Chapter 12

A supply list was posted on the warehouse wall. Lin Tu snapped a photo and sent it to the Butler to translate, using it to confirm her haul this trip.

In the end, she had obtained about 7,500 rounds of ammunition, 30 rifles, and 45 handguns. Lin Tu didn't know the exact market price of firearms, but she'd just learned that bullets cost 4 credits each. By that calculation, she'd earned at least 30,000 credits... it felt like a dream, too unreal to believe.

Just as Lin Tu was feeling elated, Dong Huadan's words shattered her fantasy.

"I just checked the system mall. As I suspected, goods from D-level worlds have considerable quality defects, so the buyback price isn't high." After she spoke, everyone looked deflated. They turned off their phones, clearly having seen the dismal recovery rates.

Lin Tu looked back and forth at the screen. "?" What quality defects? What low buyback price?

But a vague memory surfaced: when the Butler had been pitching the [Iron Bulwark], he'd said the workmanship in her world was woefully underdeveloped. She'd scoffed and dismissed it then, but now she parsed his words carefully... could it be...

"Bullets are 0.1 credits per round; rifles are 30 credits each; handguns are 20 credits each," Zhang Zisheng said coolly. "So I'll get 425 credits." She nodded with great satisfaction.

"Great!" Zheng Yangyang cheered. "That's almost three D-level disasters' worth of pure profit! Jackpot!"

He couldn't calculate Brother Yongzhi's or Lin Tu's numbers on the spot, but he knew they'd be even bigger.

Lin Tu: "?" What 0.1? What 'great'? What 'jackpot'? Had she misheard?

"If you want to sell," Dong Huadan said with a smile, "you can sell to me. Once I become a full member of the Black Market, I'm going to run a shop, and I need a fresh batch of competitive goods."

"I'm willing to buy at higher prices: bullets at 0.3 credits, rifles at 40, handguns at 30. Of course, if you need to exchange for supplies—like anti-mutation pills, stamina-boosting coffee, single-use backpack vouchers, etc.—I can give you a better deal as well."

The Black Market lived up to its name—it was truly dark. Buyback prices were usually only a little higher than the system's, so for Dong Huadan to offer such a premium showed real sincerity.

Everyone's faces lit up, and they were ready to make deals on the spot.

Lin Tu, however, was thoroughly confused.

Based on Dong Huadan's quotes, she quickly did the math in her head and arrived at a number—4,800. It was a sizable sum, true, but a far cry from her get-rich-overnight fantasy.

Everything came down to those so-called "defects." Lin Tu typed furiously on her phone, asking the Butler for an explanation.

"Miss Lin?" After a moment, the negotiations concluded, and Dong Huadan turned to Lin Tu. "What about you?"

With the largest haul, Lin Tu might keep some, but the amount she could sell was still substantial. Dong Huadan was calculating her balance, worried she might not have enough to cover it all, when she saw Lin Tu let out a long sigh.

"I'm not selling."

"Oh, that's fine—wait, what?" Dong Huadan whipped her head around, and even the others, who'd been counting money, turned in shock. "You're not selling?"

"Yeah..." Lin Tu said, utterly dejected.

Her mood was complicated because she'd just learned from the Butler that the "defects" simply meant the goods had low value due to the world's low production capacity.

For example, metalwork from ancient times, measured by modern standards, would be considered "flawed" even if brand new and unused, because it wouldn't meet modern expectations.

Concretely, this flaw manifested as low durability—a higher chance of the item breaking. For instance, this batch of D-level firearms had a 49% chance of a fatal malfunction.

Lin Tu couldn't help but want to applaud her own luck. Thank goodness her pistol had fired twelve times without a hitch. A less fortunate person might have to swap guns after every single shot!

Although this batch had low value, from another angle, it was still useful. Bullets might only be worth 0.3 credits, but if you used them to kill zombies, each one would net you 1 credit!

From that perspective, even if she wasted a third of her bullets, she'd still end up with 5,000 credits—200 more than 4,800. Two hundred credits meant two million yuan. How was that not a win?

The only catch was that it was all theoretical wealth, like a boss's empty promise. She'd still have to work hard, actually kill zombies, to earn those credits. At least she had some consolation:

Clearing a disaster world not only had the main quest of surviving three months, but also a side quest for killing zombies. That side quest unlocked random rewards after reaching certain kill counts.

Lin Tu was long past falling for that kind of marketing—the so-called "super perks" that were really just corporate swag—but when she was truly hungry, she could choke it down.

Dong Huadan saw Lin Tu tapping on her phone and assumed she had contacts in the Black Market to sell to, so she'd decided not to pry.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Lin Tu said after a moment's thought, "could I buy something from you instead?"

