Cave Refuge-Chapter 140 - 139: The Unprincipled Merchant’s Costless Trading_1
The things stored in the box were not the survival items that Dong Tianyu had imagined, but many grey-white stones.
If it had been earlier, Dong Tianyu might not have known what those stones were, but recently he had ’voluntarily contributed’ three hundred kilograms of nitrate, so his impression of it remained quite vivid.
Before Dong Tianyu could divert his eyes, he heard Ye Liuyun’s smug voice, "This time I got a lot of nitrate. Later I’ll also get some ice for you folks, so you can cool off."
Upon hearing Ye Liuyun’s words, the security personnel revealed joyful expressions on their faces.
The weather outside was so hot now, and although they had some heat prevention measures here, it was still very hot. Although there was hardly anyone coming in and out during the day, they still had to keep watch.
At this point, it was unthinkable to cool the place down using an air conditioner. On the one hand, all electrical equipment needed to be repaired, and on the other, although there were generators in the underground refuge center, electricity was extremely scarce. If it wasn’t necessary for someone on duty at night, it was possible that electricity would not even be supplied to the gate.
Ye Liuyun, who had come to the gate, inadvertently saw Dong Tianyu standing next to him and immediately hailed him, "Brother, what brings you here?"
Hearing that Ye Liuyun knew Dong Tianyu, the guard standing beside Dong Tianyu finally relaxed.
"You know each other?"
Hearing the guard’s question, it suddenly occurred to Ye Liuyun, who laughed and replied, "You don’t know this hero? The three hundred kilograms of nitrate in the Refuge Center were contributed by this very leader here. Without his contribution, it wouldn’t be so cool in the refuge center now."
Hearing Ye Liuyun say this, everyone looked at Dong Tianyu with surprised eyes, while Dong Tianyu merely waved his hand dismissively.
Right now, Ye Liuyun didn’t care about the others and walked over to Dong Tianyu, "Come, let’s go inside and talk."
Hearing Ye Liuyun say this, Dong Tianyu raised the registration form in his hand and shook it, intending to say that he hadn’t filled out the form yet.
But unexpectedly, Ye Liuyun directly snatched the registration form from Dong Tianyu’s hand and casually tossed it onto a side table.
"What’s the use of filling out that thing? It’s useless, no one checks it."
Ye Liuyun didn’t even wait for Dong Tianyu’s response and dragged him towards the entrance to the refuge.
At this moment, seeing that no guard spoke up to stop them, Dong Tianyu followed along with Ye Liuyun half reluctantly.
Once inside the passage, Ye Liuyun immediately let go and curiously asked Dong Tianyu, "I haven’t seen you in a while, you’ve been busy even in this awful weather?"
"The worse the weather, the more I earn!"
"Yeah, it’s also good that you don’t frequently come back. That Li family guy is like a dog, always trying to take advantage of me whenever I come back. It’s better if you visit less often."
As they were talking, Dong Tianyu suddenly thought of that strange thing on the surface and curiously asked, "What is that thing in the square? What’s its use? I’ve never seen it before."
Ye Liuyun didn’t expect Dong Tianyu would ask this, he took a moment to organize his thoughts before explaining, "When nitrate meets water, it turns into ice. If we want to reuse it, we have to dry the water and let the moisture evaporate.
The thing in the center of the square is an evaporator for the nitrate water. We put the melted nitrate water into that device, expose it to the sun during the day, and it generates steam.
This steam goes back underground via the pipes at the top. Underground, there is a special container for collecting water, thus the nitrate water can be reused. It’s a principle similar to removing impurities from a liquid.
Doing this, we are able to separate the nitrate from the water and reuse the water. Although there is some loss in the process, the efficiency of usage has increased greatly.
After all, even though there’s a well on the second floor underground that goes straight to the underground river, but water is so precious these days, so we save as much as we can."
Hearing Ye Liuyun’s words, Dong Tianyu nodded with approval.
"I answered your question, you haven’t told me what you’ve been up to recently."
Hearing Ye Liuyun ask again, Dong Tianyu rolled his eyes, ’What am I working on? Practicing cultivation, of course.’ But, he definitely couldn’t share this with Ye Liuyun.
"Nothing much, we’re also planning to move underground. After all, the temperature on the surface will keep rising."
Hearing Dong Tianyu give a vague answer, Ye Liuyun didn’t ask further but directly said to Dong Tianyu, "Can you still get nitrate? If you can, I’ll buy in large quantities."
"Hmm? What are you collecting so much nitrate for? Although it’s not very useful, it’s not a consumable either, it can be reused."
As for Dong Tianyu’s question, Ye Liuyun didn’t hide anything and directly told the truth, "Although it can be reused, it dissolves when it comes in contact with water. Didn’t Pengcheng get flooded? So there wasn’t much nitrate left to conserve.
I’ve been asking around for nitrate for a while, but the amount I’ve managed to gather is only about a third of what you brought last time. Although our Refuge Center is cooled down, others don’t have this luxury. Selling ice is a good business right now."
When Dong Tianyu had heard Ye Liuyun wanting nitrate earlier, he thought Ye Liuyun was planning to sell it at a high price. He didn’t expect that Ye Liuyun wasn’t planning to sell nitrate but ice.
Ye Liuyun really is a sly merchant, but there was still a flaw in his plan, "Where does the water come from? You’re not planning to get it from the underground well, are you?"
Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Ye Liuyun quickly waved his hand, "Don’t make random accusations. Currently, the well on the second floor underground is heavily guarded. Let alone drawing water, anyone who’s not assigned to draw water would be warned if they even try to approach it.
I’m not planning to sell ice either, I’m just setting up a processing station. They bring their own water for making ice, and I just charge a processing fee, as well as keeping the refuge where I am staying a bit cooler."
"You’re not living here? Are Ye Old and your brother living here, or staying with you?"
"Live here?
Hmph!
Speaking of it just annoys me. From the start, I had no intention of living here, but because my place was not ready, I planned to stay here for a few days.
But I had hardly been there for three days when the head of the Li family started fleecing me. Would you believe it? Every time I see him, I have to give him something to get rid of him. Is it appropriate for such a big leader to try and profit every time we meet?"
Hearing Ye Liuyun’s complaints, Dong Tianyu was somewhat speechless. Indeed, as the leader of the West City District Command Post first team, he had everything he could need. He should be known as either approachable or stern and aloof, not cunning. That would simply lower his status.
But the person would always exactly calculate what he could take without going too far, making you feel a bit annoyed, but not willing to confront him over it. You would even feel that giving him something and getting him to leave was a pretty good deal.
Maybe that was his strategy: he wouldn’t actively seek you out, but once you met, he had to get something out of it.
Seeing Ye Liuyun’s helpless expression, Dong Tianyu also felt sympathetically for him. But before Dong Tianyu could say something comforting to Ye Liuyun,
The topic came up just as the person in question arrived.
