Chapter 44: Merchant from a Neighboring City

"I should have thought of it long ago!"

"Linghu's most abundant resource is not just the fish in the lake but the rich nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium on the shoreline of the lake! We are almost there. It is just ahead of us,"Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.

Gale blabbed excitedly while walking towards the lake with Mosquito.

The two stopped at a shallow spot near the lake.

The vegetation here was luxuriant and can be used as a cover easily. It was an excellent spot for fetching water for both humans and animals.

As Gale stretched out his hand and was about to point, Mosquito stepped forward before him and squatted down in front of a relatively flat rock.Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.

He stretched out his index finger and wiped it lightly on the stone wall, leaned closer to smell it, and tried to lick it.

Gale almost puked and asked quickly.

"How's it?"Please support the translation by reading the translation and commenting on otakutl official site.

Spitting on the ground, Mosquito's face was half happy and half sad.

"Bah, these are the fresh ones..."

Gale: "..."

Though he may have accidentally tasted fresh bird droppings, one thing was certain, there was a lot of struvite here.

The main component of this ore was Mg(NH4)[PO4]·6H2O, with a rhombohedral crystal structure. Just from the chemical composition of the ore alone, it was not difficult to see how versatile this thing is.Please support read the translation and on otakutl official site.

Moreover, when a certain amount of struvite would form, the ammonia component in it would gradually be oxidized to nitric acid under the action of nitrifying bacteria, and finally accumulate under the soil in the form of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, etc, forming the so-called nitrate soil.

This kind of nitrate, which was used as an "associated mineral", only needed to be boiled by simple methods, such as mixing with plant ash that had not filtered the potash water, and separating out the calcium and magnesium ions in it. Then saltpeter with a small amount of impurities could be obtained.

To put it simply, if one found bird droppings, one basically had saltpeter.

And having saltpeter was basically equivalent to having gunpowder!

In fact, it was not just bird droppings. There were a large number of mutant excrement on the shore of Linghu Lake. These excrements gradually weathered and deposited and compacted over time and finally formed a Guano mine.

As for why there were so many Guano by the lake, it was actually very easy to understand.

In the past, during the early years of the Wasteland Era, this planet experienced a period of severe cold for nearly half a century.

During that period, Linghu Wetland Park was the most water-rich area in this area, and there used to be a large number of wild animals and domestic animals that fled the pasture to live here.

These feces should have been left at that time.

It was not until the end of the severe cold period that the uninhabited urban area formed a more luxuriant ecosystem, and it gradually became deserted.

"With this nitrate soil, it's not a big problem to get the black powder out!" Standing up from the ground, Mosquito looked at Gale and said excitedly, "Come, help me to get some more of this back."

"There is nitrate and charcoal, but I remember there is sulfur in the black powder formula? Where are you going to find sulfur?" Gale asked suspiciously.

If he remembered correctly, things like sulfur usually appear near volcanic craters or hot springs.

However, this area is obviously not like those two areas.

Mosquito was left dumbfounded for a moment.

Obviously, he hadn't had time to consider this issue.

"Uh, if there is no sulfur, sulfate can also work, but the process is a little more troublesome… But it should be easy to find, right?"

Gale glanced around, shrugging helplessly.

"Anyway, let's look for it first."

...

Unfortunately, there was no sulfur in the forest, and nothing that looked like sulfur was seen by the lake.

But this should be normal.

How could this kind of thing appear in the wetland park?

Fortunately, just when the two were about to give up, they found some gypsum mines beside a small river that extended out of Linghu.

The component of this thing was calcium sulfate. It could produce calcium sulfide and carbon dioxide when it is burnt off with carbon at high temperature. It was exactly the sulfate mineral they were looking for!

"Why did I forget this!" Mosquito smacked his own head in annoyance, "I saw Old White burn cement two days ago, it seems they mixed this kind of plaster powder in! Isn't this calcium sulfate?"

