Ling Zhao had never thought that giving people water to drink was a waste.
Not just people—any living creature that needed water to survive, and even the soil itself—none of it was a waste.
She knew how expensive Grade One purified water was. Even so, she had never considered lowering the quality of the water supplied to the people in her shelter.
As for those who stole her water and secretly sold it elsewhere, she would show them no mercy.
But as workers—
Workers deserved every bit of good treatment they received from her.
Fan Chengde faltered. After a moment, he finally managed to sort out his thoughts. He walked over to Ling Zhao and lowered his voice.
“That’s not the issue. It’s just that Grade One purified water is too scarce. Usually, only important figures in the inner city would use it as their daily drinking water…”
“When water was divided into grades, people were divided into grades as well.”
Ling Zhao tilted her head, her emerald-green eyes fixed on him.
“That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
Fan Chengde fell silent.
He realized there was something strange about this person.
She seemed to take certain things for granted, yet she could effortlessly dismantle his entire worldview.
So, he chose to shut up.
“Uh… never mind, never mind. I don’t even know what I was trying to say.”
He gave an awkward laugh and decided to change the subject.
“Are you done here, Boss? I’m planning to head into the city later to buy another batch of goods and see if I can earn back some of my previous losses.”
He still had rent to pay, family members to support, and the monthly membership fee for the merchant association was another expense. This loss had been enormous, so he had to set out again immediately and make as many trips as possible before winter arrived.
“You’re not going to rest for a few days?”
Bei You stood nearby, munching on the dry rations she had brought with her.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
“You just got back, didn’t you?”
“No, no.”
Fan Chengde repeatedly waved his hands.
By then, they had already reached a secluded area. After making sure there was no one around, he lowered his head and quietly said to Ling Zhao,
“This, uh…”
“Ling Zhao.”
“Ms. Ling, you should probably make your trip quick as well. For some reason, there have been more raiders in the surrounding area recently. I suspect that winter is entering its final window.”
After a brief pause, Fan Chengde’s eyes kept drifting toward Ling Zhao’s small cart.
Ling Zhao found it amusing.
She handed him a small bottle of Grade Two water.
“Payment for the information. There isn’t any more.”
“Alright.”
Fan Chengde knew when to stop.
“Once you get into the city, if you’re not familiar with the place, look for the Raven Merchant Association’s trading market. Their market has signs listing the current prices of every type of goods. If you’re in a hurry, you can choose one-stop purchasing there, but the prices will be a little higher than if you personally searched the market and bought directly from sellers.”
After saying that, he added worriedly,
“I have a feeling that this winter is going to be very hard to get through.”
“Oh, right, right—and this is my business card.”
Fan Chengde quickly handed it over.
“If you need anything, you can come find me at this address. I also provide delivery services.”
He added,
“My prices are fair.”
With that, he prepared to leave.
“Wait.”
Ling Zhao called out to him.
Fan Chengde immediately stopped and rubbed his hands together.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“You don’t seem to have any goods of your own right now, do you?”
Ling Zhao looked him up and down.
“What is the range of your delivery service? I’ll be going out to purchase supplies later.”
“I can deliver anywhere within Tianshui City. If it’s outside Tianshui City, I can barely manage the rest of Yunjiang Province as well, though the delivery time may be longer. You’ll also need to purchase cargo insurance. The details depend on the distance.”
Fan Chengde continued,
“The Raven Merchant Association has branches all over the wasteland. As long as transportation is arranged through them, they’ll supervise and inspect the entire process.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Ling Zhao made the decision on the spot.
Bus Town was not far from the entrance to Shelter No. 199 and was one of its satellite towns.
You could see Shelter No. 199 while standing in Bus Town, though it still took half an hour to actually walk there.
The fortress of Shelter No. 199 was a true fortress.
The outermost layer was surrounded by a relatively thin wall. It was only fifty centimeters thick but stood twenty-seven meters high.
The area around the wall was crowded with the tents and sheet-metal houses of the poor. Only the central road had been left open, branching off toward different directions.
