Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 342 Material Handling, Playing Cards
These things were moved out as usual, but with so many items, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei absolutely could not transport them all back to Caiyang Mountain at once.

The two men took stock on deck; their bountiful haul from this trip on the ship totaled:

51 boxes of small umbrellas x 10 pieces + 34 pieces, totaling 544 pieces;
7 cartons of cigarettes x 10 packs + 12 packs, totaling 82 packs;
10 bottles of various alcoholic beverages;
One gold bar;
Four pistols and 79 bullets;
One diesel generator, which is damaged;
Waterproof tool kit: 1 wrench, 1 set of screwdrivers, 1 multimeter, 1 roll of insulating tape;
One barrel of industrial lubricating oil;
Six cans of "Fat宅快乐水" (also known as "happy energy drink");
Two packs of compressed biscuits x 4 pieces, totaling 8 pieces, each weighing 250 grams;
One can of coffee powder;
One can of tea;
One pack of compressed fuel blocks;
Half a box of dehydrated vegetable seeds, including soybeans, green beans, eggplants, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, and peppers, is much more diverse than what they previously found in Kensan City; it even includes watermelons.

Two pressurized cans of plant nutrient solution;
One medical kit contains one bottle of iodine solution, one pack of cotton balls, 20 packs of alcohol wipes, 10 rolls of hemostatic bandages, 10 packs of medical gauze, 5 rolls of elastic compression bandages, 5 boxes (50 tablets) of broad-spectrum antibiotics, 3 tubes of anti-infection ointment, 2 analgesic injection pens, one bottle (100 tablets) of analgesics, 5 bags of high-concentration saline solution, one set of surgical scissors/forceps, 3 sets of suture kits, 2 thermometers, one portable blood pressure monitor, and one emergency signal whistle.

10 boxes of waterproof matches;
One Go board and one set of black and white Go pieces;
One welding gun;
One waterproof camera;
Cash: 35 one-hundred-yuan bills, 21 five-yuan bills, 10 ten-yuan bills, 7 five-yuan bills, and 43 one-yuan bills.

These things don't necessarily need to be transported all the way back to Caiyang Mountain at once. In fact, some of these supplies don't need to be kept by either them or Institute 923. They can be taken out and exchanged for supplies on Dongdao Island.

For example, a diesel generator. You have a dog in your own vehicle, and the 923 Institute base has a dome energy receiving prism. Moreover, the base itself can receive energy, so you don't need this thing.

What's more, this thing is broken, and it needs to be repaired if you want to use it.

For example, cash. It's not very useful to bring it back to the 923 Institute. It's better to see if it can be used as currency on Dongdao Island.

Lu Xi'an thought for a while and said to Yao Wei, "Let's grab some things and show them to Hu Xiaodong."

Hu Xiaodong was standing below the boat and had made a sound earlier, which both Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei knew.

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Okay." Then she asked, "What should I take?"

So Lu Xi'an handed Yao Wei a bottle of wine, a pack of cigarettes, a large sum of money, and a box of waterproof matches, then picked up the diesel generator himself and said, "Take these."

He actually considered whether or not to take the small umbrella, but after thinking about it, he couldn't bear to part with it.

Although there's still a lot left, it's a consumable item. Every time you use it, it's gone. Once it's all used up, there's nowhere to replenish it.

So after thinking it over, he finally gave up on taking it out.

The two of them grabbed their things, walked to the side of the boat, and jumped out.

Hu Xiaodong had been standing under the boat for a long time, but he couldn't stand anymore, so he sat down on the ground and looked up every now and then.

At this moment, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei finally jumped out, and he quickly stood up and patted his bottom.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei landed right in front of him, placed the diesel generator in front of him, and said, "Take a look at this. Does anyone on your island buy these things?"

Hu Xiaodong looked at it carefully for a while, then shook his head and said, "I'm not sure about this."

"There are some people on the island who like to tinker with metal objects. Their family has been tinkering with metal objects for generations, so they should be interested in this. But I'll have to ask them if they accept these."

"Do you two know what this is?"

He apparently doesn't know.

Lu Xi'an replied, "It's a diesel generator, used to generate electricity. You should know what electricity is, right? But this generator needs diesel fuel."

Hu Xiaodong said, "I know about electricity, but I've never seen it before. We don't have electricity here, nor do we have oil. I've never seen diesel or gasoline on the island either; I've only heard my grandfather talk about these things."

"We usually use lard on our island."

"But it's okay, that family likes to tinker. Even if this piece of iron is unusable, they might still take it. We'll have to go and ask them for details."

Lu Xi'an caught the key phrase in Hu Xiaodong's words: "So, people on your island raise pigs?"

Hu Xiaodong nodded and said, "Yes, there is. The family at the very top of our house has always raised pigs and sold pork."

"However, the meat they sell is too expensive, and we usually can't afford to eat it. My family only managed to buy more meat because you gave us a large coin last time."

Lu Xi'an said, "That can't be right, can it? You guys make a lot of money from the water business, right?"

Hu Xiaodong chuckled sheepishly and said, "We still have to be careful with our spending. We spend quite a bit every day, so how can we afford to buy all of it for meat?"

