I can upgrade the shelter
Chapter 111 - 110: Reaching a Deal

Chapter 111: Chapter 110: Reaching a Deal

After stating his offer, Li Wensheng felt somewhat nervous as he looked at Chen Xin, who remained silent. What he could offer certainly couldn’t compare to the prices Mo Qingyan had quoted earlier.

Nowadays, a fixed black market has formed in the city, a place for private exchanges among several shelters within the city.

The authorities are aware of the black market’s existence, yet they haven’t cracked down on it. Instead, they’ve tacitly allowed its presence.

The most valuable goods on the black market are various non-renewable resources produced before the disaster; alcohol can be considered the most popular commodity.

Even a regular bottle of liquor can be exchanged on the black market for enough rations to feed a person for a week, not to mention more valuable spirits, some of which can exchange for a month’s worth of food and still have extra.

The box of compressed biscuits Li Wensheng brought is also a hot commodity on the black market, but it pales in comparison to Mo Qingyan’s offer of ten boxes of alcohol and ten boxes of canned meat, not even reaching one percent.

Not to mention that Mo Qingyan’s offer also included her sister.

However, Li Wensheng’s offer wasn’t cheap either. The valuable part was those ten fish.

If alcohol was scarce, then meat was truly rare. Fresh meat couldn’t even be found on the black market; there were only pre-disaster preserved canned meats.

Most of these were pork or lunch meat, which could hardly be called meat. Fresh fish, needless to say, was completely extinct, except maybe in the underground cultivation areas managed by the city government, or with people like Li Wensheng engaged in aquaponics.

In response to Li Wensheng’s offer, Chen Xin merely furrowed his brows and asked, "How many fish did you exchange for the oxygen machine with me last time, Old Farmer?"

Upon hearing Chen Xin’s words, Li Wensheng’s face turned bright red, akin to constipation. If he weren’t wearing a protective mask and if the dim light around didn’t obscure his expression, he might have felt ashamed enough to bury his head in the snow.

"Then I’ll add a few more fish..." Li Wensheng reluctantly increased his offer, which felt like sacrificing a crucial part of himself.

Although he had a fair number of fish, he had shut down half of his aquaponics systems to save electricity, so he didn’t have many left. Offering a dozen fish in exchange with Chen Xin was already pushing his limits.

Fish aren’t like vegetables in the ground, where seeds can be harvested in a month and even perpetually. Rearing a fish from egg to mature fish takes at least a year, and it’s not uncommon for them to be two or three years old.

Seeing Li Wensheng’s predicament, Chen Xin shook his head and asked him, "Old Farmer, you should have surplus aquaponics equipment, right?"

Hearing Chen Xin’s question, Li Wensheng couldn’t quite grasp his intentions, but he nodded and said, "At home, I only have spare parts, not extras. However, my previously stockpiled warehouse wasn’t badly burned. When I checked, I could probably gather three to five sets of equipment."

Chen Xin nodded in satisfaction when he heard this, "In that case, bring two sets of equipment along with six male and six female live fish for breeding, and I’ll give you a geothermal heat pump system and help you install it."

"This..." Hearing Chen Xin’s offer, Li Wensheng hesitated for a moment.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford two sets of aquaponics equipment or thought the price wasn’t worth it. Rather, the fact that Chen Xin wanted aquaponics equipment seemed to be for his own use.

This meant that Chen Xin would also have the capability of producing fish resources, which naturally meant that in the future, Li Wensheng wouldn’t be able to exchange fresh fish, a renewable resource for him, with Chen Xin or sell it at a high price.

Despite this, Li Wensheng only hesitated briefly before gritting his teeth and agreeing, "Alright, two sets of aquaponics equipment and twelve breeding fish. The box of compressed biscuits I brought will be the deposit."

Seeing Li Wensheng so cooperative, Chen Xin had a newfound respect for him and nodded, saying, "Now that we’ve settled on the price, where’s the material? Once the equipment is ready, I’ll come and install it for you."

"The stuff is in the car." Having settled the price, Li Wensheng didn’t hide anything and led Chen Xin to the back of the car, pointing at the items, "Two outdoor units of central air conditioners. The parts you need are all there. I’ve selected units that are relatively intact, so everything should be usable."

Chen Xin nodded. Damage wasn’t a problem for him. He could always repair them on his workbench if needed.

After clearing some of the accumulated snow off the doorway with Li Wensheng’s help, Chen Xin opened the door and moved the two old air conditioner outdoor units from Li Wensheng’s vehicle inside.

This also served as a reminder for Chen Xin, indicating that he would have to clear ice not only at the hideaway where the shortwave antenna was placed but also at the entrance of the shelter.

Unless Chen Xin later modified the door at the entrance to be electric and hydraulic with automatic de-icing and defrosting features, ice and snow removal would be unavoidable.

After all, although Chen Xin went out infrequently, he still needed to leave the shelter occasionally.

Watching Chen Xin move the items into the shelter and handing over the box of compressed biscuits as a deposit, Li Wensheng bid his farewell and left.

Although he felt uneasy about whether Chen Xin would provide him with the equipment after taking his goods, knowing the location of Chen Xin’s shelter reassured him, as he could always come to claim his debt if needed.

After seeing Li Wensheng off, Chen Xin shut the shelter door once more.

Although the blizzard had stopped, snowflakes continued to drift from the sky, a lingering effect of the meteor impact.

Of the impact sites, three struck the Pacific Ocean and one the Federation. The massive amounts of seawater thrown into the sky, combined with evaporation from the widespread fires, filled the entire atmosphere with moisture.

For the past few months, since Chen Xin had been staying indoors and his shelter was built within a mountain, there was no risk of flooding at the entrance, so he hadn’t noticed.

However, outside, it had been raining continuously for two to three months, and this recent blizzard was caused by an abrupt temperature drop due to excessive local rainfall.

The meteor impact not only blocked out the sky but also led to the collapse of the weather system after the loss of sunlight. Without the self-regulation of the weather system, extreme weather events only multiplied.

Nevertheless, living underground, Chen Xin remained largely unaffected, as no weather condition could impact two hundred meters of mountain above him.

Yet, as Chen Xin pushed the two air conditioner outdoor units further into the shelter, the ground beneath him suddenly shook, causing him to lose balance and stabilize himself by leaning against the wall.