Xu An drove the car directly to the exchange point without delay. There wasn't a small number of people there, with a queue stretching over ten meters long.
Fully armed guards scanned their surroundings vigilantly, weapons in hand. This was a key location for exchanging supplies, and to prevent any incidents, the troop presence here was triple that of other areas.
Quite a few people, seeing that they were only two women and a dog, eagerly inquired about the contents of the trolley Xu An was pushing.
She ignored them all. However, as the number of inquirers grew, Xu An, finding it troublesome, simply replied that it was a cart full of "scrap metal."
Of course, no one believed Xu An's story.
It wasn't until Xu An pulled off the oilcloth covering the trolley that the crowd quieted down, looking disdainfully at the "junk" Xu An had collected.
"I thought it was something good! Turns out it's a cart of scrap."
"Are these two women out of their minds? That scrap iron is exchanged by weight. That whole cart probably wouldn't fetch a hundred trading coins..."
"Tsk... What if they used to be scavengers..."
"Hahahaha..."
Laughter spread around Xu An's team. Xu An, however, paid no mind.
She thought that she wasn't the only one who didn't understand the value and sources of those rare metals.
Those who didn't understand sneered, while those who did understand wouldn't expose it. After all, the fewer people who knew, the greater the profit they could obtain.
Many people only recognized gold and jade, which led to major shopping malls' gold shops being crowded with people searching for supplies.
Many people fought fiercely over it, and deaths were common occurrences.
Those who couldn't compete for goods could only think of other methods. Some brought grain for exchange, others carried furniture, and some even transported a "giant stone" half the height of a person.
According to people around, this was a "raw jade stone" that had not yet been cut.
Xu An's lips curled. The more these people mocked their cart of things as worthless, the safer they would be.
When she and Xu Yan loaded the cart, they were careful. They piled things like aluminum alloy door frames, sheet metal, and copper handles on top, while items like LCD screens and other "valuable" things were placed at the very bottom.
They deliberately created the impression of "junk."
Xu An planned to lie low until the next drop after this batch of supplies was exchanged, so she needed to prepare enough trading coins for four months of living expenses.
She took out a black backpack containing pre-calculated gold bars. One jin of gold was worth 50 trading coins. Although they had about 7,000 jin of gold, she wasn't foolish enough to exchange it all at once, so she only took out nearly ten jin.
Even with these ten jin of gold, Xu An was afraid of being targeted.
Ten minutes later.
As the line moved forward, Xu An saw rows of temporary, simple tents. The tents were large, enough to fit three heavy trucks comfortably. At the entrance of each tent, there was a metal platform with a metal card slot.
"Hello, please present your ID card."
"What supplies do you wish to exchange?" After taking Xu An's ID card and swiping it through the card slot, the staff member compared it with Xu An's identity information. Once confirmed, they asked, "What supplies do you wish to exchange?"
"Metals and gold," Xu An replied.
"Hello, metal exchanges are at booth ⑨, and gold is at booth 5."
Xu An then realized that each exchange booth had a different function, and the tents behind the booths were for weighing.
Xu An looked at the temporary, simple tents erected before her and silently marveled. This method ensured privacy and personal safety, and also reduced many unnecessary troubles.
After all, much greed originated from covetousness. When it couldn't be seen, there would be no desire for it.
Xu An got out of the car, handed the backpack containing the gold to Xu Yan, and then drove the car into booth ⑨.
Xu Yan walked towards booth 5 with the backpack. Goudan followed closely beside her, never leaving her side, warily eyeing the surrounding crowd.
This was a mission its mother had entrusted to it, and it would protect its Grandma!
Upon entering the tent, Xu An discovered that the equipment here was quite comprehensive, including not only weighing machines but also instruments for dismantling and cutting metal.
The trolley had already been pushed away by the staff. Xu An stood there, waiting for the exchange results.
Xu An expected to wait for a long time, as the metals like "indium" in the LCD screens needed to be extracted one by one. However, to her surprise, it only took about half an hour for a staff member to come over with a list to reconcile with Xu An.
"Hello, we have tested the supplies you brought back. The metal indium is 4.8 jin, rare earth is 7.9 jin, plus ten jin of iron and copper items, and some carbon fiber materials... In total, it comes to 9500 trading coins. Please check the list. If everything is in order, I will transfer the funds."
"Okay."
"By the way, do you want to exchange your trolley?"
"How much can it be exchanged for?" Although Xu An had no intention of exchanging it, she couldn't help but be curious.
"Uh... about 0.6 trading coins."
Xu An: "......Thank you, no need." This was the first time she had encountered a calculation system with decimal places on the lighthouse.
Xu An glanced at the list. She hadn't expected to exchange for so much. She nodded, completed the procedures, and then drove the car away from the exchange point. After returning the car to the rental office, Xu An, carrying her backpack and pushing the little old trolley, waited for her mother at exchange booth 5.
A moment later, Xu Yan appeared in Xu An's sight, leading Goudan.
"How did it go on your side?"
"I exchanged 9500. How about you?"
"The gold exchange was 500, and some jade jewelry was about 300."
Xu An did some calculations. At the beginning, they exchanged five hundred trading coins. When they boarded the lighthouse, they used 100. Boarding Goudan cost thirty, and renting the car cost another 60.
After accounting for all expenses, they now had a total of 10,600 trading coins.
"We have over ten thousand now. If we spend it wisely, it should last us four months."
"Are we not going out anymore?" Xu Yan asked, somewhat confused.
Xu An looked at the fine rain that had started falling from the sky, her expression becoming grave.
"We're not going out. I suspect the heavy rain is coming early. I'm afraid the lighthouse will be forced to ascend prematurely."
City B is located in a basin, backed by the country's largest dam, and surrounded by mountains. If the heavy rain truly descended, it wouldn't take a day for the dam to be breached, and the entire City B would be submerged in floodwaters. At that point, the lighthouse would be forced to ascend.
If that truly happened, those who didn't manage to return in time would be doomed to disappear in the flood.
Sometimes, humanity, with its highest intelligence, appeared so small in the face of natural disasters.