The Wealthy One? That's You

A few minutes later, Clarissa sent another message: "My brother is asking how many guns and ammo you have!"

Henry, who had great respect for John and Clarissa's character, didn't hold back and candidly replied, "About a hundred [Assault Rifles], plus 53 [Laser Trip Mines], and over 90,000 bullets!"

After this message was sent, there was silence on the other end for a few seconds. Then John sent a video call request. Once connected, John's excited voice burst through: "How many? A hundred [Assault Rifles]? Over 90,000 bullets? And [Laser Trip Mines]?"

"...uh, no...Henry, did you rob an armory or what?" "You're too rich!"

"It's alright," Henry replied nonchalantly. If John knew about the two armed mechs Henry still had, he'd probably try to come through the video call!

However, those were rare and not even enough for Henry's own use, so naturally, he wouldn't reveal them easily. "So...what price? I want everything!" John, trying to suppress his excitement, spoke deliberately.

"You want everything?" This surprised Henry. "One assault rifle goes for 60 Energy Cores at auction, including 500 bullets! I haven't decided on a price for the Laser Trip Mines yet..."

"I still have a total of 108 assault rifles in stock (I picked up 11 when I first went to arm the mechs), are you sure you want them all?" Henry asked again for confirmation. This was no small sum.

"Yes, I'm sure. The number of survivors on my side has now expanded to 500!" John explained. "The original Special Services team only had fifteen members, and we're far short on manpower, plus the bullets we brought are almost out!" 

"Now I've developed ten combat squads and five reserve teams..." 

"If they have guns, they can grow quickly with minimal casualties!" 

"So, to be exact, I need 150 guns, but since you only have 108, I'll have to make do!" 

"As for the price... don't worry about it!" John chuckled, then continued, "We might not have that many Energy Cores, but if everyone pitches in, we should be able to scrape together 600!" 

"The rest I can trade with supplies, we've cleared quite a few large supermarkets along the way, so we have a decent amount of resources!" 

"What do you think... can we make a deal?" John was nervous Henry might not want to trade for supplies, even using formal language out of anxiety. 

He had wanted to say, "For Clarissa's sake, give us some consideration!" But then he caught Clarissa's expression, which clearly said, "Be careful what you say, I'm watching," and he swallowed those words back. 

"That could work, no problem, but what do you propose for the trade?" Henry could understand. 

Over a hundred guns would mean over 6000 Energy Cores, plus more than 90,000 bullets would need over 3000 Energy Cores. 

Pulling out 10,000 Energy Cores at once... that was simply not feasible! Even if listed in the auction house, it might take ten days or half a month to sell everything. 

Moreover, food and water are crucial supplies. Weapons will gradually depreciate in value. But food is consumed bit by bit. 

As survivors live longer, their Energy Cores will increase, but food will become scarcer. 

What diminishes here grows there. 

Stockpiling food now could very easily yield a significant profit in Energy Cores in the near future.

Absolutely a profitable deal!

"Um... over here, a bottle of water is priced at 2 Energy Cores, a kilogram of meat is 4 Energy Cores, and high-carbohydrate foods are about 1 Energy Core each..." John reported the prices from the auction house while gesturing to Clarissa next to him to help with the calculations.

Their squad had just recently swept through a large logistics warehouse. They also raided several food processing plants and beverage bottling facilities. They lacked almost nothing except for food and water. The survivors living here also had a relatively ample supply of resources. Thus, food and water simply couldn't fetch high prices here, far lower than in the South River area.

Clarissa, head down, rapidly tapped on a calculator. Then she said, "If we do a 1:1:1 trade ratio of meat, carbohydrates, and pure water, it would be... 1489 bottles of pure water, 1489 kilograms of meat, and 1489 units of carbohydrate food."

John flashed Henry a flattering smile, then turned to look at the calculator in Clarissa's hand. "Are you sure it's correct, using a 1:1:1 ratio, and we're paying out nearly 1.5 tons of meat?" "You can't calculate like that, you're not even married off yet!" "With such a large quantity, a tiny error could lead to a huge mistake, haven't you heard that?" "Let me do the math!"

John took the calculator and clicked away for a while. The final number on the display read 1488.5732... Rounding up, it indeed came to 1489.

"All done with the calculations?" Henry asked.

"Yeah, it's all set. So, uh... how are you selling the [Laser Trip Mines]?"

John asked anxiously. He really wanted this item.

For someone like Henry, a lone wolf, overcoming any difficulty was a matter of just getting himself out safe. But John's situation was different. He had families to protect. The speed and mental fortitude of civilians couldn't compare to that of soldiers.

Sometimes when facing a horde attack, you need something to block the zombies' pursuit. Plus, the loud explosion can attract zombies to a different location. It's the perfect tool for a smooth evacuation! It's not much use to Henry, but for me, it's incredibly valuable!

"Your price!" Henry didn't answer but asked instead.

"Well... here I go!" John rattled off a list of disadvantages about the item. Finally, he got to the main point: "So... I think 30 Energy Cores each would be fair!"

"50 Energy Cores!"

"Deal!" Both John and Henry flashed relieved smiles. John's initial offer of 30 Energy Cores was meant to leave room for bargaining, expecting around 50 Energy Cores. For Henry, it seemed impolite not to counteroffer when given a price.

Surprisingly, the other party agreed immediately. Could such good fortune be real? Just by speaking up, he had earned over a thousand more Energy Cores! What a win!