Chapter 39
As Su Jing walked to the first "Flying Car Specialty" stall on the left, the stall owner peeked out from behind the metal shelves—a young aboriginal man in his twenties, wearing dark blue overalls similar to Martin's, with fresh engine oil stains on his cuffs, and a pair of worn black goggles under his bangs, with a small scratch on the lens. He was holding a wrench in his hand, as if he had just repaired a mini car model.
"You're the girl who helped Aunt Lina fix the robot, right?" The young man put down his wrench, strode to the stall, a cheerful smile on his face, and gestured for Su Jing to enter. "My name is Kyle. Lina is my cousin. She was talking about you yesterday, saying that you're kind-hearted, that you don't damage the parts when fixing the robot, and that you even give the children dried fruit to eat."
Su Jing was somewhat surprised, not expecting that her little incident in the slums would reach the ears of a black market vendor. She smiled and nodded, "My name is Su Jing, and I did indeed help Lina repair her robot—how much is your flying car? Can it be taken directly out of the instance?"
“Of course!” Kyle patted the silver flying car standing next to him. The car had a streamlined body, four circular blue hovering devices at the bottom, and a small radar on the roof. “This is the ‘New Los Angeles Type 3’. It can seat two people, has a maximum hovering height of 500 meters, and its range is provided by energy crystals. A full tank can take you 300 kilometers. The original price was 8,000 points. Since you are Lina’s cousin’s friend, I’ll give you 6,000 points, and I’ll also give you two spare energy crystals.”
As he spoke, he bent down and pressed the red button on the side of the car—the levitation device at the bottom of the car instantly lit up with a pale blue light, and the car gently lifted 10 centimeters off the ground without any shaking, only a slight "humming" sound. "You see, it's stable when it's levitating, and it can also prevent minor collisions. It's very useful for transferring supplies or avoiding monsters in the apocalypse."
Su Jing circled the flying car, her fingertips lightly tracing the cool metal body to confirm there were no obvious signs of damage. She then asked, "How much supplies can it carry? I might need to transport some equipment."
“The trunk can hold 500 kilograms of stuff. If that’s not enough, you can add a roof rack.” Kyle pointed to the black trunk lid at the rear of the car. “How many do you want? I have 12 in stock right now. They’ve all been just tested and haven’t had any problems.”
"Ten units." Su Jing answered decisively—ten flying cars would be enough for emergency evacuation in the apocalypse, capable of transporting supplies and providing transportation in extreme weather. "Each flying car costs 6,000 points, so ten would be 60,000 points, right?"
“That’s right!” Kyle took out a small calculator, pressed a few buttons, and the screen displayed “60,000 points.” “Wait a minute, I’ll give you a receipt, and we’ll calculate the total later.”
Su Jing nodded, her gaze shifting to the laser gun on the other side of the stall—the black metal gun body gleamed with a cold light, a red energy ring around the muzzle, a small energy indicator light on the side of the gun, and several boxes of energy bullets, 10 bullets each, were placed next to it, all light green in color.
"How much is this laser gun?" She picked up a laser gun; it felt heavy in her hand and was lighter than the one she used before, making it more suitable for carrying for a long time.
"A regular gun costs 1000 points, and an energy bullet costs 20 points a box." Kyle walked over, took a box of energy bullets from the shelf, put it into the magazine at the bottom of the gun, and pulled the trigger. A red laser beam shot towards the metal target behind the stall in an instant. With a "whoosh," a small charred hole immediately appeared in the bullseye. "It's powerful enough to penetrate a 3-centimeter-thick steel plate. It's no problem to deal with mechanical guards or monsters."
He paused, then added, "Oh, right, here's a discount for you: buy 5 laser guns and get 1 free. If you buy a lot, you can also get a few boxes of energy bullets as a bonus—you helped my cousin, so I can't let you suffer a loss."
Su Jing was thinking to herself: the more defensive weapons the better in the apocalypse. She already had the laser guns in her space, but having more would allow her to distribute them to her companions if they encountered them in the future, or to deal with large-scale monster attacks. "I want 50 of them, and for energy bullets, I'll give each one 10 boxes, for a total of 500 boxes."
Kyle's eyes lit up, and he immediately picked up a calculator to calculate: "Buy 5 get 1 free. If you buy 50, you only need to pay for 42. 42 x 1000 = 42000 points; 500 boxes of energy bullets x 20 = 10000 points. I'll round down the price for that part to 9000 points. So, the total is 51000 points."
