Chapter 386: On To The Good Stuff
Rouxi lost interest in the core merchants long before they reached the end of the first warehouse.
And Yuche really couldn’t blame her.
The cores spread across the public tables were small, cloudy, and weak enough that even he could barely sense the power inside them. The sellers still demanded food, medicine, weapons, or fuel in quantities that would have made the exchange ridiculous even if the cores had been twice as strong.
What seemed even more astounding was the number of people who rushed the stalls behind them, willing to pay whatever the merchants asked for.
Letting out a long, disappointed sigh, Rouxi examined the last display for less than ten seconds before turning away. "I swear to god, they’re selling polished garbage," she grumbled under her breath.
One of the men hovering behind them scoffed with the merchant opened his mouth to reply to her, but Yuche looked at him, the expression on his face clear.
Not wanting to die, the merchant quickly closed his mouth again.
Rouxi continued down the aisle, carefully favoring her recently healed ankle even though she was clearly trying not to let the others notice. Zhenlan noticed anyway. His attention dropped to her feet every few steps, but he didn’t mention it while she was already moving slowly.
Chenghai followed behind them with the few things they had purchased so far. And none of them were cores. Even the men had high standards, and right now, it was too soon into the apocalypse for the really big stones to be a common sight.
They crossed into the next section of the market, where the stalls became smaller and the merchandise less necessary for survival.
This was the place almost no one went to, but the sellers were desperate, and desperation made them do things they normally wouldn’t.
But this was where Rouxi stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes got bigger and bigger.
A merchant, the closest one to the entrance, had arranged boxes of chocolate bars, candy, chips, cookies, and bright orange bags of Cheezies across two uneven tables. Most of the packages had been salvaged from stores months ago, but the stall was clean, and everything appeared sealed.
Rouxi changed direction so quickly that Yuche’s hand moved to her waist in case her ankle failed beneath her.
She didn’t seem to notice. "How much for the Cheezies?" she demanded, her eyes turning almost fanatical.
The merchant blinked at her. "The whole bag?"
Rouxi looked at the rows behind him even as she shook her head. "No. The whole box."
His confusion deepened like she was speaking a different language. "You want twelve bags?"
Rouxi froze fora second, a slight pout appearing on her face. "Is that what’s in the box?"
"Yes," replied the merchant, looking up to Zhenlan as if he needed his approval for the sale.
Rouxi wasn’t paying attention to where the merchant was looking, her eyes were glued to the Cheezies. "If that’s all you have...Then I want twelve bags."
The merchant glanced from Rouxi to Yuche, then toward Chenghai and Zhenlan as though waiting for one of them to stop her from spending so much on such useless things.
No one did.
Chenghai shifted the purchases already in his arms and stepped closer to the table. "Is there more than one box?"
Rouxi looked at him approvingly.
The merchant’s mouth dropped open again.
Yuche nearly smiled.
Most people entering the market went directly toward food staples, medicine, weapons, or power cores. No one spent valuable supplies on cheese-flavored snacks unless they had more resources than sense.
The merchant clearly believed Rouxi belonged to the second category.
He didn’t know her well enough to understand that both could be true.
Rouxi checked the seals on several bags, inspected the expiry dates, then pointed toward the chocolate. "Those too."
"All of them?" Chenghai asked.
She considered the display before her nose started to wrinkle. "No. Not the coconut ones. Those ones are just disgusting."
Chenghai nodded as though that were a perfectly reasonable boundary and began stacking boxes in his arms.
Zhenlan pulled a small folding stool from beside the neighboring stall and placed it behind Rouxi.
"Sit," he commanded as the merchant started to slowly fulfil the order.
"My ankle is fine," Rouxi protested.
"You’re leaning on Yuche," countered Zhenlan. What he didn’t say was that he was getting annoyed watching her clinging to the other man. She should be holding on to him like that.
Rouxi looked down at Yuche’s hand around her waist, then up at him. "I like leaning on him."
Yuche’s fingers tightened slightly against her side.
"So sit and lean," Zhenlan replied through gritted teeth.
Rouxi rolled her eyes but lowered herself onto the stool. She opened one of the Cheezies bags before Chenghai could pack it with the others and immediately began eating.
Orange powder covered the tips of her fingers.
The merchant watched her crunch through the first handful with the expression of someone witnessing a woman burn money for warmth.
Yuche found the sight far more satisfying than he should have.
Rouxi had been restless since hearing about the Devourer. Even when she joked, something tense remained beneath it. The weak cores had only made her frustration worse.
Now she was eating Cheezies in the middle of a black market and inspecting chocolate bars as though the Devourer had become temporarily irrelevant.
At least she was happy again.
They continued deeper into the warehouse district, Rouxi walking only when necessary and sitting whenever Zhenlan found something capable of supporting her weight.
The faces around them became more familiar.
The outer market was filled with scavengers and independent traders, but the deeper warehouses belonged to older networks. Smugglers, brokers, suppliers, and men who had worked beneath the Triad long before the apocalypse occupied the better stalls.
A black market of this size would never have formed without the Triad’s routes, protection, and contacts beneath it.
Head Luo might have controlled the market publicly, but much of the structure holding it together had once belonged to Yuche.
The first man to recognize him lowered his head without speaking.
An older broker near the next entrance stepped away from his table and bowed properly. "Dragon Head," he called out, just loud enough for Yuche to hear him.
Rouxi stopped beside him, still eating from the open bag.
Another merchant lowered his eyes.
Then another.
Rouxi slowly looked around before turning her head toward Yuche. "I didn’t know you were such a celebrity."
"It’s nothing."
A merchant immediately appeared with a sealed tin of imported tea held in both hands. "For the Dragon Head," he announced, holding it slightly over his head as he bowed low.