Chapter 16 Night Market
After 6:30 p.m., almost no one came in through the main gate anymore, and the people inside the base did not eat but went to sleep and rest.
Some people followed Jiang Baiyue's example and dug up berry bushes to transplant, while others seemed to have caught chickens and ducks and tied them up to raise livestock.
After newcomers learned about the base's architecture, they even started setting up stalls and trading in the open spaces.
Although trading is possible in the mission lobby, a 5% tax is levied, making it unsuitable for trading small items or limited quantities of supplies in the mission lobby.
Some people set up stalls in the open space to sell their wares, and others followed suit.
Some skillful people started setting up food stalls. Smelling the hot food, Jiang Baiyue swallowed hard. She walked over uncontrollably and put the hoe in her bag.
She was originally going to hoe the ground and plant corn.
The stalls at the small market were arranged in three rows, with one stall owner displaying a barbecue grill right at the end facing the entrance and close to the bar.
Jiang Baiyue approached and saw everyone chatting while holding ingredients. After listening for a while, she realized that the customers brought their own ingredients, and the stall owner helped them grill them with a barbecue grill.
"Bring your own ingredients and seasonings, and the processing fee is one coin, which is quite cheap."
The kind-hearted auntie chatted enthusiastically with Jiang Baiyue, talking about the stall owner's business methods, the sudden appearance of the game, and her two promising daughters.
"Sigh, if it weren't for my two daughters being mischievous and healthy since they were little, I don't know how this sudden disaster would have happened..."
"Miss, do you have any seasonings? If not, I can lend you some salt. Although there are no other seasonings, I heard from the people in front that this owner is very skilled, and his food tastes good even with salt."
"However, the boss also provides seasonings, but you have to exchange them for ingredients."
Not many people were eligible to enjoy it, and she quickly got her turn in line.
Jiang Baiyue: "Boss, I don't have any seasonings. Do you provide seasonings here?"
The barbecue stall owner was a thin young man with fair skin and prominent veins on his hands, who looked like someone who was often sick.
Next to the young man was a little boy whittling wooden skewers with a knife.
"No bowls, chopsticks, plates, boxes, or bags will be provided. Five strings of seasonings and half a coin are required. One portion of wood or stone is also acceptable. If wood or stone is unavailable, four portions of weeds will also be fine."
It's quite cheap.
Jiang Baiyue handed the eggplants she had collected that day to the barbecue stall owner.
Roasted eggplant takes some time, so Jiang Baiyue told the vendor she would pick it up when she returned from shopping before heading into the market.
Some people rummaged through the tables and placed their goods on them, while others found a piece of cloth and laid it on the ground.
The table had no cloth, and the person who hadn't been found simply displayed their backpack interface publicly.
Viewers can even directly click on the other person's screen to view item information.
Some stalls are for exchanging materials, mostly basic materials. Jiang Baiyue now has a wide variety of materials, and with the mission hall also offering purchases, her need for basic materials is not so urgent.
Construction of the base is now on track, except for a public toilet. I've been holding it in these past two nights, and I'm worried that someone might not be able to hold it in and urinate at the entrance.
In particular, there is a group of children. Children's self-control is not as good as adults', after all, adults still have some sense of shame.
Jiang Baiyue's eyes searched through the various stalls, hoping to find blueprints for water purification devices or finished water purifiers.
"Roasted corn, sweet and crispy roasted corn, and boiled corn too!"
"Tents for sale! Tents for the price of 6 meals each!"
"Change materials, change materials, replace 5 mechanical parts."
"Trade food for antidepressants, trade them for weapons!"
After browsing around, Jiang Baiyue discovered that her materials were the most complete and her supplies were the most abundant.
It was expected that she would not find any seeds. She saw someone selling seeds and decided to stock up on some.
"How do you want to change these seeds? In exchange for food?"
The stall owner was a child. Jiang Baiyue looked around to make sure that no adults were there.
"Sister, one packet of seeds can be exchanged for ten pieces of wood."
Before Jiang Baiyue could speak, an old man next to her began to complain.
"These seeds aren't food, and we don't even know when we'll harvest them after planting them. Ten pieces of wood are too expensive."
The middle-aged man at the next stall chimed in, "Yeah, kid, you should talk to your teacher and ask them to lower the price. Look, we've had several customers but haven't sold a single pack."