At the ends of those intersections, aside from the settlements, stood factory after factory.
Ling Zhao finally understood why Bus Town had been able to gather so many people.
The largest population there was not mercenaries.
It was workers.
Looking out from outside Shelter No. 199, one could also see another, much thicker wall farther inside. It was even thicker than the outer wall. Judging from the open gates leading into the inner city, it was nearly two meters thick and even taller.
The area between the inner city and the outer city was the actual residential district.
As they passed through the outer slums, nearly everyone in the group covered their noses and mouths.
The only road was packed with people coming and going.
There were merchants and mercenaries alike. Out on the road, they had no conditions in which to bathe. Greasy grime and sweat coated their bodies, and some people’s hair had become so dirty that it was matted into hard clumps.
As they passed by one another, you could almost tell where someone had come from simply by their smell.
Some carried the fishy stench of dead fish.
Others reeked of the sharp, irritating smell of chemicals.
Still others were covered in gray-black grime and smelled of smoke and fire.
And it wasn’t just people.
There were also livestock.
Horses covered in scales and thick-skinned cattle occasionally dropped little piles of waste onto the road. The droppings simply accumulated on the ground, and those who failed to notice them stepped right through.
The broken drainage system had long since ceased to function.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the past few days had been clear and sunny, and much of the filth had dried beneath the sun.
Thumb-sized flies lingered endlessly over the waste.
Fishmongers, meat sellers, coal miners, and other workers crowded together with garbage, excrement, and the remains of dead animals.
In some low-lying areas, murky streams carried the accumulated filth toward unknown destinations. Fist-sized irradiated flies hovered over them. If anyone dared disturb them, they would even raise their wings on either side and assume a threatening posture.
The air was filled with more than just the stench.
Behind the mountains of garbage stood distant factories.
Thick chimneys in the distance spewed black smoke without end. Ling Zhao had only paused for a moment when she noticed black coal ash settling onto her collar.
From the moment they entered this road, the sky had remained a dark, ashen gray.
Fine particles of smoke and dust drifted through the air, as if they would never finish falling.
Ling Zhao could hear the rhythmic pounding of pistons, the deafening noise of enormous machines, and the roar of transportation equipment.
Those sounds drowned out countless coughs.
Ling Zhao waited at the entrance.
For once, the wheelchair proved extremely useful—at least she didn’t have to set foot on the ground.
As she waited, the person in front of her suddenly collapsed.
He hit the ground with a heavy thud.
One of the people responsible for maintaining order immediately walked over and shook him. After slapping him twice without getting any response, the guard said,
“Dead.”
The man was then dragged away and left by the side of the street.
Soon, a group of people swarmed over him and stripped away everything of value from his body.
Fan Chengde glanced over, shook his head, and couldn’t bear to watch.
“Another coal miner who dropped dead from overwork.”
“Dropped dead?”
Yan Xiaochu asked the question on Ling Zhao’s behalf.
At times like this, her curiosity was strong enough to suppress her naturally timid personality.
“Yeah.”
Fan Chengde sounded slightly embarrassed.
“The coal from Shelter No. 199 is a very popular product. The cargo I was transporting this time was also coal from Shelter No. 199. I just got robbed on the way back.”
He continued,
“Coal miners are paid on a progressive hourly scale. Eight hours is the minimum. After that, their pay increases again for every additional two hours they work. Most people work around fourteen to sixteen hours a day. Occasionally, there are people who work continuously for two or three days.”
He pointed toward the man lying by the roadside.
“Then you get things like this.”
“People dropping dead.”
After passing through the most crowded and foul-smelling section near the entrance, they finally entered the city.
Fan Chengde paid the entry fee, and the soldiers guarding the gate did not inspect them too closely.
Thirst-Burn Syndrome was not contagious.
After confirming that the two people they were transporting did not have an infectious disease, the soldiers simply assumed they had come to Shelter No. 199 to seek medical treatment.
Ling Zhao was mainly here to buy food.
She had not imposed a daily limit on how much food each person could consume. Whether she purchased five hundred kilograms or a thousand kilograms, it would not last very long.
