Chapter 6

After digesting the information Ye Heng said, Lin Meng couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Even though she had read many similar novels, she was still shocked.

Looking at the steaming bowl of noodles in front of her, Lin Meng suddenly felt lucky and happy.

Although she owed 3.2 million, at least she had food and clothing, and there were no terrifying zombies or mutant beasts threatening life, which was much better than Ye Heng's wasteland world.

After thinking, Lin Meng felt some sympathy for Ye Heng.

"Do you want to eat noodles? I cooked a bowl; have it first, and after you're full we can talk about the deal."

Without waiting for an answer, Lin Meng put the bowl and chopsticks into the space, then got up and went to the kitchen.

Ye Heng quickly sensed something added to the space; probing with his mental power, he saw a bowl of steaming noodles placed on the 38th parallel.

At a glance he saw there were also two fried eggs on top.

In an instant, saliva flooded his mouth, and his stomach growled uncontrollably.

"Miss Lin, I will definitely not eat your food for free; thank you."

Ye Heng still couldn't resist the temptation; after saying that, he immediately took the noodles out of the space.

Instantly the aroma filled the air; the hand holding the bowl felt real texture and temperature, and Ye Heng's heart finally settled as he began to savor it slowly.

He didn't dare eat too fast, fearing he'd wolf it down without tasting the noodles and eggs, and might not get another chance to eat this well.

Lin Meng cooked herself another bowl of egg noodles, ate it quickly, then immediately called Ye Heng.

"Let's talk about using this space for trade—what valuables do you have? I don't have many ambitions; right now I'm most lacking money."

Lin Meng frankly stated her needs.

In her view this wasn't shameful; she provided precious wasteland survival supplies, and the other party paid appropriate compensation—money and goods cleared, a proper transaction.

Ye Heng hadn't expected Lin Meng to agree so readily; excited, he thought and said:

"Here we no longer use currency for trade but crystal cores; I'm not sure if crystal cores are useful to you, but gold, silver, and jewels are worthless in the wasteland, no one covets them, so we've kept a lot—do you want those?"

Ye Heng thought, the world Miss Lin lives in might be similar to the former civilized era.

Back then money was valuable, and so were gold, silver, and jewels.

Upon hearing this, Lin Meng was overjoyed; they hit it off quickly and soon formed a cooperative relationship.

After breakfast, Lin Meng rode a small donkey to Bai Ling Town.

The town had a market where not only agricultural side products were sold, but also many cheap and practical daily goods.

Lin Meng bought ten large-capacity water buckets, a large pile of buns and steamed bread, bought out several sweet potato stalls' roasted sweet potatoes, and several fruit stalls' oranges, then hired a small tricycle to haul all the supplies back to the village.

The tricycle driver had been curiously observing Lin Meng all along, and after delivering the goods to her door, he asked:

"Little girl, why are you buying so many buns? Are you hiring workers to work at home?"

Lin Meng nodded along with his words.

"Yeah, we're renovating and hired a master to help, so I bought some steamed bread and such."

The driver silently shook his head upon hearing that.

"That won't do—what era is this? Feeding workers just this isn't enough; nowadays you have to provide meals, and those doing manual labor need meat to eat."

Lin Meng didn't respond, paid the fare, and drove the person out of the courtyard.

Soon, news of Lin Meng's big shopping trip in town spread through the village.

Lin Meng paid no heed to what the villagers said; she put several dozen bags of buns and steamed bread, over a hundred roasted sweet potatoes, and several large baskets of oranges into the space, then filled several large water buckets with well water from her courtyard and sent them in as well.

After doing all that, Lin Meng still didn't feel tired; it seemed her mental power had increased.

Ye Heng's side wasn't idle either; after enjoying the noodles, he immediately summoned a team, fully equipped, to head to the urban area to collect gold, silver, and jewels.

At first, the team members' enthusiasm was high, thinking the captain was taking them to find that mysterious lady to earn supplies.

Deputy Captain Sun Hao thought the same.

As the person who knew Ye Heng best and had shared life-and-death experiences with him the longest, Sun Hao was very curious about that mysterious person, so he whispered a question.

"Brother, secretly tell me, are you dating that girl? I, as your buddy, support you—although the wasteland era isn't suitable for romance, love, marriage, and kids, but since you've met her, you should seize the opportunity, not hesitate, or you'll surely regret it."

Ye Heng's face turned solemn upon hearing that, and he warned Sun Hao:

"Old Sun, from now on you're not allowed to joke about her; although some things I can't disclose, I guarantee she is absolutely the key to whether we survive, our biggest customer—if she finds out you're making fun of her, she'll definitely not give you any of her food in the future."

Sun Hao's face turned deathly pale at hearing that; in these days, is there any punishment more terrifying than having no food?

He quickly raised three fingers in a solemn oath: "I was wrong; I will never joke about her again, I will respect her immensely—by the way, what's her name? You must tell me."

Saying that, Ye Heng's expression darkened, he sighed and said:

"She seems not to fully trust me; she only told me her surname is Lin, without giving her name."

Sun Hao choked, his brows slightly furrowed.

It seems this mysterious savior isn't easy to get close to; to obtain more supplies from her, we'll need to put in even more effort.

The team arrived at the old urban district nearest the refuge half a day later.

Because supplies were distributed yesterday, today each person carried a small water pouch, two grapes, and half a fist-sized portion of steamed chicken feed.

After a brief rest, the team members carefully took out their own food, holding it like a precious treasure, none willing to eat it.

Ye Heng watched this, feeling extremely complicated.

He took the lead in eating two grapes, savored the aftertaste on his lips, then said:

"Grapes spoil easily; if they go bad it's waste, so eat them all."

Upon hearing that, the team members finally dared to eat the grapes; they didn't spit out the skins, and even licked clean any juice that accidentally dripped onto dirty hands.

Those who ate the grapes felt a fleeting sense of loss, wanting to keep that sweetness forever in their hearts.

If Lin Meng saw this scene, she would surely be unable to describe how she felt.

These are wild grapes growing in the backyard, untended and abandoned; in her view they're basically inedible.

But here they have become treasures so precious that not even the skins are wasted.

「From now on, as long as we can meet the employer's demands, these foods will still be available; don't lose heart, we'll get better and better. 」

「Team Captain, what does the employer want this time? Brothers, we would even risk our lives to satisfy her. 」

Ye Heng thought for a moment and said:

「The employer wants gold, silver, jewels, anything valuable. 」

As soon as he said that, the team members fell silent; some even thought Ye Heng had been tricked.

In the wasteland era, even sprouted potatoes are worth more than gold nuggets; how could anyone still be interested in money?

「Team Captain, have you been tricked? 」