"What do you need?" Dong Huadan was puzzled. What kind of hard-to-find item would another Black Market member not have? As a not-yet-open half-member, she probably couldn't supply it either.

She braced herself, only to hear Lin Tu list a few very common items:

"Anti-mutation pills, stamina-boosting coffee, single-use backpack vouchers... and I'd like to see what else you have," Lin Tu pushed up her glasses and added, "You mentioned earlier that you know a player who specializes in plant-based special items? I might need something like that too."

Dong Huadan agreed.

The two added each other as friends, and Lin Tu converted all 1.15 million yuan of her remaining pension savings into credits, which, combined with the 12 credits Dong Huadan had given her earlier, came to 127 credits. She spent them all on items.

She bought two bottles of 24-hour anti-mutation pills (50 total) for 60 credits, one stamina-boosting coffee voucher for 20, and one single-use backpack voucher for 45. Total spent: 125 credits, leaving her with just 2 credits.

The 100 credits she'd earned from killing zombies this round wouldn't be withdrawable until the game ended.

Though she now had some extra items, the realization that she was once again a penniless pauper stirred an inexplicable irritation in Lin Tu.

So she immediately stuffed all the supplies into the single-use backpack, planning to map out her route that night and start hunting zombies at dawn.

This single-use backpack could hold up to half a ton of things and lasted for two weeks, allowing her to take items in and out as she pleased. It was pricey, but perfect for someone like Lin Tu who had no place to store resources and needed to carry them around.

Seeing Lin Tu busy herself, Dong Huadan couldn't help but ask, "I thought you had a regular Black Market contact. Since you don't, why not sell your goods to me? I promise the price I offered is among the highest."

She didn't necessarily need to buy Lin Tu's stuff, but as a merchant, she couldn't understand why Lin Tu would turn her down.

Lin Tu shook her head, stunning everyone with her reply: "Selling isn't worth it. I'm planning to keep them for farming."

For a moment, Dong Huadan thought she'd misheard.

What? Farming what? What monsters?

As everyone knew, [Infinite Calamity] was a survival game. Players jumped between disaster worlds, facing immense survival pressure, and always avoided monsters. Sure, some players dared to fight, but... farming? Since when could you farm monsters?

It was such a novel phrase—she'd never heard it before.

Those two words simply didn't belong together. Not here.

However, Dong Huadan had never witnessed it firsthand, so she couldn't quite believe what kind of "farming" Lin Tu meant.

Lin Tu didn't elaborate.

Over the next while, the two parties were about to part ways. The squad planned to head north, looking for the government-established North Falls Sea Safe Base and hunker down there for the remaining two and a half months until the mission ended. Lin Tu, however, declined the squad's invitation since her home was right there.

After sorting their supplies, night had fully fallen. The squad shoved the sofas together, tore down the basement curtains, and padded them with clothes, barely managing to fashion two beds.

"Miss Lin..." In a half-awake daze, Tian Jingjing heard Zhang Zisheng ask, "Is that really okay?"

Zhang Zisheng's voice was calm, but it was clear this had been keeping her up.

Tian Jingjing slept soundly, murmuring sleepily, "I don't know if it's okay, but she's really strong, so I think it's fine."

"I think so too..." Zhang Zisheng stared at the ceiling. "So I'm wondering why she's so strong. Is it because she dares to kill zombies? But for us ordinary players... going against disasters is too risky. Even with guns, one slips up and you get hurt—like getting infected—and then you have to spend credits on treatment, right?"

Tian Jingjing let out a soft "mm," which seemed to encourage Zhang Zisheng.

She went on, "Besides, humans are so fragile. How can we fight disasters? One bad injury that's hard to treat, and you're pouring credits in—maybe costing more than you'll ever earn. And there's even the risk of death! Isn't all our effort to avoid death in the first place..."

Tian Jingjing's breathing had evened out, apparently fast asleep.

Zhang Zisheng sighed. "I don't approve of her choices. She shouldn't do this. It's too reckless."

She stared at the ceiling, still wide awake, her voice trailing off. "But I really hope she survives. And if she doesn't... I'll remember her."

The next morning, they all woke to find Luo Yongzhi running a high fever.

Just as Zhang Zisheng had said the night before, the human body was frailer than imagined. Sickness struck like a landslide. A burly man like Luo Yongzhi was now bedridden, too weak to do more than sip soup.

Worse, his fever was caused by a bacterial infection from an infected wound, which meant it wouldn't go away quickly.

After giving him some medicine, they decided to rest there for a few days.

While they were idly chatting, Zhang Zisheng suddenly heard a rapid staccato of gunfire from above, like firecrackers.

"What's going on?" She exchanged puzzled looks with the others.

"Could it be..." Dong Huadan felt the words about to leave her mouth were so absurd she nearly laughed. "Is Miss Lin... farming?"