Xu An was somewhat surprised by this. She had originally thought that Wang Mang and his group were not settled and were simply wanderers, hunter-scavengers.
Most hunter-scavengers were like this, searching wherever they went, selling their harvested supplies at the nearest base, then moving on to the next destination.
Xu An asked, "Where is your base?"
Wang Mang's face was filled with remembrance. "It's quite far from here. I thought everyone could go back together this time, but I didn't expect..."
Xu An knew Wang Mang was referring to the unfortunate departed elder brother. She could only pat his shoulder and say softly, "My condolences."
"It's okay. Even if elder brother is gone, we have to take his share and return to our own base. That's where our family is."
"Are you selling your goods at the market ahead?" Xu An asked, looking at the packages on their backs.
Wang Mang, however, shook his head, his face full of dejection.
"No. We thought if we came early enough, we could set up a stall in the central street, but we only found out after arriving that we need to pay a stall fee to set up there."
Xu An's brow furrowed, and Zhou Haimei, standing beside her, gasped.
What kind of times were these, when it wasn't even certain if they could recoup their costs by selling goods?
Why should they pay a stall fee? These people setting up stalls in the central street weren't leasing properties.
Xu An asked, "Do we still need to pay for temporary stalls?"
Wang Mang replied, "Yes. Not only that, if it were just the stall fee, we would have paid it. But they also require forty percent of the day's earnings as a dividend to the administrators of this central street."
Wang Mang looked troubled.
"The stall fee is already very expensive, and now they want us to give up half of our income. If it were just us, it would be fine, but we have so many people in our base. If we give up our earnings, wouldn't our trip be in vain?"
At this point, even Zhou Haimei, who usually didn't like to meddle in other people's business, felt that the administrator of this central street was somewhat greedy.
"How can these people be like this? The times are already difficult, and they are so insatiably greedy, making things difficult for people."
Xu An then asked a question.
"Who is the person in charge of that central street you mentioned?"
Wang Mang looked as if he couldn't believe she didn't know, scratching his head.
"It's the boss who sells the roasted meat."
Xu An and Zhou Haimei exchanged a look of surprise.
"The boss who sells roasted meat? Not an official?"
Wang Mang gave a wry smile. "The officials don't handle these things. Originally, there was no so-called central street here. It appeared about three months ago with a roasted meat stall."
"For some reason, this roasted meat was just delicious, so addictive that I would suspect something was added if it weren't the apocalypse."
"Later, as this roasted meat stall became more and more popular, the area where it was located gradually formed into a central street."
Zhou Haimei commented, "Isn't that a good thing? It boosts the surrounding economy, a win-win situation."
"It's not that simple," Wang Mang said, glancing at the bustling scene not far away.
"As the customer traffic increased, the roasted meat stall claimed that costs were too high and decided to raise prices. From the original 2 contribution points per skewer, it's now 10 contribution points for one."
Xu An had also walked around the area earlier, especially the grain stores.
In the Southern Base, a kilogram of brown rice cost 5 contribution points.
If eaten frugally, a kilogram of brown rice could last one person for three days.
To avoid misunderstandings, Xu An still asked for clarification.
"How big is that roasted meat?" Xu An wondered if the roasted meat was large and offered good value for its price.
When Wang Mang heard Xu An's question, he knew what she was thinking.
"It's not as big as you imagine. You've eaten lamb skewers before the apocalypse, right? They're about that size." After speaking, Wang Mang specifically looked up at the surrounding crowd, ensuring no one was paying attention to them.
He then leaned closer to Xu An's ear and whispered, "The most important thing is, no one knows what kind of meat this roasted meat is."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu An's ears were filled with the words of the innkeeper from before.
[Do you think the Southern Base is good... there are many man-eating dens in this world...]
Because of this sentence, Xu An initially didn't want to come to the Southern Base. But upon arriving, she couldn't truly turn a blind eye.
Xu An's expression was unreadable, appearing both clear and vague, indicating that the owner had something on her mind.
Wang Mang asked, "Are you suspecting that roasted meat is not right?"
Xu An nodded.
They had all come out of that inn together. If Xu An suspected the meat, Wang Mang naturally understood what she was suspecting.
A flicker of disgust, which he dared not show, crossed Wang Mang's face, and his complexion turned ashen.
Not only Wang Mang, but also his companions behind him wore constipated expressions.
"No way, we just induced vomiting the day before yesterday..."
The teammates looked pale, with expressions as if they would rather be dead.
Zhou Haimei, however, looked gleeful. "You've all eaten that roasted meat?"
Several people nodded, looking like dying old men. "Yes, I saved up contribution points for a long time to buy one skewer. I'd been craving it for ages, but after hearing your analysis, I suddenly feel like an idiot."
Xu An looked at everyone and finally spoke, "Don't all look so gloomy. Everything we're saying now is just speculation. We need to investigate before we can be sure. After all, their business is so good; I don't believe no one has noticed anything amiss."
She looked at Wang Mang. Xu An actually wanted to ask if, back at the small inn, Wang Mang was the only one among them who had eaten the "meat" served by the innkeeper.
She wanted to know if there was any difference in taste between that meat and this roasted meat, and if it could be determined if it was the same kind of meat.
But looking at Wang Mang's current expression,
The words that were on the tip of her tongue, Xu An couldn't bring herself to say them.
Xu An said, "Then let's go and take a look. We can't determine anything just by describing it. Let's go buy some and see."
After speaking, Xu An was about to walk forward, but after a few steps, she noticed that Wang Mang behind her did not follow.
She felt puzzled and turned back to ask Wang Mang, "Why aren't you walking?"
Wang Mang shook his head. "You go ahead. We already had a conflict with the boss of that roasted meat stall regarding the stall fee. If we go together, we might be suspected."