Jing Shu wasn't sure if Lord Long was the same kind of person as Qian Duoduo, but tonight she had already heard his name several times. She had only heard the name and hadn't seen the man himself, which was a little disappointing. She knew the one called Lord Long was somewhere in this bustling trading hall, but in the sea of people, he wasn't like Jack Ma, a man who stood out instantly with a recognizable silhouette.
"Alright, I hope I get to meet this Lord Long next time," she said after adding Tang Tuoguan's contact information.
"You will be interested in Lord Long. No one isn't," Tang Tuoguan replied, his voice as level as a horizon line.
Jing Shu forced a smile and muttered quietly, "It's not like money. Even money isn't liked by everyone. Even coins have their copper stink, after all."
The trading event was coming to an end. The bright lights of the hall dimmed slightly, and the staff began the final inspection and tagging of items with traceability codes. When you are spending millions, every detail has to be precise.
After tallying all the taxes and fees, Jing Shu's trading card surprisingly had nearly a million left over. That meant after selling all her items and buying an even larger mountain of supplies, she still had this much trading currency in her possession.
Trading currency only worked inside the eighth-floor trading hall. Outside, it couldn't be used, and converting it into virtual currency carried high fees that ate away at the value. Jing Shu didn't plan on converting it anyway. Wu City still owed her plenty of credits, and honestly, it's better not to have too much money sitting in her official account right now.
A person might hide how many supplies they have because big data and surveillance can't see through reinforced warehouse walls clearly. But money? That was easy to check with a single keystroke.
The fifth-year famine of the apocalypse was about to hit. Everyone suffering together is the hard truth of survival.
"So, what is this money for?" There's almost a million on this card.
Tang Tuoguan looked at her oddly as he took it, his fingers closing over the gold-edged card.
"So?"
"You are Tang Tuoguan, right? So, can you hold this for me?"
He nodded almost immediately, his expression unchanging. "I will take a ten percent cut of the profits."
"No problem. Oh, and if you see anything good, grab it for me." Jing Shu still couldn't forget the high-quality organic items in the imperial capital. In Wu City, only Qian Duoduo had the means to get so many organic vegetables and fruits, except for her own space cheat.
Jing Shu turned and patted Tank on the shoulder. "Every three months, he will help transport some stuff for me. Just hand it over to him if there's anything worth sending back."
She was lucky to have adopted the geese back then. At least she now had a reliable transport route in the imperial capital. Otherwise, the thought of transporting heavy goods across this fragmented, apocalyptic world was terrifying.
But this was almost the fifth year. Food at the bottom was tightening, and the upper levels would probably have to tighten their belts too.
Tang Tuoguan hesitated, then finally asked, "What about the blood mushrooms?"
After all, if someone could produce ten at once, there had to be more than ten in their inventory.
"You will get news when the time comes. Don't rush." She would leave all of that to Qian Duoduo. He had plenty of debts and lice. These things that attracted attention were all his problem to manage.
She couldn't stop thinking about the pets she had bought. She wanted to put the bamboo rats in her space immediately to accelerate their growth, just so she could taste their freshness sooner. She also needed to put some of the feed bugs in her space to grow and mature them, aiming to produce a large amount of freeze-dried bug feed before the migration began.
In short, she had tons to do and couldn't spend all her time lingering here.
So she said a quick goodbye to Tang Tuoguan and left the rest to him, curious to see if his custodianship could really reach the level he promised.
She had bought so much that the purchase came with a full set of freeze-drying equipment. Now that she could afford it, electricity wasn't a problem at her villa. Still, there's no way she and Tank could transport all of those heavy crates themselves.
Luckily, the thoughtful eighth-floor trading hall transported everything back to the airfield for her.
When she arrived, she had used all the Wu City medicine she brought. Otherwise, with her piles of daily necessities, rolls of toilet paper, food, and heavy equipment, transport would have been impossible. She had gotten a huge bargain on shipping.
It had been lively on the way in, with over thirty pharmacists discussing formulas.
The way back was much quieter. Wang Danai and a large team of Wu City pharmacists were busy in the factories set up in the imperial capital. Day and night, they worked on medicine, which affected countless lives across China. There wasn't no room for mistakes.
Jing Shu understood and respected their work, even spending company funds to get Tank some high-quality food for them as extra meals.
No matter what, her mission in the imperial capital was complete. The haul was so rich she almost couldn't bear to leave. Seeing almost all her goods loaded onto the plane gave her an extraordinary sense of security.
Her black-gloved hand wriggling lightly. The leeches felt silky, shiny, warm, and comfortable against her skin.
Wanzi however, bared its teeth and hid behind Xiao Dou, wary of her hand. The creature could sense the predatory nature of the leeches.
Xiao Dou meanwhile, glared at the little creature at Jing Shu's feet. It puffed its plump chest, wings akimbo like a tigress protecting her territory. Then it realized the pose wasn't elegant, so it shifted its weight.
It swayed its plump chicken butt, smoothed its golden feathers, struck a seductive pose, and extended its long, beautiful chicken legs, blinking to tease Jing Shu.
Jing Shu: "..."
It's just a duck. Really?
Though Tank insisted it was a goose, to her it was tiny, palm-sized, and had all the traits of a duck. Fine, she would say it was a goose disguised as a duck. Maybe, like the ugly duckling, it could become a swan.
This little thing was Tank's big surprise. It truly was a surprise.
If she was right, it had evolved to survive the apocalypse, a Darklife. Tank hadn't dared run a full assessment. Once you do that, you know what could happen with the authorities.
For now, Jing Shu knew enough about it and named it Xiao Guagua. Tank had only slipped Xiao Guagua onto the plane after some persuasion, appealing to her emotions and logic to get her to accept this precious creature.