Published: February 9, 2025
Having obtained the heart of the sand corrosion beast, Ye Zhongming was in a very good mood, as he could now create the sand dance war knife. This would be the second green-level equipment he could craft, following the Thousand Leaf Scale Armor. The latter was made possible by the Gold in Flesh provided by Wen Zhong, which ensured he had all the necessary materials.
As long as he was given a day, Ye Zhongming could upgrade the equipment of the core members of Cloud Summit Villa by a level. In such a good mood, Ye Zhongming felt a surge of enthusiasm for shopping and started walking back and forth in the market, encountering both disappointments and discoveries.
The disappointment lay in the fact that most of the market was filled with equipment and materials of low levels. Occasionally, there would be something exceptional, like a green armguard that was priced absurdly high, clearly aimed at finding a fool to take advantage of. As for materials, there were specific types Ye Zhongming needed that were not available here; the rest were negligible, so he just picked up a few things, mainly for enchanting bullets, which were of lower levels and primarily enhanced attack power.
Of course, he paid with Evolution Potions, meaning he effectively spent only half the price.
Aside from materials, Ye Zhongming was most eager to find scrolls, but these were almost nonexistent; he only spotted one or two in the entire market, and they were nothing of value. This was not surprising—after a decade of the apocalypse, career scrolls, class promotion scrolls, skill enhancement scrolls, and Unsealing Liquid were all rare items with high prices. Given the widespread demand for these items among humans, it was entirely normal not to see them in the market.
However, the group still had some gains. First, Ye Zhongming collected a considerable number of seeds, which had become a habit for him. These were very cheap, as survivors sometimes picked them just to stave off hunger, given that they contained a bit of energy and some even had distinct flavors, like spicy, sweet, or salty, which could be used as seasonings. When brought in large quantities, they were sold here. Ye Zhongming spent a small amount to gather a big bag.
Next were the bullets. Some were from the Resistance Zone, while others were from the Roulette, and since many people had no suitable firearms, they simply sold them off. Ye Zhongming never missed an opportunity to buy them whenever he spotted them.
In the early days of the apocalypse, firearms played a significant role.
Lastly, there were the battle beast eggs. Everyone knew these were valuable, but very few survivors had the patience to wait for them to hatch and then raise them to adulthood. In a world where one could die at any moment, what was the use of keeping a battle pet egg that might take years or even decades to hatch? Even if it did hatch, how long would it take to be able to fight back? Possibly several more years, maybe even a decade. Who in their right mind would want to keep such a battle beast egg in those circumstances?
In his past life, Ye Zhongming had also acquired a few of these items, but like the current survivors, he sold them off at bargain prices. He felt pleased for a long time after selling them because nobody wanted them; they were mainly purchased by large forces who believed they had the capability to wait for them to evolve and grow.
So, in this life, it was the same. Ye Zhongming casually looked around; at least every three or four stalls, there were battle beast eggs for sale.
In stark contrast were the battle beast cubs, which were extremely expensive, especially those recognized as descendants of strong mutated life forms. For instance, Ye Zhongming had just seen a price tag of a bottle of five-star evolution potion for a mutated snow leopard cub that was sold within ten minutes to someone in uniform. This mutated snow leopard cub was only level two; it would take one to two years to reach adulthood, with its evolution level potentially hitting four, depending on its talent and whether it could evolve to a higher level. With a slight misstep, one could easily incur losses, yet people were still willing to take the gamble.