The construction of an outpost required tools.

And the amount needed was quite a lot.

For example, tongs and hammers for forging, axes for cutting trees and saws for breaking down wood, and small tools such as screwdrivers, screws, nails, and wrenches.

Without the tools, a lot of work was either difficult to carry out, or even if carried out, it was extremely inefficient.

For instance, the plastering scrapers used by players in the outpost to repair walls were all wood substitutes made by [WC_really_has_mosquitoes].

In fact, if they were in the first few years of the Wasteland Era, these tools could be easily found in hardware stores, department stores, repair shops and the like.

Thanks to the material technology developed before the war, the quality of these things was usually great.

However, two hundred years have passed. The easy-to-search places had long been visited many times. Resource-rich places such as department stores, supermarkets and repair shops were even the nests of survivors in the early years. It was impossible to have many things left.

However, nothing was absolute.

Just like how until today, 211 years later, scavengers could still find a little material from the wasteland, there would always be some good things left by careless people.

These items were usually sold by scavengers to nearby survivor settlements or placed on shelves as rubbish for the passing caravans to select.

Chu Guang's idea was simple.

He intended to take two players dressed as a caravan and go to the nearby Brown Farm to trade in exchange for the supplies needed by the outpost.

Before leaving, he changed into the casual clothes he picked up.

Chu Guang took Night Ten and Ample Time, starting from the south gate of the Wetland Park, avoiding 76th Street, and proceeding to the southeast along the tattered path.

The distance between the nursing home and Brown Farm was about the same as the distance between the nursing home and Bett Street. The straight-line distance on the map was about three kilometers. The difference was that one was in the south and the other was in the southeast.

As for why he chose Brown Farm, the reason was actually very simple.

Part of it was that no one knew him there, let alone knew about his background. Another was that the road to Brown Farm would be a little easier, and there would be relatively fewer ruins to travel through.

But even so, walking on the wasteland actually took far more than three kilometers.

A group of people stopped from time to time along the way, bypassing the impassable ruins. During this period, not only did they have to beware of mutants, but they also had to be careful of being targeted by malicious survivors.

Finally, before nine o'clock in the morning, the group arrived near the destination.

At the end of the dirt road, there was a spacious iron gate, and on both sides of the gate was a wall made of concrete stones.

The wall was not high, which was less than three meters. A row of aluminum alloy canopies and steel bars were inserted on the wall, seemingly reinforced using industrial waste.

The dense bullet holes on the wall and a gallow where a skeleton hung outside the walls both showed that the people here were not easy to deal with.

It could be seen from the road signs on the side of the highway that this place was once a rural farmhouse before the war.

There were indications that in the early days of the collapse of order, the survivors who escaped from the city occupied this area.

Unlike Bett Street.

The owner of Brown Farm, Mr. Brown, was a real landlord, and there were only a few free people here, unlike Bett Street.

People living here had only two identities, either as Mr. Brown's hatchet men or as slaves.

However, Chu Guang was not too worried that the other party would have malicious intentions. The forces that had two plots to plant rarely actively attacked outsiders. After all, those who wore shoes had to weigh whether it was worth bullying those who were barefoot.

Walking to a position about ten meters away from the iron gate and stopping, Chu Guang raised his right fist and signaled to the two players behind him to stop.

At the same time the group stopped, a black barrel of a gun protruded from between the aluminum alloy plates on the fence.

Showing the weapon meant that there was no hostility.

It seemed that this contact was quite successful, and Chu Guang heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.

The man standing on the wall shouted aggressively.

"Hey, hey, stop! Who are you? What are you doing here!"

"We don't have malicious intentions. We just want to exchange something with you." Chu Guang signaled to the players behind him not to be nervous, Chu Guang looked at the man in front of him without changing his expression and said.

"Exchange something?"

The man quickly glanced at the trolley behind the three of them, but he did not remove his index finger from the trigger, and he still stared at Chu Guang with suspicious eyes.

"I haven't seen you before. Where did you come from?"

Chu Guang used the excuses he had prepared in advance.

"From the wilderness, we migrated to this area recently."

The man questioned. "Nomads?"

Chu Guang shrugged and gave him an ambiguous answer.

"It depends on how you understand it."

Nomads were not uncommon in the wasteland, especially in the suburbs. It could even be said that they are relatively common.

These people usually did not enter the city, and mainly wandered in the wilderness between cities.

They didn't farm and they lived on grazing and hunting, chasing the footprints of mutants and herds, migrating from one area to another, and occasionally doing business like merchants, using the prey and garbage they collected to exchange for daily necessities.

Of course, they occasionally engaged in raids.

