Chapter 463: Apocalyptic Trading System (35)

At this moment, Zhou Chen'an even forgot the purpose of coming here.

He had been talking to Zhao Xiaohui the whole way, trying to get on her good side, hoping to trade for some fresh fruits and vegetables from this base to take back.

"Honk honk honk—"

Just as they were walking, a group of geese and a group of ducks came out from the lakeside poultry shed in a line, honking and quacking as they went out for some air.

Behind the geese and ducks were a few spirited, proud roosters leading a group of plump little hens.

Zhou Chen'an stared in dumbstruck amazement.

Live chickens, ducks, and geese!

And they were raised so fat and strong!

Good heavens!

What kind of place was this base?

In this frozen, snowy world, they not only had lush fruits and vegetables, but had actually managed to raise so much live poultry!

Live poultry meant there were eggs to eat!

With so many of them... how many eggs could they harvest every day!

Just as the thought of eggs crossed his mind, he saw the mother geese, mother ducks, and hens, as if by prior agreement, arrive in front of a Heyuan decorated with couplets and red lanterns, full of the atmosphere of the New Year, and line up at the entrance to lay eggs.

"..."

Creak!

The door opened.

Yu Baozhi came out carrying two large baskets to collect the eggs.

"Auntie Yu, these two said they came to look for your family."

Zhao Xiaohui said while stepping forward to help collect the eggs.

Only then did Yu Baozhi notice two unfamiliar faces standing outside.

"Looking for our family?"

She looked the two over carefully; she truly did not recognize them.

So she called out loudly for her husband and son to come out.

"Please wait a moment, the house is a complete mess."

And it certainly was a mess; with nothing to do on a snowy day, she had been roasting by the fire while forcing the growth of a bunch of watermelons, grapes, durians, and mangoes that her children liked... there was nowhere left to step.

The key was that the durians were in the warm room, and after one night, they had released quite a bit of their unique fragrance; those not used to it found it incredibly stinky, so they had rushed to open the windows for ventilation in the morning, but it still hadn't cleared out completely.

Since they were already here, Chu Qingyan naturally didn't mind waiting a little longer.

Zhou Chen'an, meanwhile, stared at the eggs all over the ground, very much wanting to rashly ask, "Do you trade?"

Not just the eggs, but the fruits, vegetables, chickens, ducks, and geese—he wanted to trade for them all.

Don't look at how they had food and shelter at the base; only he and Old Chu could occasionally get a few bites of vegetables, eggs, and meat, while the soldiers under them basically had dry rations with hot water.

With the meager share the two of them had, dividing it up was just a drop in the bucket.

They took the lowest "salary" while doing the most dangerous, back-breaking work.

He and Old Chu felt bad for their soldiers, and every time they went out to collect supplies, they would try to secretly hold back a small portion for the soldiers to share, but they couldn't go too far, as the higher-ups had eyes on them.

Sometimes, he really thought it wasn't as good as the group of Ability Users raised by the base.

Ability Users could usually use their abilities to trade for supplies with ordinary people, and what they traded for was all their own.

The soldiers, however, couldn't easily do that.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chen'an felt a sourness in his heart.

He secretly thought it was no wonder Old Chu was so easily convinced by the boasting on a piece of paper; who wouldn't want to try if there was even a glimmer of hope?

Even if that hope was highly likely to be a bubble.

"Who's looking for us?"

Xie Yan came out of the house yawning, and upon seeing the two people outside, he was quite surprised:

"It's you two? What are you here for?"

Zhou Chen'an was even more surprised than him: "This is your home?"

Xie Yang had originally been sleeping, but was woken up by the Main System, which said the person she was waiting for had arrived.

So she casually threw on a down jacket and wiped her face before coming out.

"Brother, they are here to see me. I'll take them to the Ability Training Room to talk in detail; please bring some tea and snacks over."

Madam Yu had just learned from her son that these two were from the Official Base, and now hearing her daughter say they were looking for her, she immediately thought of her daughter's special ability and couldn't even be bothered to collect the eggs, looking at her daughter with worry.

