Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 478 - 350: Wonders Never Cease

Qu Jianlei had been a bit curious, driving a truck to the black market—what could be sold here?

As he got closer, he frowned. On the truck were chunks of meat, frozen solid.

A half-grown lad sat in the trough, with his legs dangling outside the truck.

Apparently, he hadn’t seen Qu Jianlei’s earlier moves, and he looked indifferent, "If you have eyes, look for yourself."

Qu Jianlei was a bit annoyed, but there was no need to argue over such a small matter, so he simply turned away.

Yet he didn’t go too far, moving on to the next stall, glancing down at the odd items laid out on the ground.

Then as he passed another stall, he heard someone at the meat-selling truck ask, "Exotic beast meat?"

"Of course," the half-grown lad replied lazily, "Would you come here for regular meat?"

The little guy’s words were biting, but the buyer was well-mannered, "How’s it sold?"

Sofia overheard and gently nudged Qu Jianlei, whispering, "It’s exotic beast meat."

She knew that superpower warriors could benefit from consuming exotic beast meat to increase their cultivation levels.

"Or maybe human meat," Qu Jianlei hummed dismissively.

Then he spoke half-jokingly, half-seriously, "But if it’s human meat, it would be perfect for you Fallen types to eat."

His reply wasn’t quiet, and the half-grown lad heard him, but only shot a cold glance without reacting.

It seemed the black market here was similar to Blue Star’s; as long as you didn’t expose the vendor in front of others, it wasn’t a big deal.

However, if the little guy was stubborn enough to pick a fight, Qu Jianlei didn’t mind showing him what "strength is king" means.

He had already used spiritual perception on those chunks of frozen meat; they were just regular raw meat, which was a bit odd.

If there was anything different, it was that the icy water seemed to contain a trace of energy.

But that energy... was so minuscule, it was almost negligible.

A C-level mutant beast on Garbage Star could urinate energy with even more potency.

Given that they were selling fake goods with that "buy or not" attitude, Qu Jianlei refraining from an outright confrontation was quite gracious.

Sofia wasn’t foolish either; she waited until they were far enough before asking softly, "Is it fake?"

Qu Jianlei chuckled indifferently, "Trying to fool me in this area is purely wishful thinking."

Then they encountered another light truck, once again bearing "exotic beast meat."

The energy infused in that meat was a bit more, roughly... comparable to a C-level mutant beast’s urination.

The third light truck carried heavy weapons, while the fourth surprisingly had bags of grain.

The seller was a middle-aged woman who was quite enthusiastic, "Do you want superpower rice? Consuming it can increase your cultivation."

"Superpower rice," Qu Jianlei heard the term for the first time. Could it be the spirit rice from Blue Star legends?

He truly didn’t know that the Imperial had such a thing; he’d never heard of it before, nor were there samples in yesterday’s bargain store.

Releasing a slight spiritual perception, he was stunned... there was indeed some energy in the bags.

This energy was much stronger than that in "exotic beast meat." Unfortunately, it was sparsely distributed within the bags.

Simply put, superpower rice existed... if what was in the bag was indeed rice.

But it certainly wasn’t all superpower rice; it was mixed with regular rice... or rather, regular rice mixed with some superpower rice.

Yet this kind of thing wasn’t all that unusual. Haven’t the Divine Land’s council rice used this tactic too?

Since the vendor was friendly, Qu Jianlei calmly asked, "How’s it sold?"

"A hundred silver coins per bag," the woman spoke quietly, "solely supplied for the military, not available on the market!"

Military supply... Qu Jianlei understood why he hadn’t heard of it before.

But the bag wasn’t very big, seeming to weigh only two to three pounds.

Compromising, say it’s two and a half pounds, then a pound of superpower rice costs forty silver coins, fifty pounds is two thousand coins.

In Green Water City’s bustling area, housing cost only two thousand silver coins per square meter.

For superpower warriors, eating freely, fifty pounds of superpower rice would only last about two to three days.

Considering absorption, calculating ten days’ worth of meals means consuming a square meter of a house in ten days.

This price wasn’t low at all; a hundred pounds of spirit rice would match the price of a low-cost B-level crystal.

But whether a hundred pounds of spirit rice could match the cultivation effect of a B-level crystal? Qu Jianlei wouldn’t believe it.

Considering the vendor was selling A-grade goods, he figured it wasn’t worth buying, so he shook his head and walked away.

"You..." the woman glared, ready to react. You asked the price, and dare to leave like that?

The black market technically prohibits forced selling, but asking the price and then leaving without bargaining was frowned upon!

Of course, bargaining ridiculously could also be considered picking a fight; the woman was well-versed in this game.

However, just then, someone reached out, covering her mouth, and spoke quickly in a low voice.

