Chapter 44: Merchant
"I should have thought of it long ago!"
"Linghu's most abundant resource is not just the fish in the lake but the rich nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium on the shoreline! We were almost there!” Gale blabbed excitedly while walking towards the lake with Mosquito.
The two stopped at a shallow spot near the lake.
There was lush vegetation in the area that could be used as cover easily. It was an excellent spot for fetching water for both humans and animals.
As Gale was about to point, Mosquito stepped forward before him and squatted down in front of a relatively flat rock.
He stretched out his index finger and wiped it lightly on the surface, leaned closer to smell it, and tried to lick it.
Gale almost puked and asked quickly, "How is it?"
Spitting on the ground, Mosquito's face was half happy and half sad.
"Bah, these are the fresh ones..."
"..."
Though he may have accidentally tasted fresh bird droppings, one thing was certain, there was a lot of struvite in the area.
The main component of the ore was Mg(NH4)[PO4]·6H2O, with a rhombohedral crystal structure. Just from the chemical composition of the ore alone, it was not difficult to see how versatile the compound was.
Moreover, when a certain amount of struvite would form, the ammonia component in it would gradually be oxidized to nitric acid under the action of nitrifying bacteria, and finally accumulate under the soil in the form of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, etc, forming the so-called nitrate soil.
This kind of nitrate, which was used as an associated mineral, only needed to be boiled through simple methods, such as being mixed with plant ash that had not filtered potash water, before separating out the calcium and magnesium ions in it. Saltpeter with a small amount of impurities could be obtained.
To put it simply, if one found bird droppings, one basically had saltpeter. And having saltpeter was basically equivalent to having gunpowder!
Actually, it wasn’t just bird droppings. There were a large number of mutant excrement on the shoreline. Those excrements gradually weathered and deposited and compacted over time and finally formed a Guano deposit.
As for why there were so many of them by the lake, it was actually very easy to understand.
In the past, during the early years of the Wasteland Era, the planet experienced a period of severe frost for nearly half a century.
During that period, Linghu Wetland Park was the most water-rich area in this area, and there used to be a large number of wild animals and domestic animals that fled the pasture to live in the region.
They probably left those feces back then.
It was not until the end of the severe frost that the uninhabited urban area formed a more luxuriant ecosystem, gradually deserting the river.
"With this nitrate soil, it's not a big problem to obtain black powder!" Standing up from the ground, Mosquito looked at Gale and said excitedly, "Come, help me to get some more of this!"
"There is nitrate and charcoal, but I remember there is sulfur in the formula to make black powder. Where are you going to find sulfur?" Gale asked suspiciously.
If he remembered correctly, things like sulfur usually appear near volcanic craters or hot springs. There wasn’t any of that around them!
Mosquito was left dumbfounded for a moment. Obviously, he hadn't had time to consider the issue.
Eventually, he muttered, "Uh, if there is no sulfur, sulfate can also work, but the process is a little more troublesome… But it should be easy to find, right?"
Gale glanced around, shrugging helplessly.
"Anyway, let’s look for it first."
...
Unfortunately, there was no sulfur in the forest, and nothing that looked like sulfur was seen by the lake.
Of course, that was normal. How could something like that exist in the region?
Fortunately, just when the two were about to give up, they found some gypsum mines beside a small river that extended outwards.
That was made up of calcium sulfate and it could produce calcium sulfide and carbon dioxide when burned with carbon at high temperatures. It was exactly the sulfate mineral they were looking for!
"Why did I forget this?!" Mosquito smacked his own head in annoyance, "I saw Old White burn cement two days ago, it seems they mixed this kind of plaster powder in during the process! Isn’t this calcium sulfate?"
Gale said with a wry smile, "We are too careless."
"In short, we managed to get good results anyway." he picked up some gypsum ore and put it in a plastic bucket. Mosquito washed his hands and stood up before looking at Gale.
Gale nodded and followed him.
The two returned to the shelter together and were about to enter the nursing home, only to find that there was a commotion.
The players who were working on the construction site had come down from the scaffolding, and they were carrying weapons in their hands, surrounding a bull with two heads.
A strange man stood beside the two-headed bull.
He was wearing a leather jacket and had a flattering smile. He made strange gestures and murmured incomprehensible things.
Mosquito was curious and stopped.
"Who is that person? New NPC?"
He hadn't heard that there would be an update today.
"I don't know, let me ask..." Gale was an activist. He put down the plastic bucket in his hand, strode towards Tomato Eggs, who was standing in front of the dried meat rack, and asked him curiously, "What happened there? Who is that person?"
Tomato Eggs stood cross-armed, shook his head, and replied, "I don’t know the specifics. I heard other people say that our guys came across that person on their way back and he followed them back without saying anything.”
Gale walked closer and heard the comments from the players.
"Why does this bull have two heads?"
"Domestic mutants?"
"This man has followed us all the way! I bet he is definitely up to no good, maybe it's a Marauder's spy!"
"Not necessarily, what if it is an NPC?"
"It doesn't make sense. If he’s an NPC, it wouldn't even be impossible to communicate, right?"
"Could it be that the condition didn't trigger?"
"Why don't we lock him up first and wait until the Administrator comes back?"
Feeling the increasingly hostile looks he was getting and with the crowd surrounding him, Sun Shiqi felt a lot of pressure.
Even if he had a revolver hidden under his leather jacket and already removed the safety catch, he only had 6 bullets!
And the shelter residents who were getting closer and closer would not give him a chance to shoot 6 shots in a row…
If someone came near and whacked him, he would end up on the ground.
