It was already three in the afternoon.
Along the periphery of the New World, the terrain was highly complicated, and it had insufficient lighting.
For the survivors, there was no such thing as an evening to them. It was practically nighttime after five in the evening.
Understanding the dangers of traveling at night, Feng Zhou and He Qiu could not help but speed up, following the scattered footprints on the snow.
Soon, they climbed over another depression.
Looking at the gathering place that appeared at the end of their field of vision, the two glanced at each other and smiled.
In the distance, a small gathering place was built on the snow and surrounded by boulders.
On the periphery of the gathering place, dozens of armed soldiers patrolled back and forth as they paid attention to their surroundings.
The weapons they carried were not ordinary shotguns like those of Feng Zhou and He Qiu but were standard rifles.
Upon closer observation, it could be seen that they even had several grenades tied around their waists.
This group of patrol guards of the gathering place was fully armed.
Compared to the armed soldiers of the basin, the equipment they had was not too shabby and could be considered on the same level.
From afar, a bearded man standing on guard at the gate whistled with a condescending expression as he watched Feng Zhou and He Qiu approaching.
“Yo, isn’t this our monster hunter duo? What’s up? Did you guys come back with a bountiful harvest today?”
Being teased, Feng Zhou was not infuriated and simply approached with a small. He took out two cigarettes from his pocket and handed them over.
“Zhang Quan, we have such a trivial and dirty job. How could they be considered a harvest?”
“Luckily, we happened to find a stupid guy out there. This time we’ve finally managed to bring something decent back in these snowy days.”
“Not bad. Not bad. You’re a clever one.” Seeing the scare cigarettes, Zhang Quan’s pupils widened slightly, and he calmly tucked them into his cuffs.
At the same time, he magically took out two pieces of paper from his left pocket and handed them over.
“Here you go. You two are regular customers, so today’s handling fee will be only 5%. Don’t forget me if there’s something good in the future!”
Feng Zhou was overjoyed. He quickly nodded, took the piece of paper, and then walked into the gathering place while repeatedly thanking him.
“That old fox, Zhang Quan, is getting more and more greedy!”
“According to our current contributions, we should be only charged 3% this time, yet he…”
Walking inside, He Qiu glanced back and complained angrily.
Strictly speaking, the gathering place where the two of them were located was not a traditional human territory.
Instead, it was a transit place for transactions.
Zhang Quan’s group was responsible for guarding the periphery and maintaining the order and safety of the place. Several famous caravans in the New World guaranteed the credibility of the place.
Most of the survivors that lived nearby would bring their “prey” to sell at his place.
Correspondingly, each transaction made would be charged a certain fee.
The highest was 10%, and the lowest was 3%.
“Hush, you can’t let these blood-sucking vampires overhear you.”
“A two percent difference is nothing to us. Besides, the meat we’re going to see is… Anyway, whatever problems occur after we sell it is theirs to bear. It’s much safer than selling it outside, so don’t bother with the fee!”
While comforting He Qiu, Feng Zhou walked toward an empty booth.
He reached out into the void, took two large pieces of meat, and placed them on the tarpaulin.
From the appearance, the two pieces of meat looked very fresh. Not only did they have juicy fats, but they also had very bloody red muscles that looked very tempting and high-quality.
However, upon closer inspection, there were a few bizarre black spots beneath the two lumps of meat that simply could not be ignored.
“Selling freshly hunted bear meat! First come, first serve! Lots of discounts to be given!”
Feng Zhou advertised loudly.
As soon as the crowd heard that it was a scarce commodity like bear meat, many merchants gathered around and began negotiating prices after looking at their goods.
Initially, there were a few questions about the black spots.
However, they were easily fooled by Feng Zhou’s lies, claiming that he did not handle the meat properly and contaminated the meat with some other goods that could be easily cleaned.
Gradually, the customers that doubted him began to make bids one after another.
Knowing there was a problem with his goods, Feng Zhou did not dare to ask for too much.
After hearing the price exceeded his ideal price, he immediately nodded and sold it. Those who did not manage to buy it expressed their regret for not being able to buy it.
“This product is sold to you! You can’t hold me accountable if any follow-up problems arise!”
Hearing Feng Zhou’s warning, the merchant who had bought the bear meat at such a low price was still immersed in his joy and nodded unbothered by his words.
“It’s just a little bit of meat! What could go wrong? I sell ten or a hundred times the amount of meat every day! Don’t worry!”
“That would be best!”
…
