The Trembling World Chapter 354 - Marketplace

Chapter 354 - Marketplace

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

5th Sponsor chapter! Thank you  Daryl V.!

Their training was not the same as what Liu Gan had in mind. The zombie was chained at the neck and held down by a pillar. The newcomers would hold their wooden stick and stand far away. The zombie would stretch out their hand and the player would have to figure out the best position to strike.

These zombies were all caught alive by high level players. Their purpose was for newcomers to kill, but payments in points were required.

The person catching the zombie could earn twenty points, but the player that killed the zombie has to pay up forty points.

The newcomers usually didn’t have many points to start with, so they would use their personal belongings to trade for points. Otherwise, they would have to do ch.o.r.es like cleaning clothes, cooking, and other mundane tasks for points.

Of course, between players they can negotiate personal deals such as services in exchange for points. For example, female players tended to offer up their body in exchange for points from the male players. These incidents were common as long as both parties agreed, with additional supervision from a governing party. The exchange had to  take place at a set location.

If the exchange took place outside of the designated location, and a dispute arose,  then the majority of the time the female player would have the upper hand. As a result, the Elder Committee would find fault with the male players and severely punish them. This was in accordance of their motto of protecting the weak.

Along his way to the market, Liu Gan noticed quite a few incidents of newcomers begging for points from veteran players. There were some lucky individuals that received point tickets. This village was becoming more similar to a small society, even to the way it operated.

“Can I walk around?” Liu Gan asked Kong Mu.

“It is best that you stick with the group. It will benefit your future development,” Kong Mu replied with a suspicious look.

“I just want to familiarize myself with the location, I still haven’t decided if I want to remain here,” Liu Gan insisted.

“In that case… go have your free time” Kong Mu wasn’t happy with the question, but ultimately agreed. Ever since establis.h.i.+ng the Beginners Village, there was no one that had decided to leave after joining. So when Liu Gan said he was still deciding whether he wanted to stay, it was unfathomable for Kong Mu.

Liu Gan had Han GuangMing and the rest of the group to follow the newbies to the training ground. As for Liu Gan, he had Yin He, Lee DingXiang, and NaNa accompany him. Aside from this College of Agriculture, there were several large schools nearby that had also been taken over as part of the property of the village.

Due to the nature of the missions and rewards system in this village, there were tasks that someone would be willing to do. Overall, this entire village was very well-designed. No matter which path was taken, there were directions available at every fork in the road. There were even maps to ill.u.s.trate the district lines.

The directions would usually point toward the training ground, cafeteria, lecture hall, cla.s.sroom and others. Liu Gan was most excited to see the words “marketplace”. There were multiple marketplaces, so Liu Gan headed toward the largest marketplace. This was the prime location for exchanging goods and services.

The marketplace stretched far and wide, lying in between several school grounds. It must have been a comprehensive marketplace before the catastrophe. 

Arriving to the marketplace, Liu Gan found out that majority of the items up for sale weren’t lifestyle products, but were zombies. These zombies were missing limbs and had their teeth removed. 

This exchange market was similar to a market for selling experience. In the training ground, the newcomers would require forty points for a zombie caught by the veteran players, but at the market, it was priced at thirty points. As long as there was a difference in the price range there would be a market. For the newcomers who were terrified of leaving the village to level up, this safe method of leveling up was a very attractive offer.

Aside from selling zombies, the second highest transaction in the market were humans, the majority of them women. They were trapped inside metal cages.

Their wrist didn’t have the watch, so they were definitely local survivors. They were most likely caught by players and taken as personal property used for trading.

Selling humans covered several districts. Lee DingXiang wanted to go search for her sister in the largest district. Liu Gan had Yin He follow Lee DingXiang. Liu Gan headed towards a smaller district of the marketplace. As he starts walking through the district, he walked by his first cage.

Inside the cage was a woman locked inside.

“Hey handsome, are you interested in getting a round in? One time buyout, you can do whatever you want after you buy her out. No need to go to red light district for each time,” a merchant walked over to greet Liu Gan.

“Buy me! I know how to do ch.o.r.es, and other stuff… I can also satisfy your needs…”

The woman inside the cage crawled to the edge of the bars and started selling herself to Liu Gan. With a begging look, she looked at Liu Gan. She was a twenty year old woman with barely any clothes on her, so she was shaking whenever the wind blew.

This merchant was employing underhanded marketing techniques on Liu Gan. If a compa.s.sionate player saw this sad scene, they would’ve made an impulsive buy. 

Other women in the cages also tried their best to sell themselves to Liu Gan. Some women took off the remaining clothes off from their body to stimulate Liu Gan’s urges as a selling point. 

The Beginner Village did everything it could to protect the interest of the players, but the local survivors were treated like tools and products. Local survivors were the personal property of players. The players had the final say in what they did with their personal property. As long as they didn’t kill the survivors, the Elder Committee didn’t care. 

If a player had multiple survivors as slaves, in theory, they could just live as a slave owner. Even if the player earned only a few reward points, he could still live quite comfortably.

So whenever these players had a chance, they would proactively catch local survivors. They would treat them as their personal slave. Even the top ten Elders had dozens of male and female slaves. They could live a life of being serviced by slaves. 

When Liu Gan saw this scene, he frowned. He was neither a saint nor a savior, but he felt terrible when he saw another person trapped within a cage, to be sold as another person’s toy.