Cave Refuge

This is what "price without market" means; the current situation isn't much different. Some items, despite their high market prices, find no takers willing to spend the money.

On the other hand, food prices, though much lower in comparison, will inevitably be swept off the market as soon as they appear, instantly bought up by people.

Due to the unique nature of Leo King's profession, at this time, he has many items of high market value that are extremely difficult to sell.

Of course, difficulty in selling only pertains to this period, for someone as well-informed as Leo King would surely know that the current food shortage within the base is only temporary. After all, the Imperial Court has established so many directly controlled bases at once, most of which adopt militarized management for farming and food production.

So, just by enduring this period, although it won't be possible to return to the pre-Natural Disaster level of carefree consumption in the short run, it should at least ensure that all survivors have enough food and clothing. By then, the items in Leo King's possession would naturally fetch a high price.

Still, although the clear-eyed recognize that these unsellable items will undoubtedly become very valuable in the future, if they don't sell them off at low prices now, they might not even survive long enough to see the day when those items appreciate in value.

It's like the fable where a farmer offers a rabbit the choice between a bag of carrots and a bag of carrot seeds. In children's tales, the rabbit that chooses the carrots, having eaten them all, eventually dies of starvation due to lack of food.

On the other hand, the rabbit that chooses the carrot seeds plants them and grows many, many carrots, living a very happy life after harvesting.

But such fables are really only for telling children. If adults in the real world were to make the choice, the vast majority would opt for carrots over carrot seeds.

After all, if we look at the reality, although those who choose the seeds, after planting them, won't suffer from a lack of food as long as they survive till harvest time,

The ones who choose the carrots, after eating their pick, would still be in a very healthy state, whereas those who chose the carrot seeds, lacking food, would likely be weakened by hunger.

When the strong lack food, and the weak hold an abundance of it, the outcome is naturally self-evident.

In the fairy tale, the surviving rabbit is the one who chose the seeds. In real life, it's the person who chose the carrots who survives, because after eating their carrots, they will surely take action against those who chose the seeds. Therefore, when the carrot seeds are ripe for harvesting, the ones who will be reaping the carrots are indeed the survivors who initially chose the carrots.

It's like a question posed on a Q&A website: Rabbit's Home Zoo is a major food importing country, while the smaller zoos around Rabbit's Home are food exporters. If all countries are banned from importing and exporting food to and from the zoos, would the animals in Rabbit's Home Zoo starve to death in large numbers?

The answer to that question is, if all zoos ban the import and export of food, it's hard to say whether animals in Rabbit's Home Zoo would die of starvation en masse or not, but the zoos around Rabbit's Home dare not close their eyes when sleeping at night, for fear that the starving rabbits would resort to violence and forcibly take over their zoos.

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Although Leo King doesn't have much cash on hand, he has acquired quite a few 'accidentally' valuable items. Unlike Leo King, Thomas Jefferson has a good amount of 'solid goods'.

Even though these 'solid goods' aren't scarce commodities like food, once they hit the market, they're bound to be bought up as rapidly as food by other people.

Mr. Thompson frowned at the paste-like substance in the wooden box that Thomas Jefferson took out from his Storage space and pushed in front of him, not knowing exactly what it was.

Just as Thomas Jefferson was about to introduce the substance, Zachary reached into the wooden box, pinched a bit of the paste-like substance, and twisted it a few times in a somewhat disappointed manner, shaking his head.

Seeing Zachary's method of verification, Thomas Jefferson knew that he had encountered someone knowledgeable, so he didn't care too much about Zachary's expression. Instead, he took out another item from the Storage space.

However, compared to the exquisitely packaged item from last time, the packaging of these items was very casual, looking like they were hastily wrapped in some scrap paper found who-knows-where.

When Thomas Jefferson pushed the new item over, Zachary continued to use the same method to check it. In contrast to the previous casual twist, he then threw back the substance on his fingertip back into the wooden box.

Even though Zachary pinched some of the explosive from the simple packaging and rubbed it between his fingers, as he quickened his movements, he suddenly squeezed with his hand and 'pop', a spark flashed at the tips of his fingers.

Seeing that Zachary could produce such an effect with merely two fingers, Thomas Jefferson's demeanor instantly became serious. Through Zachary's action, he confirmed that Zachary must be someone within the industry.

Upon witnessing Zachary's actions, Mr. Thompson roughly guessed what Thomas Jefferson had brought and confirmed that the item in the exquisite wooden box was likely a defective or inferior product, while the latter item seemed to be the genuine article.

Fortunately, Zachary was very familiar with such things and knew how to verify their quality. Otherwise, if Mr. Thompson had to decide, no matter the quality, he would not consider buying explosives, as no sane person would buy explosives just for the sake of it.

Just as Mr. Thompson was considering how to gracefully decline the trade, Zachary asked directly: "How do you price this stuff?"

Upon hearing Zachary ask for the price, Thomas Jefferson was momentarily delighted. He was about to quote a one-to-one exchange rate, one kilogram for one liter, when he instantly recalled Zachary's proficient verification technique and immediately said: "Five to one, five kilograms of C4 of the same purity to exchange for one bottle of the same quality as the liquor you had yesterday."

The bottle he referred to from yesterday was the common 500 ml plastic bottle seen before the Natural Disaster, so he proposed a five-to-one exchange.

After hearing the offer, Zachary fell into silence, calculating whether he would still have use for the explosives in the future.

The upper and lower limits of explosive power vary hugely, mainly depending on the amount of explosive used during detonation. Using more will result in greater power, while using less will weaken the effect.

For Zachary, if the trade could not provide a large amount of explosives, then it would be of little interest to him. After all, if there weren't many explosives, the detonation wouldn't be powerful enough, making it an almost negligible acquisition for him.

Watching Zachary fall silent upon hearing his offer, Thomas Jefferson was immediately restless. Although he maintained a calm expression on his face, he regretted inside whether his pricing was much too high for Zachary's expectations.

In fact, if Zachary had tried to negotiate the price, he wouldn't have overthought it, but Zachary's silence made him feel uneasy.