After lunch, the "old tune team" got into the jeep and left Cliff Village in the name of "see if I could trade something" and went to Shanao Town to try to contact the people in the end of the year.
In a mountain town where many houses have collapsed, the convoy of the city at the end of the year filled the small square and several surrounding streets, some of which Jiang Baimian and others had never seen before.
The people of the end of the year city were obviously familiar with the rules of Cliff Village, and had already separated the convoy and let the vehicles loaded with important materials arrive at Shanao Town first.
These are all large carts, some carrying huge iron cans, which are used to hold oil things at first glance, and some are surrounded by iron fences, with the cries of sheep, beef cattle, and black pigs coming and going.
The stench they produced had already spread, and the smell of blood from the slaughter not far away made Long Yuehong hold his breath for several seconds.
"Is this transported from the ice field?" He slowed down for a while and said to himself curiously.
He knew that the valley where the end of the year city is located has a warm climate, fertile land, can be planted, can be grazed, but from the end of the year city to the cliff village, the road is basically covered with snow and cold and biting wasteland, it is difficult for these livestock not to freeze to death in large areas, there is no reason to survive so much.
Long Yuehong had no extravagant hope of getting an answer, because the other members of the "Old Tune Group" had never been to the end of the year and did not know the specific situation there.
He could only guess that this was either traded by the people of the end of the year city when they went to the south before, or they had a unique livestock frost resistance method.
At this time, a middle-aged man parked next to a nearby off-road vehicle, wrapped in a thick cotton coat and his face was full of traces of wind and snow, said with a smile:
"The pigs, cows, and sheep in our year-end city are all very frost-resistant, but the meat quality is really good, do you want to buy one and try it?
"Also, do you want to take a look at these furs? It's cheap!"
The trunk of the off-road vehicle next to the talking man was propped up, revealing sheets of nitrate fur, some of which belonged to common cattle and sheep, and some came from creatures on the ice field.
"Why are they frost-resistant?" Shang Jian Yao is poor to the bottom of it.
The middle-aged man seemed to have been asked similar questions too many times a long time ago, and replied without stumbling at all:
"Some are frost-resistant species left over from the old world, some are from normal cattle and sheep aberrations, don't worry, we have selected and eaten, and after so many years, there has been no problem, in the words of our elders, this is considered a benign aberration."
Shang Jianyao nodded and asked seriously:
"What is the average lifespan of your city?"
"Uh......" the middle-aged man was asked.
Obviously, the year-end city has not counted this kind of thing.
Shang Jianyao explained kindly:
"I mean, are there many people who die young in your city at the end of the year?
"Or is there a lot of people who die before the age of forty?"
"It's okay...... It is no worse than the large human settlements in the south." The middle-aged man thought for a moment.
Then, he tried his best to sell the fur on his car.
The entire town of Shan'ao seems to have become the scene of a large-scale exhibition, and every car is a shop and a booth.
Jiang Baimian politely listened to the middle-aged man's pitch, casually looked at the nitrate fur and said:
"Who is your leader?"
"You want to talk about big business?" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up.
Jiang Baimian didn't say "yes" or "no":
"It depends."
The middle-aged man immediately pointed to the scene of slaughtering sheep and pigs covered in blood:
"There, the one in the bearskin coat and the one with the bong.
"Do you want some tobacco leaves? Although our city is in the ice field, the climate and soil in some parts of the valley are very suitable for growing tobacco, no worse than those in the south."
"Do you think we are like smokers?" Shang Jianyao smiled with two rows of white teeth.
Jiang Baimian asked:
"What do you call your leader?"
"Lao He, you can just call him Lao He." The middle-aged man introduced enthusiastically.
The five members of the "Old Tune Team" walked towards the temporary "slaughterhouse" located on a street on the side of the small square.
The cattle, sheep and pork slaughtered on the spot were not used for trading, but belonged to part of the rations of the entire convoy for the next few days.
Of course, if the villagers of Cliff Village really don't go through collective-to-collective bulk transactions, and have to take some salt, tea, and industrial products in exchange for a few pounds of meat, and make a tooth sacrifice, the people in the city will not have any opinions at the end of the year.
At this moment, the leader of the convoy known as Lao He was standing on the edge of the blood-stained street, commanding his subordinates to cut pieces of meat and classify and preserve them.