The little girl kept quiet and insisted on not lowering the price. Teacher Meizhi said that the seeds didn't necessarily have to be sold; she could grow them herself in the future, so she couldn't lower the price to sell them.
The seeds are all wrapped in paper, and there are only 10 seeds in each packet.
If the seeds are not planted in farmland and fertilized, the maturation time is indeed quite long, so it makes sense that the old man and the middle-aged stall owner said the price was too high.
However, Jiang Baiyue's goal is to collect as many seeds as possible. After the seeds are planted and mature, she will receive 1-2 more seeds for each harvest.
The probability of finding a seed is also very low. In the past three days, she hasn't found a single seed, so she doesn't want to miss out.
She posted a message in the chat area asking to buy seeds, but no one messaged her privately; she also posted a message in the store asking to buy seeds, but it went unanswered.
After thinking it through, Jiang Baiyue didn't hesitate. She brought up the warehouse panel and took out 50 pieces of wood from the warehouse, piling the wood into a small mountain.
Fortunately, she was at the base, so she could switch the warehouse panel at any time to access supplies. Otherwise, it would have been quite inconvenient to have to go back to the cabin to get supplies.
The child vendor happily counted the items one by one, putting them into his backpack as he did so, clearly experiencing the joy of making things disappear as if it were magic.
Jiang Baiyue didn't urge her; she squatted down at the stall next to her, looking at the middle-aged stall owner's goods.
"Wow, you actually bought it? You're acting like a great philanthropist."
"All I found here are daily necessities. I want to exchange them for some food, water, or weapons."
Jiang Baiyue picked up a small iron pot. She hadn't had any hot food recently, and thinking that she still had some flatbread in her backpack, she wanted to buy an iron pot so she could cook some noodles.
You can also cook porridge with some fresh rice.
The middle-aged stall owner held up two fingers and said, "20 pieces of wood, or 40 bundles of weeds will do. I just want to gather enough materials to build a wooden house as soon as possible, otherwise I'm afraid of getting wet in the rain every day while lying on the ground."
The small iron pot was not as important to Jiang Baiyue as the seeds, and the 20 pieces of wood were really unnecessary.
"I'll take all 10 pieces of wood."
The middle-aged stall owner was puzzled and tried to persuade Jiang Baiyue to buy it at his price: "Hey, young lady, you're already taking all her seeds, and you're complaining about the price of this iron pot that can cook rice and boil water..."
"I finally found this iron pot after searching through a grocery store three times."
The old man hadn't left yet when he heard the stall owner say this and exclaimed in surprise, "That Wang Ma General Store over there? I've been there too, but I couldn't find it. I only found two packs of ham sausages on the shelf."
Middle-aged stall owner: "It wasn't easy. I thought there was nothing left, but I found it by feeling around on the shelf."
A passerby, clearly also having a lot to say about looting, chimed in: "I don't know what's wrong with this game. In the same store, I can't find anything, but other people can find a bottle of water even by rummaging through the trash can."
When it came to looting, the others got excited too, because it was all about luck, so no one held back.
Jiang Baiyue could directly see the looting points, so even though she learned through the chat area that other people's looting was different from her own, she didn't really gain any significant insights.
Listening to everyone complaining now, I realize how lucky I am.
"Sister, I've counted them, there are 50. Here are the seeds for you."
The little girl handed five packets of seeds to Jiang Baiyue with both hands. Jiang Baiyue patted the child's head, put the seeds into her backpack, and was about to get up and leave.
Seeing Jiang Baiyue about to leave, the middle-aged stall owner quickly called out to her, "Young lady, take it, take it. It's only 10 pieces of wood. Oh, when you're bargaining, there has to be a back and forth."
After the transaction, Jiang Baiyue went to the barbecue stall to pick up her grilled eggplant.
Roasted eggplant: -12 hunger points, -5 stress points.
Eating raw eggplant only reduces hunger by 2 points, but it's unclear whether this applies to simply grilling it over a fire or if it depends on the player's cooking skills.
Previously in the game, food was cooked using a campfire and a cooking pot, but now she doesn't see the cooking pot waiting to be unlocked on the workbench.
She was about to turn her foot and head to the mission hall to retrieve her rented workbench when she heard a mechanical voice prompting her.
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