Chapter 17: Mutant Value 11

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Mutant Value 11

Contribution Points, Contribution Points! Without Contribution Points, it was practically impossible to take a single step.

Huai Yu carried her bucket and walked forward silently, observing the stalls on both sides of the street. Since it was the afternoon, there weren’t many stalls lining the roads outside the shops. For now, she couldn’t tell which areas had heavier foot traffic, though she did spot someone selling vegetable seedlings.

However, they were very expensive. Chili seedlings cost ten points each.

There was also a fruit vendor selling winter Zaozi, which looked quite fresh. Unfortunately, few people stopped to ask about them. A cut-open burlap sack served as a mat on the ground, holding a small pile of fruit. Next to it lay a certificate that read: [Mutant Value: 23].

GASP!

Huai Yu walked over and asked curiously, "Are your Zaozi tasty?"

"They’re delicious! My relative went to the Wilderness and picked them himself, so of course they’re good! If you don’t believe me, buy some and taste them for yourself. Half a kilo is only five Contribution Points!"

"Is that so?" Huai Yu picked up a winter Zaozi and examined it from every angle, unable to spot any difference between it and a normal one.

The vendor actively continued his pitch. "Buy half a kilo and try them! These winter Zaozi have incredibly high nutritional value. A few years ago, half a kilo would have cost you thirty or forty bucks!"

Huai Yu nodded. "Can I taste one?"

The man’s face tightened. "No way. It took a lot of effort to pick this pile. Even one affects the weight on the scale, so no free samples. But don’t worry, they’re definitely delicious! If they aren’t, I’ll compensate you with another half a kilo!"

"Then..." Huai Yu looked at him hesitantly. "Can you taste one yourself? Eat one and let me see."

The man struggled with the idea for a moment before finally extending his hand. "Fine! You’ve got your guard up pretty high, little girl."

After saying that, he picked up a Zaozi and took a bite with a loud CRUNCH. His eyes and brows relaxed in feigned contentment. "I told you my Zaozi are good... Mmph... sss... mmph... not, mmph, not bad..."

His face twisted, his features scrunched up, and his expression turned downright ferocious. As he spoke, his tongue looked as though it were about to gag right out of his mouth. Watching him, Huai Yu furrowed her brows and shrank her neck back so far that her double chin almost popped out.

Well then. She took another look at the sign that read [Mutant Value: 23] and then at the pile of Zaozi that clearly no one was buying. Silently, she stood up.

She thought the man would try to stop her, but to her surprise, the moment he saw her getting up to leave, the vendor quickly spat out the chewed Zaozi. He chucked the remaining half far away and let out a sudden, massive sigh of relief. Huai Yu was left speechless. At this moment, she gained a brand new understanding of just how terrible these Zaozi must taste.

After a second thought, she turned back and asked, "If I promise to come back and buy your Zaozi later, could you tell me where I can sell these pine nuts?"

"Huh?" The man froze. A moment later, he waved his hand dismissively. "Forget it, I’m not selling them anymore. These things are so fucking nasty. They taste worse than shit. Even a dog wouldn’t eat them..."

His rapid-fire succession of analogies proved just how deeply those Zaozi had traumatized him. Still, he pointed Huai Yu in the right direction. "Only rich people eat nuts nowadays. They’re hard to sell at a street stall... Hey, see that Xia Country Gold sign up ahead? That shop sells luxury goods. Go ask them."

Huai Yu looked at the bright, towering signboard in the distance. She politely thanked him, hoisted her bundle back up, grabbed her bucket, and continued on her way.

When she finally arrived at Xia Country Gold, she discovered that the massive gold specialty store no longer sold gold or traditional luxury items. Instead, it stocked... game consoles, game cartridges, fishing rods, cameras, cell phones, and makeup gift sets.

One lipstick set displayed in the glass cabinet had a price tag of 273 Contribution Points. The black inkjet production date printed on it clearly stated it was from six years ago.

"Are you interested in this gift set, gorgeous?" The chubby boss waddled over like a penguin, his mouth running with a flashy sales pitch. "Let me tell you, our shop has the highest quality goods in all of Flower City! Just look at this date—so fresh! If you look outside, you won’t find anything less than eight years old!"

He had certainly noticed Huai Yu’s shabby clothes, but in this day and age, people wore all sorts of things. Ragged clothes didn’t necessarily mean someone wasn’t a big shot, so his attitude remained exceptionally sincere.

Huai Yu fell silent for a moment, having absolutely no idea what six-year-old lipstick would look like applied to someone’s lips. But it didn’t matter since she couldn’t afford it anyway. So, she asked politely, "I’m not here to buy. I want to sell something. Do you buy dried nuts and fruits here?"

She handed over her inspection certificate. "The Mutant Value is eleven."

The chubby boss had a rejection ready on the tip of his tongue, but he quickly swallowed it. "A Mutant Value of eleven? Oh my, that’s top-tier stuff! Come, come, let me see what it is. If it’s sunflower seeds, the current market price isn’t low at all..."

Huai Yu lifted the straw mat covering her bucket, revealing a high pile of pine cones underneath.

A trace of disappointment flashed across the boss’s face. "Is this all?" Pine cones took up a lot of space. Once the pine nuts were actually extracted, there probably wouldn’t be much left.

Huai Yu looked at him expectantly. "What price can you offer for these?"

The boss opened his mouth, then took in Huai Yu’s frail, delicate appearance and suddenly smiled. "You’re selling these for your family, aren’t you, miss? Let me tell you, Old Tang takes in all kinds of good stuff, and I run an honest business! Don’t worry, I can offer a great price for these pine nuts. If your family finds any more good things in the future, bring them right over!"

In this day and age, foraging for pine cones was not a task a frail girl could accomplish on her own, let alone finding ones with a Mutant Value of only eleven. Old Tang always took the long view in his business dealings. Under Huai Yu’s expectant gaze, he stated his price. "These pine cones haven’t been peeled, and they aren’t very big either. But since it’s our first transaction and I’d like to make a friend, I’ll give you a high price of one point each. How does that sound?"

For reference, the Defense Army had calculated fifty points for eleven large pine cones, averaging out to over four points each. And right now, these pine cones were less than half the size of the previous ones...

Huai Yu asked meekly, "Could you do two points each? I’ll come back in the future. My bro—I mean, everything from our family is this good." ℯℯ𝑙.

Boss Tang raised an eyebrow, putting on an exaggerated show of reluctance. Finally, he gritted his teeth. "Deal! Two points each, just to make a friend! Do you mind if I taste a couple of nuts first?"

Huai Yu nodded.

Boss Tang casually grabbed a pine cone and began extracting the nuts. Meanwhile, Huai Yu untied her windbreaker bundle and pulled the small pine cones out one by one.

"One, two, three..."

She had carried sixty-five in the bundle. Then came the bucket, which held thirty-nine. She did the math in her head—that was worth two hundred and eight points!

Looking back at Boss Tang, all traces of his feigned heartache had vanished. Instead, he broke off another piece of the pine cone to dig out a nut, his expression filled with sheer bliss. He thought, "Oh man, how many years has it been since I’ve had pine nuts this delicious!"

Huai Yu breathed a silent sigh of relief. A business could only thrive long-term if both parties agreed on a fair price. Being completely on her own, she had no desire to draw attention to herself by setting up a street stall to earn points anytime soon.

So, she pushed the red bucket over to him. "There are also some apricot pits and peanuts in here. The rest is all loose pine nuts.

"What price can you offer for these?"