Until she became self-sufficient, she would have to continue importing food for a long time.
As Ling Zhao walked through the city, she saw very few pedestrians. Everyone moved with urgency.
Then she looked at the black smoke drifting from the factories and roughly understood where everyone had gone.
None of the buildings had balconies.
Nearly all of them were built from brick and stone—heavy, crude, and sturdy.
Not a single clothesline could be seen overhead.
Beneath the endless fall of ash, no one would hang their laundry outside.
The streets on both sides were lined with tightly packed buildings.
Ling Zhao saw a large number of taverns. Most of them had guest rooms upstairs.
Ling Zhao had originally planned to choose one that looked suitable, but Lin Xiao immediately stopped her and shook his head.
“Water,” he said.
“When looking for a place to stay in a fortress city built around a shelter, there are many things to consider.”
Lin Xiao explained,
“The most important one is the water supply.”
“Some places receive water every other day. Some receive it only during certain hours. Some are supplied according to district, and others rely on manually pumped water.”
“The more frequently a place receives water, the more often its taverns can be cleaned.”
There were all kinds of messy, unwritten rules to surviving in the wasteland. Lin Xiao could tell that this boss had basically never stayed in a place with such poor sanitary conditions before. Pointing at a sign by the roadside, he said, “The water droplet symbol on that sign indicates the method of water supply in the area. The exact meaning varies depending on the icon. In this place, it means a well, but…”
In a place where the ground was this filthy, the groundwater was undoubtedly contaminated.
Ling Zhao frowned. “Forget it. Let’s sell the water we brought first.”
Her objective was clear, and Fan Chengde did not take her on any detours. He led her directly to the eastern side of the outer city of Shelter No. 199, where the largest trading market was located.
At the entrance, sheet metal had been cut into the shape of a raven, indicating that this area was under the supervision of the Raven Chamber of Commerce. Every merchant operating inside possessed certification from the Raven Chamber of Commerce.
Along the way, Ling Zhao also came across several water delivery workers. Their carts carried several enormous barrels, which were filled mostly with pale yellow alcoholic beverages.
After giving it some thought, she immediately understood why. Grade Three secondary-filtered water—drinking alcohol was genuinely safer than drinking water.
That was why taverns could be found all over the streets.
Water was hard currency anywhere. No one gave them any trouble here, and the amount of water Ling Zhao carried was nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the city. The fortress of Shelter No. 199 could easily absorb it all.
She found a storefront that purchased water. Compared to the bustling stalls elsewhere, this place was practically deserted. Only a few people were lined up ahead of her.
A notice board beside the door stated that they neither sold nor accepted Grade Three water. Even Grade Two water had to meet a minimum quantity requirement before they would purchase it. In other words, they never dealt in small transactions.
It was inconvenient for Ling Zhao to bring everyone with her, so after arriving, she had Yan Xiaochu take the others to find a suitable place to stay. She only kept Fan Chengde and Bei You with her.
…
Manager Liao had worked for the Raven Chamber of Commerce for more than ten years. From starting out as a lowly errand worker to becoming the manager in charge of water supplies at this shop, she had no idea how many people envied her.
But she had troubles of her own.
Ever since taking up this position, she had never managed to close a major deal.
Shelter No. 199 was a coal-resource-based shelter. Its main industries were coal and cement, though cement was only a secondary business. Coal was what truly mattered.
Setting up a water purchasing station here?
They might as well appoint a few more managers to procure coal!
All this time, the only transactions she had handled were trivial, insignificant orders. And those people who came carrying water were all like ignorant country bumpkins who had never seen the world. They would bring in Grade Two purified water with a purity level barely above 80% and still have the nerve to demand outrageous prices!
Hah! Ridiculous!
They actually dared to ask for the exorbitant price of five Large Nuts!
And they would act as though their 80%-purity water was some priceless treasure, with expressions that practically said, “You’ve obviously never seen anything like this before.”
She swore that if the next person she encountered acted like that again, she would kick their ass and throw them out herself!
