"One gram of gold can be exchanged for one pack of instant noodles or one bottle of mineral water. Other things will follow the value of gold," Tracy said.
Actually, Tracy didn't know the exact value of gold in this world. She just gave a rough price. If people accepted it, she could earn a lot.
When the group heard her price, they didn't seem surprised. That meant the price wasn't too strange. What Tracy didn't know was that gold and jewelry still had some value in this world, but not much.
Her offer was already a high price. For example, a five-gram gold ring could only get you one plain steamed bun. So trading it for instant noodles was already generous.
The group looked at each other. They saw there was a chance to benefit. One person said to Tracy, "I have a gold ring, about five grams. Can I get five packs of instant noodles?"
"Of course you can," Tracy replied.
Tracy thought people would come back later to make deals. She didn't expect to get her first trade right away. She felt very happy.
Even better, after making her first deal, she felt a special connection. If she could finish one thousand trades, she would unlock a second apocalypse world. The spirit of her shop would also wake up.
A thousand trades sounded hard. There weren't many people here. But it was not impossible.
If these people told others, more people would come. Then she could finish her goal faster.
This rule of her store was not too difficult. In a busy place, a thousand trades would be easy.
After using a gold ring to trade for five packs of instant noodles, the group looked pleased. They asked Tracy, "What if we use gold to trade for rice? How does that work?"
"One gram of gold for one jin of rice. It's the same for other grains. I don't have any right now, but you can order. Next time just bring the payment.
Also, it's not only gold I accept. If you have working cars, other rare metals, or even rare plants, I'll take them too.
As long as it's something valuable, I will accept it," Tracy said.
They were planning to leave after getting the instant noodles. Now they had more useful information.
They didn't need to risk going to the city center. They could go to the base, trade for gold or silver, and come back to buy food.
What surprised them was that Tracy also accepted cars and other things. They didn't understand why she didn't just take the cars on the street.
But this was good news for them. They didn't need to ask too many questions.
"Tracy, please wait a bit. We'll step out for a while and come back," Kei said.
Gold and jewelry were more valuable and easy to trade. But other things could also be sold.
Before this, Tracy didn't plan to take such items. But her shop had special abilities. Even if she got cars from this world, they would turn into cars from her world.
She wouldn't lose money. In fact, it might be more profitable.
Also, selling too much gold could attract trouble. Trading small amounts of different things was safer.
Kei and his group went out to look for good things to trade. There were many cars on the street. But most of them were broken.
When the end of the world came, people ran in panic. Many car crashes happened.
Tracy only wanted working cars. So they had to search carefully.
Most of the cars on the road had been under the sun and rain for months. They looked bad. Not good enough.
They remembered a parking garage nearby. The cars inside should still be in good condition. They decided to check it out.
But they didn't know what price a car would get.
"Captain, no one has entered that garage. We don't know how many zombies are inside. If we go in without a plan, it could be dangerous. I can go check it alone first. I'm fast. If there are zombies, I can run away," Eric said.
"It's too risky for you to go alone. Gelmer will go with you. If there are too many zombies, don't fight. Just come back. We can always try other places," Kei said.
Eric and Gelmer walked to the underground garage. They were very careful.
The weather was super hot now. Not just humans felt it. Zombies also didn't like the heat.
Zombies would look for dark places to hide. A garage was a perfect place.
If zombies were in there, the number might be high. But maybe not.
This area had already been cleared of zombies. Even if the garage was a good place to hide, there might not be many left.
The two of them slowly walked to the entrance. It was very dark inside. They couldn't just walk in.
If they couldn't see and there were zombies, it would be too dangerous.
They stopped near the entrance where there was still some light. Gelmer took a metal rod and hit the wall.
The loud sound echoed. If any zombies were inside, the noise would attract them.
If only a few came, they could deal with them. If too many came, they would pull back.
They could lead the zombies to the street and fight them there. It was safer in the open.
If a big group came, they would leave and try again later.
Sure enough, after the sound, a few zombies came out slowly. There were five or six of them.
Not many.
It looked like most of the zombies in the area were already gone. Even though this garage was a good hiding place, it didn't have many left.
