Chapter 128 New Discoveries While Shopping
Zuo Shan led Pan Duole to browse around the stalls in the square. They found that most of the items sold there were burlap sacks, wicker baskets, and old tools. There was also a stall selling minerals, which was filled with various oddly shaped minerals.
Most of the people shopping are scavengers. Some of them are not very good at handicrafts, but they buy a few burlap sacks and baskets because they are cheap and convenient.
People do buy used tools, but they haggle quite hard, since they're all looking for a bargain. If they really had money, they'd go to the exchange hall and buy new ones.
As for ores, only mercenaries would occasionally stop to take a look. After all, they were more knowledgeable than ordinary scavengers and hoped to find a bargain and buy a rare precious metal ore.
The people selling the ore can make it sound amazing, but without professional tools to cut it open, it's impossible to see what's inside. It's actually a bit like gambling on jade on Earth.
Zuo Shan thought of Xiao Bao at home, so she also dragged Pan Duole to look at the minerals. Unfortunately, Xiao Bao and Mao Li were not with them, so the two of them could not distinguish the true value of these minerals.
Suddenly, Zuo Shan's gaze was drawn to a columnar grayish-white stone. Wasn't this the stalactite she had seen when she visited a cave before?
Seeing her reach out to touch it, the middle-aged stall owner smiled and said, "I picked this stone up to make up the numbers. It's not a metal ore. If you like it, just give me two silver coins and you can take it."
"Uncle, where did you find this stone? Would it be convenient for you to tell me?" Zuo Shan asked with a smile.
“What’s inconvenient about this? I picked it up at collection point number 99, which is the farthest collection point from our residential area, a full 35 kilometers away.”
This was also the outermost one when the collection points were designated back then. Next to it is a steep mountain range, and on the other side of the mountain range lies the territory of District 47. "The uncle said readily.
He didn't care whether Zuo Shan bought his stone or not, and he believed that no one would run 35 kilometers just to pick up a stone like that.
Most importantly, this stone is worthless.
Zuo Shan finally chose two ores, one black and gold and the other dark blue, purely by feeling. The two ores cost a total of 120 yuan.
The columnar stalactite was given to her as a bonus by the uncle.
After buying the ore, they passed a toy stall with various wooden carvings of flowers and plants, and Pandora's eyes immediately lit up.
Zuo Shan noticed that her gaze lingered on a wooden dagger for a long time, and Zuo Shan eventually bought the wooden dagger.
It is the same size as a real dagger, dark brown all over, and polished to an extremely smooth finish.
When the stall owner handed the dagger to Zuo Shan, he specifically instructed, "This cannot be given to very young children to play with; they might accidentally prick their hands."
"Don't worry, it's for older kids to play with," Zuo Shan said with a smile.
The stall owner was satisfied with the 10 yuan transfer. Almost no one wanted the dagger; as a toy, it was too dangerous, and as a tool, it was made of wood and not sharp enough.
After leaving the stall, Zuo Shan handed the dagger to Pan Duole: "Take this and play with it. I bought it for you."
"Sister, I don't want it. Keep it for baby Chen to play with. I'm an adult now, I don't play with toys anymore." Pan Duole quickly shook her head.
In her childhood memories, all her toys were grass leaves and stalks, as well as seeds and roots of various plants.
After she turned three, she learned to use a cutting knife and could understand the voice prompts inside.
The little girl dragged the heavy cutting blade, and when she saw a low-growing plant, she would desperately aim the blade at it and press the switch to test it.
I remember the first time she detected a clover leaf with moderate radiation, her mother hugged her and gave her a big kiss, then tossed her aside and said, "The little rascal has finally learned to find food on his own."
That was the only time she remembered her mother hugging and kissing her.
Now, she no longer has a mother, but she has a sister.
Her older sister gave her her first toy, a proper toy that she bought with her own money.
Pandora's eyes were red. She looked up at the sky, held back her tears, and put one hand in her pocket, carefully touching the small wooden sword. Suddenly, she felt a comfortable warmth coming from the wooden sword in her hand.
She had a feeling that there was something hidden inside the wooden sword, but when she took it out and looked at it carefully, she found nothing.
She decided that once she got back, she would give it to her brother Mao Li to check and see what it was made of.
The streets of the 48th arrondissement were so small that Zuo Shan and Pandora finished exploring them in just over an hour.
Most people go to the supermarket, but they've only been there a few days, so naturally they don't want to squeeze in with the crowds.
Finally, Zuo Shan suggested, "Let's go check out the exchange hall in District 48. We've been here for so long, but we've never been inside even once."
"Okay, let's go take a look!" Pandora was also intrigued.
Zuo Shan had been to the exchange hall in District 50 a few times before, in order to sell low-radiation leaflets. But now that she has savings in her account, she is no longer willing to sell the low-radiation leaflets and keeps them for herself because they are good for the baby.
But if you ask her to pay for it, she still won't buy it because it's too expensive.
She came empty-handed today, just to browse around, but when she entered the exchange hall, she found it was also packed with people.
There were many security personnel in the exchange hall today, both to maintain order and to deter those who might try to cause trouble.
The streets were noisy, but the exchange hall was relatively quiet. No one dared to make a loud noise, otherwise they would be asked to leave by security.
The first thing to look at on the left is the taskbar, which occupies one-third of the exchange hall and is a huge projection screen.
The screen displays a new batch of information every minute, giving it a high-tech look that contrasts sharply with the dilapidated town streets and shabby-dressed people outside.
The taskbar has various tasks, but most of them are hunting or gathering tasks issued by mercenary groups.
Most of these missions are dangerous, and the additional conditions usually require: physical strength, zero-level superpowers, or proficiency in combat, etc.
People like Zuo Shan and Pan Duole basically can't get any missions.
A very small number of agents are willing to take ordinary people along, but their commission rates are too high; the agent can only get 10% to 20% at most.
After looking at it for about fifteen minutes, Zuo Shan felt that the task list was currently irrelevant to them.
Turning my head to look at the price list outside the exchange window, I discovered that the exchange price for low-radiation food was 50-500 silver coins per 100 grams.
This price is 2.5 times higher than the 20-200 silver coins per 100 grams in the exchange hall of District 50. You don't know until you compare them, and the difference is shocking!
Sure enough, the more remote the area, the more ruthlessly the people at the bottom of society are exploited!
She remembers that when she lived with her grandparents in the countryside, a kilowatt-hour of electricity cost more than 80 cents. Later, when she moved to the city, she found that the electricity cost was only 51 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Thinking of this, she quickly brought up the utility bill payment page on her wristwatch and found that the electricity cost in District 48 was 1.2 silver coins per kilowatt-hour.
She remembered it perfectly well; the electricity price in District 50 was two yuan per kilowatt-hour.
Fortunately, she hadn't sold too many low-radiation blades in District 50, otherwise she would have been heartbroken to see the prices here.
Of course, scavengers in District 50 rarely find low-radiation leaves, so naturally no one would think of going to the exchange hall in District 48 to sell them for money.
Therefore, nobody knew that the prices on both sides would differ so much.
It's no wonder that life is harder in the more remote the safe zone.
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