Cave Refuge

Ye Liuyun was far more influential than Dong Tianyu had imagined. Though Dong Tianyu was a reborn man supported by the System, he still viewed the world through the lens of his past experience, even as he began his cultivation.

Before his rebirth, Dong Tianyu was just an ordinary survivor, ignorant of many things. To the higher-status survivors, meat and fresh vegetables were rare but not unheard of like they had been for Dong Tianyu.

Despite experiencing the Cold Catastrophe and the flood, some things had been preserved. Perhaps the Officials retained them to maintain biological diversity, or for other reasons, but common livestock such as chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, and sheep were indeed being raised by the Officials. While the quantities were small, they ensured these species didn't become extinct in this era of disaster.

After fulfilling their duty of propagation, corpses of these livestock were invariably put to use. As long as one had a certain status, one would receive a small share.

As the quantity was small and tightly controlled, those who obtained the meat might trade it off due to various reasons instead of eating it themselves.

That was the main source of food for Ye Liuyun's Mutual Aid Centre. Of course, the quantities were always low, weight at each trade perhaps measured not in pounds, but in ounces.

In addition to this primary source, some people managed to procure some meat through various methods like private farming, but the quantity was too small to make a difference.

Vegetables, on the other hand, were much simpler to come by. It was ingrained in the people of Daxia to always want to plant something, whenever and wherever possible.

(The author's own home had three flowerpots, where they grew some chili peppers on the indoor balcony.)

There was also a highly unreliable source: the looters. The Cold Catastrophe had just recently ended, and while large Cold Storages might have been confiscated by the Officials, smaller ones were often overlooked.

Even though Pengcheng had lost power, if the Cold Storage was not opened and kept out water, any meat or vegetables retrieved from it would still be edible, albeit of questionable quality.

Assuming that the goods Dong Tianyu had came from these two unofficial sources, Ye Liuyun was pleased but not surprised.

From the look on Ye Liuyun's face, Dong Tianyu got the wrong impression that these items, while valuable, were not scarce.

However, Dong Tianyu overlooked why Mrs. Thompson dared to go into the office building to propose marriage, armed only with two hams.

The value of food might not be as high as Dong Tianyu imagined, but it was not substantially lower, either.

"What are the prices for cabbage and meat-egg right now?"

Hearing Dong Tianyu's blunt question, Ye Liuyun felt somewhat helpless. He had been talking about mutual aid, not focusing on trade, yet Dong Tianyu still asked him such a question.

Despite his annoyance, Ye Liuyun didn't have much of a choice. This was not like the old times, where consumers were kings who could return purchases without reason within seven days.

Now, however, sellers were kings. If you didn't want something, someone else surely would. As long as you had something to sell, you wouldn't lack customers.

Looking at Dong Tianyu who still didn't change his attitude, Ye Liuyun simply replied: "Fresh vegetables and meat-eggs are not lacking buyers. As long as you want to sell, you can buy just about anything in Pengcheng at the moment."

Hearing Ye Liuyun's words, Dong Tianyu was suddenly interested, and made a gesture: "Do you have these?"

Seeing Dong Tianyu's gesture, Ye Liuyun replied very simply: "Small ones, big ones, single-shot, semi-automatic, fully automatic, air-powered, gunpowder-based, we basically have them all."

Actually, if Daxia did not ban firearms, the value of firearms would not be very high – they would be just ordinary industrial products.

But even in firearm-prohibiting Daxia, not to mention the more skilled craftsmen, ordinary people could buy various parts online and assemble at home.

Some skilled craftsmen even replicated various firearms with paper, hence proving the saying, "they provide the technology, you provide the money, through a factory, and thus create a strong and prosperous future."

The source of the firearms in the Ye Liuyun Mutual Aid Centre was complicated. Some were from private sellers (they claimed), some were taken out of gun clubs, and of course, many came from places you'd understand. After all, at this point, a lot of people want to eat something good.

Although Dong Tianyu was somewhat expectant, his expression didn't change much.

Observing Dong Tianyu's expression, Ye Liuyun thought Dong Tianyu was not very interested in what he said, so he pondered for a moment, bit the bullet and said to Dong Tianyu: "Brother, how much stuff do you have? Can you tell me? If there is a lot, I also have some big stuff."

Seeing Ye Liuyun like this, Dong Tianyu became even more curious about the "big stuff" Ye Liuyun mentioned.

"I have about ten thousand brined eggs and a few hundred processed chickens. I also have over three hundred cabbages."

Hearing Dong Tianyu's words, Ye Liuyun was deeply shocked. As for the cabbages, though they were valuable, they were not a rare sight in the Mutual Aid Centre. It was just that Dong Tianyu had a large amount of them.

But it was not these cabbages that shocked Ye Liuyun. Rather, it was the ten thousand eggs and a few hundred processed chickens.

If this had been the past, these things might not be considered much. Even a small farm could hoard these items, let alone a large one.

But now, the total output of the whole Pengcheng might not be as much as the stock held by Dong Tianyu.

"Brother, you're not teasing me, are you? Do you really have ten thousand eggs and a few hundred processed chickens?"

Hearing Ye Liuyun's trembling voice and his incredulous expression, Dong Tianyu realised that Ye Liuyun might have misunderstood.

"It really is about ten thousand eggs and a few hundred processed chickens. But I think you might have misunderstood. The eggs are very small, about seventy or eighty per pound.

Processed chickens don't even weigh an ounce each, they're a bit smaller than the common quail and quail eggs that you see in the market."

Hearing Dong Tianyu's explanation, Ye Liuyun immediately calculated in his heart. Ten thousand small eggs sound like a lot, but it's actually just over a hundred pounds, about fifty kilograms.

And a few hundred small chickens, even if counted as three hundred, it is only about ten kilograms.

After making this calculation, Ye Liuyun was finally relieved. If Dong Tianyu hadn't clarified the weight of the eggs and chickens, Ye Liuyun would have absolutely refused to do this business.

But after Dong Tianyu's explanation, Ye Liuyun felt that he could handle this business.