Apocalypse: I have a supermarket stocked with supplies

Chapter 78: Pei Qing

“Alright, don’t think too much about it. Just focus on your work,” Wang Xin said, holding a bowl of gruel in one hand and patting Xiao Cao’s shoulder comfortingly with the other.

“Mm,” Xiao Cao felt a bit regretful but not for long. Life was not bad now. They had food every day.

They had a job.

So many people were jobless and eating dirt.

At that moment, Ah Qian came over with a bowl cleaner than his face, looking secretive.

For the past few days, Ah Qian hadn’t been staying with them. After hearing Wang Xin’s words, he wanted to learn from Wang Xin and become an informant.

He had been trying lately, following around some big brothers.

And sure enough, he’d managed to catch wind of some news.

“Brother Wang Xin, Xiao Cao. I’ve got news,” Ah Qian said mysteriously, sitting beside them.

“What is it?”

“The supermarket. I was helping those guys with their work, right? And I overheard them talking about the supermarket,” Ah Qian said, glancing around as he spoke.

“What about the supermarket?” Wang Xin became interested in this news. He still remembered where their sausages and instant noodles had come from.

“The supermarket isn’t flooded! It’s moved to the mountaintop. Now they’re using Crystal Cores as currency, open at night,” Ah Qian said excitedly.

“Really?!” Xiao Cao was excited, too, but remembered to keep her voice down, letting out only a soft exclamation.

Xiao Cao felt a fondness for the supermarket, and the unseen owner seemed nice, too. The supermarket owner had given them a meal, complete with sausages and a box of instant noodles.

That was the best meal she had ever had, and she still remembered the savory taste of the meat.

“Yeah. Several of them were saying so. Some even went and bought stuff at the supermarket,” Ah Qian continued, sounding a bit regretful. “Why hasn’t anyone from our cave gone to buy anything?”

The cave they had been staying in before didn’t have any rumors going around.

“With so many caves around, the one we were staying in was quite far from the mountaintop, and we hardly went out. With barely any Superpower Users, maybe no one had gone,” the cave they had been staying in was one of the worse ones.

It was crowded with many ordinary people.

And there were hardly any Crystal Cores.

Superpower Users would carry Crystal Cores with them, practicing whenever they had the chance. Ordinary people, like them, had no use for Crystal Cores, especially kids like them who never came across Zombies.

They valued their lives and mostly picked wild vegetables or took on some base-cleaning or moving tasks. They usually didn’t encounter Zombies.

And they hardly ever came across Crystal Cores.

After all, for ordinary and poor people like them, Crystal Cores were of no use. They wouldn’t go out of their way to buy them.

“Should we go then?” Ah Qian couldn’t stop thinking about the kind and beautiful owner.

Her food was so delicious.

Slurp.

Ah Qian wiped away the drool that had trickled down.

Wang Xin was happy to hear the supermarket news but was calmer than Ah Qian.

He pointed out a harsh reality with ruthless accuracy.

“We don’t have Crystal Cores. Without Crystal Cores, we have no money, we can’t buy anything.” They couldn’t keep taking advantage of the owner like last time.

If they were about to starve to death, unable to survive, Wang Xin might think of taking advantage of Su Yinhe like before.

But now they had jobs, and although they didn’t eat much, it was enough, a bowl of water could fill them up quite well.

How could they take advantage of Galaxy again?

She had helped them, but that didn’t mean she should every time.

“Right.” Ah Qian hung her head in disappointment.

They didn’t have any Crystal Cores.

“Alright, let’s focus on work.” The owner had already given them an entire box of instant noodles, how could they be so greedy?

Wang Xin said it and then forgot about it, concentrating on working hard.

But Ah Qian remembered it.

She pondered it daily, while working, sleeping, constantly thinking about it.

Whenever she saw a Superpower User counting Crystal Cores, she couldn’t control her gaze, staring intensely at the Crystal Cores in their hands.

Her stare was just too noticeable. The Superpower User tried counting but couldn’t concentrate anymore.

Pei Qing was a Wood-element Superpower User, but he was so weak that the agricultural team at the base didn’t want to take him in.

They didn’t want him for hunting either, fearing he’d be a drag on the team.

As a result, he ended up competing with ordinary people for food.

If he were a Superpower User with more pride, he might have exploded with rage.

But Pei Qing didn’t mind it at all.

He was a poor student before the apocalypse and enjoyed lying flat.

When the apocalypse miraculously spared him, he just muddled through, managing to keep himself from starving.

As a Wood-element Superpower User, he was feeble but there were still people asking for his help.

For instance, some obstinate Superpower Users liked growing vegetables and when their plants were dying, they’d hand over a few Crystal Cores and a bit of food, treating him like a last-ditch effort to save their crops.

When he managed to revive them with his superpower, those who sought his aid would pay him with some food and Crystal Cores.

The food was consumed, but he saved the Crystal Cores.

Having little talent, he had never been able to level up.

The Crystal Cores were of no real use to him, but he couldn’t bear to toss them; he’d take them out every now and then to count and kill some time.

Hey.

They were pretty good-looking, actually.

You’d wonder how such ugly zombies could have something so beautiful in their brains.

Today, after finishing his work, Pei Qing counted the Crystal Cores he had amassed and realized a child was eyeing him intently.

The child’s gaze was piercing and rather unsettling.

“Want one? Here, it’s yours.” Pei Qing tossed the ugliest Crystal Core to the kid.

“For me? You’re giving it to me?” Ah Qian couldn’t believe his good fortune.

“It’s yours,” Pei Qing said nonchalantly with a nod. After all, he had plenty of Crystal Cores, being a Wood-element Superpower User.

If he put in a bit of effort, he could live without worrying about food, not to mention hoarding it.

But he was too lazy and didn’t really like using his superpower.

His superpower level was too low, making him feel drained every time he used it.

It was too exhausting.

He didn’t like that.

So he’d only help people save their precious vegetables when he was short on food.

Though they would die soon after being saved anyway.

“No thanks. I don’t even know you.” Ah Qian verbally declined, but his grip on it was tight.

Seeing this, Pei Qing sneered.

“It’s yours. I don’t need it.” He was too lazy to level up anyway, and the Crystal Cores were useless to him, so he just counted them when he was bored.

The poor kid wanted it, so he gave it away.

It wasn’t easy for him either.

When he was that young, he was crouching in the school bathroom sneaking in some novel reading.

“Thank you,” said Ah Qian, delightedly accepting it and fondling it repeatedly.

“Kid, you don’t have a superpower, what do you need a Crystal Core for?”

“Of course, it’s useful,” Ah Qian replied, holding the Crystal Core up close for a careful examination.

Great, he had a Crystal Core now. Could he go to the supermarket to buy things?

He wanted to eat instant noodles.

After inspecting the Crystal Core, Ah Qian looked at the indolent man and hesitated a moment.

“Hey. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“What?” Pei Qing asked, barely lifting his eyes.

“Keep that Crystal Core safe. You can buy things with it.”