The butcher shop owner saw Lin Feng ask for the price and knew that the deal was more than halfway done, so he continued enthusiastically:
"The high-level enhancer is second only to the Tier One Evolution Agent, at a minimum price of twenty-five points."
Lin Feng's brow furrowed slightly; he had sold eight kilograms of loin meat to earn thirty-two points, and one enhancer would cost more than half.
That's not cheap.
After all, the combat power of an Enhanced Person doesn't solely come from oneself; suitable equipment is equally important.
Without the right equipment, even a Level 9 Enhanced Person is in grave danger on the Wasteland, unable to take a single step.
Encountering the Desert Wolf Pack means certain death.
Take Liu Mingfei, for example. Although he was a Level 7 Late-stage Enhanced Person, Lin Feng, who was only Level 4, could easily take him out with a Level 4 Magazine Pistol.
Before the leap of qualitative evolution, the hundreds of kilograms of strength and physique gap are easily compensated for with weaponry, especially long-range firearms.
But more expensive than weapons are defensive equipment, like a combat suit or full body armor.
Lin Feng roughly calculated that to assemble a complete combat suit, including puncture-resistant fabric, layered insert plates, cooling photovoltaic fans, among others, would cost at least fifty points.
If he bought the high-level enhancer, he'd have no money left for goggles.
Thinking of this, Lin Feng could only try his best, inhaling sharply, and with a face of surprise, said:
"So expensive?! Then I might as well go to the Dawn Store and exchange it for equipment."
Saying this, Lin Feng extended his hand, intending to refuse and end the transaction.
Seeing this, the butcher shop owner hurriedly persuaded:
"Twenty-five points aren't expensive; you just exchanged over two hundred points, only a tenth, and just now, I credited you four points for the loin, totaling thirty-two points."
"Young brother, you might not fully understand the gap between Mid-stage and Late-stage Enhanced People. Late-stage Enhanced People are in demand everywhere, with first-rate Deserter teams vying to recruit, and evolvers' Desert Hunting Teams often recruiting too."
"Late-stage Enhanced People are a stepping stone!"
"If it really doesn't work, how about twenty-three points?"
Seeing the owner still chattering away,
Lin Feng sighed softly:
"Those are all shared assets of the team, dependent on the captain's mood. I only have thirty-two points from the loin and have to buy a bunch of daily consumables..."
"Boss, you're making a profit from buying and selling. Eight kilograms of enhanced meat can surely extract more than one enhancer, right?"
"Can it be cheaper?"
The butcher shop owner looked at the outstretched hand of the man, hesitated for a few seconds, and with some regret said in a low voice:
"Then how about three points less, can't go lower than that!"
"Consider it making a friend."
Lin Feng showed a look of struggle and reluctance and finally nodded:
"Alright, twenty it is."
The owner breathed a slight sigh of relief, just as Lin Feng said, he profited at both ends, so there's no loss, selling the enhancing potion also brought an extra commission.
He took out one and handed it, along with the remaining twelve-point chips, to the man while kindly reminding:
"The enhancing potion needs to be stored at a low temperature, the outside forty degrees temperature will render it ineffective in a few days, so use it quickly."
Lin Feng took the enhancer and the point chips, and turned to ask about what he heard earlier:
"Boss, what is the Evolution Agent you mentioned earlier? Can it promote a Level 9 Enhanced Person to a Tier One Evolver?"
The boss nodded and briefly explained:
"It's technology from the Oasis, which you can exchange for with the corpse of a Tier One Desolate Beast. Sometimes the bounties on the upper floor would also offer such rewards."
"Like a Desolate Beast below Tier One has enhanced meat, a Tier One evolved Desolate Beast also has enhancing effects, but it's too toxic for Enhanced People and needs the Oasis's technology for purification and refinement."
Lin Feng's pupils narrowed slightly, somewhat amazed.
If that's the case, the Oasis can firmly control all the Deserters, including evolvers.
After bidding farewell to the butcher shop owner, Lin Feng had twelve points left in hand, totaling sixty-two points with the fifty-point credit.
He kept his items safe and walked toward where Chen Shanshan and the others were, further inside the hall corridor in the Mechanical Village shop.
At the moment, several people were inside, picking out parts.
Seeing Lin Feng arrive, Chen Shanshan asked for his opinion.
Lin Feng shrugged, knowing little about these matters, at most using the system to appraise the parts' quality, but the specific modification needs were to be consulted with Liu Mingfei.
The tricycle was too high-grade for Lin Feng to upgrade, only being able to repair durability by consuming his own life value.
So after participating in the discussion briefly, he took the fifty-point chips from Chen Shanshan and headed straight to the diagonally opposite Dawn Store.
The peg-legged store owner, leaning on his crutch, was surprised again to see Lin Feng after a small half-day.
Lin Feng moved his gaze from the hanging exhaust camo combat suit in the glass cabinet and looked around.
Soon he found the important basic material needed:
A set of ordinary anti-stab combat suits, made of high-strength fibrous fabric with a hard carbonized silicon particle coating. This set, even without steel plate inserts, could withstand weapon cuts and stabs, or the steel teeth and iron claws of a desolate beast.
It's just that the times it can withstand won't be many, and without a steel plate layer, the durability will fall steeply.