Gale said with a wry smile.

"We are too careless."

"In short, the result is good," he picked up some gypsum ore and put it in a plastic bucket. Mosquito washed his hands and stood up and looked at Gale.

Gale nodded and followed him.

The two returned to the shelter together and were about to walk to the cabin, only to find that there was a commotion in front of the colony's door.

The players who were working on the construction site had come down from the scaffolding, and they were carrying weapons in their hands, surrounding a bull with two heads.

A strange man stood beside the two-headed bull.

He was wearing a leather jacket, with a flattering smile, making strange gestures, and murmuring incomprehensible things with his mouth.

Mosquito was curious and stopped.

"Who is that person? New NPC?"

He hadn't heard that there would be an update today.

"I don't know, let me ask..."

Gale was an activist. He put down the plastic bucket in his hand, strode towards Brother Scrambled Egg, who was standing in front of the dried meat rack watching and asked him curiously,

"What happened there? Who is that person?"

Brother Scrambled Egg stood cross armed, shook his head and replied,

"I don't know the specifics. I heard other people say that it seems that our people came across this guy on the way back from the construction site, and, without saying anything, just followed our people all the way here."

Gale walked closer and heard the comments from the players.

"Why does this bull have two heads?"

"Domestic mutants?"

"This man has followed us all the way! I bet he is definitely up to no good, maybe it's a Marauder's spy!"

"Not necessarily, what if it is an NPC?"

"It doesn't make sense. If he's an NPC, it wouldn't even be impossible to communicate, right?"

"Could it be that the condition didn't trigger?"

"Why don't we lock him up first and wait until the administrator comes back?"

Feeling the increasingly hostile looks he's getting and with the crowd surrounding him, Sun Shiqi felt a lot of pressure.

Even if he had a revolver hidden under his leather jacket and the safety had been opened, even if he emptied the magazine, he still only had 6 bullets.

And the shelter residents who were getting closer and closer would not give him a chance to shoot 6 shots in a row.

If someone came near and hammer him, he would end up lying face down on the ground.

"I repeat, I'm not malicious. I'm a merchant, do you understand what merchant means? Damn it, even if it was bad 200 years ago, you would still know about what merchants do, right? Or did you forget everything because you guys stayed under the ground for too long?"

"Okay, calm down, let me put it another way, I want to exchange these things on the bull's back with something you have that you don't need… or anything! Of course, if you don't want to trade, it's okay. I will leave now and promise not to disturb you again!"

Seeing that there was no way to communicate at all, Sun Shiqi had already started to retreat.

However, the shelter residents didn't plan to give way at all. Instead, they got closer and closer, and even took out a rope.

Despair emerged from within Sun Shiqi.

Just as he was thinking about whether to fight to the death, the blue coats surrounding him suddenly gave way.

Then he saw a man, carrying the body of a mutant reindeer on his shoulders, and he was walking toward him.

That mutated reindeer weighed more than 100 kilograms, and it was about the size of a horse. However, the man seemed to be carrying the prey like nothing, walking normally.

Although he was wearing a blue coat that was harmless to humans and animals, Sun Shiqi still smelled an extremely dangerous air around him.

'This guy…'

'He is definitely not an ordinary shelter resident!'

The man threw his prey heavily on the ground, said a few words to his companions, and then they scattered obediently.

Seeing the man draw near him, Sun Shiqi felt nervous and his nerves grew tense.

For an instant, a thought flashed in his mind. If he could hold the person in front of him, he might be able to leave here smoothly.

However, his instinct told him that if he really did this, he would die at that very moment...

"Who are you?" Chu Guang asked, looking at him.

Sun Shiqi was taken aback for a moment upon hearing the man talk, and an expression of surprise appeared on his face for an instant.

"You can talk? No, I don't mean that, I mean you can speak the language here?"

The language here refers naturally to the Federation of People language.

