Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 54 Bargaining
Zhuang Fan and his group followed Mao Shanwang's giant house crab to a city ruin in the wild.

The surrounding walls were broken and dilapidated, and even scavengers shook their heads when they came.

Watson stared at the six giant crab legs, thick and powerful, which left shallow pits in the gravel ground with a "click" sound.

The group carefully dodged the two enormous pincers; Zhuang Fan had no doubt that they could easily tear apart a floating vehicle.

"This is it."

Mao Shanwang pointed to a low cement building in the distance.

Its walls are thick, and the top still retains two watchtowers and several firing ports, making its defenses fairly adequate.

"The owner of the station is a bald old man who has sold everything in the recycling station, leaving only an empty shell and two scrapped androids."

He led the three of them into the recycling center.

There are only two floors on the ground, but the interior space is larger than expected, about 300 square meters, enough to accommodate 20 to 30 people.

There were some discarded metal and empty cans piled up in the corner, and there was a faint musty smell in the air.

Two androids lay in the corner, their metal shells covered in dark brown decay. In Mao Shanwang's opinion, they were completely scrapped and had no recycling value.

A concrete staircase leads to the basement level, which is also spacious and contains a hidden escape route.

Zhuang Fan estimated that with some modifications, the fortifications here would be sufficient to defend against some small bandit gangs.

A bald old man walked up, a kind smile on his face.

"Boss Mao, you've come to see this shabby place of mine again?"

"Old Tony, I've brought you some business."

Mao Shanwang pointed to Zhuang Fan beside him, "My friend wants to take over your recycling station."

Old Tony's gaze lingered on Zhuang Fan for a moment, his smile widening:
“No problem, I was just about to move to Zhongdu, this place is just sitting empty anyway.”

He held up five fingers, his tone full of sincerity: "Transfer price is fifty thousand gold coins, no deception, young or old."

"It's too expensive," Zhuang Fan said directly.

"It's not expensive, young man."

Old Tony waved his hand: "This price also includes those two androids. Although they're malfunctioning, the parts can still be sold for a good price."

Looking at the two iron lumps corroded by the decaying mist, Zhuang Fan guessed that perhaps it was because they were scrapped and had lost their main workforce that the old man chose to quit.

He pointed out several of the most obvious problems: "The two androids are severely corroded, and their core units are probably all ruined. Moreover, the location here is remote and far from water sources, so it's not worth 50,000."

Old Tony rubbed his hands together, his smile unchanged: "Young man, you can't say that. Look at this land, the walls are made of high-quality materials, and the foundation is solid. I paid a lot of money for it back then. The safety is there for sure. There's a reason why it's expensive."

Zhuang Fan frowned: "Safety is relative. I see some bullet holes in the corner, so it doesn't look impregnable."

"That's all ancient history."

Zhuang Fan and Tony negotiated for a long time, but the other party was only willing to lower the price to 40,000 and refused to budge an inch.

Mao Shanwang pulled Zhuang Fan aside and lowered his voice: "What's your bottom line?"

"Twenty thousand."

"Okay, leave it to me."

Mao Shanwang patted his chest and said, "You three go out for a walk and don't come back yet."

Zhuang Fan nodded and left with Hua Sheng and his sister.

Mao Shanwang walked up to old Tony, still wearing his憨笑 (simple and honest smile), and gently stroked his cat whiskers.

"Old Tony, one price, four thousand gold coins."

Old Tony was so amused by what he heard that his blood pressure spiked.

"Old Cat, I'm fucking fed up with your bargaining style! Forty thousand, not a penny less!"

"Hey, four thousand is too much. Don't worry, let me explain."

Mao Shanwang, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, began pacing around the recycling station, pointing and gesturing. "Your walls, here, here, and over there, are all cracked. Just wait for acid rain to corrode them."

"The ventilation vents are blocked, there's a musty smell, and the drains are clogged too. What's going on?"

"And the ground, the holes dug by the rat people, you haven't even cleaned them up properly. Since this place has been plagued by rats before, they'll come back again."

He walked up to the two androids and tapped their metal casings with a palm-leaf fan.

"The decaying mist has seeped into the core, and it will turn into powder in less than a week. These are just two lumps of scrap metal, and nobody would want them even if they were given away for free."

Then, Mao Shanwang pointed out the flaws more than ten times in a row, and old Tony's face began to show signs of embarrassment.

"Old Tony, it was I who recommended this piece of land to you when you snagged it at a bargain price."

Mao Shanwang sighed: "Now it seems that I was wrong. This place is remote and unsafe. No wonder no one wanted it."

Old Tony was stunned by what he said and almost doubted whether his recycle bin was really that bad.

He paused for a moment, then softened his tone: "Twenty thousand, that's the lowest I can go."

"Twenty thousand?"

Mao Shanwang sneered, "You should keep it as a treasure. You'll leave sooner or later anyway. Once you're gone, other people can move in for free, and you won't get a single penny."

Old Tony's face darkened, but he knew it was true. He muttered, "Raise the price a bit more, let me make some profit."

"At most five thousand."

Mao Shanwang held up five fat fingers: "You've made at least several hundred thousand gold coins here, so stop haggling over this transfer price. It's not fair."

Old Tony's tone softened completely, with a hint of pleading: "We're all acquaintances, how about seven thousand? Otherwise, I won't even have enough for my train fare to Zhongdu."

"Oh, how much is the fare, and which route are you taking?"

"Five thousand gold notes, through the Black Gold Trading Company's route."

Black Gold Trading Company can be found in many underground black markets in the wasteland, offering a variety of cheap goods, defective products, and counterfeit goods, which are very popular among wastelanders.

The ten major conglomerates turn a blind eye to it and rarely crack down on it, leading some to speculate that Black Gold Trading Company is a tool for the conglomerates to amass wealth.

"Single seat or shared seating? Upper cabin or middle cabin? How many days is the journey? Is there insurance?"

Mao Shanwang threw a series of questions at him.

Old Tony's face darkened, and his voice lowered considerably: "Combined seating in the lower deck, five-day journey, no insurance."

"Hey, seven hundred years ago, they would call you handsome, but behind your back they would call you a sucker."

"Soft-shelled turtle?"

"It means being taken advantage of."

Mao Shanwang lightly waved his palm-leaf fan: "Here, in the middle cabin of my airship, a single seat, a three-day journey, also the Black Gold Trading Company's route, with insurance included, the same five thousand gold coins, how about it?"

Old Tony's eyes lit up instantly, and he nodded quickly.

"Alright, I'll give you five thousand gold coins from the recycling center. That'll cover your transportation fare. Happy business!"

Mao Shanwang waved his hand: "Let's go, someone outside will take you to the boarding point."

Wait, why is it free?
Old Tony stood there, stunned, sensing that something was wrong.

"The train departs in two hours, so you'd better hurry."

"Okay, thanks." Old Tony snapped out of his daze and left, still somewhat confused.

Zhuang Fan came in after the matter was settled.

"how much is it?"

"Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life."

Mao Shanwang beamed: "I'll cut it down to 20,000."

(End of this chapter)