, a pair of jeans was fifteen yuan."
Shen Qing's world's industry is underdeveloped, and materials all rely on handicrafts. If he brings some small commodities over, they will definitely be very popular and can be sold at a good price.
And Qu Weiwei's words also inspired Song Kaiji: "In fact, it's not just the small commodity market. We can also go to some building materials wholesale markets, textile wholesale markets... There are many good things there that are not very useful in the end times, but can be sold at a high price in your place."
In ancient times, cloth could be used as currency, and ancient silk was very fragile. It would become loose after being washed too many times, so it needed to be starched and washed with rice soup to make the cloth stiff.
Modern clothes, even if they are made of silk, do not need to be starched or washed. They can be washed in the washing machine. Although they are not as delicate as hand washing and may snag, they are not so dry that they cannot be worn. This is because modern textile industry has added some technological elements, and the quality of fabrics is incomparable to ancient fabrics.
If other teams wanted to attack a wholesale market, it might be a fantasy. But their team, on the one hand, had the iron cage tactics to guarantee their own safety to the greatest extent. Even if they encountered a large number of zombies and their abilities were exhausted, they could hide in the cage until their abilities were fully restored and then slowly kill them. It just took longer and required more effort.
More importantly, Shen Qing will not be attacked by zombies!
If Shen Qing could avoid other people and sneak into the mall by himself, he could take away all the things without having a direct confrontation with the zombies. It would be a huge profit with no investment!
But if there were other people lurking in the mall, or if they happened to run into a team that came to collect supplies, it would be difficult to explain, so just in case, it was better not to do so. At most, after they entered the mall and made sure that there was no one, they could rest on one floor and let Shen Qing collect the things on other floors.
The two of them whispered in the room for a long time. When they decided to return in the afternoon, Shen Qing and Song Kaiji announced that they had decided to go to the small commodity wholesale market.
Shen Qing was the boss, so naturally the others had no objection to his decision. Their team had been walking all the way, eating well, drinking well, having enough crystal cores for cultivation, and no danger. The boss was happy, so they just took a detour.
So they put away the supplies they had collected in Xiyaotou. Finally, Shen Qing also took away all the tools for polishing and carving bracelets in the two courtyards, just in case they might be useful in the future.
Through these tools, Shen Qing also realized that many manual labor in his world was monopolized, which might also be due to the rarity of precision tools.
When he was studying, Song Kaiji used a thin blade to sharpen his pencil. The pencil had a sharp tip and the wooden part was round, which looked very regular. Shen Qing had an idea and went outside to break off a branch and asked Song Kaiji to sharpen a hairpin for him.
Song Kaiji didn't understand why, but he still did it, and even showed off his ability, carving out a crooked little flower. Although the flower wasn't particularly pretty, you could still see its shape. If he polished it with sandpaper and put it in the market over there in Shen Qing, he could sell it for two or three cents.
Song Kaiji had never learned how to make hairpins. He just learned how to sharpen pencils when he was in school, and everyone in this world who had been to school could sharpen pencils.
Qu Weiwei can do it, Tang Wenjie can do it, Shen Yan can do it... Everyone can do it. This is something that has no threshold at all, and everyone can do it, so in fact, everyone can carve such hairpins and sell them for money. Aren't there tree branches all over the mountain?
But not everyone has a knife as thin as a cicada's wing, and not everyone has a piece of sandpaper that can make the surface of wood smooth.
Shen Qing touched the tools and the knife. Handicraft, industry... these two words he didn't quite understand, but they were deeply engraved in his mind.
It took them six days to get here and four days to go back, and they finally arrived at the small commodity wholesale market in the suburbs of Hongcheng.
There are many more zombies here than in the small villages on the border of Lan Province. Although it has declined, it is still the most prosperous place in the suburbs. Later, Hongcheng built a high-speed railway station, which is not far from this small commodity wholesale market, and the population is even more dense.
They got out of the car and killed zombies for more than an hour, but some of their abilities were exhausted and their physical strength was exhausted. Qu Weiwei used metal vines to tightly wrap and cover the cage, leaving only a small ventilation hole at the top, and the group sat down to rest and absorb the crystal core.
"This place is much harder than we thought." Qu Weiwei sighed, regretting her suggestion to come here for a day trip. Now it seems that one day may not be enough to complete the tour. Fortunately, there are two space ability users in their team, and they have a full supply of food, drinks and daily necessities, so they don't have to worry about wasting time here. "Next time we come to a place like this where there are so many zombies that we can't kill them all, we should prepare some sofas and beds in the space so that we can have a good rest."
Song Kaiji was silent for a moment, then took out a few cushions and said, "Just sit down wherever you like."
The zombies in the mall were just like the monsters in the game. They would regenerate after being killed, and they could not be killed. As soon as they got out of the car, zombies that smelled human scent came down from the building and rushed towards them one after another. Some impatient zombies even jumped down from the building. Before they could attack them, their limbs were broken, and only the torso was left, still roaring and chrysalis at them.
The group of people's scalps were numb. Qu Weiwei stared blankly outside and thought: "How do these zombies locate humans? They have eyes but can't see, they have ears but can't hear, so how can they still have a sense of smell?"
They are clearly dead but still moving. What is supporting and driving them? Why does the thing that supports and drives them only retain their sense of smell but not their hearing and vision?
However, no one could answer her question. This question had been discussed countless times since the outbreak of the apocalypse, but it still had no answer. Instead, now, the survivors no longer sought to understand "why", but just silently accepted and got used to the behavior of the zombies.
