Opposite them.
A massive convoy led by a gigantic eight-wheeled off-road vehicle, with no end in sight, was slowly decelerating and approaching them.
That off-road vehicle was truly enormous.
Its wheels were nearly as tall as a person.
One vehicle almost occupied both lanes of the highway.
The heavy, angular body had a strong sci-fi aesthetic.
It resembled a colossal steel beast slowly advancing through the wind and snow.
What was even more terrifying was.
On its roof, there was a turret.
The dark cannon mouth was wide enough to fit two fists inside simultaneously.
It was hard to imagine the earth-shattering scene it would create when it roared.
Liang Liyang felt a surge of fear in his heart.
He instinctively wanted to retreat.
But at that moment.
A new directive refreshed on the screen in front of him.
He was to represent Jianghe City and negotiate with the caravan.
"Why me?"
Liang Liyang felt like crying without tears.
But he didn't have the courage to refuse.
He could only brace himself and walk to the front. With a blank expression, he recited the lines given by the artificial intelligence.
"This is the territory of Jianghe City."
"Please stop and register your origin."
As soon as he finished speaking.
The off-road vehicle opposite did not respond at all.
It continued to lead the convoy, slowly approaching Liang Liyang.
Just as Liang Liyang began to doubt whether the other party had heard him and secretly gathered his strength to dodge before being hit.
The off-road vehicle came to a complete stop just one meter away from him.
Then.
A young man in a silver-gray suit, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, opened the car door and stepped down from the automatically deployed ladder.
"Are you the leader here?"
The young man casually scanned the surroundings.
He seemed completely unconcerned about the dozen drones hovering in the air, weapons pointed at him.
His gaze simply fell on Liang Liyang.
"I am not the leader."
"But I can represent Jianghe City."
At this moment, Liang Liyang had completely calmed down.
In the brief seconds since the young man had exited the vehicle.
A complete negotiation team had already been assembled in the underground shelter.
They were in real-time communication with Liang Liyang.
The young man now appeared to be speaking directly to Liang Liyang, but in reality, he was facing a large group of people.
"As long as you can represent, that's fine."
The young man spoke politely, yet there was always a sense of superiority in his tone.
"We are a merchant caravan from Changming City."
"We hope to reach some agreements with your side."
Minutes later.
The massive convoy from Changming City.
Began to slowly drive into a cleared square within the city ruins.
They set up camp on the spot.
At the center of the convoy, inside the off-road vehicle that resembled a land battleship.
The young man who had just negotiated with Liang Liyang looked puzzled and sought clarification from the caravan's actual manager.
"Director You, I don't see anything particularly special here."
"Why did we come all this way?"
"Do you really think this place is ordinary?"
You Zhixuan, sitting at the desk inside the vehicle, slowly raised his head. He looked at the young man beside him, Gu Zeyi, who came from a wealthy family in Changming City.
His gaze carried a hint of scrutiny.
"This?"
Gu Zeyi frowned, beginning to carefully reconsider the details he had observed since entering the city.
To his surprise, he did discover something unusual.
"The city is thoroughly destroyed."
"But it seems like a lot of the ruins have been cleared away."
"It looks like considerable effort was put into tidying up."
"What are they cleaning up the ruins for? Are they planning to rebuild the city on the surface?"
"What they think is hard to say."
"But I know."
"The scale of their mechanization is very large."
You Zhixuan nodded slightly, acknowledging Gu Zeyi's observational skills.
He opened a freshly drawn map marked with a wealth of data.
He gestured for Gu Zeyi to come over and take a look.
"The drones from the convoy just completed a preliminary scan of this area."
"They found approximately 140,000 workers wearing Exoskeleton Armor, 70,000 spider-shaped robots, and over 20,000 various vehicles."
"Continuously clearing debris from the surface of this city."
"And their operational efficiency is extremely high."
"There is a high probability that a supercomputer and artificial intelligence are responsible for planning."
As Gu Zeyi listened to the director's detailed explanation, his expression changed slightly.
