The next day, early morning.
This is the day scheduled for the transaction with the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
As agreed, Lin Yi needed to place a ton of potatoes in a hidden corner of the sewer, then head to the Sacred Heart Cathedral to inform Immanuel to send someone to transport them.
With the upgrade of the shelter, he no longer needed his men to help load the potatoes.
As long as he focused his mind, the potatoes would automatically load into sacks according to the preset weight.
However, each time he loaded the sacks, the shelter would deduct one coin from him, which made Lin Yi wince a bit.
He found a hidden place in the sewer to serve as the "secret location" for future transactions between the two parties.
Lin Yi concentrated his thoughts, and bags filled with potatoes steadily appeared on the open ground.
Afterward, he dusted himself off and walked toward the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
But as soon as he emerged from the manhole cover, he found the muzzle of a rifle firmly aimed at him.
"Put down the gun, you idiot!" Immanuel's angry voice came from the side.
The old man strode over with large steps and glared fiercely at the man holding the gun: "This is our honored guest, if you dare show him any disrespect again, see how I deal with you!"
The gunman pursed his lips, his eyes cautiously resting on Lin Yi's hip, then regretfully lowered his head.
"Here are the coins for a ton of potatoes." Immanuel handed over a large bag of Survivor Coins to Lin Yi.
Lin Yi was a bit surprised: "You trust me so much? You don't even know the pick-up location yet."
"You made it very clear yesterday, hoping to establish a long-term cooperative relationship. Such a relationship largely relies on trust."
Lin Yi nodded, expressing his agreement.
Next, he informed the old man and his men of the location where the potatoes were placed and planned to stay with them for a while.
Currently, still in the early stages of the transaction, even though they exchanged pleasantries, the trust hadn't yet been tested. So they would feel more at ease if he stayed until they verified the weight themselves.
Lin Yi picked a coin marked 100 from the bag and curiously asked: "Do they also have such denominations?"
"Of course! But these are very rare! Only mutated zombies will drop them." Immanuel immediately replied.
At the moment, the two walked into the cathedral, chatting along the way.
Lin Yi noticed that the majestic archway of the cathedral before the apocalypse had now been replaced by a heavy metal explosion-proof door, which was estimated to be over half a meter thick.
A circle of tall protective fences was erected before the gate, with sharp spikes installed at the top, reaching several meters high.
What surprised Lin Yi even more was that nearly a hundred guards stood beneath the protective fences.
Each of them wielded a one-handed sword and wore sturdy armor, clearly trained professionals.
Seeing the change in Lin Yi's expression, Immanuel boasted somewhat proudly: "Our camp doesn't rely much on guns, but on a large number of professionals, and explosives!"
"Explosives?" Lin Yi paused, filled with doubt.
Wouldn't the sound of explosions attract more zombies?
Moreover, to gain experience points or drops, the zombies must be killed using a professional's weapon.
This is also the way ordinary people become professionals.
But with explosives, everything would be blown up, where'd the experience points come from?
Unless—
"Do you have fragmentation grenades? Canister shot?" Lin Yi probed Immanuel.
The old man's sly smile instantly froze, and his face was marked with shock: "How did you know?"
Lin Yi smiled slightly, seems like he guessed right.
Fragmentation grenades are explosives that injure enemies through explosive fragments. The powerful shock from its explosion can tear the metal casing into numerous high-speed flying fragments.
If such explosives detonated among a horde of zombies, limbs of zombies within a hundred meters would have been blown off.
When the zombies are barely alive, the camp members can go in, finish them off, and earn the experience points.
The canister shot works quite similarly, containing numerous pellets that create large-scale damage when exploding over the zombies.
However, making canister shots requires a professional explosives expert.
Looks like the Sacred Heart Cathedral indeed harbors masters in disguise!
Silently envious in his heart, Lin Yi decided to speed up the promotion of his shelter's staff to professionals upon returning.
Compared to Lin Yi's calm composure, Immanuel's heart was a chaotic mess at the moment.
He couldn't understand how the other side hit upon so much, so accurately, just from the word "explosives"!
Immanuel couldn't help but recall the early days of the Sacred Heart Cathedral's establishment when, to have the core members become professionals,
their team navigated the zombie-riddled ruins, where every blast test was like dancing on the tip of a knife, a slight mistake leading to complete annihilation.
They paid a hefty price, went through countless life-and-death trials before finally nurturing an explosives expert who mastered the method of using canister shots to clear zombies.
But... but this young man in front of him, how did he reveal the cherished underpinnings of their camp so casually with just a few simple conversations!?
Immanuel subtly observed Lin Yi, trying to find any flaw on his face.
However, all he could see was Lin Yi's confident and composed smile, making him feel even more that this young man before him was profoundly unfathomable.
Immanuel finally couldn't resist his curiosity, looking at Lin Yi and asking: "Hey brother, are you really a businessman?"
"Of course, I'll bring you three more tons in the coming days, can you handle that here?"
Immanuel was invigorated: "Certainly! But besides the coins, are you interested in anything else? For example... system equipment, how about that?"
Lin Yi's expression shifted, his thoughts stirring.
He had once purchased a system weapon at the Louvre, but those pieces are now far behind his current strength.
Lin Yi nodded, indicating that after delivering the potatoes next time, he'd go to his warehouse to pick some.
Now, he planned to head to the commercial building camp for the next scheduled transaction.
The two shook hands and parted ways.
Lin Yi had walked most of the way through the sewer and was just about to climb onto the ground when a voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"Boss, there are a few zombies up there!" It was Xiaochuan's voice.
Whenever Lin Yi left the shelter, no matter what Xiaochuan was doing at the time, he had to immediately stop.
His primary task was to scout for surrounding dangers through surveillance cameras and promptly report to the boss.
Evidently, Xiaochuan had now become proficient in this task.
As soon as Lin Yi reached the ground, more than a dozen zombies lunged at him, ready to tear him apart and devour him.
Facing this situation, Lin Yi remained unflustered.
He swiftly maneuvered through the horde of zombies, quickly carving a bloody path while earning a coin and 8 experience points in passing.
After dealing with these zombies, the rest of the journey became much easier.
Before long, he reached the commercial building camp.
Since his last visit, the area surrounding the camp had been cleared and fortified.
They used scrapped cars, buses, and construction debris to build large barricades, encircling the camp tight.
From the large-scale construction still underway, the scar-faced leader was clearly unsatisfied with the current state and was continuously expanding and reinforcing the camp's defenses.
At this moment, a soldier saw Lin Yi approaching and immediately stepped forward, shouting: "Stop! Who goes there?!"
Lin Yi had yet to respond.
An officer rushed out from a distance.
He hurriedly stopped the soldier's rude attitude: "Show some respect, this is an honored guest! The potatoes you all have been eating are brought by him."
"Oh! So he's the potato merchant?"
The officer ignored the soldier, jogging over to Lin Yi and politely saluting: "Sir, please follow me. The leader would like to speak with you!"
Hearing this, Lin Yi nodded and followed the officer into the camp.