The blessing had a very peculiar flavor.
Most people who had not been in contact with a blessing for long would be entirely unable to differentiate this faint trace of flavor.
However, to someone like Su Mo—who had possessed blessings very early on—that aroma was so intense on the peak of Iron Rock Mountain, it was no less fragrant than a beef bun.
Furthermore, the aroma persistently wafted through the air, so it was impossible not to notice it.
“A gift before I set sail?
“I really appreciate it, but I seem to recall that this can’t be used as an item for exchange on the market, right?”
Su Mo could not help asking curiously as he and Chen Shen continued walking.
Previously, everyone had very few good items on hand, so it was difficult to estimate what the limit for exchanges on the market was.
However, ever since the Secret Trading Realm had opened the last time, Su Mo had known that any blueprint above rare-level could not be circulated on the market.
Apart from raw materials, the same rule applied to all equipment above rare-level that had list properties.
Of course, the equipment thus described encompassed a wide range of items.
Regardless of whether it was a lighter, an iron hoe, an iron shovel, or shoes, pants, and goggles…
As long as an item was rare-level, it could not be listed on the market for sale. The only way it could be traded was in person or in the Secret Trading Realm.
Mystical blessed objects were also included in that list. Not only that, the limits imposed on such items were even stricter. It did not matter what level the item was. From the moment it was obtained, there would be a line within the item properties that read—cannot be traded!
This property alone completely rendered any method of trading blessings null and void.
As for Su Mo’s question, Chen Shen had already guessed he would ask, and had clearly sorted out what his answer would be.
His pace slowed and he rubbed his head. “Big Brother Su, I knew you would ask me this question. Even though this thing was quite rare in the past, we’re slowly beginning to integrate with the foreign races, and there were also some considerably impoverished foreign races who were willing to sell their blessings to us. Although the asking price is quite expensive, as long as it’s something valuable, it’s not going to be a problem at all in a market with hundreds of millions of people.”
When Su Mo heard this, he stopped in his tracks and exclaimed in astonishment, “Oh? I’ve never seen something like this on the market, and I do take time every day to look around!”
Su Mo was not lying when he said this.
Every day, he would look through the market during mealtimes, just like how people during the civilized era would swipe through Douyin and Weibo on their phones as if those were side dishes while they were eating.
Given that he had so much in the way of supplies, Su Mo knew that if he stored those grains in the warehouse for half a year or even a year, he would not gain any benefits from them.
Only by converting these foods into resources as soon as possible, and then converting those resources into strength, would they be able to have fivefold, even tenfold gains in the future!
It was the same as gambling with the villagers’ resources this time. Only items circulating in the market could be called goods and only then would they have their own value.
That was why Su Mo would browse the market with the intent of finding some hidden treasure or making a killing off some item. However, after every meal, he would retreat in disappointment.
It was different from the past when people initially did not know the value of their goods. Now, however, people would not put up any valuable materials or items for trade even if they were running low on food or weapons.
Su Mo had been able to obtain a large amount of plant culture medium the moment he came to the wasteland, but even after two months, he had not yet been offered something of equal value.
That was why he became immensely interested when he suddenly heard that Chen Shen could obtain a blessing on the market.
“No, Big Brother Su. This item still can’t be traded on the market. As long as an item gains a blessing as one of its properties, it will immediately be locked.
“However, aside from this, there is also another type of exception. We can put an item up for trade first, then, after it has passed the market’s inspection and the buyer has obtained the item, we can then ask the foreign races to quickly enchant it.
“As long as the foreign races can complete the enchantment within half an hour of the item being inspected and the buyer cancels the trade, the item will then be listed again on the market. We can then choose to remove the item from the listing, and it will come back to us infused with a blessing.”
“Oh? We can actually do that?”
Su Mo was taken aback. As he looked at Chen Shen’s sincere expression, he was stunned.
“However, this trading method also has its disadvantages. The first is that the foreign races only have half an hour to bless the item. Furthermore, the foreign races that trade with us are weak, so asking them to complete the blessing within that time is very difficult. There is a very high possibility of failure. The worst thing is that they will not refund the money even if they fail. As a result, even those who can afford the item won’t gamble on such luck, and those who can’t afford it don’t know that this method exists.
