Chapter 25: Stall Trading for Goods

Yang Shuo said immediately, "Doctor Xing, you take it first. Be careful with protection; I'm afraid there might be viral contagion."

Xing Tianyang had no desire to talk to them at all. He closed the urea sack in one motion, carried it, and walked out excitedly. Only upon reaching the door did he turn back to ask, "Are you sure it was contaminated by radiation?"

"In any case, it was near that stone that fell from the sky, and there is plenty more," Liu Mu answered simply. It was fortunate this person did not know about Niu Boyi.

After Xing Tianyang had been gone for quite a while, the office was finally breathable thanks to the air purifier.

Yang Shuo told the few people beside him to continue with their work and walked outside with Liu Mu, "Little Liu, can you lend us that dog of yours to take a look at?"

"Looking is no problem, but it cannot be lent," Liu Mu refused decisively and immediately. "Niu Boyi is a member of our family. If you want to observe it, you can watch from nearby, but you must not have any other ideas. Uncle, especially, you must not have any thoughts of drugging or dissecting it. If that happens, I won't come again in the future."

"You girl," Yang Shuo was amused by her vigilant appearance. Ever since he entered the upper echelons of the military, it had been a long time since a young person dared to speak to him so directly.

"Rest assured, its rarity might far exceed your imagination. I will not let that group of Doctors interfere."

As the top leader of the Base, saying this was giving a guarantee. Liu Mu had a very precise grasp of human affairs; naturally, she would not force others, nor would she say anything foolish.

If these people were truly against them, it would be best to stay away until they had sufficient strength. This was the end times; who could truly be single-mindedly good to you? In chaotic times, people even trade children to eat, let alone someone you just met.

Yang Shuo personally escorted Liu Mu to the entrance of the shopping mall and found a soldier on duty to help them with setting up the stall before he left.

The soldier's name was Cheng Long. His name was homophonous with that famous kung fu superstar, and Liu Mu remembered this person instantly.

Cheng Long was about one meter eighty. His appearance was ordinary, but his physique was that of a standard soldier—tall, strong, and even significantly sturdier than Luo Sanlin. He had wheat-colored skin, and when he smiled, he revealed a mouthful of white teeth, which softened the soldier's iron-blooded aura and instead revealed a hint of honesty.

"I'll take you to see. This street is considered relatively well-preserved," Cheng Long said, carrying his rifle; the cold texture showed at a glance that it was the real deal. "The mall is on high ground, and the other end of the street is downhill. If it rains, it's prone to water accumulation. You choose as you see fit."

Liu Mu was not very familiar with the Haicheng city center, but she had been to the county town many times. When she heard Luo Sanlin say the rescue Base was built in this shopping mall, she had already calculated it.

"We want the small square one hundred meters out from the main entrance," Liu Mu stated her plan directly. "It's close to the Base and won't hinder your usual comings and goings. Besides, we can't enter the city every day, so we don't need a storefront; that would be troublesome instead."

Cheng Long was just following orders to lead people, so naturally, he had no objections. Once the location was set, he casually asked if Liu Mu and her group needed any help.

"No need. We have our own vehicle. Brother Long, just go back and tell Uncle Yang," Liu Mu sent him back and went to find the Xu Xiaofeng siblings and Niu Boyi.

The items brought this time were only one box of Compressed Biscuits, two boxes of Energy Drink, and one box of Meat Canned Food, the 454g per can type.

Liu Mu backed the vehicle into place and took out the sign she had written beforehand by the roadside. Xu Xiaofeng and Zhang Xiaoyong were responsible for arranging the items and receiving the people who came.

On the sign made of cardboard, the exchange rules were written concisely. In summary, clean cotton clothes, fabric, waterproof Raincoat, tarpaulins, scrap steel, lighters, knives, etc., could all be brought for exchange. How much of the various items could be exchanged depended on the condition and quality of the goods.

Liu Mu firmly believed that where there are people, there are supplies. Regardless of whether these supplies were useful now, they would come in handy later.

The Base did not restrict the people inside from coming and going. As long as they did not cause chaos, fight, or leave the Base too far, they could move about.

For the first few days, no one came out, mainly because they were frightened by this abnormal disaster. A few days had passed, and it was calm; a portion of the people had long wanted to come out to take a look and also wanted to seek opportunities.

The houses on this street that could be entered had long been searched several times over. What could be taken was taken, and almost nothing remained but broken shells.

Ever since Liu Mu rode the dog in, some people had been paying attention to their movements. Now that they saw them taking things out of the off-road vehicle to set up a stall, some people wanted to come over and take a look.

It was just that Niu Boyi was lying by the roadside, so they did not dare to approach.

Xu Xiaofeng noticed this and asked Liu Mu to take Niu Boyi further away. The latter patted the dog and told it to go play in the nearby streets by itself, "Don't attack people randomly, unless they make the first move."

Niu Boyi had long since not wanted to stay here. It stood up immediately, bumped its big head against Liu Mu, and turned to run away, its tail wagging furiously.

"Come back in two hours, do you hear me? Don't run too far!"

Liu Mu shouted from behind. She was not worried about Niu Boyi's safety; the Military Dog's intelligence was now comparable to a human in their teens, and distinguishing danger was an animal's instinct. It was already good that it didn't threaten others.

Actually, Liu Mu also wanted to walk around the city, but since it was her first time out to trade, she was worried that Xu Xiaofeng couldn't handle it, so she stayed behind.

Xu Xiaofeng herself didn't feel that way; after all, she had been doing business on Food Street for several years, and she was not lacking in thick skin or emotional intelligence. The only shortcoming was probably not knowing how to define an equivalent exchange between items.

Sure enough, Niu Boyi had not been gone for ten minutes before people gathered around.

They hadn't eaten breakfast, and lunch was still an hour away. The adults were fine, but many families' children were already hungry and wailing.

"How do you trade the things here?"

The person who stepped forward to ask was still quite polite, "My wife and I picked up some pots and pans. Do they count as scrap metal?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Mu said immediately, "Uncle, is it convenient for you to bring the items over for us to see? Nowadays, some things we collect might not be useful, but bring them over and we can discuss."

The man was carrying a three or four-year-old girl on his back. The child had no energy, and there were some burn marks on her face where medicine had been applied.

The old man gently shook the child on his back, "Alright, I'll go find my old woman now and be right back."

Seeing him about to leave with the child on his back, Liu Mu handed over a lollipop, "Uncle, leave the child here, go quickly and return quickly. Rest assured, with so many people watching, we have also registered with the Base leaders; we are not human traffickers."

"In this world," the old man saw his granddaughter, who hadn't moved much for days, actually reach out to take the candy. While happy, he also felt distressed, "Being able to survive is good enough. Then I'll leave Nannan with you, I'll be back very soon."

Survivors had all registered their names and family members, so Liu Mu naturally did not worry about the old man not coming to collect the child, unless their family did not want to stay in the Base anymore.

Xu Xiaofeng stepped forward to take the child and helped her unwrap the lollipop, "Nannan, stay with Auntie. Grandpa is going to get things to trade for yummy food for Nannan, okay?"

The little girl sucked on the lollipop, still listless, looking longingly at the old man, "Grandpa..."

"Ah, my life, she finally spoke," this sound made the old man, who had thought the child wouldn't survive, finally feel a bit more at ease. His eyes turned red immediately, and after hugging and coaxing her a few times, he walked quickly to find his wife.