Starting with a Cellar Safe House - Chapter 6

The chat was scrolling quickly, and not wanting to miss this opportunity, Su Xiao opened the private chat with owner 734.

Su Xiao: “Do you need water and food? Natural resources, the food is only good for 7 days.”

The other party thought for a moment: “If it’s natural resources, I need enough for 7 days.”

What a rip-off!

Su Xiao immediately replied: “You’re offering the oxygen tank because you can’t use it, right? Asking for 7 days’ worth of food for something you can’t use is unreasonable.”

The other party responded: “But you’re approaching me because you need it, right? Naturally, there’s a price for what you need.”

Su Xiao chuckled: “I can only offer 3 days’ worth, no more. Unless you’re willing to tell me how you got the oxygen tank, then I can give you 5 days’ worth.”

Although she did want the oxygen tank, the other party only asked for 3 days in the exchange information, not specifically apocalypse resources. Trying to turn 3 days into 7 was too greedy. At this point, even natural resources were in demand.

So she wasn’t in a rush and continued to look for another potential player.

Finally, she found an owner with a unique name.

Master Roshi: “Any information for food and water, non-repetitive, but no guarantee it’s new information.”

Interesting.

Amidst the sea of generic names, this one stood out.

She messaged him privately: “Can it be natural resources? They only last for 7 days.”

He quickly replied: “Sure, but I can’t guarantee the information I provide is new to you, so you need to tell me in advance. If not, once I say it, it’s a deal.”

Su Xiao: “I’ll ask questions, and you answer. Each answer counts as information, whether it’s right or wrong, I’ll decide.”

He thought for half a minute: “Deal.”

Su Xiao asked the first question: “White treasure chests contain food, red ones contain weapons, purple ones contain tools. Someone wants to trade an unopened blue treasure chest for 7 days’ worth of natural resources, but I don’t know what’s inside. Do you know?”

She hadn’t seen a blue treasure chest but guessed it existed.

Master Roshi honestly replied: “I haven’t seen a purple treasure chest. I only know white ones are food, red ones are weapons, blue ones are tools, and green ones are plants. What’s inside a blue treasure chest is random; it might be useful or not. If you have plenty of resources, you could try.”

A fair answer.

Purple treasure chests were actually blueprints, so the oxygen tank likely came from a blue treasure chest.

His explanation corrected her misinformation and offered reasonable advice.

Su Xiao continued: “What do you know about Safe Houses? What types are there? I know about plant, vehicle, and building types.”

This was a broad category, covering almost everything she knew, mainly to avoid redundant information.

After a minute, he replied: “There are also animal types, like turtle houses, leopard houses, bird houses.”

That was intriguing.

She couldn’t help but ask: “Do animal Safe Houses die?”

He took a while to answer: “Every type of Safe House likely has some sort of operational requirement and limitation. For vehicles, it’s fuel; for animals, it’s feed; for plants, maybe sunlight or water. I’m not sure, as each Safe House has different traits.”

A reliable answer.

Su Xiao thought he was done, but he sent a long message.

“For example, a Sunflower Safe House can move during the day but not at night. A Tree House can move based on daily root growth, like 100 meters today, 100 meters tomorrow. So I can’t give a definite answer about animal Safe Houses.”

His answers were detailed and numerous, showing sincerity.

Su Xiao said: “I’ll count your answers as five portions of food, based on the white treasure chest standard: 1 bottle of water + 1 portion of food.”

She sent over 5 bottles of water and 5 chocolate pies.

Receiving the food, he sensed Su Xiao’s generosity: “Boss, do you have enough natural resources? I’d like to work with you long-term. I’ll share the information I get, and can you give me more food? Honestly, the food from treasure chests is too little, not even a meal’s worth.”

He was likely a man and very short on food.

With this, she had the upper hand.

Su Xiao replied: “Sure, but I can’t confirm if your information is new to me, so you provide it first, and I’ll decide. If it’s new, I’ll give you 1 portion of food.”

Master Roshi: “Deal! You’re generous, boss!”

Master Roshi: “I didn’t want to say, but I was on a self-driving tour in a foreign desert when my car broke down. When the wind came, I was blown away, lost my gear, but luckily found a Turtle Safe House. It wanders randomly, and survivors can’t control where it goes, so I don’t know where I am. I have no food source, and finding treasure chests in the desert is tough.”

Due to the time difference, it was night there. Stranded in the desert for half a day, plus the Hurricane Disaster, meant he hadn’t eaten in a day. The only food chest he found had a bottle of milk and a small cake.

The system called it a meal, but even a cat eats more.

So he had little to trade with other survivors, relying on the communication center to exchange information.

When he had enough, he sent out a message, hoping someone would trade with him.

Unexpectedly, only Su Xiao reached out.

Hearing this, Su Xiao realized why he was so honest; he was using freely obtained information.

Not everyone was in resource-rich areas when the hurricane hit, and perhaps her natural resources were equally valuable.