Night fell.

Since the boss had not finished the negotiation, the caravan camped in the open space outside the south gate of the outpost.

Attracted by the aroma coming out of the north gate of the outpost, the two caravan guards slipped out of the camp during the meal time, wanting to exchange chips for some food.

However, what the two of them didn’t expect was that when they swaggeringly took out the chips and slapped them on the table, what they got was not the flattery of these hillbillies.

Instead… They were met with looks of disdain.

They were stunned.

Were they mistaken?

"God damn it, why do they have this kind of plastic chip again?"

With his back to the customer, Zhang Hai cursed, raised his flour-stained fist and knocked on the price board next to him, speaking in the non-standard language of the Federation of People. "Chip, ten."

Ten chips?!

The eyes of the two caravan guards widened in shock. For a time they suspected that they had heard it wrong.

Their daily salary was only ten chips when they were on field duties.

For 5 chips, they could get a good meal in Boulder Town, and it would be even cheaper in the surrounding survivor settlements; usually, they could eat their fill with just 3 chips.

Ten chips for a bowl of noodles was simply unheard of!

"Ten chips?! Are you crazy?"

"What the hell, are you trying to scam us?"

"Do you think we are from other places so you can charge us however you like?"

However, Zhang Hai, who was standing in front of the booth, was indifferent to the complaints and protests of the two, and his expression did not change at all.

All the players know that two white plastic chips can only be exchanged for one silver coin at the moment, so is it unreasonable to sell a bowl of ramen which is priced at five silver coins for ten chips?

Not at all!

It was already generous enough that I didn’t charge them an exchange fee, okay?

Of course, it was mainly because Zhang Hai couldn’t understand what the two were talking about.

Otherwise, he would definitely scold them. After all, when it comes to swearing, he wasn’t scared of anyone!

Watching from the side with interest, players discussed among themselves curiously.

"What are these NPCs saying?"

"I guess they are cursing Boss Zhang for being too scammy."

"Hahaha, it serves him right! Well done, NPCs, you tell him! I’ve wanted to scold him for a long time!"

"Wait, let me note down what they’re swearing at first."

"Why do you want to remember how they’re scolding him?"

"Of course to use it in battles. Otherwise, if all you know is to shout ‘fuck you’, not only will your enemy probably not understand it, but they may even feel that you’re illiterate. So it’s better to learn the language of the NPCs. In that way, it will be more intimidating when you shout." ȑ𝙖ŊȫBĚS̈

"Damn! Good brother, you have to teach me after you learn it!"

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

On other people’s territory, the two guards didn’t dare to cause trouble.

Not to mention that so many eyes were watching them.

So in the end, the two only scolded a little before walking to other stalls.

However, what made them fall apart was that the same situation happened at other booths as well; the prices of goods here were simply ridiculously expensive. It was not until they finally found a person who could communicate with them that they found the reason for this.

"If you want to pay with chips, it’s twice the price." Autumn Weed took out a silver coin and waved it in front of the two of them. "Those blue coats trade with this kind of coin."

Autumn Leaves, who was squatting next to her elder sister, also nodded vigorously. "That’s right! This is their currency!"

The two caravan guards looked at each other with a confused look.

What coin is this?

It was the first time they had heard this kind of thing after having been to many places.

"I’ll give you two chips, can you sell me this silver coin?" the bearded caravan guard asked tentatively.

Autumn Weed shook her head and declined politely. "We don’t need chips."

Autumn Leaves nodded vigorously. "Mhm. You should find Xiaoyu to exchange it."

"..."

There’s actually a place where the chips are not circulated in Clearspring City? What a rarity!

And who is Xiaoyu?

Not far away, Zhang Hai, who was cooking, raised his head and glanced over. He just happened to see the two NPCs walking out of the market.

Seeing this, he couldn’t help deriding, "Which countryside do these NPCs come from? Why are they so poor?"

They couldn’t even afford a bowl of ramen.

In fact, he wouldn’t have been that angry if they simply didn’t buy anything from him, but they actually had the audacity to complain loudly for a long time; it even made him mistakenly think that there was a hidden mission.

