The trading center looked much more like a high-end hotel restaurant than a market hall. The space was cavernous, with soft, ambient lighting that reflected off the polished wooden floorboards, and the air held a faint, pleasant scent of old wood polish.
A raised platform occupied the center of the hall, acting as a stage for the proceedings. Around it, the seats were arranged like scattered dining booths, each one furnished with a plush leather sofa for four people and a sturdy dining table.
Of course, that was not the real point. The reason Jing Shu said it looked like a restaurant was because the tables were actually loaded with food, the scents of yeast and savory grease hanging in the air.
She smelled it from far away and already knew this place was in a whole different league from the black market.
Classy.
Really classy.
Jing Shu's eyes were clouded with confusion, and the supervisor seemed to notice. After he led her to a booth close to the central platform, he smiled and said, "All this food is free. It's a courtesy of the Trading Hall."
Tank scratched the back of his head, his face falling with instant regret. "Damn, if I knew, I would have brought my sister. What a loss."
Jing Shu coughed, the dry sound echoing in the quiet hall. She glanced at Tank's hungry, hopeful eyes and lowered her voice. "Supervisor Wang, is the food limited or unlimited?"
"If it were unlimited, this would have turned into a buffet already. But don't worry, Xiao Zhang will take extra care of you later." Fatty Wang gave her a knowing look, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He wiped his hands on a clean cloth and got ready to leave. "It will start soon, but there might be a lot of people today. Someone might get arranged to sit here later since we are short on space."
The food selection was impressive, laid out on white ceramic plates. Each dish was divided into four equal portions. There was even a small carafe of red wine, the dark liquid shimmering under the lights. The snacks included delicate buttered bread that smelled of real cream, cherry tomatoes split into four servings, peanuts, sunflower seeds, dried banana slices, a cup of ginger brown sugar tea for each person, and a tiny meat patty.
The trading hall really went all in. Just this table of food was worth several hundred virtual coins per person.
The smell came from the meat patty. It was pan-fried to a golden crisp, sizzling slightly on the plate. Jing Shu ruled out beef steak immediately; there was no marbling and no familiar grain to the fibers. With her top-tier foodie instincts, she realized she had never tasted anything like this before. It had to be synthetic, maybe one of the new foods that appeared after the apocalypse.
She couldn't help remembering the synthetic meat formula ZS880 she had brought from the States. She had given it to Qian Duoduo for research, but they were stuck on cost issues. Mass production was the real problem they faced.
"Did the capital solve it already? But my synthetic meat formula is mainly protein. Wu You'ai's mentor suggested using cockroaches since they are high in protein. It's workable, but we are waiting for the Biotech R and D Company in the capital to cultivate a bacterial cluster that can feed massive amounts of cockroaches."
Jing Shu tossed her portion of snacks, fruit, and bread to Tank. He fumbled with the wrappers, packing them away carefully so he could bring them to his sister. She took a bite of the meat patty while still thinking about cockroaches, her brow furrowing as she chewed.
After Tank packed everything up, he stared at Jing Shu and asked, "What does it taste like? Is it good?"
"It's a bit fishy. They only added salt, nothing else. I don't know what meat it is. Look, there are strands of meat, but there's starch mixed in. It's soft, kind of like dumpling filling."
She knew right away this patty didn't use the synthetic meat she had brought from the States. This actually had real meat inside, likely ground from something small and plentiful. There was no way it could be mass-produced for the general public.
Tank was beyond envious, his eyes fixed on the empty plate. "If my sister could eat a meat patty like this every day, that would be great."
Jing Shu quietly thought that if synthetic meat ever became mass-producible, she shouldn't tell the public what the raw ingredients were. Sometimes, being blissfully ignorant was its own kind of happiness. If it tasted good, then that was enough to satisfy a hungry stomach.
The trading session finally began.
The host was actually Supervisor Wang. When he walked onto the stage, he even shot Jing Shu a wink. It's the unmistakable look of someone acknowledging a major patron who was about to drop serious wealth.
"Hello everyone, welcome to the eighth floor trading hall. I'm your host today. Surprised? Alright, I will skip the nonsense. Everyone, please open your big data screen. We are updating the on-site data."
The hall filled up quickly. Another mother and son, along with a dull-looking young man, were assigned to their booth. They settled onto the leather sofa, the material creaking under their weight.
The young man wore thick glasses and looked dull, his eyes fixed on the table. He expressionlessly opened his phone. Jing Shu and Tank followed Supervisor Wang's instructions, tapping their screens. They were honestly curious about how the upgraded trading system worked in a place this high-end.
The woman wore a silk qipao and had her hair pinned up in an intricate bun. She carried an old-fashioned elegance and paired it with a white mink coat that looked strikingly clean. She swayed her hips as she walked, dragging her eight-year-old son over by the hand.
"Oh dear, they are serving pan-fried meat patties today. Qiqi, try some. Qiqi, that's someone else's serving, you can't just grab whatever you want."
The young man didn't say a word, his face a mask of indifference.
The brat rushed over, his sticky fingers grabbing a patty from the young man's plate, and stuffed it into his mouth. Grease smeared across the boy's chin.
"You brat, I told you it's not yours. Why don't you ever listen? I'm sorry. Kids will be kids, you know?"
The young man didn't respond. The atmosphere turned awkward, the silence stretching between them. The woman was already familiar with the system and quickly opened her big data screen, the blue light reflecting off her mink fur.
Jing Shu immediately understood what Supervisor Wang meant about updating data. The big screen on the central platform lit up with a 3D simulation of the hall, glowing blue lines forming the layout. It even showed everyone's seating positions and the items up for transaction as floating, translucent icons.
She now understood all the tedious steps required before entering the eighth floor. This simplified everything and kept things organized.
It felt like a game. In the simulation, she could see the demand list and sale items from table A04, belonging to Miss Jing, Mr. Zhao, and Miss Luo.
It's a long list with ideal prices attached, all formatted clearly. Very convenient.
Supervisor Wang raised his voice, his words echoing through the cavernous hall. "Alright, same rules as always. Please enjoy the food while you vote for today's demand list and the most anticipated sale list. We will officially begin in three minutes."