"Gelmer, get ready to fight. There are only five or six zombies. Let's see who kills more," Eric said.
After living in the apocalypse for a few months, they had fought many times with zombies. A few zombies were not a big problem. The biggest danger came from the number of zombies and the virus they carried.
During fights, they had to make sure they didn't get scratched or bitten. If they did, they would be infected. A single zombie was not strong or fast. After all, it was still just a dead body.
So every time they went out, they covered themselves completely. Besides blocking sunlight, the main reason was to protect their skin.
Regular zombies were easier to fight. This did not include evolved zombies.
People who survived the virus had stronger bodies. They became faster, stronger, and could react quicker.
So these five zombies did not cause any trouble. In just a few moves, Eric and Gelmer finished them.
After killing the zombies, they knocked around for a while to see if more would appear.
When nothing came out, the two of them went back outside and said to Kei, "There were just a few zombies in the garage. We killed them. It looks safe now. If we are careful, there should be no problem."
"Alright, let's go in. We just need a car near the entrance. No need to go deeper," Kei said.
The five team members entered the garage. They picked the newest and most complete car and drove it out.
Eric knew how to start a car without a key. That was the reason they could bring the car here to trade for food.
Soon, Tracy heard the sound of a car coming. A fancy car stopped outside the shop. The same group of people got out.
"Tracy, we're back. This car was in the garage. Please check how much instant noodles we can get for it," Kei said.
Tracy didn't know much about cars. The car in front of her looked different from the ones in her world. Even the brand was not the same.
To know the value, she would need her dimensional shop to change the car into something from her own world. Only then could she check the price online.
But she couldn't do that yet. The car did not belong to her, so the system could not start that function.
Even though she didn't know the exact price, the car looked expensive. The car was in good shape.
They looked like they brought it easily. Still, Tracy wanted to give them a good price to keep trading with them.
She knew she would still make a profit.
"This car looks very good. It doesn't seem to have been used much. But as you know, this is not normal times. So I can give you three boxes of instant noodles.
Since you are my first customers and I didn't prepare many items, I'll also give you two boxes of bottled water," Tracy said.
"Thank you, Tracy. Next time, we'll bring more gold. We hope you can sell us more food," Kei said.
Tracy was happy with the deal. Kei and his team were also very pleased.
They just spent a little effort to bring a car here. They got three boxes of instant noodles and two boxes of water.
It felt like they earned it for free.
And they could keep trading in the future. If Tracy had more items, they would have brought more cars.
"Don't worry. This was just a test. I didn't prepare much this time. I will open again in three days. I hope you all can come," Tracy said.
"Of course. We will come on time," Kei and the others said.
This was a great chance to earn food. They would not miss it.
Three days was not long. They could wait.
Back at the base, they planned to collect more gold and jewelry. Tracy had been generous. She gave them two extra boxes of water.
They didn't want to disappoint her.
Bottled water had high value. Even though they liked instant noodles more, that didn't mean the water was not important.
Most of the water outside was polluted. Drinking untreated water could spread the virus.
The water in the base was cleaned, but it was expensive. One bottle could be traded for two rough grain buns.
Of course, the buns didn't taste good. No one knew how many types of grains were mixed into one bun. They were small too.
But if you could eat one, you were lucky.
Being hungry was worse.
After the team left, Tracy took the car into the dimensional shop.
Luckily, things from the shop could go inside directly. Otherwise, she would have to go out and drive it in.
She checked what she gained today. One gold ring and a used car in good condition.
Once the system worked, the car changed into a model she knew.
If new, this kind of car would cost almost one million in her world.
Now it was used. The price would be lower.
But she didn't have a car. Selling it was not worth it. Maybe she could use it herself.
But soon, she would have more cars.
She took pictures of the car and posted it on a second-hand car app.
If someone bought it, that would be good. If not, she would drive it for now.
Later, she returned to the real world and sold the gold ring at a jewelry shop.
The ring was five grams. She sold it for 1,500 yuan.
If she had bought it herself, it would cost over 2,000.
She lost some money by selling it.
If the ring was her own, she would not have sold it at all.