Exoskeleton Armor was not something commonly found.
In a city with a population of over a million, the local security forces would typically not have more than three thousand sets of Exoskeleton Armor.
Having over a hundred thousand sets of Exoskeleton Armor.
Was enough to equip two regular army groups.
And the number of robots was even more staggering.
He had seen those spider-shaped robots working among the ruins on the road.
If ordinary people wearing Exoskeleton Armor might not be able to fully utilize its combat capabilities.
Then there was no such doubt with the robots.
As long as they could still move.
It meant they must possess combat capabilities equivalent to their size.
In the event of a conflict.
Seventy thousand Spider Robots.
Even if they relied solely on numbers, could completely overwhelm their merchant caravan.
"This type of robot has never appeared on the market before."
"If the people here developed and manufactured them themselves."
"Then that would be truly remarkable."
After recognizing the strength of Jianghe City.
Gu Zeyi quickly discovered what was truly terrifying about Jianghe City.
It was not the astonishing number of mechanized equipment on the surface.
But the terrifying industrial strength capable of producing them.
"Exactly."
"The higher-ups suspect that Jianghe City may have a complete industrial production system."
"That's why they sent us to take a look."
You Zhixuan revealed a secret mission that only he knew before departure.
"So if that's the case."
"Shouldn't we occupy this place—"
Gu Zeyi's eyes glimmered with a hint of desire.
Every young person has fantasized about dominating the battlefield.
"What are you thinking?"
"If their external claims are true."
"The population here has already reached over ten million; it won't be easy to take down."
You Zhixuan splashed cold water on him, his tone serious as he advised.
"We're here to make friends this time."
"If they really have strength, the higher-ups hope they can become our allies."
"Or at the very least, a closely-knit trading partner."
At the same time.
In the farmhouse courtyard, underground control center.
Su Wu also received news of the visiting merchant caravan.
And their covert reconnaissance activities in the city.
Could not escape Su Wu's watchful eye.
Thanks to the reconnaissance network he had established throughout Jianghe City.
He captured everything clearly.
"This caravan."
"Technology seems advanced in every aspect."
After replaying the video recorded when the entire caravan entered the city.
Su Wu vaguely sensed the substantial strength behind them.
After a moment of contemplation.
He decided to speak with the other side personally.
But before that.
He needed to make some preparations.
The Heavy Main Battle Spider Robots that had been set aside for a while due to time constraints.
Should now be put into production.
Only with these heavy weapons in place.
Could Su Wu have the confidence to engage with the other side.
And ensure that in the event of a failed contact, he could eliminate them at the lowest possible cost.
November 15.
The day after the caravan's arrival.
In the reception hall of the Jingyuan shelter.
Su Wu met the caravan's leader from Changming City through holographic projection.
"Very pleased to meet you, Lord Su Wu."
"I am You Zhixuan, the director of the Changming caravan."
In the face of Su Wu, whether it was You Zhixuan or Gu Zeyi, who was born into privilege and habitually carried an air of superiority, both displayed considerable humility.
This was out of basic respect for the supreme ruler of a population of over ten million.
Don't be fooled by the fact that most shelters in the apocalypse avoid refugees like the plague.
That was mainly because they couldn't afford to support them.
If they had even a little more resources, no one would refuse to take in more people.
Because the foundation of power comes from a sufficient population.
"Changming City is over 800 kilometers away, right?"
"What made you think of coming here?"
In contrast to You Zhixuan's formality.
Su Wu appeared much more casual.
He directly asked the question he was most concerned about.
"Your Jianghe City television station has already reached tens of millions of viewers."
"We in Changming City have heard about it."
"Plus, we happen to need a large batch of electronic equipment."
"So we decided to come and take a look."
You Zhixuan carefully chose his words.
"I see."
"What do you plan to exchange for it?"
Su Wu did not comment on You Zhixuan's answer.
However, he was quite interested in the trade itself.
"That depends on what you need."
