"You always joke around, but..."
Old Bird's expression turned serious. "What are these little monsters poking their heads out for? They don't look like ordinary zombies!"
"You can tell?"
"Of course. When we encountered them earlier, they were like scouts. Unfortunately, I was a little too heavy-handed and accidentally killed them."
Old Bird apologized for the incident.
Fu Yunting said, "Stay for a couple of days. Let me see your combat prowess too."
"You should have said so earlier! If you had, I would have brought a team over to show you the power of pure flesh!"
An Nuan suspected he was hinting at something, but had no proof.
Everyone carried their things to a corner of the yard.
Insects weren't suitable for indoors, they only came to grab some when CoCo ate.
Old Bird took out two bamboo cages from his pocket.
"I happened to run into them when I was leaving, so I caught them for you to play with. City kids have never seen these, right? Crickets, and these ones have evolved golden horns. They're quite rare in the mountains now!"
Fu Yunting wasn't interested in such things.
But he knew that good crickets could fetch a sky-high price back in his grandfather's time.
He wondered how much they were worth now.
As he thought about it, Er Gouzi suddenly popped out with a huff.
Er Gouzi: [Master, do you want to sell them together? One hundred million for a single one, two for two hundred and twenty million!]
"So expensive?"
Old Bird was amused. "Although money isn't that useful, I didn't expect these two things to be so valuable."
"Don't listen to its nonsense!"
Fu Yunting grabbed Er Gouzi. "You'd better think carefully about the price before you speak!"
Oh dear, he couldn't be fooled!
Having a well-informed master was a disadvantage.
He needed to tell the systems to find a poor kid next time, someone easier to fool!
Er Gouzi: [Hmm... 1.2 million at most. Two for 2.5 million then, this is a friendly price.]
"Two million. Not a penny less."
[Don't do that!]
Fu Yunting squeezed the small bamboo basket, which was already deformed.
Er Gouzi, afraid of harming the crickets inside, anxiously circled in mid-air.
[Two million it is, but you have to take both, a total of four million!]
"Here."
Fu Yunting tossed the crickets to it, and Er Gouzi swallowed them whole.
Many people in the multi-dimensional world enjoyed playing with crickets, let alone these two that had grown golden horns. In many worlds, they were treasures that were priceless.
This time, even the host was urging it to complete the transaction quickly. Four million was a guaranteed profit!
Er Gouzi grinned foolishly.
Fu Yunting said, "Go to Hai Changfeng in a bit. He'll give you a list of items. Get the four million exchanged before you leave."
Er Gouzi pouted and floated towards Hai Changfeng.
Master was so stingy, couldn't even wait for the money to warm up before spitting it out!
That was obvious.
He earned interest on money deposited in banks, but he hadn't received a single cent of interest on the several terabytes he had with Er Gouzi.
Why wouldn't he convert it? Keep it for appreciation?
An Nuan and the others took their slippers, first invited them in for a chat, and then took them to tour the community.
The community was now ridiculously large; it took quite some time to travel within it even by electric scooter.
An Nuan had arranged public bicycles within the community, three points for a monthly pass, and five points for an electric scooter monthly pass.
Staff on duty that day did not need points and could use public facilities freely.
Old Bird rode a bicycle, winking at the girls along the way.
"Hey, beautiful! Want to come to our hot spring resort for a vacation? The scenery there is amazing, and we have wild game to eat. Want some?"
The girls smiled and splashed water in his face.
Song Yan criticized, "That's going too far! Water resources are precious. So many people outside can't get a drink, and you're wasting it!"
"Captain, we were wrong."
"Don't be angry, I'll give you my chicken wings tonight!"
"What's so good about your chicken wings? My candied chestnuts are delicious! Captain, come to my place for candied chestnuts!"
Lü Tian draped his arm over Song Yan's shoulder and smiled at the circle of beauties, "Who's treating to food? Is there a portion for me?"
"Hehe, yes, there's a portion for Deputy Captain for every portion of Captain Song!"
Old Bird cozily moved closer. "You like chestnuts? I have quite a few too. I'll bring them over next time!"
The girls smiled again.
This time, they didn't splash him with water but threw a handful of dirt in his face before running off.
Old Bird spat out the dirt from his mouth. "Little girls, the women in your community have quite a temper! They start hitting after only a few words!"
Little girls? Was she talking about me? An Nuan blinked.
She smiled. "A strange old man suddenly appeared. Throwing a handful of dirt at you is the least they could do! Let me introduce you to our backbone members."
An Nuan introduced all the key members.
Those at the base, tower, and seaside simply exchanged brief greetings via video. It was almost time for dinner.
There were many people at home today, and An Nuan was too lazy to cook in the villa, so she arranged for them to eat in the cafeteria.
They early removed the wall between the two private rooms, creating enough space for three large round tables.
Most of the community's backbone members had also arrived, along with some people who had finished their work and came to join the fun. The second floor was packed, and the kitchen department continuously served them dishes.
Fish Roe Tofu, Fish-Flavored Eggplant, Steamed Fish, Stir-fried Kidney Flowers, Braised Pork Belly with Taro Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Spicy Chicken with Sauce, Minced Pork with Steamed Egg, Truffled Mushrooms, Cantonese Crispy Quail, Peking Duck, and a Seaweed and Egg Flower Soup, garnished with celery, refreshing and palate-cleansing.
Old Bird's mouth watered uncontrollably, and his two companions weren't much better.
Lao Wai's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the basin, larger than his head, filled with minced pork and steamed egg.
Lao Wai wiped his drool with his sleeve.
"Good heavens, when we came, we heard some gossip saying your community was rich, but I didn't expect it to be true!"
"The mushrooms are understandable, Little Ting must have sent them to you, but where did the celery come from? It's not this fresh when taken out of the freezer!"
"Look at this quail leg!"
Lao Wai unceremoniously tore off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, crunching on the bones.
One word: delicious!
Another word: crispy!
Dipped in chili salt, it was pure heaven!
Guo Yun gnawed on the sweet and sour pork ribs, nodding continuously. "It doesn't taste like frozen goods. What technology does your community have to keep the meat so fresh!"
They all knew that more than a year into the apocalypse, resources would become increasingly scarce.
Frozen goods could still be found.
After all, past grain reserves and production were based on billions of people and foreign aid.
Now that the population had halved, if the remaining resources were allocated reasonably, they would be enough for survivors for many years.
But that was only for items that could be stored; things that couldn't be stored for long were another matter.