Before the war, this area all belonged to the territory of the Federation of People, and the language used was naturally a unified language. It stood to reason that the residents of the shelter also use the Federation of People language, but he didn't know why these people were a bit different.

Chu Guang frowned slightly, looked at him and continued,

"Now, I am the one asking you a question."

"Answer me, who are you?"

Hearing the unkindness in his tone, Sun Shiqi quickly explained.

"My last name is Sun, and my name is Sun Shiqi. I come from Red River Town nearby! I'm a merchant!"

'Red River Town?'

Hearing this unfamiliar place's name, Chu Guang raised his eyebrows slightly.

He only knew that this was Qingquan City, located in the Hegu province near the center of the Federation of People. As for the other cities in the Hegu province, he was not very familiar with them.

"What are you doing in Qingquan City?"

With caution, Sun Shiqi responded,

"I am a merchant… So, I am here to do business."

Chu Guang's expression was still very indifferent.

"Merchant? Then why did I hear my companions say that you followed them?"

"Misunderstanding, this is definitely a misunderstanding!"

Sun Shiqi waved his hands and explained.

"I was planning to go to Boulder City. I happened to see them wearing blue coats on the road. I thought there was a shelter or something nearby, so I wanted to exchange something with you... I'm just a merchant, and I really didn't want to offend you!"

He didn't expect these people to be so perceptive.

If it's a general survivor's settlement, he definitely wouldn't dare to approach them recklessly, but it's different if it's a shelter.

These little cuties in blue coats were the famous silly people in the wasteland. They were very gullible.

They were usually the elites of the pre-war society or their descendants, and they were often self-proclaimed civilized descendants, arrogant and defiant.

At that time, he didn't think that it was a big deal to follow them. At the worst, he would be chased away like a beggar, and he would not suffer any loss.

But he didn't expect that after these people brought him in, they surrounded him without saying anything, didn't listen to him, and didn't even plan to let him leave.

They were not acting like those silly people at all.

Even with the stranger's explanation, his expression did not ease, Chu Guang still had a blank look on his face when he continued,

"Regardless of whether you have good or bad intention, you have indeed done something that offends us. I believe that in any corner of this wasteland, following is not a friendly act, right?"

Sun Shiqi was sweating profusely and bobbed his head.

"...You are right."

"Very well, it seems that you have realized your mistake," Chu Guang nodded, "but don't worry, we are reasonable people. Just now I have persuaded my companions and told them that you are willing to apologize for your rude behavior."

Sun Shiqi quickly dipped his head in agreement.

"Yes, yes, I am willing!"

Hearing these words, Chu Guang finally showed a smile on his face.

"Good. By the way, you don't mind if we choose the apology gift ourselves, right?"

Sun Shiqi was stunned, looking at the man in front of him with a dazed expression.

"Wait, what do you mean by choosing yourself?"

Chu Guang said as if it was no important matter.

"You can't apologize empty-handed right? Otherwise, how do we know if your apology is sincere? We won't scam you. At most, we just pick one thing from your bull's back."

While saying this, the smile that appeared on Chu Guang's face gradually disappeared.

"Are you… reluctant?"

Sun Shiqi had an expression uglier than a crying face, but he gritted his teeth and nodded.

"No! You can pick anything you like."

'These bandits!'

'What about the reservedness and pride of being a civilized person?'

'They actually robbed a ragged wastelander!'

'It's like a wealthy man who robs beggars on the side of the road. Wouldn't these people blush with their actions?'

'Damn these people!'

Sun Shiqi cursed in his heart, but a smile was still plastered on his face, he didn't risk showing any negative emotions.

Slowly, he had begun to realize that there seemed to be a fundamental difference between this shelter and the shelters he had encountered before.

As for Chu Guang, he didn't care what the merchant was thinking.

Because it didn't matter at all.

Seeing that this guy was so sensible, a happy smile reappeared on his face.

"Thank you."

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