Chapter 140: Unbranded Goods

Every time Shi Yue Bai set up an array, she had to continuously channel her soul power into it.

When her abilities were weak, she could only sustain a small array.

If she tried to maintain too many, it would cause her to suffer a mental breakdown.

That was far more serious than having her body’s energy running wild.

A mental breakdown was an irreversible injury.

Especially for members of the Wu clan—for them, the strength of their soul power was, to some extent, the strength of their mind.

That’s why Shi Yue Bai dared to risk her body’s uncontrollable energy surges to teleport all over the place, but didn’t dare to casually draw arrays.

She only dared to come out and draw a teleportation array once she was confident enough.

This array was a parent-child array: the main array was at the center of the “Tong” character frame, and several sub-arrays could be set up.

With this, as long as an ordinary person carried Shi Yue Bai’s soul power, they could use any sub-array to teleport and would always end up in the “Tong” frame.

Conversely, using the main array, one could reach wherever a sub-array was located.

With her current abilities, Shi Yue Bai could only set up one main array and one sub-array.

She hadn’t even wanted to bother with this teleportation array at first.

Now, the only reason she decided to draw it was to make it easier for Captain Qiao to bring vegetables to the front lines.

Times were tough. Lately, Captain Qiao had taken several large backpacks of ready-to-eat food to the big city to sell.

Anyone paying attention knew he’d made tens of thousands of points.

If he got ambushed on his way back to the Shi family, who would Shi Yue Bai get to run errands for her?

In their whole team of the old, weak, sick, and disabled, the only two adult men who could be used to keep up appearances were Captain Qiao and Pang Zhenggong.

Pang Zhenggong was so fat that Shi Yue Bai worried if he ever showed his face outside, he’d get snatched up by a cannibal gang.

So, the teleportation array became an urgent priority.

“Fourth Sister!”

On the front line, Huo Chenggui came running over, his face wrinkled with a big smile.

Shi Yue Bai ignored him, just kept her head down, drawing and drawing on the ground with a long stick.

Huo Chenggui opened his mouth, but seeing how focused his fourth sister was, he looked proud by association.

Chen Yong came down from the front line. “What’s Yue Bai doing?”

“Shh!” Huo Chenggui turned and grabbed Chen Yong by the shoulder.

“My sister’s definitely here for something important. Don’t disturb her creative process.”

He’d heard that before the wasteland, Fourth Sister had learned painting and dance from famous teachers, even passed some certifications.

So Yue Bai must be doing some kind of performance art.

Huo Chenggui slung his arm around Chen Yong’s shoulder and led him over to Captain Qiao.

Captain Qiao was laying out a clean cloth on the ground.

From a big box beside him, he took out a vacuum-sealed pack of cooked potatoes.

“Salt-boiled potatoes, 1,000 points a pack. If you don’t have the money, you can buy on credit.”

Well, Captain Qiao had set up his street stall right on the defense line.

Amid the ruins and rubble, Captain Qiao was the only splash of color.

Chen Yong picked up a pack of potatoes from the stall.

“How come there’s not a single word on this packaging?”

Normally, ready-to-eat food would have all sorts of writing on it—manufacturer address, contact info, product name, etc.

But this pack of potatoes had nothing at all. A classic unbranded product.

Huo Chenggui snatched the potatoes from Chen Yong’s hand.

“Why are you asking so many questions? You think my sister would harm you?”

Then he grinned at Captain Qiao, “Put me down for ten packs on credit.”

Ten packs meant 10,000 points. A mercenary group only made 20,000 points a month.

But in the big city, even the cheapest ready-to-eat food cost several thousand points per pack.

And Captain Qiao’s potatoes were heavy.

Captain Qiao took out a special notebook and pen for credit, letting Huo Chenggui write it down himself.

“Yue Bai said you can also pay with daily necessities—any kind of supplies will do.”

Chen Yong had already fished a pack of potatoes out of Huo Chenggui’s arms, torn it open, and started eating.

After just one bite, his eyes lit up.

“This packaging is really solid, and the potatoes taste so fresh.”

Was it his imagination, or were the potatoes still a little warm?

Must be a trick of the mind.

It had been five years since the world turned to wasteland, and yet these vacuum-packed, unbranded potatoes still tasted this fresh.

Just goes to show how good the packaging was.

Huo Chenggui shot Chen Yong a glare. “Can’t you buy your own?”

He tried to snatch his potatoes back, but Chen Yong dodged nimbly.

Chen Yong raised the potatoes over his head and dashed toward the front line.

“Huo Chenggui’s treating us to potatoes! Boss, boss, these are delicious!”

Huo Chenggui chased after him, trying to hit him.

In no time, a dozen mercenaries came running down from the front lines, swarming Captain Qiao and snatching up all 100 packs of potatoes.

They all started talking at once, and Captain Qiao barely had time to react.

His little credit notebook was quickly filled up.

Merchants in the big city would never let mercenaries buy on credit.

Even if they did, the prices for ready-to-eat food were sky-high.

They sold to ordinary survivors at a high price, and to mercenaries at an even higher one.

So since Shi Yue Bai allowed credit here, no one even cared about the price—everyone took at least ten packs of potatoes on credit.

And plenty of mercenaries hadn’t even heard the news yet.

By the time they did, Captain Qiao was already sold out.

“Damn, these potatoes are really filling,” Chen Yong said, after eating half a bag.

Each bag was 1,000 grams, including the broth.

But these potatoes, however they were grown, were dense and hearty.

At first, Chen Yong thought these unbranded goods must have some flaw.

He looked carefully at the half-bag left in his hand and gave his verdict:

“One bag of these potatoes could feed two or three people.”

And that was with a mercenary’s appetite.

For an ordinary survivor with a smaller stomach, one bag could fill seven or eight people.

He glanced at the mercenaries who had each taken ten bags on credit, planning to finish them in a few days.

Chen Yong thought they were being way too optimistic.

“All gone, all gone,” Captain Qiao announced, showing the mercenaries his empty box.

He turned it over and shook it a few times.

“Really, there’s nothing left.”

A chorus of disappointed groans rose from the mercenaries.

Out on the open ground, Shi Yue Bai sat in her wheelchair, occasionally looking up. Suddenly, her communicator vibrated.

She pulled it from the pocket on her wheelchair and checked.

[Yi Zhe: [photo], [photo], [photo].]

Yi Zhe had sent her pictures of a wall-high stack of cardboard boxes.

Judging by the writing on the boxes, they were all vacuum-sealed bags.

He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t even shown his face.

But it was as if he knew exactly what Shi Yue Bai needed.

[Shi Yue Bai: Can be used to pay off debts.]

[Yi Zhe: Okay.]

Last time, Shi Yue Bai had found a box of vacuum-sealed bags in Xiao Lingye’s supply warehouse—only about 10,000 in total.

Today, she’d sold 100 bags of potatoes in no time.

So, in the long run, there definitely wouldn’t be enough vacuum-sealed bags.

She didn’t know how many Yi Zhe had sent, but judging by the background in the photos, he seemed to be in a vacuum-sealed bag factory.

Merchants in the big city wouldn’t take such bulk goods.

Even if they did, they wouldn’t know what to do with them, and wouldn’t have space to store them.

[Yi Zhe: This warehouse alone has 10,000 boxes, and it’s the smallest warehouse in the factory.]

[Yi Zhe: Move them all to the Shi family?]

It rained heavily in Changsha today."