novelhk Chapter 455 Xiao 5 goes home 5
Chapter 455 Xiao 5 goes home 5
Hearing Aunt Li's question, Sirong and Muchen looked at each other.
This time it was Muchen who spoke, his voice deliberately taking on the smoothness of a newcomer, a little awkward.
It was completely different from the silence just now: “We are new here, to be honest, we lack everything.
Aunt Li, what can you exchange for this? Please tell us so we can pick out the most important things first." He lowered his posture, but looked at Aunt Li calmly.
The enthusiastic smile on Aunt Li's face seemed to be smoothed a little by Muchen's answer, making it seem less exaggerated.
She waved her hand, making a "you're welcome" gesture, but the sharpness in her eyes remained unchanged.
She did not answer immediately, but reached out and slowly began to look through the radiators and the bundle of synthetic cables that Sirong and Muchen had picked up.
Her fingers were greasy, but her movements were precise, as if she was weighing the quality, or searching for something else.
"Tsk," she gently fiddled with the heat sink twice, turned it over, and scratched the edge with her rough nails, "You guys..."
She shook her head, looking over at them, her tone blunt and almost cruel, "It's of poor quality, has a lot of impurities, and is an old model. It won't be worth anything."
She pointed at the bundle of cables that Mu Chen took out and said, "This is worth a few cents."
Then, she gestured to the side of the counter with her chin. "Here, take a look for yourself. The prices are clearly marked." She didn't take her eyes off them, as if observing their reaction to the form.
On the rusty metal surface of the counter, a so-called "item exchange standard" was pasted crookedly with faded paint. The writing on it was blurred, but basically recognizable:
[Low-quality metal plate (<5kg): 1 tube of expired nutrient solution or 0.1 Star Coin/kg]
[Synthesize Cable (Complete): 1 Tube of Expired Nutrient Solution or 0.5 Star Coin]
[Refined metal components/rare parts: negotiable]
Below are the few "exchangeable items": a few pictures of crude compressed biscuits, with a ridiculously high amount of scrap metal marked next to them.
Several nutrient solution tubes of suspicious colors were clearly labeled "Expired," with a single line of small print at the bottom: Basic medicines, exchange requires double the supplies or negotiable price.
"Your little bit," Aunt Li's voice drew their attention back. She pointed to the pile of things on the table and accurately quoted the price.
"Total, it can only be exchanged for two tubes of expired nutrient solution, or... one star coin."
Sirong seemed to have anticipated the price. There was no expression on her face. She just nodded slightly and her eyes quickly swept over Muchen.
His tone carried a hint of the newbie's frustration, a deliberate imitation of a "newbie admitting defeat": "Oh? That's all you can get in return? I guess we'll have to work harder tomorrow."
She leaned slightly aside to make room, "Then please trouble Aunt Li to give us two tubes of nutrient solution."
Choosing the necessities of survival and giving up the light star coins seems to be a choice that is more in line with their identity as "forced-landed refugees."
Muchen immediately cooperated and moved closer to the counter, his attitude showing curiosity and a bit of "newbie" discomfort, as if he wanted to familiarize himself with the rules of the transaction as quickly as possible.
He began pointing at the various items cluttered behind the counter, asking one by one, "Aunt Li, what does that...that metal button-like thing do? How much does it cost in exchange?"
"Where's that rusty gear set? It looks pretty heavy."
"Hey, what kind of tool handle is this? There's a big piece missing..."
His tone was lively and his questions seemed very "amateurish", like a peddler strolling around the market for the first time.
Aunt Li didn't care about the random pointing and questioning, as all newcomers were like that.
After asking about three or four insignificant pieces of junk, Muchen's finger inadvertently pointed to the inconspicuous gray metal box deep in the counter.
"Aunt Li, what about this? What's this black thing? How many star coins does it cost?"
He asked casually, as if it was no different from asking about the previous item.
“This…
It's a smart brain core, and it costs 20 star coins."
"20 star coins?!" Mu Chen was really shocked this time.
In disbelief, "That's it?! It's so expensive?!"
"Yeah," she deliberately dragged out her voice, with a sense of superiority that said, "You don't understand at all."
"Well... this is a fairly new model, and a high-end product. It's like a pearl being lost in the dust when it lands in this garbage dump where neither chickens nor birds lay eggs. So..."
She shrugged and said firmly, "20 star coins is a very fair price."
"Is that so? Okay, when we have money we'll buy it back and see how high-end it is."
Aunt Li heard Muchen's words and smiled professionally: "Then do your best!"
"Thank you, Aunt Li. By the way, Aunt Li, I want to ask you, what is the most popular item here?
We can pay attention to it when we pick up things later, right?"
"Hey! This shabby paradise buried in our garbage dump,"
Aunt Li's voice was filled with exaggerated self-deprecation, as if she were discussing a place that had nothing to do with her. "What kind of truly 'hot commodity' could there be?"
She picked up a greasy rag and absentmindedly wiped the metal shavings off the counter.
"It's nothing more than an intelligent computer chip, a better circuit board, and usable energy crystals and so on," she said slowly, with a hint of instructing a newcomer.
"These things are rare, so they can be sold for a good price if they're disassembled. The rest are just scraps of metal..." She snorted, "scrap. If they can keep me fed, I'm lucky."
Then, Fengjie stopped moving.
She rested her hand holding the rag on the counter, and leaned her body a little bit towards Muchen very naturally, as if to avoid possible eavesdropping from others.
Her voice lowered even more, with the furtiveness of an underground transaction, and every word was wrapped in greasy temptation:
"But..." She winked at Muchen, a shrewd glint flashing in her cloudy eyes, "If you have a 'connection'..."
She emphasized these two words, "Food is the hardest 'goods'! As long as it can be stuffed into your mouth, can fill you up, and won't kill you on the spot..."
Her lips moved silently. "In this damn place, that's more valuable than gold!"
Her gaze drifted from Muchen's face to Sirong's, as if she was assessing whether they had the potential. "...and there are also medicines, painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs. Even if there's only half a tube left, there are people who risk their lives to grab it."
This is her logic as a businesswoman. Unlike pure scavengers like Aunt Wang, she and Lao Li have taken root here and have seen too many "exiles" who have settled here for a short time.