Ch 22: TGCIR

Shen Cheng was originally watching the plot with a smile, but when she saw the person with the ID card that read “Li Mo” say these words, she frowned slightly and began to dislike this character: “Cub, no wonder this guy is a red-blooded NPC instead of a neutral or friendly NPC. Listen to what he’s saying! Don’t learn from him, otherwise one day you’ll be all about self-interest, selfishness, and have no bottom line. Mom won’t like you then.”

A person who thinks that anything can be traded as long as the price is right will also betray their friends and relatives for sufficient benefits.

Instinctively, Shen Cheng felt a little disgusted with this person who always smiled on the screen and seemed quite affable.

In the scene, although Cub’s face was smiling, a dark cloud appeared above his head.

“Oh, Cub doesn’t like him either, just like me,” Shen Cheng said inexplicably happy about her and Cub’s similar values.

Li Mo originally was this kind of person, Li Weilan knew it a long time ago.

He guided Li Mo to say these words just because he suddenly wanted to learn more about the person who saved him.

If she was a good person, then he had to force himself to do better. If she was as dark as Li Mo, or even darker, then he could be more unscrupulous.

At first, the person didn’t react.

It was just that Li Mo, who was walking steadily in front of him, suddenly stumbled and almost fell!

“!!!”

The corner of Li Weilan’s lips hooked up.

Li Mo had no idea why he almost stumbled, and only when he saw the small stone under his foot did he realize it. Feeling embarrassed that he almost made a fool of himself in front of the distinguished guest, Li Mo kicked the small stone and awkwardly said to Li Weilan, “My office is just ahead, let’s talk inside.”

The two sat down.

Li Weilan’s intention was actually clear to Li Mo during their short exchange just now.

Noah Base, as mentioned by him, lacked food, especially low-pollution food. In fact, this is a common problem faced by many major bases in the apocalypse. The lower the pollution level of the food, the higher the level of plant-type ability user needed to produce it. Ordinary people who consume highly polluted food will experience various side effects, while ability users who consume it will increase the possibility of ability riots. The food sold in the black market of Tenglong Base is all exploited from the ordinary people.

“How much do you need?” Li Mo cut to the chase as they sat down.

Li Weilan smiled, “The more, the better. Let’s start with 5 tons.”

Li Mo’s pupils contracted.

He hesitated before naming a price, prepared for Li Weilan to haggle. “The purchase price… 20 credits per 1 kilogram?”

This is a rather expensive price, 50% higher than the market price. Li Mo quoted this price while being ready for Li Weilan to haggle, but unexpectedly, the latter just smiled and said, “Okay, but the pollution level must not exceed 10%.”

Li Mo nodded in a daze.

Li Weilan put down his black crystal card and calmly smiled, “Here’s a deposit of 100,000 credits. Just go and make the purchase. Contact me when you have at least 5 tons.”

Li Weilan and Li Mo concluded a big deal. Almost at the same time they confirmed the transaction details and price, the system task progress updated:

“[Black Market Series Hidden Mission 1 Triggered: Li Weilan wants you to store all the rice produced in your recent space. Currently stored: 0/4000 Remaining time: 30/30 days Note: If this mission fails, the series mission will fail, and the hidden mission will be permanently deleted.]”

“??? My son wants 4,000 portions of food? This… this…”

Shen Cheng’s mind went blank. After calculating with her fingers, the current cycle of rice is 24 hours/period, with 20 fields in total. Each field yields two portions per harvest, one for seed preservation and one for continuation. If she wants 4,000 portions, she would need at least 200 planting cycles, which is 200 days!

Her cub wants 4,000 portions within 30 days! He really is a handful. He never makes any demands, but when he does, it’s always an insane amount.

Well, even though she knows it’s a scam to get people to spend money on the garbage game, Shen Cheng thought about how obedient and sensible her cub usually is, and she also remembered that the NPCs she encountered at the black market location of this hidden quest were all markedred. She completely gave up her attitude of carefree questing, but at the same time, she didn’t want to disappoint her cub.

Thankfully, this task is quite long, with a full 30 days to complete, and there’s still some buffer time to spend some money if necessary.

Shen Cheng didn’t want to let her cub down, so she couldn’t help but bite her finger and look through the game store.

Suddenly, she saw it!

There was an item in the store that produces “acceleration” in the space, which costs 200 gold coins and lasts for 30 days, multiplying the growth rate by four. This meant that 200 days of growth could be condensed into just 50 days. The only problem was that she had to harvest the plants every six hours, which was manageable during the day but would be difficult at night.

But 50 days still wasn’t enough. She had to double the 20 plots of land to 40 in order to complete the task in 25 days. The number of plots had already been upgraded once, with the first upgrade costing 100 gold and the second upgrade costing 400 gold. The third upgrade would require a staggering 1600 gold. This game was really pushing players to spend money.