After driving away the previous customer, who clearly had no idea of his own worth, she put her smile back on and said to the group waiting behind him, “Please come in.”
Manager Liao’s sharp eyes immediately noticed the wheelchair beneath the person at the front of the group. She quickly pulled out a spare wooden plank from the side and placed it in front of the steps, making it easier to push the wheelchair inside.
She made the same gesture again.
“Please.”
The woman casually took out two bottles as samples and pushed the wheelchair inside. Her goods were left at the entrance, guarded by the others. Accompanying her were a weathered middle-aged man and a young girl whose face still carried traces of childishness.
“Check the purity, then give me a price,” the woman said. There was something strange about her expression, but Manager Liao did not neglect her professionalism. She immediately put on gloves, opened the bottles of water, and took them to the equipment in the back for testing.
Gasp!
She sucked in a sharp breath.
It felt as though her fortunes had finally changed.
Anything above 60% purity was Grade Three water. Above 80% was Grade Two. Above 95% was Grade One.
The current standard for Grade One purified water was already as low as 95%, after having been reduced several times. In the beginning, the standard had been 99.99%.
As shelter equipment deteriorated and certain technologies disappeared, the standard for Grade One purified water had continued to decline.
The average price of Grade One purified water was eight to ten Large Nuts per liter, but that did not include water like this, which had reached a purity of 99.98%!
Once water of this grade appeared on the market, people would scramble to buy it. If the quantity was large enough, one could even buy a minor position in the city hall.
In places where water resources were extremely scarce, it was practically impossible to buy at any price.
How long had it been since she had drunk water like this after leaving the shelter district surrounding the Raven Chamber of Commerce’s headquarters?
Just thinking about it was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
“99.98% purity,” Manager Liao said.
She was not foolish enough to conceal the result. If the other party went somewhere else to have the water tested, her deception would be exposed immediately. Not only would she lose a potentially valuable major client, but in serious circumstances, she could even be expelled from the Raven Chamber of Commerce.
For some reason, the moment she announced the number, the middle-aged man across from her wore an expression as though he were suffocating.
Then came the look of agony of someone who had possessed a piece of gold but had accidentally sold it as though it were nothing more than a lump of dirt.
“Our offer is fifteen Large Nuts per liter,” Manager Liao said. “If you have more than ten liters, then it’s twenty Large Nuts per liter.”
She decisively raised two fingers.
“I won’t say much more than that. I definitely won’t sell this water cheaply. Promoting it and finding buyers will take time and effort, and naturally, I need to make a profit as well.”
“If it has to be transported over a long distance, I also have to factor in the losses along the way,” she added. “So this is the highest price I can offer.”
“I have fifty liters, but—”
The moment she heard “50 liters,” Manager Liao took a deep breath. But the second half of the sentence nearly made her lose her composure.
If you have any conditions, hurry up and say them!
“I don’t want Large Nuts,” the woman across from her said. “I only want to barter.”
“Of course.” Manager Liao agreed without hesitation, giving the person in front of her a long, thoughtful look.
Large Nuts were a regional currency. Here, they were not actually worth much, and once one left the borders of Tianshui City, they became completely worthless.
The Raven Chamber of Commerce had its own currency, Raven Coins, a precious-metal currency accepted by most shelters, though there was some degree of inflation depending on the region.
“I can exchange it for goods of equivalent value. Tell me what type of supplies you need, and I can provide you with a list of available goods,” Manager Liao said. “If you’re willing to pay for delivery, I can even have them sent to your address.”
It would be even better if they could establish a long-term partnership, but Manager Liao knew that was probably impossible.
Unless the other party belonged to another shelter, how could they possibly have a stable supply of purified water?
She guessed that the woman was most likely a traveling merchant from another city. After learning that water could be sold for high prices in Shelter No. 199—the city also known as the City of Ashes—she had deliberately come here.
Otherwise, people from any other shelter would stay as far away from Shelter No. 199 as possible.
If Shelter No. 47 had the tradition of holding periodic autumn hunts, then Shelter No. 199 had a tradition of capturing members from other shelters.
