“I was wondering if we could trade...”
Xiao Sheng tried to suppress his excitement as he prepared to propose a trade—but he was quickly left bewildered by Mo Shao’s next words.
“I intend to distribute Crafting Tables and saplings for free.”
“What?!” Xiao Sheng instantly lost his composure. It wasn't that his willpower was weak; it was simply that he had never seen such a display of generosity in this world!
“However, you have to promise me something.”
“Go on.” Guan Ruocheng held Xiao Sheng down and took over the conversation... Their relationship seemed more complex than it appeared on the surface.
“When you encounter friendly teams that can be helped but lack these two items, you must provide them for free as well.”
“This...” Guan Ruocheng was stunned, his eyes flickering with confusion. He clearly didn’t understand her motive. “May I ask why?”
“So that fewer people die.” In reality, it was to earn Feedback, but Mo Shao maintained a poker face as she answered.
While she wasn't good at acting, she was perfectly capable of keeping a straight face and playing the role of a cold, aloof expert—after all, she had lived that way for her entire previous life.
“That is certainly...” Guan Ruocheng was speechless.
He looked at Mo Shao as if trying to discern something from her expression, but since she was wearing a Level 3 Helmet, only the lower half of her face was visible.
“We agree.” Ultimately, he chose to accept her condition.
As for whether they would actually follow through after leaving, that was no longer Mo Shao’s concern—if they broke their word, Heaven itself would take care of them.
“Good. However, these things take time to grow,” Mo Shao nodded before changing the subject. “They probably won't be enough to last through tonight.”
“That’s true. So?” Xiao Sheng regained his composure.
“So, I have some stock here. Do you want to buy some?” Mo Shao signaled for Little Ka to bring out several tools.
“Err...” Guan Ruocheng paused for a moment and shook his head with a wry smile. “Ms. Hui, you certainly draw a clear line between public interest and private business.”
“One thing has nothing to do with the other.” Mo Shao shrugged. Helping was fine, but a profit still had to be made. “So, are you buying or not?”
“Naturally, we are.”
In the end, Mo Shao traded away quite a few pickaxes, shovels, and axes, and successfully obtained the Magic Wand as well.
Mo Shao could turn invisible herself, but Little Ka couldn't.
Separations often occurred during battles, so giving Little Ka a Magic Wand would allow her to save herself if necessary. This item was quite useful in the early stages.
The transactions continued in this manner. Many people entered just to build connections, but Mo Shao ignored all of them.
Engaging in detailed conversation with these people would only lead her into their traps, so everything had to follow her rhythm.
Under her firm attitude and given her absolute advantage in the trades, the process was quite smooth.
She traded another Theme Gacha Machine to a woman named Zhang Jiaying, a leader of a residential community group, for a camera.
It was the [Idea Camera] from Doraemon. By placing it against one's forehead, one could capture images directly from their mind.
As for why Mo Shao wanted this—she had a mountain of technological knowledge in her head, and explaining it all verbally was simply impossible.
And writing or drawing it all by hand would be far too slow.
For example, technical blueprints—those weren't measured in pages, but in tons! Doing it manually would break her hands before she even made a dent in the workload!
Therefore, she traded for this item. From now on, she wouldn't even need a printer; she could just materialize whatever she needed.
...
As for the trades made with other teams using pickaxes, shovels, and axes—most were swapped for various materials or common items.
There were various plants from Plants vs. Zombies and weapons from Soul Knight... One could say she collected materials from all over.
It saved her the trouble of looking for them slowly in the future.
She even used a freshly crafted Jack-o'-lantern to trade for something unexpected—the [Twin Swords] from Legends of the Three Kingdoms.
However, it was currently just a card; otherwise, it wouldn't have been traded away so easily. Nevertheless, it would be useful later on.
Cards were essentially a disguised form of “energy.” Many generals in Legends of the Three Kingdoms required cards to activate their skills.
Once this item underwent Realistic Rationalization, when used to strike a member of the opposite sex, it would either reduce the target's energy or increase the user’s energy.
After the transactions ended, Mo Shao gained a better understanding of the power dynamics within the city.
There were five major factions serving as the city's pillars.
The first was the Chinese official government. Little needed to be said about them.
They had a large number of professionally trained personnel, and now that they had unlimited firearms, they were like tigers with wings—their power had reached a new level.
...
The second was the team from Huipu High School that had traveled with them.
Being the team Mo Shao had personally led, they had taken very few detours and had accumulated significant resources and foundation along the way.
...
The third was a team based at a stadium construction site.
Because the construction site was massive, their numbers were large, and they had a wealth of siege machinery and heavy equipment.
Furthermore, they were led by a powerful Transformer—Optimus Prime. In terms of personality, he was an incredibly trustworthy guy.
Unfortunately, he was destined to be a team leader and was already managing that group, so he didn’t quite fit into Mo Shao's own team plans.
...
The fourth was the factory team led by the Esdeath Transformer, which had previously specialized in steel structure processing.
They had performed a series of modifications following the apocalypse, producing a massive amount of combat equipment. Their combat strength was quite formidable.
...
The fifth faction was from a village. Its specific name wasn't mentioned, but it was referred to as the Luo Family Village—everyone there was named Luo.
Naturally, the village's cohesion was exceptionally high.
One among them had transformed into Kai from Honor of Kings. His early-stage combat power was immense, and the courage boost provided by his armor was staggering.
For instance, when encountering a horde of zombies while unarmored, one's only thought would be to run. But in full heavy plate—one would feel compelled to start a slaughter!
Moreover, they were located near Seven Hills City, so under the lead of someone capable of killing monsters, they had quickly Dead-bound quite a few Echoes.
Their overall strength was excellent, but they seemed somewhat xenophobic. To join them, one had to have some form of kinship.
...
Looking at the big picture, the number of Transformers and Dead-binders in the city was quite high, and their strength was considerable.
However, this was actually due to survivor bias. Transformers and Dead-binders were naturally able to reach this place, whereas ordinary people often died halfway.
Regardless, the ordinary monsters tonight shouldn't be much of a problem; the main issue left to handle was the mass of ghosts.
As for the neighboring city... Heaven knows how many people died there!
Rate on N.U.