Holding a bowl and drinking the noodle soup, Escaping Mole glanced at him and said. "It’s a shame that you didn’t get into this game earlier. During the Continental Vessel expansion, when the people from Enterprise first came here, the paper money they gave could get you 100 silver coins."

Zhang Hai clicked his tongue. "100 silver coins? It doesn’t feel like much."

Elf Wang rolled his eyes. "Are you dumb, we’re talking about the silver coins from several versions ago. How can you compare it with the silver coins now? Back then, we could only make 10 silver coins a day at most!"

Construction Boy couldn’t help but grumble, "Sigh, I miss the time when a bowl of mushroom soup was only 5 copper coins."

Escaping Mole rolled his eyes at him. "Quit your bullshit. Back then, the bullets were so expensive that you’d feel bad for half a day if you miss a shot. Are you sure you want to go back to the old version?"

Construction Boy scratched his head. "Uh, now that you mentioned it, I much prefer the current version."

From that perspective, the new version was much more fun.

After all, it was really fun to charge forward while shooting the light machine gun.

On the other side, the two caravan guards who slipped out of the camp, left the market, and went straight back to the camp.

Originally, the two of them planned to go in quietly without anyone noticing, but it just so happened that their captain was standing at the gate.

The expressions of the two instantly changed, but sadly their captain had already noticed them and they could no longer sneak back into the camp secretly, so they could only bite the bullet and walk over.

Staring at the two with that terrifying electronic eye, Han Long said with a blank expression. "Where did you go?"

The young guard was very nervous, not knowing what to say for a long time, but the older guard responded quickly and said quickly, "Captain, we went out to get some information!"

Han Long looked at the two of them. "What information?"

"Prices. We went to find out the prices of local goods!" The slightly older guard continued quickly, "The level of consumption here is ridiculously high, and they actually want ten chips for a bowl of noodles!"

Another guard reacted and quickly answered. "That’s right, and they don’t use chips here, they trade in something called silver coins. It takes two chips to exchange a silver coin, it’s just too expensive!"

Two chips for one silver coin?

Han Long frowned slightly. This

is interesting information, and I can tell the boss later. But……

That was a separate matter entirely.

Staring at the two of them blankly, Han Long said slowly, "According to the rules of the caravan, if you leave the camp without authorization at night, you will be fined a week’s salary, and the second time, you will be expelled from the caravan without pay."

"If I find you violating rules next time, you should know what will happen."

Being stared at by the electronic eye, the two of them shivered involuntarily, lowered their heads quickly, and said nervously. "Yes……"

"It won’t happen again."

In Boulder Town, it was not easy to find a decent job. Ordinary caravans would not randomly recruit a few people of unknown origin into the group, and they would not risk being played by competitors to recruit those who were expelled by other merchants.

Those who were expelled from the caravan and did not have a skill, usually had only two paths left.

Either go into the factory to make screws until one day they couldn’t work anymore and die in a dark alley, or become a mercenary, do whatever the employers ask them to do, and trade their life for chips.

The threat to fire them without pay was actually very useful!

The two walked towards the camp with their heads down.

Han Long didn’t look at the two, but continued to look in the direction of the south gate.

It’s been over two hours, but his boss still hasn’t come back yet.

His brows furrowed slightly, and just as he was thinking about finding someone to inquire about his boss’s situation, his electronic eyes suddenly moved slightly and locked on the north side.

Soon, a familiar figure appeared in his eyes.

Looking at his boss who came back from the north, Han Long finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Boss, you’re finally back. I was going to ask someone to find you."

"Don’t be so nervous, I have a good relationship with the people here."

With a beaming expression on his face, Liszt looked at his right-hand man and continued, "Get Qian Duo and Qian Lai. I’ll wait for them in the tent. I have something important to explain to them."[1]

Although Han Long was curious about what it was, since his boss didn’t take the initiative to say it, he didn’t ask any more questions, and nodded. "Yes."

...

1. Qian Duo = Money many, Qian Lai = Money come UWU ☜