"Mom, it's fine, I have it under control."

"Alright then, what do you want to eat in the morning? I'll bring it to you."

"Anything is fine."

Xie Yang noticed Zhou Chen'an kept staring at the eggs on the ground and whispered, "Mom, help me boil a pot of tea eggs in a while."

"Okay."

Xie Yang led the two to the Ability Training Room on the second floor of the clubhouse.

Just as she invited the two to sit down and before they could start talking, Xie Yan arrived, carrying a large teapot that could hold five liters of water in his left hand and a large basket in his right.

"Do you want to drink plain tea or milk tea? I found a few boxes of milk tea powder; shall I brew a cup for you to try?"

"Sure."

Xie Yang took a tea set from the cabinet nearby, two cups for each person—one for plain tea and one for milk tea.

Xie Yan took out the food his mother had helped prepare from the basket one by one:

Homemade butter sponge cakes, nut brittle made with several kinds of nuts and maltose, and a large bag of five-spice pumpkin seeds and peanuts that had just been roasted yesterday.

There were also fresh-keeping boxes filled with cut fruit:

There was peeled durian, cubed mango and Watermelon, and washed grapes and cherries that could be eaten with the skin on.

Chu Qingyan sat quietly to the side and said nothing.

Zhou Chen'an was truly a bit overwhelmed by the favor: "This, this is too polite!"

He didn't think the other party was a swindler anymore; perhaps the Xie Family had some misunderstanding about Ability Cultivation, and it would be fine once they talked it out.

Right now, he was focused on trading for some supplies with the Xie Family.

But after eating their food, it would be hard to negotiate the exchange price in a moment.

So conflicted!

Xie Yan finished setting up the tea table and went back out, saying before he left:

"Little sister, you haven't had breakfast yet. I'll bring you a bowl of hot noodle soup in a bit. If you're hungry, eat some pastries to pad your stomach first, but don't eat too much! Mom is making lamb noodles for you."

Gulp.

Zhou Chen'an really couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

The sound was so loud that even Xie Yan, who had walked to the door, heard it.

"..."

How embarrassing!

Zhou Chen'an was so ashamed he really wanted to find a crack in the floor to crawl into.

But in this room, let alone a crack in the floor, there wasn't even a crack in the wall.

"Huh, why is this room decorated like this?"

He didn't notice until he looked, only to discover the entire room actually had metal walls and a metal ceiling.

"This is for Ability Users to practice their abilities."

Xie Yang poured tea for the two of them, signaling for them to drink some hot tea to warm their stomachs.

Chu Qingyan took the tea, said thank you, and went straight to the point:

"Miss Xie, regarding the Ability Cultivation you mentioned, could you provide a detailed introduction?"

Zhou Chen'an: "..."

Buddy, you still haven't given up?

If abilities could be cultivated, would the base still be short of Ability Users?

You can't just covet someone else's powerful ability strength and assume they have a method to cultivate abilities; that's not right...

"Please forgive me for being unable to disclose the specific cultivation method. But rest assured, my cultivation method will not cause harm to the human body; on the contrary, it is more stable, lasting, and powerful than abilities that have survived Ability Awakening. It also doesn't require you to pay any price... er, a material price is still needed, and the price list has already been sent to you. I believe the base can afford this small price, right?"

Chu Qingyan pondered for a moment and handed over two 50g gold bars.

"Then shall we start now?"

"???"

Zhou Chen'an had just wanted to eat a piece of cake to pad his stomach, but seeing his partner take out gold bars without a word, it was clear he had believed the other party's words and been taken in!

He immediately stood up in shock.

"Old Chu!"

Chu Qingyan ignored him and followed Xie Yang into the small cubicle inside. Before Zhou Chen'an could follow, the door was closed and locked.

Fortunately, he didn't have to pace anxiously for long before the door opened, and his partner walked out completely unharmed, manipulating a Thunderball in his hand.

A, a Thunderball?

Thunder Ability!

Zhou Chen'an: "!!!"