There were no good or bad people in the absolute sense on the wasteland. Under certain circumstances and conditions, anyone could become a marauder.

The man did not immediately trust the three people in front of the gate, but the guns in the hands of the three made him afraid to act rashly.

Especially not knowing how many people were in their "tribes".

"What do you have? And what do you want to exchange?"

"50 kilograms of dried meat, 20 kilograms of smoked fish, and 10 mutated hyena fur.. We need hardware tools and food grown in the ground. I promise that we will leave when the transaction is completed, and we will never stay here for another second. "

At last, the man finally believed that this group was here to make a deal. The man slowly withdrew the muzzle that was sticking out of the fence, and said in a warning tone.

"You, wait here, I'll go back and ask for instructions."

"Okay."

After speaking, Chu Guang stood quietly and waited.

The two players behind him were whispering.

"This survivor's stronghold is pretty cool... I'm talking about the architectural style here, which has that kind of post-apocalyptic taste."

"Indeed, it seems that there is a lot of content in this update."

"Is that a new NPC?"

"It should be, but I don't know what he is talking about."

"Yeah, me too, I only know that his expression looks pretty awkward..."

"I think so too."

No one liked to be pointed at by a gun.

Chu Guang didn't like it either.

But after all, he couldn't be resurrected, so he still had to restrain himself when he was outside.

Without waiting too long, the iron gate in front opened quickly.

A wooden trailer was pulled by a shackled slave out of the wall under the watch of two gunmen.

The trailer was stacked with sacks full of grain and tools stuffed in wooden boxes.

The man who had previously shouted to Chu Guang on the fence also walked out of the gate, staring at him with piercing eyes.

"Liu Zhengyue."

"Chu Guang."

The two shook hands briefly and quickly let go.

Looking at Chu Guang, Liu Zhengyue continued.

"I want to know what kind of meat your trolley is carrying."

"The dried meat is the meat of mutant hyenas, and the smoked fish are catfish and crucian. You can check it at will." Chu Guang said calmly.

He knew what this man was worried about.

Liu Zhengyue didn't waste any time talking. He stepped forward, reached out and lifted the plastic sheet on the trolley, and checked closely.

Especially those smoked meats, they were the focus of inspection.

He took a small knife from his waist, randomly picked a good-quality jerky, cut off a thumb-sized section, and threw it to the slave pulling the trailer.

"Eat."

The slave did not dare to resist, and hurriedly stuffed the dried meat into his mouth.

"It's the meat of a mutated hyena. It has no salt and is air-dried."

It was normal that there was no salty taste. After all, it was inland. Liu Zhengyue didn't say much, and waited quietly with his eyes closed slightly.

Almost ten minutes passed.

Seeing that the slave did not have any unusual reactions, his frowned eyebrows smoothed out slightly, and he turned his head to look at Chu Guang and said with his hands gesturing numbers.historical

"For 1 kilogram of dried meat and smoked fish, we'll exchange 2 kilograms of green wheat or 2 kilograms of shofar potatoes. For trading the fur for tools, one for each piece."

Shofar potatoes were a root crop. It tasted a bit like potatoes, and shaped like goat horns.

Because it was rich in carbohydrates and easy to store and grow, this thing, like green wheat, was the main food for survivors in this area.

When he was on Bett Street before, Chu Guang once saw survivors planting this thing at their doors, such as the Yu family's house opposite his house at Bett Street.

Chu Guang had also tried to plant it before, but he quickly gave up.

It was not that he couldn't grow it, but he had to go out to pick up waste every day. Because he had no one watching it, someone dug all his shofar potatoes before he could harvest them.

It might be a good idea to buy some shofar potatoes and plant them at the outpost.

"1 kilogram of meat can be exchanged for at least 5 kilograms of grain and half a kilogram of green wheat and shofar potatoes. In addition, these furs are all good furs, and one can at least change three tools," Chu Guang shook his head and said, "I've been to Bett Street, so don't assume that I don't know the market."

The reason why he gave this price was that he believed that the other party would further bargain the price with him.

However, what Chu Guang did not expect was that after listening to his offer, Liu Zhengyue did not bargain, but instead gave him a look of surprise.

‘Could it be that the price I asked is too high?'

Just as Chu Guang was thinking about whether to give in, the man in front of him finally recovered, looked at Chu Guang with a strange expression, and slowly nodded his head.

"...Deal."

‘Don't these people bargain when trading with other people?'

Chu Guang was taken aback for a moment, but his previous experience in sales made him immediately understand what was going on, and he suddenly cursed in his heart.

‘Fu**!'

‘That fu***ng town mayor!'

‘He even messes around with food prices!'