Just thinking about it, a normal daily task would fluctuate between 20-50 gold coins, and even if she just grinded daily tasks, it would take at least 7 days to save up for the second upgrade. Shen Cheng knew that she had fallen into the game’s trap – the game was basically telling her to spend money to complete the hidden quest, to manipulate her into feeling guilty for not spending money on her cub. What could she do? It was her child’s hidden quest after all, and even if it meant crying in her heart, she had to buy buy buy for him!

This task was irreversible, and Shen Cheng was sure that if she failed it, Zaizai would be very sad.

She checked her balance, and she had only received 20G from the daily task “check status” today. After completing the interactive tasks, she was only 160 gold away from purchasing the “acceleration” item. That was roughly 160 RMB. Although it was more expensive than the monetary conversion of other games, her cub was worth it! But her wallet was really getting empty, so she had to think of ways to make money.

Shen Cheng was lost in thought for a moment: “Interaction, interaction. Actually, from this task, it’s very clear what the cub wants to do now – store a large amount of food, fill up the granary, and then… I don’t know what bad things he wants to do with it.”

Since she knew the cub’s intentions and also planned to help him fulfill his wish, this interactive task would be easy to complete – that is, to convey her assurance to the cub and let him be at ease.

Shen Cheng thought for a moment, took out a small handful of grain from the warehouse, took it out of the space, and placed it in the cub’s hand.

Li Weilan suddenly felt something being stuffed into his hand.

It was a bit rough and calloused.

He brought his hand to his eyes and saw that it was a yellowish grain. With just one glance, he knew that it was the unthreshed grain produced in his own space.

As Li Weilan looked at the almost magically appearing grain, the corners of his mouth curved higher and higher. Even his eyes seemed to be rippling with gentle waves of joy.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Since it was rice from his own space, it was obvious who gave it to him.

He also clearly understood the person’s intention, which was to tell him that he didn’t have to worry, no matter how much rice he wanted, it was all there for him.

Li Weilan suddenly smiled. Xi Nan, who was sitting in front of him in the meeting, was startled by his sudden laughter while looking at the rice in his hand. He stared blankly at the rice, lost in thought for a moment, before cautiously asking, “Brother Li, Brother Li? Are you okay?”

As Li Weilan’s eyes were as gentle as the spring breeze, and the pleasure he felt was indeed from the deepest part of his heart, there was no trace of pretense. Xi Nan couldn’t help but glance left and right at the handful of rice in Li Weilan’s hand, almost suspecting that his eyesight was failing and he couldn’t see the peculiarities of this small amount of rice.

He looked at it carefully for a while and suddenly realized something. He exclaimed in a low voice, “Brother Li, is this rice pollution-free?

From its shape, size, grain, and color, I can’t be wrong! Or did my eyes deceive me? How is this possible?”

After the apocalypse, due to the dual stimulation of viruses and meteorite radiation, rice had mutated greatly. There were all kinds of colorful and odd-shaped rice, and there were also large grains the size of small fingers, but they were tasteless and lacked nutrition. However, Xi Nan was sure that he had not mistaken it. The rice that Brother Li had just held in his hand was the kind that existed before the apocalypse, as normal and common as it could be.

In this era, this ordinary thing is actually more extraordinary!

Xi Nan said excitedly, “Brother Li, with this rice, why do we still need to ask Tenglong to buy it? They are offering such a high price, they are clearly taking advantage of us! Brother, I originally thought you were worried that our food supply would not be able to keep up with the new recruits we’ll have later on, but now that you’re wasting money like this, even if the big boss doesn’t care, I can’t help but feel sorry!”

Li Weilan stood up, gazing solemnly outside the window of the small building, at the streets covered in a gloomy haze and a sense of despair. Looking at this base, where people came and went but lacked vitality, he couldn’t help but smile faintly. He didn’t answer Xi Nan, but instead asked him a question, “Why do you think that in Tenglong, even though ordinary people are living almost impossible lives, the leaders of the base can still continue to thrive?”

His gaze became sharp as he continued to ask Xi Nan, “Even after you and your sister were humiliated and coerced by those people, why did you only think of fleeing as refugees instead of rising up in rebellion?”

Xi Nan lowered his head.

He pondered for a moment before answering softly, “Because at least here, we have a bowl of rice to eat.”

“Yes,” Li Weilan nodded, “Money can influence people’s hearts. The black market has been able to exist for so long, it’s naturally because the leaders of the base allow it and even support it behind the scenes. Do you think that for them, it’s more important to make money for themselves or to distribute benefits to others?”

Xi Nan suddenly understood, “Brother Li, are you suggesting that…”

Li Weilan nodded, “Our base needs more people, but we can’t just recruit anyone we want. I have to act as a gatekeeper for the boss.”

If that person has a good heart, he would help her eliminate all the unstable factors and ensure that those things that can only exist in the mud will never reach her.