"Don’t mess around, this guy is not easy to deal with. He threw ZuiZi into the river, and it was just retrieved now."

The woman, who was originally struggling angrily, stopped at these words.

In the market, she was in the "legitimate business", while ZuiZi dealt in shady activities. Her status was higher than ZuiZi’s, and she had a stronger backing.

However, ZuiZi’s reputation for bullying was also quite known in the market.

Though she wasn’t afraid of ZuiZi, anyone who dared to throw ZuiZi into the river was not someone she could afford to offend.

To say that she absolutely couldn’t afford to offend someone like that might not be true, but undoubtedly, it wasn’t worth it for such a trivial matter.

Seeing that she stopped struggling, the hand finally let go and softly advised, "Don’t make trouble."

The woman shook her head, indicating she wouldn’t act recklessly, then curiously asked, "Doesn’t ZuiZi plan to retaliate?"

"He’s a bully; I’m actually hoping he dares to stir up trouble," the man scoffed disdainfully.

People setting up stalls in the market were not fond of gangs like ZuiZi’s type—they really drove away customers.

However, since the black market managers didn’t step in to deal with them, the merchants couldn’t be bothered, not because they couldn’t provoke them, but it wasn’t worth it.

Now that ZuiZi had suffered a setback, everyone was happy to see him run into another wall.

The woman lowered her voice to ask, "That Huang Shuangxing, is he really that strong?"

The other person replied, "Absolutely a newcomer, daring to act on arrival, can’t be sure how strong he is, but there must be someone behind him!"

Qu Jianlei browsed three or four more stalls, then turned to a small figure, speaking coldly, "Do you have business?"

The small figure visibly shivered before stepping forward.

This was a boy, less than 1.4 meters tall, but with a mature face, he looked about seventeen or eighteen.

He hesitated for a moment then replied softly, "Mister, do you want to buy superpower rice? I have some, but it’s quite expensive."

Qu Jianlei knew that this guy had his eyes on him since he inquired about superpower rice, likely premeditated.

He originally didn’t plan to pay attention, but being followed all the way here was over the line.

However, now hearing that the other party was trying to sell superpower rice, this behavior became understandable.

He nodded slightly, "Indeed, I want to buy some superpower rice. You say it’s expensive... how much?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Half more than that stall a while ago," the kid spoke in a low voice, "The superpower rice there... was adulterated."

Qu Jianlei shook his head and bluntly stated, "What you said is incorrect. She didn’t adulterate, it was mixed with a bit of the real thing."

The child turned pale at his shake of the head, but after understanding, grinned silently.

Then he nodded, "You’re right, she did mix it with some real stuff."

Qu Jianlei actually didn’t mind buying some superpower rice, even if the price sounded outrageously high.

First, he wanted to study what this thing really was, secondly, he wanted to test its effect.

He could be sure that the effect of this thing shouldn’t match up to cultivation with crystals, but any small benefit counts, right?

Even though he hadn’t achieved financial freedom, he did have some liquid funds and no other economic burdens.

Whether the superpower rice was expensive or not didn’t mean much to him, if he wanted to upgrade himself quickly, he couldn’t miss any potential opportunity.

Previously, he didn’t purchase superpower rice, not because he couldn’t afford it, just didn’t want to be thought of as a fool.

Thus his attitude was straightforward, "How much do you have? If it’s too little, I’m not interested."

The child hesitated before stammering, "I only have... about fifty silver coins’ worth."

Qu Jianlei shook his head upon hearing, "That small amount, then forget it."

By this kid’s pricing, a pound of superpower rice should cost sixty silver coins. Fifty silver coins wouldn’t even buy a pound!

It wasn’t that Qu Jianlei was hard-hearted; he was genuinely curious about superpower rice, but this quantity wasn’t worth the trouble.

Also, the kid’s appearance was... rather sudden, though logically there was no issue, it couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t a trap.

If he agreed to buy, and the kid caused another incident afterward, it would be disappointing.

Isn’t this how tea conversation women’s ploys work? Hook the person first, then start various complaints.

Sick father, remarried mother, brother in school, blind grandma feeding pigs, eighty-year-old grandpa planting tea trees, asking if you can spare a pound?

Seeing his refusal, the child’s eyes revealed obvious disappointment, "Is it too little?"

Qu Jianlei frowned slightly, waving his hand indifferently, "I’ve made my point clear."

He no longer cared about whether the child had genuine difficulties.

What’s going on with you is not important; what’s important is what I want.

He ignored the kid, but the little one, seemingly undecided, remained silently trailing at a distance.

After a while, even Sofia felt a bit sympathetic, "The kid is quite pitiful, why not give him some money to send him off?"

"If you want to give, do it yourself," Qu Jianlei replied casually, then squatted down, "Things here are interesting."