Chapter 254.1: You Look Like A Man Who Can Make A Fortune

Queen of the Night was not the only bar in Boulder Town.

While Rob was dreaming of dominating the nightlife of Boulder Town, the Pirate's Bay Tavern from the next street was also cheering for the goodies from the northern suburbs.

"Psychoid drinks?! Damn, where did you get all those goodies during the winter?" The man sitting in front of the bar counter looked at the bottles and jars on the shelves with an envious and yearning face.

His name was Ante, the leader of Red Rocket Mercenaries. He had about 40 to 50 people under his command, and including himself, he had 6 ability users.

If he was outside Boulder Town, he would have more than enough influence and power to become a tycoon like the old leech, not to mention a local despot.

Unfortunately, he could only be the head of a local mercenary group in Boulder Town.

There were way too many people like him, and no one would deliberately memorize the name of a mercenary group or how many people they had.

Because it was pointless. After all, they might switch their line of work, or even not be around the next day.

The bartender standing behind the bar counter did not seem to have heard his question. He only responded in a leisurely tone while casually polishing a glass. "200 chips."

Ante's eyes widened in shock, and he yelled in disbelief, "200 chips?! For that 200ml bottle? Are you out of your mind?!"

The bartender glanced at him, the expression on his face unwavering. "These are the premium goods that haven't been diluted. It takes at least a kilogram of psychoid leaves to extract 200ml of essence. I believe that you won't be stupid enough to gulp it down in one go."

The concentrated psychoid was relatively safe to consume as long as it was less than 20ml. Many mercenaries would just mix it with their wine, or dilute it with water.

Generally, 20ml of concentrated psychoid drinks mixed with 200ml of purified water could produce a bottle of psychoid drinks with the best effect, which would provide 2 hours of fearlessness for the user.

Those 2 hours were very crucial.

After all, most battles would end within half an hour, and 2 hours in one’s best state could help them tremendously.

He didn't expect the tavern to have undiluted premium psychoid drink like that.

There was a look of surprise on Ante's face.

If it was a chip per milliliter, the price was actually acceptable. It was especially so during winter, when it was difficult to get a lot of psychoid leaves.

"Give me 5 bottles then!" Said Ante, pretending to accept the price reluctantly.

The bartender turned around skillfully, took 5 bottles from the shelf, and placed them on the table. "That will be 1,000 chips."

Ante slammed a bag of chips on the table in a huff. "It's all here... Damn it, I didn't even get to keep the money long enough before it went into your pocket. You'd better get me some good jobs later!"

"The winter is already over. Do you still need to worry about not having jobs?" The bartender smiled slightly, opening the bag to check the chips inside before placing it in the drawer under the counter.

After pondering for a while, he continued. "Red River Town is currently preparing for war. The price they offered isn’t bad from what I’ve heard. It's 300 red tickets and blue tickets for a 6 month contract. Whether it's men or women, as long as you can ship them to the south, you'll be able to make money. You can even send them to me if you can’t find a distribution channel. Are you interested?"

"Are there any closer jobs?" After receiving the psychoid drinks on the table, Ante lit a cigarette for himself. "6 months is just too long. I need something short-term for the beginning of the year."

The Enterprise’s caravan would be arriving in 2 or 3 weeks soonest, or 2 months if they were late.

Ante planned to try his luck in the Among Clouds Province this year.

It wasn’t just to earn money, but to also get himself and his brothers in the mercenary group some bionic prosthetics, as well as some reliable equipment.

He had heard that there was a fierce battle going on with the mutant humans in the Among Clouds Province. If he could stay there for a year or two, he might be able to retire early and return to his hometown with glory.

No one would be a mercenary for a lifetime. Not even ability users.

Looking at the man in front of the bar counter, the bartender said thoughtfully, "Then you can only wait for the Tide."

Ante raised his eyebrows. "There will be one this year?"

"I’m not exactly sure, but the probability is high," the bartender shrugged, and continued, "After enduring for the whole winter, not only do the animals have to forage, but those rotten creatures also need something to chew on. Moreover, it snowed so heavily last month. It would only surprise me if nothing happened during the spring."

Tide

.

Ante licked the corner of his mouth, a look of excitement flashing in his eyes. It would be a great opportunity for him!

Every time the "Tide" broke out, the big shots in Boulder Town would throw in a lot of chips to mobilize those mercenaries to the front line.

Veteran mercenaries like them would not die as easily as the other cannon fodders in the fight with the mutants.