He may be forty years old, wrapped in a bearskin coat, wearing a fluffy melon skin hat, picking up a bong from time to time, taking a puff, his whole face is thin, and he looks tired.
Thinking that the village chief said that there were suspected awakeners in the convoy of the "last man" or "Zhuang Sheng" realm in the city at the end of the year, Jiang Baimian turned his head sideways and glanced at Gnava in the burqa.
Gnava understood what she meant and nodded slowly.
He is the last line of defense of the "old tune team".
Although intelligent robots are also affected by "interfering electromagnetism", "interfering substances" and some abilities, they are definitely more immune than humans.
"Lao He, Lao He!" Shang Jianyao warmly greeted the leader of the year-end city team.
Lao He turned around, looked at them for a while, and asked with a slight hesitation:
"Are you?"
How can you look very familiar with yourself.
In the face to face, Jiang Baimian found that Lao He's eyes were quite deep, which did not match his appearance and temperament.
"We are from Cliff Village." Jiang Baimian replied with a smile, "But we are not from Cliff Village."
Lao He's eyes swept back and forth several times on her, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen:
"I can see it.
"But no matter where you come from, you are all our guests, what do you want to trade?"
"Pigs, cattle, sheep, and fur are not what we want." Shang Jianyao answered before Jiang Baimian.
Lao He is quite calm:
"We also have flour, tobacco, and some ice field specialties."
"No, no, no, that's not what we want." Shang Jianyao shook his head triumphantly.
He was proud that Lao He could never guess what he and the others wanted to trade.
Seeing Lao He's forehead jumping, Jiang Baimian hurriedly helped this guy make amends:
"What we want to trade is intelligence.
"We will go to the ice field to do a mission later, and we want to ask you for some information about the climate, terrain, and relics."
Lao He's expression eased:
"We do know a lot."
Speaking of this, he changed his mind:
"But some intelligence is of high value, what can you trade it for?"
"Some conventional weapons, or a high-performance battery, produced by the 'Orange' company." Jiang Baimian already had a plan.
This time to do a mission in the ice field, the "old tune team" applied for a batch of high-performance batteries, plus dozens of original ones, which can be called rich in this regard.
"One piece may not be enough." Lao He smiled, "It depends on what you want to ask."
Although in the overall environment of the ice field, high-performance batteries are not as good as gasoline, diesel and other materials, the valley where the city is located has a warm climate, and many equipment still relies on this.
Jiang Baimian took the lead in asking about the specific location of the city where Shang Jianyao's father last appeared.
"I know of a city that has been in contact with its residents for a long time, but I haven't met them again for more than ten years, and I don't know which area the city is in, only the general direction.
"It's close to the 'White Knights', you can find it according to the climate, it can allow so many people to support the ice field for so many years, the climate will not be too bad, even if it is not as good as our year-end city, it will definitely be warmer than the normal state of the ice field."
Jiang Baimian asked for some more details and got a relatively satisfactory answer.
"Then have you seen the commissioner of the Eighth Research Institute?" Shang Jianyao couldn't wait to interject.
Seeing that Lao He was slightly dazed, Jiang Baimian helped add:
"Have you ever seen some weird people on the ice field? They seem to live somewhere on the ice field, too."
"I don't." Lao He shook his head, "I don't know if there are anyone else in our city at the end of the year, you can ask later."
Jiang Baimian said "hmm" and took out a high-performance battery:
"There is no other problem for the time being."
After completing the transaction, Shang Jianyao suddenly took a step back, bent his arms, and posed with a baby in his arms.
He suppressed his voice and said:
"It will eventually belong to the god of fate!"
Jiang Baimian knew that this guy was testing the faith of the end of the year.
Lao He laughed:
"Are you also a believer in 'Si Ming'? Many people in our city believe in Him."
Just when Shang Jianyao was about to step forward to recognize his relatives, Lao He said again:
"It's a pity I'm not."
"Then what do you believe in?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.
Lao He pulled out a pendant from his collar, it hung a wooden little man, the villain's face had no facial features, and it was blank.
Holding this pendant, Lao He said reverently and solemnly:
"I believe in 'truth.'"
(End of this chapter)