Nearly every nearby shelter they could find had been stripped clean. Its technology and people were taken away until nothing remained. Otherwise, Shelter No. 199 would never have become one of the most powerful forces in Tianshui City.
Either submit, or be destroyed.
There was almost no third option.
“Leave me a way to contact you,” Manager Liao said. “If it’s convenient for you, of course.”
“Hmm…” Ling Zhao thought for a moment. “I don’t currently have a fixed contact address. I can only tell you that my name is Ling Zhao.”
“You aren’t planning to relocate, are you?” she asked, looking at Manager Liao. “When the time comes, I’ll just come and find you.”
Out of instinct, she did not tell anyone that she belonged to a newly opened shelter.
Lin Xiao was cautious by nature. Bei You did not care about anything except Ling Zhao. And Yan Xiaochu had barely dared to speak throughout the entire journey.
Fan Chengde had accompanied her all this way and still had not discovered that she belonged to another shelter.
“I see…” Manager Liao said. “I was thinking that, if it was convenient for you, I could organize everything and send the list of goods to your temporary residence. How about you wait here for a moment while I sort it out?”
“Wait,” Ling Zhao stopped her. “I also have 300 liters of Grade Two water. Can you purchase that as well?”
To avoid losses during the journey, she had brought an extra four or five bottles of every type of water. Selling them now would not affect the transaction.
Manager Liao, who had just closed such a huge deal, was in an excellent mood. She had already completely forgotten her earlier declaration that she would kick out anyone who brought Grade Two water next time.
She immediately thumped her chest and said decisively, “Of course! I’ll check it all together!”
She had been so shocked by the Grade One water earlier that she had completely forgotten there was still another bottle.
Hmm…
Hmm?
94.98%?
This level of purity… wasn’t just barely above the threshold!
Manager Liao had already been prepared to see a purity level of just over 80%. If it really had been Grade Two water that barely met the standard, she had even been prepared to grit her teeth and buy it.
Grade One water could still possibly come from old stock, but Grade Two water? Aside from purifying it themselves, there was basically no other way to obtain it.
Manager Liao looked at the woman across from her—at her delicate, flawless complexion and her long black hair without a single hint of dust or impurity—and suddenly came to a realization.
She was probably some important figure from within Shelter No. 199, or perhaps an influential person from a shelter in one of the surrounding cities, who had come here to experience life firsthand.
“For this, I can personally authorize a purchase price of ten Large Nuts per liter. For Grade Two water, this is already the highest price you’ll find,” Manager Liao quickly calculated. “That comes to 1,000 Large Nuts for the Grade One purified water and 3,000 Large Nuts for the Grade Two purified water, for a total of 4,000 Large Nuts. I’ll provide you with a list of supplies directly, and you can exchange the Large Nuts for goods.”
After saying that, she immediately wrote out a check and signaled for the porters on her side to begin unloading everything.
“Oh, and once the unloading is complete, we’ll put all the water containers back onto your vehicle. You can collect them together afterward,” she said with a smile.
A truly qualified top salesperson should never make a customer hesitate by worrying about whether doing something might hurt their pride.
Her only responsibility was to solve any problems that might arise. As for everything else, the customer would naturally feel satisfied.
…
Ling Zhao returned to the tavern holding a check worth 4,000 Large Nuts.
This check was enough not only to pay Fan Chengde for the work she had just hired him to do, but also to repay the money she had borrowed from him.
Hmm… After taking care of all that, she would have only spent two Large Nuts, leaving her with 3,998.
What a strangely familiar lucky number.
Now she could finally go on a major shopping spree.
After settling into the room, Ling Zhao heard a faint knock at the door.
“Who is it?”
Bei You’s voice came from outside, mixed with some movement from Yan Xiaochu.
In the end, it was Bei You who answered.
“Boss, the person you bought earlier has woken up.”
Author’s Note:
Ling Zhao’s assessment of her terrible starting situation:
It’s already come to this. Whatever. It is what it is. What else can I do?
But she didn’t know that yet, so for the moment, she had no particular thoughts about it.