After I Fully Prepared for the Apocalypse, the Ungrateful Cried with Regret-Chapter 141: I Have a Friend

However, it wasn’t until the two of them arrived at the abandoned construction site that they realized there were already other survivors there.

Most were small, organized teams, and some were even trading supplies.

"You charge a fee?"

After they got out of the car, a man and a woman, all smiles, walked out from the derelict building.

"Hehehe,"

"Of course. It may be dilapidated here,"

"but someone has to handle sanitation, right?"

"All the teams want a quiet place to rest, so we handle the zoning and management and..."

"What are the rates?"

Nina Jacobs cut the man off.

She didn’t mind paying if there were actual services provided.

"It’s not much, not much at all. Seeing as there are only two of you,"

"about two pounds of grain, or some crackers or instant noodles would be fine."

"And you can stay for as many days as you like."

"What do you think...?"

The woman next to him answered, carefully watching Nina Jacobs’s expression.

Nina Jacobs opened the car door, took out a one-kilogram bag of flour, and handed it to her.

"Is this enough?"

"Enough, more than enough!"

The pair’s eyes lit up when they saw the small bag of flour.

"What kind of area would you two like? I’ll take you there right now."

The man briefly introduced himself.

His name was Stephen Rhodes, and the woman was his wife, Autumn Lewis.

The two of them had been staying at this abandoned construction site for almost a month.

"Just somewhere with a bit of privacy."

The building at the abandoned construction site was seven or eight stories high. Each floor was only built up to the red brick stage, with no windows, just empty, cement-coated window frames.

Someone was standing in one of the window frames, watching them.

They probably saw it was just the two of them and retreated back inside.

"Yes, yes, I have just the place for you two."

"The privacy is excellent."

As they walked, Stephen Rhodes gave them an overview of the situation at the abandoned construction site.

This area had seen little traffic even before the apocalypse.

Ever since the shelter in City J collapsed, some individuals and small teams had spontaneously made their way here.

For the most part, they managed to coexist peacefully.

When there were signs of zombies, they would even band together to fight them off.

They would also bring out any surplus supplies to trade.

"Of course, there are some who don’t get along,"

"but they usually just leave on their own."

From what Stephen Rhodes said, it seemed the people here weren’t difficult to get along with.

Staying for a night with Wayne Warner shouldn’t be a problem.

Stephen Rhodes led the two to a brick-and-tile unit with two rooms and a living area.

The only things in the room were a few stools, a table, and two plank beds propped up by bricks.

As for the "excellent privacy" he’d mentioned, it probably just meant it had a door, unlike the other rooms.

Fortunately, although it was crude, the place was reasonably clean.

It was also at the end of the fourth floor, so no one would be passing by the door randomly.

"This is fine. We’ll take it."

Nina Jacobs wasn’t picky.

After Stephen Rhodes left, Nina Jacobs used "Five Senses Enhancement" to scan the surroundings.

She confirmed there was no immediate danger.

"I’m going to go check things out. Want to come with?"

Nina Jacobs asked.

When Wayne Warner nodded, she shouldered her own backpack.

Earlier, to avoid attracting attention, she and Wayne Warner had each brought a hiking backpack from the car.

Stephen Rhodes had said they could trade supplies in the large hall on the right side of the first floor.

She planned to go see if there was anything useful to trade for.

As soon as she entered the trading area, Nina Jacobs was drawn to a stall covered with Crystal Cores.

’Someone here is actually selling Crystal Cores?!’

The trading area wasn’t large, with only a dozen or so stalls, three of which were displaying Crystal Cores.

"What’s the trade for these?"

Nina Jacobs deliberately circled the area twice before stopping at a stall that had a relatively large number of Fire Element Crystal Cores.

"You new here, young lady?"

"Got any food? If you do, the price is negotiable."

The stall owner was a man with a toothpick dangling from his mouth, currently playing poker with two other owners nearby.

"How about this?"

Nina Jacobs took out a two-kilogram bag of flour.

’Large packages of food are for Claire Warner to use in bulk trades.’

’I still have plenty of these smaller bags of flour and rice in my storage space.’

The male stall owner immediately threw down his poker cards.

"Hand it over. You can take your pick of these Crystal Cores."

That was flour, more valuable than anything!

"I’ll take them all. See what other supplies you can trade for them," Nina Jacobs said.

This stall alone had over thirty Fire Element Crystal Cores.

Fire Element Crystal Cores were essential for her "Heart of Strange Fire."

"Young lady, I have Crystal Cores over here too!"

"Want to come have a look?"

The owners of the other stalls all crowded around as well.

"But we don’t have many supplies..."

Nina Jacobs feigned a troubled expression.

"Miss, you’d better think carefully," a female stall owner said.

"This is the only place you can trade for Mutated Crystal Cores for dozens of miles around."

"You have a point. Wayne, take off your backpack," Nina Jacobs said.

She first traded the supplies from her own backpack for all the Crystal Cores at the man’s stall.

Then, she opened Wayne Warner’s large backpack.

She took out packs of compressed biscuits, dried noodles, cans of luncheon meat, and various crushed and misshapen loaves of bread and other miscellaneous supplies.

"One pack of compressed biscuits for three Mutated Crystal Cores!"

"I’ll give you four!"

"I want to trade too! I’ll throw in some regular Crystal Cores!"

"Pick me, pick me! I’ll throw in an Animal Crystal Core!"

"..."

Seeing the scene devolve into chaos, Nina Jacobs quickly said, "We’ll stick to the same rates I just traded for with this gentleman."

Stephen Rhodes had said the people here were all on good terms.

She didn’t want to cause any trouble over trading supplies.

"The young miss is a sensible one."

"I’ll get them to form a line right away."

Seeing that Nina Jacobs had no intention of jacking up the price, the female stall owner quickly shot a look at the crowd.

If they kept fighting like this, no one would get anything.

Wayne Warner’s backpack, it had to be said, could hold a surprising amount.

Every single item Nina Jacobs took out could be traded for several Crystal Cores.

Even the flattened loaf of sliced bread fetched five Mutated Crystal Cores.

This continued until Wayne Warner’s backpack was finally empty.

"Do you have any other supplies?"

"I can trade with you too."

Just as the crowd was dispersing and Nina Jacobs and Wayne Warner were heading for the stairs, a man called out to her from behind.

"I don’t have any more supplies."

Nina Jacobs shook her head.

’This guy seems suspicious no matter how you look at him.’

"As long as it’s food, I’ll trade for it!"

"Don’t worry, we can do it secretly."

The man walked up and repeatedly assured her in a low voice.

"A secret trade?"

"What exactly do you have?"

Nina Jacobs’s interest was piqued.

"I’m a good judge of character. You’ve definitely got other supplies, right?"

"I have this. Want it?"

The man glanced around furtively, like a thief, before a glittering Gold Bar appeared in his hand.

Nina Jacobs raised an eyebrow.

’This guy actually wants to trade gold?’

"This is useless to me."

Nina Jacobs said, watching the man’s expression.

He looked extremely disappointed.

"But I have a friend who might take it."

At Nina Jacobs’s words, the man immediately perked up.

"Really?!"

"As long as I can trade this stuff away, I’ll accept any price!"

"How much do you have?"

"I’ll ask him later."

Nina Jacobs asked.

"I’ve got plenty of it."

"The only question is whether your friend can afford it."

The man gave a mysterious smile. "Besides this, I also have a lot of Crystal Cores."

Just then, the screech of car brakes echoed from outside.