Chapter 105 Departure to the Market Trading Point

Chapter 105 Departure to the Market Trading Point

"I didn't expect there to be so many people at the market."

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

Meng Ci lingered until past one o'clock before heading to the riverside park with Shen Que, carrying thirty pounds of rats and spiders they had caught.

Seeing the bustling crowd, Meng Ci couldn't help but marvel.

Along the way, they saw people carrying various items, their faces filled with joy.

Some were excited about finally being able to eat rice and noodles again, while others, who had caught more animals, were discussing what would be a good trade.

The so-called market was essentially a series of dozens of tents set up parallel to each other in the riverside park area, each selling different items.

Behind each tent stood a row of warehouses built from red bricks.

From rice and flour to vegetable seeds, military coats, and coal, everything was available.

Meng Ci even noticed a tent for trading piglets.

Interested in the piglets, Meng Ci approached with his items.

The person sitting behind the table was a stern-faced soldier in military uniform, with only five piglets in a cage behind him.

"If you want to trade for piglets, the requirements are listed here," the soldier said tersely, pointing to the price list on the table.

Meng Ci flipped through the price list and widened his eyes.

One piglet required a hundred pounds of rats and spiders, or two hundred pounds of potatoes, or sixty pounds of rice and flour...

These requirements were far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Moreover, raising a piglet would require feeding it food.

In this post-apocalyptic world, where people struggled to feed themselves, where could they find food for pigs?

No wonder no residents came to look.

There was plenty of meat in the space, so he didn't need these piglets.

Meng Ci reluctantly bid farewell to the piglets and looked around for other items.

Twenty pounds of rats could be traded for three ounces of pork.

Meng Ci shook his head; it wasn't worth it.

Ten pounds of rats could be traded for one pound of coal.

Meng Ci shook his head again; he didn't desperately need the coal.

...

Finally, Meng Ci stopped at a tent selling seeds.

Ten pounds of rats could be traded for a packet of cold-resistant vegetable seeds.

Meng Ci checked the price list and found that these seeds were the latest research by the government, with a shorter growth cycle than usual. They could be eaten within twenty days of planting.

For chili peppers and eggplants, ten pounds of rats could only get two seedlings.

Meng Ci exchanged ten pounds of cockroaches for two eggplant seedlings.

He wanted to see if they would grow faster in the space.

If they did well, he planned to trade for more in the future.

To Meng Ci, eggplant was the best vegetable in the world.

Braised eggplant, fish-flavored eggplant, salted eggplant, sweet and sour eggplant...

Meng Ci swallowed, thinking he would definitely make an eggplant feast when he got back.

The remaining ten pounds of rats and spiders were traded for rice and flour.

Not trading for some rice and flour might reveal that they had food, which could cause unnecessary trouble.

Although he had no more items to trade, Meng Ci continued browsing.

Most residents brought rats and spiders just to exchange them for rice and flour, resulting in long queues behind those few tents.

The other tents were much quieter.

As Meng Ci wandered, he noticed a sign next to the central tent, indicating the official trading point.

Behind the sign was a one-meter-wide passage.

Meng Ci wondered if there was an unofficial trading point as well.

Looking behind the sign, he indeed found a note stating "Unofficial Trading Point" with an upward arrow.

"Shen Que, do you know what's at the unofficial trading point?" Meng Ci asked.

Several large tents blocked the view behind, making it unclear what was there.

Meng Ci thought it might not have been established yet.

After all, neither of them had seen anyone come out from there.

Shen Que said, "If you're interested, you can go take a look!"

"Mm." Meng Ci nodded and then walked in with Shen Que, one after the other.

After passing through the tent, they encountered a red wall over two meters high. They walked about ten meters before reaching an open area.

On either side, they were surrounded by red brick walls over two meters high, with soldiers standing at every few steps, guns in hand, heads held high.

On the opposite side, there was also a row of warehouses and tents, presumably containing similar items.

In the middle of the open space, to Meng Ci's surprise, there were many people.

Some held cardboard signs offering a pack of cigarettes for half a kilo of rice or flour.

Others held wooden boards with charcoal writing, offering a condom for a kilo of flour or half a kilo of rice.

...

"Boss, I have a pack of cigarettes here, take a look."

"Boss, I have half a bag of salt, can you exchange it?"

...

Meng Ci and Shen Que wandered around inside. There were many people exchanging goods, especially condoms, which several vendors were collecting.

Meng Ci was puzzled. Even in the apocalypse, these people weren't focused on survival but rather on such matters, which seemed unreasonable.

So he approached one of the vendors and inquired.

"Boss, I do have a few condoms."

"But, are you sure you have that much rice and flour?"

Meng Ci remembered taking quite a few of these from the pharmaceutical factory and could spare a few.

The vendor's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he quickly replied, "Of course I do."

"Do you know the Zhao family?"

"Before this strange weather, they were the second wealthiest family in M City."

Meng Ci nodded; most of the shares of the Meng Group had gone to the Zhao family, so he knew them well.

"The old master of the Zhao family keeps several birds in his house and fears pregnancy might dampen his spirits."

"So when he learned about this trading point, he sent several people to exchange for condoms."

The vendor seemed eager to prove his credibility and explained everything.

"Brother, if you really have these, exchange them with me."

"I guarantee you'll get the best deal."

Meng Ci looked hesitant and glanced around.

"I see you all offer similar deals. Since I want to compare prices, I'll take a look around."

Seeing Meng Ci about to leave, the vendor quickly grabbed him.

"Don't go, little brother."

"I'll give you more!"

"One condom for one kilogram and one hundred grams of rice, how about that?"

Seeing Meng Ci still hesitating, the vendor increased his offer.

"One kilogram and two hundred grams of rice."

"Little brother, when I got these, one condom was worth two kilograms of rice."

"You should let me make a little profit!"

Meng Ci pretended to hesitate for a moment before nodding. "Alright."

Hearing this, the vendor was so happy he almost jumped.

After all, no one had found condoms useful in the past few months; some even threw them into the fire, complaining they didn't burn well enough.

The vendor never expected someone would actually exchange for them and was overjoyed.

"But I don't have them on me," Meng Ci said.

"I'll go with you to get them," the vendor quickly replied.