Chapter 433: Living (Part 1)

Qin Huai examined the child lying on the ground, clutching his stomach, without even the strength to groan, very seriously.

He didn't know why, but he felt that this child might not be Zhao Cheng'an. Even if mayflies like to court death because they like to experience the variety of life, they were only spirit creatures in their first life, not humans, and it was impossible to act like a human so realistically.

The spirit creature of the first life couldn't be hidden, whether it was curiosity about the human world or indifference to the surrounding creatures. That kind of detachment from the heart and the vaguely high-and-mighty feeling could be recognized at a glance, especially since Qin Huai had been in contact with spirit creatures for so long.

This child on the ground was very indifferent—to put it another way, very devoid of vitality.

He didn't show joy when he might have welcomed a buyer, didn't resist when the human trafficker roughly pried open his mouth to show the customer his teeth, didn't show hatred when he was kicked to the ground, and even lying on the ground clutching his stomach was more because he needed to pretend like that rather than because of pain.

There was only numbness in his eyes—that kind of numbness where living is not okay

Spirits should not be numb.

After confirming that this child was likely not Zhao Zhao Chengan, Qin Huai began to observe the others.

The human traffickers sold not only children but also young girls, and even adult women.

Of course, there wasn't just one trafficker outside the city. The traffickers were both men and women, mostly middle-aged, relatively not that gaunt. When facing customers, their faces were always filled with fawning smiles; a grin would reveal their yellow teeth or a mouthful of rotten teeth. When facing their "goods," their expressions would change instantly, looking fierce and either beating or scolding them. When communicating with peers, they would proudly impart their ways of buying and judging people.

For example, where the goods were cheap—so cheap that one didn't even need to pay money, just provide two mouthfuls of food, and people would be willing to follow them. Cheapness comes with risks; these places were often where droughts were so severe that even grass roots and tree bark were eaten, and people had begun to eat each other. It was common to go there with one's life but not return, but if one really returned fully loaded, one could definitely make a fortune; after all, it was a business with no capital.

Of course, cheapness also meant no good goods. In such places, it was impossible to get the most valuable 12 or 13-year-old, pretty, and bright-eyed young maidens without spending money—such good goods had already been sold out years ago; one could only pick up half-grown boys or women who sold themselves voluntarily for a bite to eat.

As for adult men, the traffickers didn't dare to take them; what if they were robbed by other gangs? As for the rest, they didn't look down on them; if they took them, they would easily die on the road, and even if they arrived, they would be hard to sell. These shrewd people wouldn't do a losing business.

Some traffickers liked to do this kind of business with no capital, and naturally, there were those who had all good goods on hand and walked the high-end route.

More were mixed, taking whatever they could get. In this day and age, the world was bad, and people were cheaper than livestock. They took whatever they could; these small traffickers couldn't compare to those big cargo merchants, so as long as business was bad, making a profit was enough.

Qin Huai never expected that one day he would hear a group of traffickers complaining about the bad market and poor business.

When there were no buyers, the traffickers would gather together to chat about business, mainly to show off.

Whose young maiden was bought at a high price by someone in the alley, whose decent-looking boy was taken in by a certain master with special hobbies, what kind of goods a certain master liked, what kind of people a certain mansion wanted to buy recently—they chatted with spit flying, not worried at all that the goods under their hands would run away.

And indeed, there was no need to worry.

The common method of these traffickers was not to let the goods eat their fill, nor let them starve to death, keeping them in a half-dead state where they would rather lie down than sit and breathe. These goods basically followed them across provinces, some even across several provinces. To save money, it was impossible to take transportation; it was all on foot.

Those who could survive to this point and be sold were those with relatively good physical fitness; those who couldn't handle it died on the road long ago. In the words of these traffickers, this was also a means of screening the quality of the goods.

They had to have a reputation in this line of work. If they sold some sickly people to customers, and they died after being raised for a few days, the customers would definitely look for trouble. Although this screening method had a high attrition rate, it was effective.

Of course, high-end goods couldn't use this screening method; high-end goods were sold by weight. The scale not far away was specifically used to weigh high-end goods—how much per jin. Customers didn't want those that were too light, only forty or fifty jin, thinking they were hard to raise.

Therefore, among these goods that could basically only lie down and breathe, they were divided into different grades. For low-end goods, let alone cakes, giving two taels of black beans a day was not bad. For mid-range goods, such as the child rolling on the ground, they had cakes, sweet potatoes, and other coarse grains to eat; eating until five-tenths full made them look more energetic and easier to sell.

The food for high-end goods was very good—millet mixed with coarse grains boiled into porridge, and cabbage. More generous traffickers would even buy leftovers from the city and mix them into the porridge to boil. What others could eat were cold, hard, and smelly, but only they could eat a mouthful of hot food.

The traffickers gathered to chat right by the pot where the porridge was boiled. While chatting, they stared at the pot. The living creatures lying on the ground, weak and powerless, could only watch from afar and dared not approach, for fear that if they got close, they would be treated as thieves and beaten up.

Yes, in this kind of place where the sky was the quilt, the earth was the mat, and traffickers gathered to sell goods, there were thieves.

A thief who specialized in stealing food.

At first, it was beans, cakes, and sweet potatoes that were lost. When these things were lost, the traffickers didn't pay attention because the quantity wasn't large, thinking it might have been stolen by the bold goods. Anyway, these goods were about to be sold soon, so the traffickers were too lazy to care.

When the porridge in the pot began to decrease, the traffickers felt something was wrong and began to inquire and search, thinking this thief was really bold and lawless, daring to steal any kind of food. The porridge in this pot was mixed with millet, which they themselves were usually reluctant to eat!

As a result, they searched for several days but couldn't find the thief, and the lost food became more and more, even a bag of leftovers that a certain trafficker surnamed Zhang had spent a huge sum of money to buy was lost.

The egg tarts just taken out of the oven were in the most perfect state.

Qin Huai deliberately made the tart crust thin and crispy, and the tart heart baked with a slightly charred color looked *QQ* bouncy, soft, and glutinous.

Of course, the most wonderful thing had to be the fragrance.

The fragrance full of calories, from the mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, and oil, could stimulate the most primitive appetite of humans. Just taking a deep breath and smelling it made one feel that they had tasted the sweet taste of the egg tart.

The only flaw was that it was a bit too sweet and greasy.

Shi Dadan liked to eat sweet things, so Qin Huai deliberately made it a bit sweeter.

The freshly baked egg tarts were very hot. Qin Huai and Shi Dadan sat at the dining table, and neither of them ate first. Qin Huai saw a banana that was already a bit black on the dining table, so he simply picked up the banana and ate it.

Don't say, this degree of banana, although there was a suspicion of being bad, was the sweetest state.

"Old Shi, let me ask you something."

"Now the illustrated handbook of my game system has unlocked 10, and it will be full if there are 2 more. After those two are full, what will the game system be like? Is it an upgrade or unlocking new functions?"

"I felt at first that 12 spirit creatures were very difficult to collect, but now I find it quite easy. I feel that spirit creatures are quite clustered."

Qin Huai asked while eating.