"I repeat, I have no malicious intent. I'm a merchant, do you understand what merchant means? Damn it, even if it was bad 200 years ago, you would still know about what merchants do, right? Or did you forget everything because you guys stayed under the ground for too long?”
"Okay, calm down, let me put it another way, I want to exchange these things on the bull's back with things you have that you don't need… or anything! Of course, if you don’t want to trade, it’s okay. I will leave now and promise not to disturb you again!"
Seeing that there was no way to communicate at all, Sun Shiqi had already started to retreat.
Unfortunately, the shelter residents didn't plan to give way. Instead, they got closer and closer, and even brought out a rope.
Sun Shiqi felt endless despair.
Just as he was thinking about whether to fight to the death, the blue coats surrounding him suddenly gave way.
Then he saw a man, carrying the body of a mutant reindeer on his shoulders, walking toward him.
That mutated reindeer weighed more than 100 kilograms, and it was about the size of a horse. However, the man seemed to be carrying the prey like nothing as he strolled over normally.
Although he was wearing a blue coat that made him seem harmless, Sun Shiqi still smelled an extremely dangerous air around him.
This guy… He is definitely not an ordinary shelter resident!
The man threw his prey heavily on the ground and said a few words to his companions before they scattered obediently.
Seeing the man approaching, Sun Shiqi felt nervous and his nerves grew tense.
For an instant, a thought flashed in his mind. If he could hold the person in front of him hostage, he might be able to leave. However, his instinct told him that if he really tried something like that, he would die the next moment...
"Who are you?" Chu Guang asked, looking at him.
Sun Shiqi was taken aback for a moment upon hearing the man talk, and an expression of surprise appeared on his face.
"You can talk? No, I don't mean that, I mean you can speak our language?"
Naturally, he referred to the language of the Federation of People!
Before the war, this region belonged to the territory of the Federation of People, and the language used was a unified language. It stood to reason that shelter residents would know the language, but he didn't know why those people seemed a bit different.
Chu Guang frowned slightly, looked at him, and continued, "Now, I am the one asking you a question."
"Answer me, who are you?"
Hearing the hostility in his voice, Sun Shiqi quickly explained, "My last name is Sun, and my name is Shiqi. I come from Red River Town nearby! I'm a merchant!"
Red River Town?
Hearing the name of an unfamiliar place, Chu Guang raised his eyebrows slightly.
He only knew that they were in Clearspring City, located in the River Valley Province near the center of the Federation of People. As for the other cities in the River Valley Province, he was not very familiar with them.
"What are you doing in Clearspring City?"
With caution, Sun Shiqi responded, "I am a merchant… So, I am here to do business."
Chu Guang still remained indifferent.
"Merchant? Then why did I hear my companions say that you followed them?"
"Misunderstanding, this is definitely a misunderstanding!" Sun Shiqi waved his hands and explained.
"I was planning to go to Boulder City. I happened to see them wearing blue coats along the way and I thought there was a shelter or something nearby, so I wanted to head over to do some trading! I'm just a merchant, and I really didn't want to offend you!"
He didn't expect these people to be so perceptive.
If it was a normal survivor’s settlement, he definitely wouldn’t dare to approach them recklessly, but things were different if it was a shelter.
These little cuties in blue coats were the famous silly people in the wasteland. They were very gullible.
They were usually the elites of the pre-war society or their descendants, and they were often self-proclaimed civilized descendants. They were usually arrogant and defiant.
Back then, he didn’t think that it was a big deal to follow them. At the worst, he would be chased away like a beggar, and he would not suffer any loss.
But he didn't expect that after these people baited him in, they surrounded him without saying anything. They didn't listen to him and didn't even plan to let him leave.
They were not acting like those silly people at all!
Even with the stranger's explanation, his expression did not ease, Chu Guang still had a blank look on his face when he continued, "Regardless of whether you have good or bad intentions, you definitely did something that offended us. I believe that in any corner of this wasteland, following someone isn’t an act of friendliness, right?”
Sun Shiqi was sweating profusely and bobbed his head. "...You are right."
"Very well, it seems that you have realized your mistake," Chu Guang nodded, "but don't worry, we are reasonable people. Earlier, I persuaded my companions and told them that you are willing to apologize for your rude behavior."
Sun Shiqi quickly dipped his head in agreement. "Yes, yes, I am willing!"
Hearing these words, Chu Guang finally revealed a smile.
"Good. By the way, you don’t mind if we choose the apology gift ourselves, right?"
Sun Shiqi was stunned, looking at the man in front of him with a dazed expression.
"Wait, what do you mean by choosing yourself?"
Chu Guang said as if it was no important matter, "You can't apologize empty-handed right? Otherwise, how do we know if your apology is sincere? We won’t scam you. At most, we just pick one thing from your inventory."
While saying this, the smile that appeared on Chu Guang's face gradually disappeared.
"Are you… reluctant to accept?"
Sun Shiqi had an expression uglier than when he was crying, and he gnashed his teeth and nodded slowly, "No! You can pick anything you like."
These bandits! What about the reservedness and pride of being a civilized person?
They actually robbed a ragged wastelander!
They are like wealthy men who rob beggars on the side of the street! Wouldn’t they be embarrassed?
Damn these people!
Sun Shiqi cursed silently, but a smile was still plastered on his face. He didn't risk showing any negative emotions.
Slowly, he had begun to realize that there seemed to be a fundamental difference between this shelter and the shelters he had encountered before.
As for Chu Guang, he didn't care what the merchant was thinking. After all, it didn’t matter.
Seeing that the dude was so sensible, a happy smile reappeared on his face as he chuckled, “Thanks!”
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