Wen Xi accepted the friend request, and the other party was impatient:
“Hello, I would like to order 600 thick cotton quilts, 600 sets of cotton-padded jackets and trousers, and 40 electric heaters. If you have other insulation products, please provide me with a list; I can buy them all.”
Wen Xi: “What do you need so many for?”
Could they be a black-market intermediary?
She didn’t have purchase limits, but if someone was trying to scheme against her as a scalper, well, haha.
“I am doing this for the elderly in our nursing home and the children in our orphanage. Besides that, the share for our staff is included as well. If that’s not possible, we can exclude our staff for now,” the other party replied.
A nursing home? An orphanage?
Could it be…
“Are you from the Nanshan Nursing Home?” Wen Xi typed.
“Yes! Nanshan Nursing Home and Nanshan Orphanage.”
Nanshan Nursing Home and Orphanage were gold mines after the apocalypse!
This was because most of the elderly and children there possessed supernatural items.
Firstly, because the elderly and children were more accustomed to using cash to purchase goods, and when they exchanged their old items for new ones, the old ones were essentially damaged beyond use.
This perfectly matched the selection requirements for supernatural items.
Secondly, because the day the apocalypse started happened to be the outing day for the orphanage and nursing home, and the theme of the activity was “trading in for new,” using cash to trade for new items!
They also perfectly caught up with the binding time for supernatural items.
Even though Wen Xi had only lived for about half a year and wasn’t exactly a seasoned survivor, she had heard of the prestige of the [Nanshan Sunset & Dawn] group on the forums.
She hadn’t managed to make contact in her previous life, but in this one, they had bumped into her so early.
Wen Xi replied without hesitation: “I’ll take this order.”
“Really? That’s great! The elderly and children here don’t have very good health, and we were just worried about how to manage when the extreme cold arrived. You are truly helping us a great deal!”
The other party replied excitedly: “How much money do you need? I will pay you the deposit right now.”
Wen Xi clicked her tongue, amused: “I can provide the goods, but I don’t want cash. I want supernatural items.”
So what if they were elderly and children? Whose life wasn’t a life?
Wen Xi: “I’m not gouging you, but I won’t suffer a loss by taking cash, which is just waste paper in the apocalypse, nor will I be morally blackmailed into doing charity. One hundred sets of cotton-padded clothes for one supernatural item.”
The other party went silent. It showed as typing for a long time but didn’t reply for a while.
Wen Xi had time to burn; after all, she was the supplier with the goods.
“Ninini!”
The three little ones were already busy grilling, cutting, and plating the meat.
The lead soldier pushed the plate and chopsticks in front of Wen Xi, chattered a few words she couldn’t understand, and went back to grilling.
“Thanks.” Wen Xi put down her phone, prepared her secret dipping sauce, and began to eat lunch.
…
Meanwhile.
At the nursing home.
“Sister Xiaoxiao, I didn’t trick her. Look at this reply—one supernatural item can only be exchanged for one hundred sets of cotton-padded clothes; she’s asking for the moon!”
The young girl in charge of procurement at the front desk was in a bind and looked to the director, their backbone.
“Grandpa Sun has a magic sewing machine; he can make a set of cotton-padded clothes in seconds, and the same goes for the quilts. Grandma Li also has a loom, which is currently producing fabric non-stop.”
Xu Xiaoxiao lifted her rimless glasses, her expression indifferent and calm: “Ask her, we don’t want the finished product; we just want one thousand catties of cotton. We’ll offer one supernatural item.”
The girl responded and immediately did so.
A notification rang a few seconds later. Wen Xi replied: “Send me a list—a list of all supernatural items. If even one is missing or if you lie or hide anything, this business deal is off.”
“Is she bluffing? Isn’t her supernatural item just a Sun Warmer Pad? How does she know what supernatural items others have?”
The girl bit her finger, hesitating: “But the way she said it… it’s like she knows we have quite a few supernatural items.”
Xu Xiaoxiao frowned, tapped the tabletop with her finger, and instructed: “Ask her, if we trade, how will she deliver the goods to us?”
The girl asked immediately. After a while, she hissed: “This woman says that since she dares to do this business, she naturally has a way.”
Xu Xiaoxiao was silent for a few seconds and asked: “Is the list you were told to make ready? How many are there in total?”
“It’s ready! Including the ones belonging to our staff, there are 312 supernatural items in total.”
This was already an exaggerated figure. The girl couldn’t help but feel smug: “Although I don’t know about other organizations, I don’t think anyone has more than us. If Grandpa and Grandma played on their phones, the 007 group would be terrified right now!”
“…312 supernatural items. A large quantity, but not a single powerful, aggressive supernatural item. How is that any different from a child carrying gold through a crowded market?”
Xu Xiaoxiao’s gaze remained fixed on Wen Xi’s messages, and suddenly she said coldly: “Go investigate! Find out if someone leaked information about the supernatural items. Go now!”
“Yes!” The girl gave a start. “I… I’m going right away!”
Xu Xiaoxiao immediately took over the chat: “Aren’t supernatural items bound to their owners? Do you know how to transfer or unbind them?”
No reply.
Xu Xiaoxiao continued: “As long as you tell me, we will do this deal! We can even cooperate long-term! I am a lawyer; my supernatural item is contract paper, with the derivative effect [Legal Contract].”
…
“[Legal Contract]?”
Wen Xi chewed on her barbecue, deep in thought, while the other party sent over a contract document directly.
She didn’t rush to click it, keeping her finger away from the file to prevent signing it the moment it was clicked, in case there were any unfavorable terms.
Wen Xi: “No need. There are two ways to obtain someone else’s supernatural item: one is if the other party shouts ‘I voluntarily abandon it’ and confirms it, the supernatural item can be turned into an ownerless state for trading.
“Or, kill the owner and directly plunder their supernatural item.”
The other side didn’t reply for a long time.
Wen Xi felt the other party was likely frightened and had gone to take emergency measures: most likely using her [Legal Contract] to have everyone sign a confidentiality agreement.
In her previous life, the Nanshan supernatural organization possessed a large number of supernatural items but kept it quiet, only revealing themselves once they had developed and could protect themselves.
They likely relied on this supernatural item as well.
After she finished her meal, the other party finally sent a message.
It wasn’t a PDF whose content couldn’t be seen; she had tactfully switched to a screenshot.
The content was a long list of supernatural items, but not all of them.
[Xu Xiaoxiao]: “I cannot trust you completely. This is a portion of the supernatural items that can be exchanged. If you see anything you like, we will cooperate.”
[Xu Xiaoxiao]: “I will draft a more comprehensive contract. Once we confirm a long-term cooperation, we will sign it directly. How does that sound?”
Wen Xi stood up, loosened her neck, and replied: “Deal.”
[Xu Xiaoxiao]: When can you deliver the goods?
Wen Xi clicked the red packet, stuffed the cotton inside, and sent it!