Li Tao stood to one side.
Although he understood every single word, when put together, he somehow couldn't comprehend the entire sentence.
He looked towards the most prominent part of the room, a large exchange list, which listed many items available for exchange.
The majority were food items.
Beef cans, pork cans, fruit cans, vegetable cans...
Chocolate, spicy strips, biscuits...
Even fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, duck, goose, fish, pork, beef, and lamb were available. Li Tao also saw the prices listed for them, the Contribution Degree he didn't understand, but there were also Source Crystal exchange prices. After looking at them, he felt they were indeed not expensive.
"All these things can be exchanged? There's such a variety of food, you could open a supermarket!"
"Isn't that obvious? Otherwise, what would they be doing here?" Peng Bo felt this person had too little experience, always making a fuss over nothing. He looked at the exchange clerk and pondered for a moment, "I'd like to exchange for a box of Snickers, two bottles of Red Bull, a pack of Qiaqia sunflower seeds, and also a bag of Lay's Potato Chips... Seems like I've chosen a bit too much."
Peng Bo frowned, "Chen, can you give me a discount?"
The employee surnamed Chen saw Peng Bo's fierce and formidable face and could only smile wryly, "Brother Peng, don't joke around, every item here has to be logged. Any discrepancy, and I'll be held accountable."
Peng Bo also understood this, but he was just craving snacks. In the end, he reluctantly removed some of his choices.
Lu Xiaopeng, standing nearby, showed a disdainful expression, ", you still want to exchange for time at the training camp? Not happening."
The clerk took out a special notebook to record the changes in Contribution Degree, which was a purely manual task and rather cumbersome.
Fortunately, the Sanctuary's population was not yet large, and those with Contribution Degrees were mainly members of the Patrol Team and a few other junior managers, still manageable.
Tang Yu also knew this method was not ideal, primitive and not only troublesome but also prone to errors. However, without a network in the Territory, or any programming personnel, implementing a higher-tech exchange system was indeed a bit of a challenge.
Chen recorded the changes in Peng Bo's Contribution Degree, then pulled open a drawer.
In front of him was a work desk, with cabinets on both sides, containing many drawers.
He opened them one by one according to the classification of the items inside and took out the items Peng Bo had exchanged for, passing them over.
Li Tao stood aside, watching everything clearly.
Each of these drawers was clearly filled with food!
He also noticed a freezer not too far away, still running on electricity; could it really be storing all that fresh meat?
Lu Xiaopeng patted his shoulder, "I told you to stay cool, don't look like your eyes are about to pop out of your head."
Li Tao looked at him, unsure of what to say.
Lu Xiaopeng pointed to the exchange list, "See, you're from that creek... Creek what Sanctuary was it?"
"Right, Creekwood Sanctuary. So, here's a piece of advice for you: don't be like Fatty Peng, exchanging for pointless snacks. If you're going to exchange, go for equipment. That's where the real value lies."
Li Tao looked towards the equipment list.
Compared to the abundant variety of foods, there weren't many items on the equipment list.
Standard Longsword (Common): 15 Contribution Degree/30 Source Crystal.
Standard Longsword (Enhanced Type 1): 30 Contribution Degree.
Standard Longsword (Enhanced Type 2): 50 Contribution Degree.
Standard Combat Uniform (Common): 15 Contribution Degree/30 Source Crystal.
Li Tao stared blankly at these pieces of equipment and the prices tagged behind them.
If those foods had seemed cheap to him, then these pieces of equipment were outrageously expensive.
Perhaps these were the same weapons and equipment worn by the Awakeners from Green Shadow; he admitted they looked decent but couldn't possibly be worth dozens of Source Crystals.
Lu Xiaopeng, seeing his doubt, pulled Li Tao outside.
He saw a survivor pushing a cart of scrap metal, called them over, and picked up a piece of discarded rebar. "Watch closely." He held one end of the rebar in one hand and a Longsword in the other, swiped it across, and with a flash of cold light, the rebar was cut into two pieces, clanging to the ground.
"Seems like that's not enough."
Lu Xiaopeng placed two sections of rebar side by side and, with a swish, the steel rod broke into four pieces.
He continued to arrange them together, this time simply placing them on the ground.
He had become addicted to swishing.
Li Tao's eyes sharpened.
As an Awakener who had fought with Demonized Beasts, he naturally knew what the greatest difficulty was.
Those cold weapons from before the apocalypse weren't very effective against Demonized Beasts.
A seemingly decent blade wouldn't last more than a few battles before it would nick.
But that was a minor problem; the key issue was that it took a lot of effort to inflict deep wounds on Demonized Beasts in combat.
If one were to switch to a sharp weapon...
Li Tao could imagine it.
What previously took great effort to pierce through the hide, with a sharp weapon in hand, could be sliced open easily, without needing to exert much force, and could lethally wound the Demonized Beast.
Having energy to spare also made the fight much safer.
In an instant, he thought of all the advantages of having such a weapon.
Once again, he returned to the exchange room.
Li Tao examined the exchange list more carefully, "Why do some pieces of equipment only list a Contribution Degree price and not Source Crystals?"
"That," Lu Xiaopeng pondered, "is probably because... I forgot?"
Chen Haiping finished his work at hand and walked in, "Only listing Contribution Degree means those items are not for sale to the public, they can only be exchanged by insiders with Contribution Points. Similarly, exchanging goods with Contribution Degree is much cheaper. For every unit of Source Crystals we submit, we receive a Contribution Degree as a reward."
"How about it, are you interested in joining our Sanctuary's Patrol Team?"
He casually tried to entice him to switch sides.
Li Tao's heart ached.
At first, when he saw the state of Creekwood Sanctuary, he wanted to recruit some Awakeners from here, but now he was the one being recruited.
He did indeed envy the Awakeners here, but he still clung to his last shred of principle and hadn't forgotten the purpose of his visit.
Li Tao said, "Then I'll buy a Standard Longsword of the common type."
He rummaged through his possessions, scraping together about twenty Source Crystals, "Some of these are from second-tier Demonized Beasts, that should be enough, right?"
Chen Haiping took them and after a brief look said, "That's enough, the Standard Longswords aren't here, wait for me a second."
Soon, Chen Haiping brought over a Standard Longsword. Li Tao tried it out and found it to be incredibly handy. Even though he had spent all his Source Crystals, he felt it was worth it.
His teammates envied him even more.
They too wanted such longswords, but after looking at the price, they felt utterly hopeless.
"Oh right, if you join our Patrol Team, you can get a set of equipment for free, including a standard longsword, a Standard Combat Uniform, and other gear like rifles and pistols," Chen Haiping suddenly remembered to add, "Of course, our Sanctuary sells these pieces of equipment long-term, there might be even more in the future. If you're looking to buy, remember to bring enough Source Crystals."
The others became even more envious.
If it weren't for the last bit of integrity holding them back, they might have changed camps right there and then.
Li Tao felt he couldn't stay any longer.
Otherwise, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold onto his principles any more.
His visit to Creekwood Sanctuary brought many surprises, but in the end, he achieved his goal, even if he hadn't managed to trade much...
Looking at the longsword in his hand, he felt it was truly valuable.
"So, to the folks of Green Shadow, we take our leave. I'll report back to our chief in detail once we return and we might come again."
Standing at the gate, Li Tao pondered one last time, "I just wonder if there's a discount for bulk purchases?"