"This is a list of goods we can provide; please take a look."
You Zhixuan transmitted a prepared product catalog to Su Wu via a tablet.
Su Wu opened it to find that the top two items were gold and silver.
Even the parentheses beside them specifically noted that the exchange ratio between gold and silver was 10:1.
This was consistent with the exchange ratio Su Wu had publicly announced.
Clearly, they had done their homework on this matter.
Below gold and silver.
There were various other precious metals and rare materials.
Water purification filters, as well as services providing purified water by the ton.
Including electromagnetic guns, drones, Machine Dogs, Exoskeleton Armor, and a series of military weapons and equipment.
Medicines for treating various chronic and special diseases, ordinary antibiotics, high-quality compressed food, and so on.
These items were also priced in gold as the currency unit.
And the prices were not cheap.
"A very comprehensive product catalog."
Su Wu appreciated it somewhat.
Aside from the precious metals that were akin to currency.
The other products were basically the supplies most likely needed by a shelter.
In fact, if this caravan had arrived a bit earlier.
Su Wu would have been willing to pay a hefty price to purchase that series of military equipment from them.
But unfortunately.
They had come too late.
Now that Su Wu had developed.
Aside from gold and silver, he had no demand for other products. In fact, if necessary, he could also provide similar products for sale.
After scanning the sales list.
Next was their purchase list.
Mobile phones, solid-state batteries, mid-to-high-end chips, electronic screens, and so on.
Su Wu was not very interested in selling precision components like chips.
The production requirements for those items were too high, and they could basically only be made by manufacturing centers, consuming a lot of rare resources.
Selling them directly would be akin to pure labor.
However, selling finished mobile phones was something he could consider.
The profit inside should be considerable.
After browsing through the list, Su Wu had a rough decision in mind.
He looked up at You Zhixuan.
"Mobile phones can be sold."
"But they can only be exchanged for gold and silver, as well as some specialized medicines."
"Are there no other items you would like to consider?"
Hearing Su Wu's words, You Zhixuan's expression suddenly turned a bit disappointed.
This was quite a gap from his previous expectations.
Aside from mobile phones, Su Wu was not selling anything else he wanted to purchase.
Out of so many items for sale, Su Wu only selected three.
Among them, while gold and silver were not easy to sell in the apocalypse.
They still served as a basic currency and material that could act as equivalents.
Using them was equivalent to spending real money.
The profit could not be said to be nonexistent, but it wouldn't be much either.
As for specialized medicines.
For some small shelters that were in urgent need, they might fetch sky-high prices.
But for a super-large force like Su Wu.
Its value was actually not much different from ordinary medicines.
There was not much negotiation space.
In this way.
The profit margin for this transaction was clearly not going to be high.
It was likely that they could only rely on large-scale purchases to earn a bit of hard-earned money.
"No need."
"Let's leave it at that."
Su Wu waved his hand, actively ending this meeting.
The remaining specific transaction matters.
Would be handled by professional business elites under him in discussions with You Zhixuan.
There was no need for Su Wu to personally intervene.
Watching the suddenly closed holographic projection.
You Zhixuan sighed helplessly.
He stood up and said to Gu Zeyi, who had been brought along to gain experience.
"Let's go."
"Director You, was this negotiation a failure?"
"We brought so many things, yet they don't want any of it."
Seeing that there were no outsiders left.
Gu Zeyi, who had been a bystander, couldn't help but voice his doubts.
"Not necessarily."
"One could only say we didn't gain any advantage."
You Zhixuan shook his head, seeing Gu Zeyi still looking puzzled.
He patiently explained further.
"The items we brought."
"Mainly relied on the fact that the other side couldn't manufacture them themselves to earn that monopolistic profit."
"For forces capable of self-manufacturing, their true value isn't that high."
"It's now quite clear."
"Whether it's military weapons, medicines, water, or food, the other side is not lacking."
"There's no need to spend a high price to trade specifically with us."
"We can only honestly exchange basic resources for their industrial products."
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