A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

This villa is likely self-built, with a living room that's over a hundred square meters and furnished like a conference room. A huge oval conference table in the center of the living room is already full of people.

As soon as Huang Lin entered the house, a lean man in a suit and t-shirt, with a thick gold chain around his neck, greeted him. He grabbed Huang Lin's hand and said loudly, "Master Huang, I've been waiting for you for so long! Ever since you changed the feng shui of my house last time, I've had many good fortunes and my career has also developed greatly. I've wanted to visit you for a long time, but I was afraid of disturbing your meditation. Please don't mind, haha!"

Huang Lin wore a professional smile and said politely, "Mr. Lü, you're too kind. This is my livelihood. Now that your business is booming, I'll need your continued support in the future!"

"Not at all," the lean man in the suit said, exchanging pleasantries with Huang Lin as they walked to the conference table. Huang Lin pulled out a chair, but instead of sitting down himself, he respectfully said to Zhang Xi, who was completely shrouded in a black robe, "Please sit down."

Zhang Xi sat down in silence. Everyone else in the room looked at Zhang Xi with surprise, especially the thin man whom Huang Lin called President Lü, whose sharp eyes swept over Zhang Xi.

After Zhang Xi and Huang Lin were seated, people quickly stopped paying attention to them, as Huang Lin was always known for his eccentric behavior. The people around the conference table began whispering amongst themselves. Huang Lin also leaned over to explain the situation to Zhang Xi. The "General Manager Lü" from earlier, named Lü Haonan, was the leader of a group of thugs who made a living by lending money at exorbitant interest rates. In this apocalyptic world where all industries were withering, his loan sharking business was thriving. This Lü Haonan was shrewd and discreet; rumors circulated that he and Police Chief Li Yinglong were old friends.

Lü Haonan? He must have changed that name himself later, Zhang Xi thought to himself.

Huang Lin quietly introduced the two people sitting opposite Zhang Xi: an older man and a younger man. The older man was a teacher from Pingyuan University, and the younger man was the student union president of Pingyuan University. The two of them had secretly organized a group of students, and no one knew what they were up to.

As Zhang Xi listened to Huang Lin's introduction, he glanced at everyone. His attention was drawn to a group of men from Central and Southern China sitting at the back of the conference table, because of their skin color. This guy's skin was inexplicably orange. Huang Lin followed Zhang Xi's gaze to the orange-skinned man and said, "The Beggar Clan Leader, Lu Da!"

"The Beggars' Sect!" Zhang Xi was taken aback.

“Yes, a gang has sprung up in the last two months, and it’s gaining momentum. Just take a walk on the street and look at the people living in shacks, and you’ll understand why this beggar gang has appeared.” Huang Lin then introduced a group of people, all of whom were private groups: a business association, a sports club, and even a small group of low-level civil servants. The small living room was filled with twenty-three leaders of various groups from Pingyuan City.

As everyone was chatting animatedly, a deep voice suddenly silenced them: "Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting!" A young man walked in, with a hooked nose, dark circles under his eyes, and a gloomy look. Zhang Xi immediately recognized him as Li Chengyu's cousin, Li Xianda!

Everyone had been waiting for Li Xianda. The reason his voice could quiet everyone down was not because it was particularly charming, but because his arrival meant that the main topic of the gathering could begin.

Li Xianda swept his gloomy gaze across the crowd, his eyes lingering briefly on Zhang Xi before quickly shifting away. He said, "We're all acquaintances here, and time is limited, so let's get straight to the point. Last time you all complained about the inferior goods I brought, so this time I've brought even better merchandise. Take a look for yourselves!" As soon as he finished speaking, several young men carried in three large, grass-green military-grade wooden crates from outside the door behind Li Xianda. They laboriously placed the crates on the table, making the solid wood conference table appear heavy, and the crowd's gazes hardened.

The first wooden crate was opened, revealing rows of brand-new assault rifles coated with gun oil. Li Xianda picked one up, pulled the bolt back, and the smooth, pleasant sound of the bolt sliding down spoke volumes about its excellent quality as an assault rifle.

“These are brand new guns that have just come off the production line and are being deployed to active-duty field units and counter-terrorism units. They are incomparable to the old guns you’re used to handling,” Li Xianda said, raising his chin.

The second wooden crate was opened, and inside were rows of hand grenades neatly stacked.

“The latest high-powered grenade. In experiments, one of these grenades can directly blast a black wolf within five meters of the blast point.” As Li Xianda spoke, he opened the third box, which was full of bright orange bullets. He continued, “Military high-explosive dumdum rounds. I don’t need to introduce these bullets, do I?”

Lu Haonan spoke first: "Young Master Li, we're all acquaintances, just name your price." As he spoke, he laboriously lifted a leather suitcase at his feet onto the table, opened it, and found it neatly filled with gold bars.

Li Xianda looked at Lü Haonan's gold bars with satisfaction, cleared his throat, and said, "This time I brought a total of 180 guns, 100 grenades, and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. There are too many monks and not enough porridge, so you can make the bids."

Everyone looked at Lü Haonan. In this day and age, no private group could compare with loan sharks in terms of gold reserves. The crowd wisely chose to remain silent and gave up the first round of bidding.

Lu Haonan was a man of principle; he didn't want to hog the spoils and incur the wrath of the crowd. In the end, he used two large chests of gold to buy eighty guns, fifty grenades, and thirty thousand rounds of ammunition. Then, a bidding war ensued, and the remaining weapons were quickly snapped up. To Zhang Xi's great surprise, the second biggest spender present was Lu Da, a member of the Beggars' Sect. He bought twenty guns and five thousand rounds of ammunition.

Fortunately, everyone gained something. Even Huang Lin bought five guns. Huang Lin was quite embarrassed about buying the guns and whispered to Zhang Xi, "As you know, I don't actually have any real skills. I still need these guns for self-defense. I also have a few trustworthy apprentices."

Zhang Xi expressed his understanding, and the transaction came to an end. Huang Lin glanced at Zhang Xi, then stood up and said, "I also have some things to sell. I wonder if anyone is interested?" As he spoke, he took out some expensive cigarettes, alcohol, and commonly used medicines and placed them in front of him.

A mocking laugh came from directly opposite. The student council president sneered, "Cigarettes and alcohol? What era are we living in? Still thinking about enjoying life? Everyone's struggling to make ends meet, who has the spare money to buy these things?" Young college students have never had a good impression of charlatans like Huang Lin. These charlatans are nothing but clowns who swindle and cheat.

However, not everyone present agreed with his point of view. Lü Haonan jumped in again and said, "Hehe, Master, I'll take all those antibiotics and common medicines, and I'll also take those bottles of Moutai and red wine. Please open the menu."

Li Xianda interjected, "Mr. Lü, let me have those bottles of wine. These two have very sharp eyes; they can tell at a glance that these bottles are genuine."

With the increasing number of monsters, food became scarce. Brewing wine requires a large amount of grain, so major wineries were ordered to cease production long ago. In addition, many famous wineries are located far from cities, making it uneconomical to waste military resources. Therefore, things like Moutai and imported red wine are becoming increasingly rare.

Of course, you can still buy alcohol on the black market, but it's all diluted with spirits or low-quality homemade liquor, nowhere near comparable to these famous brands. These liquors are meaningless to others, but they're extremely useful to people like Lü Haonan and Li Xianda.

Faced with their arguments, Huang Lin smiled and said, "I have a few more bottles of such fine wine, enough for the two of you to share. There's no need to argue; it just depends on whether you can meet my asking price."

"I don't want gold!"

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