Song Kaiji half-jokingly said, "Maybe someone at the institute knows. If you have a chance in the future, you can ask them."
"Pah," Qu Weiwei frowned, obviously feeling sick at the thought of the research institute: "If you don't know, then you don't know. It's not a big deal."
They rested for nearly an hour and absorbed a lot of crystal cores before they finally had full power. Qu Weiwei removed the vines and rebuilt a metal vine wall ten meters away, isolating most of the zombies outside and leaving only a small number for them to hunt.
After killing them and digging out the crystal cores, repeat the same process and release a new batch.
They moved towards the main entrance of the mall little by little. They fought from morning to afternoon before finally entering the main entrance of the mall. At this time, they had killed many zombies, and their momentum was not as fierce as when they first arrived in the morning.
"I can't do it anymore..." Qu Weiwei's hands were shaking. She drained her superpowers time and time again, and then quickly absorbed the crystal cores to fill them up. It had been a long time since she had been overloaded like this. She felt that her muscles and meridians were extremely sore, as if she had climbed the highest mountain in the province. "Let's stop here today, take a rest first, and fight again tomorrow."
When they entered the mall, Lu Yao, an earth-type mutant, immediately used his powers to seal the door and also blocked the stairs leading to the second floor. He then began to slowly kill the zombies on the first floor.
Through the earth wall, the zombies upstairs and outside the door were still howling and flapping tirelessly.
After all the zombies on the first floor were killed, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The ones who put in the least effort here were Shen Qing and Song Kaiji, while Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei were the ones who put in the most effort and had already collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
Shen Qing and Song Kaiji quickly cleaned up a shop, used boxes of goods to make beds, spread bedding on them, and put out some fruits, food and drinks for the six psychics who had made great contributions to rest.
Then the couple went out with daggers to dig out crystal cores. After digging up the bodies, they dragged them to the corner of the hall and piled them up. Slowly, the first floor became tidy, revealing its original prosperous appearance before the end of the world.
Shen Qing was full of curiosity about this mall. He kept looking around while digging for crystal cores. This was an older building. Thinking about how Song Kaiji had come here with his aunt when he was a child, how many years had it been now?
The inside seemed to have been renovated, with the shops neatly separated from each other. Inside the shops and even at the doorways, there were densely packed goods.
After digging for a while, Shen Qing couldn't help being curious, so he went to the door of a store to check, and then his eyes widened. The things piled in this store looked like the crystal cores he dug out from the zombies' brains! They were dazzling and just piled up in a cardboard box!
Song Kaiji noticed his actions and came over. Seeing Shen Qing's expression, he said with a smile: "This should be... um, acrylic diamond? It is a material for beaded curtains, and some people also use them to weave some small things." Song Kaiji walked around the store and found a small giant panda made of acrylic beads: "Here, this one. It looks like a crystal core, but it is actually very light. Now the light is not good, and you will know by comparing it carefully. This thing is very cheap and worthless, and the material is also average."
Shen Qing took the small giant panda ornament. It was indeed very light to hold and quite rough when looked at closely. But... it was so cute! Shen Qing hesitated for a moment and put the little panda into the space.
Song Kaiji laughed: "You want all of this? There are several floors in here, the space we have combined can't even accommodate them all!"
They walked around other shops for a few more times, and Shen Qing's eyes were almost dazzled. A whole wall was hung with colorful bracelets, crystal, pearl, chalcedony, glass, sandalwood... Most of them were cheap fakes, or they couldn't be called fakes, just poor quality, but there were also good quality ones; whole bundles of hairpins and clips inlaid with gems, just tied up casually with rubber bands; boxes of dazzling gems, Song Kaiji said that they were glued on the nails of girls, a few cents or even a few cents each...
Shen Qing looked at this and touched that, wanting everything and not wanting to throw anything away!
"How annoying," Shen Qing squatted on the ground in frustration, making a choice: "Why hasn't your space been upgraded yet? Upgrade it quickly!"
Before they came out this time, they had already thought about the possibility of collecting a lot of supplies. Shen Qing finally spent money to rent a warehouse and stored the food and temporary sundries in his and Song Kaiji's space in the warehouse.
But even so, there was not much space left. Song Kaiji's space was for cars, food, and weapons, and Shen Qing's space was for seeds.
What's more, it's such a big shopping mall, even if the space between the two of them is empty, it's impossible for them to take away all the things!
Song Kaiji touched his head and could only comfort him: "It's not far, we can come more often if we have the chance. You can try to take a little of each item to your place first. What if it doesn't sell well? Remember what sells well and take more next time."
It can only be done this way. Shen Qing looked at every store in the mall reluctantly. It's not entirely a question of whether the goods are good or not. The goods here are all very beautiful. Even if they are not good, he still wants them. QAQ
They were experiencing sweet distress in the shopping mall, but they didn't know that someone outside had been observing them for a long time.
A young man put down the binoculars and said, "They have already entered the mall. There seem to be eight of them. We have confirmed that there should be one fire-type psychic, one earth-type psychic, and one gold-type psychic. We are not sure about the others yet."
The metal cage was obviously controlled by a gold-type psychic, but what about those metal-like vines outside the cage? Are they also gold-type psychics?
A middle-aged man took the telescope. Even though Song Kaiji and his friends had already entered the mall and could not see anything, he still did not put down the telescope for a long time. After a while, he asked, "Can we replicate this cage?"
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