The bus arrived at the Red Victory Pedestrian Street East Gate at 2:30 pm.
The weather was bad, but there were more people in the pedestrian street than last time, as if everyone was preparing to buy something in case the continuous rain hit.
People were already hurrying down the street with raincoats or plastic sheets, some even rushing out with rain boots, muttering:
"These heartless people, they raise prices as soon as it rains. 15 cents for a pair of boots is too expensive..."
"Exactly! Just last week, I bought them for 11 cents!"
"Well, whatever, at least these boots will last a while..."
Huaí Yú silently listened, remembering the rain boots she bought for 13 cents, feeling a secret sense of satisfaction—neither too much nor too little.
Ah, of course, she was good at being frugal and making the most of things!
She wasn't sure what else had gone up in price, but since she wasn't planning on going out in the rain, she decided to skip buying anything this time.
While observing and pondering, Huaí Yú smoothly carried her items to the inspection station.
As soon as the straw curtain was lifted, the security officer couldn't help but peek out.
"Wow! So many wild vegetables? Where in the city could you even find this many… Are you a vegetable seller?"
Huaí Yú shook her head blankly: "No."
The officer was even more stunned: "You must have been out to the suburban forest park, right?"
Huaí Yú didn't know what was at the forest park, so she just gently shook her head: "My brother brought these back. He found them outside."
Oh, got it. A free adventurer.
The officer returned to his seat and sighed: "These wild vegetables are so fresh, I'm afraid they were picked and rushed back overnight... Not easy."
The conveyor belt passed her items through the machine, and in no time, a detection card was spat out.
The officer grabbed the card, glanced at it, and instantly stood up with a startled expression—
[Mutation Value: 9]
Huh?
Huaí Yú was a bit confused. It seemed like the plants were doing well, otherwise, how could the fresh shoots have such a low mutation value?
But the officer was taken aback. Without waiting for Huaí Yú to react, he hurriedly placed her basket and bag back on the conveyor belt.
The machine spit out another card, and the value remained unchanged.
[Mutation Value: 9]
Now, several people at the small inspection station gathered around, incredulously asking:
"Mutation value 9 is already being circulated in the market?"
"Yeah! I always thought these things would be snatched up at the high-speed stations..."
"Damn! I really want to try them! I don't even know what regular vegetables taste like anymore..."
"Unbelievable! These vegetables made it to Red Victory..."
Everyone exchanged glances before turning their hot, eager eyes toward Huaí Yú: "Miss, are you selling these?"
"Huh?" Huaí Yú was a bit stunned.
It wasn't that she was pretending, but she wasn't sure how much to sell something with [Mutation Value: 9] for. She hesitated and shyly lowered her head, looking a bit pitiful:
"My brother said I don't understand anything, so he suggested I just give them to Mr. Tang at the Hua Xia Golden store. It's safer that way… I don't know if I can sell them..."
Mr. Tang? Huaí Yú had heard of him before. It was said that he came from a wealthy family. After all, people who could sell things like game consoles and cosmetics must have some background.
"But Mr. Tang is also going to resell these."
The officer tried to persuade her: "Besides, your vegetables only have a mutation value of 9, we can't buy much... You see, how about we each take a pound and pay 30 cents per pound? Is that okay?"
His cautious tone hinted that they would probably add an invisible markup to the price when selling it. But...
Huaí Yú naively tilted her head: "Okay."
She smiled sweetly: "Last time, when I went out for the first time, I didn't understand anything, but the brothers, uncles, and sisters were all so kind to me. They even explained the cards to me..."
She then asked: "Do you want shepherd's purse or bracken?"
Pearl flowers and a few mushrooms were buried under the bracken, so she didn't flip them out.
Seeing how straightforward Huaí Yú was, the group felt a bit uneasy, but the bigger problem was the decision in front of them—
Shepherd's purse? Or bracken?
After some deliberation, they all unanimously chose bracken.
It wasn't that shepherd's purse wasn't good, but they just wanted to have a good meal. Bracken required very few ingredients.
But shepherd's purse either went with eggs or meat, and you'd need a whole meal of dumplings... The flour was divided for that.
Now, holding bracken in their hands, their eyes couldn't help but linger on the shepherd's purse, feeling a bit of regret.
Huaí Yú collected the points, watched them weigh out a pound of bracken, and then added five more stems herself.
She then packed up her basket, held the bag, and cheerfully said: "Bye-bye!"
Her little smile made the others feel even more sentimental: "It must be that someone in her family got hurt or something, so they couldn't deal with the fresh wild vegetables in time and had to hurry back..."
Otherwise, this innocent girl wouldn't have gone straight to the trading market with her vegetables.
The naive Huaí Yú successfully received 120 points and happily made her way to Hua Xia Golden. Inside, Mr. Tang was hunched over a game console, looking worried and frustrated, clearly not enjoying it at all.
When he saw Huaí Yú approach, his round, chubby body sprang up:
"Oh, little Yú! You're finally here! I've been waiting for you so long, the flowers are all wilting, and I'm about to puke from playing the same game!"
He was a true game enthusiast—before the disaster, he had completed all the new single-player games. Now, six years after the disaster...
Don't even mention it. It was the same few games, played over and over until he was numb.
Huaí Yú felt a little embarrassed: "I should've come yesterday..."
"It's fine," Mr. Tang didn't care at all.
"Being an adventurer, you can never predict when you'll be back, right? There's always something unexpected happening... Are these wild vegetables today? Mutation value is 11, right?"
His round body circled out from behind the counter and peered at the vegetables: "Oh wow! These vegetables must have just come back, right? You must have driven for hours from the Three Clear Mountains to get them! It's not easy, not easy!"
It seemed like they had accelerated the trip; otherwise, how could the vegetables be so fresh, just like they had just been picked?
Mr. Tang looked at Huaí Yú seriously: "Given how fresh they are, if the mutation value is 11, I'll give you 9 points per pound!"
This was a good deal, and it would help solidify their future cooperation.
However, Huaí Yú shook her head and handed him two cards from her pocket:
"The staff at the inspection station didn't believe it, so they tested them twice. What price should I get for a mutation value of 9?"
Mr. Tang's eyes widened in surprise.
He took the cards, flipping them back and forth, and checked the date and time stamps, which couldn't be faked.
But mutation value 9…
He thought for a moment: "Little Yú, I don't know if you realize, but mutation values below 10 aren't even circulated in the normal market anymore."
"Adventurers test them as soon as they pick them, and buyers are notified right away. Sometimes they're even snatched up before they get to the highway exit."
He looked at Huaí Yú, his chubby face showing a little emotion: "Your brother must have said a lot of good things about me, huh?"