Chapter 50: Massive Barter

Seeing that no one was left in front of Shi Liang, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng stepped forward.

Upon seeing the two, Shi Liang beamed so widely that his mouth couldn't close, though it was hidden beneath his scarf, making it invisible to others: "Ah, the two honorable patrons are here! I was just wondering if you weren't coming anymore."

Gu Pan said, "How could that be? We just figured that in such a short time, the prices of gold and rice wouldn't fluctuate too much, so we didn't rush over."

"Fluctuate? Oh, the fluctuation has been massive," Shi Liang said, shaking his head repeatedly. "The price changes every single day. Right now, one hundred grams of gold only gets you a single catty of rice. That bracelet just now weighed fifty grams and only fetched half a catty of rice. It's dropping way too fast." He kept shaking his head because everyone knew what this trend signified.

Lu Ruisheng asked, "What about the prices of other things?"

Shi Liang replied, "In our circle, we're all independent peddlers. As long as we can manage to trade for something to eat, we're satisfied—we don't have higher demands. But if you two have superior goods, I can take you to meet my boss."

This was something Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng had already anticipated. The fact that they could standardize prices, conduct business without competing aggressively, and maintain strict order proved that someone was controlling the situation.

However, the two of them did not want to draw too much attention to themselves just yet. Therefore, Gu Pan said, "We do have some channels for other goods, but it will take time to negotiate. How much worth of goods can you make decisions on? How many catties of rice?"

If the volume of goods was too large, they would have to deal directly with Shi Liang's superiors, which would complicate things and make them easily targeted, potentially implicating their neighboring partners and causing losses that outweighed the gains.

For now, they still preferred to avoid exposure. Trading in these small amounts actually accumulated to a considerable total, especially since this wasn't their only trading spot.

Shi Liang held up his hand and said, "Thirty catties. Anything more than that, and I'll have to consult the people above me."

Gu Pan said, "We brought twenty catties with us. Can we make the trade now?"

Hitting the limit right away could easily arouse suspicion. They also wanted to maintain their connection with Shi Liang. In their past life, he had saved both her and Lu Ruisheng; in this lifetime, if possible, they wanted to prevent Shi Liang's wife from dying. Thus, a quantity of twenty catties was just right.

Unaware of their inner thoughts, Shi Liang rubbed his hands together happily upon hearing they wanted to trade for twenty catties of rice: "I always said the two of you are people of great wealth and nobility—you're so generous with your spending."

He then leaned in closer and lowered his voice to advise them, "It's still best to hold onto more food. You might want to keep a few extra catties for yourselves; buying it in the future is only going to get harder."

Lu Ruisheng leaned close to Shi Liang's ear and whispered, "We have other channels. We won't starve."

Shi Liang nodded happily. "Alright, alright. Then wait for me here for twenty minutes. I'll be right back." He couldn't possibly carry that much gold around with him; he had to go to his own stash to retrieve it.

Gu Pan agreed, "Okay, take your time. We can listen in on some other news while we wait."

Happily, Shi Liang jogged off to fetch the gold for the exchange.

Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng looked around the surrounding area again. Almost all transactions involved trading gold for food; at a time like this, people at the bottom of the ladder were primarily focused on mere survival.

In a little over ten minutes, Shi Liang returned, carrying two thousand grams of gold.

After mutual inspection to ensure everything was in order, the transaction was completed. Gold really wasn't as precious as people used to think anymore—after all, staying alive was what truly mattered.

Shi Liang was ecstatic because today's earnings matched what he usually made in ten days. Furthermore, this was paid in rice, and since the price of rice went up every single day, this particular trade yielded a massive profit.

He showered Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng with endless expressions of gratitude: "The two honorable patrons are my guardian deities of wealth! If you have anything to trade in the future, be sure to look for me. I guarantee I'll give you the best market rates."

Listening to Shi Liang's flowery compliments, Gu Pan smiled and nodded. "Alright, we'll come back."

After bidding farewell to Shi Liang, the two of them hopped onto their snowmobile and left.

Once they reached a secluded spot where no one else was around, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng took the gold and entered the spatial dimension. The gold vanished, and twenty minutes were added to the timer, leaving them just eight hours and three minutes short of completely filling the storage duration.

They changed their clothes and headed off to another trading post. Now that they understood the exchange rates and knew the maximum direct trading limits of each vendor, things were much more convenient.

Arriving at a trading spot relatively far from the city center, they traded another twenty catties. Thirty catties was the upper limit for individuals and tended to attract unwanted attention, so twenty catties was the ideal amount.

After that, they visited two more locations, trading twenty catties at each. By now, there were only four active trading posts in the city, and they had visited all of them.

Each transaction added twenty minutes, and these four exchanges accumulated a full hour and twenty minutes. Now, they were only seven hours and thirteen minutes away from maxing out the spatial dimension's duration.

They planned to wait a few days before heading out to trade again so as not to draw notice, ensuring a steady, continuous method of accumulation. This way, they could max out the timer safely before heading to the base.

Previously, they hadn't anticipated that the exchange rate between gold and food would plummet so rapidly. In her past life, Gu Pan had never been fond of wearing jewelry; aside from the pendant left by her grandmother, she owned no gold jewelry and had never engaged in such trades.

In truth, Gu Pan was also curious: once the time duration was completely maxed out, would placing more gold inside trigger some other miracle, or would it simply function as storage? Of course, they would only find out after reaching the maximum limit.

When they returned home, someone was collecting protection fees in the residential compound again. However, it had nothing to do with them for the time being. Because a family on the third floor had joined that faction's ranks, they were well aware of Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng's capabilities and knew they had a doctor among them. To be frank, in times like these, ordinary people preferred not to offend a doctor—what if they needed their help one day?

Gu Pan and her companion had no intention of meddling in other people's affairs. As long as no one encroached on their territory, keeping to themselves was the best policy.

That evening, Gu Pan took out roasted fish, side dishes, rice, cheesy potatoes, blueberries with Chinese yam, and pure fruit juice from the space to celebrate their spatial dimension gaining another hour and twenty minutes today.

They abstained from drinking alcohol for now because they couldn't guarantee safety every single day, especially with people like Li Dong and his crew around, keeping their vigilance high well into the night.

A few days later, word spread that Li Dong's faction had also been established, starting out with over thirty members—much larger than any previous group.

However, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng paid no attention to that. As long as those people didn't come looking for trouble with them, they were fine. They continued their daily routine of training and scavenging for supplies. Now, they targeted pharmacies and supermarkets—places where other people left unwanted items behind. Particularly after Lu Ruisheng told Cheng Yang that if the apocalypse lasted for many years, family planning supplies would become extremely valuable commodities, the young man had started collecting them incessantly.

Naturally, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng didn't fall short in gathering those items either. After all, goods stored in their spatial dimension never expired. Three years from now, these items would be the scarcest luxuries for the rich. In the future, the base would cultivate vegetables and livestock, so food might become somewhat manageable, but non-renewable supplies like these would only grow increasingly precious.

Some people might possess long-term vision and foresee these things, but even with the foresight, there was little they could do right now since simply surviving the immediate battle for daily meals was the overwhelming priority.