"Thank you." After thanking him, Su Jing's gaze fell on the pile of energy crystals at the back of the stall—the orange-yellow crystals were piled up into a small mountain half a meter high, each about the size of a fist, with a soft luster on the surface. Kyle had said before that the flying car's endurance relied on energy crystals, and the generator could also be used. This was the most important energy reserve in the apocalypse.
"How much are the energy crystals?" She walked to the pile of crystals, picked one up and weighed it in her hand. It was quite heavy, and she could feel a faint energy fluctuation on its surface.
"Sold by the piece, 10 points per piece, or 9 points per piece if you buy more." Kyle picked up a crystal and placed it on the energy tester next to him. The screen immediately displayed "Energy density: 85% (high quality)". "These were salvaged from old generators in the industrial zone. Their energy density is all above 80%. They are much better than the 'refurbished crystals' sold outside. Those only have 50% density and they sell for 8 points per piece. They are ripping off outsiders."
“I want 10,000.” Su Jing said without hesitation—10,000 crystals, at 9 points each, is 90,000 points, enough for the flying car and generator to last a long time. Even if there is an energy shortage in the apocalypse, it can last for a while.
Kyle was genuinely surprised this time. He paused for a few seconds before reacting: "10,000? Okay! I'll find you some boxes to pack them in right away. They're all sealed metal boxes, moisture-proof and shockproof, and easy for you to store." He turned around and dragged out a dozen silver metal boxes from behind the shelf, each box capable of holding 1,000 crystals. "I'll give you a discount, 8.9 points per crystal, so 10,000 is 89,000 points. How about that?"
Su Jing nodded in agreement, and Kyle immediately began packing the crystals into boxes. After each box was filled, he would randomly check a few crystals with a testing device to ensure that the energy density met the standards. While Su Jing was at it, she made room in the space—the "energy zone" she had previously organized still had enough space. Ten flying cars could be placed upright, 50 laser guns and energy bullets could be placed on the metal rack, and the 10,000 crystals packed in boxes were piled up right next to the generator.
Once Kyle had everything ready, he took out a handwritten bill and handed it to Su Jing: "Take a look, 10 flying cars for 60,000 points, 50 laser guns + 500 boxes of energy bullets for 51,000 points, 10,000 energy crystals for 89,000 points, a total of 200,000 points, not a penny more or less."
Su Jing confirmed the bill was correct, brought up the system panel, and deducted 200,000 points from her 308,500 points, leaving 108,500 points. "The points have been transferred. Please check."
Kyle picked up a small points receiver from the stall; the screen displayed "Received 200,000 points." He smiled and put the receiver in his pocket: "Got it! How are you going to carry all this? Do you need me to help you carry it outside?"
"No need, I can do it myself." Su Jing walked to the flying car, concentrated her mind, and silently chanted "store in space" towards the car—the silver car instantly disappeared from its original spot, and when she looked into the space again, it was already standing steadily next to the metal support in the "energy zone". Then, she stored the laser gun, energy bullets, and the metal box containing crystals into her space one by one. In less than 5 minutes, most of the items in front of the stall were gone.
Kyle stared wide-eyed. Although he didn't ask, he guessed that Su Jing had a special storage method. He just smiled and said, "If you need more technology products in the future, or if these things break and need repair, come to the black market anytime. I'll still give you a discount."
After thanking the vendor, Su Jing was about to leave the stall when a notification popped up on her system panel in her pocket, indicating a global chat channel. The red and dark gray chat boxes were rapidly refreshing. She clicked on it and saw a message from Zhao Yue (from the Flower Country), whose account was in dark gray, conveying a sense of helplessness: "The black market stuff is so expensive! Our team spent ages collecting points, and we could only afford two ordinary handguns. The vendor even tried to inflate the price; they were supposed to charge 500 points each, but they insisted on charging us 1000 points, saying 'This is the price for outsiders!'"
Immediately afterward, Chen Yang, the dark gray-haired "Sharp Blade (China)," chimed in: "Me too! I wanted to buy an energy crystal, and the stall owner said it was 8 points each. But when he saw I was an 'outsider,' he immediately raised the price to 24 points, tripling the price! He even told me to get lost if I didn't buy it. His attitude was terrible; there was no way to negotiate!"
Jack, the red-clad "Hunter (USA)," also complained: "I've been looking for ages and haven't even seen a flying car. The vendors either hide when they see us or they overcharge us. This black market is basically for the natives; we can't buy anything here!"
Su Jing glanced at the complaints in the channel and secretly felt fortunate—if she hadn't helped Lina, Martha, and the others repair robots and gained the trust of the natives, she probably would have been overcharged like Zhao Yue and Chen Yang, or even unable to buy the urgently needed supplies. She turned off the channel, waved to Kyle, and turned to walk towards the black market exit.
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