Moreover, they would be able to take the opportunity and make a fortune!

It was much easier than making money off the caravans. After all, the risk of dying in the battle with mutants on the battlefield was far less than getting sniped in a fight with marauders.

"Give me 10 more bottles!" Ante was preparing for a big fight.

If the Tide really broke out this year, then the price of scarce supplies like that would definitely soar. He couldn't go wrong to stock up on it while it was on sale.

A smile appeared on the bartender's face, as he calmly accepted the chips Ante handed over. He then placed 10 more bottles of psychoid drinks on the table. "I've always been a good judge of character. You look precisely like someone who can make a fortune!"

...

[Mission:

Opening the market

]

[Description:

The products of Teng Teng's Hut are getting popular in the inner city of Boulder Town. In order to enrich the life of the wastelanders, we need to develop inexpensive products that are more affordable for ordinary civilians. This will both bring in foreign exchange and reduce our industrial costs...

]

[Reward: ...]

[Issuer:

Xia Yan

]

In the chemical plant of the new industrial zone.

Numerous players discovered this mission from the mission panel.

Although the mission description was long-winded, it was actually very easy to understand.

[Remarks:

Shelter 404 requires more polyamide to make more stockings in a variety of colors and transparencies, so hurry up and go to produce them.

]

However, the players’ focus was not on the content of the mission, nor the generous rewards being offered, but on the issuer of the mission.

This name...

Is this really not a bug?

"Goddamn! Boss Xia is into this kind of thing!" Discovering the unusual detail in the mission panel at a glance, the player standing next to the production line shouted out in surprise as if he had discovered an easter egg in the game.

But soon someone noticed that the matter seemed to be much more complicated.

"Wait, why does the tone of the mission description sound like the administrator’s?"

"Agreed, Xia Yan has never spoken so much nonsense when issuing missions."

"HOLY SHIT! Why does it feel even more exciting?!"

"Who cares? Let’s hurry up, brothers! Let’s go!"

"Ok, Ok!"

"Ohhhhh, black stockings shall conquer the wasteland!!"

"Genuine question. Are you all planning to wear it on your head?"

The raw materials for producing polyamide could be found in the NPC's warehouse. Even if the players could not find it there, they could just place an order with the warehouse keeper, or directly ask on the forum for help.

The number of players who had filled in the application was increasing, and there were even more people watching the fun. Occasionally, there would be a few very capable players.

Although the manufacturing conditions were backward and the production methods were quite outdated, the group of players with chemical backgrounds was still working feverishly. They each aired their own views and attempted to explore production methods that were more suitable for the wasteland.

Even though the workforce for the chemical industry had been severely saturated in reality, these players were still highly wanted talents within the game. They were all big shots in the eyes of other players and wastelanders.

Both Lifestyle Profession players and Combat Profession players could not deny the fact.

Cooking and fishing? Everyone could do it.

However... Research and production was different.

In fact, it was not just the mission received by the chemical plant, the legendary achievements of wealth accomplished by the Bull and Horse Squad, as well as the Teng Teng’s Hut had also sparked the enthusiasm of every player who had read the strategy posts, including cloud gamers.

Endless creative ideas emerged one after another on the forum, and were carried out within the game by another group of players with great hands-on ability.

Mosquito was one of them.

That crazy fuck couldn’t stay idle, even for a minute.

Especially after his Anti-Crackleclaw Crab grenade got mocked on the forum, he decided to learn from the pain and invent something useful.

He wasn’t bragging, but he really made something useful.

It was a detachable steel plate specially made for the KV-1 exoskeleton, which could perfectly defend against bullets fired at the chest.

Among various bulletproof materials, steel plates were always the most cost-effective choice. The only disadvantage was its heavy weight, and the ricocheted bullet shrapnels may injure the soldiers' jaws and wrists.

However, this was not a problem at all for exoskeleton users. With a proper design, most of the heavy load could be distributed to the frame of the exoskeleton, and the issue of shrapnel ricocheting could also be resolved by implementing a protective collar.

This type of heavy individual armor may not have much significance in the 21st-century wars, but it did have great uses in the wasteland dominated by street combat.

Especially when dealing with marauders, no one could predict which direction the attack would come from, let alone what equipment the opponent had.

Many mercenaries would weld steel plates on their KV-1, but typically, there were no standards, and were based entirely on their own experience.

Perhaps these sorts of standardized detachable parts would sell really well?