Trading Floor

In Future City, every day large numbers of new survivors poured in, not only from Star City, but also from surrounding cities.

In the early days of the apocalypse, many survivors from small and medium cities would spontaneously gather towards big cities, still hoping that the national power may still exist in big cities.

But after arriving at Star City, their hopes were completely shattered. Future City became their only refuge.

Because it was in the early stages of the city's establishment, management was not yet perfect. Everyone in Future City was busy staking their ground and grabbing resources, unable to spare many to handle management.

Now as Xiao Jun walked on the streets, it was messy everywhere, and many people wore tattered clothes, wandering in groups on the boulevards, not knowing what they wanted to do. Surviving one more day was all they could manage.

Those with money would go to Future City to buy residential rights to a room, while those without money would directly find a corner to sleep in.

The bolder ones directly pried open the doors of any empty rooms to live in. Anyway, Future City currently had no capacity to manage things.

The only difference was that Future City would protect you if you bought a residential right to the room.

These past few days, many had pried open the doors of people who had purchased residential rights, but ultimately they were all beaten to death by Future City’s law enforcement teams.

After two to three days, the number of bold looters diminished significantly. At the very least, they would be much more cautious before prying open a door now. Future City had achieved its deterrent effect.

After not walking far, Xiao Jun arrived at Future City’s Trading Hall. It was bustling with all kinds of people here.

At the entrance of the hall stood at least ten guards wielding steel knives, glaring at the coming and going crowds. If anyone dared make trouble here, they would take action immediately.

The Trading Hall was probably a talent market from before the apocalypse. The space inside was very big, but still not enough to accommodate the huge crowds.

The variety of goods for sale was also extensive. Not only were there things from supply drops, but also pre-apocalypse items. Xiao Jun even saw someone selling women’s underwear.

That was also a business. Did they raid a lingerie store?

Moreover, quite a few people went in to take a look. In that short time, Xiao Jun saw several transactions take place.

He could understand if women were buying a couple pairs, but what were those middle-aged men buying them for? With just that little bit of fabric, what difference would it make if they wore it or not?

After walking some more distance inside, there were too many random items and Xiao Jun did not see what he was looking for.

He shook his head, preparing to leave, when a female service attendant suddenly walked over.

The Trading Hall also had Future City’s service staff. Moreover, the people selling goods here also had to pay fees, otherwise why would Future City protect their safety?

“Sir, our Trading Hall also has a second floor, would you like to go up and take a look?”

From the moment Xiao Jun entered, this service attendant had her eyes on him.

His attire was neat, his fingers had black lines – signs of having spatial equipment. He must be a big shot. Therefore, when she saw Xiao Jun shake his head, she immediately walked over.

The trading market in Future City was also stratified by levels.

The sellers on the first floor only needed to pay a small fee. Future City did not care what you sold.

The second floor was different. Half of it was Future City’s own industries, while the other half were rented out at high prices.

To be allowed to sell goods on the second floor, you not only needed money, but also needed to have your goods inspected. Not all kinds of goods could be brought up to the second floor.

After understanding, Xiao Jun became interested as well. Under the attendant lady's lead, he headed upstairs.

At the stairway entrance, similarly stood two rows of guards wielding steel knives. Seeing Xiao Jun's party of two approach, the leader already stretched out his hand.

"Sir, because the goods on the second floor are all relatively valuable, you need to pay a deposit, or show proof of property ownership in Future City."

The attendant lady whispered into Xiao Jun's ear.

"How much is the deposit?"

Xiao Jun casually asked.

"10 first-order variant crystals."

It was expensive but not overly so. Thus, Xiao Jun very readily took out his territory certificate.

"Esteemed Leader, please head upstairs."

After carefully checking that it was authentic, the guard returned the certificate to Xiao Jun, his expression becoming more respectful.

Future City really had capable people! Look how on point their service was.

The attendant lady's face burst into an even more brilliant smile. She didn't expect he would actually be a Leader with territories. Perhaps today she could earn a huge sum. If this Leader took a liking to her...

Xiao Jun curled his lips. Although this was the apocalypse without phones or computers, other than engaging in some male-female business to entertain oneself, there didn't seem to be anything else to do. But this woman, Xiao Jun still looked down on.

Up on the second floor, it was indeed much cleaner than the first floor, without that messy chaos. The storefronts were partitioned off one-by-one.

"Leader, this way please. Here is a full listing of all merchandise on the second floor for you to look over first."

The service on the second floor was attentive. He could sit alone on the sofa and browse a catalogue. Not like the first floor where you had to fight through the crowds.

Xiao Jun lit a cigarette as he flipped open the listing. Many people looked over in envy.

Pre-apocalypse goods like salt, food and such were now all priced very low. Only two things had prices that kept rising instead of falling.

One was cigarettes, the other alcohol.

Xiao Jun himself was also a smoker. He had stockpiled fifty cartons of cigarettes in his personal space. Later, he had specially instructed Jiang Yue that if she saw cigarettes and alcohol she must take them.

So presently, Xiao Jun could smoke without any worries.

He had flipped to the weapons section in the merchandise listing. On this second floor, there were 10 high-tech steel knives and even more daggers – 17 of them.

"What are the prices of the knives and daggers?"

The attendant lady happened to walk over with a cup of hot tea.

"High-tech steel knives are around 100 variant crystals each. Daggers are half the price at 50 variant crystals."

The longer the weapon, the stronger its power. Fighting zombies with a knife was definitely better than with a dagger. With a dagger, you constantly had to be careful of zombies brushing against you.

"I want them all. Help me get the goods. I'll pay everything altogether later."

Xiao Jun casually spoke this one line, but in the attendant lady's ears, it was the sweetest sound she had ever heard.

The people she brought upstairs had a 0.4% commission rate. With this one transaction, she had earned 7 first-order variant crystals.

Many people killing zombies outside earned less than this amount even after three, four days, while also facing high risks.

The attendant lady excitedly went to prepare the goods while Xiao Jun continued looking down the list.

Unfortunately there was no combat gear, otherwise Xiao Jun would have liked to buy a couple sets for the important members of his team. Without it last time, Wan Qianya would have certainly died.

The last page of the listing had a bunch of random unsorted stuff. Xiao Jun even saw several diesel generators there.

These things were only useful in the beginning periods. After some time they would become scrap metal.

Star City did not have any oil fields and could not produce crude oil.

In his previous life after the apocalypse descended, the price of the tiny remaining oil reserves skyrocketed, only to be completely used up in a mere three months.

Xiao Jun would not buy that kind of useless thing.