Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 42: Batteries

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Batteries

With Xu Lie as the tour guide, Chen Jian and his team participated in the celebration, not for revelry, but to use this large-scale event to deepen their understanding of Han Shui City and the state of human society in this post-apocalyptic era.

He had seen many celebrations, and to be honest, this one in a human settlement of the post-apocalyptic period was not much different from other celebrations he had seen.

Crowds cheering, lights shining, an unprecedentedly prosperous trade, a variety of entertainment activities...

If there were any differences, it would mainly be in the content.

Here, there were no activities like balloon popping or ring tossing. Instead, there were wild boars penned in by fences on a spacious ground. Just pay two catties of rice or one bullet, and you could show your skills in the pen.

The reward for catching a pig wasn’t the pig itself but a refund of double the ticket price by the owner.

They watched for a few minutes, and Chen Jian found that the payout rate of this thing was quite high.

On average, one in two or three people could pin the pig down within the allotted time and take away their reward.

The owner wouldn’t lose, but wouldn’t make much either. Clearly, even the difficulty level had been "carefully calibrated".

Xu Lie beside him was eager to try, turning his head to Chen Jian and asked:

"Chosen ones, don’t you want to give it a try?"

"The wild boars here have been tamed, they’re not real wild boars. With your strength, dealing with them would be more than sufficient."

"Let’s forget it."

Chen Jian waved his hand and said:

"Just watching is enough—I am a bit curious, though, where did this kind of activity come from?"

"The North."

Xu Lie answered:

"On the northern snow plains, there is a city called Liaodong, where people rely mainly on wild boars and deer for meat."

"They hold similar hunting gatherings every year, specifically for hunting wild boars."

"The one who accumulates the most wild boar skins is called the first Baturu, not only receiving various rewards but also gaining the entitlement to become the city lord."

"The owner here came from Liaodong. He was in Jinling four years ago and arrived at Han Shui two years ago, bringing their game with him."

Wow, the first Baturu.

Putting it together with the term "wild boar skin", it somewhat felt like a big reveal was being staged.

But from another perspective, it also showed that the social ecology on this land had indeed regressed to quite a primitive level, with fishing and hunting becoming major means of food acquisition, their importance significantly increased.

So much so that the "game" itself was filled with a wild and martial spirit.

So what exactly caused this regression?

From Chen Jian’s current exchanges with everyone else, no one could clarify this question.

They only remembered that about two hundred or three hundred years ago, a great catastrophe almost destroyed civilization completely, and the human population was nearly wiped out.

No one remembers the reason for the destruction, nor does anyone know how those who survived began to reproduce again and re-established a relatively primitive civilization.

If one wishes to uncover the truth...

Perhaps one could only go into the real Han Shui City to look for clues documented in official institutions.

As Chen Jian was considering the key focus of future reconnaissance of Han Shui City, Xu Lie, seeing him look uninterested, said;

"Actually, I knew from the start that you all wouldn’t be interested in such celebrations, but that’s not the main point."

"The main point is, every time at these celebration events, a lot of new merchandise appears in the market."

"Even members of the Mechanical God Sect take out their treasured items, trying to sell them at a good price."

"So... would you like to go take a look?"

"Of course."

Chen Jian immediately nodded.

Having seen enough, it was time to get down to business.

Thus, the group of eight each held a cup of sweet rice wine in bamboo tubes, squeezed through the crowd, and got deep into the market.

Unlike the market Chen Jian had seen during the day, this "night market" was more chaotic, and the variety of goods was more diverse.

The carbide lamps hanging above emitted slightly dim cold light, casting shadows over the goods on the ground, making them hard to see clearly.

As they passed by each item, they indeed found quite a few intriguing things.

Still glowing LED light strips and old hand-crank generators, loose black gunpowder, kerosene lighters with matching kerosene...

Wait a minute.

This stuff shouldn’t be kerosene, should it?

Looking at the small amount of kerosene the stall owner lit for demonstration, Chen Jian suddenly understood what the Mechanical God Sect was using reclaimed plastic bottles for.

Wow, you guys haven’t even developed a petroleum industry, yet you’ve managed to come up with a hydrocracking process?

Well, given that polyethylene plastic takes a long time to degrade, the difficulty of the hydrocracking process is also not high, and the recovery rate can reach over 60%, it really is a good method for wasteland oil refining.

However, the fact that this item is being sold surprised Chen Jian.

There’s a possibility that the Mechanical God Sect has reached a relatively mature stage in this research area.

"Buy a bit."

Chen Jian signaled Xu Lie to negotiate the price, and finally, under 50ml of kerosene cost 10 grams of gold, an intimidating price.

It’s fine.

Chen Jian let out a sigh of relief.

It’s not that he didn’t wish for technological development. Mostly, it’s just that the people from the Mechanical God Sect are too abstract; having such a technology in their hands, Chen Jian was genuinely afraid they might create something strange...

As they walked through, Chen Jian hadn’t found anything particularly worthy of buying.

Most of what seemed magical and valuable to the local residents appeared just like toys for kids to their four-person team, without practical uses.

He had prepared to go back empty-handed, but upon nearly finishing the entire market, reaching the last few stalls, Chen Jian suddenly lit up.

He saw some good stuff.

Wrist arrow launchers, and a few well-preserved micro-missiles.

"We want this one."

Chen Jian decisively spoke up, and Xu Lie, without any unnecessary chatter, went up and bargained aggressively.

The stall owner’s identity was evidently unusual. He even knew Xu Lie’s name and knew it was his squad that had destroyed the Blood Skull lair nearby.

In the end, the stall owner agreed to a deal at a very favorable price with Xu Lie, and after the deal, he continued to say:

"Actually, I have some other nice items here, though you might not need them."

"Hey, what about your friends? Do they need them?"

Xu Lie turned back to Chen Jian, who nodded and replied:

"We can take a look."

The stall owner beamed, lifted the canvas behind him, revealing the items that had originally been covered.

At the sight of those items, Lei Jie’s expression changed.

He stepped closer to Chen Jian, lowered his voice, and said:

"Batteries!"

"Air lithium batteries!"