"We only dare to buy a little meat every ten days or so, and we don't even dare to buy fatty meat, we only dare to buy lean meat."

—For people who are now scarce in resources, fatty meat is far more valuable than lean meat, unlike when he traveled back in time, when people generally preferred to eat lean meat and disliked fatty meat.

Lu Xi'an absolutely refused to believe Hu Xiaodong's tale of his miserable plight.

There's definitely an exaggeration in that statement.

However, Lu Xi'an didn't care about this question and asked again, "What kind of pigs does this pig seller sell? If I want to buy whole pigs from them, will they sell them to me?"

Hu Xiaodong said, "That probably won't work. They don't have many pigs, so they might be reluctant to sell them."

Lu Xi'an then dropped the subject, deciding to wait and see what happened later.

He then asked Yao Wei to bring over a few other items for Hu Xiaodong to see, and Hu Xiaodong's eyes immediately lit up: "This is... cigarettes, alcohol, and playing cards?! What is this?" — He didn't recognize matches.

"Waterproof matches, for starting a fire."

Lu Xi'an explained.

"Oh, that's how it is."

Hu Xiaodong said, "There is a family on our island that makes tinderboxes. Everyone on the island buys tinderboxes from them when they need fire."

Lu Xi'an never expected that there would still be people in the world who knew how to make tinderboxes. This must be a skill that the islanders of Dongdao were forced to develop after being trapped on the island.

Moreover, Lu Xi'an knew without a doubt that this skill was not to be passed on to outsiders.
We'll have to wait and see how things unfold. In any case, for now, neither he nor the 923 Institute base is short of firepower.

Why do you call it a playing card ticket?

Lu Xi'an took the wad of cash from Yao Wei, waved it in front of Hu Xiaodong, and asked.

Hu Xiaodong glanced at the cash, swallowed hard, and replied, "This is for playing cards."

"I heard that it used to be used as both a major and minor currency, but for some reason it was stopped. The island then used the major and minor currencies we have now."

"Then I heard that someone once went to the ship and found two decks of cards, and also had a lot of these, which were used to determine the amount of winnings and losses when playing cards."

"Because of this, we all call these things playing cards."

Lu Xi'an asked, "Can this playing card be exchanged for something?"

Hu Xiaodong nodded and said, "Yes, you can. I heard that in the past, you could even exchange playing tickets for coins, or buy playing tickets with coins."

"Later, the people on the island played too much poker, so the committee stopped them from doing it."

"But it's completely forbidden now. Even the people from back then weren't allowed to do it. They almost got into a fight over it back then."

"As a result, the committee later came up with a rule that playing cards could not be exchanged for coins."

"Anyone who dares to exchange playing tickets for coins, or to buy playing tickets with coins, will be punished."

"But then people came up with other ways to secretly exchange playing cards for other things. And that's still happening now."

Lu Xi'an suddenly realized: "So, playing cards can be used as money, right?"

Hu Xiaodong scratched his head and said, "Pretty much, I don't know if it counts. Anyway, most of us don't have playing cards, and even if we do, we wouldn't dare to use them openly to exchange for things."

That's dirty money.

Lu Xi'an asked, "What about cigarettes and alcohol?"

Hu Xiaodong's eyes lit up as he said, "This stuff is very expensive. I heard that only the families who boarded the ship first had cigarettes and alcohol. And after so much time, those who had cigarettes and alcohol don't have much left."

"These are things that rich people enjoy. The wine is alright, there are people on the island who can brew it, but the taste and strength are not as good as the stock. But cigarettes are really a rare commodity, every one you smoke is one less you can have."

"The remaining cigarettes are now being sold at incredibly high prices."

When Lu Xi'an heard Hu Xiaodong say this, he suddenly felt that this isolated island overseas was not exactly a paradise.

But no matter what, this place is still better than other places on land.

—Except for 923.

Lu Xi'an said, "Take me to your market and find someone who has some good stuff and is willing to trade for playing cards. If you find one, I'll give you two cigarettes, one as payment for leading the way and the other as a reward for helping us find a market for the playing cards. Is that alright?"

He had already discerned from Hu Xiaodong's words that cigarettes had become extremely precious in this place, and that offering Hu Xiaodong just one or two as payment would be perfectly reasonable.

As expected, Hu Xiaodong nodded repeatedly upon hearing his words, saying, "No problem! No problem! But it's getting dark today, so the morning market won't start until tomorrow. I can take you two to find someone to exchange playing cards first. Please come with me."

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei put the cigarettes, alcohol, waterproof matches, and diesel generator back into the boat, keeping only the cash on their person, before jumping off the boat again to catch up with Hu Xiaodong.

Guided by Hu Xiaodong, they walked around the bottom floor, saying, "To get to the market, we have to go northwest first. We'll go from here tomorrow."

"Old Liu's family over there runs a fish maw business. Their fish maws are quite expensive, and Old Liu also likes to play cards. He'll definitely collect playing cards."

"You two...shouldn't you also need fish bladders?"

(End of this chapter)