“Plus, even if the blessing is successful, the blessing infused into the item is so weak, it’s essentially for show, not for actual use. Even if we use it on the shelter, we can only consider it as something that’s better than nothing, so…
“This is basically a status symbol. It’s almost like collecting antiques. The more types of blessing you collect, the more it reflects your status and position! At that time, we were thinking of switching to another item if the enchantment failed three times. We never expected that it would succeed on the second try!”
Chen Shen seemed to be afraid that Su Mo would be angry with him for paying a hefty price for a crafted item that could only be displayed and had no practical use.
Therefore, he rattled off the last sentence rapidly, fearing that he would draw bitter criticism from Su Mo if he said it slowly.
However, the strange thing was, just as Chen Shen flinched and prepared to be chastised…
He noticed Su Mo—who was behind him—displaying a hint of delight on his face.
‘Eh? Big Brother Su isn’t angry?
‘My goodness, Big Brother Su seems extremely happy!’
Chen Shen thought back on the last few days when the village had held a meeting to discuss what to buy for their Shelter Leader as a send-off gift for his voyage.
He had decided to go against everyone’s suggestions, choosing instead to purchase this decorative item infused with a blessing. Inwardly, Chen Shen gave himself a thumbs-up for a job well done!
“This isn’t bad at all—I like this item very much. You can pass it to me tonight.
“Oh yes, that’s right—if this item is effective, we should continue buying these things. You can use my supplies for the purchases!”
When Su Mo considered the fact that there were other individuals in the human race as smart as himself and that they could exploit a bug like this, he immediately felt very happy.
Everyone hated bugs, but if they found one that they could exploit, they would not let the chance slip by, would they now?
The item inspection function had existed since the very beginning.
However, after attempting to use it once, Su Mo had completely forgotten about it.
Each item could only be inspected for half an hour. Furthermore, one could look but not touch. If one touched the item, the trade amount would be immediately deducted from their account.
For a practical person like Su Mo, this was of little interest.
However, he had never expected that other people would manage to find a loophole like this in the system.
“Oh yes. While we’re at sea, if Connie has time on her hands, she can sell some of her blessings to offset her household expenses.
“That way, she can not only improve her blessing abilities, but she can also increase the Golden Lion King’s reputation!”
Su Mo mentally began calculating as he followed Chen Shen over to where the feast was being held.
Compared to the weaker foreign clans, even though Connie’s powers were not fully developed, her blessings would fetch quite a high price because she was a Saintess.
In fact, this was something to capitalize on in the future—it was the equivalent of having a never-ending gold mine!
Chen Shen could not understand why a mischievous smile occasionally appeared from time to time on Su Mo’s face. As Connie—who was still sitting in the Underground Shelter and studying hard—gave a mighty sneeze, the two men had already arrived at the mountainside where the feast was being held.
Since Su Mo had given his word, and the villagers had made such a profit today, the feast went on from six in the evening until midnight.
During these hours, anyone who was hungry could come and eat at any time!
Other than the rule that no one was allowed to take away any of the food, there were beef buns enough for everyone, and the meat soup was sufficient to fill everyone’s stomachs!
Right now, however, since most of the tasks assigned to everyone had not been completed yet, the only people eating there were the militia who had come off their shifts and the intelligence team that had returned from their mission.
After making some arrangements, Chen Shen grabbed two buns and went back to get the blessed item, eating as he went. Pei Shao, on the other hand, enthusiastically took two portions of braised pork shoulder and sat down.
“Shelter Leader, what’s the situation now?”
When Pei Shao asked this, he had not yet wiped off the grease on his face from gnawing on the pork shoulder bone, but his enthusiastic expression was evident at a glance.
“Our intelligence gathering this time was very successful. Good work!
“The tasks on this end are still the ones that I assigned to you previously, but you shouldn’t need to head out for the most recent ones!”
Su Mo accepted one portion of the pork shoulder. Without standing on ceremony, he bit into it and spoke at the same time.
Pei Shao was truly extremely capable. In scouting out the 12 directions with the basin as the central point, he had not made any errors at all.
The information that Pei Shao had gathered indicated that, prior to the disaster, a total of 23,400 foreign races were already positioned around the basin in ambush.
These foreign races were split into three main divisions and positioned at 8 to 12 o’clock around the basin to avoid the route that “the human god Almighty Su” might take.
This direction happened to be where the carp lake was. Following this route, even if they were not able to get to the New World, they would also not be able to get to the center of the battlefield. As far as the foreign races were concerned, this could be considered the safest assembly point.
