Apocalypse Rebirth: Beauties Surround Me

Chapter 101: The Transaction

Elijah looked at Quentin and began to speak:

"We are not just a few people here. In our settlement, many others are waiting for us to bring back food. But you are right about one thing—there's so much food here, and some of it has a short shelf life. We can't finish it all ourselves, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. So, we can give you some, but not for free."

As Elijah spoke, he took a corpse core out of his pocket and showed it to them.

"I call this thing a corpse core. You can find them near the back of some zombies' heads. If you want food, exchange it for these! I'll take as many as you can bring!"

After finishing, Elijah closed his mouth and quietly observed them.

He wasn't worried about the corpse cores being discovered.

Lily had already found these things before meeting them. Without knowing how to use them, corpse cores were just toxic crystals.

Currently, only he, Bella, and Daisy knew how to use them.

Even Charlotte and Fiona were not informed.

All they knew was that the zombies controlled by Elijah needed corpse cores.

And that was indeed the case. Elijah needed a large number of corpse cores to cultivate a few mutated zombies.

Initially, he planned to collect corpse cores himself by hunting more zombies when he had time.

Meeting Quentin and his group provided an opportunity to use the short-shelf-life food in exchange, which was much quicker and easier than hunting zombies himself.

"This thing is called a corpse core?" Quentin asked, surprised, as he looked at Elijah. He then pulled one out of his pocket.

He had stumbled upon it while killing zombies.

Not every zombie had one, and he had no idea what they were for. It just seemed interesting, so he kept a couple.

"What is it used for?"

"No comment!" Elijah replied coolly.

Quentin was silent for a moment.

"How much food can one corpse core get?"

"About five days' worth for a normal person!"

When Quentin had been clearing zombies in the neighborhood, he had specifically studied corpse cores and found that roughly one in every four to five zombies had one.

This meant that if someone killed one zombie per day, they wouldn't go hungry. Killing zombies was easy for him, so he thought this trade was worthwhile. He nodded.

"Alright! I happen to have two corpse cores here. Give us food for ten days! We'll collect more and come back for another exchange!"

"Deal!"

Elijah called Lily over and whispered a few instructions to her.

Lily immediately went to the transport vehicle, took out a few packs of instant noodles that had just been loaded, along with some pickled vegetables and sausages, packed them into a small cardboard box, and placed it in front of Elijah.

Elijah looked at the supplies: six large packs, each containing five bundles of instant noodles, totaling 30 packs, along with 30 sausages and 10 packs of pickled vegetables.

This amounted to three meals a day, each consisting of one pack of noodles, a sausage, and some pickled vegetables.

It would keep them from starving, but it wasn't much in terms of quantity or quality.

Given the urgency, instant noodles would do for now.

Once they cleared out the supermarket, they could use perishable foods like bread and milk for future exchanges.

"For this first trade, I'm throwing in sausages and pickled vegetables as a bonus. Take a look!" Elijah said, kicking the box over.

Quentin accepted the box and rummaged through it, understanding the quantity of food for ten days.

It was sufficient for an average person, but far from enough for someone with his high physical demands. However, he didn't complain.

He handed Elijah the two corpse cores.

"Alright, two corpse cores for ten days' worth of food. Quick question: besides corpse cores, can we trade anything else?"

Elijah thought for a moment. "Gasoline and diesel are also acceptable, but nothing else for now. I'll let you know if I think of anything."

Gasoline and diesel were non-renewable resources, becoming scarcer with each use. They were essential for future supply runs, so collecting more was beneficial.

"How do we trade gasoline and diesel for food?"

"One liter for one day of food."

"Only one day for a liter? Why don't you just rob us! Do you know how valuable gasoline is now?" Ryan, the most vocal dissenter, protested again.

Ryan didn't know the value of corpse cores, so he had no opinion on that trade.

But gasoline was crucial even before the apocalypse, and now it was even more precious. Trading it for just three packs of noodles was outrageous to him.

"If gasoline is so important, you can drink it when you're hungry," Elijah retorted indifferently.

"You bastard..." Ryan grabbed an iron rod and tried to rush at Elijah, but Quentin stopped him.

"Quentin…"

"If you still consider me your leader, then stand down!" Quentin's eyes flashed coldly.

Ryan felt a chill, recalling Quentin's ruthless methods of killing zombies. He didn't dare move and obediently stepped back.

"Ah, Quentin, your subordinate doesn't seem very obedient," Elijah said sarcastically.

"Sorry to show you this. May I ask your name?" Quentin extended his hand to Elijah.

"Elijah." Elijah shook hands with Quentin.

"Alright, as you said. We'll gather more corpse cores and return soon for another trade."

"Fine. Bring as many as you can. Food is limited, first come, first served."

Quentin handed the food to someone behind him and waved to Elijah. "We'll be off then. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye, take care!" Elijah watched the group of eight leave, only turning to Hannah and Lily once they were out of sight.

"It seems we need to change our plans. Lily, continue moving things from the warehouse. Hannah, stay at the warehouse entrance and keep an eye out. I'll go clear out the underground supermarket. Once you've filled the transport vehicles and boxes, meet me at the supermarket. We'll sort out all the food with a shelf life of 30 days or less."

"Got it!" Hannah and Lily responded.

"I don't think that group will all follow the rules…" Hannah recalled the lecherous looks from a few men and warned Elijah.

"I know! If any of them break the rules, we'll deal with them in kind!" Elijah replied with a cold smile.

Seeing that Elijah had it under control, Hannah felt reassured, and the three immediately went about their tasks.

Meanwhile, Quentin's group headed back, extracting corpse cores from the zombie corpses they had previously killed along the way.

Quentin also instructed his team to clear out the zombies in the cars they passed.

Previously, they hadn't bothered, but now that corpse cores could be traded for food, they couldn't afford to waste any opportunity.

They worked in pairs, efficiently harvesting the cores.

"Ryan, what do you think that guy wants these corpse cores for?" asked the man paired with Ryan, as he extracted a core.

"No idea, but it's definitely important. Otherwise, he wouldn't trade five days' worth of food for one corpse core. What do you think, Samuel?"