The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Those who are capable of producing the Mysterious Stone will not speak casually... They will observe, judge whether the message is worth replying to, and weigh the pros and cons in their minds.

Su Mu knew better than anyone how difficult it was to obtain the Mysterious Crystal.

He spent an entire night farming Poison Fireflies and only managed to collect a little over four hundred.

Ordinary people, without quivers or traps, are lucky to catch a few animals in a night by hand. A single strange stone, however, is a considerable asset for most. No one would willingly waste it on idle chatter unless absolutely necessary.

However, "no one replied" does not mean "no one saw it".

Su Mu glanced at his private chat list... The numbers on the message icons were jumping wildly. 99+, then 199+, and then it just turned into "...".

The backend messages exploded instantly.

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

This effect was far superior to sending messages in the regional channel. The cost of speaking with a single Mystic Stone filtered out the idle onlookers, but left behind those with real resources, needs, and a willingness to trade. These were the trading partners he wanted.

However, Su Mu did not immediately check his private messages.

He leaned against the wall and waited patiently.

The silence on the public channel lasted for about a minute.

Then, finally someone broke the silence.

[977 Cable - Chen Guoliang: Buying all kinds of blueprints, materials, and consumables. Physical exchange is possible; prices are fair. Private message me.]

Su Mu glanced at the ID... Chen Guoliang, the profile picture was of a middle-aged man with half-gray hair but a vigorous appearance. After sending the purchase request, the other party added:

[The guy above named Su Mu reacted really quickly. Let's be friends, I'm from 977 Cable. We can cooperate in the future.]

Su Mu raised an eyebrow slightly.

This guy is interesting.

He didn't reply immediately. He wanted to see how things went first.

In the next few minutes, several more messages appeared on the public channel.

Some people were buying breakthrough runes, some were selling blue-quality materials, some were inviting talented individuals to team up, and some were inquiring about information about Ash City. Each message was accompanied by a cable number and ID, neatly arranged, without any fluff, emojis, or meaningless "likes" or "first comments."

Su Mu went through them one by one, silently memorizing the IDs and avatars.

There were more than thirty messages in total.

In other words, during this period, at least thirty or forty people were willing to spend one Ghost Stone to speak in the public channel. The fact that they could afford to use Ghost Stones and dare to use them for something as non-essential as "speaking" demonstrates that these people have a certain level of strength and confidence.

Su Mu went through these people's IDs and avatars in his mind and got a general impression of them.

Chen Guoliang of 977 Cable... His profile picture is that of a middle-aged man with half-gray hair. He was the first person to reply to him in the public channel, taking the initiative to show goodwill.

The profile picture of "Zhao Feiyu" on cable 1024 is a hooded silhouette. He posted a message asking for blue-quality professional books, and his tone was quite arrogant.

The profile picture of "Li Tieshou" on cable 541 is a muscular fist. He posted a message that read, "Selling high-level monster materials, only for weapons," which was simple and direct.

There were a few people he glanced at more than once... some because their IDs appeared frequently in the channel, some because their messages were unusual, and some because their profile pictures looked intimidating.

Su Mu kept these people in mind.

It wasn't about making friends with them, but rather... in this Ash City, over the next three days, these people could all be his potential trading partners, competitors, or enemies. Having some prior knowledge was always better than being completely clueless at the last minute.

The number of messages on the public channel gradually decreased. After about thirty messages, the previous silence returned.

The cost of speaking with a single Mysterious Stone does indeed maintain the high quality of this channel. However, precisely because of the high cost, everyone carefully considers their words before speaking, unlike regional channels where messages are often spammed.

Su Mu withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and opened the private chat list.

Hundreds of messages should keep him busy for a while.

He read through them one by one, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Most of the information is just a matter of luck.

"Hey bro, I have a white weapon blueprint, can I trade it for a gun?"

"Want to trade food for bullets? I have fifty portions of food, I can trade them for a hundred bullets."

"Hey bro, I have some iron ingots, how about I trade you a pistol?"

Su Mu scrolled through the lines expressionlessly.

He had already written "No requests for anything less than white or with non-special drawings" in his purchase request, but these people clearly didn't care. For them, just getting a word in was a bonus; what if the other party suddenly agreed?

Su Mu simply filtered out all these messages.

Of the remaining messages, some are slightly more reliable.

Someone offered green-quality blueprints, but they were all standard blueprints for weapons and buildings—blueprints he either already had or didn't need. Someone was willing to trade materials, but the price was outrageous… trading a piece of bulletproof glass for an M4A1—it was practically robbery.

As for what he wanted most... something to repair the cable car's durability... there wasn't a single one.

There are no blueprints, no scrolls, and no skill books.

Su Mu sighed and was about to close the private chat when he suddenly saw a message.

The sender was an ID named "Chen Guoliang," whose profile picture was of a middle-aged man with half-gray hair but a vigorous appearance, looking to be in his forties or fifties. Su Mu recognized this profile picture... Just now, in the public channel, besides him, several other people had sent messages. This "Chen Guoliang" was one of them; he was the second person to speak in the public channel.

[Chen Guoliang: Brother Su Mu, regarding that thing you mentioned about repairing the cable car's durability, I don't have the blueprints or the reel.]

Just as Su Mu was about to swipe over, the other party's next message arrived:

[Chen Guoliang: But I have some relevant information. I wonder if you'd be interested?]

Su Mu's fingers paused.

Information. This kind of thing is the most unpredictable. It might be true, it might be false, it might just be something the other person made up to build a relationship. But he still replied:

[Su Mu: What information?]

[Chen Guoliang: Have you ever considered that what can repair a cable car might not necessarily be the blueprints or the spool?]

Su Mu frowned.

[Su Mu: What do you mean?]

[Chen Guoliang: Occupation. Is it possible that there exists a profession whose skill is repairing cable cars?]