The two players next to him were dumbfounded. After all, they couldn't understand the language, so they couldn't understand the communication between the administrator and the "indigenous" in front of them.

But seeing that person nodded...

It seemed like the agreement had been made.

However, they didn't know why the administrator's face was sullen.

50 kilograms of dried meat and 20 kilograms of smoked fish were exchanged for 350 kilograms of green wheat and potatoes that were stuffed in more than a dozen sacks.

The remaining ten pieces of fur were replaced with thirty tools.

When Chu Guang chose tools, he chose those with better quality, preferably alloy products produced before the war.

They may be old antiques from two hundred years ago, in terms of quality, they were better than the imitations made of iron or pure steel by the aboriginal people on the wasteland.

Liu Zhengyue didn't say anything, and didn't care about Chu Guang's picking at all.

Obviously, there were still many more of these tools in the farm, and most likely, they were sold by scavengers picking up rubbish nearby or left over by the passing merchant.

After the grains were weighed, they were all loaded on the trolley.

Liu Zhengyue and Chu Guang shook hands again, the faces strained from distrust finally revealed a stiff smile.

"You're welcome to stop by again."

"I will."

"We still have some varieties of tobacco leaves here, do you need them?" Liu Zhengyue took out a handful of dried tobacco leaves from his pocket and showed them to Chu Guang, "It can relieve fatigue and add flavor when wrapped in food. It is very easy to use."

"Next time, we have nothing more to trade."

If possible, Chu Guang originally wanted to buy one or two slaves, but as he said, he had nothing left to trade.

So maybe next time?

"No, no, my friend, this bag is free, it is a gift for you."

Liu Zhengyue stuffed it into Chu Guang's hand with a smile. This time his smile was much more natural than before.

Hearing that it was a gift, Chu Guang stopped rejecting it and accepted it decisively.

Although he didn't smoke this thing, he should still be able to exchange it for one or two chips.

Keep it for himself?

No way, he would never do such a thing.

The trade was finally completed.

Chu Guang instructed Ample Time to drag the trolley on the road, shook hands with Liu Zhengyue for the final time, and then turned and followed with Night Ten.

On the way back, Chu Guang was in a very good mood.

This trade could be described as a bumper harvest.

The two players who came with him were equally in a good mood, and they were discussing excitedly at the moment.

"This is Brown Farm?"

Ample Time: "Mhm, I think so... If there is no accident, what we tested today should be a trading system and a new neutral force base! But it's just my guess. In the next update, we will probably get a trading mission or something like that. Remember what the unreliable game designer told us before playing? The economic system of Wasteland Online will be designed according to a completely real demand and supply system, and the exchange of materials with other survivors' gathering places is essential! I guess this part of the content will be released in the next update!"

Night Ten: "Awesome! I can't wait for the open beta after hearing what you said!"

Ample Time: "I think it is still too early for an open beta. This game company's ambitions are not small, and there is still a lot of content to be tested. However, I feel that there is no need to wait until the open beta. So far, the game content is already very rich!"

Night Ten: "But then again... Are you sure that Brother Light wouldn't be able to hear us saying that he is unreliable here?"

Ample Time gasped.

"Shit.. You're right... Brother Light, I was wrong, please forgive me!"

Chu Guang: "..."

‘Forget it.'

‘I'll just pretend that I didn't hear it.'

As a conscientious NPC, Chu Guang did not participate in the discussion between the two players. His eyes were naturally looking around, seeming to wander carelessly, but in fact, he was observing the shadows that might hide danger everywhere.

It was around ten o'clock in the morning, which was a relatively safe time.

But he still couldn't lower his guard.

In the wasteland, anything could happen.

"Did you hear that sound?" Night Ten, who was tugged by Ample Time, suddenly stopped, frowned and looked around.

"Sound?"

Ample Time was taken aback for a moment. Although he heard nothing, he still stopped.

Chu Guang frowned, glanced at his surroundings vigilantly, and unconsciously released the safety on the gun.

He heard the noises too...

It was the breathing of mutants!

Chu Guang raised his head abruptly and looked towards the vines on the building in front of them. He saw a monster with an abominable face crawling on the wall. The gray-black complexion almost blended with the wall. Its scarlet eyes had locked on everyone.

It had no legs. Instead, it had four slender and strong arms, with dry fingers like hooks, firmly fixing its body to the concrete structure wall.

The muscles in its chest were undulating gently as it chewed on a human leg bone at the corner of its bloody mouth. Its hissing breath exuded desire for flesh and blood.

Chu Guang's pupils suddenly shrank, almost reducing to a mere pinpoint.

It was a Creeper!