I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 771: Anything Else, Bring It All

"What?!"

"You’re taking it all?"

"Exactly how many cigarettes did you bring with you?"

By conventional thinking, cigars are sold one by one. When cigarettes first came out, at 30 Virtual Coins each, they were practically a steal. Plus, with the current scarcity of resources, even with a powerful financial backer, it would still be impossible to produce many. After all, mining also requires manual labor; no one could suddenly produce a massive amount. In short, it requires time to accumulate and substantial human support.

This is not like cabbages before the apocalypse, which could be planted across thousands of acres and yield thousands of tons in one harvest. Even if there was that much land available, how much would it cost to plant crops in the apocalypse?

The costs of time, irrigation, electricity, temperature, fertility... they’re all as difficult as reaching the heavens.

Therefore, cigarettes must certainly be scarce and difficult to popularize.

Otherwise, they would have become as common as dirt on the streets by now.

Regarding the goods just now, someone had calculated that it would take at least several hundred thousand cigarettes, tens of millions worth of resources, to saturate the entire market of One Flower. And One Flower’s population is only about three million.

But... Jing Shu, the boss, spoke up again.

"What other good stuff do you have for trade? Name your prices, let me have a look."

With so many citizens eagerly waiting behind her, after taxes are paid, about 45% of these traded goods would belong to Jing Shu. The festival was coming up soon, and she wanted to provide an abundance of employee benefits, so no amount of resources would be too much. Moreover, Wu City had just relocated and had far too many things it needed.

Damn, what’s so special about these Wu City-branded cigarettes? many people wondered. The fact that they’re still trading after such a big haul is suspicious.

After all, if someone were to sell beef, originally valued at 60 coins, for 30 coins in a limited offer for urgently needed resources, everyone would definitely think it’s a bargain. But if this person doesn’t limit the amount and takes as much as there is... then, that person is either a scammer or a fool.

"I do have some lubricant worth 3 million here... It’s an excellent remedy for cracked skin, the prevention and treatment of frostbite, not some low-grade stuff extracted from corpses. It’s all good quality, derived from animal fats and vegetable oils. But we only have it in stock."

"Boss, do you even have that much stock?"

"We’d like to see the goods first. We deal in spot transactions here, fixed price with no support for pre-purchasing and collecting goods half a year later."

Even the big bosses fell silent, observing the situation, thinking Jing Shu might be up to some trickery.

The atmosphere suddenly quieted down; no one expected that the people from Wu City had raided Tick’s ancestral graves and dug up countless raw materials, capable of producing an infinite number of cigarettes in one go.

Jing Shu smiled slightly and snapped her fingers.

The Hulks were well-trained, just like Transformers; their bodies split apart, instantly turning into five or six-tiered trapezoidal shelves, displaying rows upon rows of neatly arranged cigarettes.

A dozen or so square meters of display space were instantly filled with cigarettes, eerily quieting the scene, just like in a movie starring Zhou Xingchi, where a small room filled with Silver blinded everyone’s eyes.

Zhao Qian’s mouth hung open and didn’t close, drool dripping out without her even noticing. So that’s why those creatures were so square when I came in! she realized. They’re packed full of cigarettes!

"COUGH! COUGH!"

A full three to four seconds of stunned silence and sharp gasps from the crowd passed before Jing Shu, having coughed twice, continued,

"Those who have just given a quote can trade directly with Mr. Hao here on the spot. Please, Ms. Zhao Qian, help to tally the prices. Those who still have goods should hurry to adjust their stock and give quotes. This is all we have, and once it’s gone, we’re leaving."

"Leaving" referred to departing from One Flower. With so many cigarettes already exchanged for high-value goods, there were no longer any worthwhile goods left to trade.

Furthermore, Jun Bao and his team would soon return, and they needed to set off for the next station. They had to quickly establish a cigarette factory at the next stop, and there were many tasks ahead. The original plan might have to change; Jing Shu might not be able to wait for the rest of the convoy and would have to hit the road with her family.

Although there was a hint of regret, Jing Shu also felt a small thrill of excitement. Of course, she still needed to make the necessary preparations for her family, for the journey ahead would be long and fraught with danger.

The scene erupted with activity again, and the bosses who were just hesitating didn’t hesitate anymore. No matter what, the first batch of cigarettes, if they could be transported out, would surely turn a handsome profit. In no time, phones were busy with stock adjustment calls, fearing that any delay would mean missing out on this batch of "welfare cigarettes."

But in reality, the purchasing power of One Flower on hand couldn’t completely buy out the goods brought by Jing Shu. Some people even wanted to pre-order, calling for goods from other places, but that was not possible. The bosses with less stock were regretting their decisions deeply.

Even if the cigarettes were sold at the price of cabbages, they constituted a luxury only the formal workers in the high-end consumer market could afford. The goods exchanged covered various essential shortages, and One Flower’s most abundant and least valuable cockroach protein paste was something not even Jing Shu would consider. At the very least, Jing Shu’s factories provided meals and ensured everyone was well-fed.

To take it a step further, even if the people of Wu City were impoverished, they could still afford Insect Cakes, which tasted much better than cockroach protein paste.

From this, one could see that the living standards of the Wu City People were a tiny bit higher.

In the end, the One Flower government paid out of pocket, exchanging 50 refurbished diesel buses for the last of the cigarettes. For Wu City, transportation was a crucial need. This also reminded Jing Shu that in future trades, she could include transportation to accelerate migration speed.

The trade was coming to an end, and everyone was overjoyed.

Even the Hulks, with their enormous frames, were unable to carry away so many goods.

Zhao Qian, dizzy from tallying, looked at the mountainous pile of goods and said to Jing Shu, "It’s going to be difficult to transport so many goods, and it’s not safe either. Perhaps I should write a report and request some support..."

"No need, our armed convoy will be here soon, and I doubt anyone would dare to cause trouble. You’ve worked hard today. This is a little token of my appreciation. Please accept it. Hope to see you again if fate allows," Jing Shu said, clearly in a good mood.

Indeed, it was a proper trade fair. Even if some harbored ill intentions, upon witnessing the large troop of a thousand people and the set-up machine guns, everyone behaved.

"It... it’s the least I could do..."

Zhao Qian never imagined the person she was asked to observe would end up giving her a handbag full of soybeans as gratitude. My God, this bag of soybeans is worth more than my three months’ salary! It’ll be enough for me to eat for half a year! How am I going to report this to my superiors? Zhao Qian’s loyalties couldn’t help but lean toward Jing Shu.

The large convoy held a celebration banquet today, distributing New Year’s welfare benefits in advance.

Just considering the meal standard, it was even slightly better than what they had on the road. The congee with added sausage, in particular, gave off a rich aroma that spread for a whole kilometer. When Jun Bao and his team returned, they smelled it from afar.

"Looks like this harvest was huge," Jun Bao said, leading his men. "Come on, let’s go see what Jing Shu and the others managed to trade for."

"I bet they got all sorts of Sichuan specialties, right?" one of them exclaimed. "I can already smell the sausage; it’s to die for!"

"Let’s get a move on," Jun Bao urged. "We also need to update everyone on the negotiation results and our plans moving forward."