The three divisions of the foreign races were distributed very evenly throughout this fan-shaped assembly area.
The first group consisted of strength-type foreign races. There were 14200 of them in total and they had excellent equipment and logistics. Most likely they would be the main attacking force of this surprise attack.
The second group was made up of insect species with various special abilities—3680 in total.
Throughout this mission, Pei Shao had tried his best several times to gauge the abilities of this division, but to no avail. However, it was obvious that these insects were the “special forces team” of the attacking force that responded to any situations that were out of the ordinary.
The third group was a massive hodgepodge of all the remaining foreign races. There were all kinds of foreign races in this division, including birds that flew. Their numbers fluctuated between 5,500 to 6,000 individuals.
Right now, before the disaster, the first group was the closest to the basin—only 330 kilometers away.
The furthest group was the mixed division; they were fully 690 kilometers away.
As for the insect species, they were just 100 kilometers behind the first group.
All this important information was what the intelligence team had obtained while putting their lives on the line.
In the timelines of the future, Su Mo would always praise Pei Shao and his team highly over the radio for their work. Besides that, he also solemnly promised that as long as they remained loyal to him, he would take care of them for life.
However, on the wasteland currently, Su Mo smiled as he looked at an anxious Pei Shao who was now passing him a dish of condiments.
“Don’t fret. This mission is not as simple as it seems. You need to have more confidence in the work that you’re doing. This time I’m very satisfied—don’t belittle yourself. Keep up the good work. When the village expands and develops in the future, this will still be your job!”
Su Mo dipped a large piece of meat into the condiments and gave Pei Shao a thumbs up.
Pei Shao finally felt relieved after Su Mo commended him in this manner.
His hands stopped shaking.
His face was no longer furrowed!
“I understand, Leader Su. You made the right move, conducting the mission in this manner. Secrecy is of the utmost importance in intelligence work.
“Sometimes our ignorance can actually lead to the best results.”
Su Mo, “???”
Given Pei Shao’s fervently enthusiastic expression and the randomness that his brain had generated, Su Mo did not explain any further and shifted his attention back to the pork shoulder in front of him.
Back in the civilized era, this pork shoulder might well be regarded as a piece of “Masterchef” level cookery. The cooks in the village had braised the meat until it was so tender, it was falling off the bone.
When one took a mouthful, the meat was lean but not dry, marbled with fat but not greasy. The pork rind was soft, and the sauce was aromatic and flavorful.
When eaten together with the condiments and onions, every bite was filled with the aroma and texture of the meat. It was so delicious that everyone’s mouth watered continuously.
At the same time, Su Mo noticed Chen Shen had returned with the blessed item. He then gestured with his hand and put the item in his storage space.
He then grabbed Chen Shen, Pei Shao, and Zhong Qingshu, who had just come over.
The four of them sat around a table, eating and drinking. It was a perfect sight to behold!
That meal started at six o’clock and went all the way until eight.
The villagers who had just gotten off work felt their appetites being stimulated when they saw Su Mo eating so heartily halfway through.
There were no tables left for them to sit at, but that was fine. Several dozen of them each took a portion of pork shoulder, squatted on the ground, and ate until their mouths were all greasy.
Not only that, each of them was given a bottle of beer. The scene somewhat resembled a large group of people eating by roadside stalls.
“Alright, that’s enough beer for me today. We’ll discuss further tomorrow at the meeting.
“Oreo and the others haven’t had dinner yet. I think they haven’t eaten for half a day already; I need to hurry back right away!”
Su Mo suddenly remembered the “young guardians” starving inside the shelter, so he waved away an invitation from several of the management team members to open another crate of beer.
He picked up the meat he packed earlier, rubbed his stomach, and strolled down the mountain path.
The cold night air blew over Su Mo and made him shiver. Because of that, his initial 60% intoxication rapidly decreased.
When he was still around 30% intoxicated, he paused. Slowly rocking from side to side, he indulged in this hard-earned peaceful moment.
In the wasteland, where there were humans, there was hope.
Where there were supplies, there was a future.
Even if Hope Village only had a little over one hundred inhabitants, Su Mo experienced an endless reverie as he stood at the foot of the mountain, staring at the brightly-lit mountain peak for a moment.
“In the future, this basin will be my very own independent kingdom in the wasteland. No one is allowed to interfere!
“Hope Village, Hope Town, Hope City…
“Human civilization will take root and flourish in this land sooner or later!”