"This set is cheap, only forty points in total."
The store owner, leaning on a crutch, came over and introduced.
Lin Feng nodded. However, even forty points weren't cheap; after deducting for the goggles, he was left with fifty-two.
"Can it be cheaper? How about twenty percent off?"
The store owner's eyes nearly rolled back, it was previously a hundred points at a twenty percent discount, and now it's only forty and asking for a discount again...
A further discount would cut off his commission entirely.
"No way, these fibrous materials are brought back by the Pilgrimage Convoy from the city at a great distance. The profit is already low, and a further discount would break my bones."
Lin Feng stifled a laugh with two coughs and replied:
"Still need to buy other things, can you give me a discount together?"
The store manager squinted slightly, realizing something:
"You want to assemble an Exhaust Wind Combat Suit by yourself?"
Lin Feng nodded, without hiding:
"That's right, as long as it works. Can you give me the cheapest package, like assembling a computer?"
He touched the original combat suit, indicating a Level 6 white grade, which could be upgraded after using the Enhancer.
The store manager thought for a moment, walked into the store, rummaged through the cluttered warehouse at the back, and brought out a flexible photovoltaic panel about the size of two palms, and two small fans the size of fists.
Lin Feng immediately recognized these as auxiliary fans for cooling computer graphics cards, the motor performance should be fine.
After placing these items on the table, the store manager took out a portable welder and connected the photovoltaic panel wires to the two fans.
After finishing, he handed them over to the customer in front of him:
"It should still work, but the photovoltaic panel is somewhat aged, and the absorption conversion rate is not so efficient. Including this original combat suit, the total for you is sixty points."
"The expensive part is the photovoltaic panel, the flexible material is not cheap, just selling it alone costs twenty points, the small fans are basically a gift."
Lin Feng frowned slightly:
"Care to give me a discount together?"
The store manager tugged at the corner of his mouth and took a deep breath:
"At most, ten percent off."
Lin Feng calculated, even with ten percent off it would still be fifty-four points, his budget was only fifty-two, so he replied:
"It's a bit expensive, could you go a bit cheaper, I still need to buy other stuff, you'll definitely make a profit."
The store manager, leaning on a cane, walked to the counter:
"What else do you need to buy?"
Lin Feng pointed to the glasses under the glass cabinet:
"These, the resin ones."
The resin ones actually cost less than glass, and were made in Dawn Village, almost pure profit.
The store manager then agreed:
"Then fifty it is, that's the lowest price."
Lin Feng immediately smiled, spending only a total of sixty points to get all the materials needed for the Exhaust Wind Combat Suit, and also bought Ding Yi a new pair of two diopter glasses.
Meanwhile, Chen Shanshan and her team finalized their three-wheeler modification plan, and after some bargaining, spent one hundred and ninety points to purchase a shock-absorbing suspension and reinforced packages for the front and rear covers.
Chen Shanshan then left the address, asking the store manager to have people drag the three-wheeler to Mechanical Village for the modifications. As it was a small project, it was expected to be returned by the next day.
Having settled on the crucial transport modification, Chen Shanshan and Liu Mingfei began gathering the equipment they needed.
Liu Qian followed her brother to help with bargaining.
Lin Feng then took Ding Yi to look around, arriving at the Guild's second floor to check out the bounty orders.
During that time, Lin Feng took out the glasses and handed them over:
"Found a pair quite similar to your original ones, degree is just under two diopters, try them on."
Ding Yi was stunned, only when Lin Feng put the glasses in her hands did she hurriedly say:
"Aren't these expensive? How can you spend your points on something like this!"
Saying so, she pulled Lin Feng's hand, heading downstairs:
"Quickly, let's see if they can be returned."
Lin Feng stood his ground, shrugged:
"The owner has already cut and fitted them, no returns or exchanges."
"Just take them, consider it my thanks for taking care of me when my leg was injured."
With that, he reached to remove the broken glasses from her face and put on the new ones.
The broken glasses, as Lin Feng had thought, had their Durability reduced to zero, completely useless.
"How is it? Can you see clearly?"
Ding Yi lowered her head, blushing, wishing to find a hole to hide in, and nodded slightly like a mosquito hum.
Lin Feng smiled, it seemed assembling and customizing the Exhaust Wind Combat Suit was a done deal.
Considering Ding Yi's care for him earlier, a pair of glasses was nothing to mention.
After finishing this, Lin Feng checked the bulletin board, pinning bounty orders one by one.
Unfortunately, none had good rewards.
He wanted to find something related to an Evolution Agent.
Looked through board by board, finally at the innermost wall's bulletin board, found a related one:
"Bounty Mission: Eliminate the Desert Wolf Pack near Oasis Town; Deadline: Before next Holy Spring Day; Requirement: At least three complete corpses of Level 9 Desert Wolves, and a total no less than ten wolf carcasses"
"Reward: Calculated as per Desert Wolf market price into points, completing all requirements awards a Tier One Evolution Agent"
Lin Feng squinted, thoroughly engrossed.
From a dark corner came a familiar rough, low voice:
"What? Are you guys interested too?"
Lin Feng looked up.
With a fresh scab over a new wound on his face, bald Li Hu,
walked over with a sullen expression.