The bun in Yan Weiyu’s hand nearly dropped to the floor out of sheer fright from Qian Chuanchuan’s remark. “No! I didn’t! I don’t!”
I’m not! Don’t talk nonsense!
For a girl to dare to open a bun shop alone in the apocalypse, she was certainly no simple character. The zombies that had been chasing them earlier had suddenly scattered as if they’d lost their target; that definitely had something to do with the girl in front of them.
She wasn’t insane; she wouldn’t dare try to rob someone like that!
“Where did you guys come from?” Qian Chuanchuan asked instead.
“We’re from the Dawn Base,” Yan Weiyu answered straightforwardly. There was nothing to hide about that.
Qian Chuanchuan didn’t know anything about the Dawn Base—strictly speaking, she didn’t know about any bases—but that didn’t matter. It didn’t hinder a normal chat.
“And what brings you here?” Qian Chuanchuan asked curiously, adding, “If it’s inconvenient to say, just pretend I didn’t ask.”
“There’s nothing inconvenient about it. We took a mission. A Level 3 Mutant Guinea Pig appeared not far from here.”
Whether before or after mutation, the species known as the pig was edible and had made a massive contribution to the human stomach.
“Completing this mission allows us to exchange for three hundred credit points at the base. Points can be used to buy things.”
Qian Chuanchuan understood. This was the same routine as her system!
“So, did you catch it?” Qian Chuanchuan was curious about what a Level 3 Mutant Guinea Pig looked like.
At that question, the expressions of all four people turned sour. Obviously, they hadn’t caught it.
Sure enough, a second later, Yan Weiyu said, “While we were hunting the Mutant Guinea Pig, we encountered another squad. They also wanted to kill the guinea pig for the credits. A fight broke out, and Mingchen was injured because of it.”
“Then the pig ran away, and the zombies came,” Xu Wang, who had finished his bun, interjected with a muffled voice, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists. “Those bastards…”
After listening, Qian Chuanchuan summarized with total sincerity: “Then you guys really are quite unlucky.”
The air suddenly went silent.
“Cough…” Song Jin, who had just finished bandaging Xiang Mingchen’s wound, couldn’t help but let out a light cough.
Xiang Mingchen timely shifted the subject back to Qian Chuanchuan. “Boss Qian, what made you think of opening a shop here? Wouldn’t it be safer at a base?”
Qian Chuanchuan was a shrewd one and naturally heard the man’s probe. But it didn’t matter; when away from home, one relies entirely on tall tales.
Qian Chuanchuan blinked and let the lies fly. “I had a master calculate it for me—the Feng Shui here attracts wealth~” Seeing the four of them look speechless, she added with a smile, “Besides, if I opened a shop at your base, I’d probably have a layer of skin peeled off me first, right?”
This hit a sore spot—which base didn’t collect a “protection fee” first? It wasn’t just their base; every base was like that. In some bases, it was even common for all resources to be forcibly confiscated!
“As for the safety issue…” Qian Chuanchuan paused, her speaking speed slowing down. “People are welcome to try.”
Xiang Mingchen’s pupils contracted. He heard the warning in the girl’s words.
He quickly smiled. “Boss Qian is right. I was thinking too shallowly.”
“It’s just casual conversation, don’t worry about shallow or deep,” Qian Chuanchuan waved her hand, indicating she didn’t care at all.
Then she added, “Do you want to buy some more buns for the road or to take back to the base?”
Song Jin had exactly that intention. Hearing her ask, he nodded immediately. “Boss, how many buns do you have left?”
Qian Chuanchuan did a quick mental calculation. One layer of her steamer held fifteen buns, and there were four layers, totaling sixty. She had just sold them twenty-two.
Qian Chuanchuan’s eyes darted around. “I have 24 meat buns and 14 vegetable buns left~ The pork with corn is the same price as the vegetable ones, so I’ve counted them as vegetable buns!”
Song Jin nodded. “Boss, I’ll take the rest.”
“Coming right up!”
Qian Chuanchuan’s eyes lit up, and she quickly got up to pack the buns.
Xu Wang stepped forward to take the bags. Song Jin pulled out five Level 2 crystal nuclei and one Level 1 crystal nucleus and handed them to Qian Chuanchuan.
Qian Chuanchuan accepted them without hesitation, saying, “I won’t give you change for the nuclei.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but how could she? There was no way! “I’ll make it up to you next time you come!”
The corner of Song Jin’s mouth quirked up. He had no objection. In this apocalypse, being able to buy buns like these at this price was already an unexpected joy. Who cared about a bit of spare change? It was only the difference of one vegetable bun’s price anyway. Since the owner said she’d make it up next time, there was even less to mind.
After Xu Wang took the buns, he handed them to Xiang Mingchen. Then, Qian Chuanchuan saw the large bag of buns vanish into thin air in his hand.
Wow!
It seemed this man was a Space Ability User! No wonder among the four, his injury was the most serious while the others only had scratches. It was normal for a Space Ability User to be weaker in terms of combat power.
So what were the abilities of the other three? Looking at them from a distance earlier, she hadn’t seen them use any.
What Qian Chuanchuan didn’t know was that it wasn’t that they didn’t use them, but that their energy had been exhausted in the previous fight. However, having eaten and rested for a while, both their stamina and abilities had recovered slightly. They were in much better shape than their previous pathetic state.
Having bought out the buns, the four prepared to leave. The hunt had ended in failure, and the Mutant Guinea Pig had long since fled to who-knows-where. Combined with Xiang Mingchen’s injury, staying out longer was clearly not a wise move.
The base wasn’t close; even driving would take half a day. They didn’t have a car yet, and with Xiang Mingchen’s leg injury, they couldn’t keep traveling on foot forever. They had to find a vehicle and get back to the base before dark, otherwise, things would get troublesome.
Still, they hadn’t come away empty-handed; these buns were their greatest gain.
Before they left, Qian Chuanchuan didn’t forget to ask them to help promote her shop.
Once the four had completely disappeared into the distance, Qian Chuanchuan closed the small window and began counting money… or rather, counting crystal nuclei.
She had just earned one Level 3 crystal nucleus, five Level 2 nuclei, and three Level 1 nuclei. Converting that into points, it was 3,200 points. After subtracting the 994 points she owed, she had 2,206 points left!
If converted into the currency of her original world, that was a huge sum of 220,600 RMB! Four steamers of buns had earned her a down payment on a house!
Holy crap!
The more she calculated, the faster her little heart beat. No, no! I have to be calm!!
She took a deep breath, tried to settle her mood, and then decisively ordered the system: “Open the system mall.”
The system’s light screen expanded instantly, presenting a list of items that dazzled the eyes. However—
With just one glance, she was completely calmed. More than calm.
Because the price of any decent-looking item in the mall looked like a phone number.
Her two thousand-plus points? Not even enough to cover the change!
“Forget it, close it.”
Qian Chuanchuan waved her hand expressionlessly, and the light screen vanished with a “shing.”
Out of sight, out of mind!