Chapter 23: The Lush, Verdant Leeks

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The “Trading Market.”

As soon as Colin unrolled the parchment, he saw this newly added feature.

Upon opening it, he found it already brimming with all manner of materials...

Especially in the food section, Colin couldn’t help but frown at the listings: “Putrid Mutant Flesh,” “Bones,” “Rotten Eyeballs,” “Fat Maggots,” “Aged Corpse Leg”...

“What the hell is all this ghastly stuff? Who in their right mind would try to sell such things...”

Colin’s lips twitched, disappointment flickering across his face. After all, he actually had some money to spend.

True, he did notice a few people who had apparently been lucky enough to hunt wild beasts and obtain fresh food, but when he checked the details, it was clear the sellers weren’t really interested in letting go.

“Fresh Wild Roe Deer Meat.”
Item Description: One pound of rib meat cut from a roe deer, extremely fresh, more nutritious than bread.
Type: Consumable.
Time Remaining: 1 day
Price: 10 pieces of stale black bread, 500ml of Tainted Dull Blood.
Vendor’s Note: Will consider trading for “Mist Points,” “Level-Three Water,” or other rare items—PM to negotiate.

Many listings were marked similarly, with no real intention to sell. Anyone with sense wouldn’t buy.

For now, survival meant staying fed, not eating well—a bit less meat wouldn’t kill you.

Ten pieces of black bread, rationed, could last many days, but a pound of venison, no matter how you stretched it, would be gone in a flash.

What’s more, the seller wanted 500ml of Tainted Dull Blood as well—by Colin’s estimate, you’d have to kill a hundred standard mutants to collect that much.

And those hundred couldn’t just be the “Howlers”—the weakest of the lot.

“Wait a minute...”

As Colin scrolled, he suddenly noticed something odd...

Once an item was posted on the trading market, the “Time Remaining” on its status seemed to freeze...

In other words...

Colin stroked his chin in thought.

The listing function on the market was being used as a refrigerator...

Time stopped—nothing spoiled, nothing rotted, nothing turned foul. Where could you find a better fridge than this?

Nowhere!

“No wonder everyone’s putting their stuff up for sale...”

Colin could only laugh at the absurdity, but then a thought struck him. He quickly opened his backpack and saw that several pieces of meat, which had been only mildly spoiled yesterday, had now turned moderately spoiled, and those that were moderate had become severely spoiled!

His face fell at once.

Mild spoilage gave off little odor, just a bit off in taste, but otherwise edible. Colin had eaten some just yesterday.

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Moderate spoilage, however, meant a clear stench—it could still be eaten, though your stomach might protest.

But severe spoilage was another matter entirely: the smell was overpowering, and the meat nearly inedible. That’s why Colin hadn’t bothered picking up any of the severely spoiled chunks by the door.

Without hesitation, he followed the others’ example and listed his own pieces for sale.

Once he saw that the time had indeed stopped ticking after posting, Colin breathed a sigh of relief.

“You really have to hand it to these people—their ingenuity knows no bounds.”

He chuckled, browsed the market a bit more, curious about what other oddities people had found.

As he scrolled, he realized the most sought-after item seemed to be water...

Yesterday, the shortage hadn’t been so apparent. Thanks to Colin’s tip, many had completed the daily task and survived on bread.

But very few had managed to find water...

Now, the problem had exploded.

A drop of water was worth its weight in gold—no exaggeration.

Not everyone was like Colin, who could see hints in the fog and locate water directly.

Most people didn’t dare venture far from their shelters—the mist was a deathtrap if you lost your way.

So, after a single night, water had become everyone’s top priority.

If they couldn’t get any soon, dehydration would kill them.

“The top trending topic in the world channel is ‘How to Make Water’... Wait, trending topics?”

Colin blinked in surprise.

He realized the world channel had been updated—it now had posts and a search function, looking a bit like a social network feed.

Replies to posts no longer required a megaphone.

At that moment, the top three trending topics were:
First—“How to Make Level-Three Water.”
Second—“How Not to Get Lost in the Mist.”
Third—“A Detailed Guide to Killing Mutants.”
Fourth—“A Survival Tip a Day.”

...

The list went on, all topics related to survival—no entertainment or gossip in sight.

“Damn, is this really the same trash heap I know?”

Colin muttered, scrolling further, his expression growing strange...

He noticed that number seven on the hot topics list was his own name... judging by the posts, some were thanking him, others cursing him...

Well then...

Turns out I’m the trash.

Colin couldn’t help but laugh as he opened the top topic, discovering that people had indeed come up with a number of useful methods.

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For instance, by heating monster limbs or any other moisture-containing items, they could evaporate the liquid and collect “Foul Water.”

A further distillation process would yield “Level-Three Water.”

This water always had a bit of a rotten taste, but nobody cared at this point.

They’d drink urine if they had to—this was water, after all.

That explained why all that rotten flesh and such had suddenly become hot commodities, priced cheaply—usually just a bit of wood or stone in exchange.

“What a loss...”

Colin thought back to all the flesh he hadn’t bothered picking up yesterday and felt the sting of regret.

Still, overall, the survivors were short on water—a single portion of Level-Three Water could sell for a fortune.

Even so, demand far outstripped supply.

“One servant for a liter of water—hurry, I’ve only one servant left!”

“Same here—trading servants for water. These useless servants only slow down my axe-swinging!”

“Here’s a big secret: combine black bread and water to make oatmeal! Much easier to digest than that awful bread—ate it yesterday and I’m still constipated.”

“No way, really? I hereby dub you ‘Colin the Second’...”

“Who’s selling water? Someone was just selling muddy water a second ago, but now it’s gone. Muddy water’s disgusting and you still snatched it up? Are you even human?!”

...

Reading these posts, a question suddenly popped into Colin’s mind.

Isn’t what they’re doing basically the same as me revealing the lamp-lighting method?

Why aren’t they being punished?

Surely not—so many people are doing things that should be punishable, and I’m the only one who got hit?

Colin felt a tinge of bitterness, but then a prompt appeared in his mind.

You ponder seriously and realize: only actions that involve the system itself and cause significant impact are punished—like the lantern.

Even if your initial intentions weren’t pure, and you feel a twinge of guilt for it...

You still saved many people.

“Guilt... significant impact, saved many people... There are still over six hundred people in my regional channel—yesterday, nearly four hundred died in my area alone...”

Does that really count as saving many?

A chill ran down Colin’s spine. Just how many people did this game intend to kill off yesterday?

“Enough. That’s not my concern right now. My sole priority is survival.”

Colin glanced at those clamoring for water and stroked his chin. “It’s not that I’m taking advantage of them—they’re the ones offering themselves up.”